Journal of Discourses Volume 26

BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,

HIS COUNSELORS, 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. XXVI.

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.

LIVERPOOL: 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DANIEL H. 
WELLS, 42, ISLINGTON.

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

1886.[p.iii] 

Preface

Vol. 26,  p.iii
BY the blessing of our Heavenly Father we are enabled to present to
our readers Volume Twenty-six of the JOURNAL of DISCOURSES.

Vol. 26,  p.iii
It will not be less appreciated because its completion has been some
what delayed by the unsettled condition of things in Utah, caused by
persecution. The First Presidency and many of the Apostles have had to
partially withdraw from public life to avoid the consequences of mock
trials and packed juries with which a prejudiced and wicked judiciary
are seeking to harass the servants of God, and hence public discourses
by these brethren have lately been rare.

Vol. 26,  p.iii
But while power is thus given to our enemies for a little season, when
the purposes of the Almighty have been accomplished thereby, this
temporary cloud will pass away and leave Zion purer, freer and more
powerful than before.

THE PUBLISHER[p.1] 

Franklin D. Richards, October 5, 1884

Blessings Follow Certain Ordinances

Discourse By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, October 5th, 1884.

(Reported By John Irvine)

[Being the portion omitted in last volume.]

Vol. 26,  p.1
The whole tenor of God's dealings and instructions to His people have
been enriched and adorned with affectionate remembrance, instruction
and illustration of the youth of His people. They are the redeemed of
Christ from before the foundation of the world. Jesus said their
angels or spirits do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven. He has promised that they shall come forth in the first
resurrection, that they "shall grow up until they become old," and
when he would demonstrate who should be greatest in the kingdom of
heaven,—He took a little child and placed him in their midst, saying,
"Except ye repent and become as this little child, ye can in no wise
enter therein; but whosoever shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven; and whosoever
shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me."

Vol. 26,  p.1
In relation to all these matters, there is a great deal of importance
attached to them, not only in the matter of our children—which seems
to be of primary importance to us,—but in the preaching of the Gospel.
We that have ministered in the Gospel have learned of the truth of
that Gospel, and are able to comprehend by the Spirit in some degree
the revelations and commandments which have been given for the
guidance of the Church. It is by virtue of repentance and baptism for
the remission of sins that men's sins are remitted. It is by attending
to certain ordinances that the blessings of eternity are sealed upon
us, and by which in the plain language of the Scriptures, our calling
and election are made sure. But we must obey those ordinances in faith
or their efficacy will not avail. Our Elders go abroad and preach to
the world, and their hearts are filled with charity and loving
kindness towards their fellow creatures. They administer to the sick
among the Saints, and they are often called upon to administer to
those who do not belong to the Church, to whom they administer
according to their faith, and thus the power of faith through the
ordinance of God is made manifest among the children of men.

Vol. 26,  p.1
But there is one ordinance that the Elders may have perhaps neglected
and I do not know but I have myself—and that is, that if we enter a
house and the people thereof receive us, there our peace should abide.
This was the instruction of the Savior in His day; and if we enter
[p.2] a house and the people receive us not, then we should go away
and return not again to that house, and wash our feet with pure water,
as testimony against them in the day of judgment, and thus bear
witness unto the Lord that we have offered them salvation, that we
have sought to preach to them the principles of everlasting life that
we have offered to them the Gospel of peace and desired to administer
unto them a blessing. The same is applicable to a town, village or
city that rejects you. In this way you do your duty and leave them in
the hands of the Lord. You are not called upon to contend with any
body in public congregations, or to do anything that would stir up
wrath and indignation. The Savior simply told his disciples to wash
their feet as a testimony against such people. But the generous,
charitable feeling of our Elders prompts them not to do a thing
against anybody; they would rather pour out a blessing upon the whole
people. Consequently, it is a very rare thing that this ordinance is
attended to by the Elders of this last dispensation—speaking from my
own experience, and conversation had with the brethren. But when it
comes to this, that we are persecuted and our lives taken, it would
seem as if this was a duty depending upon those Elders who are thrust
out, and warned away from their fields of labor. These things have
happened of late, and it seems a duty devolving upon the Elders to do
that which the law requires and leave the responsibility of its
reception or rejection with the people and their God. We have no
quarrel with anybody. We simply preach the Gospel to the inhabitants
of the earth. If they receive it, well and good; if they will not,
then it is a matter between them and their God; but the Lord requires
this duty at the hands of his servants.

Vol. 26,  p.2
Again, we go abroad and gather in many people to this place, and they
desire to find work. One of the brethren has referred to this matter
and likened it unto a man going into a field and working diligently to
plow the field, sow the grain, harrow it in, harvest it, and then
leave it to waste. It is too much so in bringing home our brethren and
our sisters to this country and not furnishing them labor. It is a
very pleasing thought that occasionally companies of 400 or 500
people, or even 1,000, are delivered here from abroad. Why is it
pleasing? Because it shows the work of God is progressing; it shows
that God is gathering home His Saints, and soon after their arrival,
the new comers are taken home by their friends and relatives, and
provided for, made comfortable until another spring, or until they
look around and find or make a home. And it is a blessed thought that,
notwithstanding hundreds and thousands of people are brought here
yearly and cared for, so great a proportion of them live in their own
homes, raise their own cows, pigs, chickens, etc.

Vol. 26,  p.2
Frequently when we go to the Seventies and ask some of them if they
are willing to go on a mission to preach the Gospel, one replies: "I
am no preacher at all; I could not preach a sermon if I were to try:"
and wind up by saying: "If I can't go out myself and preach, I am
willing to help support the families of missionaries while they are
gone." Many have said this, and many more of them have thought it.

Vol. 26,  p.2
The Seventies are a numerous concourse of men who are called in
connection with the Twelve to see [p.3] that the Gospel is carried to
the nations of the earth. Many of them are aged—some having been in
the Church almost from the days of its first organization in Ohio, and
many since the days of Nauvoo—too aged to be called to go upon
missions—yet they could help their brethren coming in to find
employment, and as do the Twelve after having labored in the vineyard
to help gather the harvest, labor together in the threshing floor to
help garner the wheat, clean it, and assist to make it fit for the
Master's use. The younger men, after having secured homes for their
families, feel free to go on missions, knowing that their interests at
home are not being neglected.

Vol. 26,  p.3
If the aged Seventies and all men of experience would interest
themselves in the different parts of the Territory, and find or make
work for the newcomers, they might do a vast deal of good. They might
help their brethren who come in from the old country so obtain a
living. When we first came here every man had to be a farmer, had to
cultivate the land in order to obtain a living. Today many of the
brethren who come from the old country have no idea of farming, and
have never, perhaps raised a chicken, a pig or a cow. The brethren
should take hold, therefore, and assist each other in these things.
Let us help to build each other up more earnestly and more extensively
than we have done. Let us not cultivate feelings of covetousness to
the crowding out of those ennobling and generous sentiments which
should fill the bosom of every Latter-day Saint.

Vol. 26,  p.3
My brethren, you are Elders in Israel, and the blessing and power of
the Priesthood are upon you. Therefore we should do all the good we
can, that those of our brethren who are constantly coming in here may
obtain work, that they may not be led away, through idleness, into
sin, and their hearts be turned away from the Gospel which they have
embraced.

George Q. Cannon, November 20, 1884

Causes that Govern Us in Settling New Places—Our 
Respect for the Constitution of Our Country—We Must not 
Concede Principle for the Privilege of State Government—Practical 
Men Have Held Office—the Kingdom of God Protects All 
Religion—Holding the Priesthood Should not Disqualify 
From Holding Civil Office or Giving Counsel

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Provo, Sunday Afternoon, Nov. 20th, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.3
IN attempting to address you this afternoon, my brethren and sisters,
I trust I shall have the assistance of your faith and prayers, that I
may be led to speak upon those principles that are adapted to your
[p.4] circumstances and wants. We as a people are living at a time
when we need the assistance and direction of the Spirit of God. To be
taught by men and by men's wisdom in our position would be of little
or no avail to us, from the fact that the conditions which surround us
are different in many respects from those which surround every other
people. We are a peculiar people. We are not bound together by
associations such as exist among other peoples. We have not come
together because this land suited us, and was desirable for us to make
a living in, but we have gathered to this land through force of
circumstances over which, to a certain extent, we had no control. We
have come together impelled by motives such as do not operate upon
ordinary people, and having objects to accomplish such as are not
thought of nor labored for by others. Other people, when they form
settlements such as we have in these mountains, are generally drawn
together, if they are new settlements, by the advantages of locality,
by the opportunities for making a living or in creating wealth, or for
some consideration or reason of this character—that is in the first
place. Afterwards, in succeeding generations, they stay there because
it is their birth place, because it is the home in which they have
been reared. But these considerations have not influenced us in our
settlement in these valleys. It is due to none of these causes that we
are organized in communities as we are to-day, but it is due to causes
that are higher and diverse from those that operate upon other people
where they form settlements such as we have done. Hence, this being
our condition, it requires wisdom, it requires strength, it requires
enlightenment from God, to enable us to maintain ourselves upon the
principle that we came here in the beginning for, and to escape the
evils by which we are threatened. We believe that it was God who led
us to this land; that it was God who prepared this land as an abode
for us; that it has been His Almighty power that has preserved us thus
far, and has ameliorated the condition of affairs—that is the soil and
the climate and the water—that has produced changes that have made
this land desirable and a delightful home for us—and that there has
been a purpose and a design in all this, and that we have been the
instruments in the hands of God of working out and accomplishing that
design up to the present time. Hence there is, as I have said, a
necessity that we should receive from the same source that has
hitherto guided us, continued guidance and continued instruction, so
that we shall not stop hallway in the work that we have undertaken,
but by divine help be able to accomplish it.

Vol. 26,  p.4
There were some reflections that passed through my mind as I sat in
your meeting this morning concerning the circumstances which surround
us, that if I can get the Spirit I would like to speak upon.

Vol. 26,  p.4
In the first place it will not do to judge or measure us by the
standards that obtain among other people, and by which people are
measured in other places. To form a correct judgment of the Latter-day
Saints, men must understand the motives which prompt them to action,
the considerations which affect them, and the objects they have in
view to accomplish; to form a correct estimate of our character these
all must be taken into consideration. But it is often the case that we
are measured by standards that do not apply to us, which may very well
answer for [p.5] measuring other people and other communities, but not
for us, and in consequence of this we are frequently misjudged, and
men and women come to incorrect conclusions respecting us. Fault is
constantly found with us by our enemies because of these peculiarities
which they do understand, or which if they do not understand, they pay
no attention to. For instance, it is frequently said to us that we are
a disloyal people, that we are not friends to the government, that we
respect a power and an authority in our midst which we consider
paramount to the authority of the government; and because of the
circulation of this accusation and its wide-spread belief, we are
refused rights to which we are fully entitled, which belong to us,
which should not be withheld from or denied to us. It is very
remarkable when we think about our numbers, how few we are,
comparatively speaking,—it is very remarkable that there should be
such jealousy entertained about us as there is. Pharaoh and the
Egyptians were never more afraid apparently of the great power of the
children of Israel in their midst than our fellow-citizens, and many
of them too that are in high places, appear to be afraid of us. They
seem to look upon us as aliens, as an alien power, and treat us
accordingly, when there is not the least justification for doing so.

Vol. 26,  p.5
Now, you remember, doubtless, Pharaoh's treatment of the Israelites,
He saw that they were increasing, and he became alarmed. "Why," said
he, "If we were going to have a war, these Israelites are becoming so
numerous they may join our enemies and take away our kingdom from us.
We must stop their increase." And he counseled with his people as to
the best method to stop this increase. He issued a decree that all
male children that were born of the Israelites should be destroyed and
cast into the river Nile, but that the female children should be
spared. In this way he hoped to check the increase of the children of
Israel in Egypt. There is nothing in history that has come down to us
to furnish grounds or justification for this cruel action on the part
of this king. But this action was well adapted to force the children
of Israel into the feeling that the government under which they lived
was a harsh, a cruel and an unfriendly government, and to create
antipathy in their breasts against it. In this way this tyrant—as all
tyrants have ever della—in trying to accomplish the object he had in
view, took the very means to bring upon himself and his nation the
evils that he dreaded; because if he had desired to make the
Israelites join the enemies of the nation and be traitors in the midst
of the kingdom he could not have taken a more effective method than
that which he did take.

Vol. 26,  p.5
And so it is with us. If we had not had a profound attachment to the
Constitution of the United States and to the institutions of this
government, the course that is taken against us by those who have
represented the government has been and is of a character to have
driven us into open and avowed enmity to the government years and
years ago. Without that deep-rooted attachment we should have lost all
our respect for a government under which we have suffered such cruel
wrongs. There could be no better evidence of the kind feeling and the
loyalty of the Latter-day Saints to the government of the United
States, than the fact that in our breasts and throughout these
mountains, there prevails an unquenchable love and [p.6] respect for
the Constitution and the institutions that spring therefrom,
notwithstanding we have been denied our rights and been treated with
the utmost cruelty. There is scarcely an act of oppression that could
be practiced that we have not had to endure, from the time the church
of which we are members, was organized up to the present time. We have
been falsely accused of all kinds of crimes, have been mobbed and
repeatedly driven from our homes with the entire loss of our property,
have been outraged, warred upon, subjected to violence of almost every
description, and murdered. One by one our rights have been assailed.
We have been stripped of them under forms of law; we have been denied
justice, and treated with extreme vindictiveness. Our families—if
those who had the execution of the laws in their hands could have
accomplished it—would have been rent asunder; wives would have been
torn from their husbands, children from their parents; households
would have been destroyed; distrust and enmity and hatred would have
been engendered in the breasts of the people one towards another—that
is, if the measures that have been framed against us could have been
successfully carried out as they were designed by those who framed
them. Just think of it! Think of the manner the women of this
community have been tempted to turn traitors to their husbands and
their friends! Every inducement possible has been offered to them to
turn against and betray their husbands, and the seeds of enmity have
been sown, or have endeavored to be sown, in the breasts of families,
and of children against parents, and against each other, throughout
the entire land. When you contemplate all these acts, they equal in
cruelty and perfidy, and inhumanity, any of the acts of which we read
in the Scriptures. Men are shocked when they read the story of the
treatment of the Israelites by Pharaoh. All the preachers throughout
the land, when they read that, comment more or less upon it to their
congregations, and talk about the cruelty of which that king was
guilty, and praise the Israelites, and praise Moses for that which
they did. At the same time they are guilty themselves of as great
crimes. They are guilty of inciting a government against its
citizens—its peaceful citizens—and stirring up the government to acts
of harshness, of cruelty, and even some of them go so far as to defend
the use of the army by the government to destroy a peaceful people
from the face of the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.6
Now, as I have said, no people in the world have given greater proofs
of attachment to their own government, and of devotion to those sacred
principles of liberty that we have inherited than the Latter-day
Saints have done in these mountains. But, as I have said, the cry is
still that we are disloyal; that we unite church and state; that we
have an authority in our midst that we respect and obey, while we
disregard the civil authority of the land. These things are a frequent
cause of complaint against us, and we are denied our rights. We
to-day, should be a State. This Territory of Utah should be one of the
United States. We should have the right to elect our own Governor, to
elect our own Judges, to elect every officer in fact that executes the
laws or has anything to do with the administration of the government
in our own land. We have been here 37 years, and during 34 years of
that [p.7] time we have been an organized Territorial government,
longer than any other community on the continent except New Mexico,
which was organized at the same time. Other Territories have sprung up
and had speedy recognition as States, and are now numbered as members
of the Union years after we settled this country. There is no good
reason why we should not have had this same right granted unto us; no
good reason whatever. We have shown our capability for good
government, for maintaining good government. Our Territory to day is
an example for maintaining to all the Territories and to many States,
so far as good government is concerned, and freedom from debt, and
everything in fact that makes life enjoyable and easy for the citizen.
We are lightly taxed, and we have maintained ourselves without aid
from the general government or from any other community; while other
communities that have had nothing like the difficulties to contend
with that we have had, have been beggars either at the door of the
National Congress, or of their neighboring States and their fellow
citizens. When other places were visited by grasshoppers, the whole
land resounded with appeals for aid; but though we for five years in
succession, in some of our settlements, had crops destroyed by the
same cause, yet no wail went up from Utah, asking the nation for help.
We have been so independent, and so disposed to sustain ourselves, and
to fight our own battles with the difficulties that environed us, that
we have managed to get along without having recourse to this method of
obtaining assistance, and in this respect our course has been
unexampled.

Vol. 26,  p.7
Now, as I say, there is no good reason why we should not have been
admitted as a State in the Union, except for the reason, and that has
no foundation in truth, that we are not to be trusted, that we are in
such a condition that if we were to get a State government there would
be danger resulting from that grant of power unto us. Of course all of
you, my brethren and sisters, know how untrue this is, how utterly
without foundation such accusations are, but, nevertheless, they are
listened to and believed.

Vol. 26,  p.7
Efforts have been made among us to change this condition of affairs.
There have been, and still are, perhaps, some who call themselves
Latter-day Saints, who are almost ready to lend themselves to any
scheme that has for its object the obtaining of a State organization
for Utah. Such persons look upon this as so great a blessing and so
great a boon, that they are almost willing to forego their religious
belief and to pander to those who have got power, and to make some
sort of a concession to them, in order to achieve this, what they
consider, very desirable end. There has been some agitation in years
past respecting plural marriage, and some people, calling themselves
Latter-day Saints, have been almost ready to go into the open market,
and bid for a State government, at the price of conceding this
principle of our religion, for the privilege of becoming a State of
the Union. Those who are ready to do this are ready also to cast off
obedience to the Priesthood of the Son of God, and to say, "We do not
believe that men who hold an office in the Church should have any
voice in the affairs of the State." They are ready to sell out their
belief as Latter-day Saints, and their veneration and reverence for
that power which God has restored, for the sake of obtaining a little
recognition [p.8] of their rights as citizens, on the part of those in
power. It does not require much familiarity with the Spirit of God, or
with the principles of our holy religion to understand exactly the
position that such persons as these to whom I allude, occupy among us.
When a man is ready to barter any principle of salvation for worldly
advantage, that man certainly has reached the position that he esteems
worldly advantage above eternal salvation. Can such persons retain the
Spirit of God, and take such a course as this? No, they cannot. That
other spirit will lead such persons astray, and they will be left to
themselves. Will there be such persons continue among us and be
associated with us? I do not question it. I expect we shall have such
characters with us, during our future career as we have had in the
past. We have had all sorts of people connected with this Church. As
the work rolls forth, as it increases in numbers, so will these
characters increase—that is, for a certain time, until the day comes
when the kingdom of God and the reign of righteousness shall be fully
ushered in.

Vol. 26,  p.8
Now, regarding this accusation that is made concerning the Priesthood:
It is the most common charge that is made against us that we listen to
the Priesthood, that we are more obedient to the Priesthood than we
are to those who hold civil authority. The question may be very
properly asked: Have we not had good reason for this? Should we not be
most consummate fools it we did not listen to our friends instead of
our enemies? From the time that President Young was superseded as
Governor of this Territory, until the present time, what kind of
officers have we had sent into our midst to administer the affairs of
the government? Has there been a man who has come here as Governor,
who has had the ability, even if he had the disposition, to guide and
to counsel the people of this Territory, and to manage its affairs as
well as the men among us who have had leading positions in the
Priesthood? Why, there is not an instance of the kind. You take the
best disposed Governor we have had—and they are easily mentioned, the
few that we have had who have been well disposed—you take them and
compare them with the men who laid the foundation of this
commonwealth, who laid the foundation of this Territorial government,
and built up this government, and there is no comparison between them.
So that, aside from every other consideration, men are ustified in
seeking wisdom and guidance at the best fountain, at the best source.
If I want counsel I will go to the men who are fitted to give me
counsel. If I were not a Latter-day Saint it would make no difference
to me who the person was if lie could give me good counsel. If he was
a man of ripe experience I would feel justified in going to that man
and getting his advice.

Vol. 26,  p.8
This has been our position as a people. We have had men among us who
have proved themselves in the best possible manner, beyond dispute, to
to be entirely capable of directing and managing and counseling in all
matters that pertain to our earthly existence. Have they not shown
this through years and years of experience? The people have proved
them. Now, would not the people be great fools, would it not be the
height of folly for people who have this knowledge to say: "No, I
won't ask these men for counsel; I won't go to them for advice; I
won't listen to anything they say, because [p.9] if I do so, I am
listening to the Priesthood; but I will go to somebody who does not
know anything; I will go to some"—I was going to say
ass—(laughter)—for if ever men have proved themselves to be fools, it
has been some of our governmental officials—"I will go to some man of
this kind and ask his counsel, and have him to tell me what to do,
because I am anxious to show that I am loyal to the government of the
United States."

Vol. 26,  p.9
Now, would you not call any man who would do this an idiot, when he
could have got good counsel from his friends; when he would turn his
back on his friends, and go to somebody for counsel who did not know
anything, not as much as he, the person, did himself about the
question he submitted to him? I would say, and you would say, that
people who would do such a thing were little less than idiots.

Vol. 26,  p.9
Well, now, what crime are we guilty of? If we have men among us who
have more experience than they, and who have proved themselves capable
of guiding the people, what crime are we guilty of in giving heed to
their counsel and seeking it? Because they hold the Priesthood are
their mouths to be stopped up so that they cannot speak; are they to
be deprived of the rights of citizenship, and all the rights that men
have that are born free, because they hold the Priesthood? Is that a
good reason? A more senseless reason never was given. If these
government officials and these men that represent the government are
so much better and so much more capable of guiding the people, and
have so much greater right to be listened to and obeyed, let them show
it by their works. When they have proved it, I suppose there will be
no lack of disposition on the part of the people to go to them, and to
listen to them, and to expect from them all the necessary teachings
and counsels. There will be no lack of disposition on the part of
sensible men and women such as we profess to be; but until they do
this, until they show this capability and this power, they had better
hold their tongues and say nothing about others leading the people.
The fact is this, and it is apparent to all of us, that there are
certain men who can destroy much easier than they can build up. It
required a great deal of skill to build the Temple at Ephesus: it
required the highest skill in architecture: but a fool destroyed it
with a little blaze. It takes men to build up, but children can burn
down and destroy. It takes men to build a commonwealth, and lay the
foundation of that which we see around us; it takes labor and years of
experience and wisdom to accomplish such results; but any poor
creature that is half-witted can destroy all these labors in a very
short time, and those that have come among us in too many instances
representing the government have been men of this calibre; they would
like to destroy, tear down, and reduce to chaos. That would suit them
far better than it would to build up.

Vol. 26,  p.9
My brethren and sisters, I would like to have us as a people look at
these matters, if we can, from a sensible point, from the standpoint
of common sense and reason, and not allow ourselves to be diverted
from the course that we have adopted by the outcry that is made
against us and by the howls that are raised about us. It would be
exceedingly foolish for us to do so.

Vol. 26,  p.10
God has given unto us, as we believe and as we testify, His
Gospel;[p.10] He has given unto us His Church; lie has given unto us
the authority by which men and women are led into His Church and
governed in His Church—the authority which He Himself recognizes and
the only authority that He has given to man on the earth to act in His
stead. We believe this, we testify of it. At the same time while we
have this belief, and form ourselves into a Church organization, we
never have at any time in our history attempted to make our Church
organization the only organization and the dominant organization in
matters that pertain to every day affairs and to civil government.
There has always been among the Latter-day Saints, great respect shown
for civil authority, and for the laws of the land. In fact, as soon as
possible after our first settlement here, a Legislature was organized
and the provisional government of Deseret was formed, when there was
no one but Latter-day Saints in the country at the time. We could have
been governed by our Church organization; it was sufficient for our
purpose during the winter of 1847-8, and daring the summer of 1848. It
was quite sufficient. There was no other organization. But as soon as
the Pioneers returned, President Young and the rest of the
brethren—there was no time lost in organizing a civil government—the
Provisional Government of the State of Deseret—and laws were enacted
in due form by the civil authority, and from that day until the
present it has been respected and honored among us, and will be from
this time forward, as long as this people exist. There is no people on
the face of the earth that draw a nicer distinction than we between
that which belongs to the Church and that which belongs to the State,
But it is frequently said—and I have had to meet it often in my life
time, particularly in Washington; they have said and do say, "Why,
your Probate Judges are Elders and Bishops, and your other officials
hold offices in the Church."

Vol. 26,  p.10
Well, is this a crime? Is there anything in the law or the
Constitution of our country, or is there anything else that is
recognized as binding among men that would prevent Elders and Bishops
from holding office? I do not know of anything. I do not know that a
man is any worse for being a Bishop or an Elder, or any more unfitted
for civil employment, or the discharge of civil functions, than if he
were not a Bishop or an Elder, especially among a people organized as
we are. As I say this charge has been frequently brought against us in
my hearing, and I have had to meet it before committees of Congress
and elsewhere. The reply I have made to such charges is this: that
among the Latter-day Saints in Utah every reputable man in the
community bears some office in the Church. As soon as he arrives at a
sufficient age if be is a reputable man he receives an ordination in
the Priesthood. The best and the most active men in our community are
the men who become prominent in Church affairs. Our Bishops live
without salaries, or support from the people, they, before being
chosen, having shown their ability to sustain themselves. They are not
like members of other denominations who are a burden to the people, or
who receive an education especially for those duties, and thus live by
the salaries that are furnished them by the members of their
congregation. In a community where there is a class of that kind there
may be some propriety in saying that ministers [p.11] of religion
shall not take part in the affairs of state, although there is nothing
of that kind said anywhere in the constitution or the laws; but there
may be some propriety in saying this where men are educated especially
for the ministry—where they devote themselves to that labor and
withdraw themselves from the practical affairs of life and depend upon
their parishioners furnishing them support. There might be some
propriety in saying to a class of that kind, "you are not fit to take
part in civil affairs, and the practical, every day affairs of life,
because of your calling and because of the nature of your duties." But
we say there is great impropriety in saying that those who labor in
the ministry among us shall not take part; for this reason: that all
the men among us who are the most practical, the most energetic, and
the most business like—from these men the ministers are chosen, that
is, men who labor in the ministry as Bishops, as Elders, as
missionaries, and in other capacities. They have proved that they are
capable of sustaining themselves by their own efforts, and at the same
time devote a certain portion of their time to public affairs. Hence,
you will find among us as a rule that our Bishops are all practical
men; our Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, and the Bishops
and their Counselors, the Teachers and others, are all active business
men among us. They have gained experience, and because of that they
are sometimes chosen to fill local offices. Take the Legislature of
Utah Territory, composed as it has been of some holding positions in
the Church, and you will find a body of practical men, the superiors
of whom are not to be found—I say it without fear of truthful
contradiction—anywhere in any Legislature in this country, men who
understand the wants of their constituents and of the people, and the
kind of laws that are best adapted to them. I have had some experience
in mingling with men in public life, and I must say that for practical
wisdom, and for a knowledge of the affairs of the country and of the
people represented in Utah Territory, there was found, previous to the
passage of the Edmunds law, a class of men that had not their
superiors anywhere in this land, for practical wisdom and the ability
necessary to lay the foundation, and to perpetuate the institutions of
a great country.

Vol. 26,  p.11
Is it wrong for men who have the Priesthood, and who act in this
capacity, to act in civil offices and to let the people have the
benefit of their experience in these matters—is there any wrong in
this? I can see none, and I am sure that no man who is a true friend
to his country can. There is no good reason why these men should be
excluded; in fact there is every reason why they should be invited to
take part in establishing the affairs of the country. I have often
said, in speaking to our brethren and sisters in various parts of the
Territory, that that which we behold to-day in our Territory—the good
order, the peace, the freedom from debt, the lightness of taxation,
and all the circumstances that are so favorable to us as a people, are
due to the men who have borne the Priesthood, commencing with
President Brigham Young, his Counselors, and the Twelve Apostles, and
the leading men in Israel—the circumstances which surround us, I say,
are due to the wisdom that God has given unto them in managing these
affairs. At the same time, because this is [p.12] the case, there is
no necessity that there should be a blending of church and state.
There is no necessity for this; it is not wise to blend church and
state. I do not believe that as members of the Church we should pass
decrees or laws that would bind other people. I have no such belief,
never did have. I do not think I ever shall have. But because a man is
a member of a church, and because a man is a servant of God, and
because a man bears the Priesthood of the Son of God, he should not be
prevented because of that from acting in any civil capacity, from
taking part in civil matters and executing the laws that are enacted
by civil authority.

Vol. 26,  p.12
The province of the Kingdom of God that Daniel saw, the kingdom that
would be established in the last days, is to be as a shield to the
Latter-day Saints, to be as a bulwark around about that Church, and
around about that Church alone? No. The apostate will have his civil
rights under that kingdom. The non-Mormon, or Gentile as he is called,
will have his rights under that kingdom. The Chinaman, the negro, and
the Indian each of them will have his rights under that kingdom, and
yet not be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A good many of our people confound the Kingdom of God with the Church
of God. Now there is a very wide distinction between the two. A man
may, in one sense, be a member of the Church of Christ, and not a
member of the Kingdom of God. The two organizations are entirely
distinct. The Kingdom of God when it shall prevail in the earth—as it
will do—will be the civil power which will shield and protect the
Church of Christ against every attack, against every unlawful
aggression, against every attempt to deprive it of its legitimate
rights. At the same time it will protect the Methodist just as much as
it will the Latter-day Saint; it will protect the Roman Catholic just
as much as it will the Methodist; it will protect men of every creed;
it will protect the worshipper of idols in his civil rights, in his
rights as a man and as a citizen. A man may be an infidel; a man may
have been a Latter-day Saint, and denied the faith and lost his
standing in the Church of God, and yet so far as the civil authority
is concerned, so far as the power that is wielded by that which we
call the Kingdom of God is concerned, that man will receive the
amplest protection; he will have the fullest enjoyment of his rights.

Vol. 26,  p.12
President Taylor told us this morning—told us as plainly as it could
be told—the manner in which all men should be treated. And that is the
design of God; and therein our friends in the east are trampling upon
the true principles of liberty in their attacks upon us, and in their
treatment of us. Such treatment will just as surely bring down
condemnation and destruction upon a government that practices these
things, as that the setting of the sun will bring darkness upon the
earth. It is not possible for men to continue in such a course of
oppression and wrong doing as has been pursued by our fellow citizens
that have had the reins of government in their hands, without
involving themselves in trouble. It is impossible that they can
perpetuate their power, and conduct themselves as they have been doing
towards us and towards others. There are eternal principles of justice
that cannot be violated without injury to the person who violates
them. A government [p.13] that lends itself to the oppression of its
citizens, will sooner or later receive punishment. That which it sows
it will reap. It will be a harvest that will be most bitter and
sorrowful for those who reap it.

Vol. 26,  p.13
We are now citizens of this Territory. We fled here. As Latter-day
Saints we came here as exiles, seeking for a home in the wilderness.
God led us to this land, in which, notwithstanding all that maybe said
to the contrary, we have laid the foundation of this Territory, we
have made this land a peaceful, a happy land. There is no man in the
country, no matter what his creed may be, that is oppressed or has
been oppressed by the Latter-day Saints. We have not been tyrannical
in the exercise of our power. We have not discriminated against those
not of us. We have given them the same rights that we have ourselves.
The same peace that we have desired to enjoy we have been willing that
they should enjoy, and we have extended these privileges to them in
common with ourselves. We have sought in no manner to interfere with
their belief, nor with the exercise of it. The Roman Catholic in Salt
Lake City, has been as unmolested as the Latter-day Saint has been. We
may not believe in their religion; we may think the Methodist religion
a poor religion to believe in and practice, and so with other forms of
religion; but while we believe this, we have no right, neither have we
ever exercised any power towards restraining them or restricting them,
or in any manner depriving them of the free exercise of their rights
of conscience and of faith, and no government can stand and prosper
that will do it upon this land, for God has made promises concerning
this land that no government can stand that will do this. None of us
has any right to interfere with the faith and the worship of our
fellow citizens, unless their faith and their worship interfere with
our rights. That is a proposition that is easily comprehended. If I do
not interfere with any man's right by my worship, and by that which I
consider right to do to my Maker, no man has any right under any form
of government to interfere with me.

Vol. 26,  p.13
Hence it is that all this action concerning marriage is wrong—this
interference with marriage—it is all wrong from beginning to end,
especially in view of the fact that it is an important principle of
our religion. We are ready to testify that our belief in marriage and
our practice of it, is interwoven with our hopes of eternal salvation.
Select every man who has had more wives than one and retained the
faith of the Gospel; take him and his wives and interrogate them
respecting their faith, and every one would say: "this principle is
so-intimately interwoven with my hopes of eternal salvation, that I
would be afraid that I would be damned if I did not obey it." I
believe that in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand
where people are in the faith they would make this response.

Vol. 26,  p.13
Well, now, what right has any number of people—there may be unnumbered
millions who say this is not religion—but what right have they to do
this? If there was only one person on the face of the earth that
entertained that belief, and he were alone and all the rest of mankind
were opposed to him, it would be just as precious to him as if
millions entertained a belief in common with him. Therefore,[p.14]
because there are millions who say it is not religion, this does not
make it so. We testify in the most solemn manner that it is a part of
our religion, and that we cannot forego this principle without feeling
that we forego our salvation, our eternal exaltation, by so doing.

Vol. 26,  p.14
Then the question arises in the practice of this principle—do those
who practice it infringe upon the rights of their fellow citizens? Is
society disturbed? Are there wrongs done to society at large by the
practice of this principle? Let those who have lived among us answer
this question. There never was a more peaceful society than our
society—that is, not for the past few hundred years at least. Go
through our settlements, and is there quarreling, is there strife, are
there bad examples set to the rising generation, is impurity taught,
or any examples of impurity shown? No, there is not. We all know this,
and we know that in practicing our religion we do not infringe upon
the rights of our fellow-citizens.

Vol. 26,  p.14
But this attempt has been made just as it was in ancient days. I look
upon it as a revival of the same spirit that prompted Pharaoh to seek
the destruction of the male children among the Israelites. If we were
guilty of those crimes so fashionable in the world whereby the
increase of families is prevented, I do not suppose there would be one
word said about our system of marriage; I have no idea there would be.
But the fact that we do raise children—the fact that our houses and
settlements are full of healthy offspring, is a standing protest
against the crimes of the age; it is a standing protest against those
abominable practices that are destroying the foundation of many
communities within the confines of the United States, and they are
determined—those who are guilty of these things—that we shall not
exist. The loudest outcry against us, and the most devoted efforts
against us, come from the region where these dreadful practices
prevail, where women murder their offspring befor they are born, are
guilty of this pre-natal murder, among the people of the United States
who think themselves the most enlightened. Twenty-five years ago when
I was laboring in the ministry in that region I visited one of the
towns, and the President of the branch of the Saints there, (an old
resident, whose ancestors were among the first settlers of the town)
told me his wife was continually jeered at—and this was 25 years
ago—by her associates, because she bore children, and bore them
regularly—that she did not take means to prevent the increase of her
family! If I had not known him I could scarcely have believed it, it
was too horrid. I have learned since, however, that that is a common
practice in that region. The feature of that society that impresses
most vividly a traveler from Utah is the fewness of children in what
are called the best families. And yet it is from there that the
principal outcry is raised against us, and the determination expressed
to break up our families and to destroy us.

Vol. 26,  p.14
God has gathered a few people out from the nations of the earth, out
of Babylon. But shall they partake of these influences? I say to you,
my sisters, you teach your daughters against this accursed practice,
or they will go to hell, they will be damned, they will be murderers,
and the blood of innocence will be found upon them. A man that [p.15]
would sanction such a thing in his family, or that would live with a
woman guilty of such acts, shares in the crime of murder. I would no
more perform the ordinance of laying on of hands on a woman who is
guilty of that crime, if I knew it, than I would put my hands on the
head of a rattlesnake. We must set our faces like flint against such
acts. These dreadful practices are coming up like a tidal wave and
washing against our walls; for there are women among us who
secretly—so I am told, I know nothing about this personally, but I am
told there are women among us who are instilling this murderous and
accursed idea into the breasts of women and girls in our midst. Now
just as sure as it is done, and people yield to it, so sure will they
be damned, they will be damned with the deepest damnation; because it
will be the damnation of shedding innocent blood, for which there is
no forgiveness; and I would no more, as I say, administer to such
women, baptize them, or perform any ordinance of the Gospel for them,
than I would for a reptile. They are outside the pale of salvation.
They are in a position that nothing can be done for them. They cut
themselves off by such acts from all hopes of salvation.

Vol. 26,  p.15
As a people we should encourage marriage. I am always delighted when I
hear President Taylor speak as he did this morning on the principle of
brothers taking their brothers' widows to wife. There are many young
women among us pining away, that should be mothers in Israel, that
should be raising posterity, because the brothers are so indifferent
to the rights that belong to the institution of marriage as to let
these young women stay in this condition. And there is one thing that
I am impressed with, and that is, there will be considerable
condemnation rest down upon the Elders of this Church for their
neglect in these matters. Women are led astray and fall into the hands
of wicked men because of relatives to the dead neglecting to do that
which is their duty; acting as though the Lord cannot reward a man for
keeping His law. "Oh," says a man, and as President Taylor has
remarked, "I want to raise up a family for myself." He forgets God can
bless him sad his seed after him. Look at the case of Boaz and Ruth.
He took Ruth, who was the wife of his kinsman. She had no children,
but he took her when another kinsman who had a prior right to her,
rejected her. From that alliance sprang the noblest men that were in
Israel—Ohed, Jesse, David, Solomon, and through Boaz and Ruth came the
Son of God. And that was a proxy case, as it is called. Ruth was the
wife of Boaz's kinsman who had died. Boaz took her to wife, and raised
up an honorable posterity. And it is a wicked thing among us to allow
such cases to go uncared for. A young woman is left a widow, sometimes
without a son to represent her deceased husband; she should be cared
for, and not left to fall into bad hands, as frequently is the case
among us for the want of care on the part of those whose duty it is to
attend to such matters.

Vol. 26,  p.15
My brethren and sisters, God is watching over us, and He holds us to a
strict accountability for the things He has revealed to us. He has
revealed to us eternal principles. Let us be faithful to that
Priesthood which He has gives unto us; let us honor it, and not be
intimidated by the outcry that is raised against us that we are doing
wrong because [p.16] we listen to the Priesthood. There is no such
thing as wrong connected with this. God has inspired His servants, and
has given them wisdom to manage the affairs of this people, and to
guide them in spiritual matters. They have tull authority to do this,
and they will do it if the people will listen to them, and then in
temporal matters they will guide them as far as they have the
opportunity. Because they are Priests of the Most High God, they are
no worse for that; they are not handicapped because they have the
Priesthood. In a civil capacity they can act as fairly, justly,
wisely, as those who do not have the Priesthood. They do not act with
any less wisdom or any less power because they have the Priesthood
than they would do if they did not have it. I have heard so much of
this sort of talk that to me it is perfectly ridiculous. They talk
about our management of elections, and management of other affairs. I
will tell you my experience, and I have had some experience in these
matters. I have attended caucuses elsewhere; I know the machinery that
is used; I know the wire pulling; I have seen it in operation, and I
say to you that there is not the interference on the part of leading
men here with the will of this people that there is in the States in
political circles. And I tell you this: that leading men in other
communities seek to exercise more influence and lay their plans to
have their wishes carried out to a far greater extent than the leading
men of this community do among us—I mean those who have the
Priesthood. There is a disposition on the part of the leading
Priesthood to let the people have their way, not to interfere with
their selections. There is that disposition, and it is encouraged, and
the desire is to have all the people be wise and exercise wisdom, and
have the Spirit of God to discern who are suitable for office. If the
people could do this I can tell you that President Taylor and his
Counselors, and the Twelve, and the other leading men of Israel would
be very glad indeed. But you know as well as we do that there are
unwise men among us who would, if they had the power, destroy the
people; not because they would design to do it, but because of their
ignorance; they are ignorant and would do it, without knowing what the
consequences would be; and on this account it is right that
experienced men should give the people the benefit of their knowledge,
not however, interfering with the rights of the people, not in the
least; and it never has been done, at least within my knowledge, in my
public experience among the people. And I repeat there has been less
of this among us, considering the influence the Priesthood have, than
in any other community or any other people that I am acquainted with
anywhere in the land. I wanted to say this much, because I know there
is a great deal of misapprehension upon these points. There are men,
agitators, who talk about interference on the part of the Priesthood,
and try to breed disturbance and confusion among the people, unsettle
their minds and have them think there is something very wrong going on
here. I speak of it to remove these wrong impressions, and to disabuse
the minds of those who entertain them, for they are not correct. There
are more caucuses, more plans, more pipe laying, more log rolling,
more wire pulling in the States in one day, than you will see in a
month or a year among us. They resort to all sorts of devices to get
their man elected under promise [p.17] of preferment and office. Why,
there is scarcely a man that gets an office in the United States that
is not bound by pledges of this kind. A man cannot be Speaker of the
House of Representatives, without being hampered by promises he is
compelled to give in order to get the position, promises to put this
man on this committee, and the other man upon another committee, some
to be chairmen of committees, and so on. So with the President of the
United States. Probably Grover Cleveland will be an exception, because
he has not been much in public life: but it is a rule that the
nominees of the different parties give certain promises as to what
they will do, and who will get leading positions. They are just as
much fettered as though chains were on their wrists and ankles. They
cannot move only in a certain direction. All freedom is taken away. A
President is nearly killed after he gets his position in endeavoring
to satisfy the clamors and wishes of those who claim they elected him
to office. This is the case all through the government. There is no
office, even to that of a constable, but is obtained in the same way.

Vol. 26,  p.17
I hope we shall never be in such a position as this, for it would lead
to the destruction of liberty and free government among us, if we
should ever give way to these things. Let men go into office free and
untrammelled. Let them be elected because they are the men most
suitable, and not because they want the office. Let us, as a people,
endeavor to find men who do not seek for office, and who do not want
it, but who take it because it is the wish of their fellow citizens.
And let us keep our salaries so low that men will not scramble for
office and live on the people as office-holders, than which there is
nothing more hateful in a free land.

Vol. 26,  p.17
I pray God to fill you with the Holy Ghost, to guide you in the path
of righteousness, to enable you to avoid the many evils abroad in the
world, and as Zion progresses to avoid evils that will crowd upon us;
because as Zion increases there will be new temptations and
circumstances thrown around us that will be a trial to us, unless we
have the aid of our God to help us contend with and overcome them; and
that we may have this aid is my prayer in the name of Jesus,
Amen.[p.18] 

Charles W. Penrose, November 16, 1884

The Personality of God—Vagueness of the Common Idea 
of Deity—Who and What God Is—the Spirits of Men the Offspring 
of God—Spirit not Immaterial—the Trinity Creed of 
Christendom—Man May Become Like 
God in His Glory

Discourse Delivered By Elder Charles W. Penrose, Delivered in 
the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, November 16, 1884.

(Reported By Arthur Winter)

Vol. 26,  p.18
THE remarks which have been made to us this afternoon by Bishop
Preston are of a practical nature and calculated to lead our minds to
reflection upon our duties as Latter-day Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.18
The religion of God is a practical religion, and God is a real and
practical being. It has been stated by one of our leading men that God
is "a business God," and many remarks have been made concerning that
expression by persons opposed to us, with the desire of turning it to
ridicule. It has not been stated by any of our brethren that God is
only a business God, but the remark was made with reference to some of
his attributes and of His works. The people of the present day who
profess to believe in God, generally speaking, have very little idea
in regard to what He is. They consider that He is incomprehensible.
Their ideas concerning Him are very vague, and the attempts which have
been made to explain God to the children of men, by persons who claim
to be teachers of religion, and to have authority to speak in the name
of the Lord, are of such a character that no one can understand them.
The reason of this is because those persons who have attempted to make
an explanation have not understood the subject themselves; and when a
person does not understand a thing it is very difficult for him to try
and make somebody else understand it. Now, I do not pretend to say
that there is anybody living who fully and entirely comprehends God;
but there are many people living who have some definite ideas
concerning Him, concerning His attributes, concerning His ways,
concerning His will; and what they understand they are at liberty to
declare and to try and make other people understand, particularly if
they are called upon by the Lord, and authorized by Him so to do.
People very frequently refer to that passage of Scripture which says:
"God is a spirit," and as their notions concerning what spirit is, are
not very clear, that passage of Scripture does not make very plain to
their understanding what God is. People, generally speaking, have an
idea that spirit is something intangible, something that cannot [p.19]
be comprehended, nor seen, nor handled; that it is far different in
every respect from anything that is material; in fact, the
philosophers and theologians call spirit "immaterial substance." Now,
this is for want of knowing better. Men in these times, like men in
former days, have tried to find out God and the things of God by human
wisdom and learning, and they have failed: for "man by searching," the
Scripture says, "cannot find out God." But God can manifest Himself to
man · and if God chooses to make Himself manifest to His children they
can measurably comprehend Him. But in their mortal state, in this
state of probation in which we live, mankind cannot fully grasp Deity
to comprehend Him as He is in His majesty, and might, and power and
glory; but, as I said, they can measurably comprehend God when He
manifests Himself to them, and they can understand Him to the extent
that He manifests. Himself to them.

Vol. 26,  p.19
According to the hook called the Bible, God the Eternal Father has
manifested Himself at different times to individuals living upon the
face of this earth, and according to the testimony of the Latter-day
Saints, God has manifested Himself in this age of the world in a
similar way to men whom He culled and appointed to act in His name;
and from what we read of God's revelations in former days as well as
in latter days, we learn that He is a person, an individual: that He
is not a myth, not an imaginary being, but a reality, and that He is
in the form and likeness of man, or in other words, that man is made
in the image of God. In the opening book of the Bible, in the very
first chapter of that book, we read: "And God said, Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness.  *  *  *  *  So God created man in His
own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created
he them." God is a spirit; but it does not follow that because God is
a spirit, He lies no form, no shape, no extent, no limit; or that He
can be, as an individual, in every place at the same time, as many
people imagine. We are told that God dwells in heaven, and when Jesus
Christ was upon the earth He always taught His disciples that their
Father was in heaven. He said that as He came from the Father so He
was going back to the Father. This individual, then, has a location, a
place of residence. He occupies a certain position, He dwells in the
heavens, and He made math in His image, in His likeness. Jesus, we are
told, was in the "express image" of His Father's person. When He was
upon the earth He came to represent His Father, and we are told
concerning Him, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God." And the Apostle Paul, who makes this
declaration, advised his brethren to have the same mind in them that
was in Christ Jesus:

Vol. 26,  p.19
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus;

Vol. 26,  p.19
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God;

Vol. 26,  p.19
"But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men;

Vol. 26,  p.19
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;

Vol. 26,  p.19
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name
which is above every name;

Vol. 26,  p.20
"That at the name of Jesus,[p.20] every knee should how, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things trader the earth;

Vol. 26,  p.20
"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.—Philipplans li, v. 2."

Vol. 26,  p.20
Now Jesus, who was in the form of God, was only one of the sons of
God. He called His disciples His brethren, and He impressed upon them
the great fact that His Father was their Father, that His God was
their God, that He was one of them. When He returned, or was about to
return to the Father, with His resurrected body, He told Mary to tell
His disciples that He was going to ascend to His Father and their
Father, to His God and their God.

Vol. 26,  p.20
In the Old Testament, which gives accounts of God's occasional
manifestations of His presence to men upon the earth, we find that
they all saw Him as a person, with the form of a man. Moses talked
with Him face to face. Nadab and Abihu and seventy Elders of Israel,
with Moses and Aaron, went up in the mount.

Vol. 26,  p.20
"And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it
were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of
heaven in His clearness; also upon the children of Israel He laid not
His hand, also they saw God, and did eat and drink.—[Exodus xxiv, 10,
11.)"

Vol. 26,  p.20
I might refer to a number of passages of Scripture in the Old
Testament, showing that whenever God appeared to man, manifesting
Himself to man, He appeared in the form of a man. We are told
repeatedly in the Scriptures that the children of men are the sons of
God. He is the Father and God of the spirits of all flesh. The spirit
of man, which inhabits his body, and which is the life of the body in
addition to the blood—blood being the life of the flesh, but the
spirit animated all—comes from God, and is the offspring of God.
Because of this, we understand what is said in 1 John, iii, 2:

Vol. 26,  p.20
"Beloved, 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."

Vol. 26,  p.20
God, then, the God of the Bible, who is called Jehovah, the person who
manifested Himself to Israel as Jehovah, is an individual, a
personality, and He made man in His image and His likeness. Now, if we
are the children of God, and if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we can
upon that reasoning understand something about what God is like, for
there is an eternal principle in heaven and on earth. that every seed
begets of its kind, every seed brings forth in its own likeness and
character. The seed of an apple, when it is reproduced, brings forth
an apple, and so with a pear, and so with a plum, and so with all the
varieties of the vegetable kingdom. It is the same with all the
varieties of the animal kingdom. The doctrine of evolution, as it is
called, is true in some respects—that is, that species can be
improved, exalted, made better, but it remains of the same species.
The advancement is in the same line. It is unfoldment. We do not find
any radical change from one species to another. It is an eternal
principle that every seed produces its own kind, not another kind. And
as we are the children of God, we can follow out the idea and perceive
what God our Father is, the Being who is the progenitor of our
spiritual [p.21] existence, the being from whom we have sprung. We
being the seed of God, that Being is a personality, an individual, a
being in some respects like us, or rather we are made in His image.

Vol. 26,  p.21
"Man also is spirit," we are told in the revelations of God to the
Latter-day Saints. Man, the real man, is a spirit, an individual that
dwells in a body, a spiritual person clothed upon with earth; a being
who will live when the earth goes back to mother dust. Man's spirit,
then, is an individual, a personality, and the spirit is in the
likeness and shape of the body which it inhabits. When the spirit goes
out of the body there is a person, a perfectly formed individual,
looking like the body which we now see with our natural eyes. Spirits
living in the flesh, unless operated upon abnormally by some spiritual
influence, cannot see spiritual beings. A spirit can see spirit.
Spirit ministers to spirit; and when the spirit goes out of the body
that spirit can see other spirits, beings of the same character and
nature, and we shall find when we have emerged from this body, that we
will be in the company of a great many persons like ourselves; and if
we should have the experience that the Prophet Joseph had when the mob
took him and tore his flesh with their nails, and tried to poison him
with a vial of some corrosive substance, if our spirits should be
separated from our bodies as his was, we, like him, could look at our
bodies and see that they are in form like our living spiritual
realities.

Vol. 26,  p.21
"The body without, the spirit is dead." The spirit without the body is
not dead; that is a real personality,, a living individual, and the
body of flesh is but a house to dwell in or a covering for it to wear;
not essential to its existence, but essential to its progress,
essential to its experience on the earth and ultimately in its
glorified condition, essential to its eternal happiness, and progress
and power in the presence of the Father.

Vol. 26,  p.21
While our Father, then, is a person, an individual, it may be asked:
"How can He be here, there and everywhere at the same time?" Well, He
is not, in His personality; but He can be omnipresent in a certain
sense. There is a spirit, an influence, that proceeds from God, that
fills the immensity of space, the Holy Spirit, the Light of Truth. As
the Sun itself, a planet or heavenly body, is not present in any other
place except that which it actually occupies, so the individual Father
occupies a certain locality; and as the light that proceeds from the
sun spreads abroad upon all the face of the earth and lights up other
planets as well as this earth, penetrating to the circumference of an
extended circle in the midst of God's great universe, so the light of
God, the Spirit of God, proceeding forth from the presence of God,
fills the immensity of space." It is the light and the life of all
things. It is the light and the life of man. It is the life of the
animal creation. It is the life of the vegetable creation. It is in
the earth on which we stand; it is in the stars that shine in the
firmament; it is in the moon that reflects the light of the sun: it is
in the sun, and is the light of the sun, and the power by which it was
made; and these grosser particles of light that illuminate the heavens
and enable us to behold the works of nature, are from that same Spirit
which enlightens our minds and unfolds the things of God. As that
light comes forth from the sun, so the light of God comes to us. That
[p.22] natural light is the grosser substance or particles of the same
Spirit.

Vol. 26,  p.22
Spirit is a substance, it is not immaterial; it may have some
properties that are different from that which we see and handle, which
we call matter, but it is a reality, a substantial reality. And spirit
can understand spirit and grasp spirit. A spiritual person can take
the hand of another spiritual person and it is substantial. A person
in body could not grasp a spirit, for that spirit has different
properties to those of our bodies, and it is governed by different
laws to those that govern us in this sphere of mortality. A spiritual
substance, organized into form, occupies room and space just as much
in its sphere as these natural particles occupy in this sphere.

Vol. 26,  p.22
God our Father, then, is a person, an individual, and He really is our
Father, actually and literally. We sprang from Him. He is the Father
of our spirits, and not only the Father of the spirits of the
Latter-day Saints, but the Father of the spirits of latter-day
sinners. He is the God and the Father of the spirits of all flesh. Not
only those that now dwell on the earth, but all people who dwelt
aforetime; all people who ever lived upon the face of this planet, are
the children of God. And so with people who dwell upon other planets,
they are the offspring of God. And our Father and our God is an
individual, a personality; He is a spirit, and they that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in truth; but He dwells in a
tabernacle, in a body, though that body is different from our bodies,
it being a spiritual body. It is quickened by spirit. Our bodies are
quickened by that corruptible substance which we call blood; but our
Heavenly Father's body is quickened by spirit. It is not governed by
the same laws as those by which earthly bodies are governed. It is a
body something similar to that which Jesus had after His resurrection.
Jesus Christ, when He rose from the dead, had the same body that He
had upon the earth, but a change had been wrought upon it. He had shed
His blood for the remission of sins. This body was quickened by
spirit. "He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit;" so we are told in the Scriptures, and He was raised up from
the dead by that Spirit. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Romans, viii
ch. 11 v.:

Vol. 26,  p.22
"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."

Vol. 26,  p.22
Jesus Christ's body was put in the sepulchre a natural body; it was
raised a spiritual body. It was placed there in weakness; it was
raised in strength. It was a mortal body when placed in the sepulchre;
but when it carne forth quickened by spirit, it was no longer a
natural or mortal body, it was a spiritual and an immortal body; and
with that immortal body He ascended from the earth. It was no longer
bound by the laws of earthly gravitation, as it was before. He stood
upon the mount of Olives, in the presence of His disciples, and
ascended up to heaven from their midst and disappeared front their
view. He could manifest Himself to them, and then take Himself away
from their gaze He could enter the room when the doors were shut, as
He did in the case when His disciples gathered in secret for fear of
the Jews, and manifest Himself to them. And yet at the same time
[p.23] His body was tangible, and the unbelieving Thomas could reach
forth his hand and thrust it into His side, and put his fingers into
the prints of the nails. Bat this body was a glorious body, "the
glorious body of the Son of God," and it was in the fashion and
likeness of the glorious body of His Eternal Father. It was a
celestial body quickened by the celestial glory. And if we wish to
attain to the Heavenly kingdom we must walk in the ways of life, and
sanctify ourselves before God, as Jesus did, so that the influence and
power of the celestial kingdom can be with us. Then, in the
resurrection, when we come forth from the grave, we shall be quickened
also by the operation of the celestial glory and receive of the same,
even the fullness thereof, and be made like unto Jesus Christ, and
thus become like unto God the Father.

Vol. 26,  p.23
As I have previously explained, God is not everywhere present
personally, but He is omnipresent in the power of that spirit—the Holy
Spirit—which animates all created things; that which is the light of
the sun, and of the soul as well as the light of the eye, that which
enables the inhabitants of the earth to understand and perceive the
things of God. As the light of the sun reveals natural objects to our
eyes, so the spirit that comes from God, with a fitting place to
occupy and conditions to operate in, reveals the things of God. We see
natural things by the light of the sun. We see spiritual things by
spiritual light, and he that is spiritual discerneth all things and
judgeth all things, and he that is not spiritual cannot comprehend
spiritual things. They are foolishness to him. And while the Saints of
God, quickened by the spirit which they have obtained through
obedience to he Gospel, can comprehend these things of which I am
speaking and discern their meaning and signification, those that are
wicked and corrupt and obey not the ordinances of God, cannot see
these things nor comprehend them as they are, but they are foolishness
to them.

Vol. 26,  p.23
But, if God is an individual spirit and dwells in a body, the question
will arise, "Is He the Eternal Father?" Yes, He is the Eternal Father.
"Is it a fact that He never had a beginning?" In the elementary
particles of His organism, He did not. But if He is an organized
Being, there must have been a time when that being was organized.
This, some one will say, would infer that God had a beginning. this
spirit which pervades all things, which is the light and life of all
things, by which our heavenly Father operates, by which He is
omnipotent, never had a beginning and never will have an end. It is
the light of truth; it is the spirit of intelligence. We are told in
the revelations of God to us that, "Intelligence or the light of truth
never was created, neither indeed can be." And we are told further,
that this Spirit, when it is manifest, is Got moving in His glory.
When we look up to the heavens and behold the starry worlds, which are
kingdoms, we behold God moving in His Majesty and in His power. Now,
this Spirit always existed; it always operated, but it is not,
understood, and cannot be comprehended except through organisms. If
you see a living blade of grass you see a manifestation of that Spirit
which is called God. If you see an animal of any kind on the face of
the earth having life, there is a manifestation of that Spirit. If you
see a man you behold its most perfect earthly manifestation. And if
you see a glorified man, a man who has passed through [p.24] the
various grades of being, who has overcome all things, who has been
raised from the dead, who has been quickened by this spirit in its
fullness, there you see manifested, in its perfection, this eternal,
beginningless, endless spirit of intelligence.

Vol. 26,  p.24
Such a Being is our Father and our God, and we are following in His
footsteps. He has attained to perfection. He has arisen to kingdoms of
power. He comprehends all things, because in Him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead, bodily. He is a perfect manifestation, expression and
revelation of this eternal essence, this spirit of eternal,
everlasting intelligence or light of truth. It is embodied in His
spiritual personality or spiritual organism. This spirit cannot be
fully comprehended in our finite state. It quickens all things. As we
are told in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, it is:

Vol. 26,  p.24
"The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things,
which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of
God, who sitteth upon His throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who
is in the midst of all things.—Sec. lxxxviii, p. 13."

Vol. 26,  p.24
That spirit exists wherever there is a particle of material substance;
that spirit is round about it, and in it, and through it; but that we
may comprehend it, it must be manifested through organisms. The
perfection of its manifestation is in the personality of a being
called God. That is a person who has passed through all the gradations
of being, and who contains within Himself the fullness, manifested and
expressed, of this divine spirit which is called God.

Vol. 26,  p.24
Some people may think this is rather a low idea of a Divine Being. But
I think it a most exalted one. The person whom I worship I acknowledge
as my Father. Through Him I may learn to understand the secrets and
mysteries of eternity, those things that never had a beginning and
will never have an end. He has ascended above all things after
descending below all things. He has fought his way from the depths up
to the position He now occupies. He holds it by virtue of His
goodness, of His might, of His majesty, of His power. He occupies that
position by virtue of being in perfect harmony with all that is right,
and true, and beautiful, and glorious and progressive. He is the
perfect embodiment and expression of the eternal principles of right.
He has won that position by His own exertions, by His own
faithfulness, by His own righteousness. Jesus Christ, the only
begotten son of God in the flesh, but His firstborn in the spirit, has
climbed His way up in a similar manner. He loved righteousness and
hated iniquity. He kept every law and every commandment. He knew no
sin, and guile was not found in His mouth. He loved not His own life,
as a paramount cosideration but sacrificed it to atone for the sins of
others. Whatever He learned was right, He practised, and He broke no
commandment of the Father, but obeyed every one. He came not to do His
own will, but the will of the Father that sent Him, and because He did
this and was faithful unto death, He was exalted on high. He overcame
evil. He conquered mortality. He triumphed over death. He conquered
that being who is the expression of evil principles, who is the
embodiment of the principles of darkness, who is the embodiment of all
the principles that are in opposition to those that exist and burn in
the bosom of Deity. He met him and conquered him and overcame him
[p.25] He, being in the truth and living by the truth; therefore he is
now to us, "the way, the truth, and the life." Overcoming all things
He was entitled to inherit all things, and all that the Father hath
was given unto Him. And we read:

Vol. 26,  p.25
"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do;
for what thing soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
(John v, 20.)"

Vol. 26,  p.25
As the Father had taken His upward course in worlds before this, so
Jesus Christ followed in his footsteps in every respect; therefore he
is entitled to sit down at the right hand of God in the heavens, to
sit on his throne and be one with the Father in all things; and all
the power and glory, and dominion that the Father hath he conferred
also upon Jesus. And the promise to the sons of God on the earth is,
that if they will follow in the footsteps of Jesus, they shall be also
exalted and shall partake of that glory which he partakes of and they
shall become Gods, even the sons of God, and "all things" shall be
theirs." And we are told in the revelations of God to us in the latter
days, that if we are faithful in all things, "all that Father hath"
shall be given unto us. We shall become like Him, and we shall receive
power and dominion and glory similar to that which he enjoys, only He
will always be above us, God as our Father, and Jesus Christ our elder
brother.

Vol. 26,  p.25
Now, we can understand a little about a being like this, but a being
of the character that divines attempt to describe is one we cannot
understand at all. They say that there are three of them, and yet
there is only one; that God has no body, neither parts nor passions.
Yet this thing that has no substance, and no parts, we are told, has
three parts, one part of which had a body, and that body was composed
of parts. And we are told also that it has no passions. Yet this one
part of that thing which has no body and no parts and no passions had
a body and parts and had passions. Jesus experienced the same things
that a man experiences, lived like a man, and died like a man, to some
extent. Now, who can understand these contradictions which are to be
found in the creeds of modern Christendom? The Athanasian Creed was
read in the Church of England, as it is called, when I was a boy, and
I believe it is now. I think the American Episcopal Church has
discarded it, which was very sensible. It says:

Vol. 26,  p.25
"Whosoever will be saved, before all things he must hold the Catholic
faith, which faith except he do keep whole and undefiled he shall,
without doubt, perish everlastingly. and the Catholic faith is this:
"That we worship one God in Trinity, and trinity in unity, neither
confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one
person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy
Ghost, but their glory is equal, and their majesty co-eternal. Such as
the Father is, such is the Son, and such the Holy Ghost. The Father is
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet there are not
three Gods, but one God. The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the
Holy Ghost is Lord, and yet there are not thee Lords, but one Lord.
For while we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge each
person by himself to be both God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the
Catholic faith to say that there be three Gods or three Lords."

Vol. 26,  p.26
It goes on to show how that these [p.26] three are all exactly Mike,
and then to declare that they are all essentially different. It
explains that the Son is begotten while the Father is not, and then
that the Holy Ghost is proceeding not begotten, while the Son is not
proceeding, neither is the Father, yet at the same time they are all
the same, and to cap the climax of the pile of absurdities it
announces that:

Vol. 26,  p.26
"The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, and the
Holy Ghost is incomprehensible, yet they are not three
incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible."

Vol. 26,  p.26
Well, that is all attempt of mini to explain God. As I said in the
beginning of my remarks, we do not pretend that we can comprehend God
in his fullness in our finite and mortal condition here on the earth,
because he is an infinite being. But we are promised that "the day
shall come when we shall comprehend God, being quickened in him."
Jesus said:

Vol. 26,  p.26
This is life eternal, to know thee the only living and true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

Vol. 26,  p.26
How can we learn to know God We can learn of our Father by hearkening
to his voice by listening to the whisperings of the holy Spirit, that
spirit that comes from him. "They that are led by the Spirit of God
are the sons of God." We can understand much concerning him by the
power of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred on us
that we may learn something about God, so that we may go on to
perfection; that we may walk in his ways; that we may climb the ladder
which he has climbed to perfection; that we may peradveuture overcome
and be made like him, share in his glory, and be one with him. And if
we will take the course that our Father has taken, living by every
word that comes from his mouth, we shall know what is right, for he
will reveal unto us what is true, and it is the knowledge and practice
of truth that exalts. If we will learn this as be learned it, advance
step by step, overcoming the Evil One; overcome the world and the
flesh, grapple with evil as we meet it and conquer it, we will have
the help of the Lord, and may raise ourselves by our own exertions, by
our faithfulness, by our obedience, and peradventure will overcome all
things, and inherit all things. We may thus rise above all things. We
may obtain glorious bodies like unto the glorious body of the Son of
God. We may prepare ourselves for the celestial glory in which the
Father dwells, and in which the Son dwells, and be made like him in
every respect, becoming spiritual beings dwelling in spiritual bodies,
quickened with the celestial glory, among the Gods, and enter into
holy order which is without beginning of days or end of years—the
everlasting order of the holy Priesthood—which Jesus Christ has, and a
portion of which he imparted unto his disciples when he was upon the
earth, and which he has restored to the earth in these latter days.

Vol. 26,  p.26
There are things connected with this that we cannot dwell upon in a
short discourse. But the keys of this Priesthood have been restored,
and by them we can obtain heavenly knowledge; learn to comprehend our
Father who is at the head of that Priesthood; learn to comprehend
Jesus Christ our Great High Priest. By this same Priesthood, a portion
of which we have received, we can obtain communion with the heavenly
Jerusalem, with the [p.27] spirits of just men made perfect, with
Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and with God who is the
holiest of all. That Priesthood had no beginning, and will never have
an end. As we are told in Scripture it is "without father or mother,
without beginning of days or end of years;" it always existed. The
individual, the organized person may have had a beginning, but that
spirit of which and by which they organized never had a beginning.
That Priesthood which is the power of government in the heavens, never
had a beginning, and it will never come to an end. The works of that
eternal spirit of intelligence, the great Eternal God, manifested to
us in our Father and through Jesus Christ, never had a beginning.
There never was a first world or man; there will never be a last. We
cannot grasp that in its fullness, but we can understand a little of
it by comparing it with other things. For instance, we will take
space. This tabernacle contains so much space, bounded by the walls of
the building; but go outside of these walls and space is there. Go to
the farthest bounds of this Territory, space is there. Go to the ends
of the earth, if you can find them, and there is space beyond. Mount
upward to the stars; go to the sun, pass above the sun to the two
worlds that govern it, that we read about in the Book of Abraham, in
"The Pearl of Great Price;" go even unto Kolob, the nearest to the
throne of God, and there is just as much space beyond as that which
you have left. There is no outside to space—no beginning, no end.

Vol. 26,  p.27
Thus there is boundless space, and we cannot fully comprehend it, yet
we must admit that it exists without limit. "There is no kingdom in
the which there is no space, and no space in the which there is no
kingdom, either a greater or a lesser kingdom." So we learn in the
Doctrine and Covenants. So travel where we will, there we find space,
and also inexhaustible material. And the elements, whether they be
spiritual or what we call natural—we use these terms to distinguish
them—never had a beginning—the primal particles never had a beginning.
They have been organized in different shapes; the organism had a
beginning but the elements or atoms of which it is composed never had.
You may burn this book, but every atom of which the book was composed,
every particle of substance that entered into its composition, still
exists; they are indestructible. When you go right down to the primary
elements, they never had a beginning, they will never have an end. For
in their primal condition they are not "created." They did not come
from nothing; they were organized into different forms, but the
elementary parts of matter as well as of spirit, using ordinary terms,
never had a beginning, and never will have an end.

Vol. 26,  p.27
Now, here are some things that you can understand to some extent, that
are beginningless and endless. It is the same with duration. Duration
never had a beginning, and it never will have an end. We measure
portions of time, but time itself, cannot be counted. Go back as far
as we can think, and there was just as much time or duration before
that period as since, and think as much as we can down the stream of
time there is just as much ahead. There is no limit to duration, no
beginning, no end. Thus there are boundless space, an infinity of
substance, endless duration. The elements of that eternal [p.28]
spirit which exists in and through and round about all things, and is
the law by which all things are governed, never had a beginning and
will never have an end. There was no beginning and there will be no
end to its operations. And therefore we are told that "the works of
God are one eternal round." There was no beginning to the works of
God, and there will be no end. The Priesthood, as I have quoted to
you, is without beginning of days or end of years. It was always
existent and always active. And therefore there was never a first
world or being, neither will there be a last one. We are here to learn
those principles that pertain to this lower sphere; to learn how to
raise ourselves from this groveling mortal condition, and make
ourselves like God, that we may dwell with him, come into perfect
harmony with that spirit of which I have been speaking, be one with
the Father and participate with him in the power which he wields, in
the midst of eternity.

Vol. 26,  p.28
Now, my brethren and sisters, will we walk in this way? Will we fit
ourselves to enter into our next estate with honor? We have come down
from God as his offspring. That part of us which is spirit was with
him in the eternal world. We have come down here in our time and
season, and God "determined the time before appointed and the bounds
of our habitation." We are here to learn the laws that govern this
lower world; to learn to grapple with evil and to understand what
darkness is. We came from an abode of bliss to understand the pain and
sorrow incident to this probation. We came here to comprehend what
death is. We existed in our first estate among the sons of God in the
presence of our Father, "when the morning sears sang together, and the
sons of God shouted for joy." The knowledge of our former state has
fled from us. Like Jesus, "in our humiliation our judgment is taken
away," and the veil is drawn between us and our former habitation.
This is for our trial. If we could see the things of eternity, and
comprehend ourselves as we are; if we could penetrate the mists and
clouds that shut out eternal realities from our gaze, the fleeting
things of time would be no trial to us, and one of the great objects
of our earthly probation or testing would be lost. But the past has
gone from our memory, the future is shut out from our vision and we
are living here in time, to learn little by little, line upon line,
precept upon precept. Here in the darkness, in the sorrow, in the
trial, in the pain, in the adversity, we have to learn what is right
and distinguish it from what is wrong, and lay hold of right and truth
and learn to live it. For it is not only the learning of it that is
needful, but we must live it, being guided and governed by it in all
things. If we have any evil propensities—inherited from progenitors
who for ages have gone astray from God—we have to grapple with them
and overcome them. Each individual must find out his own nature, and
what there is in it that is wrong, and bring it into subjection to the
will and righteousness of God. He must work with it until he is master
of it; until he can say to this mortal flesh which is continually
warring against the spirit, "I am your master by the grace of God."
Every passion, every inclination, every desire must be controlled and
made subject to the will of God. Though we mingle with the world, yet
we must not pattern after their evil ways nor "touch the unclean
[p.29] thing." We need not partake of the sins of the world. We can be
wrapped around by the influence of our religion as by the garments
that we wear, and be separate even though in the midst of the wicked.
We need not follow their ways nor be guided by their enticements, or
be governed by their nations, but should live according to the light
of God; and when evil spirits tempt us and seek to turn us aside from
the strait path that leads to the celestial city, stand firm in the
spirit of the Gospel and overcome them. And if we overcome all things
we shall inherit all things.

Vol. 26,  p.29
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even
as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev.
iii, 21."

Vol. 26,  p.29
We are the children of God, and when we go back into the presence of
our Father, if we return with honor, there will be joy in heaven;
there will be joy in our own bosoms, such joy as is not expressible.
How we shall rejoice! We will then comprehend all we knew before we
came here. We will comprehend everything we learned when we d welt in
the flesh; and we will be clothed upon with the spirit and power of
God in its fullness, and kingdoms and power and glory eternal will be
given unto us. We shall have the gift of eternal and endless increase.
Our families will be with us and be the beginning of our dominion, and
upon that basis we shall build forever. Our wives and our children
will be ours for all eternity. Our increase shall never cease while
duration rolls along and the works of God spread forth, and our
posterity and kingdoms will grow and extend till they shall be as
numerous as the stars, and we will enter into the rest of our Father
and enjoy his presence and society for evermore. God help us to attain
to the fullness of this glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.[p.30] 

John Taylor, December 14, 1884

Object of Gathering—Our Principles and Organization 
Revealed From God—He is Cognizant of All Things—Our 
Faith not Affected By the Ideas of Men—Our Dependence Upon 
God—Enoch's City—God's Justice in Sending the Flood, and 
in the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—His Judgments 
Will Come Upon Those Who Persecute His Saints—the 
Lord Will Bless His People—We Will Stand By the 
Constitution Though Others Ignore It

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, December 14th, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.30
WE hear a great many things associated with the Church and Kingdom of
God in which, as a people, we are very much interested.

Vol. 26,  p.30
We meet together, from, time to time, to sing, to pray, to speak, to
hear and to attend to the various duties and responsibilities that
devolve upon us. We are taught of things pertaining to time and things
pertaining to eternity, and perhaps we are more favored—well, there is
no perhaps about it—we are more favored than any other people that
dwell upon the face of the whole earth. We have been gathered together
from among the nations of the earth in order that we may be instructed
in the laws of God, and in the principles of truth and life, that we
may be able to comprehend our relationship to our heavenly Father, to
his Son Jesus Christ, to the Priesthood that exists in the heavens,
and to the inhabitants of the earth by whom we are surrounded, and
among whom we dwell.

Vol. 26,  p.30
There is something very peculiar about the position which we occupy
among the nations of the earth. We have not received any of the
intelligence which we possess from these nations, with the exception
of some matters pertaining to science, to art, and the common
education of the day. But as regards our religious principles we are
not indebted to any men who live upon the earth for them. These
principles emanated from God. They were given by revelation, and if we
have a First Presidency, if we have High Priests, if we have
Seventies, if we have Bishops, Elders, Priests and Teachers, if we
have Stake and other organizations, we have received them all from
God. If we have Temples, if we administer in them, it is because we
have received instruction in relation thereto from the Lord. If we
know anything pertaining to the future, it comes from him, and in fact
we live in God. we move in God, and from him we derive our being. Men
generally will not acknowledge this, but we as Latter-day [p.31]
Saints believe in these truths. Not one of us could have entered this
house this evening without being sustained by the power of God. Not
one of us could leave this house without guidance, strength and power
from hint to accomplish it. We have been taught to believe that he is
the Creator of all things visible and invisible, whether they be
things in the heavens or on the earth, whether they belong to this
world or other worlds, and that there is an all wise, all powerful
Being, who controls, manipulates and manages all the affairs of the
human family, and this is true whether it relates to the world in
which we live, to the heavens that are above us, or to other worlds by
which we are surrounded. It relates to our bodies and to our spirits,
and to all things associated therewith. Hence we are very dependent
beings. In the organization of man, in the organization of this earth,
and in the organization of the heavens, there were certain things
designed by the Almighty to be carried out, and that will be carried
out according to the purposes of the Most High, which things were
known to him from the beginning. There exists all manner of curious
opinions about God, and many people think it impossible for him to
take cognizance of all men, but that is very easily done. If I had
time to enter into this subject alone I could show you upon scientific
principles that man himself is a self-registering machine, his eyes,
his ears, his nose, the touch, the taste, and all the various senses
of the body, are so many media whereby man lays up for himself a
record which perhaps nobody else is acquainted with but himself; and
when the time comes for that record to be unfolded all men that have
eyes to see, and ears to hear, will be able to read all things as God
himself reads them and comprehends them, and all things, we are told,
are naked and open before him with whom we have to do. We are told in
relation to these matters that the hairs of our heads are numbered;
that even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our heavenly
Father's notice; and predicated upon some of these principles are some
things taught by Jesus, where he tells men to ask and they shall
receive. What! the millions that live upon the earth? Yes, the
millions of people, no matter how many there are. Can he hear and
answer all? Can he attend to all these things? Yes. "Ask, and it shall
be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." It is difficult
for men to comprehend some of these things, and, as they cannot
comprehend them they begin to think they are all nonsense—that, is,
many do—and, hence, infidelity and skepticism prevail to a great
extent. A great many strange notions are entertained in regard to God
and his dealings with humanity. This is because men do not understand
the things of God. I read in one of our papers a short time ago, that
there was some kind of a commission going to meet—some two or three
professors or scientists, men who are supposed to possess superior
intelligence—to examine the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, to find
out whether it was true or not, and I suppose if these
people—especially if they should be pious inert, possessing a little
learning and science—should come out and say the Book of Mormon was
not true, we all of us should have to lay it [p.32] aside should we
not? This to me is the veriest nonsense. It would not make one hair's
difference with us whether such a commission should decide that the
Book of Mormon is right or wrong. If they decide that it is true it
will not increase our faith in it; if they decide that it is not true,
it will not decrease our faith in it. Yet these are ideas that men
entertain.

Vol. 26,  p.32
Speaking upon this point I am reminded of an incident that took place
a number of years ago. Several prominent European scientists called
upon me, and they talked a little upon our religious principles. Then
they asked me if I was acquainted with the advanced ideas in regard to
geology. I told them I knew a little about them from what I had read.
"What do you think," said one of them to me, of these views as
compared with the scriptural account of the creation of the world?"
"Well," said I "the great difficulty is that men do not understand the
Scriptures." They could not see any difficulty on that ground, for
they all had their eyes to see, and they had an understanding of
words, languages, etc. "Well," said I, "we won't go through the whole
Bible, for that is quite a large book; but I will take one or two of
the first lines in the Bible. 'In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth.' Will you please tell me when the beginning
was? "We don't know," "When you find that out," said I, "then I will
tell you when the world was created." A good many other things
transpired associated with this interview, that I do not wish now to
repeat. Suffice it to say that before they got through, one of them
said: "I have read a good deal, I have studied a good deal, I find I
have a good deal more to read and study yet." I thought so too. I
thought if men could not understand the first two lines of the Bible,
it would be quite a task to teach them the whole of it.

Vol. 26,  p.32
In regard to the work in which we are engaged, as I said before and as
you have heard over and over again, it emanated from God, and all the
principles pertaining to it, came from Him. We talk sometimes about
this work, and how it is going to be accomplished. The work we are
engaged in is the work of God. If it is accomplished it will be
accomplished by the power of God, by the wisdom of God, by the
intelligence of God, and by the Priesthood that dwells with the Gods
in the eternal worlds, together with that which he has conferred upon
his people here upon the earth, and not by any other power or
influence in existence. We talk of a Zion that is to be built up. If a
Zion is ever built up on this earth, it will have to be under the
guidance and direction of the Almighty. We talk about a Church that is
to be built up and purified. If it is ever built up and purified, it
will be under the influence of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power
of God manifested among his people, whereby iniquity will be rooted
out, righteousness sustained, the principles of truth advanced, honor,
integrity, truth and virtue maintained, and hypocrisy, evil, crime and
corruption of every kind be rooted out. That will have to be done by
the aid and under the guidance of the Almighty. There is no man living
in and of himself, can guide the ship of Zion or regulate the affairs
of the Church and Kingdom of God unaided by the Spirit of God, and
hence he has organized the Church as he has with all the various
quorums and organizations as they exist to-day.[p.33] Who can boast or
has anything to say in relation to these things? No man living, no man
that has lived. If Joseph Smith knew anything about these things, it
was because God revealed it, and He has revealed many great and
precious principles in which the children of men are interested
pertaining to this world and to the next, pertaining to the living and
the dead, pertaining to time and eternity, and pertaining to all
things associated with the happiness and exaltation of man. All these
things emanated from God. And if Brigham Young knew anything he
received his intelligence from God and from the Prophet of God; and if
any of us know anything we have received it from the same source. We
are told that He is in all things, through all things, and about all
things, and by Him all things exist. He is the light of the sun and
the power thereof, by which it was made; the light of the moon and the
power thereof, by which it was made; and the light of the stars and
the power thereof, by which they were made; and it is the same light
that enlighteneth the understanding of man. This may seem strange
doctrine to some. We have been taught to believe that there was a
difference between mental and visual light; nevertheless the above
statement is philosophically true.

Vol. 26,  p.33
In regard to the earth, is it the Lord's? Yes. We are told that he
made it, that he created all things, visible and invisible, whether
pertaining to the earth or to the heavens. And where did man
originate? As we read it, he originated also from God. Who formed man
according to the Bible record? The Lord. Whence came our spirits? We
are told that God is the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh.
Then He of course is interested in the welfare of all flesh and all
people of all languages, of all tongues, of every color, and of every
clime. That is the way that I understand these things. Our spirits are
eternal and emanate from God. So we, as a people, have always
understood and do understand to-day. We possess our bodies also, and
they also emanated from God. The Bible tells us something in relation
to these matters in tracing out genealogies. Who was Seth? He was the
son of Adam. Who was Adam? The son of God. In another place we are
told that "all we are His offspring"—that is, according to that, we
are all the offspring of God.

Vol. 26,  p.33
Now, this earth was formed for a certain purpose, and man was also
formed for a certain purpose. And there are certain principles laid
down—you will find them in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, in the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and in the various revelations that
God has made through his servants—there are certain principles laid
down indicating that there are different grades of men possessing
varied powers and privileges, and that these men have to pass through
a certain ordeal—called by many a probation—that is, that we are here
in a probationary state, in a state of trial; and that as men live and
act according to the intelligence they are in possession oil—the
privileges which they enjoy, and the deeds that they perform, whether
for good or evil, there will be a time of judgment, and that there
will be a separation, of these various peoples according to the way in
which they have lived and acted upon the earth. Hence Paul tells that
there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, that there is one
glory of the sun, another of the [p.34] moon, and another of the
stars, and as one star differeth from another star in glory, so shall
it also be in the resurrection. Joseph Smith, in speaking on the same
subject, tells us that there are bodies celestial bodies terrestrial,
and bodies telestial, which agrees precisely with the remarks made by
Paul, only in other language. Thus there are many curious things
associated with our existence here upon the earth, which the natural
man does not and cannot comprehend. No man can know the things of God,
but by the Spirit of God.

Vol. 26,  p.34
Now, then, on this earth—which we call the Lord's vineyard—He has sent
forth His servants from time to time to gather people into His fold,
to gather out a few here and a few there who would be prepared to act
and operate with Him, and then, generally, these have been a
comparatively small number, Jesus said when He was upon the earth
"Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be who go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it." And it would seem, according to the testimonies we have both In
the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, that the Lord has taken great
pains in different ages of the world to send forth His servants to
preach the Gospel to the people. We find this especially so in Noah's
day, and in the days of Enoch. There was a remarkable work performed
then according to the revelations which have been given to us, which
will be more fully developed when the Lord shall see fit to reveal
other things associated therewith. But we learn that there was a
Church organized about as ours may be; we learn that they went forth
and preached the Gospel; we learn that they were gathered together to
a place called Zion; we learn that the people of Zion were under the
guidance, direction and teaching of the Almighty; in order that they
might be prepared for another Zion in the grand drama associated with
the dealings of God and his purposes pertaining to this earth and the
heavens. We read that they walked with God for 365 years. We are told
in the Bible a little short story about it, because it was one of
those things that it was not necessary that everybody should know. We
are told that "Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him."
But there was more about it than that. Enoch preached the Gospel to
the people, and so did hundreds of Elders as they are doing to-day;
and they gathered the people together and built up a Zion to the Lord,
and when Enoch was not, but was caught up, Enoch's city was not, but
was caught up, and there were certain things associated therewith that
are very peculiar. Why were they taken away from the earth? Because of
the corruptions of men, because of the wickedness of men, because
mankind had forsaken God, and become as broken cisterns that could
hold no water, because they were not fulfilling the measure of their
creation, and because it was not proper that they should live and
perpetuate a race that was so corrupt and abominable. But before this
was done, the righteous, the virtuous, the honorable, the pure, the
upright were gathered together, and taught and instructed in the
things of God. And what came next? Why, the destruction of the world.
It was overflowed, we read, by the flood. What! And all the people
destroyed? Yes, except a very few, according to the statements [p.35]
we have. "Well," say some of our wise men, "was not that cruel to
destroy so many people?" Perhaps it would be according to your ideas,
but it was not according to the Lord's ideas: because he looked upon
men as immortal beings. These men were accountable to their Maker,
they had a dual existence, they were associated with time and with
eternity, and we might go still farther and say they they were
associated with the past, the present and the future, and the Lord as
a great cosmogonist, took in the various stages of man's existence,
and operated for the general benefit of the whole. But was it not
cruel to destroy them? I think God understood precisely what He was
doing. They were His offspring, and He knowing things better than they
did, and they having placed themselves under the power and dominion of
Satan, He thought they had better be removed and another class of men
be introduced. Why? There were other persons concerned besides them.
There were millions of spirits in the eternal worlds who would shrink
from being contaminated by She wicked and corrupt, the debauchee, the
dishonest, the fraudulent, the hypocrite, and men who trampled upon
the ordinances of God. It might seem harsh for these men to be swept
off from the face of the earth, and not allowed to perpetuate their
species thereon; but what about the justice of forcing these pure
spirits to come and inhabit tabernacles begotten by debauched corrupt
reprobates, the imagination of whose heart was only evil, and that
continually—what about them Had they no rights that God was bound to
respect? Certainly they had, and He respected them. He cut off the
wicked. What did he do with them? He did with them as we do with some
of the wicked, and that we do not do with a great many others—that is,
they were put in prison. Had He a right to do that? I think He had.
They were his offspring. I think He had the right to act according to
the counsel of His own will. At any rate he took the liberty of doing
it. And who was there to say, "Why doest thou this?" First He called
upon them to forsake their wickedness, but they would not, and a while
after He destroyed them. Had He a right to do it? He had and He sent
them to hell. Some people talk about roasting there. That is something
of man's getting up. He sent them to prison, and they were confined
there, and when the proper time, came, Jesus, when He was put to death
in the flesh, was quickened by the Spirit, and went and preached to
those spirits that sometime were disobedient in the days of Noah.
Perhaps they had time enough during their stay, to reflect upon their
acts, and to become a little steadier, and to reflect upon God and His
laws. At any rate Jesus went and preached to those spirits in prison.

Vol. 26,  p.35
What, then, became of the inhabitants of the world? There were a few
who went through the narrow gate that Jesus spoke of, and they were
caught up and Zion with them, and the Lord is taking care of them in
his own way. They will be dealt with according to His purposes and
designs, and be numbered among His jewels. The others, as I have said,
were cast into prison, and there they remained about 2,500 years. It
was a pretty long imprisonment. Still the Lord had a right to
manipulate these things as He pleased, and He so manipulated them, and
although this time seems very long, yet in the eternities to come it
would only be a comparatively short period;[p.36] and if they needed a
schooling of this kind He, as their Father and Creator, was the proper
one to adjudge their punishment.

Vol. 26,  p.36
Sometime after this there were certain cities that had become very
corrupt, such as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Lord had a reckoning with
them, handled them in His own way according to His best judgment.
Abraham was a man who feared God, and God said: "Shall I bide from
Abraham that thing which I do." So He informed Abraham about it.
Abraham plead with the Lord, "Why," said he, "Lot lives down there, a
nephew of mine, and a pretty good sort of a man, and there may be a
great many others." The Lord said: "If I find in Sodom fifty
righteous, within the city, then I will spare all the place for their
sakes." Abraham, however, thought this was more than he could pick
out. I expect there was a crowd of mean "cusses" among them as we have
among us. And finally the Lord said that if ten righteous could be
found in the city, He would not destroy it for ten's sake. But ten
righteous people could not be found, and therefore the city had to be
destroyed. What! All the people? Yes, all the people. But before they
were destroyed he sent two angels and they brought out Lot, his wife
and daughters. His wife was a little tinctured with gentilism: she
looked back, and the Scriptures tell us she was turned into a pillar
of salt. When they got away, brimstone and fire fell upon the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them. Thus the Lord has taken the
privilege in many instances of correcting mankind. He used the
children of Israel to kill the people who dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and directed them to spare them not, because of their wickedness, to
cut them off root and branch. He raised up one nation and put down
another, and raised up one king and put down another.

Vol. 26,  p.36
There were times when the iniquity of these people was not yet full.
In Abraham's day the Lord told that Patriarch that he should go to his
fathers in peace, but in the fourth generation his posterity should
"come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full:"
by the days of Moses they appear to have filled the cup of their
iniquity, for he enjoined upon the Israelites, thou shalt utterly
destroy them," "as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." So that the
Lord takes upon Himself to manipulate the nations according to the
counsels of His own will, and as they all of them have to do with
eternity as well as time, He adjudges them according to the eternal
laws and principles by which He is governed; and hence we are told
that eternal punishment is God's punishment, and everlasting
punishment is God's punishment, thus men and nations are adjudged by
the Almighty, according to the infinite and eternal laws and
principles which exist in the heavens, and with a reference to eternal
duration and not according to the finite, erratic and limited ideas of
men. Jonah was sent to the city of Ninevah, to tell the people to
repent, and that if they did not repent they would all be destroyed.
But they listened to the voice of the Prophet. They clothed themselves
in sackcloth and sat in ashes and repented before the Lord, and then
the Lord forgave them. Why was it that a great many people were thus
judged by the Almighty? It was because of their iniquity. The same
thing prevailed upon this continent. The spirit of evil and
contention, war and strife, existed among the ancient [p.37]
Jaredites, when they forsook their God, and violated his laws. They
fought one with another; They were maddened by fury, even that fury
which was lit up by the fires of hell and by the spirit of fiends,
until they completely destroyed one another. So it was with the
Nephites who had departed from the law of God, and trampled under foot
his ordinances. They and the Lamanites were stirred up one against
another, until at last they gathered together thousands and tens of
thousands and hundreds of thousands of fighting men—they were four
years in gathering their armies, and they fought and sited blood and
spread destruction and death wherever they went. We can read the
account of it in the Book of Mormon, and I do not propose to repeat it
here this evening.

Vol. 26,  p.37
Now, how is it pertaining to the last days? As it was in the days of
Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. As
it was in the days of Lot, so Shall it also be in the days of the
Coming of the Son of Man. In what respect? In the days of Noah did
they have the Gospel preached unto them? Yes. Did the people generally
reject it? Yes. Did the people gather gather together and build up a
Zion? Yes. How is it in these days? The Lord has revealed his Gospel
to us as he did to them. He has sent forth the words of life, and is
sending them to the nations of the earth. Hundreds of Elders are going
to-day, and taking their lives in their hands, and some of them have
to sacrifice their lives? and others, in this land of liberty, because
they will be virtuous and keep the commands of God, are today
weltering in prison. Woe! to those who have a hand in these things. I
tell you and I tell them, as a servant of God, in the name of God,
that he will be after them and they shall suffer worse than that which
they inflict upon innocent, pure and virtuous men. Now, I bear
testimony to this, and you will know it when it comes to pass. Woe! to
them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against
them—hypocrites! who are wallowing in filthiness, corruption,
adultery, fornication and deception, in the name of virtue are seeking
to destroy a virtuous people, and those who dare honor and obey the
commandments of God.

Vol. 26,  p.37
Then, in regard to the work in which we are engaged. Will it go on? I
tell you it will. Will Zion be built up? I tell you it will. Will the
Zion that Enoch built up, descend? It host assuredly will, and this
that we are building up will ascend, and the two will meet and the
peoples thereof will fall on each other's necks, and embrace each
other. So says the word of God to us. Will we go on with our work?
With the help of the Lord we will. He has told us to do a work, and we
will try to carry it out—we of the First Presidency, we of the Twelve,
we of the Seventies, we of the Elders, we of the High Priests, we of
the Presidents of Stakes, we of the Bishops, and we of the Holy
Priesthood in all its various forms. By the help of the Lord, we will
try, first, to purify ourselves, to purify our households, to get rid
of Covetousness, deception and fraud of every kind, to act honorably
before God and before all men, and to love not the world, nor the
things that are in the world; for if any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. Anything that we may have or possess
comes from God; and if we are exalted, if we possess the good things
of the world—which I tell you in the name of Israel's God we shall, in
spite of all men and all [p.38] their influences, for the people of
Zion will be the richest of all people. This is in accordance with the
Scriptures. The Scripture tells us: "For brass I will bring gold, and
for iron I will bring sliver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron:
I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
Violence shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders."

Vol. 26,  p.38
The Lord has gathered us together that we may learn His law; that we
may be instructed in the principles of truth, righteousness and
virtue; that we may be prepared to honor and magnify our calling, and
glorify our God.

Vol. 26,  p.38
Well, what would you have us do when men are so corrupt—when it is
enough for a man here, because he has the kindness to take some
chickens for a poor woman to sell for her—when that is enough evidence
to convict him that he is an adulterer, and must be placed under bonds
and subjected to trial and punishment. What do they do with their
Christian whores that they have in our midst? Where do they come from?
They are not our institution. But they are protected, they can vote,
they can do as they please, no process can be introduced against them,
for they are a part of their institution, and must be protected; but
anything "in the marriage relation," you know, is different from that.

Vol. 26,  p.38
Well, what shall we do? We will treat all decent men very well, and we
will give the others a wide berth. These corrupt and villainous men
who are seeking to trample under foot the rights of free men and
deprive them of everything in life that is worth having, will suffer
the bondage they are seeking to bring upon us. I tell you that, and we
need not try to make these affairs any worse. We will treat them as
well as we can. There are thousands and tens of thousands who despise
their meanness and corruption—honorable Americans, thousands and tens
of thousands of them who are ashamed of the meanness and corruption of
these wretches; and there are thousands of men abroad who have just
the same feeling. I saw and conversed with a member of the British
Parliament recently, and in speaking about Rudger Clawson's case, said
he: "It is one of the most infamous things I ever heard of, and if you
will permit me I will go to the President of the United States, and
ask him to pardon that man." "Why, yes," said I, "you have my
permission certainly." That is the way a British member of Parliament
talked about the acts and doings of some of our officials here right
in our midst. Yet, notwithstanding the wickedness, the corruption,
venom, the hypocrisy, and the deception that is practiced here, right
under our noses, we will stand still and see the salvation of God, and
God in His own time will remove these vindictive men out of their
places. Meantime we will continue to fear God, and work righteousness;
we will cleave to the truth, live our religion, be humble before God,
train up our children in purity, virtue and holiness, and set
ourselves against everything that is corrupt, hypocritical,
fraudulent, and contrary to the principles of righteousness. We will
trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of
those that believe. We will do fight, we will treat all men right, and
we will maintain every institution of our country that is according to
the Constitution of the United States, and the laws thereof, and we
will sustain them.[p.39] By and by, you will find they will tear the
Constitution to shreads, as they have begun now; they won't have to
begin; they have started long ago to rend the Constitution of our
country in pieces; and in doing so they are letting loose and
encouraging a principle which will react upon themselves with terrible
consequences; for if law-makers and administrators can afford to
trample upon justice, equity, and the Constitution of this country,
they will find thousands and tens of thousands who are willing to
follow in their wake in the demolition of the rights of man, and the
destruction of all principles of justice, and the safeguards of the
nation; but we will stand by and maintain its principles and the
rights of all men of every color, and every clime; we will cleave to
the truth, live our religion and keep the commandments of God, and God
will bless us in time and throughout the eternities that are to come.

Vol. 26,  p.39
God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of Jesus,
Amen.

George Q. Cannon, December 7, 1884

The Second Coming of Our Savior—Preaching of the 
Gospel and the Signs Following—the Gathering—Hatred 
of the World Toward the Latter-Day Saints—No Power Can 
Overthrow the Work of God—Exhortations to Faithfulness

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon Dec. 7th, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.39
THE speaker commenced by reading the 24th chapter of Matthew; after
which he spoke as follows:

Vol. 26,  p.39
I have read this chapter to call your attention to the predictions of
the Son of God concerning the last days, and the circumstances which
would surround His people previous to His making His second appearance
on the earth. Great interest has been manifested at different periods
by the inhabitants of the earth who have believed in Jesus, respecting
His second coming. Great desires have been manifested from time to
time to understand the signs [p.40] of His advent, and some have gone
so far as to predict the day and even the exact time when He would
make his appearance. According to the revelations that we have
received upon this subject, the day and the hour are not revealed unto
man, neither is it probable that they will be, but we have been told
that that time is near at hand, and that it is our duty as the people
of God, to prepare ourselves for that great a, and terrible day. The
message which the Elders of this Church were commissioned to declare
unto the inhabitants of the earth 54 years ago, and which they have
since that time been declaring wherever they have gone is, that the
time is near at hand for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to make His
second appearance, and the Elders of this Church have been sent with a
warning message to all the nations of the earth, to declare unto them
that the hour of God's judgment is near at hand; that the time for the
fulfillment of the prediction of the holy Prophets has arrived, and
that it is the duty of the inhabitants of the earth to prepare
themselves for the great events that are about to take place connected
with the last days. And in order that they might the better prepare
themselves, the servants of God are commanded to call upon the people
to gather out from the various nations where they are living to a
place that God has designated as a place of gathering for His elect,
where they might prepare themselves for the coming of our Lord and
Savior. This was the message which the Elders were sent forth to bear
54 years ago, and from that time until the present they have been, to
the extent of their ability, proclaiming it to the various nations to
which they have had access, warning them in meekness and in humility,
that the time was near at hand for the fulfillment of all that had
been spoken by the mouths of the servants of God in ancient days
concerning the last days. Yet, as I have said, we have had no
authority given unto us, no message to designate the hour nor the day,
nor even the year when the Lord would make His appearance. That has
been kept by the Father. The angels diet not know the hour nor the day
when our Savior spoke the words that I have read in your hearing; and
if the angels have since been informed of it, we have not been advised
to that effect. We have been told that the time is near at hand, and
as an evidence of the near approach of this event we have seen the
fulfillment of many things that were told should take place. This
Gospel of the Kingdom, Jesus said, had to be preached unto all nations
as a witness—the same Gospel that was preached by Him and His
disciples when they were upon the earth—that Gospel of the Kingdom had
to be preached unto all nations before the end should come. And it is
being preached in that manner now. The same principles, the same
doctrines, the same plan of salvation, the same gifts and graces, the
same organization of the Church, the same authority that was in the
Church in ancient days—these having been restored are now being
preached as a witness by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints unto all nations, in order that every inhabitant of
the earth should be warned, that every man should hear the glad
tidings of salvation in his own tongue, and have the opportunity of
embracing or rejecting the same, and of being gathered out and
numbered with the people of God.

Vol. 26,  p.43
I need not say to you, my brethren and sisters, who are familiar with
[p.41] this work, that God has accompanied the preaching of this
Gospel by signs following. You know this. You are living witness
yourselves of the power of God, of the manifestation of the Holy
Ghost, and of the gifts that pertain thereto. This whole people,
called Latter-day Saints, living in these mountains, from north to
south, from east to west, are a body of living witnesses of the truth
of that which I say respecting the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and
its gifts upon the people; for by the power of the Holy Ghost have
they been gathered; by the manifestations of the power of God have
they wended their way from the various lands they formerly dwelt in,
to this land—impelled by the Spirit of God to do this, in a most
extraordinary manner, ready to abandon homes, ready to forsake their
friends, ready to sever their connection with all that was near and
dear to them previous to their reception of the Gospel. What a host of
witnesses could rise up if they could be gathered together throughout
these mountains! men, women and children, who in their various
languages—every language almost of Europe, and I see here some from
the Pacific Islands, others from far off Africa, others from far off
Australia, would testify, had they the opportunity, to the outpouring
of the Spirit and power of God upon them in the lands where they dwelt
when they heard the Gospel and obeyed it, as taught to them by the
Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this
manner God has borne witness to the inhabitants of the earth, and is
still bearing witness to them wherever they receive His Gospel,
whenever they bow in humility and submission to His requirements,
whether in the United States, in Canada, in Mexico, in Central or
South America, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, or in any Islands of the
sea—wherever the Elders of this Church go, carrying this message of
salvation, and the people receive it, they receive with it a testimony
from God, not given by man nor by man's wisdom, nor through man's
power, but through the power of the Eternal God,—that testimony
resting down upon them in fullness, burning within them, impelling
them to do that which they never contemplated doing before,—that is,
impelling them to forsake all their old associations, and sever the
ties that had heretofore bound them to their kindred and their homes,
and to come to the land which God has designated as the place to which
they should gather. In this manner God is fulfilling, as I have said,
the testimony of His ancient servants, for John the Revelator,
testified that there should be a cry go forth unto the inhabitants of
the earth to crime out from the midst of Babylon. Jesus says in this
chapter that the elect should be gathered from the four quarters of
the earth, from the four winds of heaven they should be gathered
together, and this preparatory to His coming. And that which I have
read in your healing is abundantly fulfilled this day in our sight and
to our knowledge. Speaking of His disciples and to His disciples, He
said: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill
you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." If this
is not fulfilled this day in our sight and in our hearing, then when
can it be fulfilled? How can it be fulfilled? To-day here is a people
gathered in these mountains, brought from the nations of the earth, as
I have said, dwelling here in peace and in quietness, [p.42] free from
strife, free from litigation, free from war, free from everything that
disturbs and annoys, in every settlement from north to south, from
east to west, wherever they have formed themselves into a community;
living in the possession of unexampled peace. Take the settlements of
this people in Colorado; visit those in Arizona and New Mexico; go
north and travel through Utah and visit Idaho—go where you will,
wherever they have settled, you will find a community dwelling in
peace slid in quietness, loving one another, obeying the law of God,
striving to keep His commandments, seeking to overcome evil,
endeavoring to live themselves in accordance with His requirements,
and to teach their children to do likewise. These are the
characteristics of the settlements of the Latter-day Saints throughout
all these mountains. So far as we are concerned ourselves, we have
scarcely any need of lawyers. They are very necessary as conveyancers,
they are very necessary in drawing up papers, in making wills, in
making deeds, in forming contracts, in doing business of this
character; but so far as the practice of the law in litigation is
concerned, there is no need for their services in any of the
settlements of the Latter-day Saints. The law of God to us when obeyed
is sufficient to lift us above these petty strifes and difficulties.
We should live, if we do not, in a purer and higher atmosphere, in a
region elevated far above that which is occupied by people of this
character. If you travel through the settlements where the Latter-day
Saints have control you will not find drunkenness prevalent, in fact,
if they be true Latter-day Saints, there will be no drunkenness. You
will not hear the name of God blasphemed where Latter-day Saints live;
you will not hear quarrelling; you, will not hear of adulteries and
seductions; you will not witness Sabbath-breaking; but you will see
the people living in the observance of the laws of God, a moral, pure,
peaceable, orderly, people. These are the characteristics of the
communities of the Latter-day Saints where they live according to the
requirements of their holy religion. and though we are far from being
perfect in these respects, though there are many things to complain of
and to find fault with among us, nevertheless these characteristics do
prevail to an extent that cannot be found in other communities of the
same size and in the same circumstances. And yet these words that I
have read in your hearing are this day fulfilled. "They shall deliver
you up to be afflicted," said Jesus, "and shall kill you" (this has
been and is our fate) "and ye shall be hated of all nations for my
name's sake." Most singularly has this prediction been and is being
fulfilled in regard to us. There is not another community on the face
of the earth to-day who are hated by all nations for the sake of Jesus
as are the Latter-day Saints. Go where you will throughout our own
nation; go where you will throughout Christendom; travel among all
people and ask them concerning the Latter-day Saints, and they wilt
tell you that they hate them, that they are a people to be hated, that
they are a people that should be destroyed, that they should not be
tolerated, and that measures should be taken for their entire
extirpation from the earth. One of the most remarkable features
connected with this work is this hatred that exists in the minds of
men and women concerning it. I look upon it as one of the greatest and
most striking evidences of the truth of [p.43] the words of the
Savior, and of the divinity of this work. There is no other people
with whom I am acquainted who so strikingly fulfill the words of the
Savior, and the promises which He made unto His disciples respecting
the consequences of obeying His doctrine as do the Latter-day Saints.
And it is not for their wickedness, because when their lives are
compared with the lives of others, they stand out in striking contrast
with them. This is admitted even by our enemies. They give us credit
fur not being adulterers, they give us credit for not being seducers;
they give us credit for not being thieves; they give us credit for
keeping our word; they give us credit for being honest in our
dealings. To-day, our bitterest enemies in this city, the men who hate
us the most, who would destroy us if they had the power, never dare
say that we are dishonest in our dealings. We keep our word. We
abstain from drunkenness. We abstain from gambling. We do not support
houses of ill fame. We maintain order and peace wherever we go. But we
are accused of many crimes. We are accused of being guilty of many
misdeeds. But when the proof is asked for it is something that has
happened some time ago, something that somebody else knows.

Vol. 26,  p.43
We can be truthfully accused of nothing except this: that we marry
wives, that we sustain them honorably, and that we keep our children
and train them up in the fear of God, and make good citizens of them.
This is the head and front of our offending. It is not truthfully said
that we prostitute women; or that she is degraded here by making her a
prey to lust. It is not said we destroy our offspring. No such charges
are made against us. But the crime is that we honorably take wives in
wedlock and rear children, and bring them up legitimately, teaching
them the principles of righteousness as we understand them. We could
vote to-day—you men who are disfranchised, and you women who are
disfranchised—you could vote to-day if you were adulterers and
adulteresses. Yes, in this land of ours, in this Territory of Utah you
could go to the polls and cast your vote if you lived outside of
wedlock, if you prostituted yourselves, if you made women the victims
of vile lust, if you trampled upon everything that is holy and pure in
the sight of God and of good men, you would not be disfranchised. You
could cast your vote. You could hold office—that is, you could be a
candidate for office, and if elected you could hold it. Therefore, it
is not for adultery, it is not for seduction, it is not for crimes of
this kind that we are hated, but it is because in righteousness and in
truth, without deception and without fraud, we honorably and in the
sight of day—that is we have done so in times past—married wives in
accordance with what we believed to be the command of our Great
Creator.

Vol. 26,  p.43
We are hated of all men and of all nations for Christ's sake. It is,
because of our religion. If we discarded the forms of religion; if we
did trot attach importance to the solemnization of the marriage
ordinance; if it were done in any other name, or in any other form, or
for any other purpose, it would pass, doubtless, as it does in other
society, without being challenged or receiving particular
condemnation. But it is admitted—I have been told it hundreds of
times—that it is because you make this religion. "That is why we hate
it," they say. "That is why we will legislate against it. If you had
not made it religion we [p.44] would not care anything about it." When
I have plead with members of Congress in Washington, and told them
this institution was part of our religion, they have said: "Yes, Mr.
Cannon, that is the difficulty. It is because you make it religion
that we want to legislate against it. If you did not make it religion
there would not be that objection to it that there is." Therefore, as
I have said, the words of the Savior are fulfilled. Because we make
this the religion of Jesus, because we profess to be the followers of
Jesus, and because of being His followers, therefore, as Jesus said,
"you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake;" not for
anything else, but for the sake of the name of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, whose religion we have espoused, whose followers we
claim to be, and because of being his followers we do as we are doing.
Most signally, then, has this prediction been fulfilled in our sight
and hearing. One of the most remarkable features of the present age is
the hatred that is manifested against this people. It might be that as
a people of our numbers, situated as we are, so far removed from other
communities in these remote regions, might escape observation, and
that we might be left to pursue our own course, quietly, so long as we
did not intrude upon our neighbors. We came to this land a band of
religious exiles seeking a home amid these mountain wilds, content to
live here if we had only bread and water, if we could get sufficient
to sustain life; for the sake of that peace and quiet which was denied
us in the lands whence we were driven we were content to endure all
the hard-ships that could possibly be encountered in this mountain
region. If we could only sustain life we would have been satisfied
with our home here. And we thought we might escape persecution. We
thought we had got so far away that we could worship our God
henceforth without let or hindrance. We did not wish to injure others.
We did not wish to force our religion upon others. We had no design
upon any human being, no design to injure any soul upon the face of
the earth. Our hearts were filled with the desire that others might
comprehend the truth as we comprehend it, that they might partake of
the blessings of the Gospel as we had received them, and to do
this—that is to make them familiar with these things—we were willing
to spend our lives in traveling from land to land and from continent
to continent, without purse said without scrip, preaching, in humility
and in meekness, the Gospel of the Son of God, as we understand it as
a witness unto all nations before the end should come. We went from
land to land preaching this Gospel, calling upon the inhabitants of
the earth to listen to our message, and this was the extent of our
wrong doing. We had not, as I say, any designs against the peace of
any soul upon the face of the earth, but our hearts over-flowed with a
strong and unquenchable desire that they might also receive the Gospel
and the blessings of the Gospel as we had received them. That Gospel
has brought to us happiness, peace, joy unexampled. That Gospel had
filled us with a foretaste of heaven. Through that Gospel we had
received the Holy Ghost and the gifts thereof, and because of that
precious gift we were able to endure all the hardships and all the
persecutions that the wicked might see fit to bring upon us for the
sake of our religion. We were willing to do this. We rejoiced in
it.[p.45] We knew it was more precious than life itself, and many have
been willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel. We
had left everything that men held dear upon earth for the sake of this
great truth that God had revealed to us, and our souls burned with an
overpowering desire that others might also partake of the same
blessing. Therefore we traveled from nation to nation, bearing these
glad tidings and calling upon the inhabitants of the earth to receive
them and partake of them as we had done.

Vol. 26,  p.45
Now, it might be thought that a people, thus situated would be left
alone to the enjoyment, the peaceful enjoyment of their religion. If
their religion was a heresy they were the sufferers. If their religion
was false they would be the ones that would receive the punishment.
But not content with driving us out, not content with compelling us to
flee to these mountains, the same foul and deadly spirit of
persecution followed us up here into these mountain recesses. They
envied us the possession of these sterile, barren valleys. That cruel
spirit of persecution still followed us, envious of the quiet homes we
had reared by untold and uncounted toil out of the elements that
surround us. We had raised a scanty subsistence from the soil; we had
struggled with difficulties and had eventually succeeded in
surmounting them, that we could hope to live, live without fear of
starvation at least before us. But scarcely was the experiment
decided—for it was but an experiment at best—than the same spirit that
had made our residence in the States intolerable and unendurable to
us, followed us across these plains I that stretched out between us
and our old homes and the old civilization which we had left—followed
us here, and it has followed us from that day until the present, it
has sought to kill us, and it has sought to destroy our liberties. It
has sought to do to us that which was done before—to drive us from our
homes, and send us forth homeless wanderers upon the face of the
earth. This has been its manifestation in our midst in this Territory,
and it seems as though it would not be fully gratified or satisfied
until it has made victims of every one of us; until we should be
numbered with the silent dead, and our voices no more be heard in
proclamation of the Gospel of the Son of God, that we have been
authorized to proclaim to the inhabitants of the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.45
"My brethren and sisters: I do not wish in my remarks to harrow up
your feelings. I wish merely to impress you with some of the events
that are occurring around about us, that you may know that they are
only in fulfillment of the word of God, spoken hundreds and hundreds
of years ago by the Son of God Himself, and by His inspired servants.
We are only moving in the sphere that He intended we should move in;
we are only enduring the trials and afflictions that in His providence
He foresaw and deemed necessary for us to encounter in our passage
through life, and in the establishment of His work upon the earth, and
in preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. Let not your hearts
fail you, therefore: be not discouraged nor consider yourselves in the
least degree oppressed beyond that which is right and proper. All
these things are necessary in the providence of our God. We shall have
more to encounter; but we shall have the strength and the grace
necessary to enable us to meet them and to bear them patiently,[p.46]
and to come out of them victoriously; for as you are often told,
whatever may be the fate of individuals connected with this work, it
is decreed in the heavens by our Eternal Father, that this work, the
foundation of which He has laid, will never be taken from the earth
again, it will never be overthrown. There iS no power that can
overthrow this work of our God. Men may be sent to prison, as Brother
Rudger Clawson has, as Brother Joseph H. Evans has, as others in
Arizona have, for their religion, for practicing that which they
believe to be of God—men may be sent to prison by hundreds, men may be
slain, as our brethren were in Tennessee lately, and as Joseph
Standing was in Georgia, and as brethren were in years gone past in
Missouri, as our Prophet and Patriarch were in Illinois, as our
revered President was shot to pieces at the same time—men's blood may
be shed, the blood of the Saints may stain the ground, the soil may be
drenched with it, but though this may be the case, yet as sure as God
lives so sure will this work that He has established, roll forth and
prevail. the principles of truth connected with it are unalterable and
eternal. They cannot be changed, they cannot be destroyed. You might
as well try to destroy the throne of the Great Eternal Himself, as to
destroy this work, for it is eternal. the truths of this Gospel are
imperishable. They cannot be changed; they cannot be obliterated nor
overthrown. And God has said. this concerning this work—that it will
stand forever. It will overcome every obstacle. It will grow, it will
increase. Everything done against it will only be the means of
accelerating it, or pushing it forward, or insuring to it the victory
that God has promised. I testify this in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for I know it to be true, and I know that every power that
opposes this work will perish. God has said it, and His words, thus
far have been fulfilled. Recount the list of the opposers of this
work, and who is there among the vast host that has ever succeeded? Is
not failure, is not shame, is not ignominy written upon every man's
character and the character of every community that has fought against
this work of our God from the beginning up to the present time? The
enemies of this work have perished, they have gone down into oblivion,
and they have not succeeded. Look at the list from the beginning, from
the 6th of April, 1830, until this day of our Lord, and go through it,
and where can you find, where can you put your finger upon a man or
upon a community that has prospered in fighting against Zion, against
this work of our God? They have gone down, while this people have gone
forward, have risen, gone upward, have confirmed to increase in
influence, in power in the earth and have become more and more
solidified. and it will be so to the end; for this work is designed in
the providence of our God to prevail, and there is no power nor
influence that can prevent it.

Vol. 26,  p.46
It behooves us as Latter-day Saints to be faithful to our God. I will
tell you, my brethren and sisters. there is only one thing that can
injure this work, and that is the sins of the people themselves. You
can injure it, that is, you can injure yourselves in connection with
it. There is no man can prevent another from receiving salvation. God
has not placed it in the power of man to prevent either a man, or a
woman, or a child from receiving salvation. He has placed that within
the power [p.47] of the individual himself or herself. If a man be
damned it is because he takes a course to be damned; he breaks the
laws of God. So it is with us as a people. If we are chastened, if we
are scourged, if our enemies have power over us, it will be because we
do not live as we should do, and this is a subject that I would like
very much to speak about. I would like very much to tell my feelings
upon this point to the Bishops and to the Teachers and to the officers
of the Church. There are practices being indulged in among us that are
sins in the sight of God, and the officers of this Church will be held
accountable for them, unless they take a course to eradicate them from
the midst of the Saints. There should be no man allowed to remain in
this Church who is a Sabbath-breaker, and when you know that there are
meal and women or children who are Sabbath-breakers you should take
steps to have them warned, to have them reproved, and if they will not
repent to have them severed from the Church of God. No mall in this
Church should be allowed to have a standing in it who is a drunkard;
God does not approve of drunkenness; and if there are any drunkards
remaining in the Church, hear it, O ye Bishops, and O ye officers, you
will be held accountable for their sins—the condemnation will rest
upon you. The same with men who blaspheme, either young or old, who
take the name of God in vain, they ought not to be permitted to remain
in the Church. It is a sin in the sight of God, and He will visit a
people with condemnation who permit these things to exist in their
midst. And so with fornication. No fornicator, no adulterer nor
adultress, should have a place among us. They should be warned, they
should be dealt with, they should be cut off from the Church. And so
with every other sin. We have been too lenient, and have permitted
things to exist which are wrong in the sight of God. Now that our
enemies are waging war against us, there is only one way in which we
can expect to withstand assaults made upon us, and that is in being a
pure people, in being a people who live according to the laws of our
God. This we must be, or the favor of God will be withdrawn from us.
Therefore, let, the Church be cleansed. Let the Teachers visit under
the influence of the Spirit of God and the gift of discernment, and
where they find those that are living in opposition to, or in
violation of the laws of God, let them, by the Spirit of God, which
will rest upon them, teach and warn that household, and thus take
steps to purify the Church. Let every Priest and every Teacher go
forth in that spirit in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and you
will see good results; and then let hell boil over, let hell array
itself with all its fences, let earth and hell combine against this
work of our God, and they cannot succeed. I am not afraid of all hell;
I am not afraid of all the earth, if the Latter-day Saints will be
pure, if they will live their religion. I know that we shall triumph
and come off victorious in every contest, which may God grant in the
name of Jesus. Amen.[p.48] 

George Teasdale, January 11, 1885

Visit to the South—Testimony Obtained From 
God—Necessity and Benefits of Prayer

Discourse By Apostle George Teasdale, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, January 11th, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine 

Vol. 26,  p.48
SINCE the last time I had the privilege of worshiping in this house I
have had the opportunity, in company with Brother F. M. Lyman, of
making a tour through the Southern wards and Stakes of this Territory,
and I must say, though it was my first visit to several places, that I
have enjoyed my labors exceedingly. I appreciated my association with
the Saints, who are striving in their weakness to establish the
righteousness of God upon the earth. I was treated with the greatest
kindness. It is impossible for us to be associated as we are in a
great work—a work that from the beginning has been opposed by the
world—without feeling the greatest admiration for men and women who
are filled with the spirit of integrity, who manifest a love for God
and for the principles of righteousness, that is surprising in the day
and age in which we live, when righteousness is so unpopular. I had
always been given to understand that I was living in an enlightened
age in the blaze of the Gospel; that we had passed from the dark ages
and living in an enlightened age, among educated people; that the
Gospel of the Son of God was being promulgated in all nations, and
that we had the Bible for a guide, so that we need not be mistaken.
This being the case, it is something very curious—I often think so in
my reflections—that men and women are to-day in the penitentiary,
doomed to associate with the worst class of villains, because they
believe in God. The same principle that exalted Abraham and made him
the "friend of God," because he believed God and obeyed Him to-day is
considered a crime: for men and women who manifest that they have the
faith of Abraham by doing the works of Abraham are considered fit
subjects to be placed among murderers and the worst class of
characters. I presume if 50 years ago, any man had said that the time
would come when the doctrine of Christ should be so unpopular that
those who believed God, and who practiced the principles that lead to
endless lives, would be incarcerated in dungeons, he would have been
considered slightly insane. It has been the boast of the nation to
which we are attached, that wherever the glorious flag waved it was a
source of consolation to the people of all nations to know that there
was a spot on earth that was the land of the [p.49] free and the home
of the brave. With a Constitution that is the admiration of all
nations and peoples, nobody would have ever thought for a moment that
the circumstances that we see to-day, and the facts that we are in
possession of, would ever be recorded upon the pages of American
history, and they never would have been had the spirit of patriotism
that dwelt in the bosoms of those who consecrated their lives, their
sacred honor, and their all, for the establishment of a spot on earth
that should be indeed the land of the free, and the home of the brave,
been manifested to-day. No brave man would ever interfere with another
man's religion. It is all that I have. My hope, my joy. Take my
religion away, and I am a beggar of the poorest kind. If I am wrong
show me my wrong: I am open to conviction. I embraced the doctrine
taught by the Latter-day Saints, because I believed that it was true,
and that it promised to me something more than I was in possession of.
The humble man that brought the glad tidings of the restoration of the
Gospel, told me that if I would appeal to God who dwells in the
heavens, and would appeal honestly, He would give me light and
intelligence, and that if I would obey the Gospel I should be put in
possession of knowledge that it was true; that I would learn that
Joseph Smith was no false prophet, but a true prophet sent of God;
that holy angels, holding keys of power and authority, had visited the
earth for the express purpose of restoring the Priesthood of God, that
the Gospel might be taught in power and authority in all nations,
preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, which is nigh at our
doors. Wishing to be kind to myself; wishing to understand if there
was any truth in all these things, I went where we should all go—to
the throne of grace, and asked God the Eternal Father in the name of
Jesus Christ, that if the testimonies I had heard were true, that I
might have a knowledge of the same; that I was willing to embrace the
Gospel provided that it was true, and it would guarantee the
excellency of knowledge that was promised me if I would seek wisdom at
His hands and obey. I asked that if it was the truth I might know it;
because if any man desired eternal life I did; if any man desired to
serve God I did; if any man desired the remission of his sins I did;
and consequetly I went to that source that I would presume all
intelligent men and women would appeal to when a message of the kind
that came unto us through the Prophet Joseph Smith was sounded in our
ears. I obtained that knowledge, and I have endeavored faithfully to
bear my testimony wherever I have been, and under whatever
circumstances I have been placed. And I have never taken any step but
what I have appealed to the same source, believing as I do in the
Gospel of Christ, believing as I do in the Bible, and believing that
James meant what he said when he stated: "If any of you lack wisdom
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him." I went forth in the simplicity of my
heart believing God would answer my prayer. He did so, and from that
day to this I have had, in my associations with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, a living testimony of the truth of this
work, and the closer I live to the requirements and to the principles
that have been enunciated, and are continually enunciated, by inspired
men, the greater the happiness [p.50] and peace I enjoy. Do I wish to
interfere with the rights and privileges of anybody? God forbid. Do I
wish to do anything that would be a reproach to this nation? God
forbid. The course that the Latter-day Saints are taking is an honor
to the nation. It is an honor to this country. That God our Eternal
Father selected men who had been born, and raised on this soil to
usher in the dispensation of the fullness of times. It certainly ought
to be a source of joy to all men who are honest in heart, and who
desire to obtain eternal life, to know that the keys are turned by
which they can obtain the same. But as it was in the days of Christ,
so it is to-day. The world by wisdom know not God: and the course that
they are taking to-day in fighting against the principles of
righteousness is a shocking record to make upon the pages of history.
Can a false religion benefit me? Can man-made systems benefit me? Can
I obtain the remission of my sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost,
through uninspired men? I think not. I have no guarantee for that
inside or outside of the lids of the Bible.

Vol. 26,  p.50
In my travels among the Latter-day Saints, circumstances have arisen
that have caused me some reflection, more especially with regard to
prayer. It might not be believed that among the people who profess to
be Latter-day Saints, there, are those who neglect prayer. We have had
to ask young men, sometimes, that were Elders and who had been
recommended to be Seventies, if they prayed, and in telling us the
truth, they have stated that they did sometimes. I never should have
doubted for a moment that there was anybody professing to be a
Latter-day Saint who did not pray. I cannot understand it. I was
inducted into the Kingdom of God by prayer, and I have been sustained
by the Almighty Father, by prayer, ever since that day. I do not pray
for form sake: I pray because I earnestly desire to have the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost. I cannot understand how anybody can pray
for form's sake, although I have almost been led to believe that we do
so on a great many times and occasions, and I will give you my reasons
for so thinking. What is the idea, after singing, of one of the
brethren standing up here to open this meeting by prayer? Is he not
our spokesman, the mouthpiece, and should we not, while he utters the
sentences, have those sentences pass through our minds in a prayer as
a congregation, and when he has finished it, endorse the same by
saying "amen." What is the meaning of "amen?" So be it. Well, I
noticed to-day that there were few "amens." Why is this? Did we not
endorse the prayer? Did we not sanction it? I should think if we did
we would naturally say "amen"—so let it be. But I will tell you what I
am afraid of—I am afraid of the Latter-day Saints getting into a form
of religion and being no better off than their neighbors, or getting
into the habit of going to meeting and hearing the singing and praying
and the discourse without their having any influence whatever upon our
minds any more than perchance to criticise. I cannot understand how
that kind of a worship can be acceptable to God. If I understand it,
He requires our hearts, and He desires when we pray that we mean what
we say. What is the meaning of prayer? Why, it is to earnestly ask
something that we require with all our hearts. All who are in
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, will ask God [p.51] for His Spirit to be
in their hearts in all their business relations, even, that they might
not soil their hands, but keep them clean and their hearts pure, that
they might merit His approbation. The Lord Jesus Christ encouraged His
disciples to pray—to pray without ceasing. Upon one occasion He spoke
a parable on this very subject, that men ought always to pray and not
faint. And I think if any people on the face of the earth ought to
pray it certainly should be the Latter-day Saints; for we have no
friends on the earth. All the friendship that we can depend upon is in
God our Eternal Father, who controls the actions of all men, and who
allows men to go to a certain extent, that they may prove before the
heavens their corrupt hearts and what they would do if they were
permitted; that every man through the agency that God has given him,
may manifest himself before God, before the heavens, and before all
mankind, as to the spirit he is of in the record that he makes. The
Savior said there was a certain judge, "which feared not God, neither
regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto
him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while:
but afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor
regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her,
lest by her continual coming she weary me." This was the parable that
the Lord Jesus gave the people when persuading them "to pray, and not
to faint." "And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith: "And
shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall He find on
the earth." We as a people should certainly be a prayerful people, and
I would venture to say that if we were not, if we depended upon our
own strength, the time will come when we will fail. I cannot
understand how in a well ordered house family prayer can be dispensed
with. I cannot understand how it is that men understanding the
responsibility that rests upon them, understanding their own weakness
and insufficiency, understanding the blessing that God our Eternal
Father has promised unto us through our faithfulness, should consider
that they can do without God. Why, it seems to me that in every well
regulated family the head thereof should gather his wives and children
around him and bow at the altar, even the family altar, and offer unto
God thanksgiving and praise for His protecting care and to entreat Him
for His Spirit that we might be led by its counsels that He might not
suffer us to be led into temptation, but that He would deliver us from
evil. And I do not consider that this duty is all the time upon the
head of the house. I consider that his family should take a part in
family prayer. I do not consider it necessary for the man to be the
mouthpiece all the time. I think it is just as acceptable to God our
Eternal Father, for the wife to take her part in prayer, and for the
boys and girls to take their part in the same exercise. It seems to me
there is something very shocking that young men should be allowed to
grow up until they are about twenty years of age and have it to say
that their father never asked them to pray in the family circle. We
expect our wives to be associated with the Relief Societies, and
certainly they should know how to pray. We expect our young men to be
associated with Young Men's Associations, and they certainly should
[p.52] know how to pray. We expect our daughters to be associated with
the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, and they certainly
should know how to pray. We expect our children to be associated with
the Primary Associations, and they certainly should know how to pray.
We do them an injustice when we do not divide up the honors in prayer
in this way. It is requisite that all should take their turn in
prayer, and I do not think it should be done for form's sake. It
should be the expression of glad hearts, understanding the great
blessings that have been conferred upon us through the light and
intelligence of the Gospel, and feeling glad that we are not under the
condemnation of priestcraft, but that we have the privilege of
priesthood; that we are not led by false teachers who have no
authority, and who know not the way of life and salvation, but that
God has given unto us true teachers, inspired by Him, that His people
may learn of His ways and walk in His paths. And I believe in the
counsel of the Savior when He advised His disciples to pray for their
enemies. If there are people on the face of the earth who ought to be
prayed for, it is our enemies. I would pray the Eternal Father that He
would have mercy upon them, that He would enlighten their minds, that
they might understand they were fighting against the truth. I would
plead before Him that they might be prevented from making the dreadful
record that they are making against themselves; I would plead that the
Lord would be merciful unto them, that they might be converted as we
are converted. Who converted us? The Spirit of God. What do we know
only as we are taught, of God, and what can they know of the true
faith only as they are taught of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His
dying agonies, and the martyrs Stephen filled with the Spirit of His
master, said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! Behold the unbounded love and
charity that were in the breast of the Savior and His servant Stephen.
We should have this same Spirit. It is a most awful thing to die in
one's sins. It is most awful to be classed with those who
misrepresent, who are called in the Bible liars, who are to have their
portion in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
When I think that men of professed intelligence will stoop to such
dishonorable means to bring trouble upon innocent people, I think they
ought to be prayed for that God would have mercy upon them, that He
would convert them from the error of their ways, that they might not
be blotted out from the book of remembrance and become subject to the
second death. I think common humanity should inspire us to pray for
them. They are the children of God, and they are in the image of God,
they are our brethren and sisters, children of the same parent: and it
is a duty we owe to God and to mankind to pray that the Lord may have
mercy upon sinners. I also believe that we should pray for the Chief
Magistrate of this nation. We should pray that He might be inspired of
God, and be a blessing tO the nation in his integrity to the
Constitution. I believe we should pray that God might overturn, and
displace the wicked, and put in righteous men who would repeal the
unrighteous acts and laws that have been passed, and thus demonstrate
that they were willing that all mankind should enjoy what they
themselves wish to enjoy—the pursuit of [p.53] life, liberty, and
happiness. All the happiness that I have is in keeping the
commandments of God. All the happiness that I have has been given unto
me through the new and everlasting covenant, which God has restored to
the earth. And then I believe in secret prayer. I can go and tell my
Father things that I would not want anybody else to know. I can go and
ask His direction when I require it. So can the sisters, who are
entrusted with these bright spirits that have been reserved in the
heavens and foreordained to come down on the earth in the dispensation
of the fullness of times to assist in the establishment of the Kingdom
of God. How are you going to exercise righteous dominion over your
children and teach them correct principles, unless you enjoy the
revelations of God. I cannot understand how a woman can love her
children and not plead before the Almighty, that they may be protected
from all accident, that they may enjoy their senses, that they may be
preserved in the use of their limbs, that they may not meet with any
accident that would disfigure or disable them in the battle of life. I
think all these things arise on common sense principles. When we know
that God lives; when we know that He hears and answers our prayers;
when we know that we are dependent upon Him and upon Him alone; when
we know that we have no friends outside, and that the world is at
enmity with God, is at enmity with us, and with the principles of
righteousness, we should humble ourselves to the dust, and ask God to
be merciful to us and to all mankind.

Vol. 26,  p.53
Then, again, hew can we have faith in the Gospel, unless we have the
Spirit of God. In a revelation that has been given, and that is
frequently quoted, we are told that when we do as the Lord sayeth He
is bound to fulfill; but when we do not we have no promise. And on
another occasion He said that He could not look upon sin with the
slightest degree of allowance. Do we believe this? Do we believe that
all we have, or that we ever expect to have, comes or will come from
God? Do we understand this principle? Do we understand that if we do
not obey the Gospel, that if we do not offer unto the Father the
offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we will not be
accepted of Him? Do we understand that unless we live the principles
that He has revealed from the heavens, that we have no promise of the
future, and then to think it a light thing not to pray. The Lord has
said with regard to the work of the ministry, and the establishment of
His Kingdom on the earth that, "No one can assist in this work, except
he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope and charity,
being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his
care." How is it possible for us to be put in possession of these
inestimable virtues unless we desire Shem with all our hearts! And how
can we obtain them but by earnest prayer to Him from whence all these
priceless blessings flow? From what other source can we obtain them?
Why, if we thoroughly understand our position, and our entire
dependence upon God our Eternal Father, our prayers would ascend up to
heaven night and day, and they would be mingled with praise and
thanksgiving to God, for the mercies and blessings He has youth-safed
unto us. If we do not see the necessity of this it is because we are
too ignorant to understand the loving kindness of God, and it is
[p.54] time we should wake up to righteousness and good works, that we
may have wise and understanding hearts. The Lord has indeed been
merciful to us as a people. How marvelously He has protected us! How
marvelously He has blessed us as a people, and how cheerfully He has
poured out His Spirit upon us when we have sought it. It behooves us
to walk in His paths. It is our duty to walk in the light, even as the
beloved Apostle said: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, an d the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." The same beloved Apostle said:
"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. tie that
loveth pot his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding
in him."

Vol. 26,  p.54
My brethren and sisters: Let us pray to God our Eternal Father; let us
make ourselves familiar with His Spirit and the impress thereof; let
us, if we have not done so, put our houses in order, remembering that
we are living in perilous times, that we are living in the hour of
God's judgment, that we are on the eve of famine, of pestilence, of
earthquakes; and it behooves every man and woman professing to be
Latter-day Saints to be alive to their duties, to put away all folly,
to live humbly and frugally before God, and to prepare for the
calamities that are coming upon the earth. We have been warned and
forewarned, and I say unto the Latter-day Saints prepare ye, O prepare
ye, for the calamities that are at our doors. Let us cease all
extravagance; let us remember the children entrusted to our care that
they, too, may have something for a day when nothing shall be raised;
let us sanctify ourselves before the Lord, striving to do His will and
keep His commandments, calling upon Him in mighty prayer, (remembering
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,") to
have mercy upon His heritage; and that these valleys of the mountains
may indeed and of a truth be the land of the free and the home of the
brave; which blessings I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.[p.55] 

George Q. Cannon, December 14, 1884

Power Attending the Action of General Conferences—God 
Confirms the Authority of His Servants By Manifestations of His 
Power and Favor—Joseph Smith Chosen and Ordained to Organize 
the Church of God—the Lord Revealed to the Saints His Choice 
of President Brigham Young, and Also of President John 
Taylor—God Blesses Every Man Who Will Magnify His 
Office and Calling, and Gives to One Man Only at a 
Time, Revelation to Govern the Church—
Folly and Wickedness of Witchcraft

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, December 14, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.55
IT is always an impressive sight to me to see a congregation numbering
so many people as this does, raise their hands before the Lord to
sustain the names of men who are presented to them as holding office
in the Church, and though we do this semi-annually, in our general
conferences for the General Authorities, and quarterly, that is, four
times a year for the local authorities, it should not be in our
feelings nor in our practice the performance of an empty form, but
should be done in a spirit that will be acceptable unto our Father,
and in consonance with the responsibility that devolves upon the men
whom we sustain. For when we thus sustain these men it means more than
the mere lifting of our hands, or at least should do so. It means the
sustaining of these men by our faith and by our prayers, and so far as
works are required, by our works, and when we thus vote and thus act,
there is a power and an influence accompanying such action as we have
performed this afternoon, that are felt by those in whose favor we
vote: they feel strengthened, and God our Eternal Father seals His
blessing, or causes it to descend upon those who are voted for, and
there is a spirit that rests down upon them from that time forward, so
long as they are faithful and are thus sustained, that manifests
itself unto all with whom they are brought in contact. Let this
congregation lift up their hands to sever a man from the Church, and
no matter how high he may be in authority, no matter what Priesthood
he bears, no matter how great and mighty he may have been in the
Church and in the ministry—let this congregation for just cause lift
up their hands against any such man and how quickly the effect is
felt, how quickly that man is stripped of his power and of his
influence, and of that spirit and those gifts which have been
conspicuous in his labors previous to such action, or while he was in
good [p.56] standing and in fellowship with God and his brethren and
sisters. We have seen numerous illustrations of this in our history.
Name after name might be mentioned of men who have been bright stars
in the firmament, who have been stripped—by their own Conduct to begin
with, and afterwards by the action of the Saints of God upon their
case—of that lustre, of that brightness, and of that glory that seemed
to attend their ministrations. And while this is the case with those
who have transgressd when the Saints of God act upon their cases, so
it is, on the contrary, with those who are sustained in their
ministry, and in their Priesthood, and in their calling by the united,
uplifted hands of the Saints of God in conference assembled, as we
have done this afternoon. Men may sneer at the Latter-day Saints, and
say this is but an empty form, and that it is all pre-arranged. Men
may say what they please about this. It is prearranged according to
the spirit and mind of God, so far as that can be ascertained. When
men are chosen for office, the Spirit of God is sought for by those
who have the right to select, and if there be doubt upon certain
points men are not chosen; but when they are chosen and the mind of
the Lord is sought for to know whether it will be agreeable to Him
that they receive this office, or that they should act in those
positions, and when they are thus selected and thus submitted, then
have said, to the Conference, then if they themselves live so as to
have the Spirit of God with them, they will be clothed with it, and
when they seek to magnify their office God will magnify them before
the people and will show then, and the people that they are indeed His
chosen servants, and that their ministrations are acceptable unto Him,
that He confirms them by the outpouring of His Spirit and the bestowal
of His gifts. It is a remarkable fact in this age of unbelief, in this
age of doubt, in this age of darkness, in this age when men pride
themselves upon there being no revelation, and no knowledge from God—I
say it is a remarkable fact that in this age such as we now live in,
and such as we are familiar with, God, in the history of this people
is accompanying His labors, and the labors to which He assigns His
servants, with the ancient power, with the ancient manifestations, and
with the ancient confirmations by gifts and by mighty signs and works
that He causes His servants to accomplish.

Vol. 26,  p.56
When Moses was about to depart God required of him that he should lay
his hands upon another man to take his place to act as the leader of
the people of Israel. He laid his hands upon Joshua, and a portion of
that spirit and power that had attended the ministrations of Moses in
the midst of Israel was immediately manifested through Joshua, and God
confirmed the selection and impressed upon the people by the signs and
the mighty works which Joshua accomplished that he was indeed God's
chosen servant. He magnified him in the midst of the people; he was
enabled to perform mighty works, and the people, if they had had any
doubts whatever, had those doubts removed by those manifestations of
power. You remember how the Lord showed in the sight of all Israel
that Joshua was His inspired and chosen servant, for under his
direction the children of Israel crossed the river Jordan dry shod. It
was at the time of high water in the river Jordan; but the Jordan was
stayed in its onward course, its waters stopped running, [p.57] and
the whole hosts of Israel, by the direction of this servant of God,
passed over dry shod. In this manner God showed unto His people that
He had indeed chosen this man to be His servant. And so it has been in
the entire history of God's dealings with His people. He has not left
them without a testimony. He has not left them to proclaim Ills word
unaccompanied by His power. They have not been left to argue for
themselves, to plead for themselves, to protest in the ears of the
people that they were the servants of God, and to constantly contend
for their rights as leaders of the people of God. But in every
instance when He chose a man to be His servant, He accompanied that
choice by the manifestations of His power, by the outpouring of His
spirit, and His gifts, so that every honest soul, every humble man and
woman who sought the Lord, might know for themselves that those men
were His chosen ones. A most striking illustration of this suggests
itself to my mind now. It occurred at the time the children of Israel
desired a king. The Lord was displeased with them for this. Samuel
also felt offended, for they had rejected him and his house. They had
a good reason for desiring a king, at least they thought so. The
surrounding nations had kings who went out and in before them to
battle and were their leaders, and they desired to have a king,
especially when the two sons of Samuel, whom he had chosen as Judges
over Israel, were men who had turned aside after lucre, and took
bribes, and perverted judgment. This Prophet of God, this mighty man
of God, happened to have two sons who were unworthy of their father's
reputation, unworthy of the Priesthood, unworthy of their position as
Judges in Israel. in consequence of this the leaders of Israel
gathered together and said unto Samuel: 'Behold, thou art old, and thy
sons walk not in thy way: now make us a king to judge us like all the
nations?" Samuel was greatly offended with the thought. But the Lord
said unto him: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they
say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected
me, that I should not reign over them." In other words, the Lord had
led them and chosen for them those who should lead them up to that
time, and now He would give them a king. He designated to Samuel the
kind of man he should be, who he should, be, and told him he should
visit him. The person designated was Saul, and Samuel anointed him
king of Israel. After he was chosen king, it seems that he went about
his ordinary business, and the next we hear of him he was following
the herd, driving up the cattle, when the news came to him that
Nahash, the Ammonite, would only be pacified towards the men of
Jabesh-Gilead upon one condition, and that was that he might thrust
their right eyes out, in token of their subjection, and as a reproach
upon all israel. And then, at that time, when danger threatened
Israel, when there was a necessity for a general, for a man to lead
the hosts of Israel, the Spirit and power of Almighty God, and the
anointing that he had received under the hands of the Prophet of God,
descended upon that young man, Saul, and his anger was kindled at the
insult that had been offered to his nation, and he took a yoke of oxen
and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of
Israel, by the hands of messengers, saying: Whosoever cometh not forth
after [p.58] Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And
great fear fell upon the people; they gathered out, and he organized
his army, and they fell upon their enemies and cleaned them out.

Vol. 26,  p.58
Now, this is an illustration of the manner in which God operates upon
His servants and upon His people. This young man was following
peaceful pursuits. Though he had been chosen a king, he had not seemed
to assume kingly dignity, he had gone about, his business; but when
the crisis arose, when there was a necessity for some one to step
forward and take the leading position, then the spirit of that
position to which he had been anointed, and to which he had been
chosen by the voice of God, by the act of His Prophet, and by the
approbation of the people, rested upon him, and he emerged from his
obscurity and arose in their midst a king, a leader in very deed and
in truth.

Vol. 26,  p.58
And so it was, you remember, in the case of Elisha. When Elijah was
about to be taken to heaven, the spirit of prophecy seemed to rest
upon all the prophets. The sons of the prophets came forth to Elisha,
and said unto him, "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy
master from thy head to-day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your
peace." At a former time he had been plowing in the field, with twelve
yoke of oxen, when Elijah came along, and Elisha dropped his work and
followed the prophet of God. Afterwards, when Ehijah's departure drew
near, he said unto Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be
taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee let a double
portion of that spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast a hard
thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it
shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." And sure
enough, he beheld a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and he saw his
master ascend in his sight to heaven, and undoubtedly that gift that
he had asked for, and that Elijah said should be granted unto hint if
tie beheld his departure, was given to this man of God, it rested upon
him, and when he came to the Jordan, having Elisha's mantle which he
had dropped, he smote the water in the power of God, and cried, "Where
is the Lord God of Elijah?" so that the waters divided, and he passed
over dryshod. God accompanied that man by His power wherever he went.
A great and a mighty prophet was he; so great and so mighty, that it
is related of him that after his death a band of Moabites came into
the land. The people of Israel were burying a man. While in this act,
they became frightened at seeing a band of men, and cast the man into
the sepulchre of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the
bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood upon his feet." He was a mighty
prophet, and he received those gifts and this power from God, which He
bestows upon all those who receive the everlasting Priesthood, and who
seek to magnify it in the spirit thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.58
Read, too, of the transformation that occurred When Jesus laid His
hands upon His apostles. The lowly, the ignorant, and the unlettered
fishermen were transformed into mighty men, men of power, men of
influence, men who had communication with the heavens, unto whom God
revealed His mind and will, and through whom He performed mighty
works. These men previously were obscure men, men of humble lives,
fishermen, probably one of the lowest occupations that men followed in
those days, as it is in [p.59] our day. It is a lowly occupation is
that of a fisherman. It is not one that brings great wealth; it does
not bring men into public notice; it gives them no opportunity for
distinction; but these men were men whose lives were hid with God.
These were Princes in disguise, men who had been chosen, like their
Lord and Master, according to my view, before the foundations of the
earth were laid, to be His companions in the flesh, and like Him they
were born in lowly and obscure circumstances. But when He chose them,
when their hearts were touched by the great truths He taught, and they
came forward, in obedience to His authority, to cast their lot with
Him, then the power of God descended upon them; they performed mighty
works, and while they lived upon the earth the Holy Ghost was their
companion, and their fame has come down to us embalmed, it may be
said, through the ages that have transpired, through the ignorance,
and the gloom, and the darkness, and the apostacy that have since
taken place—their names have come down to us from our ancestors, and
the most glorious edifices and structures that the world know anything
of, are dedicated to their memories. God made them mighty in the midst
of the children of men. And so it was with all the prophets. When God
made promises unto them they received them. But they did not receive
these things without exertion on their part, without their seeking
industriously to magnify that Priesthood which had been bestowed upon
them. The spirit and power of God will rest upon a man if he listens
to it. It will impel him to action. If he cherishes it, it will be his
constant companion. It will be with him in times when he will need it,
and when he does need it, if he magnifies his calling, the spirit and
power of the Almighty—that spirit and power and those gifts which
belong to his particular office—will rest upon him, and he will be
made equal to every emergency, to every trial, and will come off
victorious.

Vol. 26,  p.59
How was it with the Prophet Joseph Smith? Whose origin could be more
lowly in a land like ours than his, springing from the humblest ranks
of life, of parents that were not distinguished, or of any family that
was known particularly, bearing a name more Common than any other name
in our language. Yet this man, because God had chosen him, manifested
extraordinary power. Those who saw him, those who listened to him,
those who witnessed his acts, know how mighty he was in the midst of
his fellow men, and how mightily God wrought through him. God chose
and ordained him. He gave unto him His everlasting Priesthood. He gave
unto him the full authority to organize His Church. He did
so—organized this Church, the most glorious fabric that ever was
established upon the face of the earth; because it is God's Church: it
is the Church of Jesus Christ, unparalelled by anything else. No other
organization approaches to it in perfection; nothing lacking, every
detail, beautiful, harmonious, symmetrical, leaving nothing to be
desired. Such is the Church and such the organization that the Prophet
Joseph was the means in the hands of God of restoring once more to the
earth. The plan, the pattern, had been lost entirely. The officers
that formerly filled the Church were withdrawn. The Priesthood that
they held Was taken back to God, and the men who bore it also were
taken from the earth. There had,[p.60] therefore, to be a complete
restoration. It could only come from the God of heaven, and Joseph,
inspired of God, was the means through which the restoration was
made—Joseph, a youth, obscure, illiterate in some respects—that is, he
was not what men would call learned, but afterwards, through industry
and perseverance, became learned, and if he had lived, he would
undoubtedly have become one of the most learned of men through the
gifts God gave him The progress he made when he did live was very
remarkable. By his faith, and inspired of God, he laid the foundation
of this work, and not only did this, but he laid his hands upon other
men and they partook of the same spirit and influence that rested upon
him. They were able to drink at the same fountain, which God, through
him had opened up for them to drink at. They could go to that
fountain, and partake of its holy influence, and their eyes were
opened and their minds were illuminated by the power of God. They were
able also to go forth in the power which He had restored, and thus
once more among men was witnessed the mighty gifts that were
characteristic of bygone ages, when God had a Priesthood on the earth,
when He had prophets and apostles, and mighty men whom He clothed with
a portion of His Spirit and power.

Vol. 26,  p.60
And when Joseph was taken, how was it then? Were the people left
Without some man or men to stand up in their midst to declare to them
the counsel of their Almighty Father? No: the Lord did not leave His
people without a shepherd. He had anticipated the dreadful tragedy
which would rob us of His anointed one; rob us, the Church of Christ,
of our Prophet and Patriarch. He had anticipated this, and previous to
this horrid tragedy, He inspired His servant Joseph to call other men,
upon whom He bestowed all the keys, all the authority, all the
blessings, all the knowledge so far as endowments were concerned, so
far as the power to go unto God and ask Him in the name of Jesus, and
obtain His mind and will, was concerned. He bestowed upon these men
the same gifts, and blessings, and graces, he had received, so that
there was a body of men with all the authority, a body of prophets
with all the gifts of seers and revelators—a body of men left instead
of one man—a body of men were endowed with this power when Joseph was
taken, and the earth was not robbed of that Priesthood which God had
sent His angels from heaven to restore once more to the children of
men, and to act on the earth in the plenitude of its power. There was
no more need, therefore, for angelic visitation to restore it, It was
not taken back to God by the slaying of the Prophet and Patriarch, but
remained with mortal man here on the earth. And, then, when the
question arose as to who should lead Israel, notwithstanding Sidney
Rigdon stood up in the congregation of the Saints, and plead for the
leadership of the people, the spirit and power of the Almighty
descended upon the man whom God had chosen to hold the keys. In the
midst of all Israel, in the face of the entire congregation of
believers and unbelievers, God clothed His servant with such power and
in such a manner that every man that had the least portion of the
spirit of God, and every woman, knew by the manifestations of that
spirit, and by the outpouring of the gift of God upon that man, that
he was the chosen one, and that upon him rested the [p.61] authority,
and the power, and the gifts that had been borne by the Prophet Joseph
during his lifetime. No more plainly was the power of God manifested
in behalf of Elisha, after the taking away of Elijah, than it was
manifested in behalf of President Brigham Young, when the Prophet
Joseph was taken from the earth, and from that day, while he lived on
the earth until he died, the Lord magnified him in the eyes of the
people and blessed those who listened to his counsel.

Vol. 26,  p.61
When he departed there was no contention, there was no strife as to
who should be the leader. The men of God had learned by experience
concerning the Priesthood, and as to who should bear the keys. There
was, therefore, no contention among the leaders nor among the people.
There was no special necessity for any particular manifestation. But I
appeal to you, my brethren and sisters, to-day, in this conference
assembled—has not God accompanied the President of His Church who
succeeded Brigham Young—has He not accompanied him, has He not
accompanied his acts, his counsels and his leadership of the people by
every sign, by every blessing, by every manifestation of power
necessary to confirm in the hearts of Israel the truth that he is
indeed the man whom God had designated, whom God had chosen, and whom
God desired to lead His people Israel? I have no doubt of it, never
had any. I knew it before anything was heard or anything was said. I
knew it by the revelations of Almighty God to me, that God had chosen
His servant John Taylor, to preside over this Church. I know it
to-day. I rejoice in this knowledge, and I rejoice that God still
continues to manifest His power through His anointed one, and through
the channel of the Holy Priesthood, having but one man at a time on
the earth unto whom He, gives the keys to preside over the Church, and
give revelations to the entire Church, as a church and as a people. He
has chosen him from among the prophets, apostles, seers and
revelators, to bear the keys of the everlasting Priesthood upon the
earth in the flesh, he having the power and authority to act for the
entire people, and to receive the mind and will of God for the entire
people. And thus God up to the present time has confirmed His work by
signs following: every man in his place, enjoying the spirit of God,
and the gifts of his office—the President of the Twelve in his office
and in his calling; blessing the Apostles who act as the council of
the Twelve; blessing the Presidents of Stakes with the spirit and
power and girts of that calling—blessing their counsels and filling
them with the power necessary to magnify the Priesthood to which they
are called; blessing the Presiding Bishop and his Counselors; blessing
the Bishops and their Counselors; blessing the High Councils; blessing
the Seventies, High Priests, Elders and Lesser Priesthood; every man
in his place and station receiving his portion of the gifts and
blessings and power of God according to his faith and dilligence, and
his obedience to the commands of God, and also according to the office
and position that he holds in the Priesthood of the Son of God.

Vol. 26,  p.61
God in His marvelous kindness and mercy has organized His Church in
perfection, and has given to every man that bears a portion of the
Holy Priesthood, if he will magnify the same, the gifts and graces
necessary thereto; to given to every woman and to every child who is
faithful in the [p.62] Church of God, the spirit that belongs to the
position of each, according to the faith and necessities of each. And
thus it is that heaven is moved on our behalf; thus it is that the
power of God is manifested from time to time; thus it is that the
people are led and guided as they are and as they have been from the
beginning until the present time, and thus it will be until the end,
until the Church shall be as a bride prepared for the coming of the
bridegroom, for the coming of the Lord Jesus, who is our head, and who
will preside over us and over the Church and Kingdom that will be
organized upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.62
Oh, my brethren and sisters, God is not working in vain in our midst.
He is not working in hidden places. He is not concealing His hand and
His power. He is ready to bless every man in His Church who will
magnify His office and calling. He is ready to bestow the gifts and
qualifications of that office upon every man according to his
diligence and faithfulness before Him. But the idle man, the slothful
man, the allan that shirks his responsibility, the man that avoids
duty, the duty of a Deacon, Teacher, Priest, or Bishop, Elder,
Seventy, High Priest, or an Apostle, or one of the First
Presidency—every man that does this God will take from him His gifts
and His blessings; He will withdraw them and give them to the faithful
one. He will clothe His faithful servants with the power that belongs
to the Priesthood in proportion to the diligence and faithfulness in
seeking to magnify their calling, and to live near unto their God.
Mark this, and let it bear with weight upon your mind, for I tell you
it is so. You may ordain a man to be an apostle, but if he does not
seek to magnify that office and priesthood, the gifts of it will not
be with him as they would be with a man who does seek to magnify his
calling: no matter how great his ability, the power of God will not
accompany him unless he seeks for it, for God will be sought after,
and God will be plead with for His gifts and graces and for revelation
and knowledge; He will be sought after by His children, and then when
He is sought after, He will bestow.

Vol. 26,  p.62
Now, when I speak about one who has a right to give revelations to the
Church, I do not mean by that to say that others shall not receive
revelation; for this is a day of revelation. We know the sentiment of
Moses when Joshua became jealous of two of the Seventy Elders
prophecying. The Seventy were gathered around about the tabernacle to
receive the words of the Lord from Moses, when the Spirit rested upon
them, as also upon two of the men who had remained in the camp. Joshua
was jealous for the honor of his master, and asked Moses to forbid
them prophecying. But, no, Moses replied: "Would God that all the
Lord's people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit
upon them." He had no jealousy about prophecy. He desired that every
man in the whole camp of Israel might have the spirit of prophecy, and
he gave utterance to that beautiful, glorious expression which I have
just quoted. So with the Elders of Israel to-day. Would to God all the
Lord's people were Prophets. Would to God that every man in Israel had
the spirit and power and gift of prophecy resting upon him. Would to
God that every woman had the spirit of prophecy resting upon her, and
every child. Would to God that all the [p.63] hosts of Israel, those
of the Church of God, had the Holy Ghost and its gifts resting in
power upon them. There is no room for jealousy in regard to the
possession of this gift in the breast of a servant of God. The only
feeling that it ought to produce in the breast of a faithful man is
one of thankfulness, one of thanksgiving to God that others share in
this blessing, that others can partake of this power, that others have
received of this glorious gift from our Father in Heaven. There is no
room for jealousy, therefore, in such cases. Let every man press
forward humbly and obediently in the path of exaltation, in the path
that leads to God. Let every man press forward. He need not be afraid
that any Latter-day Saint will impede his progress. Let every man
speak and act and do as though he were a servant of God, as he is, as
a son of God; let him do this and rejoice in it. At the lame time let
him be careful not to be lifted up in pride, not forgetting who he is,
but obedient to constituted authority, that authority which God has
placed in His Church, and, then, if he do not forget these things,
there is nothing to prevent his onward progress. If he be an Elder, if
he should have the gifts and power that an Apostle should have, who
will be jealous? Certainly no servant of God. If he be a Deacon, and
he has gifts from God, through faithfulness, that belong to an office
higher than his own, is there any one who will not rejoice in it, or
any one who will retard him or throw obstructions in his way? God
forbid that there should be.

Vol. 26,  p.63
Now, in connection with this subject, a man a few days ago—it suggests
itself to my mind and I will speak upon it—brought a communication
addressed to President Taylor and his Counselors, and we read it. It
purported to be a message from God—a message from God to us, that is
to the First Presidency, and through us to the Church. We read the
message, but could see nothing in it particularly; there was
considerable said, but there was nothing tangible, or that gave us
light upon any point that we did not understand before. The man said
he had been in the Church three years, but he had not received the
Priesthood. He had had some spiritual manifestation, in which he heard
a voice say, "thou art a Priest after the order of Melchisedec."

Vol. 26,  p.63
I wish to speak upon this point, that is, in connection with this
subject that I have been speaking upon. God has organized His Church.
He has placed in that Church its officers. As I have said, He has
given to one man, and to one man only, at a time, the keys to preside
over and to communicate the mind and will of God to that Church. While
that man is in that position, seeking to magnify it, he will not speak
to other men and give them revelations for His Church. I wish you all
to understand what I have endeavored to impress upon you—that it is
the privilege of every one to receive revelation. It is the privilege
of every mother to receive revelation from God for guidance in the
training of her children; to he in Communication with the Father
through the Holy Spirit. It is the privilege of children to have the
same Spirit, and to have knowledge from God through that Spirit. What
for? To teach the parents? No. If their parents are in the path of
duty, it is not so; but it is, as I have said, the privilege of every
man, woman and child in the Church to have revelation, to have
knowledge,[p.64] to be instructed of the Lord. But that does not give
them the right to give revelations to the Church. God did not design
it. God never has warranted or sustained any such action. Therefore,
he that cometh in by any other way than by the door, you know what is
said of him; he that climbeth over the wall, he that receiveth
authority from some source outside of that which God recognizes, we as
a people are not bound to receive anything that may be communicated to
him. Out of that which is communicated in that way, there may be
nineteen truths out of twenty statements; but there will be error,
there will be falsehood, there will be something that will mislead,
because there is not the authority from God to lead and to act. God
has His own method of doing things. He chooses whom He will; He takes
away, and remove from the path those that He wishes. It is all
according to His good will and pleasure. He gives unto us authority,
and, as I have said, He confirms it by signs following; and this
Church from the day of its organization, up to the present time has
never been one hour, yea I may say, one moment without revelation,
without having a man in our midst who can tell us as a people the mind
and will of God, who can point out to us that which we should do, who
can teach us the doctrines of Christ, who can point out to us that
which is false and incorrect, and who can, upon all matters that Come
within the range of our experience, and that are necessary for us to
attend to give us the necessary counsel and instruction. This has been
the case always. Therefore, a man may receive mighty signs—I heard the
Prophet Joseph, when I was a boy, say that the time would come when
false Prophets would work mighty miracles in the eyes of the people of
the earth, and they would seek to establish their authority by the
performance of mighty miracles, and we have heard of such things in
our day since his death—but this does not sustain a man in claiming to
be leader of a people, and to give revelations from God. But there is
a spirit that God gives; there is an influence that accompanies His
word when it is proclaimed by His servants that seals itself upon the
hearts of the honest, upon the hearts of the meek and lowly, and those
who are living in close communion with God themselves seals upon their
hearts the truth of that which He says: I have no fears of any of you,
my brethren and sisters, if you will only live near to God. I said the
leaders of this Church do not come bolstering up their own claims. It
is not necessary. You are the witnesses. You are the witnesses whether
John Taylor is President of the Church; whether his Counselors are the
men they should be; whether the Twelve have the authority they claim;
whether the Presidents of Stakes have the authority they claim—you
have this testimony, you are our witnesses, and all the Israel of God,
wherever they live, are witnesses of the truth of these things. You
can testify because you have received—if you should live as you should
do—a testimony independent of that which we can give to you, or any
argument that we may urge—you have received it, if you have received
it properly, from our Eternal Father. You received it in answer to
prayer, direct to yourselves—not through any intermediate source, not
through any man, but through the Eternal Spirit of our Father
descending upon you and bearing witness [p.65] to you—a testimony that
these things are true. You, therefore, are living witnesses of the
truth of these things, and know for yourselves whether they are true
or not.

Vol. 26,  p.65
Now, I have heard that there are men among us who are professing to
cure witchcraft and other evils of that kind. I believe they call
themselves astrologers. More injurious ideas and practices than these
cannot be introduced among a people to lead them to destruction, and I
wish to warn you before sitting down, in regard to this. Do not seek
for those who have peepstones, for soothsayers, and for those who
profess to be able to counteract the influence of witchcraft. They who
say so, seek to play upon your fears, they seek to take advantage of
superstitious fears, and seek to use them for their own advantage and
bring those who will listen to them in bondage to an influence and
spirit that is as foreign to the spirit of God as hell is foreign to
heaven. Any man who professes to have this authority, to have this
power, and to use power outside of that which the Priesthood
authorizes, is a man that should not be listened to; his claims are
false, and his methods are from beneath and not from God. And I say to
all of you, witchcraft you may defy if you live as you should do—defy
it, not in a spirit of defiance, not in a spirit to bring evil
influences upon you, but in the power and strength of our Father and
God. No evil influence of that kind, if you live as you should do, can
have power over you; you are entrenched in the power of God, in the
spirit and gifts of God; you are entrenched round about so that none
of these wicked influences can have power over you. I wonder if Job
thought there was somebody bewitching him when his property was stolen
and destroyed, when his servants were killed, when his son's house
fell and killed his children, when his boils came upon him. I wonder
if he thought that he was bewitched. Why, I hear of some people, if
anything happens to them, even if any of their chickens die, who are
ready to say: "I am bewitched; there is somebody bewitching me." Such
expressions and ideas are prompted by the worst folly that ever
possessed the mind of a Latter-day Saint. Do not such persons know
that not a hair of their heads can fall to the ground unnoticed? Has
not the Savior said so, our Lord and Master? And if so, do you not
think He will care for us? Do not your angels stand continually before
the face of our Father in heaven? And yet shall people unto whom God
has made such glorious promises, and upon whom He has poured out such
glorious blessings—shall they bow to these wicked influences, these
spirits that are not of God, that are full of vileness and darkness
and evil, and do that which they say, and seek to wizards and to
soothsayers, and to diviners and to men and women who, by hidden works
of darkness, profess to obtain knowledge—will the Latter-day Saints do
this to take their vile remedies, and if their children are sick, seek
unto them? The men and women who do this—I do not want to prophecy
evil about them—are in great danger of losing the spirit and power of
God, and having it withdrawn from them, and if they do not repent it
will most assuredly be withdrawn from them. All who take these methods
and encourage these practices I say that the anger of Almighty God
will descend upon them unless they repent, and they will [p.66] find
that their hidden works of darkness will not avail them when the Lord
feels after them, and when His condemnation rests upon them; they will
find this out to their everlasting sorrow. Men who are guilty of these
practices, and who seek to lead away the unwary. and to prey upon the
ignorant and unsophisticated, and to take advantage of their fears,
and instil superstition into the mind, cannot escape condemnation.
These methods are not of God, and beware of them, all of you, and tell
all your friends that it is sinful in the sight of God to yield to
such influences. Pray, rather, to the Father, in the name of Jesus, to
let His angels be around about you, to let His power encircle you, to
let His Spirit be in your hearts and in your habitations, and rest
down upon your little ones, and be of strong faith, and say, like Job,
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Yes, that righteous man,
though God should slay him, yet he would not fail to trust Him to the
uttermost.

Vol. 26,  p.66
Let these truths rest upon your minds and be not forgotten, and let us
seek as a people to have the gifts and power and blessings of our
Father and God resting upon us continually. I pray God for this
blessing to be with you always, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

John Taylor, November 30, 1884

The Gathering—Our Territorial Condition and 
Organization—the Eternal Nature of Our Covenants—the 
Law of Ancient Israel, Which Required a Man to Marry His 
Brother's Widow—Settlement of the Difficulty Connected With 
the Utah Lake and Jordan River Dam—the Flood—the Lord 
Will Sustain and, Uphold Us—We Must not 
Associate With the Wicked

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered in the Stake Meeting 
House, Provo, Sunday Morning, November 30th, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.66
I AM pleased to have an opportunity of meeting with you in your
conference, and of talking with you on some principles associated with
the Gospel of the Son of God. in which we, all of us, are more or less
[p.67] interested. We are gathered together from among the nations of
the earth. We have assembled ourselves thus together because of a work
which the Lord has commenced in the interests of humanity, not only
pertaining to ourselves, but pertaining to the world of mankind. In
obedience to the revelations of His will, and the command that He has
given unto His servants through the restoration of the everlasting
Gospel, we have many of us gone forth among the nations of the earth
to proclaim those principles which God has revealed for the salvation,
happiness and exaltation of the human family. We have been gathered
together according to the word of the Lord which He spake by His
ancient Prophets who have lived in the world in generations that are
past, and who, under the influence of the Spirit of God, have given a
very graphic account of the gathering of the people together, in the
last days; and of the instructions they should receive preparatory to
other events that will necessarily transpire upon the earth, as spoken
of by all the holy Prophets since the world was. We are living in what
is called "the dispensation of the fullness of times," wherein it is
said God will gather together all things in one, whether they be
things in the heavens or things on the earth. And we are gathered
together to this land of Zion, (which has been spoken of also in the
Scriptures) where we might learn more perfectly the law of God, and
carry out those principles which He has made known for our
information, for our instruction, for our guidance and direction, as
regards the course that we should pursue, and the blessings that
should attend those who have obeyed His laws and kept His
commandments. We are here really to build up and purify the Church of
the living God. We are here to build up and establish the kingdom of
God. We are here also to build up a Zion unto our God, wherein His
laws can be taught, the principles of eternal truth be communicated,
the relationship and communication opened between the heavens and the
earth, and men placed in a position whereby they will be enabled to
act intelligently, in regard to all matters pertaining to this world
as well as to the world that is to come.

Vol. 26,  p.67
We have been told, and it has been prophesied of, that great
calamities will overtake the nations of the earth. One of the ancient
Prophets (Isaiah, in the 24th chapter) makes use of very peculiar
language in relation to this matter. He says:

Vol. 26,  p.67
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.67
"And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the
servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the
borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to
him.

Vol. 26,  p.67
"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord
hath spoken this word. *  *  *  *  *  *

Vol. 26,  p.67
"The earth also is dealed under the inhabitants thereof; because they
have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant.

Vol. 26,  p.67
"Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell
therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are
burned, and few men left."[p.68] 

Vol. 26,  p.68
In relation to these matters we as a people have been very much
interested, and these things have been spoken of for a long, long
time. I have been preaching them between forty and fifty years, and a
great many others who are now living, have borne testimony of these
things; and have gathered together as we have done. This places us in
a very peculiar position, for we not only bring our religion with us,
and the spiritual ideas connected with it—we not, only bring these
things that are spiritual, but we bring our bodies along with us which
are very temporal; and when we gather as we have done here in this
land and form a people such as we are, we necessarily become part of
the body politic of the nation with which we are associated—that is,
of the United States. We are organized here in a Territorial capacity,
as other Territories are organized, and are now living in what was
before the unsettled portions of the United States; we are organized
according to the general provisions made and provided by the nation in
which we live, and we are organized under what is called an Organic
Act, whereby the action of the Government of the United States has
placed us in the position that we now occupy. We have, for instance,
as other Territories have, a governor. We have district judges of the
United States; we have a U.S. marshal, an attorney, etc., etc., and
the same kind of officers that exist in other Territories that are
under and associated with the government of the United States. We have
granted unto us in the instrument called the Organic Act certain
rights and privileges. We send a Delegate to Congress, and are
authorized so to do. We have our Legislature, and have the right of
voting for it. We have our County Courts and Probate Courts, as other
Territories have, and are placed under general regulations pertaining
to these matters as exist in the order that prevails in the United
States. In this respect we act as others do—that is, we are placed
pretty much under the same laws, not quite; pretty much under the same
form of government, not quite; we have certain rights and privileges
ceded to us, not like others have exactly; but to a very great extent
similar to others. In this respect we act and operate as other
citizens of the United States do, and in this respect we have rights,
privileges and immunities as others have so far as they go. But they
don't go with us quite to the extent that they do with other people
under the same circumstances. Nevertheless, perhaps we enjoy as many
privileges and as many rights as we are capable of comprehending and
of magnifying, and it may be possible in the inscrutable wisdom of the
Lord, that we should be subjected to certain kinds of prohibition and
enactments, that differ materially in many respects from those of
other people. But so it is, and these things are quite as beneficial
to us as other things. If we had nothing to cope with or to contend
with, we might feel as the Methodists do sometimes when they talk
about sitting and singing themselves away to everlasting bliss; but as
we are not going to the same place as they are, it don't make much
difference; they can take their road, and we will take ours. We have
other ideas of a religious nature from those entertained by other
people. But taker it as a whole we enjoy very many great blessings. We
are living here in a goodly land. We have many privileges in this
land: and in our [p.69] endeavors to preach the Gospel and gather
together the people under the blessing and guidance and direction of
the Almighty, we have been very successful thus far. Although in our
history there are many things which have been unpleasant for people to
meet with—such as mobbings and drivings, killings and imprisonment,
and a variety of other things that are not pleasant to the feelings of
human nature, yet upon the whole the Lord has controlled these things
for our good, just in accordance with the words of the Psalmist, where
he says: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain." It has not been pleasant for people to be
driven, say as I have been, and as many of you have been from our
homes; but, then, we had to endure it, and there is no use grunting
about it. We had to do it in Missouri. We were driven from our homes
there. Then we went to Illinois, and at first we were treated very
kindly. But when we began to grow and increase, they did not like our
religion, and they don't like it to-day, and we don't fancy their's
much either; so on the religious question there is not much love lost.
We had to leave Illinois and come here. It was not very agreeable, as
I have said, to have to leave our homes and our farms and come out
here to live among the Redskins; for this was a desert when we first
came here. It was not full of beautiful farms and houses, orchards and
gardens, cities, villages and hamlets. It was a desert where the red
man roamed unmolested, where the crickets had full sway, and where the
white man had scarcely trodden. There had been a few pass through
before we came here, and it had been discovered perhaps a hundred
years or two by some travelers that had existed in those days; but to
all intents and purposes it was what was called then and marked on the
maps as the "Great American Desert." Since then the solitary place has
been made glad, and the desert has been made to blossom as the rose.
The Lord has been very kind and merciful to us, and opened out our
way, and provided for our wants, and although we may have some little
things to complain of—all of which are very trifling in comparison to
many things that exist among other peoples—yet are we abundantly
blessed all over the land. Is there anybody here in your conference,
or is there anybody in any of the conferences of the Stakes of Zion,
that lacks the necessaries of life? Is there anybody that is destitute
of food, or of clothing, or of habitations? Not that I know of, and if
there are any such things, they ought not to exist among us.

Vol. 26,  p.69
Now, then, if we are blessed we have not to thank any man, or any set
of men for it. If we are provided for, we have not obtained it from
anybody else, but from the Lord God of Israel, who has watched over
and protected His people just as He said He would do. He said it was
His business to take care of His Saints, but, then, it is our business
to be Saints. And being gathered together as we are under these
circumstances, we are organized according to certain laws laid down in
the order of God, and given by revelation of God, for our guidance and
direction, wherein we are instructed in things pertaining to this
world and to the next; pertaining to things that are past, things that
are present, and things that are to come—pertaining to time and
eternity. By this means man, the noblest work of God, is brought into
closer relationship [p.70] with God than he has been for generations
past. Many things have been revealed, and there will be many more yet
revealed that have been hidden from before the foundation of the world
according to the word of God to us, and we are trying to act wisely,
prudently and intelligently, to live and act and conduct ourselves in
a manner that will be honorable before God, that will be honorable
before the holy angels, that will be honorable before all honorable
men and all men who love righteousness and truth and virtue, and who
are inspired by the principle and integrity and by those principles
that emanate from God, and that always lift up and exalt and elevate
those that have embraced and are governed by them. These principles
are revealed to us according to the laws which God has introduced, and
through the medium of the Holy Priesthood, which He has again restored
unto the earth, and we are here to learn His laws that we may walk in
His paths. We are here that we may build temples unto His name, and
that we may administer in those temples. This is the object of our
being gathered together, that we may be brought into a closer union
and relationship to God our heavenly Father, that we may be instructed
in the laws of life, and that we may comprehend the relationship that
exists between us and Him. And while we are looking for calamity and
trouble—wars, pestilence and famine, and all those things that have
been spoken of by the holy Prophets—yet there is to be a voice heard
before that day crying: "Come out of her my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues"—that is,
speaking of a certain something that is called Babylon. Well, we have
been doing that, and we have been gathered together that we may
comprehend those principles of which I have spoken. We have come here
that we may enter into covenants that are eternal, and which continue
behind the veil. And we expect that while we are organizing Zion here
upon the earth, and seeking to establish the kingdom of God, we have
those who are co-operating with. us above, those who are building and
preparing for us in the heavens mansions to go to. Jesus went to
prepare mansions for those of His followers in His day. Says He: 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. 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." There is something very peculiar about those
things, about the preparing of those mansions for those that go behind
the veil. But it is for us to learn to comprehend all these matters.
We read about beautiful cities. We read of the new Jerusalem and the
old Jerusalem. We talk about cities the most magnificent that can be
thought of. Do you think they grow out of nothing? No, they have to be
made just as we make things here, only more intelligently. What is
meant by a certain saying: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon
of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations." Ah! indeed. Well, you can guess what it is.
I will leave it with you.

Vol. 26,  p.70
People find a good deal of fault with us about our having more wives
than one; but, then, that is nothing; we attribute that to their
ignorance. If they were better informed they would know better.
Abraham was a friend of God, and he practiced [p.71] polygamy, under
the direction of the Lord; David was a man after God's own heart, and
he had wives given to him of the Lord. They would have put them in the
Penitentiary, if they had been here to-day. But then because of many
things that transpire in these days, the Lord will make the earth
empty. Why? Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant. We are gathered together
here in order that we may observe the laws which have been restored
unto us, and keep the everlasting covenant. While they make covenants
for time only, we make covenants for time and for eternity. There is
the difference. Ours is everlasting; theirs until death do them part.
We as wives and husbands expect to be associated after death in the
eternities that are to come. We believe in an everlasting covenant,
and in an everlasting Gospel. An angel was to bring the everlasting
Gospel, and everything associated with it is everlasting. It existed
before we came here. It exists with us in time, it reaches into
eternity, and people that do not have the Gospel have no everlasting
covenants. They think we are very low, on the one hand, because we
cannot comply with their ideas, and we think they are very ignorant
because they don't understand ours. But so it is. We are here to do
the will of God, to carry out His law in all humility and faithfulness
to God our heavenly Father—faithfulness as men to the nation in which
we live—faithfulness to all men—to make known the things that God has
communicated to us.

Vol. 26,  p.71
Now, then, in speaking of covenants, let me follow that subject a
little further. Have we to do with time? Yes. Have we to do with
eternity? Yes. Did we exist before we came here? Yes, and we shall
exist when we leave here. The principles that we are in possession of,
go back into eternity and reach forward into eternity. We are here in
a state of probation, and God, in the infinitude of His mercy and
kindness, has seen proper to bring us together as we are, and then we
are nothing to brag of when He has got us here. Still while many have
rejected the truth we have received it. God has given us His grace to
enable us to comprehend the Gospel and to give us power to obey it,
and some of us have kept faithful for quite a long time, and it is
pretty hard work for some of us to be faithful. It is good to be a
saint. When we get the Spirit of the Lord upon us, we feel to rejoice
exceedingly, and sometimes when we don't have much of that, it feels
rather what we used to call hard-sledding. But there is nothing that
makes things go so well among the saints of God as living their
religion and keeping the commandments of God, and when they don't do
that, then things go awkward and cross and every other way but the
right way; but when they live their religion and keep the
commandments, "their peace flows as a river, and their righteousness
as the waves of the sea."

Vol. 26,  p.71
Now, in regard to these matters there is a subject I have referred to
at one or two of the conferences We have visited lately, and I will
mention it here. The ancient Israelites had a very peculiar law among
them, and yet it was a very proper law, namely, that if a man died,
his brother was to take his wife and raise up seed to him. That would
be a curious kind idea among the world, where they did not believe
anything of that kind; singular kind of a doctrine; but it was a thing
that was practiced among the Israelites, and it is a thing we [p.72]
ought to be practicing among us. That is, if a man has a brother dead
who has left a widow, let the woman left in that kind of a position be
just as well off as a woman who has a husband. Here is a principle
developed which then existed, and I will speak a little on that
subject and show certain reasons and certain whys and wherefores for
these things. If a man should die and leave a wife and she should be
childless, why not her be taken care of as well as anybody else? Would
not that be just. Would not that be proper? Would not that be right?
Yes. But says the man, "I do not know about that. I would rather raise
up seed for myself." Perhaps you might do both. You might if the law
did not prevent you carrying out the law of God in the United States.
If these worthy ancients had lived here, they would not have allowed
them to carry out such a law. Still there is a principle of that kind
exists. Why should it not be put into practice? We do believe, you
know, more or less in this principle. But then there are a certain
class of men who will say: "I would rather somebody else attended to
that business; I would rather attend to my own affairs, and let
everybody attend to theirs." All right. Suppose you do it. We will
carry the thing a little further. This woman's husband has gone behind
the veil, and he is operating there, and probably he will he called
upon in a family capacity to look after those that were coming there,
or help prepare mansions for somebody who is yet on the earth, as
Jesus did for His disciples. He has left His wife behind here, but he
is there operating for others. Now, what would you think of making to
yourselves friends of the I Mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you
fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations? What would
you think of that? We talk about angels taking care of us, and all
sorts of things like that. But I expect that when we get behind the
veil we shall have business to do as much as we have here, and one
thing will be, perhaps, to look after the arrangement of our family
affairs, and things associated therewith.

Vol. 26,  p.72
Now, then, a man here says: "I would not like to embark in a thing of
that sort—marry a brother's wife, and raise up seed for him." What did
they do with such men in olden times? The woman had an opportunity of
loosing his shoe and spitting in the man's face that would not raise
up seed unto his brother, and it was said: "So shall it be done unto
that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name
shall be called in Israel, the house of him that hath his shoe
loosed." (See Deut. xxv, 5 to 10. See also Ruth iii and iv.)

Vol. 26,  p.72
But we will go again to the other side, and find those there engaged
in doing certain works in the heavens and preparing mansions for those
that are coming. Now, when Jesus went to prepare mansions I do not
suppose that He did it Himself. He had plenty of hands to set to work
of that sort, same as we have here. This man that has died hears his
brother say," I would rather attend to my own affairs," and he says,
"All right, come here and attend to your affairs also. If you are
selfish perhaps I will turn selfish too." Now, what is sauce for the
goose is sauce for the gander. That is the way it presents itself to
me in relation to these matters. If a woman is left by her husband,
let her have somebody to take care of her; if not her husband's
brother, then his next of kin. That is the [p.73] order so far as I
understand it, and I wanted to say so much in relation to these
matters. Why should not women have equal rights with men? They have
these rights and they ought to be sustained and maintained among us as
Saints. We ought to look after the welfare and interest of all.

Vol. 26,  p.73
I shall now refer to what is known as Utah Lake and Jordan river dam
water question. This is a subject that has troubled you a great deal
and upon which there has been much awkwardness and unpleasant feeling.
It was adjusted some time ago, but the agreement, it appears, was not
carried out: in consequence of which considerable trouble was likely
to ensue. President Angus M. Cannon showed me a letter in which it was
stated that a law-suit was commenced in regard to the affair, some of
the parties, thereto being outside of the Church and some inside. In
commencing this suit those inside the Church were not taking the right
course, and they would have subjected themselves to be cut off the
Church, because God has given us laws in relation to these matters
whereby they can be properly regulated wisely and in accordance with
His laws. Brother Cannon (who is President of the Salt Lake Stake)
came to me and wanted to know what to do. He said he could not
regulate these matters as his jurisdiction did not extend beyond Salt
Lake Stake, nor could President Smoot because his jurisdiction did not
go beyond Utah Stake. Here was a dilemma. What shall be done? Could I
show him a way out of the difficulty? I told him I could; that a
council had been provided through the Prophet Joseph Smith, for just
such cases. Some people don't know anything about that, but yet that
is a fact. They did not know that it had ever been used before. It is
a council of twelve High Priests over which the First Presidency of
the Church should preside to adjudicate upon difficult cases that
might arise in the Church, and this should be the highest council in
the Church, and from which there should be no appeal. We called
together this council and met here in this house, and the parties were
heard—some outside of the Church and some inside. Finally we got the
matter adjusted, and I am informed that the decision is satisfactory
to all parties. The council was composed of the following brethren,
viz.: Abraham O. Smoot, President of Utah Stake; Angus M. Cannon,
President of Salt Lake Stake; Warren N. Dusenberry, Probate Judge of
Utah County; Elias A. Smith, Probate Judge of Salt Lake County;
Jonathan S. Page and A. D. Holdaway, Selectmen of Utah County; Ezekiel
Holman and Jesse W. Fox, Jr., Selectmen of Salt Lake County; Presiding
Bishop Win. B. Preston; John T. Caine, Delegate to Congress from Utah;
Bishops Thos. R. Cutler and John E. Booth. After the first session of
the council, in consequence of Hon. John T. Caine being required at
Salt Lake City on official business, Elder L. John Nuttall was
appointed a member of the council in place of Elder Caine. Myself and
Brother George Q. Cannon presided in all the meetings of the Council.
In selecting the council we selected men from the two counties who
were conversant with county affairs, and both counties were equally
represented. But some people will say—How is it the High Council could
not settle the question? Because the High Council in Utah Stake has no
jurisdiction over affairs in Salt Lake Stake, nor has the High Council
of Salt Lake Stake any jurisdiction [p.74] over affairs in Utah Stake,
and the other council was formed just to meet such an emergency. I
speak of this for your information; and, as I have said, when the
matter is thoroughly completed, it will prove to be satisfactory to
all parties.

Vol. 26,  p.74
Now, I want to read you a curious Scripture. We talk a good deal about
water, and about certain laws—laws of hydraulics and hydro-statics—we
have had a good deal of talk about these things lately, I have heard
some very singular remarks made pertaining to the waters of the Utah
Lake by Brother Madsen, who has kept a very accurate account of the
condition of the waters of the lake under various circumstances for a
great number of years. Among other things he said that it was very
difficult to tell how and in what manner the waters of the lake were
sometimes increased. That he had frequently seen large fountains or
springs rising in the lake, that he should think furnished more water
than any of the rivers that flowed into it—and these springs were very
fluctuating, so much so, that it was found very difficult to make any
accurate calculations pertaining thereto.

Vol. 26,  p.74
It is thought and so stated by some writers that there are
subterraneous passages for water flowing from Lake Superior.

Vol. 26,  p.74
This may appear strange to some. But in regard to the flood, the laws
governing hydraulics, as we understand them, were not strictly carried
out on that occasion. Speaking of the flood we read:

Vol. 26,  p.74
"And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood
were upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.74
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second mouth, the
seventh day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

Vol. 26,  p.74
What was done? "The windows of heaven were opened," and the immense
bodies of waters that exist in the upper firmament were let down, or
as it is expressed, "the windows of heaven were opened." What else?
"The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up." You
have got a Brigham Young Academy here. I would like to give the
professors and pupils of that establishment a problem to solve, and
that is—How they could manage to get enough water out of the seas, and
out of the oceans, and out of the rivers, and out of the clouds, to
cover the tops of these mountains and fifteen cubits above, and let
that spread all over the earth? I would like to know by what known law
the immersion of the globe could he accomplished. It is explained
herein a few words: "The windows of heaven were opened"—that is, the
waters that exist throughout the space surrounding the earth from
whence come these clouds from which the rain descends. That was one
cause. Another cause was "the fountains of the great deep were broken
up"—that is something beyond the oceans, something outside of the
seas, some reservoirs of which we have no knowledge, were made to
contribute to this event, and the waters were let loose by the hand
and by the power of God; for God said He would bring a flood upon the
earth and He brought it, but He had to let loose the fountains of the
great deep, and pour out the waters from there, and when the flood
commenced to subside, we are told "that the fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from [p.75]
heaven was restrained, and the waters returned from off the earth."
Where did they go to? From whence they came. Now, I will show you
something else on the back of that. Some people talk very
philosophically about tidal waves coming along. But the question
is—How could you get a tidal wave out of the Pacific ocean, say, to
cover the Sierra Nevadas? But the Bible does not tell us it was a
tidal wave. It simply tells us that "all the high hills that were
under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the
waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." That is, the earth
was immersed. It was a period of baptism.

Vol. 26,  p.75
I will find you another Scripture. It will be found in the book of
Job. Job had been complaining. It is said he was the most patient man
on the earth. Still he had been complaining about the treatment he had
received. He had lost his camels, and sheep, and his children; the
lightning had struck his son's house, and finally he was smitten with
boils, etc. He was not very patient then, not any more so than any of
us would be under similar circumstances. He got a little out of humor;
did not fancy it very much; found himself scraping his body with a
potsherd, and wallowing in ashes. After some of his friends had talked
to him, the Lord spake, saying:

Vol. 26,  p.75
"Gird up now thy loins likes man; for I will demand of thee, and
answer thou me.

Vol. 26,  p.75
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if
thou hast understanding.

Vol. 26,  p.75
"Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath
stretched line upon it.

Vol. 26,  p.75
"Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the
corner stone thereof;

Vol. 26,  p.75
"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy?

Vol. 26,  p.75
"Or who shut up the sea with doors, witch it brake forth as if it had
issued out of the womb."

Vol. 26,  p.75
Who managed that matter Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake
forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?" Why, the Lord did it.
These are singular expressions. It is said in the other place that
"the fountains of the great deep were broken up."

Vol. 26,  p.75
Now, then, I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, that God has more
to do with the earth, with the waters, with the fountains of waters,
with all the affairs of men, and with everything we have to do with,
than men are willing to acknowledge in a great many instances. What
means the saying, "In the wilderness shall waters break out, and
streams in the desert." Do any of you know of such things? I guess you
do. Plenty of them. What means that Scripture where it speaks of Moses
in the wilderness, when the children of Israel cried out for water in
the desert land, and called on him for water? The Lord told Moses to
smite the rock, and it should give forth water. Moses felt angry with
the people because of their murmuring. And when the people were
gathered together before the rock, Moses said: "Hear now, ye rebels;
must we fetch you water out of this rock?" and he smote the rock and
water came out of it. But Moses did not honor the Lord in that
instance as he ought to have done. The Lord felt angry with him, and
would not allow him to go into the land of Canaan because he did not
sanctify the God of Israel. At the same time the Lord fulfilled His
word to Moses, for when he smote [p.76] the rock the waters came out.
By what principle? Was that according to the law of hydraulics? It was
the power of God that manipulated that affair. So it was in the case
of Elijah. There had been a drouth in the land of Israel, and there
was great suffering in consequence of it. Elijah went and prayed to
the Lord that the drouth might pass off, and that rain might come. The
Lord heard his prayer, and sent the rain. At first, we are told, a
little cloud arose out of the sea, like a man's hand; but by and by
the heaven was black with clouds, and there was great rain. Who was it
that manipulated these matters? It was the Lord. It would appear to
some to be according to the laws of nature, etc. So it would; but at
the same time this was done by the prayer of faith, and the water
flowed forth. And I want to say one thing here, and that is, that if
we are sustained in these latter days, God must sustain us; if we are
upheld, God must uphold us. Men are raging and have been raging
against us; but I will say, as I have often said, Woe! to them that
fight against Zion, for God will fight against them, and He will have
His own way of doing it. It is for us to pursue the even tenor of our
way, and if we will work righteousness and fear God, and keep His
commandments, the wilderness and the solitary places shall be made
glad, (as it has been already abundantly among us) and the desert
shall blossom as the rose. But it will not be to me, or to Brother
Cannon, or to President Young, or to anybody else, that the glory will
belong. We will give God the glory for all our deliverance. He has
been very kind and merciful to us all the day long.

Vol. 26,  p.76
Therefore, let us do right. Let us observe the laws of God, and keep
His commandments, and the blessing of God will be with us. We will go
forward and build our temples and labor therein. We will go forth and
build up the Kingdom of God; we will go forth and purify the Church of
God; we will go forth and establish the Zion of God. When Zion existed
upon the earth it took 365 years to prepare the people thereof to be
translated. But the Lord in these last days will cut His work short in
righteousness. Therefore let us do right. Do right by everybody. Bear
with the infirmities of men and the follies of men. Treat all men
kindly, no matter who they may be—whether they are insiders or
outsiders, or apostates, or any body else—treat everybody kindly. But
do not be partakers of the practices of the wicked. Do not mix up with
the corrupt and evil. If they are hungry, feed them; if they are naked
clothe them; if they are sick, administer to them; but do not
associate with them in their abominations and their corruptions. Come
out from the world and be ye separate, ye that bear the vessels of the
Lord, and let "Holiness to the Lord" be written in every heart; and
let us all feel that we are for Zion and for God and His Kingdom, and
for those principles that will elevate us in time and throughout the
eternities that are to come.

Vol. 26,  p.77
God bless and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.[p.77] 

George Q. Cannon, November 9, 1884

Similarity of Circumstances Surrounding Former and 
Latter-Day Saints—God is No Respecter of Persons—Revelation 
to Enoch—Christ Preached to the Spirits in Prison Between 
the Times of His Crucifixion and Resurrection—All Must 
Hear the Gospel, and Be Judged Thereby—We 
Must Progress or Retrograde

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, November 9, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.77
I WILL read a portion of the 3rd chapter of the first epistle of St.
Peter, and a portion of the 4th chapter; commencing at the 12th verse
of the 3rd chapter:

Vol. 26,  p.77
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are
open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that
do evil.

Vol. 26,  p.77
13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which
is good?

Vol. 26,  p.77
14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be
not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

Vol. 26,  p.77
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you, with meekness and fear;

Vol. 26,  p.77
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as
of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ.

Vol. 26,  p.77
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well
doing, than for evil doing.

Vol. 26,  p.77
18 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;

Vol. 26,  p.77
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Vol. 26,  p.77
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Vol. 26,  p.77
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not
the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Vol. 26,  p.77
22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels
and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.*  *  *  *

Vol. 26,  p.77
1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in
the [p.78] flesh hath ceded from sin;

Vol. 26,  p.78
2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lasts of men, but to the will of God.

Vol. 26,  p.78
3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess
of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Vol. 26,  p.78
4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same
excess of riot, speaking evil of you.

Vol. 26,  p.78
5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and
the dead.

Vol. 26,  p.78
6 For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the spirit.

Vol. 26,  p.78
7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer.

Vol. 26,  p.78
8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for
alacrity shall cover the multitude of sins."

Vol. 26,  p.78
These words, my brethren and sisters, embody to us to-day, though
written by the Apostle Peter, 1800 years ago, the Gospel of life and
salvation. They are exceedingly appropriate to Latter-day Saints, as
doubtless they were when written to former-day Saints. The
circumstances which surrounded our brethren and sisters in former
days, no doubt were similar in many respects to those which surround
us in this one day, probably, with this difference that we are not
scattered to the same extent they were; we have been gathered together
from the nations where the Gospel was preached to us, and are now
living in one community in these mountains. But the same doctrines,
the same principles, the same powers of evil, the same powers of good,
the same Spirit of God, and the same spirit of evil, were extant then,
and were experienced then by the Saints who took upon themselves the
name of Christ, as they are by us who now live.

Vol. 26,  p.78
Since I have come into this stand my mind has reverted to a
conversation which I had a few days ago with a minister of the Dutch
Reform Church, who was passing through this city, and who was
introduced to me, and had a good many inquiries to make respecting our
doctrines. When I told him how God had revealed Himself in these last
days, how He had restored the Everlasting Priesthood, the ordinances
of life and salvation, the Gospel in its original purity and power,
accompanied with the Holy Ghost and its gifts, and had organized the
Church as in ancient days, and related to him what God had said
concerning all the churches in Christendom, he had the question to
ask, which is so frequently asked of all our Elders when they travel
and declare the same message, "Why has God left the Christian world
for so long a time without, these blessings and these powers and these
gifts that you now claim as belonging to your Church and having been
restored from heaven? And what has become of those Christians whom you
say died in ignorance of the fullness of the Gospel of salvation?"

Vol. 26,  p.78
These are very pertinent questions. They are questions frequently
asked of all our Elders. They are questions which suggest themselves
to the minds of every thinking man when he is told that God has
restored the truth in its original purity, with the power and
authority of the Priesthood which have been so long withdrawn. Our
ancestors we may [p.79] have known, at least some of them; we may have
known the morality of their lives, the purity of their intentions, the
goodness of their motives, their exemplary conduct; and if we do not
understand the principles of the Gospel when we are told the message
that the Elders have to bear, the inquiry naturally arises, "Is it
possible that my grandfather, my grandmother, my uncle, or perchance
my father and my mother, have not gone to heaven, that they are not in
the presence of God? Why, better people I never knew, and I have
always thought," says the inquirer, "that they really had gone to
heaven, and now you tell me that unless I am baptized I shall be
damned, and yet they are dead and have not been baptized."

Vol. 26,  p.79
I expect many feel as the heathen king once felt. He was a king of the
Franks, one of the old races that invaded what is now called France.
He had surrendered his old convictions sufficiently to consent to
receive the rite of baptism. A Catholic Bishop from Rome was to
sprinkle him. But before submitting to be sprinkled the thought
suggested itself to the king to ask the question what had become of
his ancestors. The Bishop, more ready than politic, said, "They have
gone to hell." "Then," said the king, "I will go to hell with them; I
shall not be separated from my ancestors," and he refused to receive
the rite of baptism.

Vol. 26,  p.79
Now, I expect that there are many people in the world who, in the
absence, or for the want of knowledge concerning the plan of salvation
would almost feel the same when told that if they did not obey the
Gospel, they would be damned. But when people are enlightened
concerning the plan of Jehovah, the Gospel of the Son of God, they can
easily reconcile justice and mercy as being attributes of the Great
Being whom we worship. As I remarked to this gentleman, "I might
easily answer your question by propounding another question to you.
You are a Christian minister; you preach what you believe to be the
Gospel; what has become of the millions of heathen who died in
ignorance of that Gospel which you profess to obey and accept as the
plan of salvation—the millions of heathen who never heard the name of
Jesus Christ, the only name given under heaven whereby man can be
saved—what has become of them?"

Vol. 26,  p.79
"Oh," said he, "but they were not Christians."

Vol. 26,  p.79
Said I, "Do you think that God makes a distinction between the souls
or the spirits of men? Is there one class of spirits for whom He has a
greater respect than He has for others! Is a Christian soul more
valuable, or more precious, in the sight of our Great Creator, than
the soul of a heathen? I do not believe it myself. I have no such
idea."

Vol. 26,  p.79
But he could see a wide distinction between those who were Christians
and those who were not.

Vol. 26,  p.79
Nevertheless the difficulty still remains, and it will ever remain to
those who do not comprehend the plan of salvation as revealed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. We must remember that God's work is not confined to
this life; that God's plan of salvation extends throughout eternity;
that according to our belief it began to operate in eternity, if it
ever began at all—for it never really in truth began, it always
operated, operated from eternity and will operate to eternity, for all
the children of men, for every human soul. The plan of salvation
devised by our [p.80] Father and God, is intended to save every human
being that will be saved; to reach them all, unless, during this
probation, they commit what is termed the unpardonable sin, the sin
against the Holy Ghost, and become sons of perdition, in which event
salvation ceases (so far as they are concerned) to operate; they put
themselves outside of the pale of salvation.

Vol. 26,  p.80
There is a very interesting revelation contained in the new
translation by the Prophet Joseph Smith, which is found in the Pearl
of Great Price. The revelation says:

Vol. 26,  p.80
"And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of
the people, and wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying, How is it
that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the
mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord, How is it that thou canst
weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And
were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea
and millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the
number of Thy creations; and Thy curtains are stretched out still; and
thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou
art merciful and kind forever; thou hast taken Zion to thine own
bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and
naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne;
and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it that
thou canst weep?

Vol. 26,  p.80
"The Lord said unto Enoch, Behold these thy brethren; they are the
workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge,
in the day that I created them: and in the garden of Eden, gave I unto
man his agency; and unto thy brethren have I said, and also gave
commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should
choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection; and
they hate their own blood; and the fire of mine indignation is kindled
against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon
them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them. Behold I am God;
Man of Holiness is thy name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless
and Eternal is my name, also. Wherefore, I can stretch forth my hands
and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce
them also; and among all the workmanship of my hands there has not
been so great wickedness as amony thy brethren; but behold, their sins
shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father,
and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over
them, even all the workmanship of my hands: wherefore should not the
heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? But behold, these which thine
eyes are upon shall perish in the flood; and behold, I will shut them
up; a prison have I prepared for them. And that which I have chosen
has plead before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins,
inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return
unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment; wherefore, for
this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of my
hands."

Vol. 26,  p.80
A most important revelation, this, to Enoch, showing unto him the fate
of the wicked after his city should be translated and taken to heaven.
The inhabitants of the earth should grow worse and worse, more
abandoned than ever in their wickedness, until the time should come
for the Lord [p.81] to send forth His floods and drown the inhabitants
of the earth except Noah, and those who received His testimony. All
this was shown unto Enoch; and he was shown that those who had thus
acted, or who should thus act, "would be consigned to prison, they
would be consigned to a place of torment, and because of their
sufferings, because of that which they should have to pass through,
the heavens themselves wept over their fate. Enoch was told that they
should remain there until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, or in
these words: "And that which I have chosen has plead before my face.
Wherefore, He suffereth for their sins, insomuch as they will repent
in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me."

Vol. 26,  p.81
That is, after the Savior's advent in the flesh, after He has suffered
for their sins; until then, when He should return unto the Father,
they should remain in this prison and in this condition of torment.
"Wherefore, for ths shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the
workmanship of my hands."

Vol. 26,  p.81
Those millions of spirits who had thus committed sin and iniquity unit
could be borne no longer, until the earth groaned under their
wickedness, and cried aloud as with a human voice against the
wickedness upon its surface of which those inhabitants had been
guilty—those millions of spirits were swept off with a flood, the
whole family of man was destroyed, except Noah and those seven souls
who received his testimony, a part of his family, and a part only, for
there were children that Noah had who rejected his testimony, and who
also shared in the destruction that came upon the inhabitants of the
earth. But those eight, including Noah, were the sole surviving
remnant of the entire family of man. The antideluvian world numbered
millions doubtless; millions were swept away from the face of the
earth, and consigned to a place of torment, or to a prison. In this
prison they were immured, doubtless in utter darkness—in the condition
that is so expressly described by the Savior Himself, when upon the
earth—in outer darkness, where there is weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth, a place of torment, where they were kept until the
Savior Himself came in the flesh, and proclaimed unto the children of
men the Gospel of life and salvation.

Vol. 26,  p.81
Jesus Himself, on one occasion, went into the synagogue after His
baptism by John the Baptist, and there was handed to Him a book
containing the prophecy of Isaiah, or as it is written in the New
Testament Esaias. He took it and read these words: "The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me; because the Lord 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; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He
there proclaimed in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, the exact
character of the mission that had been assigned Him by His Father in
heaven. He was not only commanded to preach good tidings unto the
meek, and to bind up the broken hearted, but He was sent to proclaim
liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that
were bound. Thus was a part of His mission foretold by the Prophet
Isaiah a long time before His birth. He Himself confirmed the
correctness of the prediction by reading it in the ears of the people;
and when He left the earth, after [p.82] having established His Gospel
upon it, after having commenced the work of salvation here, after
having ordained men to the authority of the everlasting Priesthood
which He held, the Priesthood of Melchisedec, after having done this
and was slain by wicked men, suffered for the sins of humanity in the
flesh, He then went, in the words that I have read in your hearing
from this epistle of Peter, and preached to the spirits in prison
which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah. He went and proclaimed liberty to the
captive; He went to open the prison doors to them that were bound. He
alone could do this. No Prophet that preceded Him had the authority,
for none of the Prophets that had preceded Him had this mission
assigned them. It was His duty as the Son of God, as the Redeemer of
the world, after, as I have said, committing the Gospel to men in the
flesh, after ordaining men to preach that Gospel and administer its
ordinances in the power and authority of the everlasting Priesthood,
to preach to those spirits in prison. It did not take a great while to
commence the work; for He was crucified on Friday, and was resurrected
on Sunday; but in the interim, while His body laid in the tomb, His
Spirit, as is correctly stated in one catechism—I believe that of the
Episcopalians—"descended into hell," and, according to the mission
that had been assigned Him, according to the revelation that God gave
to Enoch before the floods descended Upon the wicked world, according
to the predictions of Isaiah, and according to the power and authority
which He exercised as the Son of God He went and opened the prison
doors to them that were bound, preached to them the everlasting
Gospel, once more, and gave unto them the privilege of receiving it in
the spirit even as though they were in the flesh. Therefore says
Peter, "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, while the ark was a preparing." Then he
goes on and he says—after telling the Saints how they should live, how
the wicked should act, and how they should be treated—he says: "For
this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that
they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit."

Vol. 26,  p.82
Now, say some, "Oh, this means when men are dead in their sins. This
is what Peter means—dead in their sins."

Vol. 26,  p.82
It does not mean any such thing. That is not the meaning of it. It
means just what it says. It means that the Gospel shall be preached to
them that are dead; that the Savior should carry the glad tidings of
salvation to them, and not only to those who were disobedient in the
days of Noah, but to all the spirit world, to every soul of Adam's
race that had up to that time died who had not received the Gospel in
the flesh. He commenced the work there just as lie did here. He
commenced, as I have said, by preaching the Gospel, by revealing it to
His disciples, by giving them the authority to preach it, and then He
descended into Hades or hell, and He there, doubtless, chose His
ministers, the men who had the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and
set them to the same labor that was commenced on the earth, the labor
of preaching His everlasting Gospel to all the spirit world, to the
millions of spirits who had died either in disobedience to the [p.83]
Gospel of Christ, or in ignorance of that Gospel, never having heard
the sound of it. The Gospel was sent to the entire spirit world,
except, as I have before stated, to those sons of perdition who had
committed the unpardonable sin, or the sin against the Holy Ghost, and
the labor has doubtless continued from that day until the present time
in the spirit world. In the authority and power of the everlasting
Priesthood the servants of God have been calling upon the inhabitants
of that world to repent and believe in Jesus: first to repent of their
sins and be willing to receive the Gospel of the Son of God in its
fullness and in its purity, just as men would receive it in the
flesh—that is, be willing to comply as far as possible with all its
requirements, and also to have this further willingness, that if they
were in the flesh they would submit to and receive every ordinance of
the Gospel of life and salvation. They must not only believe in Jesus,
as I have said, and repent of their sins; not only be willing to go
that far, but be willing to go the full extent of the requirements of
the Gospel, be willing to obey every ordinance and every law that is
necessary, and say in the spirit, "Oh, if I were in the flesh I would
be baptized for the remission of my sins; I would have hands laid upon
me for the reception of the Holy Ghost; I would be willing to obey
every law of God, my Eternal Father, if I had the opportunity in the
flesh of doing so."

Vol. 26,  p.83
Jesus illustrated this principle and the work which lay before Him
very beautifully, in the case of the thief on the cross. One of the
thieves reviled Him. The other turned and rebuked his companion for
reviling the Savior, and asked the Savior to remember him when He came
into His kingdom; for you must understand that the idea had become
prevalent then that Jesus was a king, and they had written over His
cross in three languages, "Jesus, King of the Jews," partly in
derision, doubtless; but it was the truth. Pilate asked Him if He was
not a king, and this robber, doubtless, shared in the feeling that
Jesus was a king. Therefore he besought Him to remember him when He
came into His Kingdom. Jesus said to him: "To-day shalt thou be with
me in paradise." "There I can speak to you," He might have said, "more
fully than I can now. This is our dying hour, and I am not in a
position to preach to you or explain to you the plan of salvation that
I have; but wait awhile, before this day ends you will be with me in
paradise, and there I can make full explanations to you concerning all
that you desire to know."

Vol. 26,  p.83
And this in reality was the case. That day they were in paradise
together. Jesus was in a position to preach to him in the spirit as He
had done to men in the flesh. And you will remember—although it seems
almost unnecessary to repeat it to this congregation who are so well
instructed; but there are young people who are not so familiar with
these doctrines, and, therefore, for their benefit I quote the
Scriptures. You will remember when Mary, after she missed the body
from the sepulchre, rushed forward to a man, supposing him to be the
gardener, and asked him where he had laid the body. She did not
recognize Him at first, but as soon as He made Himself known she
essayed to clasp Him in womanly affection. He, however, told her to
stand back, not to touch Him. You must not put your hands on me, Mary.
Whatever your relations may be to me, you [p.84] must not touch me
now. "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." This was His expression when His
body had been resurrected from the tomb. He had not yet been to His
Father—that is, directly to the immediate presence of His Father.
Therefore it was not fit that any mortal should put hands upon Him. It
was not the privilege even of Mary, closely connected as she was with
Him—it was not her privilege to put her hand upon her resurrected
Lord. He had not yet ascended to the Father.

Vol. 26,  p.84
Thus you see the Scriptures corroborate that which I have said in this
respect. His body had lain, as I before remarked, from Friday until
Sunday, in the tomb, and then it was resurrected. But during that
period His spirit had been engaged preaching to the spirits in prison;
they heard the glad tidings of salvation from the Savior. His voice
penetrated the depths of hell, the gloom of darkness, and it awakened
hope within their hearts. He proclaimed liberty to the captive. He
opened the prison doors to those that were bound. He preached unto
them the acceptable year of the Lord: for the time had come for them
to be redeemed from their prison house in which they had been so long
incarcerated for the sins committed in the flesh.

Vol. 26,  p.84
This is the Gospel of salvation that God has revealed. Every human
being that has ever been born upon the face of the earth, every human
being that ever will be born will hear these glad tidings of salvation
proclaimed by those who have authority to administer it unto fallen
man, whether they lived before Jesus, whether they lived at the time
of or since Jesus, or whether they will live yet in the future. They
cannot hear the Gospel. They cannot be judged until they do hear it.
Every principle of salvation will be proclaimed to those who have died
without the privilege of hearing it in the flesh—they must hear it in
the spirit world as well as those who hear it in the flesh. Therefore,
we need not be in any anxiety concerning our ancestors; we need not,
puzzle ourselves with questions as to the fate of the heathen; we need
not be disturbed in our feelings to reconcile the justice of God with
His mercy, or His mercy with His justice, to the children of men. None
of these questions need trouble us, for the reason that by the
revelation of these glorious principles God's mercy is reconcilable in
the most perfect manner with His justice. We see by this that God will
not consign any soul to endless torment without first giving him an
opportunity of receiving or rejecting the Gospel. If he be consigned
to torment it will be as a punishment for violating law. Where there
is no law there is no transgression of the law. There can be therefore
no punishment if a man does not comprehend the law. If it is not made
plain to him, its binding force does not operate upon him; but when he
understands it, when his mind comprehends it, when it is declared to
him, then it begins to operate upon him, and if he reject it, then the
penalty begins to operate also, and unless he repents and obeys that
law he will receive severe condemnation. Therefore in the spirit world
there are grades of punishment just as there are grades of spirits.
Some are ignorant. Some men who never heard the name of Jesus have
lived according to the light that God gave them; for God has given to
every man [p.85] that is born into the world, according to the
revelations we have received, His Spirit. He has given unto every man
and woman His Spirit, not the gift of the Holy Ghost, but His Spirit
by which they are led and guided. Some call it the light of
conscience, the voice of conscience. No man ever committed a wrong
that listened to that voice without being chided for it, whether he be
Christian or heathen, whether he has lived according to the light of
the Gospel or been in entire ignorance of it. Every man has within him
a spirit which comes from our Great Creator, and if we grieve it not
it leads us, guides us, though we may not know the Gospel, as has been
the case with many thousands and millions of human beings. It leads
all the children of men when they listen to it; it leads them in the
path of peace, in the path of virtue, in the path of happiness; but if
they violate that spirit or grieve it, if they go contrary to its
monitions, if they harden their hearts against and sin against it,
then it departs, and another spirit takes its place, namely, the
Spirit of the evil One.

Vol. 26,  p.85
Thus it is that the heathen, many of them have lived lives most
exemplary, lives which are the admiration of posterity. Men not
confined to one race, not to one nationality, but men of every race,
men of every clime, men of every language, have received the same
spirit and have been enlightened by it and their lives have been noble
and admirable, and no doubt have been acceptable to God our eternal
Father. Therefore, when you think about your grandparents whom you
have known, when you think about your parents or some other relatives
whom you have known, who died in ignorance of the Gospel, you have
known their lives, you have known how good their desires were, you
have known how they conformed to the law so far as they understood it,
how moral they were, how exemplary, how correct in their conduct, in
their conversation and in their dealings—when you think of these, you
need not be afraid that they have lost anything because they died in
ignorance of the Son of God. I tell you that God's providence is over
all His children, and He will reward every man and every woman
according to his or her works, and He will reward those who have lived
exemplary lives, those who have been moral, whether they be heathen or
Christian, whether they have known the name of Jesus or not, whether
they have the Bible, or the Koran, or some other book, or no book at
all; whatever may have been their condition and circumstances, if they
have lived according to the light that God has given them, and to laws
that they understood, God will reward them, and will eventually bestow
every blessing upon them which they are capable of receiving. Yes,
those poor people who persecute us, those people who would, in their
ignorance destroy us, we can well say to them and concerning them that
which Stephen said, when about to give up the ghost. They stoned him.
They treated him most cruelly for his belief. He had declared to them
the Gospel; but they stoned him to death. Before he died he said—and
it's the spirit which every man of God, who comprehends the purposes
of God, and the plan of salvation will cherish and always give
utterance to under all circumstances—"Father forgive them, they know
not what they do." They were ignorant. He therefore besought the
Father to forgive them. They did not know what they were doing. They
did it ignorantly. This was [p.86] proved by the fact that the young
man at whose feet lay the clothes of those who committed this bloody
deed, afterwards became a flaming light in the Church and Kingdom of
God, and ultimately laid down his life for that Gospel which he had
witnessed Stephen die for, and which at the time he thought was a
righteous judgment upon Stephen.

Vol. 26,  p.86
My brethren and sisters, we can of all people be charitable. As the
Apostle Peter says: "Above all things have fervent charity among
yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." And not
only among ourselves, but have charity for an ignorant world who know
not what they do in fighting against God, in fighting against His
truth, in seeking to destroy His Priesthood from the face of the
earth: they know not what they do. We would save them if we could. We
would carry the Gospel of salvation to them. We are ready, as we have
been, to endure all things for the sake of the souls of our fellow
men. We have gone from continent to continent, from land to land, from
island to island, wherever there was a door open, to preach the
Gospel. We have forsaken home, forsaken wives and children, and all
the endearments of home, everything that men love and hold sacred,
even to the sacrificing of our lives for the salvation of our fellow
men—gone without purse or scrip, gone forth in the midst of shame and
ignominy, in the face of persecution of the most cruel and sometimes
of the most dreadful character. We have done this, we are still doing
it, we shall do it, until every soul under the broad canopy of heaven
shall hear the Gospel of the Son of God, this message of life and
salvation which has been entrusted to us. Every mortal shall hear the
glad tidings of salvation. They shall be judged by this message. They
shall receive the blessings of God or His condemnation, according to
their willingness to receive or their determination to reject the
Gospel; and then when this life is ended, when this mortal is laid
aside, we shall go into the spirit world, endowed with the same
Priesthood and authority of the Son of God; clothed with that
authority; enveloped with it, even the fullness of it; we shall go
into the spirit world and continue this glorious labor of warning our
brethren and sisters who once were in the flesh, until throughout the
spirit world the Gospel of salvation shall be heard from one end of it
to the other. It is a never-ending work that which we have taken upon
ourselves. It will never terminate until this earth shall be redeemed,
until the power of Satan shall be subdued, until wickedness shall be
banished from the earth, until He reigns whose right it is to reign,
and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. Then will this labor cease so far as the
family of man is concerned; but it will never cease until all who
belong to this earth, whoever were born upon it—no matter in what age,
no matter what time, no matter what nationality, shall be redeemed who
can be redeemed.

Vol. 26,  p.86
Now, my brethren and sisters, you have some little idea of the
character of the work in which we are engaged, Do we set too much
value upon our Priesthood—when we talk about Priesthood and
authority—when these are the labors that attend the Priesthood and
that devolve upon it? No, we cannot value our calling too highly. And
I say to you that you have entered upon a pathway [p.87] that leads
back to God. You may dally by the wayside; you may fool away your
time; you may be idle, indifferent and careless; but you only lose
thereby the progress that you ought to make. Unless you commit the
unpardonable sin, you will have to progress. It is written in the
eternity of our God that every soul must progress that does not
retrograde. Therefore, make good use of the time you have. Now is the
time of your probation, now is the time of harvest, now is the summer
of your days. Let it not be said, the harvest is past, the summer is
ended, and my soul is not saved. But let us bear in mind that now is
the probation that God has given us. Let us make use of it by doing
the works of righteousness, by keeplug the commandments of God, by
having our eye on the mark of our high calling in Christ Jesus; which
may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.

John Taylor, February 12, 1882

Hostilty of the World to the Gospel—Rebellion of Lucifer 
in Heaven—Seth Given in Place of Abel—Wickedness of the 
Antediluvians—Enoch's Zion—Necessity of Opposing Powers and 
Principles, that Men May Be Tested—Difference Between 
Bigamy and Plural Marriage—Our Marriage Covenants 
Are Eternal—Enmity of Religious Teachers—Our 
Children Should Be Correctly Taught

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered in 
the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, February 12th, 1882.

Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs

Vol. 26,  p.87
IT is well sometimes for us to reflect upon the position we occupy
before God; it is well for us to understand the relation we sustain to
each other; it is well for us to comprehend the relation that we
sustain to the Church and Kingdom of God; it is also well for us to
know the position that we occupy in relation to the world in which we
live. As intelligent beings it is for us to comprehend all truth so
far as we are capable of understanding it.

Vol. 26,  p.87
The Gospel is spoken of as being light; and when it was introduced by
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it was then said, that light had come
into the world. But while light had come into the world there was a
certain class of people that loved darkness [p.88] rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. Jesus, in alluding to himself, said: I
am the true light. And He is spoken of as being the light that
enlightens every man that cometh into the world. And again it is said
of Him: the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth
it not. There are many very significant sayings on the same subject,
that afford food for thought and reflection.

Vol. 26,  p.88
The Gospel of the Son of God has always been obnoxious to a great
portion of the human family. In it there is too much light, too much
truth, too much intelligence; for the bulk of mankind; its principles
are too pure, too noble, too elevating to accord with the general
feelings of humanity and with that spirit that proceeds from the
powers of darkness, and which rules in the midst of the children of
disobedience. And hence people generally have been opposed to it, and
they are opposed to it to-day. People oppose it, but they do not
comprehend it. They speak against it; but they speak of that which
they know not of. And while they think we are superstitious and
ignorant, we know that they are; there is fie doubt on that question.
We know that they "understand neither what they say, nor whereof they
affirm." Therefore to us they are objects of commiseration more than
anything else.

Vol. 26,  p.88
Talk of Christianity and of the Gospel of the Son of God, in all the
ages of the world, whenever and wherever it was proclaimed, there was
a spirit of hostility and antagonism manifested towards it from the
very first. We may go back as far as the days of Cain. We read that
Adam had two sons, named Cain and Abel. Cain lent himself to the enemy
of all righteousness, and became what is termed in Scripture, the
father of lies. He rebelled against God, and rebelled against his
father, and instigated by the spirit of enmity which proceeds from the
evil one, he killed his brother.

Vol. 26,  p.88
These things are not always understood nor the reasons for them. But
it has been revealed unto us that Cain loved Satan more than he loved
God, and that he placed himself under his influence. And when Cain and
Abel offered up their sacrifice, Cain offered his at the instigation
of the devil; and his sacrifice, of course, was not accepted. God knew
his heart and the feelings by which he was actuated, and therefore
rejected his offering. Then came Lucifer, the devil, and says to Cain,
"I told you the Lord would treat you wrong; He has treated me wrong;"
and he instigated him to kill his brother, which he did. And why?
Because his brother believed in God, and obeyed God; and because he
believed in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, which had been
made known to them; because he believed these principles, and because
Satan was opposed to them, he instigated Cain to kill his brother.

Vol. 26,  p.88
It looked a rather awkward thing for the world under these
circumstances. As we read it—there were two sons, one of them
righteous, the other wicked; the wicked killed the righteous, and the
world was left under these influences to a certain extent. But then
Adam had other sons and other progeny, and he himself was there; and
he believed in God, and blessed God for having revealed the Savior,
and the plan by which he and his children were to be redeemed from the
fall, which he had been an active participator in bringing about,
which, probably, was all right that it Should be brought [p.89] about.
And from that time the spirit of antagonism existed between the two
principles; the power of God and the power of the adversary. It had
commenced, in fact, before that time. Lucifer and those that were
associated with him were cast out of heaven because they rebelled
against God their Heavenly Father. They were not willing that He
should carry out the plan of redemption and salvation which He had
devised before the world was; and having been cast out of heaven, he,
with them, became full of wrath and of hostility against the purposes
and designs of the Almighty in regard to the salvation and exaltation
of the human family. And this spirit continues to grow and extend; and
the descendants of Cain multiplied as did the other descendants of
Adam.

Vol. 26,  p.89
By and by another seed was raised up to Adam, namely Seth, to stand in
the place of Abel. "For God (said Eve) hath appointed for me another
seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." And he became the
representative of God, as Adam was the representative of God. He took
Abel's place as the representative of God and the laws of God; and he
had revelation, and the Priesthood, and the Gospel, and was acquainted
with the principles of truth. Finally, there was a number of prominent
men of whom we read, but of whom a very short account is given; no
matter, it is not necessary to enter into details on these subjects,
but I wish to touch upon some of the leading points thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.89
After a while wickedness had spread very extensively upon the face of
the earth; so much so, that we read that the thoughts of men were evil
and that continually; and it became inexpedient to the Lord to permit
the people to live to perpetuate their corruptions and infamies. And,
therefore, God decreed that He would cut them off from the face of the
earth, that they should not have the power to perpetuate their
species, and thus become the fathers and mothers of lives and be the
media through which the intelligent, pure spirits that existed in the
eternal world should receive bodies or tabernacles. They were to be
deprived of that privilege.

Vol. 26,  p.89
But before this was done the Lord sent messengers among the people
proclaiming to them what was about to befall them if they did not
repent and turn from their evil ways. Enoch was one of these; he stood
at the head of that dispensation. He, as we are doing, sent out
missionaries among the people who had become very numerous. Their
mission was to call upon the people to repent and to obey the Gospel
and to believe in the Son of God and to obey His law; and to tell them
that God had prepared a scourge for those who would not repent, that
they would be destroyed from off the face of the earth by a flood; and
the people thus destroyed should be cast into prison, a prison which
God had prepared on purpose for them. And when these men went to
preach this doctrine many believed on them and they were gathered
together, as we are, unto a place which they called Zion. And they
were placed under the direction of the Holy Priesthood, men who were
inspired of God, with whom He communicated; and whom he taught in all
the principles pertaining to the Gospel of the Son of God; and they
continued in this condition for a length of time. And as they gathered
out from among the people, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from among
the people; and they [p.90] became exceedingly angry, angry at Enoch
and angry at those who preached the Gospel to them. And the nature of
men is just about the same now as then. They spoke all manlier of evil
against the servants of God who ministered among them; they rejected
their testimony, and not only that, but, like some of the very pious
people in our day do towards us, they thought it would be doing God
service to sweep these men off the face of the earth. And they thought
so in earnest for they gathered together their armies for that
purpose. The Saints were under the immediate direction and guidance of
the Lord, and were, therefore, governed by revelation, and the power
and Spirit of the Lord rested upon Enoch. And he rose up and
prophesied and told the wicked of the fate that awaited them; and the
power of God rested upon him in a marvelous manner, so much so, that
the mountains trembled and the earth shook, and the people were afraid
and fled away from his presence, because they could not endure it.
Their armies were scattered, and they failed to accomplish that which
they in their wickedness had designed to do.

Vol. 26,  p.90
But still the same spirit that animated them continued to grow and
increase. And finally after the Saints of that day had become
sufficiently taught, they and their city—that is, the great majority
of them and their city, ascended up to heaven. We are told in the
Scripture—which is a meagre account of it, that—"Enoch was not, for
God took him. And we may add, Enoch's city and Enoch's people were
not, for God took them; they were translated. The principle of
translation was a principle that at that time existed in the Church,
and is one of the principles of the Gospel, and which will exist in
the last days.

Vol. 26,  p.90
Many of these that were left, continued to bear testimony to the
truths taught by their predecessors; and they themselves were caught
up from time to time, according to certain revelations communicated
through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Vol. 26,  p.90
The spirit of antagonism to the truths of God, and to the order of
God, and to the law of God, and to the Priesthood of God and the
Gospel of the Son of God, continued to exist. By and by the flood
came, and the things spoken of by the men who had preached among them,
were fulfilled, and the people swept from the face of the earth. They
were shut up in prison, in the prison house which had been prepared
for them, A few people were left, eight only—Noah and his wife, and
his three sons and their wives.

Vol. 26,  p.90
One of the great evils that existed among the people was that the sons
of God married the daughters of men; or, in other words, many who were
connected with the Church mixed themselves up with those who were not;
and thus their hearts were drawn away from God, and in the sight of
God they were no better than those who rejected His servants; and
consequently they perished with the disobedient and wicked.

Vol. 26,  p.90
There is something associated with these things that it may be
necessary to refer to. It is necessary there should be opposing
principles, light and darknees, truth and error, virtue and vice, good
and evil, etc. It is necessary that man should go through a state of
probation and trial, that he should have the opportunity of receiving
or rejecting correct principles, or the Gospel of the Son of God. And
it is a further development to us, that if men have not had this
opportunity upon the earth, they will still have it.[p.91] There is a
further principle exhibited here in relation to this matter. Those
very men who rejected the Gospel in their day were visited by Jesus
after He was put to death in the flesh and was quickened by the
Spirit; He went, we are told, and preached to those spirits in prison
who had been disobedient in the days of Noah. And connected with that
there is another principle; it is to place all mankind on the same
footing, that all men of every age and nation may have the same
privilege. And we are informed they will have. And hence, the Gospel
is an everlasting Gospel; the Priesthood is an everlasting Priesthood;
the work in which we are engaged commenced with our Father in heaven,
it has been revealed from time to time to man upon the earth, and it
will continue in all its power, fullness and glory in the eternal
worlds, until all things that God has designed pertaining to the
welfare and exaltation of the human family will be accomplished.

Vol. 26,  p.91
In relation to these things there are some remarkable passages
contained in the Bible. For instance:

Vol. 26,  p.91
"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be.

Vol. 26,  p.91
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,

Vol. 26,  p.91
And knew not until the flood came and took them all away! so shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be."

Vol. 26,  p.91
This is a very significant Scripture, and if correct is pregnant with
the greatest consequences to the human family; if not correct then
everything we believe in is a phantom and our worship and religion are
vain, and not only ours, but everybody else's. But if such a personage
as Jesus existed, and if he spoke those words, He most assuredly spake
the truth, and they will most assuredly be fulfilled. 

Vol. 26,  p.91
Now, in speaking of the two great principles, the two opposites, it
must needs be that there be opposition in all things; that is,
darkness as opposed to light; error as opposed to truth; evil as
opposed to good, etc. We are told by one of the old Apostles that the
"Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness; faith, meekness, temperance;" and the spirit of evil is
envy, hatred, malice, lying, slandering, uncharitableness, etc. We are
told also in the Book of Mormon the same things precisely. Whenever we
see lying, slandering, enmity, hatred, malice, we see the fruit of the
spirit of darkness, no matter how pious the people are who profess
these sentiments and who operate therein. And this is carried out
still further in the revelations of John; the Lord through him says
"For without [the city] are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Such
characters have no place within; but those who fear God and work
righteousness, who have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb, they will be introduced into the presence of God,
to participate with Him in the glories there referred to.

Vol. 26,  p.91
Hence, while these things here upon the earth make men feel
exceedingly unpleasant, exceedingly, unhappy and uneasy, when they get
through and expect to get to heaven they will find themselves outside
the city, because the pure would not have such society among them
neither would they, here It is necessary, I say, that those principles
[p.92]  should exist in order to test men, to try and prove them. It
was necessary that Jesus should be tried in this way. We are told that
"it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering." And again, when John saw an
innumerable company clothed in white, one was heard to ask, "What are
these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?" The
answer was: "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and
night in His temple."

Vol. 26,  p.92
There is something very interesting for Saints to reflect upon in
relation to these matters. And there is something that goes a little
further than we think about sometimes; and that is, while we profess
to be followers of the Lord, while we profess to have received the
Gospel, and to be governed by it, a profession will amount to nothing
unless we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. It is not enough for us to be connected with the Zion of
God, for the Zion of God must consist of men that are pure in heart
and pure in life and spotless before God, at least that is what we
have got to arrive at. We are not there yet, but we must get there
before we shall be prepared to inherit glory and exaltation; therefore
a form of godliness will amount to but little with any of us, for he
that knoweth the master's will and doeth it not shall be beaten with
many stripes. It is "not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven." These are doctrines of the Gospel as I
understand them. And it is not enough for us to embrace the Gospel and
to be gathered here to the land of Zion, and be associated with the
people of God, attend our meetings and partake of the Sacrament of the
Lord's supper, and endeavor to move along without much blame of any
kind attached to us; for notwithstanding all this, if our hearts are
not right, if we are not pure in heart before God, if we have not pure
hearts and pure consciences, fearing God and keeping His commandments,
we shall not unless we repent, participate in these blessings about
which I have spoken, and of which the Prophets bear testimony.

Vol. 26,  p.92
However, to proceed in relation to these matters I said that it was
necessary there should be opposing powers, and that men should be
tested and tried as Jesus was, and just as other people have been. And
why? Having passed through this ordeal that we may overcome the evil
with the good; for it is to him that overcometh, saith Jesus, that I
will grant to sit down with me upon my throne, as I have overcome and
sit down upon my Father's throne. It is not to him that puts on the
armor only, but to him that fights the good fight of faith, and
overcomes the world, the flesh and the devil; for him there is laid up
a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall
give unto Him.

Vol. 26,  p.92
That power and spirit that disturbed the elements and affected the
people of the old world still operates among the children of men, and
it is—I was going to say a necessary adjunct to the Gospel, in order
that men may be tried and proven. Jesus, [p.93] of course, understood
these things when He said, "If they do these things in a green tree,
what shall be done in the dry?" Said He, "Blessed are ye when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and he exceedingly glad:
for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you." There is something very pleasing in
reflecting upon these things. To be thrown into a world of evil where
strife and corruption exist, and to be mixed up with it; and then to
have sent to them the principle of truth, a spark of intelligence
descending from the throne of God, the light of the everlasting
Gospel, which if men receive in their hearts will bring them into
communication with God their Heavenly Father, and make them to feel
that they are fighting on the side of God and the right, for
everything that ennobles and has a tendency to exalt man. There is
something worth striving for in a battle of this kind, and there is
something glorious in being able to conquer. It tries men's souls
sometimes. Peter, you know, trembled under it; but Jesus said, "Fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."
I say unto you fear Him; never mind the other power. You have drank
from the river the streams whereof make glad the city of our God. The
light of eternal truth has beamed upon your minds, and your hearts
have been glad in the hopes of eternal life which have been presented
to you when under the influence of the Spirit of God. You have
rejoiced in the hope that blooms with immortality and eternal lives.
Filled with this Spirit you feel that you are an eternal being having
the principles of the everlasting Gospel within you; that you have
received the everlasting Priesthood, that you are associated with
principles that will exalt and ennoble man in time and throughout the
eternities to come. There is something pleasing about it.

Vol. 26,  p.93
And when these miserable "dogs"' howl and the coyotes yelp and exhibit
their folly and nonsense—I was going to say, who the devil cares? Some
people would think it is impious to say a thing like that. Yes, and
the same people think it very honorable to lie in order to oppose the
truth. No matter what men think of these things. I am not very precise
in choosing my words in reference to such matters.

Vol. 26,  p.93
But then, did we expect to get along much better? People are very much
exercised about us. Well, let them exercise themselves. They are very
much troubled. Let them trouble themselves. I am pleased to witness
the spirit of calmness and quiet and unconcern that exists among the
Saints of God. It is the Spirit of God and the Gospel of the Son of
God that gives that. And it is for us to continue to do right and keep
the commandments of God; and let us be careful that when men tell
these horrible stories about us, that they are not true. Blessed are
you when men revile and persecute you, and say all manner of evil
against you, falsely, for Christ's sake; but if they should speak evil
of us, and that evil be true, then there would be no blessing
connected with it. We could tell a great many things truthfully
against these same people that slander and lie about us; but it is a
dirty business, a business that reflects no credit upon any one that
is engaged in it. Let them take their course. We can afford to [p.94]
move upon a higher plane, doing good to them that injure us; and we
can pray for those who evil entreat us; that we may be the children of
our Father in heaven, who makes His sun to shine on the evil and the
good, and His rains to descend on the just and on the unjust. Who, let
me ask, were to be pitied during the time of the flood? the people
that disbelieved and disobeyed the Gospel, or the people that were
caught up to heaven? Would you feel very sorry for those who were
connected with the Zion of God, or would you feel sorry for those
poor, miserable, little-souled, ignorant people who rejected God and
His law, and who in consequence had to be swept off from the face of
the earth—which class would solicit your commiseration?

Vol. 26,  p.94
To-day God has revealed to us great, principles; and he is desirous
that we should do right and obey His law, and keep His commandments.

Vol. 26,  p.94
Among other things there is a great hue and cry about what they call
polygamy and what they call bigamy; but our plural marriage is no more
their bigamy than white is black or than light is darkness, but
seemingly neither they nor their judges nor legislators either can or
do want to comprehend the difference between the two, great as it is.
It would seem that they either do not know or do not want to know the
difference between a man's marrying a second wife without the consent
or knowledge of the first wife, and in doing so deceiving the one he
marries, who believes him to be a single man; and a man's marrying a
second wife with the knowledge and consent of the first wife, and
living with his wives in honorable wedlock, performing the duty of a
husband to them and of a father to their children, and maintaining
sacredly his marriage vows. I would suggest either a little gas or
electric light be turned on, and that it be allowed to shine upon the
visions of their dull understandings; it may help them some. But it is
evident that men do not want the truth, therefore they must believe as
they choose in regard to these things; it is really a matter of no
moment to us. But for the information of such people, if there be any,
let me say, their bigamy is deception and fraud and a breach of the
marriage covenant; while our polygamy, as it is called, is the
fulfilling of the marriage covenant, it is honorable and the fruits of
it are good; theirs is done clandestinely, ours openly; we acknowledge
ours, they repudiate theirs. They judge us from their own standpoint,
and their eye being evil, of course they see nothing but evil in us.
With them a man may have his wife and also be mixed up with other
women, and while he may be rolling in wealth, at the same time,
perhaps, his poor, unfortunate offspring, the product of his vice and
corruption, may be sweeping the crossings of the streets of our large
cities, begging from his father a penny to help to support a miserable
existence. This is compatible with their high stare of civilization
and purity. God save us from such "Christianity," from this time,
henceforth and forever. ["Amen" from voices in the congregation.] We
do not want it. We would say in relation to that what a Prophet said
on a certain occasion, "O my soul, come not thou into their secret;
into their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united." We expect to be
associated with more honorable principles, and with more honorable
people in time and throughout all the eternities to come.[p.95]  

Vol. 26,  p.95
There is one thing I wish to say, We do not preach to them this very
obnoxious doctrine of polygamy for them to practice. Our Elders are
sent forth to preach faith, repentance and baptism for remission of
sins. The doctrine of plural marriage does not belong to people who
are governed by such principles as they are, people who break their
marriage vows and who wink at those who do it, people who violate
their sacred honor with the opposite sex and trample upon and destroy
millions of the daughters of Eve, and drag them down to death and
destruction,—it does not belong to such people; it belongs to the
people who have obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God, the people who
are in possession of the principles of life, and who are keeping the
commandments of God; it does not belong to Latter-day Saints even
unless they are pure and virtuous; unless they are honorable and
worthy they cannot be associated with any such thing, much less can
the class that I have referred to who are making so much noise about
it; so they need not trouble their heads.

Vol. 26,  p.95
These things you Latter-day Saints understand. When President Hayes
was here, in conversing with him I told him that it was not our
intention to crowd our peculiar ideas upon the religious world; that
we had received the doctrine of plural marriage as a part of the
Gospel, and that it was only for pure men and pure women, that class,
and that class only, could receive it and practice it, and make it
honorable; it was not for the licentious and corrupt, but for those
who feared God and worked righteousness, who were true to themselves
and true to the female sex, and who would stand by and sustain them
and preserve them in purity and honor. There is quite a difference,
you perceive, between the one and the other.

Vol. 26,  p.95
We are seeking to catty out the word and will of God, according to the
revelations which he has given unto us, all of which are based upon
truth, virtue, purity and holiness, principles that are eternal, that
always have existed amid always will exist. the Christian world make
their covenants for time only; we for time and for eternity. They
expect to be associated with their wives "until death do them part."
We expect to be associated with ours not only for time but for
eternity. They not entering into any covenants for eternity, assume no
obligations beyond this life; but I am sorry to say, it is quite a
common thing among them to violate the covenants they make pertaining
to this life. But that I may not be misunderstood let me say further
with regard to this, there are many honorable people in our nation as
well as other parts of the world, men who regard strictly the honor of
their social ties, men who feel interested in the welfare of society,
who are desirous to see correct principles prevail; but with the
understanding they have of us—they believing that we are corrupt and
are introducing religious tenets for the purpose of gratifying the
sensual passions of man; that all are vile and corrupt at heart, and
that we take the ground that we do for the purpose of defending our
position and of making it statutory—I do not wonder at such men
entertaining the feelings they do against us, because believing the
lies that are circulated about us, they, of course, think that we are
introducing that which will corrupt and demoralize society; and they
know the state of society now, and so do we. And they are desirous to
stop a thing of this kind. The clergy, too, are very [p.96] much
exercised, as a class, about us, and they appear to be the most
incapable of all classes to tell the truth concerning us; these pious
people circulate all kinds of falsehood about us under the name of
religion. I need not refer to those things, the fact is well known to
you.

Vol. 26,  p.96
Is it then to be wondered at that people generally who do not
comprehend the true situation should come to the conclusions they do
about us? I think not. Should we feel angry at such a feeling? No.
Should we feel angry at those falsifiers? No; they are to be pitied
because they yield themselves to work iniquity; they, therefore,
become subjects of compassion. What did the same class of persons say
of Jesus? If he healed the sick, or opened the eyes of the blind, they
persuaded the people to give God the glory for, said they, "we know
this man is a sinner." If He cast out devils, this pious class said,
He did it through Beelzebub the Prince of devils. And even when he was
condemned to die and the people were asked whether He should be
released or whether Barabbas, the thief, should be released, it was
"the chief priests and elders," the pious clergy of that day, that led
the popular clamor, that "persuaded the multitude that they should ask
Barabbas, and destroy Jesus." The same spirit that moved upon the
religious teachers of that day to incite the populace against Jesus
and the Apostles, is moving upon the same class today to do the same
towards us; and they are doing all they can do. They, notwithstanding
their piety, are of their father the devil whose works they do. And
what shall we do? "Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your
reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you."

Vol. 26,  p.96
Do we want to force the Gospel upon them? No. All religious classes,
the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Catholics, and
all others have the right to worship God as they please, they have the
right to either receive or reject the Gospel of Christ. If we had the
power to force it upon them we would not do it; freedom of the mind,
and the free exercise of the rights of men is part of our religious
belief; therefore, we would not coerce them if we could. And if I
would not coerce them in that I certainly would not crowd upon them
the doctrine of plural marriage, for it is well known that after men
join our Church they must prove themselves sometime before they are
considered worthy of it.

Vol. 26,  p.96
When I reflect upon the terrible degradation that exists in the land,
and the dens of vice and infamy that flourish and keep pace with our
boasted enlightenment, I am not surprised that honorable people should
feel horrified at the misrepresentations and lies that have gone forth
concerning us. I received a letter not long ago from Brother Cannon,
in which he states that he was approached on the subject by a
gentleman, a member of Congress, who had visited here. He told Brother
Cannon that when he was here he was told some very strange stories
about the Mormon people, and he had made up his mind when he should
meet Brother Cannon to speak to him about it. He said that a
gentleman, or at least, a person that had the appearance of
respectability, told him when he was here that doings akin to a
Saturnalia were quite a common thing among the people—the promiscuous
mixing [p.97] of the sexes indulging in unrestrained license. This
gentleman says that this was told to him in the most solemn manner,
and that too by a resident of this city. He told Brother Cannon too
that he was glad to hear him contradict it. You know Latter-day Saints
whether such a condition of things exists among us or not; and yet
such wilful falsehoods are fabricated and circulated by persons  who
pass themselves off as our friends. It cannot be wondered at that
honorable men should feel exercised in their feelings against us; but
when this class of people—and there are thousands and tens of
thousands and millions of such people—are correctly informed, they
will feel differently toward us. But then, it matters not really what
men's ideas and feelings may be; and I do not feel that we are called
upon to contradict all the infamous lies and misrepresentations that
are circulated about us by men and women who are living in our midst.
I say now, as I said to a gentleman not long ago who remarked, that a
great racket was being made about us, meetings were being held and
resolutions were being passed, etc.,—I said, they may work as they
please and "resolute" as much as they please, this we could easily
stand, but hands off.

Vol. 26,  p.97
We are accused of being degraded and ignorant. I find that there is
nearly twice the amount of illiteracy in the whole of the United
States pro rata, as there is in Utah; and this fact exists
notwithstanding they have had millions of dollars to sustain their
institutions of learning while we have not had a penny. I am grateful
to God our Heavenly Father, that we stand in as favorable a position.
Let us continue to go on in every good word and work. Let our young
people's improvement associations, and our Sunday and day schools
receive our encouragement and aid; and let our children be taught by
our friends and not our enemies. Latter-day Saints will, you send your
children to be taught of people who would teach them enmity to their
fathers and mothers, and who would sow in their young hearts the seed
of enmity to the principle of religious liberty, men who, if they had
the power, would destroy the altars of freedom that the fathers of
this country fought for? We do not want our children to be instructed
by persons whose mission among us is to endeavor to instil into their
young hearts enmity to the Gospel of the Son of God as revealed by Him
through His servant Joseph Smith. We have men quite as capable to
teach as they are, we stand on a platform as elevated as theirs, and a
great deal more so. And by and by we expect to be as far ahead of them
in science, art and literature, and everything calculated to ennoble
and exalt a people and a nation, as we are new ahead of them in regard
to religious matters. But as to their religious matters, you may wrap
up the whole of them in a thimble and put it in your vest-pocket, and
hardly know it was there. [Laughter.] Any ten year-old boy of ours who
could not meet any of their ministers on matters of religion, I should
consider very ill-informed.

Vol. 26,  p.97
Well, it is for us to keep the commandments, to train up our children
in the lear of God, to live unto God, and I will risk the balance.
Amen.[p.98] 

Franklin D. Richards, January 18, 1885

Our Labors Are Interesting and Peculiar—Character of the 
Latter-Day Saints—the Blessing and Privilege of Priesthood—the 
Primary Associations—Our Warfare is One of Faith—We Must 
Importune for Our Rights—Necessity for Good Lawyers—
the Gift of Wisdom—Persecution Will Tend 
to Unite Us—We Should Be Pure

Discourse By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Afternoon, January 18th, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.98
IT is always a pleasure to meet with the Saints, and I always find
substantial pleasure in bearing that portion of the labor of the
ministry which devolves upon me. Of course there are times when human
nature is physically incapacitated from labors. Nevertheless I rejoice
exceedingly in the contemplation of the work that we are engaged in.
Certainly the review of our immense subject, our great calling, our
vast labor, and the wonderful results that follow them—when they are
reviewed as they were this morning, and called up before our minds,
must awaken deeply interesting and I should hope broadly expanded
views and reflections in the minds of the Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.98
We are, as a people, and also our labors as well as the results of
them, a great outstanding witness to the world of the divine character
of the work we are performing—the high order of our calling to perform
that work, as well as pointing significantly to the grand and glorious
results which must inevitably follow the labor and toil that are now
upon the Latter-day Saints. Any person whose bosom is warmed and whose
intellect is lit up by the Holy Spirit must rejoice greatly in the
contemplation of the great last dispensation which is now fairly
before the world, fairly upon the Saints, like the harness that is
upon those that are appointed to labor, to pull, to lift, and to toil.

Vol. 26,  p.98
Where is there any people upon the face of the earth, except the
Latter-day Saints, who have from their religious convictions—or from
any system of ethics or morals that they possess, gone forth upon the
face of the earth, and, from honest, conscientious convictions, and,
from their most heart-felt appeals, taken hold of the honest in heart,
or of the vicious in heart; anywhere upon the face of the earth, and
gathered [p.99] together a people comprising twenty to thirty
different languages and nations, and brought them together to any
place, located them, and established a system of government that has
been for their improvement, for their benefit, for the increase of
their influence, their peace, or their happiness in any sense, either
spiritual or temporal?

Vol. 26,  p.99
You can look abroad upon the earth in vain to find any other example
that has any kind of relationship, or bears any kind of analogy or
appearance like unto the work that is being performed by the
Latter-day Saints in the days in which we live.

Vol. 26,  p.99
Who is it that is doing this work What is the character of this
people? Are they those that have been through the schools and been
educated to appear in the most plausible and convincing manner in all
classes of society? Are they those that have been brought up in
affluence and comfort; that can present every thing that is pleasing
and engaging to the eyes, the ears and the minds of those they
address? Not at all. Not many learned or noble. It is often the
inexperienced boys that are picked up from the plow, from the
workshop, to the humblest of laboring men, toiling, struggling, and
many a time when they have not been able, from persecution and
oppressive circumstances in which riley have been placed, to make a
comfortable livelihood, yet they have left the bosoms of their
families and gone forth in faith carrying the principles of eternal
truth and administering them, with an honest heart and clean hands and
by the authority of the Holy Priesthood from heaven to the children of
men. And what have they done? What has this simple, humble plan
accomplished? Without money in their pockets, without letters of
recommendation even to the people, without means oft times to make
them comfortable, abnegating themselves, deficient in the comforts and
necessities of life, they have gone forth with their hearts full of
love and blessing to the human family to find other bosoms kindred to
their own, though strangers in appearance, ready to receive the glad
testimony of these servants of God. It is not the learned and the
noble, nor the wealthy of the earth that have brought their hundreds,
their thousands and their tens of thousands to this country.

Vol. 26,  p.99
It has been the potency of those principles that have been taught by
the simple and many times Silent testimony of the Holy Ghost, by the
still small voice, that has carried conviction to the honest, the
humble, laboring poor, and has brought them home here to Zion—they
that want to know more of God, they that come from the crowded cities
and other portions of the earth—find here a piece of a new world; they
take hold and make to themselves homes, all in the name of Israel's
God, and by the calling of the voice of the Good Shepherd. Oh, how
beneficient and how munificent has the Lord our God been unto us!
Behold! as I look abroad this afternoon in this house, I contemplate
the great mass of this congregation that are partakers of the Holy
Priesthood. It is not a few that are partakers of the holy calling,
the authority to administer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the echo of that saying that is written in the Scriptures where the
Lord has said that He would take of Israel and make of them a nation
of kings and priests unto Himself. Behold ye, my brethren and sisters,
here they are.[p.100] 

Vol. 26,  p.100
Here is Israel gathering together, being taught of the Lord, to learn
of His ways and walk in His paths, that they may receive the blessing
and he clothed upon with power, as the Prophet said: "Awake, awake;
put, on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O
Jerusalem." What are these beautiful garments? These beautiful
garments are the clothing upon with the authority and power of the
Holy Priesthood. It is that which makes people beautiful; it is that
which makes people useful; it is that which causes the Saints to sing:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation; that saith mite Zion, Thy God
reigneth." It is that excellence of the knowledge of God that makes
men and women beautiful, and makes their acts delightful when they are
performed in righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
rejoice when I look around and contemplate this precious
privilege—that there is scarcely an individual that has come to years
of judgment and understanding but is a partaker of some measure of the
Priesthood, if no more than the office of a Deacon that can administer
blessing by attending to the door, wait upon the tables, and also by
attending to other temporal duties from time to time as they may
occur.

Vol. 26,  p.100
Here let me say, that every officer in the Church, from the Deacon up
to the Apostle, should realize that it is his duty to endeavor to
administer blessings by the virtue of the calling of God which is upon
him; he ought to feel thus, and every sister that is the wife of such
an husband should feel, if she has received with him her blessings in
the house of the Lord, that it is her privilege and duty to administer
blessings, comfort and happiness to her husband, to her children, to
her family and household. Every one in all the Church should be filled
with a spirit of blessing. The authority of the Priesthood should
cause a gushing forth from the fountain of the heart, a bubbling forth
of streams of blessing, of consolation, of comfort and of rejoicing,
each should try to help and benefit the other in every possible way.

Vol. 26,  p.100
Contemplate the immense army, I may say of Seventies and Elders we
have among us; and what a work are they doing in the nations, and what
a work are they doing and ought they to do at home in preaching the
Gospel to each other, in encouraging and strengthening those whose
hands sometimes hang down, and whose knees tremble; speaking
comforting words to the Saints, saying, "Dear brother, thy God
reigneth, trust in him." Notwithstanding all that we see on the right
hand and on the left, and all that we hear, the Lord God has not
forgotten His people, nor has He forgotten to educate and instruct
them, in all that He knows is for their greatest good, so that by and
by He may come and find a nation of kings and priests who shall reign
with Him on the earth a thousand years. We ought never to forget that
we are in a school of experience. Every brother and every sister
should feel that they exert an influence that will tend for good or
for evil.

Vol. 26,  p.100
We ought to feel concerned for our little ones. How precious they are!
Sometimes I hear the brethren testify how much good is being done by
the Relief Society and the Associations. I want to hear them [p.101]
talk about the Primaries, and tell us how the little children are
getting along. It seems hard to get it into the heads of some of the
parents as well as some of the Bishops to realize the importance of
teaching and instructing these youngsters, some seem to consider it
the sole duty of the Primary Associations, while others think it the
duty of the parents only to see after them. Now, I think we miss it in
trying to titus shirk the responsibility. I think we should all try to
understand more perfectly the worth of souls. Oh, if the sisters and
brethren that have the charge of these little Primary Associations
could only realize that every little child is a gem that they are
called upon to polish, to cut, to refine, to shapen, to burnish, to
fit and prepare to stand in the diadem of its father's crown. This is
the way in which we ought to look at these small but precious jewels.
We should assist the little ones to grow up to be mighty men of Zion,
that shall come up to teach Senators wisdom, rebuke strong nations,
though they may be far off and become a wholesome terror to the
ungodly.

Vol. 26,  p.101
As Apostles, as Bishops, as High Priests, as Elders, as well as
fathers and mothers, we need to get more of the spirit of this great
work in all its different branches, and keep it with us; always have a
blessing to dispense; everywhere a word of comfort and consolation to
bestow. We should seek for the Spirit of God and get that measure of
it that will bear us up, that they will make us feel the cares of life
are trivial; that will sustain us under every circumstance. We can
bear wonderful trials; we can live though and outgrow them and look
back on them and wonder how we passed through them, realizing that we
never could have done so but for the help of God that sustained us in
it. Then give Him the glory.

Vol. 26,  p.101
Every officer, then, in the Church should be full of blessing to his
fellow man. Only think how many patriarchs there are. They should feel
to bless all around. No doubt they do, sealing upon those to whom they
administer the blessing of eternal life in perpetuity.

Vol. 26,  p.101
The school that we are being educated in is a strange one. You cannot
pick up the Bible and find anything that is like it. In ancient days,
when there was a warfare, it was a warfare of carnal weapons, many
times. Not so, in our days; and as if the Lord were determined to put
carnal weapons far away from us, He even permitted the Gubernatorial
order preventing us carrying firearms with which to celebrate the 4th
of July, and then, on the top of that, He has given us the abundant
testimony of peace all around, even with the hostile natives. Is not
this an overwhelming testimony that the Lord wants us to work with the
other class of weapons—the sword of His Holy Spirit, the power of
eternal truth—the ammunition that wants to be kept alive, active and
burning in our hearts.

Vol. 26,  p.101
When we come to contemplate this matter, our warfare is entirely in
another direction, it has to be carried on and accomplished by the
power of faith. We have to contend for our liberties and the rights of
the people before the courts, wherein we strive to maintain the
Constitutional rights to which we are entitled, both civilly and
politically. We have not gone to the authorities that are over us in
the nation and supplicated them saying: "Will you please give us some
extraordinary liberties or privileges—we [p.102] contend for the
rights of every American citizen, which are our rights." We have not
cut ourselves off from the rights of citizenship. Our fathers fought
to help obtain and bled to help establish the blessings and
privileges, the liberties and powers of this glorious government to
all its loyal citizens; and when this Church was established, it went
on for more than thirty-two years—no law of the Church conflicted with
the laws of the land, until it became necessary in the opinion of some
politicians that the Saints should be made offenders in the eyes of
the nation and of the world. Then it was that Congress passed a
law—the law of 1862—prohibiting plurality of wives, polygamy, or
bigamy, as they choose to call it. Now, then, we have not risen up
against the laws of the land; it is the laws of the land and the men
of the land that have risen up against the people of God, and have
brought their offensive warfare in this matter, and we are thereby
placed on the defensive. The nation have been pleased to say that we
shall not worship God according to the dictates of our consciences, as
required by some of the laws and ordinances of His Church; and have
made laws to prevent us from so doing, if possible. Hence it is that,
while we go before the courts we do not go as suppliants for something
extraordinary, or for something that other people have not got. We ask
to be preserved our rights, the rights that belong to every American
citizen. It is for this that we go through the courts, appealing from
the District Court to the Supreme Court of the Territory, and then to
the Supreme Court of the United States.

Vol. 26,  p.102
Now, is not this a great and an important lesson of experience and
instruction, and yet there is occasion, for all this is required in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord has said through the
Prophet Joseph to us, that we must importune at the feet of the
judges—do you remember it?—and at the feet of Governors—do you
recollect that—and at the feet of the President, and then, says He, if
your importuning does not prevail, and you do not obtain all things
which you have a right to, He will come out of His hiding place and
take the matter into His own hands. So you see we have some
importuning to do before, or at the feet of Judges, Governors, and
Presidents, in order to maintain the liberties guaranteed by the
Constitution of our country.

Vol. 26,  p.102
Right here I want to say a word or two especially in regard to the way
we have to do our importuning. I refer to a discourse by President
Young, in which be said he wished he had five hundred young lawyers
full of the spirit of the Gospel who would rise up and help to
maintain and defend our rights before the courts of our country. The
discourse was published in the Deseret News and republished in the
Journal of Discourses. It is public matter for anybody to read that
wishes to. But a few days ago, however, a Bishop remarked that it
looked very singular for one of the Apostles to raise up a lawyer, and
thought there must be a screw loose somewhere. It happens, however,
once in a while that some Bishop wants my son or some one else's son
to help defend them before the courts. (Laughter.) I wonder if there
is any screw loose there. Excuse me, brethren, for this reference; but
I wish we could have a goodly number of substantial young men growing
up in our midst who would become skilled and [p.103] mighty in the
law, and who could go into any of the courts and set forth the true
principles of justice and equity in all cases. We need more of such
men. We do not want men to become lawyers, turn infidels, and live for
nothing but the little money they can make. We want to raise up a
corps of young men armed with the Spirit of the Gospel, clothed with
the Holy Priesthood, who can tell the judges in high places what the
law is, and what equity is, and can plead for the cause of Zion, and
help maintain the rights of God's people. Hence you see we have got to
carry on these matters. Our rights are infringed, and we have got to
defend ourselves as best we can. We are told that we must plead with
the dignitaries of the earth; plead with them until their position on
our question is known; they have got to declare themselves.

Vol. 26,  p.103
There are different branches of the government, which are considered
co-ordinate. For instance—there is the legislative branch, namely,
Congress. Then there is the President, who represents the executive
branch. Then there is the army and navy, which is the arm of power to
carry out and maintain physical defenses. And then there is the
Supreme Court, the legal tribunal that stands at the very head, if you
please, and pronounces upon the constitutionality of the acts which
Congress passes. Hence we see our case has not only to be brought
before and had cognizance of in the Congress of the United States to
ascertain if they will make laws to oppress us, but these laws can be
taken to higher courts, to see whether they will maintain the rights
of God's people in the land. And does it seem a terrible thing that
one or two should get cast into prison? As President Cannon
contemplated this morning, half a dozen would cover all such cases
within the last twenty-two years, and the persons connected with the
most notable cases have come in and furnished the evidence for their
own crimination, under the promise that punishment would not be
inflicted. But like the Governor of Illinois, who pledged his honor
and the honor of the state to protect our Prophet and Patriarch, all
such promises were broken. Nevertheless, in this manner we have got to
test the purity or impurity, the integrity or otherwise, of the
different branches of the government under which we live.

Vol. 26,  p.103
God is going to make His people a great people. He has designed them
to be the means not only of revealing among themselves, what they are,
and what they are here for, but of making them a standing testimony of
the truth before the whole world. The great knowledge of which we have
become possessed cannot be hid under a bushel, cannot be hid up in a
dark place. Here we are in the heights of the continent, calling
Israel home, ready to impart the light that is within us, to all of
Adam's children who will receive it. Let us seek to be wise. The Lord
has told us of certain classes of defense which are better even than
the employment of weapons of war. And what is it? It is the gift of
wisdom." Wisdom is better than strength or weapons of war," said the
ancient man, who tested the matter and found it out. Now, let us
understand that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" and
a good understanding have all they who keep His commandments.

Vol. 26,  p.103
My brethren and sisters: let us not be discouraged in the least.
Remember that no great revolution [p.104] was ever achieved without
some fighting. Some battles have had to be fought, some victories had
to be achieved. It is while the war is going on that some get wounded,
and other contingencies arise, and some things necessarily happen that
are unpleasant. But after the war is over, and the new government is
instituted, the grand improvement is then felt, as it has been felt in
this nation ever since the thirteen colonies fought and maintained
their independence from the mother country. It is true we have been
oppressed a little. But our enemies do not make very much at it. We
live and thrive notwithstanding, do we not? How singularly the Lord
works with men. The people of the Southern States through the war and
since, have been limited or deprived of some of their rights. And some
few men—Senator Brown for one—are not afraid to rise up from their
seat and defend the right whether in behalf of Mormon or non-Mormon,
and expose the doings of self righteous men in New England, exposing
the fruits of their monogamous marriage relations as compared with our
marriage institution. The Lord has raised up men sometimes to maintain
the rights of His people. He will allow us to be pinched from time to
time as it may be necessary to unite us together, to make a wife low
her husband a little better, to make a husband love his wives and
children a little better, and to strengthen the bond of union in every
heart. For my part I rejoice in this work, and seek continually to
gather knowledge. I rejoice that I have lived to see the work of God
established on the earth. Let me tell you, my brethren and sisters,
the greatest affliction some of us have: it is some great fearful
apprehension that something is going to happen. We naturally borrow
trouble. We should not do that. Just consider that the work is the
Lord's. Be certain you do your duty every day. And when you lay down
at night do so with a clear conscience, and enjoy slumber and be
refreshed, and rise up in the morning, in the likeness of the
resurrection, prepared to renew the contest of life. Thus we should go
on step by step, adding faith to faith, keeping the commandments of
God, and purifying ourselves all we can. The Lord will bless us in
proportion to the degree that we endeavor to purify ourselves, and
keep His commandments. That is the great secret of our full acceptance
with God. We must purify ourselves as He is pure.

Vol. 26,  p.104
I do not consider it proper for me to occupy more of your time this
afternoon. I feel to say I rejoice in this work. And I say unto every
brother and sister that keeps the commandments of God, be joyful and
rejoice in Him. He has called Us to the work in which we are engaged,
and He is educating us, as I said before, in order that by and by He
may have a nation of kings and priests, judges and rulers to help Him
bear government and rule over this earth in righteousness, when the
curse shall be taken from it, and when truth shall prevail from one
end of the earth to the other. May it be our happy lot to be there and
rejoice with father Abraham and all his family, is my humble prayer,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.[p.105] 

John Taylor, October 20, 1881

The Work of God Only Partially Understood—Manifestation 
of the Father and Son to the Prophet Joseph—the Priesthood 
Conferred Upon Him—Kirtland Temple, and, the Ministrations of 
Moses and Elijah Benefits and Uses of Temples—Public and Private 
Improvements Advocated—Children Should Be Properly 
Taught—Wives Should Be Kindly Treated—
Exhortations to Virtue and Purity

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered at Malad, Oneida 
County, Idaho, Wednesday Morning, October 20th, 1881.

Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs

Vol. 26,  p.105
I AM pleased to have the opportunity of meeting with you. We have been
traveling during the summer through many of the various Stakes of
Zion, and we thought that our labor would not be complete without
visiting you. We have general and Stake Conferences, but the
circumstances and numbers of the people do not allow of them attending
these meetings, and therefore we think it well to come among you at
your own homes, to see you, and converse with you, and to feel after
your spirits, and that you may see and talk with us and feel after our
spirits, that we may be mutually benefited and blessed; and that we
may be the better prepared to operate together; for if we can
comprehend it we are engaged in a very great work. Not only we who are
here, for we form but a very, very small portion of the Latter-day
Saints; but the people that are Latter-day Saints in this Territory
and those that are in Utah, and that are in Colorado and Arizona, and
those that are scattered abroad in the different places throughout the
earth, wherever a branch of the Church is organized. We do not all
comprehend this work; in fact, comparatively a very few do. It is a
work in which not only the Latter-day Saints are interested, but
everybody else, if they could understand it; but they do not. And,
indeed, we can hardly understand it ourselves. We get a faint glimpse,
as it were, of certain truths, mixed up with many errors which we have
previously entertained; but it is very difficult for us to understand
correct principles; and if we would comprehend them at all, it must be
by a life of devotion to God, and by complying with His laws, some of
which Brother Joseph F. has spoken upon this morning, and which the
other brethren present talked about yesterday.

Vol. 26,  p.105
The object that God has in view is to benefit mankind as much as lies
in His power. We talk sometimes about moving heaven and [p.106] earth,
but God has moved heaven and earth for the accomplishment of that
object. Men in most instances have been blinded by the adversary who
leads them captive at his will, but they do not know it. And he
operates very frequently among us trying to lead us astray, and we do
not know it. It is a very difficult thing for us to comprehend the
position that we occupy to God and to His Church and Kingdom.

Vol. 26,  p.106
God desires our welfare, and He has instituted laws for that purpose;
He has introduced the everlasting Gospel for that purpose; and He has
restored the Holy Priesthood that existed anciently, together with all
the principles, blessings, powers, rites, ordinances, and privileges
that have graced the earth from the commencement of time. We can
hardly realize this important fact, but when you reflect you will see
some peculiar features associated with this work.

Vol. 26,  p.106
We all look upon Joseph Smith as being a Prophet of God. God called
him to occupy the position that he did. How long ago? Thousands of
years ago before this world was formed. the Prophets prophesied about
his coming, that a man should arise whose name should be Joseph, and
that his father's name should be Joseph, and also that he should be a
descendant of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt. This prophecy you
will find recorded in the Book of Mormon. He had very great and
precious promises made to him by the Lord. I have heard him say on
certain occasions, "You do not know who I am." The world did not like
him. The world did not like either the Savior, or the Prophets; they
have never liked revealed truth; and it is as much as a bargain for
the Saints even to bear the truth.

Vol. 26,  p.106
In the commencement of the work, the Father and the Son appeared to
Joseph Smith. And when they appeared to him, the Father, pointing to
the Son, said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." As much as to say,
"I have not come to teach and instruct you; but I refer you to my Only
Begotten, who is the Mediator of the New Covenant, the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world; I refer you to Him as your
Redeemer, your High Priest and Teacher. Hear Him."

Vol. 26,  p.106
What next? Then came men who had held the Priesthood before. Who were
they? Moroni, an ancient Prophet who had lived upon this continent and
who had charge of the records from which the Book of Mormon was
translated—a fitting person to introduce the same principles again.
Afterwards it was necessary that the Priesthood should be conferred;
and John the Baptist came and laid his hands upon Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery, saying, "Upon you, my fellow servants, I lay my hands,
and confer upon you the Aaronic Priesthood, which shall never be taken
From the earth again until the sons of Levi offer an acceptable
offering before me." That was the Lesser Priesthood—the
Aaronic—appertaining to the bishopric. And why was John the Baptist
chosen to confer this Priesthood? Because he was the last that held
this holy Priesthood upon the earth And why did he come? Because the
Priesthood administers in time and eternity; both the Aaronic and
Melchisedec. And he, holding the keys of that Priesthood, came and
conferred it upon Joseph Smith. When he had conferred this Priesthood
upon Joseph Smith, other things had to be conferred; that is, what is
called the Melchisedec Priesthood. But you understand [p.107] but very
little about that, as the Indian would say, about so much (meaning the
point of the finger). If you did you would think and act differently
from what you do. Who held the keys of that Priesthood? Peter, James
and John, who were three presiding Apostles. Did they confer this
Priesthood upon Joseph Smith? Yes; and if you were in Salt Lake City
and should go into the Assembly Hall, you might see these things
pictured out on the ceiling of that building.

Vol. 26,  p.107
What next? They built a Temple by and by, as we are doing now, in
Kirtland, Ohio. And in that Temple the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to
them again, the account of which you may read for yourselves in the
Doctrine and Covenants. Jesus appeared there, and Moses appeared
there, and Moses conferred upon Joseph the keys of the gathering of
Israel from the four quarters of the earth, and also the ten tribes.
And you are here because that Priesthood was conferred upon the Elders
who came to you with the Gospel; and when they laid their hands upon
your heads, among other things you received the Holy Ghost and the
spirit of the gathering. But you did not know what it was that was
working in you like yeast sometimes under certain conditions,
producing an influence causing you to come to Zion. Yet you could not
help it; if you had wanted to help it, you could not while you were
living your religion and were governed thereby, for that spirit
brought that influence and power along with it, and it carries it with
it wherever it goes. And as men received the Holy Ghost so they
received the spirit of the gathering, which was conferred by Moses
upon Joseph Smith, and by him upon others, and which created that
anxiety you all felt to gather to Zion.

Vol. 26,  p.107
What next? Elijah was to come to "turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers." This has
not been the case with this world, generation after generation, yet it
must be, for the same Prophet says that "If it is not, God will smite
the whole earth with a curse." There is a very trite saying, "every
man for himself and the devil for the whole," and I am inclined to
believe that there is more truth than poetry in it. God feels
interested in the welfare of all mankind as peoples and nations, white
and black of all classes and conditions, Jew and Gentile, bond and
free. He does not run on a narrow track as we do. We are too apt to
feel as the man did when he prayed, "O Lord, bless me and my wife, my
son John and his wife, us four and no more. Amen." That is the way we
feel. And if anything is introduced among the people that would be
calculated to promote the general good the first thing we do is to
screw ourselves up and begin to inquire, How is that going to affect
me, I wonder? Who cares about ,you? It is not for you we are
operating. It is not for you God is operating. It is not to make you
rich or to exalt you particularly that God is operating; but it is in
the interest of the whole haman family that has ever lived or ever
will live or that now live. That is the religion that I believe in. I
do not believe in this narrow tucked up thing that you can pinch up
and stick in your vest pocket, and nobody knows where it is. We want
something more liberal, something that will reach the wants of the
whole human family. But Satan has had so much power in [p.108] the
world; and God has been trying to frustrate his designs, and He will
do it as sure as He lives. He will accomplish that which He set out to
do when He organized this earth, and placed man upon it. And He will
keep striving and working at it until every knee shall bow, and every
tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the
Father. Until every person in heaven and on the earth and under the
earth shall be heard to say, "Blessing and honor and glory, might,
majesty and dominion be ascribed to Him that sits upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb for ever." And He will do it in His own way and in His
own due time. And this principle that I have spoken of turning the
hearts of the fathers to the children, etc., is one of those methods
by which He will do it. How many thousands and millions of people have
died without a knowledge of the Gospel? Do you know? No, you do not.
But as Jesus has said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and many there are that go in thereat. They have
found, as the antedeluvians did, a prison in which they are put, and
in which they will stop until they are redeemed by the holy
Priesthood. As Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison after
He was put to death in the flesh, to those spirits that were sometime
disobedient in the days of Noah; so those men that go the broad way
will go into the prison house, and they will have to endure the wrath
of God. And whatever they think about it, after many, many years shall
have rolled away, when the due time of the Lord comes, this very
Priesthood that the world have despised and refused to accept, will he
their deliverers, by going, as Jesus did, and preaching to the spirits
in prison.

Vol. 26,  p.108
What else? We will administer for them on the earth. Here is the
turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts
of the children to the fathers. The ancient Prophets and Patriarchs
and men of God who held the Priesthood and preached in and labored in
time are now operating in eternity; and those whose names I have
mentioned came to Joseph Smith and revealed to him what? Why, the
dispensation of the fullness of time, when God would not only gather
all things in one, but when Temples should be erected and the dead as
well as the living should be looked after; when saviors should come
upon Mount Zion, and the Kingdom be the Lord's. Others had their time.
They had the Mosaic time; and Moses who stood at the head of it, came
and conferred his authority upon Joseph Smith. They had their
prophetic time: and the Prophets came and conferred upon him the
prophetic influences. They had the Aaronic Priesthood; and those who
held it came and conferred it upon Joseph. They had the Melchisedec
Priesthood, and the keys thereof, and they came and conferred it upon
him. They had the gathering dispensation; and Moses was appointed, who
held that in his day, to confer it upon Joseph. This is not one
dispensation, but the dispensation of the fullness of times wherein
all things are gathered together into one. Then the hearts of the
fathers who are living in the heavens are turned to the children; they
are feeling an interest in their welfare, like a great many men whom
we know to-day, good men, but their sons do not do right. Adam had two
sons, one of whom was a wicked man, and the wicked one killed the good
one. At this stage of things I suppose the Devil thought he had a good
thing. But he did not. And [p.109] then he led the people into sin
until they were prepared to be overthrown by the flood. I suppose the
Devil laughed at the way things were going. But Jesus went and
preached to those spirits in prison. And the people that are
independent, who think they can get along without religion or without
God, will find that in time or eternity they will have to come to the
Priesthood of God.

Vol. 26,  p.109
I will go back to the things I was talking about, concerning the
hearts of the fathers being turned to the children, etc. This, when
fully accomplished, will reach all men that have ever lived. At the
present time we are connected with it to a certain extent, and the
Spirit of God leads us to build temples. Why is it that you go to work
and build temples? You hardly know. You see them; they are pretty nice
buildings. We talk about being saviors; but are we saviors unless we
save somebody! No. But we build our temples as the Lord has directed,
and then we administer in them for the living and the dead; and then
we are saviors upon Mount Zion. You here have this same kind of
feeling—have they not Bishop? [Answer: Yes, sir.] Moses conferred that
upon Joseph Smith, and Joseph conferred it upon the Elders, and they
preached to you, and you received the Holy Ghost. and when you
gathered together they began to talk about these things; and that
Spirit rested upon you, and you said, "I want a hand in it; I want to
receive blessings in that temple, and I want also to look to my
father's totally, and those I have been associated with who have died
without the Gospel." And that is the meaning of the turning of the
hearts of the fathers to the children, etc.

Vol. 26,  p.109
The world want to know what Mormonism is doing. Some of us hardly
know. But, it is known that we are building temples; but the Christian
world do not know what temples are for. If temples were built for them
they would not know how to administer in them. And we did not know
until God revealed it. And unless Elijah had come and conferred the
keys it would not have been revealed. Hence I was showing you who and
what Joseph Smith was. He has introduced the Gospel together with the
dispensation of the fullness of times, which embraces all other
things.

Vol. 26,  p.109
Then again, did Enoch build up a Zion? So we are doing. What is it?
The Zion of God. What does it mean? The pure in heart in the first
place. In the second place those who are governed by the law of
God—the pure in heart who are governed by the law of God. Shall we
build up a Zion? We shall; but we shall not, every one of us, have our
own way about it. We shall itel that we need the will of God; and we
shall feel that we require the Priesthood, under His direction, to
guide and direct us, not men who are seeking to aggrandize themselves;
but men who are seeking to build up the Church and Kingdom of God upon
the earth; men of clean hands and pure hearts, every one honoring his
Priesthood and magnifying it. Then we shall feel that we want to act
like little babes, to ask them for counsel and instruction, and then
be governed by it, under the counsel and direction of the Almighty and
the aid of His Spirit. Now, this is what we are building up, and they
built up a similar thing before the flood; and the Elders went forth
in those days as they now go forth; and they baptized people and laid
hands upon them, and gathered [p.110] them to Zion; and after a while
that Zion was caught up from the earth. And we will build up a Zion:
that is what we are aiming at. And that Zion also, when the time
comes, will ascend to meet the Zion from above, which will descend,
and both, we are told, will fall on each other's necks and kiss each
other.

Vol. 26,  p.110
These are some of the things we are after. And we are traveling about
to teach the people. Why? Because we want all to have the spirit of
Zion. We sing sometimes and talk about Zion, that she shall arise, and
the glory of God shall rest upon her. We want to lift up Zion. And we
want you Welsh and other folks to work to this end—I suppose most of
you are Welsh, and if you are not, you are Latter-day Saints, and if
you are not Latter-day Saints, you ought to be. And you ought to be
pure in heart, too; you ought to be living your religion, and if you
are not, you had better turn round and live right before God, and walk
worthily of the high vocation that he has conferred upon you. I have
not time to talk upon these principles: but I have said enough to give
you a general outline.

Vol. 26,  p.110
God is interested in this work, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
Patriarchs and men of God are interested in it; and we are interested
in it. And we have a little of that spirit upon us; and we would like
you to drink of it too. Having been baptized by the same baptism that
you may all partake of the same spirit, that we may build temples and
administer in them; and having received the Gospel, to feel free to
preach it to others. Our duty is to preach the Gospel to all men. Who,
the First Presidency? Yes, if there is nobody else. The Twelve? Yes,
it is their especial calling to preach it themselves or see that it is
preached to all the world. And, then, the Seventies, it is their duty
to go forth at the drop of the hat, as minute men, to preach the
Gospel to all nations, under the guidance of the Twelve. And, then, it
is for those who are in Zion, the High Priests, and others to go and
preach the Gospel. And we are doing this in spite of the opposition of
men, and in the name of God we will do it until He who directs us
shall say, "It is enough: turn now to Israel." When He says that, then
we will quit. And if they love the devil better than God, they can do
so and sup trouble and sorrow and calamity and war and bloodshed. For
nation will rise against nation, country against country; and thrones
will be cast down and empires will be scattered to the four winds, and
the powers of the earth everywhere will be shaken; and the Lord will
come forth by and by to judge the nations, and it behooves us to know
what we are doing, and while we profess to be the Saints of God not to
be hypocrites, but be full of truth and full of integrity and magnify
our calling and honor our God. This is what God expects of us. And
then to build. temples, and what then? Administer in them. Send the
Gospel to the nations of the earth. And then gather the people in.
What then? Build more temples. What then? Have men administer in them.
And when we get through with our relatives and friends, and trace back
our ancestry as far as we can, then we will call upon God to give us
information as to who need to be administered for in the heavens; and
we will work at it for a thousand years, until all the purposes of God
shall be accomplished, and everything spoken of in the Prophets shall
be fulfilled.[p.111] 

Vol. 26,  p.111
Now, you who live in this little place, look to it that you are found
in the line of your duty. You have a beautiful location, and I would
like to see you make the most of it. I would like to see at least a
hundred times more apple, pear and cherry trees planted out; and all
of your streets lined with shade trees. And improve your dwelling
houses. If you cannot find the style of a house to suit you, go off to
other places until you do find one, and then come back and build a
better one. Beautify this place, and make your homes pleasant and
agreeable, that you may have nice places for your wives and children,
and thus help to fulfill that Scripture which says, that Zion shall
become the praise of the whole earth; and that kings will come to gaze
upon her glory. I have already had many honorable men from many of the
civilized nations call upon me, and they generally express themselves
in this way: "What a beautiful place you have here, Mr. Taylor;" "O,
yes, (I would say) it is well enough for us, we can please ourselves,
it is very difficult to please others, we do not profess much. You
hear curious stories about us; but we would rather have our works
speak for us." There is nothing to boast of, and what there is we
should not have if God did not give it to us. For we are dependent
upon Him for all we have. We live and move in Him, and through Him we
have our being. And if we can operate together upon the principles of
virtue and holiness, and have more brotherly feeling, we should feel
much better. Some people say, I hate such a person. I would not like
to have that feeling about me, I don't know of a person upon the earth
whom I hate. What, not the wicked? No, I would say, "the Lord judge
between thee and me." For if they can afford to do wrong, I cannot.

Vol. 26,  p.111
I will talk about some other things. Go to work and build a
meeting-house half an inch bigger than this. (Laughter). Then you have
a public square, make some nice grounds in and about it. And then
beautify your private squares at your own homes. Let every man make
his own grounds pleasant and agreeable. And let every woman make her
husband as happy as she can. The sisters ought to be like angels,
ought they not Be full of good, kind, pleasant and agreeable feelings.
And we men who profess to be saints of God—saints of God! What an
expression! Do we understand it? There is a peculiar form of
expression in the German language. The term Latter-day Saint in the
German is: Der Heiligen der Latzten tage, which being interpreted is,
the holy of the last days. There is something very expressive about
that. We should be the holy of the last days, under the influence and
guidance of the Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.111
We talk about the Kingdom of God. God's Kingdom is not our kingdom.
Who manages, directs and controls? God. In whose interest? In the
interest of the community, and for the happiness and the welfare of
all Israel, and the whole of the human family, so far as they will let
Him.

Vol. 26,  p.111
I want to talk about a principle here. We get up sometimes a very rash
feeling against people who do not think as we do. They have a right to
think as they please; and so have we. Therefore, if a man does not
believe as I do, that is none of my business; and if I do not believe
as he does, that is none of his business. Would you protect a man that
did not believe as you do? Yes, to the last bat's end. He should
[p.112] have equal justice with me; and then I would expect to be
protected in my rights. We have in Salt Lake City, Methodists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and all kinds. Do we
interfere with them? No, not at all. Nobody persecutes them, but they
do us in their weak way. They get up meetings and pass resolutions
against us, poor, miserable "cootes." They do not know any better;
they do not know nor understand the rights of men as American
citizens, much less about the Kingdom of God. So let them "resolute."
We believe in returning good for evil, right for wrong. Because they
lie about us, that is no reason why we should lie about them; it would
be bad enough many times to tell the truth about them, much less to
resort to falsehood. On the same grounds I would not wish to interfere
with their political rights, nor have them interfere with mine. I
think that is correct doctrine; it is good democracy and good
republicanism which we can all subscribe to. But because I would treat
them right I would not want them to teach roy children. I want good,
honorable Latter-day Saints to teach my children because I want them
taught correct principles and the fear of God along with their secular
education.

Vol. 26,  p.112
It has been published in our papers about different religious bodies
getting up resolutions against the "Mormons" to the effect that it is
necessary something should be done to them. Well, what about it? Oh,
let them "resolute;" our corn and potatoes grow just the same; so it
makes but little difference. All we say is, "hands off." We do not
want it to go any further than talk. And if blab-mouthed people who do
not like the truth choose to tell falsehoods about us, let them do so.
Who cares? I do not, and I do not think you care. And so in regard to
other things. What will we do? Try to educate ourselves and our
children, and get good teachers who fear God, who are honorable men
and women, and who take deilght to instil honorable principles into
our children. And set them good examples at home, you fathers and
mothers. You should never say a word or do an act which you would not
want your children to copy after. The idea of men who profess to fear
God, and some of them Elders in Israel, being addicted to swearing. It
is a shame and a disgrace to high heaven, and this is sometimes done
before their families; it is a shame. And then some men give way and
say they have a bad temper: I would sell it for nothing, and give
something to boot to get rid of it. I would be careful that all my
acts and doings were right, And it is right for heads of families to
get their families together every morning and evening, and pray with
them. Every man and woman to dedicate themselves to God; and in their
secret prayers to ask God's care over them during the day. That will
not hurt any of you. That was the doctrine that Joseph Smith taught
me; and I have always appreciated it. I would look upon it as a very
great trial if I were stopping at a place and if I could not have my
private prayers. If we cannot lean upon God, what is our religion
worth! Not much. We will treat our wives right. He is a mean man who
would abuse a woman. I never liked to see a big dog bite a little one;
but if a little dog bite a big one, it is not so reprehensible. And if
a man abuse a woman, who is the weaker vessel, it is an outrage to me.
Have you not made covenants with your wives for time and [p.113]
eternity. Yes, you have. Would you not like, when you get through, to
be able to say, Mary, Jane, Ann, or whatever the name may be, I never
injured you in my life. And if you are wives, would you not like to be
able to say, Thomas or William, I never injured you in all my life.
And, then, to spend an eternity together hereafter.

Vol. 26,  p.113
Then, lay aside your covetousness; that is idolatry. And while
laboring to be industrious, do not covet any man's house, nor his
farm, nor anything that is his; nor defraud one another, nor bite nor
devour one another. But love one another, and work the works of
righteousness, and look after the welfare of all, and seek to promote
the happiness of all. That is what God is doing. That is why He has
told us to go to the nations of the earth—and many of us have been
hundreds and thousands of miles Without purse or scrip. I have seen
you, lots of' you Welshmen, in Wales. And what was I doing there?
Preaching the Gospel. How? Without purse or scrip. Did God take care
of me? Always, and at every time and place; and I bear this record for
God and His Priesthood and His Kingdom, that I was never at a loss for
anything that I needed. He always took care of me, and I could do it
without begging too. I believe in the same God yet. And I believed
then I was benefiting mankind; and I believe in doing so now. But I do
not believe in our being led away by their evils. Keep yourselves
pure. Do not let corrupt men ingratiate themselves among you, to
defile you. Preserve your virtue, you men and you women; preserve your
virtue. and live uprightly before God. For as sure as you do not the
wrath of God will rest upon you; and the Spirit of God will be
withdrawn from you. Keep yourselves, therefore, pure, and be honest
and virtuous, and be honest with all men, and treat all men honorably.
We can afford rode that; and not be governed by their vices, nor
permit them to introduce them into our midst. We cannot afford to
follow after the ways of the Gentiles, nor to copy after their
illiberality. We want the principles of liberty to extent and to
expand so that all men can worship God as they please, without any one
to interrupt them.

Vol. 26,  p.113
Brethren and sisters, let us be virtuous and pure and holy, and God
will bless us and lift us up and the power of God will be with us; and
we will rejoice upon the mountains; and we will build our Zion upon
the principles of righteousness, and we will love and fear God all the
days of our lives. And by and by when the dead that are in their
graves shall hear the voice of God, the Saints of God shall come forth
to live and reign forever among the just who have lived in different
ages, and have the privilege to perpetuate the lives in the eternal
worlds, worlds without end. Amen.[p.114] 

H. W. Naisbitt, March 8, 1885

Communities Are Made Up of Family Organizations—
the Marriage Relationship Instituted By the Almighty—Descent 
of the Human Family From God—Plural Marriage System of Ancient 
Israel—Potency of Love—Eternity of Marriage Necessarily Leads to 
Plural Marriage—Polygamic Form of Marriage Most Prevalent 
in the World—From Whence Monogamy is Derived—
Monogamy Sometimes Necessary Fruits of Monogamy 
and Plural Marriage Compared—the Marriage Covenant 
Changed From a Religious Rite to a Civil Contract—Marriage 
Requires the Sanction of the Holy Priesthood—the 
Saints Should not Marry Outside the Church

Discourse By Elder H. W. Naisbitt, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 8, 1885.

Reportbd By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.114
MY brethren, sisters and friends: The congregation is large, and I
hope to be so directed by the Spirit, that all present who so desire
may be enabled to hear and understand.

Vol. 26,  p.114
The Sabbath is the day provided expressly for the reception of
spiritual food. The speakers, or those who may be called upon to
teach, need all the resources that are within their reach in order to
satisfy a Congregation of hungry souls, they need particularly the
faith and prayers of the Saints, the influence and power of the Holy
Ghost, the manifestation of the authority of the Holy Priesthood, so
that there may be instruction upon the important topics and principles
of the Gospel, not the theoretical ones alone, but those that are
interwoven with our daily life.

Vol. 26,  p.114
There is a vast amount of experience in the aggregate among the
people. Individual experience forms one of the treasure houses from
whence a speaker can draw the supplies that are necessary and
advantageous for a sympathetic audience. There is a great deal implied
in a congregation like the present one; there is much more implied in
the aggregation of congregations forming a community, from communities
to nations, from nations to mankind at large. The most narrow as well
as most dense communities are made up of the family organization.
There is found circle within circle, or as the Prophet had it, "wheel
within wheel;" and the homes of a community should be the outgrowth,
not of theories alone, but of the faith, knowledge, and understanding
of those relationships which exist there, [p.115] When these family
organizations are based upon knowledge they are likely to be more
permanent. If they are only thoughtless or theoretical, or if they
exist without information, circumstances, pressure, opportunities are
very likely to disintegrate them, to break them up, to dissolve them,
and so through indifference for each other substitute an anomalous
condition of selfishness amongst those members who otherwise should
form connected and interwoven circles.

Vol. 26,  p.115
In Christendom the marriage covenant is the foundation of the home.
The ideas Which men hold concerning it, lay at the foundation of all
social order, all unity and all government, and even the welfare of
future ages depends upon the theories cherished in regard to home and
family associations. The thoughts held and the practice growing out of
these, are surely higher than could be possible in the families of a
community where the sexual relations remain undetermined, where they
are without restraint and without order, there will inevitably be
chaos, disruption and contention, and the body politic would speedily
and inevitably under loose conditions, degenerate and pass away. But
this marriage organization and institution has existed from the
beginnng. It has been the binding and sealing power of the family; it
has perpetuated those families from the time that Eve was given to
Adam to the last marriage that took place in our own immediate
neighborhood. The Lord said that it was not good that man should be
alone. He gave to him as a helpmate one of His daughters by the name
of Eve. This relationship was then, instituted by the Almighty, and
therefore a man and his wife should really become one; their
interests, their labors should be blended; their responsibilities
should be mutual; and in thus helping and aiding each other they
should train the posterity that God might give them in His fear and in
the practice of righteousness, so that His rule and Kingdom might
exist and prevail upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.115
In all nations, from the highest civilized to the lowest tribal
relation, among the wanderers of the earth, there is more or less
semblance of this organization, this family compact, this united
responsibility; garnished in many lands with pomp and ceremony, and
with all the appliances and sanctities of religion. In others with
less, and still less of this, until we come to where with but little
ceremony the dusky Indian captures the maiden of his choice, and takes
her to the tent which he has erected for himself.

Vol. 26,  p.115
The Scriptures give an account simply of the woman Eve; declaring that
this name was given her of Adam, because she was "the mother of all
living;" but outside of biblical record there has been handed down
from time immemorial the idea that Adam had two wives, the narrators
go so far, or rather so near perfecting the tradition so as to give
their names, Lilith being said to be the name of one as Eve was the
name of the other, and while it may be difficult to harmonize all the
Rabbinical and Talmulic versions of this matter, it is said that
Joseph Smith the Prophet taught that Adam had two wives. Without
however, assuming or basing anything upon this theory, or upon this
tradition—which may be mythical in its character—it is nevertheless,
very evident that marriage was ordained of God; and when we take into
our hands the record of the Holy Scriptures that have been handed down
to us by our fathers, that have been [p.116] cherished in parts by the
ancient people of God, and in latter times consolidated; passing
through various channels under peculiar circumstances, and with an
apparent special providence continuing and protecting the same—we find
throughout the pages thereof that marriage everywhere for four
thousand years, at all events, was recognized as of divine origin. One
of the latest assertions in regard to it, as addressed to the early
Saints by Paul, was, that marriage was honorable in all, and further
that it was typical of that union and headship heidi by Jesus to the
Church, and from this comes an added force to the Savior's words, who,
when speaking on this topic said: "what God hath joined together let
no man put asunder."

Vol. 26,  p.116
The sanctity of the marriage relation had another feature in ancient
Israel: that great family of promise were divided into tribal
relations, and by these their genealogical tables were kept perfect.
Any marital connection or alliance, outside of that order was visited
with indignation, condemnation and punishment. Those who were guilty
of violating the order of marriage were looked upon as guilty of
something which destroyed the root and foundations of society. They
were held to be guilty of introducing things and practices which
vitiated the value of genealogical record, and which made the
perpetuity of families a comparative impossibility and had it not been
for tribal carefulness in this direction, for this supervision which
controlled and regulated the people of God, it would have been
impossible in the days of the Savior for the Apostles to have traced
His genealogy back to the early Prophets and Patriarchs. That which
men now apply only as a rule, in regard to stock, or to some of the
most ancient families of mankind, by the people of God, was looked
upon as the one perfect chain to demonstrate hereditary descent.

Vol. 26,  p.116
We are told in tracing one of the genealogies from father to son—or
from son to father, in a backward direction to Adam—that finally Adam
was said to be the son of God, and by a close application of the
principles of logic, it may be assumed that all the posterity of Adam
are by direct descent the sons and daughters of the living God. It
will also be found in the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the Savior,
that He should be called the "Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." When we come to His own
conversation, where His Apostles asked Him if He would show unto them
the Father, He said: "Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou
not known me? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." This
statement is reiterated time and again in the Book of Mormon, and in
the sacred writings that we have received. Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, the Redeemer of the world, was not the Son only, but the
prophetic declaration was fulfilled in Him—He was verily and indeed
the Everlasting Father. So by the same application of logic and
inferential evidence from holy writ, wherever you find a man he is the
son of somebody, and his existence is perpetual and eternal. Every
Father becomes, by virtue of his position, an everlasting father. He
in this respect represents the same characteristic as that occupied by
the Great Father of us all. And throughout the countless ages of
eternity, any man who has ever assumed or occupied the position and
continues faithful to its responsibilities, [p.117] will forever
remain to his posterity "the Everlasting Father."

Vol. 26,  p.117
As far as we can glean from the sacred records, we find that this
relationship was established for the bringing upon this sphere of
action a posterity. The powers and functions which had been conferred
upon man and woman were exemplified in this direction, and when a
man's wife was barren, when any of these daughters of Israel in
ancient times were childless, it was considered to be a reproach to
them, yet in the exercise of faith and by the blessing of the
Almighty, and by obedience to the patriarchal order, many of these
ancient sisters, the progenitors of the Israel of the latter days,
were delivered from barrenness, and became the mothers of a vast and
ever increasing host of posterity. Those who are familiar with the
sacred Scriptures will remember one of the wives of Jacob; they will
remember the case of Hannah, the mother of Samuel the Prophet, and
there are others which are familiar to our minds which need not be
quoted. The desire for offspring among the wives of Israel was a
prevailing feeling, because it was understood that from that lineage
should come the Messiah of the latter days, and every daughter of
Israel was anxious that in a direct line she might be the honored of
God, in being the medium through which should come the Redeemer, the
promised Immanuel.

Vol. 26,  p.117
It ought also to be remarked in connection with this question, that
marriage was at times polygamic as well as monogamic—that is, right
away in the early history of the world there were men who had more
wives than one. Lamech was the first who is mentioned in Scripture.
And here it might be observed, although probably all understand it,
that the Bible does not profess to give a perfect history in detail of
the habits and practices of the ancient people of God, for these are
only secondary to the ever present assertions of divine interest in
and regulation of the human family. There are only revealings or
incidental glimpses here and there in regard to the principles of
social and domestic life, and hintings of some which have been kept
hid from then to now; but that marriage was the heritage of man is
certain, and that while under many circumstances it was monogamic,
there were also many cases in which it was of a polygamic character,
and in both instances it was given by command and then received the
approbation of the heavens. It was regulated and sustained by the
great lawgivers of ancient Israel, who were inspired to point out in
detail the limits of consanguinity, the times and seasons of
privilege, and what should be the method of securing posterity under
such and such circumstances; until the time came when Israel as a
nation enjoyed its highest glory, and then we find that this principle
(polygamy) formed one of the leading features of the household
extension in the kings of that time. David is a noted illustration.
Solomon was another, and in the comments of the Scriptures regarding
these two men, notwithstanding their multiplicity of wives, we find no
condemnation save in the fact that they in other respects violated the
fundamental law of ancient Israel. David, we are told, captured the
wife of another man by strategem and because he did this he tell under
condemnation. the son that was born to him of that connection died a
premature death; but afterwards when he repented, he married and still
retained that [p.118] self same woman, Bathsheba; the Lord blessed and
acknowledged David's repentance and her position by giving her for a
son the great Jedediah, or Solomon, and finally in a direct line
through her, came also the Redeemer of Israel. The Scriptures in
commenting upon David's practice say that in "none of these things did
he violate the commandments, save in the case of the wife of Uriah"
[1st. Kings, 15, 5.] We are also told that Solomon multiplied wives
and families unto himself, yet his reign formed an era in the national
life of Israel. It was during his administration as King and Priest
under the order of God, that that wonderful temple was built and
dedicated which received the sanction and approbation of the heavens;
of the resting upon it of the cloud by day so that the Priests could
not minister at the altar, and the descent of fire from heaven, which
consumed the sacrifice presented, were both tokens of divine
acceptance and recognition, and we have not found in reading the
history of Solomon that his conduct was condemned save in the fact
that he took unto himself wives of the outside nations contrary to the
law, which declared that the marriages of Israel should be within
their own immediate families, (Deut. 7th, 3rd,) and as a result the
record declares that it was these heathen wives which he took, those
women that ware captured in war or those that he had from choice or
were given to him for conciliatory alliance from surrounding nations
who led away his heart from the worship of the God of Israel, and
turned him to the practices of idolatry. With this exception the
presumption is from the evidence that his other marriages were
approved, and in them was his posterity perpetuated. It was the direct
result of the blessing of the Almighty, and through him, as he stood
in a representative position, we may surely assume what the feelings
of Israel were in regard to polygamy or the plurality of wives.

Vol. 26,  p.118
It is more than inferential evidence in favor of this principle which
grows from the consideration of the practice of Solomon and David, and
Abraham and Jacob, and Moses and Gideon, and Jehoida and Abdon, and
Rehoboam and Abijah, and Esau and Lamech, and Jerubbaal and Jair,
though some of these men were not examples in every act of their
lives, yet the facts are no more in favor of monogamists as to this
than in the day and age in which we live.

Vol. 26,  p.118
Unfair advantage has been taken by opponents of' this practice,
because of the Adamic era, but the Rabbinical tradition already
mentioned, while not conclusive, shows that no repulsion existed in
the minds of the honored priesthood of Israel; land, as the Rev. Dr.
Newman quoted the words of Lamech, so we may also have our opinion and
that is that his declaration possessed no reference whatever to his
plurality of wives.

Vol. 26,  p.118
However, in the Christian dispenstaion it has been assumed that this
practice had become almost obsolete; some have said that it died away
because it was deprecated by the Savior and by His Apostles, but there
appears to have been thoughts in the minds of the latter concerning
marriage which open to our minds many things in regard to that
institution. For instance we are told that man is not without the
woman in the Lord, neither the woman without the man. [1 Cor., 11,
11.] It takes the two, at least, to make a complete and rounded man.
When the first pair were created the Bible [p.119] expressly declares,
"male and female created he them," and called their name Adam. [Gen.
5, 2.] It included the two; it included the man and wife; and the
theory of the Gospel in Apostolic times was, that a man was an
imperfect being without the woman, and that a woman was also an
imperfect being without the man, and this perfect state could not be
realized or wrought out without the institution of marriage.

Vol. 26,  p.119
It is, then, by this marriage relation that men and women were in the
Lord according to the divine order, carrying out the examples of their
great predecessors, and of their Father in heaven. It may safely be
assumed that marriage with them was an eternal principle; that it was
not meant for time only, but for eternity; that it was a relationship
that was perpetuated, and that this not only included the man and
wife, but of necessity the entire family organization. For our God is
not the God of the dead but of the living, "and what he hath joined
together no man shall put asunder." To the older people here, who are
familiar with the facts made manifest in the human organization, it
may be said that there are certain elements of attraction which lead
the one sex towards the other. This attraction is designated by the
name of love. We are sometimes afraid to exhibit this characteristic;
we think it is unworthy of men or women; and that when a man is said
to be in love, or a woman, it is something that should be veiled from
the eyes and knowledge and understanding of everybody but themselves.
But insomuch as love is one of the great attributes of Deity, this
idea does not recommend itself. It is not only a great attribute of
Deity, but it is the greatest and most potent attribute to be found in
man's and woman's organization. To those who have been allured by its
power; to those who understand its force; to those who realize that it
is the parent of all action almost in life; how it leads men to
sacrifice, to labor, to effort, no argument is needed to show that it
is the greatest power of the human heart. For it men will endure any
amount of sacrifice; for it women will endure and submit to almost any
indignity. The fact is, it is the only element that will bind together
in its original purity the family circle: it is that which leads a man
to go forth in the battle of life to earn the bread that perisheth: it
is that which enables him to look upon his wife as paramount to all
else: it is that which enables her to watch by her infant children,
and in the moment of sickness, with sleepless nights and days of
vigilance, await until there is a restoration to health; it is this
that glorifies the family circle and makes it a little heaven upon
earth; and every man and every woman is cognizant of the fact, that
where love has died out from the altar of home, that home has lost its
greatest attraction. A man does not go there and look upon it as his
little resting place front the care and anxiety of the world when that
feeling has died out. No. He finds his pleasure in the club room, on
the race course, at the gaming table, in political life, in business,
or in many other directions, rather than in the little heaven called
home. Ah! sad indeed is the fate of those families where this
beautiful, this beneficent, this almighty, this glorifying principle
has failed, or finds no resting place therein.

Vol. 26,  p.119
Now, this is the key to marriage in the abstract. It is its
foundation. It coustitutes the glories of its architecture. it brings
upon it its [p.120] capstone, and finishes the edifice that God
Almighty hath ordained. Yet this element which lays at the foundation
and runs through the Whole fabric of married life, in and of itself is
not sufficient to produce and perpetuate that perfect happiness Which
men and women desire in this relationship. Man is a compound being.
Woman is a compound being. There are other feelings of the heart
beside affection and love, although these will cover a multitude of
sins. But it is necessary for the best interests of the family
relation that the tastes and habits, feelings and thoughts of the high
contracting parties should run pretty much in the same direction—that
is, so far as intelligence is received. Hence we have the apostolic
injunction given to the early Christians which said: "Be not unequally
yoked with unbelievers." This was one of the commands given to the
early Christians; because it was realized that though the fire of love
may burn fiercely in the early years of wedded life, yet unless there
is unity of sentiment, of thought and of action in regard to the
religion that married couples should possess, and that should be
imposed upon the children there will ever be a probability of
disintegration and disruption, and this rule had its counterpart, or
had its origin, in ancient Israel. It was not intended, as already
stated, that the sons of any of the tribes of Israel should take to
themselves wives of the nations that were round about them; they were
commanded strictly to keep with that family, and where they failed in
this, whether as individuals or in a national capacity, it brought
down upon them the blighting curse of the Almighty, and led them
finally to bondage, and to be carried away to the ends of the earth,
and so many families in our Israel, after years of suffering of
counsel and commandment, have become in a measure lost through the
influence of misdirected and disobedient love.

Vol. 26,  p.120
We all realize the influence that a woman exerts over a man. A man, to
be sure, exerts a good deal of influence over a woman. But I think the
bulk of experience will show that if even a good, devoted Latter-day
Saint woman should be foolishly guilty of marrying outside of the
Church, or marrying a man in the Church who is half hearted, that her
children will retain more of her individual impress than they will of
the father's. I think observation will establish this fact: that where
there is a devoted father, and an indifferent, unbelieving mother, the
probabilities are that disintegration will set into that family, and
that the majority of them will pass away from the influence of the
Church and from the institutions of the Gospel. Not that either of
these conditions is good—that is, they are not the best conditions.
The best conditions are where there is a devoted man and a devoted
woman, or women, all laboring in the interests of the Kingdom of God
upon the earth, and impressing their own individuality, by the powers
of an educational character upon the posterity that God may give them.

Vol. 26,  p.120
But in regard to this objectionable form of marriage called polygamic,
if this marriage is an eternal principle, it follows almost of
necessity that there will be a period in the experience of thousands
when it must be essentially and eternally polygamic. How many young
wives are there who leave this stage of action sometimes without
children, and sometimes leaving a little family? [p.121] And under
these circumstances a man marries again; he takes another wife and
raises up another family, and for two or three times or more this may
be the experience of some. Now, if marriage is not for time only, but
for eternity; if the marriage relation is continued, there is a
condition of things which demonstrates that in the life to come at all
events, marriage must be in many cases polygamic—that is, a man must
be possessed of several wives.

Vol. 26,  p.121
Now, our theories of heaven are, that there is nothing there save that
which is pure, save that which is ennobling, save that which is
progressive, save that which is according to the order of God. If, He,
then, in the eternities that are beyond the veil can admit of this
relationship by virtue of the fact that marriage is eternal, does it
not appear strange that such an order is decried by His children upon
the face of the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.121
Nor need it be urged, that in some experiences there is a reversal of
this order, that a woman may be the wife of several men while in the
flesh, and that as a consequence, this arrangement must also be
eternal. It has already been said that woman is subordinate to man,
she was given to be his helpmeet, he was to rule over her, to be the
head, as Christ is the head of the Church, that the man was not
created for the woman, but woman for the man. [See 1st Cor., 1 to 12.]

Vol. 26,  p.121
Besides in the keeping of genealogical record, in the tracing of
family or tribal relations, it is evident that a woman must be the
acknowledged wife of some one man, and that to him alone pertains the
eternity of the marriage covenant by the authority of the Holy
Priesthood. This query is however old in history, it is precisely the
one addressed to the Savior by the Sadducees, (who did not believe in
the resurrection, He, however, without condescending to explain the
sealing power to them declared that "when they rise from the dead they
neither marry nor are given in marriage," and the darkened inference
of Christendom has been, that all family organizations, all
characteristics of sex, all procreation of the species would be
obliterated as something pertaining only to the shores of time.

Vol. 26,  p.121
This polygamic form of marriage, however, when we come to consider
humanity, is far in excess of the monogamic. Its influence and power
and practice are felt around the globe, and we can judge of its nature
by that which we have seen and heard of in our own experience.
Ishmael, the son of Abraham, was of polygamic lineage. It was
prophesied of him that he should become the father of many nations,
and in the eastern lands of the earth he has multiplied exceedingly;
and to-day we find that the gigantic power of England with all its
wealth, with all its appliances of science and civilization, is held
in check by this selfsame Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the friend of
God, so that assumed degeneracy consequent on this system is not
established by facts.

Vol. 26,  p.121
In this land of ours, we find that monogamy is the rule; that there
are laws preventing a departure from this order, and that any
departure from that is visited with a good deal of criticism, with
some legislation, with some pains and penalties, and is made to the
nation a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Yet we might here
pertinently ask the American nation—"From whence did you derive your
monogamy? We might ask Old [p.122] England the same question. I would
like to ask if it has been accepted as the result of an intelligent
understanding of the two modes of marriage? Rather has it not been
inherited without investigation, without thought, without reflection,
without understanding the marriage covenant? We all know it is the
outgrowth of tradition; that it has been received from the fathers;
and so far from having been an intellectual reception of a principle,
fundamental and eternal, it possesses nothing of that character
whatever. Monogamy was practiced by the fathers, the same as the
religious of mankind were practiced by them, it was received and
accepted unhesitatingly without comment or consideration, without
understanding as to whether it was conclusively the best, or whether
it was the worst, or whether it was of God, or whether it was of man,
or whether anything different to-day might or might not be of Him.

Vol. 26,  p.122
Now, here is a little community called Latter-day Saints, who believe
in both orders. They have accepted marriage in the abstract. They do
not believe that society should run at loose ends in its sexual
relations. They believe that a violation of those laws is as much a
wrong to-day as it was in the days of ancient Israel, and they believe
further that all sexual irregularities should be visited by penalties
of divine sanction and appointment; and still more, that that which
was right, that which was commanded, that which was encouraged, that
which was practiced, that which was regulated among ancient Israel,
and that which will be practiced and is inevitable behind the veil,
cannot be an offense in the sight of God, in the day and age in which
we live.

Vol. 26,  p.122
But it may be said, why speak of this matter when there is so much
excitement in regard to it? For the best of all reasons, that this is
a free country, that free speech has never been forbidden, has never
been checked, has never been curtailed. It is the heritage we have
received from our fathers, and we are at liberty to speak of the
institutions that lay at the foundation of society, and to analyze and
understand them. There are thousands of our youth growing up that are
not familiar with the fundamental principles pertaining to marriage;
with the ideas and theories and practices of the nations that have
grown out of this relationship; and it needs that they should
understand why this turmoil exists, and whether there is a good
foundation for the position that men take everywhere in regard to that
principle, and which leads to the persecution of their fathers, and
the ostracism of their community.

Vol. 26,  p.122
When we come to the sacred books that have been received by the Church
we find that, in regard to this dual idea of marriage—marriage in the
monogamic form, and marriage in the polygamic form—the Book of Mormon
expressly declares that it was necessary in the first colonization of
this country that marriage should be monogamic, because the sexes were
equal, and the people realized that marriage was an indispensable
thing to both man and woman; but there is also indication that
necessity would give final enlargement to this practical question.

Vol. 26,  p.122
So it was when Noah came out of the ark, and there are other periods
in the history of mankind when nothing but monogamic marriage could
prevail without doing an injustice to those round about them. But
where there is no chance of this [p.123] injustice; where every man is
free; where every woman is free; where there are thousands of mankind
that never marry at all, and thousands of women who by law cannot
marry, there is room for the exercise of the polygamic form thereof;
so that, in argument, the sacred books of old Israel, the sacred hooks
of Christendem, the sacred books of the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints,
all tend to substantiate the idea that marriage in the abstract is of
God; and that it is or has been of Him, both in the monogamic and
polygamic form. Still further, these written revelations are not the
only evidence of the fact that monogamic marriage and polygamic
marriage are both susceptible of practice by the human family. Who is
there that is acquainted with himself or herself—where is the man and
where is the woman who does not realize, if they have attained to
mature years and experience, that all the functions of manhood and
womanhood can be subserved in both forms of marriage, and often better
in the polygamic. If in this ever present revelation of the Almighty,
of the finger of God in man's organization, and in woman's, it had
been decreed that polygamy was an immoral thing, and that it did
violence to either, then that would be evidence to go against the
sacred books that I we have received from the past, and from those of
the present; and if Joseph Smith had come forth claiming to be a
Prophet of God, and had given a revelation testifying to the necessity
and advantage of polygamic marriage, and this revelation had come in
contact with the revelation of man's experience, with the revelation
written in his own organization, then it would have nullified itself;
but it is in harmony with such a revelation, and shows the possibility
and susceptibility and natural character of marriage in the polygamic
relation. During a certain debate held in this house in regard to this
very question, Doctor Newman asserted that there were evidences
against this practice in the Bible. I consider that the Bible has been
read by the Latter-day Saints as much as ever it was read by Dr.
Newman, although they may not have done so in the original tongue—they
may not have Leviticus 18, 18—as he had it—but yet they have that
great gift of God which is called common sense, to say nothing of the
inspiration of His Spirit, and they are just as well able to
understand the revelations of the past as Doctor Newman with all his
knowledge of the original rendition and meaning of the Hebrew
character.

Vol. 26,  p.123
And if a tree is to be judged by its fruits, what of the whoredoms,
the adultery, the fornication, the prostitution of women in monogamic
nations? What of sexual diseases, of blighted lives, of martyred
women, of little graves dotting every hillside and the resting places
of the dead? What of foeticide, infanticide and abortion? What of the
decimated power and numbers of the best society, what of their liasons
and their divorce courts, and other damning features which cling
closely to the skirts of modern Sodoms, the paragons and promoters of
monogamic marriage?

Vol. 26,  p.123
Dr. Newman also made another remark something like this: that polygamy
was not intended for the poor man, that it was intended for the kings
of the earth, overlooking the fact, however, that Israel is a nation
of kings and priests; so that when he said that polygamy or the
practice of a plurality of wives was [p.124] intended only for kings,
it brought home a truth pregnant with thought; for God decreed that he
would gather His Israel from the poor of all nations, and so in Rev.
5, 10, they are represented as singing a new song, "Thou hast made us
Kings and Priests to God, and we shall reign on the earth;" and this
principle was to extend not through time only, but through the
countless ages of eternity, so that His people might occupy the
position of eternal fathers and eternal mothers, and be indeed Kings
and Priests for ever and for ever.

Vol. 26,  p.124
There are also other avenues of information besides those sacred
records, and besides those revelations written in the organization of
man and woman at large, and that is the revelation of individual
experience. There are many men and women who have practiced this
principle in the midst of Israel for thirty years and upwards. I have
heard their testimonies time and time again, and they declare that
their experience corroborated the exhortation, commandments and
practices of Holy Writ, and the revelations written in their own
organization; and they tell me that in this relation they have been
blessed, they have been prospered, they have had around them the
influence of the Spirit of the Almighty; that peace has been upon
their household and habitation, and that they have been enabled
through that principle to multiply their posterity upon the earth.
Where are these? They are everywhere throughout this Territory, and
their experience, corroborating those other revelations which I have
mentioned, forms a threefold cord that cannot by any process or by any
power be broken. I will say as the result of my own experience—for I
have lived in that relationship—that to me and to mine it was
productive of good, although it came in contact with our tradition.
Although it came in contact with the practices of the fathers, and
with our feelings, yet, in its experience it demonstrated itself to be
of God, and no better time have I had in thirty years of married life
than when I had three wives given me of God, and occupying but one
habitation. The power of God was in that home; the spirit of peace was
there, the spirit of intelligence was there; and we had our ever
present testimony that God recognised the patriarchal order, that
which had been practiced by His servants ages and ages ago and
revealed to us in the dispensation of the fullness of times; and
although two of these have gone behind the veil, they went there with
a consciousness of having done their duty in this life, and that they
would meet in the life beyond those who agreed with them in practice
and in faith; from this condition came the discipline of life, the
power of self-restraint, a tender regard for each others feelings, and
a sort of jealousy for each others' rights, all tempered by the
consideration that relations meant to be enduring claimed more love
and interest and soul than did monogamy under its best conditions.

Vol. 26,  p.124
Here, then, are some of the evidences in regard to this married
relation that forms the foundation of civilization and of human life,
and that lays at the foundation of the Government of God upon the
earth; according to our ideas concerning this relationship so will our
society and this community become. If we treat the marriage relation
with levity; if we should believe that it was but a civil contract,
and for time only, we should be weak as [p.125] others and should not
excel: if it is not part of our religion and of God, then it is not of
value to us. In my experience—and that is not a very lengthy one—I
have marked the change in feeling that has come over the nations in
regard to this marriage question. When I was a lad it was very unusual
for a man to take to himself a wife without the sanction of religion.
All the marriages of Old England had to be celebrated in the
Established Church, and a record was kept of them there, and of the
posterity issuing from that marriage, and when these died, their death
also was recorded, so that there was an unbroken chain of genealogical
evidence in that respect often of immense value for legitimacy and
other purposes. But by and by the spirit of religious liberty, as it
was called, began to spread. It is but a hundred years ago, or a
little over, since Methodism was established—the now dominant, or next
to dominant religious organization of Christendom. It began in a small
way; but it increased and spread abroad; it multiplied its converts,
its ministers and its chapels; it became a potent factor, in a
political sense, in the nation, and it was necessary that political
parties should conciliate and cater to this increasingly wealthy
religious organization; and when the Methodists wanted marriages
performed in their own, instead of going to the EstablishedChurches,
their power and influence, the influence of wealth and numbers, their
power as a political factor of the nation, gave them favor in the eyes
of the ministry and the legislature. By and by they were allowed the
privilege of marrying in their own churches and chapels, and by their
own ministers. And as it was with this body, so it was with the
smaller bodies, the satellites thrown off and revolving around the
great planets of religious organization in that country. And then as
this so-called religious liberty increased in spirit, scepticism began
to grow in the minds of many in regard to religious doctrines. There
were thousands of people that had no more faith in Methodism than in
the Established Church, or in Catholicism. They had more faith in Tom
Paine, and Voltaire, and Rosseau, and such men as Ingersoll, and their
liberty made it appear plausible to them that there was no necessity
to go to any church, or seek the aid of any minister, or have any
religious ceremony in connection with their own marriage or the
marriage of their families. So provision was made for this ever
increasing host of sceptics, and finally it was decreed that marriage
was nothing but a civil contract, not needing the service of a
minister, or the sanction of religion, but requiring simply that it
could be entered into after due notion was given, in a public place
and not before a worshiping assembly. In such cases marriage was
entered into as "a civil contract," and when this stage was reached,
inasmuch as it was but a civil contract, "only this and nothing more,"
the next step of necessity was, that it could be dissolved. Where is
there a contract of this nature that cannot be dissolved? If I am
engaged by an employer we can dissolve the engagement whenever either
of as is dissatisfied. And so this feature was applied to marriage;
the laws of divorce were introduced, and that which was once
considered discreditable, difficult and expensive, and would have been
sounded from one end of the land to the other as such, became common
and unworthy of remark.

Vol. 26,  p.126
Thus the bonds of society are [p.126] loosened; the sanctity of the
marriage relation is destroyed; and the world is filled with
entanglements that are the product of this civil contract business,
and even where this contract remains intact, there is a spirit made
manifest to avoid the responsibilities of marriage as to offspring,
and to live together in numberless cases without any marriage at all;
so that when the connection is broken it may be swept to the wind with
no results traceable or injurious to any of those concerned.

Vol. 26,  p.126
Now, for the safety of society, for the welfare of the human family,
for the love of order and responsibility upon the earth, for faith in
the revelations of God, and for high regard to the practices of His
anointed, I am in favor of the marriage relation. The Latter-day
Saints are in favor of the marriage relation, and they are utterly
opposed to sexual intercourse outside of that. And they do not believe
that marriage is a civil contract alone. Whatever power there may be
in the courts to enforce the claim of a with against a husband, or the
husband against the wife as a matter of protection, in the main,
marriage is of God, is of divine origin. Marriage requires the
sanction of the authority of the Holy Priesthood in order to give it
force, in order to make it valid in this life and the life to come,
and marriage—polygamic or monogamic, according to the necessities of
the case and the condition of those who enter therein—is in harmony
with all the laws of life; and despite what the world may say, those
that are of polygamic descent without knowing it are to be found among
the rulers of to-day—the most exalted and the most prominent in a
national sense—even in repudiating Christendom.

Vol. 26,  p.126
In the carrying out of this relationship the Latter-day Saints are
numerous ever where throughout this Territory: and it is incumbent
upon the rising generation that they should hold to those sacred views
that are held by their fathers; that they should marry within the
confines of the Church; that they should seek for their husbands or
wives, as the case may be, among those who have been obedient to the
principles of the everlasting Gospel, and who comprehend something of
the nature of the marriage covenant. Those of our posterity should not
depart from the ways of our Father; they should not be willing to take
up with the practices of Christendom. They should be under proper
restraint, proper control and direction in all the relationships of
life, because this parental relation among the faithful is an eternal
authority. Those children of ours, they never can get away from their
father and mother in this life, nor in the life to come. If they
should form connection with those outside of the Church and become
aliens to the Gospel, after along day of repentance they will have to
return and bow the knee if they would have access within that
organization, if they would enjoy all that belongs to that
relationship, if they would inherit the glory with which that
relationship is identified; they will have to repent, as it were, in
dust and ashes and come back to the family circle, compact and
covenant, wherein the Almighty gave them a being. And in this respect
it may be well to drop a hint in regard to the practices of some of
our sons and daughters in this city—where they step outside of what
some call priestly authority. When they come to get up amusements of
their own, they should see that that [p.127] only which pertains to
good order and good government are introduced. for those inevitably
tend to consolidation and unity. It would be well if our boys would
listen to their fathers' counsel; would respect the authority of their
fathers and mothers who are good Latter-day Saints; and when they want
enjoyment they should seek to keep within the circumscribed limits of
all reputable authority.

Vol. 26,  p.127
There are a great many thoughts arise in my mind, but I presume that I
have occupied all the time desirable and I do not wish to weary the
congregation. The subject I have touched upon, however, is a very
important one. It lies at the foundation of things, and, as I said
before, as it is comprehended by the human family, by us as Latter-day
Saints, so will be their position among the nations, so will be their
power in renovating society, and so will be their measure of
approbation by the heavens.

Vol. 26,  p.127
May God give us wisdom to so maintain ourselves in this relation
whether it be polygamic or monogamic—that we may gain His smile and
approbation, that we may feel His Spirit in our families, in our
hearts, in our going out and coming in, and may we realize that we
have the approbation of heaven, and the sanction of all the powers of
the eternities past, present and to come, as well as the example of
the Patriarchs and Prophets· And when this life shall come to its end
with us, may we be privileged to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, in the kingdom of our Father and God, and make part of a family
there, a great nation of Kings and Priests, associating with those who
have passed through much tribulation and washed their robes white in
the blood of the Lamb through the ordinances of the Gospel; which I
ask may be the case, through Jesus Christ, Amen.[p.128] 

John Taylor, October 6, 1883

Privilege of Meeting Together—We Are Here to Do Our 
Father's Will—All Dependent Upon God for Assistance, 
Guidance and Direction—the Lord Revealed to Adam the 
Purpose of Sacrifice—Adam, Before His Death, Called His 
Family Together and Blessed Them and Prophesied—Many 
Spirits Have Been Destined to Hold Certain Positions Among 
Men—Why We Are Gathered—We Must Follow the Teachings 
of the Spirit, and Honor the Priesthood in All Its Callings—
Prepare Ourselves to Enter Holy Places—the Priesthood 
Must not Tolerate Iniquity—the Church Must 
Be Purified—Concluding Exhortations

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered at a 
Priesthood Meeting, held in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, 
Saturday Evening, October 6th, 1883.

(Reported By John lrvine)

Vol. 26,  p.128
IT is quite a privilege for us to meet together in such assemblies as
this—to associate with the Priesthood of the Son of God, which
Priesthood is also after the order of Melchisedec, and after the power
of an endless life. It is a great privilege for us to meet together,
to talk over the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and to
reason and reflect upon those things that God has revealed for our
salvation in time and throughout the eternities that are to come. It
is proper that we should comprehend the various positions of men in
relation to this Holy Priesthood, and further that we should
understand the various orders, callings, ordinances and organizations
associated with the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth; that we
each of us may be prepared to magnify our calling, to honor our God,
and to pursue that course always which shall be acceptable in the
sight of our Heavenly Father.

Vol. 26,  p.128
We are here as Jesus was here, not to do our own will, but the will of
our Father who sent us. He has placed us here; we have a work to do in
our day and generation; and there is nothing of importance connected
with any of us only as we are associated with God! and His work,
whether it be the President of the Church, the Twelve Apostles, the
Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops, or anybody else, and we can only
thus be of any service by placing ourselves in a position to act as
God dictates us; as He regulates and manipulates the affairs of His
Church in the interests of humanity, in behalf of the living and of
the dead, in behalf of the world in which we live, and in behalf of
those who, have lived before us, and who will live after us. We can
none of us do anything only as we are assisted, guided and directed by
the Lord. No man ever lived that could. Adam could not. Noah could
not. Even Jesus could not.[p.129] Nor could the Apostles. They were
all of them dependent upon the God of Israel to sustain them in all of
their acts. And in regard to Adam himself, as we are, so was he very
ignorant of many principles until they were revealed to him. And if
they were revealed to him they did not originate with him; and so it
was with others. We find that Adam was directed of the Lord to do a
certain thing—that is, to offer up sacrifices—and when the angel of
the Lord came to him and said: "Adam why do you offer up sacrifices?"
Adam replied, "I do not know; but the Lord commanded me to do it, and
therefore I do it." He did not know what those sacrifices were for
until the Lord revealed unto him the doctrine of the atonement and the
necessity of the tall of man, and pointed out to him the way and
manner to obtain an exaltation. Then he and Eve his wife rejoiced
exceedingly at the mercy and kindness of the Almighty, and realized
that even in their fall they were placed in a position to obtain a
higher glory, and a greater exaltation than they could have done
without it. Now, who revealed this to them? The Lord, through the
ministering of an holy angel; and in relation to the dealings of God
with all of the human family it has been precisely the same. We are
told, for instance, that when Adam had lived to a great age—that three
years before his death he called together his family—that is, some of
the leading branches thereof who held the Holy Priesthood, mentioning
the names of many of the more prominent that had received certain
peculiar blessings from the hand of God—and there was manifested to
him all things that should transpire to his posterity throughout all
the future generations of time, and he prophesied of these things; and
also upon those who were with him, rested the spirit of prophecy, and
he blessed them, and they turned around and blessed him and called him
Michael the Archangel, the Prince of Peace, etc. By what spirit then
did Adam prophesy, and under what influence was he operating at that
time? We are told in Scripture that the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy, and he in common with his sons who were then
associated with him were in possession of that spirit which
enlightened their minds, unfolded unto them the principles of truth,
and revealed unto them the things that would transpire throughout
every subsequent period of time. Who manifested these things? The
Lord. Who organized the world? The Lord. Who made man upon it? The
Lord. Who placed upon it the fowls of the air, the beasts of the
field, and the fish of the sea? The Lord. Who sustains all things by
his power? The Lord. Who controls the affairs of the world? The Lord.
To whom are we indebted for life, for health, and for every blessing
that we enjoy? To the Lord. He is the God of the earth, and the giver
of every good and perfect gift which we enjoy, and He desires to
gather together a people that will observe His laws, that will keep
His commandments, that will render obedience to His will, that will
submit to His authority, and for this purpose, in different ages of
the world, He has introduced the Gospel and has placed man in
possession thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.129
Now, what about the positions of men? Why, it is a good deal as spoken
of in the Scriptures and in the revelations which have been given to
us pertaining to these matters—that [p.130] many have been called and
chosen, and that many were elected and selected to fulfill certain
offices. It was so revealed to Abraham. He was told that there were a
great many spirits, many of whom were noble, who were destined to hold
particular positions among the children of men, and it was said to
him, "And thou Abraham wast one of these."

Vol. 26,  p.130
Now, there are events to transpire in this day as there have been in
other days; and we, the Elders of Israel of the Church of the living
God, have to build up the Church of God, the Zion of God, and the
Kingdom of God, and the Church has to be purified according to the
law, order, rule and dominion which God has appointed. It is not for
us—as the brethren have expressed it—to receive certain portions of
light and intelligence, and with regard to other portions follow the
desires of our own hearts, thus laying aside God, His rule, His
dominion and His authority. "Having begun in the spirit," as Paul
said, "are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" No, that is the wrong
way about; but on the contrary we ought to add to our faith virtue, to
virtue brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness charity, to charity
godliness, that we may be full of the light and life, and of the
spirit and power of God, and approach more closely to the law of God,
and be governed thereby.

Vol. 26,  p.130
Why are we gathered here to the land of Zion? This is called the land
of Zion. We are called the people of Zion. What does Zion mean? the
pure in heart. Why are we gathered here? One of the Prophets in
talking about it, says: "I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion." What then? "I will give them
Pastors according to mine own heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding." That is what we are here for. That we
may be fed with knowledge and understanding, that we may learn the law
of the Gospel, the law of the Zion of God, the laws of the Kingdom of
God, and that we may be instructed in all things tending to promote
the welfare, exaltation and happiness of ourselves, our wives, our
children, the people with whom we are associated, and the world in
which we live and act; and that we may operate for the benefit of
those who have lived, and stand as "saviors upon Mount Zion."

Vol. 26,  p.130
In all this, as has been said, there is an order. We are all dependent
the one upon the other. The head can not say to the foot I have no
need of thee, nor the foot to the head I have no need of thee, nor the
hand, the arm, the leg to the body, I have no need of thee. We are
formed into a compact body according to the law of God in the
organization of His Church, and it is for us to magnify the callings
unto which we are called, and unless we all of us are placed under the
guidance and direction of the Almighty, we cannot do so—that is, those
who do not yield themselves subject to the law of God, cannot do that
thing. But those who yield themselves subject to the law of God, can
do it and do it quite easily, for Jesus says: "Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Now, if we yield obedience to God and to the spirits that dwell within
us, then will our light become like that of the just that shineth
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day; but if we do not yield an
obedience to the law and [p.131] word and order of the Church and
Kingdom of God upon the earth, the light that is within us will become
darkness, and then, as it is said, how great is that darkness! We see
sometimes men of that character. They are occasionally referred to as
cranks, or, as the Germans use that term, sick. They lose the light,
spirit and power of God, and they do not comprehend the order of the
Church and Kingdom of God, nor do they place themselves in the way to
obtain knowledge or these things. The first thing they begin to do is
to try to pervert the order of God, and to find fault with their
brethren in the Holy Priesthood—with their Bishops, with their
Bishop's Counselors, with the High Council, perhaps with the
Presidents of Stakes, as the case may be, or with the Apostles, or
with the First Presidency; no matter which, or how, or when, or where.
Now, if these men were walking in the light as God is in the light
they would have fellowship one, with another, and the blood of Christ
would cleanse them from all sin; but when they begin to murmur and
complain, to find fault and to give way to improper influences, they
give place to the devil, and he takes possession just as fast and as
far as he can, and forces upon them feelings, ideas and principles
that are at variance with the law and order, and word and will of God.

Vol. 26,  p.131
What, then, are we here for? What did Jesus come to do? He tells us
that He "came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father who
sent Him." How are we to obtain a knowledge of that will? I will tell
you what Joseph Smith told me. I have frequently mentioned it. Between
forty and fifty years ago he said to me this: "Elder Taylor, you have
received the Holy Ghost. Follow its teachings. Sometimes it will seem
to you as though it was hardly the right way. No matter, follow its
teachings, and it will always lead you right, and if you do so it
will, by and by, become to you a principle of revelation, so that you
will know all things that are necessary for you to become acquainted
with." Now, I know that is true. I know that he spoke the truth. And I
would say that it is the privilege of every Elder in Israel who has
received the gift of the Holy Ghost, to follow its teachings. What was
said by one of the old Apostles? "As many as are led by the Spirit of
God are the sons of God." Follow its teachings, therefore, and do not
give way to your own feelings, nor to covetousness, to pride, nor to
vain glory; for we none of us have anything to boast of. We have none
of us received anything but what God has given us. If we possess
light, or intelligence, or a knowledge of the things of God—which we
do—from whence did it emanate? From God our Heavenly Father, through
the medium that He has appointed. I do not wish to dictate to Him the
way these things shall be done. I never did. While Joseph Smith was on
the earth I looked to him as a Prophet of God, and I do not believe I
ever disobeyed Him in one solitary thing that he ever required at my
hands, and I have been put in some pretty tight places. But that was
my feeling, that was the idea I entertained towards the Priesthood of
the Son of God.

Vol. 26,  p.131
I have also lived in wards. I do not know that I have ever disobeyed
the requests of a Bishop. Why? Because he presided over me in a ward
capacity, and if he had a right to respect me as an Apostle, I had a
right to respect him as a Bishop,[p.132] and I always felt a desire to
comply with all the requirements that were made of me by any of the
proper authorities. I feel and always have felt the same towards
Teachers. If a Teacher came to my house—or Teachers, they generally
come two at a time—if I happened to be there I have told them that I
felt happy to meet with them, and I called together the members of my
family that were within my reach, and told them that the Teachers had
come to instruct us. Permit me here to ask, have not I a right—say as
the President of the Church, or as an Apostle, which I was for many
years—have not I a right, or my family a right to possess the same
privileges that others possess, and to have the Teachers come to
inquire after my welfare and that of my family, and to see that there
is no wrong existing—have not I that right? I think I have. If they
are the servants of God, have not I a right to listen to them? Yes, I
have, and I feel it my duty to receive them kindly, treat them
properly and listen to their teaching.

Vol. 26,  p.132
On the other hand, when the Teachers got through, I might give them a
little instruction, say as an Apostle, or as a brother—put it any way
you like; that while I and my family were receiving benefits from
them, it was my duty, on the other hand, to teach and instruct them in
some things that I thought might benefit them.

Vol. 26,  p.132
Now, these are correct principles in the Church and Kingdom of God.
The Teacher occupies his place; the Priest and Deacon occupy their
places; the Elder occupies his place; the Bishop his place; the High
Councils their places; the Presidents of Stakes their places, and
every one in his position ought to be honored—the Twelve in their
place, the First Presidency in their place—each one yielding proper
respect and courtesy and kindness to the other. And when we talk about
great big personages, there is no such thing. We are none of us
anything only as God confers blessings upon us, and if He has
conferred anything upon us, we will give Him the glory.

Vol. 26,  p.132
Having been called to these positions, God expects that we will honor
them; that we will esteem it an honor to be the messengers of
salvation, the legates of the skies, to the nations of the earth. We
have a great work to perform both at home and abroad, We are preaching
the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. Israel is being gathered
home to Zion. And in Zion we are rearing temples to the name of the
Most High God. And I will tell you how I feel—that as these temples
are advancing, while we are preparing holy places in which to
administer the ordinances of God pertaining to the living and the
dead—I feel that we ought to begin to prepare ourselves to enter into
these holy places, and to feel that we are the sons of God without
rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We ought to
wake up and put our houses in order, and our hearts in order; we ought
to conform to the word, the will, and the law of God; we ought to let
God rule in Zion, to let His law be written upon our hearts, and to
feel the responsibility of the great work we are called upon to
perform. We should see that our bodies and our spirits are pure, and
that they are free from contamination of every kind. We are here to
build up the Zion of God, and to this end we must subject our bodies
and our spirits to the law, to the word, and [p.133] to the will of
God. Being here in Zion we want to see that thing that Jesus told His
disciples to pray for take place. "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven." How was it done in heaven? God spake and
the worlds were formed according to His word. God said let us do this,
and that and the other, and it was so. Was there anybody in heaven to
object and say, "Don't you think you had better put it off a little.
Would not this be abetter way?" Yes, the devil said so, and he says so
yet, and he is listened to sometimes by sinners and sometimes by
Saints; for we become the servants of those whom we list to obey.

Vol. 26,  p.133
There are besides these other considerations in connection with these
matters.

Vol. 26,  p.133
The brethren who have preceded me this evening have referred to the
celestial terrestial and telestial kingdoms, and the laws pertaining
thereunto. We are told that if we cannot abide the law of the
celestial kingdom we cannot inherit a celestial glory. Is not that
doctrine? Yes. "But," says one, "Are not we all going into the
celestial kingdom?" I think not, unless we turn round and mend our
ways very materially. It is only those who can abide a celestial glory
and obey a celestial law that will be prepared to enter a celestial
kingdom. "Well," says another, "are the others going to be burned up,
etc.?" No. Do you expect everybody to walk according to this higher
law? No, I do not. And do I expect those that do not, are going into
the celestial kingdom? No, I do not. Well, where will they go? If they
are tolerably good men and do not do anything very bad, they will get
into a terrestrial kingdom, and if there are seine that cannot abide a
terrestrial law, they may get into a telestial kingdom, or otherwise,
as the case may be, etc., etc. Did you ever read in your Bibles that
"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it." Did you ever read of the parable of
Jesus, where He speaks of the sower going forth to sow, and some seed
fell by the wayside, some among thorns, and some on stoney ground,
etc.? "But," says one, "we thought we had got it all" Yes: but the
thorns have grown up in many places and choked the good seed.
Sometimes you keep down your weeds in the field, but do they come up
again? Yes; fresh crops keep coming all the time; and I think, too,
that the wheat and the tares were to grow together for a certain
length of time.

Vol. 26,  p.133
Well, what shall we do? Shall we go to work and get angry against
people that do not do exactly right? No. They can only do right as God
helps them to do it. They can only do right as they seek to God for
His help to enable them to do so; they can only do right as they are
sustained by the power of God; and if we allow covetousness, pride,
envy, jealousy, hatred, malice, lasciviousness, drunkenness,
Sabbath-breaking, or any other influence to corrupt and lead us astray
from the light of truth and the sweet consoling influences of the
Spirit of God, we shall get into darkness, and then, as I said before,
if the light that is within us becomes darkness, how great is that
darkness! It is for us to do right—to observe the law and to keep the
commandments of God. It is right also for the Presidents of Stakes and
for the Bishops to see that none of these things that I have referred
to be permitted among the people over whom they preside. What! Shall
we not let the drunkard [p.134] wallow in his drunkenness ? No; deal
with him according to the law of God. Shall we not let the lascivious
man wallow in his corruption No. According to certain principles that
are laid down in the book of Doctrine and Covenants in regard to those
things, those who have entered into the new and everlasting covenant,
and have taken upon themselves certain obligations, if they commit
adultery it is positively said they shall be destroyed. Now, can you
change that, or can I change it? No, I cannot, and you cannot; and you
have no right to permit men to break the Sabbath, nor to do many of
those acts that many of the Saints are doing. What are Apostles,
Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, etc., placed in the Church
for? What were they for in former days? For the perfecting of the
Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Jesus Christ. What are the High Councils and Bishops' Counsels for but
to adjudge all these things? What are the Teachers and the Priests
for? To assist the Bishops in their endeavors to promote purity and
virtue, holiness and righteousness among the people. That is their
office, and if they do not fulfill that office they are not magnifying
their calling. They have no right to condone the sins of men. The law
of God is perfect converting the soul, and we must be governed by that
law and carry it out, or he made amenable unto the Lord our God for
the course we pursue, or for neglecting to perform our duties. That is
the way I look at these things, and if that is not the case, why are
these laws given to us. Are they the laws of God? We so understand
them. Then let us perform our duties and seek to magnify our callings
that we may stand approved and acknowledged of the Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.134
When I speak of these things, I do not believe in any kind of tyranny.
I believe in long-suffering, in mercy, in kindness, in gentleness, and
in the love and fear of God. I do not believe that the Priesthood was
given to man to exercise dominion and authority over the souls of
other men. Everything ought to be done with kindness and
long-suffering, yet with fidelity to God. The Church must be purified
from iniquity of every kind, that we may stand before God "a glorious
Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;" that when we
get our temples finished we may enter therein, approach the living
God, and call upon Him for blessings, for life and salvation for
ourselves and others, for deliverance from our enemies, and God will
hear our prayers if we will only be obedient and observe His law. God
is on our side. All heaven is on our side. The ancient Prophets and
Patriarchs, and the Son of God and God the Father, are enlisted in the
cause of Zion. It is for us to be true to ourselves, and I ask no odds
of this world or of its powers. ("Amen") God will take care of His
Saints, but we must be careful to be Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.134
"Arise! therefore, ye Elders of Israel—ye Priests, Teachers and
Deacons, ye Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and High Counselors, ye
Apostles and First Presidency, and all of us—Arise! and let us go to
work with a will to do the will of God on earth as it is done in
heaven: for if ever that is done, where is it to start, do you think,
if it does not begin here among us? God expects it at our hands. We
are full of weaknesses and imperfections, every one of us; but we want
to learn the word, the will, and the law of God, and to conform to
that word and will and law. Let that law be [p.135] written upon our
hearts. Let us seek to magnify our callings and honor our God, and the
Lord will take care of the balance. We need not trouble ourselves much
about our enemies. They have their ideas, we have ours. We will do as
we have done. We will do the best we can with them, put our trust in
the living God, and pursue a course that is wise, prudent and
intelligent. We will glory not in ourselves, but in the Lord of Hosts.
We will dedicate ourselves, our wives, our families, our houses and
our lands, and all that we possess to the Lord, and feel that we are
His children. If we do this, He will bless us with life, health and
prosperity. He will control the efforts of our enemies in the future
as He has done in the past. And here I feel to call upon every soul to
bless and magnify the God of Israel for His mercies extended to us in
the past; for putting a hook into the jaws of our enemies that they
have not had power to harm us, and He will continue to do it, if we
will continue to be faithful, only much more so; and woe unto them
that fight against Zion, for the Lord God of Hosts will fight against
them. Amen.[p.136] 

George Q. Cannon, January 18, 1885

Importance of Our Sunday Schools and Mutual 
Improvement Associations—the Good Work Done 
By Them in Qualifying Young Men to Be Missionaries—
Necessity of Teaching Our Children the Principle of Virtue—
Determination of Our Enemies to Destroy the Work of God—the 
Lord Will Build Up His Kingdom in His Own Way—He Will Stand By 
Us If We Are Valiant—God Raised up Men to Form the Constitution 
and Establish the Government of the United States—Self-Preservation 
Requires Us to Be United—All Reputable Men Among the Latter-Day 
Saints Hold the Priesthood—We Have to Contend With Mobocracy 
in Legal Form and Guise—this Work Depends Upon God—
Our Enemies Have No Power to Injure Us—No One Has 
 Prospered in Opposing the Work of God—the Lord Will 
Stand By Us in the Hour of Need—Conclusion

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Morning, January 18th, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.136
I AM pleased to have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day
Saints this morning in Ogden, and of listening to the reports which
have been made by the brethren respecting the Sunday Schools, and the
Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations. These institutions
furnish an index to the growth and development of the people, and the
future character of those who are now and who will be members of the
Church in years to come. I think a very fair estimate can be formed of
what our people will be by closely observing the condition of the
Sunday Schools and the Mutual Improvement Associations; because those
children and those young men and young women who are now members of
these schools and associations will in a very few years take their
place as active members in the community, and the character of the
community be largely dependent upon their characters and upon the
development which they have made in the directions that these
institutions seek to form them. I look upon it myself as exceedingly
important that our schools should be properly conducted, and that our
associations should receive that attention from those who have
influence and knowledge that will make a proper impression upon the
minds of those who are members. In whatever capacity I might be acting
in the Priesthood, with the proper feeling of anxiety about the
[p.137] growth and development of the people, I could not fail to take
interest in all these associations, and to see that they were properly
conducted as far as my influence would extend. I do feel this
interest. I have for many years felt it. It has been one of the great
delights, I may say, of my life for many years, to see the growth and
development of our Sunday School interest.

Vol. 26,  p.137
For many years, while laboring in the ministry abroad I saw how small
was the amount of fruit resulting from the labors of myself and other
Elders in the world; that we labored sometimes for years and were only
able to bring into the Church a comparative few, and then, out of
those that were converted and brought into the Church, there was a
large percentage who did not remain, but who lost the faith and fell
away. I became convinced in my mind that more satisfactory results and
a larger amount of fruit could be obtained by devoting attention to
the cultivation of our children, and for years before I had the
opportunity, I had resolved in my own mind that if I were ever
permitted to remain at home long enough I would devote attention to
the cultivation of the young. I think that which has been done in this
direction has amply rewarded every man and woman who have taken
interest in this cause. You can better tell, probably, than I can—or
at least some of you can—what the effect upon our community is—the
effect of the Sunday School, and of the teachings of the Sunday
Schools. You are familiar with the children. You can contrast their
present condition with the condition of children a few years ago, and
by making this contrast you can estimate, at pretty near its true
value, that which is and has been done. So far as my observation is
concerned I am satisfied that a great amount of good has been
accomplished. I have been on missions when Elders have come from the
valley—young men—and I have been very much ashamed to see their
ignorance in regard to the doctrines of the Church, and of the history
of the Church, and their ignorance of the Scriptures. I have felt that
it was almost a shame that young men brought up in Zion should go as
missionaries and be so ignorant concerning the most vital points
connected with our religion. I am happy to believe that that has
passed away to a very great extent, and that those who now go out in
the capacity of missionaries do so with a more thorough understanding
respecting the history of the Church, the doctrines of the Church, and
a wider intelligence concerning everything connected with the Church
than was formerly manifested. In our Sunday Schools I have listened to
children being catechised, and their answers upon points of history of
the Church, and other matters, have been given with a correctness that
could not be excelled, if equalled by many of the Elders of mature
years if they were interrogated upon the same points. Every one who
has visited Sunday Schools must be convinced of this. Therefore, when
we hear, as we do to-day, that in some of your settlements nearly all
the children are enrolled in the Sunday Schools, it speaks well for
the future of the children. If these schools are properly conducted
the effect must be immense in lifting them up from ignorance and
giving them correct knowledge concerning the doctrines and history of
the Church, and indoctrinating them in the principles which we view as
so important for men and women to understand. It is therefore very
[p.138] gratifying to hear such reports, and that which we have heard
to-day respecting the schools in Weber Stake is a very fair sample of
the reports which are made in other Stakes.

Vol. 26,  p.138
We have to-day, so far as statistics inform us, nearly 50,000 children
in Sunday Schools. These 50,000 children will in a very few years be
men and women, taking their place in society, probably married, and
their influence will be felt upon the future families of the people,
and if they are properly taught in the principles of the Gospel and
are fortified against sin, and are taught the evil effects that will
result from the practice of everything that is wrong, we can imagine
what an effect this will have on the entire body of the people! It is
therefore very encouraging to all those who take an interest in the
growth of Zion, in the development of the work of God, to know that
our children, in Primary Associations, in Sunday Schools, and in Young
Men and Young Women's Mutual Improvement Associations, are receiving
the instruction that is best adapted for their future good and
happiness.

Vol. 26,  p.138
There are a few points that I have always deemed as of the utmost
importance that our children should be taught; the more so because
such teaching guards them against some of the growing evils of the age
in which we live. It has seemed to me sometimes that if the Lord had
not established this Church at the time He did, the future of our race
would be in some respects very dark and hopeless to contemplate. The
growth of intemperance, the spirit of infidelity concerning God and
concerning everything pertaining to God and to righteousness, the
wonderful spread of corruption, the low value placed upon virtue, and
the increase of the evils that result from the absence of virtue, are
of such a nature that, if you look outside this Church, the picture is
a most discouraging one. God has established this Church and He has
told us from the very beginning that the chief corner stone, it may be
said, of this great edifice that He has reared and is rearing, is
virtue. Early in the history of the Church the Prophet Joseph received
revelations to this effect: that he who looked upon a woman to lust
after her should deny the faith, and unless he repented, he should be
cast out. What an amount of purity is embodied in this statement or
the Lord to us in this revelation! A man must not only refrain from
doing that which is wrong with the opposite sex; he must not only
refrain from carrying his lust into the actual commission of crime,
but he must be so pure in heart that he shall not look upon the other
sex with a lustful eye and a lustful desire. If he does so, we are
told by the Almighty that he shall deny the faith. Now, I cannot
imagine how the Lord can make more plain to us than He has done in
these revelations—for it is repeated more than once in the revelations
that we have received—the importance of virtue, the importance of
purity, purity in thought as well as purity in action. The frequent
apostasies from this Church, the many who have left the Church, denied
the faith, lost the Spirit of God, the most of them, no doubt, are
traceable to the commission of this sin. It is, as I have said, the
crying sin of the age. Outside of this Church virtue is not fostered
as it should be. Of course there are exceptions. I do not mean to say
that all people are corrupt; I would not be so sweeping; but in
society generally there is not that [p.139] value placed upon virtue
that should be, and in many circles the virtue of man is derided. A
man who claims to be virtuous, or who desires or seeks to be virtuous,
finds himself alone, as it were, among his fellows. Therefore, it is
of the utmost importance that we, in training our children, should lay
deep and solid in their minds the importance of virtue. They should be
taught that their whole lives as Latter-day Saints depend upon the
cultivation and preservation of this principle; and that if they are
guilty of wrong in this direction, unless there is sincere and
heartfelt repentance before the Lord, lie will undoubtedly withdraw
His Holy Spirit from them and leave them to themselves to become a
prey to those wicked influences that are seeking constantly to take
possession of the hearts of the Saints of God.

Vol. 26,  p.139
Now, we can best do this in childhood; we can teach our children in
childhood and in youth, and as they grow to manhood and to womanhood
we can fortify them against those evils. It has been necessary,
apparently,—for the Spirit has seemed to indicate the necessity of
this,—that there should be greater strictness enforced among our
people. There has been a growth of wrong-doing in many quarters that
has been most painful to all those who have the welfare of the Saints
of God at heart, and who desire the prosperity of Zion. Many cases
have come to the knowledge of the First Presidency and of the Twelve
and of other leading men wherein people have been compelled, in order
to conceal their wrong-doing, to marry, and even then have failed to
cover it up. Now, such a condition of things if permitted to continue
in our midst, unchecked, would be productive of the most terrible
consequences. The Spirit of God would undoubtedly be so grieved that
it would forsake not only those who are guilty of these acts, but it
would withdraw itself from those who would suffer them to be done in
our midst unchecked and unrebuked; and from the President of the
Church down, throughout the entire ranks of the Priesthood, there
would be a loss of the Spirit of God, a withdrawal of His gifts and
blessing and His power, because of their not taking the proper
measures to check and to expose their iniquity.

Vol. 26,  p.139
My brethren and sisters: I suppose you must be impressed, as I am,
with this truth, that our only source of strength is, that we shall
live so that the spirit and power and gifts of our religion and the
favor of our God shall be extended unto us and be in our possession.
There never was a more critical period in many respects in the history
of the Church of Jesus Christ than that which we now witness. I never,
in my recollection, or in reading the history of the Church have seen
a time nor heard of a time when the adversary of God's Kingdom was
more determined, apparently, to destroy the work of God than he is at
the present time. On every hand there are the most persistent efforts
made to check the growth of the Kingdom of God, and not only that, but
to destroy this religion, the religion of Jesus Christ, and to throw
obstacles in the pathway of its progress; and to actually deprive
members of this Church of every right that men and women value—every
political right, every civil right—to place us in bondage, and to make
it odious in the eyes of mankind to be Latter-day Saints, or to have
any faith in the religion that God has revealed to us, and of which we
are so proud, and for which we are, as a rule, so thankful.[p.140] 

Vol. 26,  p.140
Now, we do not have wealth with which to combat the designs of our
enemies; we do not have numbers; we do not have influence; there is no
strength that we have that men value and that men seek for in a
contest such as that in which we are engaged. We possess no advantage,
none whatever, that men place value upon. But we possess advantages
that we understand, and which we as Latter-day Saints highly value,
and they are the best advantages, however much they may be disliked by
the world. However little importance they may attach to the advantages
that we possess, we know that in a contest such as this in which we
are now engaged they are of the utmost importance.

Vol. 26,  p.140
To begin with we must, as I have said, be a virtuous people. We must
love virtue better than we love our lives. We must be so pure, not
only in our actions, but in our thoughts, that God's favor will be
with us, and His Spirit rest down upon us, and we must live the lives
of Latter-day Saints, carrying out in our lives the principles that
God has revealed. This is our only strength. Let us be deprived of
this and we are weak, because, as I have said, we possess no other
advantage. If we prevail, as undoubtedly we shall, it must be because
of God's help; it must be because He is at our right and at our left,
and His power is round about us and near unto us. Looking at our
position from a human standpoint everything looks dark. Men to-day are
calculating on the destruction of this people. They think that we
shall at least be compelled to abandon some features our religion. In
some places and with some people it is Church and State they complain
of. In other places it is that we practice plural marriage. In other
places there are other reasons assigned for their dislike to us—we are
too united; we do not divide into parties, wherever we go we cling
together, and do not assimilate with the rest of our fellow citizens,
but are a party of ourselves, and are dangerous because of this. And
various accusations are made as justification for the treatment that
is extended to us. Men whose lives are so vile that they would not
bear the least examination, much less exposure, make the charge
against us that we practice plural marriage, and therefore that we
should be dealt with in the harshest and most severe manner. On the
other hand, men who are constantly seeking for political influence,
who do not scruple to use that influence in the most reprehensible
manner, and to the utmost extent possible, and frequently preachers,
too, charge that we unite Church and State. They would gladly use the
influence that we have if they had it, and use it in a manner so
obnoxious to individual liberty, that it would bear no comparison to
the manner influence is used among the Latter-day Saints. That would
be all right if they used it, but it is all wrong if we use it. And so
it is with everything else. If they could unite a people together as
we are united that would be perfectly justifiable; but because
Latter-day Saints unite together, that is exceedingly wrong,
especially when they do so as a religious community.

Vol. 26,  p.140
For myself I want to do that which God directs. That is the wish of my
heart. I want to honor my God if I know how to do it. I believe this
entire people have the same feeling. They desire to do the will of
God, if they can find out what that will is, and if He will
communicate it to us, as I know He does, I am satisfied that the great
majority of the [p.141] Latter-day Saints will do that will regardless
of consequences. It is the attempt to do that, that has brought us
into disrepute.

Vol. 26,  p.141
God, in building up His Kingdom, does not take pattern from men. He
does not ask counsel from men as to how that Kingdom shall be built
up, and the methods that shall be employed to establish it. He is
going to build His Kingdom up in His own way, and if it does not suit
men or the nations of the earth, why, I suppose they will have to be,
as they have been and as they are sometimes at present, angry with
those who strive to do that which He requires. I know this that many
things that men admire are an abomination in the sight of God; many
things that they think most admirable God holds as an abomination.
Therefore, in building up His Church and His Kingdom He is going to
take His own plan of doing it, and for one, so far as I can I feel
willing to allow Him to dictate how it shall be done, and then leave
the consequences to Him. I know that He will bring off those who put
their trust in Him victorious, and He will ask no odds of the nations
of the earth. He delights in a people who are courageous and valiant,
who are not afraid. He delights in people of this kind. The greatest
blessing almost that we read of that was ever given to a man in the
flesh was given to a man possessed of this courage. You will remember
him, doubtless, when I mention His name. His name was Nephi. He was
the son of Helaman, and had a brother named Lehi. He was the
grandfather of Nephi, who was the President of the Twelve whom Jesus
chose on this continent. Read the life of that man, and observe the
blessings that God bestowed upon him. God gave him great power because
of his valor and fearlessness in His cause, and it is so with every
Prophet and with every man of God of whom we have any record, and it
is so with every people and generation who put their trust in the
Lord, and are valiant for His cause. He will give them great blessings
and power, and He will bring them off victorious. He has done so in
the past. He is doing so now, and He will do so in the future; and
whenever you find a man or a people weakened and limber-backed,
nervous, their hands shaking and their hearts trembling, you will find
a people that have not very much of the strength and power of God with
them; but when they are full of courage, zeal and determination, God
is with them, He strengthens them, and gives them victory. He will do
it every time, with every individual. You read the history of Elijah,
and see how valiant he was, and how God blessed him, and I might go on
and enumerate a great many more men who have been distinguished in the
world's history because of their valor. God stood by them always, and
will stand by us if we are valiant. Look at the men who have been most
valiant in this Church in defending, advocating and practicing the
principles which God has revealed, and doing this, too, in the face of
mankind who have been determined that we shall not do these things,
and see, how God has blessed and sustained them in so doing.
Therefore, having had this experience in these matters, it is for us
to be valiant in the cause of God, to show our faith by our works, and
not be Latter-day Saints with our lips alone, but be Latter-day Saints
in all the acts of our lives, in all our words, and in everything
there is connected wish us. Let [p.142] us not imagine that God has
established His work to take pattern in its methods of procedure and
management after the corrupt nations of the earth. He has not done so.

Vol. 26,  p.142
We live under a Government, the best that ever was formed by man upon
this earth—a Government in which every human being can live without
interfering with the rights of others in the practice of the
principles which God reveals. God has purposely arranged this. He
raised up wise men to lay the foundation of this Government, and He
defended them against the mother country, and enabled them to achieve
victory ever the greatest power there was upon the face of the
earth—the power of Great Britain. He gave them power to form a
Constitution under which every man and woman can dwell in perfect
freedom—that is, if they wanted to do right. This land has been
dedicated to liberty, dedicated by the Lord our God, and by men who
have lived upon this land, to liberty, and as long as this land shall
be a land of liberty it will be a blessed land to the inhabitants
thereof; but when it ceases to be a land of liberty, then as sure as
God has spoken, this Government will go down—that is, any Government
will, that will war against the principles of liberty—and the men who
are now engaged in their assaults upon us because of our religion, are
traitors to this Government, and they are the most deadly enemies to
the Government of the United States that can be found anywhere upon
the face of the earth. They are laying the axe at the root of the
tree, and are taking measures to destroy this Government, because it
can only, as I have said, be preserved by maintaining the principles
of liberty that are contained in the Constitution which God gave to
the land, or which He inspired men to frame for the land. But in our
contention for liberty—for we to-day are the defenders of the
Constitution, and we shall have Constitutional principles to maintain
and defend in the courts of the nation, we are being forced into this
duty and position—God will bless us and preserve us, and carry us off
triumphantly, and the words of Joseph, which were inspired by the
Almighty, will be fulfilled to the very letter, namely, that the
Elders of this Church will be the men who will uphold and maintain the
Constitution of the United States, when others are seeking to trample
it in the dust, and to destroy it. We are a free people—let others
seek to bring us lute bondage as they may—we are a free people, with
the perfect right to worship our God and to carry into effect the
principles that He has revealed. And if the whole world array
themselves against us, and the combined power of the nation pits
itself against this work, they must go down in the struggle, because
they are occupying a false position. If fifty hundred millions of
people were to say the contrary, no matter, the principle still
remains true, that under the Constitution in this land, a man has a
perfect right to do that which God requires at his hands as long as he
does not intrude upon the rights of his neighbor.

Vol. 26,  p.142
If one man stood alone in this position, and millions of men were to
say it is not so, that lone man would still be right. We have that
right. God has given it to us under the Constitution of the land in
which we dwell, and if men enact laws and idle one taw upon another
until they reach to the sky, it would not change this. It is an
eternal [p.143] principle, and it will stand—this principle of
liberty, the liberty that God has given unto every haman being—the
right to do that which seemeth good in his own sight, to follow the
dictates of his own conscience, as long as, in so doing, he does not
trespass upon the rights of his fellow man. We stand by that
fearlessly, and stand by it for ourselves, and for our children after
us. I would not abate one iota, not a hair's breadth, myself, in this
feeling. I would feel that I was a traitor to myself and to my
posterity if I were to yield in the least upon this. We must maintain
our rights, not aggressively, not in any quarrelsome spirit, but in a
spirit of quiet firmness, quiet determination to maintain our rights,
to contend for them, and to never yield one hair's breadth in
maintaining them. This is our duty as individuals and as a people, and
in thus determining, we band ourselves together more closely.
Complaints are made of us that we are so exclusive. Why, in the very
nature of things we should be fools to be otherwise than exclusive. We
cannot help it. We are driven into exclusiveness by the acts of our
enemies, and by the pressure that is brought to bear upon us. A flock
of sheep when attacked by dogs or wolves, huddle together, and seek to
protect themselves by getting into a cluster. So it is with us. It is
the law of preservation, that we should get close together when we are
assaulted as we have been. We can not put trust in others who are not
of us to any extent. There are, however, many honorable men, hundreds
and thousands of them. If there were not, we would not send
missionaries out as we do. We believe they are just as honest as we
are, just as sincere as we are, and desire as much to do right as we
do.

Vol. 26,  p.143
I believe there are millions of them in the earth, men and women,
whose desires are as good as the best Latter-day Saints. They desire
to do the will of God, and to keep His commandments as much as any of
us do, and are as sincere in it; but many people are ignorant and do
things through ignorance which are wrong. But, as I say,
self-preservation demands that we should cling together; that we
should be united; that we should sink all personal differences; that
we should have no preference that we would not be willing to forego
for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It is an important time with us.
We have enemies all around us. A determination is made manifest to
destroy every one of our liberties, if possible, and to bring us into
bondage. That is the design, if it can be accomplished. But it will
not be accomplished. You will see it will fail, it will signally fail,
and God will preserve us in our liberties, and especially will He do
this if we keep His commandments, and do that which He requires at our
hands.

Vol. 26,  p.143
A great many people seem to think, and some who are among us act upon
the thought, that because a man holds the Priesthood, and is a
religious man, and practices religion, that he should not have any
voice in matters that belong to civil government. In Washington the
charge has been frequently made that all the leading offices of the
Territory of Utah were held by Mormon Elders, Mormon Bishops and
others. I have frequently said, in answer to this, before committees
of the Senate and House, that if we did not take Mormon Elders we
would have no officers, for the reasons that, as a rule, every
reputable man in Utah Territory, when he attains the age of majority,
holds the office of an [p.144] Elder, or some other office in the
Priesthood. This explanation gave a very different view to men who did
not understand our organization, and whose ignorance was taken
advantage of. In the world there are a few men in religious societies,
who hold leading positions, hold what we would call, if in our Church,
the Priesthood, and the rest are debarred, and are mere laymen. But it
is not so with us. The bulk of the Mormon people hold the Priesthood,
and every man of repute of any age is an officer in the Church. It is
said that the members of our Legislature are men who are prominent in
the Priesthood. How could it be otherwise? If a man is energetic and
has any talent he of course holds some position in the Priesthood, and
he is very apt to hold some prominent place. But does this prevent him
from acting in a civil office, and from dealing justly and wisely for
the good of the people? No, we have proved to our entire satisfaction,
that this is not the case.

Vol. 26,  p.144
When we look at Utah Territory to-day, and compare it with other
Territories it will be conceded by everybody who is impartial that the
position of affairs here is equal to, if not much better than the
position of affairs in any other Territory and in many of the States.
Has that been because there has been a union of Church and State. No,
it is not due to that; for that has never existed here. Has it been
because there has been one man dictating everything—has it been due to
that entirely? No; for no one man has done this. But it has been
because the men who have acted in these capacities have been men of
wisdom, and the people have had confidence in them. Wherever we go as
a people, we carry with us our religion." You cannot dissever our
religion from our lives. It is a part of our lives, and, of course,
because of this, we are exposed to those charges that are marlo
against us. Yet at the same time, I do not believe there is a people
to be found within the confines of the Republic who draw the line more
strictly between religious and civil affairs, and between Church and
State, than do the Latter-day Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.144
We are living in peculiar times. I think the youth of this
community—those who are growing up now—should closely observe that
which is being done. It is an important epoch. Events are taking place
now that are worthy of our remembrance, and we are being put in a
position to be tested thoroughly. The contest seems to be narrowed
down to this point—whether we shall be able to live as a people and
enjoy our rights as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, or not. Formerly, the question was soon solved. A
mob would form itself against us, and by force of superior numbers,
and backed by a public opinion that was too strong for us to contend
with, we had to vacate our homes and flee. The alternative was
presented to us of flight, or the abandonment of our religion. This is
not quite the alternative now presented before us. The question is,
will you abandon your religion? Will you renounce those principles
that God has revealed to you, and which He has declared are essential
to salvation and exaltation in His Kingdom—will you renounce them?
Will you renounce obedience to the Priesthood of the Son of God? If
you will I expect you can enjoy some sort of peace—a peace that would
be the peace of death. Who will accept it? Will any true Latter-day
Saint? No;[p.145] no true Latter-day Saint will accept that. What
next? You cannot have your rights as citizens. You must be put under
bonds. You must have penalties affixed to your practice or to your
faith. If you continue to be Latter-day Saints you must be
discriminated against. That is another alternative presented to us.
Will we accept that? Yes. I believe that I speak your feelings. I
believe I give voice to them when I say that you are willing, all of
you, to take this choice and these consequences. What next? Will a mob
come and drive us from our homes? Not yet. You will see fun whenever
that occurs. That is not in the programme as I view it at present. No
mobs. What then, shall we do? We shall have to contend in the courts;
we shall have to make this a legal fight. It is mobocracy in legal
form and in legal guise that now attacks us. It comes to us in a shape
that we can meet better than we could the old forms, when a mob banded
together and came in such overwhelming numbers that we could not
resist it. It may be just as wicked. The present mode of attack may be
just as cruel; the ultimate object may be just as bad in every sense
and in every respect; but it can be met in a different form and in a
different way. We have to contend now for our rights in the courts of
the land; we must see whether there is a willingness on the part of
those who hold authority as judges, to give us our rights, and in this
way we shall test the nation; our Government, and prove whether there
is a willingness on the part of those who administer the government to
give us those rights that belong to us as American citizens. If they
do not, who will be the sufferers! We shall suffer to some extent; but
our sufferings will be light compared with those that will fall upon
the men who shall prove untrue and recreant to the principles of
liberty and truth.

Vol. 26,  p.145
Now, I look forward myself with great pleasure to the future Every
step of this kind that we take is an assurance of that which is to
come, We cannot press forward as a people; we cannot become the people
that God designs we shall be, and that He has predicted we shall be,
without having just such contests as these. They are the natural
consequences of the position that we occupy, and of the growth and
development of this people. But the same God that protected this
Church when it was but a small handful, a few individuals, still
reigns, and His promises are as much to be relied upon as they were
when the mob drove the Latter-day Saints out of Missouri; as much to
be relied upon as when, in that dark hour, the mob killed our Prophet
and our Patriarch, and afterwards compelled the Saints to flee from
their homes; as much to be relied upon as when we came to these
valleys; they are just as reliable to-day as they were then. It is for
us to so live that when we call upon Him that we do so with an
assurance that we have done our duty, that there is nothing lacking on
our part so far as human and mortal beings can do. We have our sins,
our frailties, our many weaknesses; but God looks down in mercy upon
them when we repent of them, and show a disposition to put them away
from us. When we are in this condition we can call upon Him and leave
ourselves to His mercy, with the full assurance that He has always
stood by His faithful people, His faithful servants and handmaidens,
and that He will not forsake them in any hour of extremity or of
peril. He will stand by them; He will [p.146] hear their prayers; and
at the very time when it will seem the darkest, when it will be as
though there is no power to save, God's arm will be stretched out for
our deliverance, and we shall be rescued and be triumphant. He will so
control circumstances and arrange affairs, that, at the very moment
when the adversary will be glorying in triumph, and gloating over the
prospect before him, He will then be ready to extend His arm of
deliverance in our behalf, and rescue us from the power of those who
desire our destruction.

Vol. 26,  p.146
As I said in the beginning, if this work depended on us alone we would
soon go down. It depends upon God. He is at the head of it. He is
behind it. He is all around it. He established it. He has controlled
circumstances thus far in a most wonderful manner; and when I look at
that which has been done in this country, with all the efforts that
have been made by the wicked, one act after another, one act of wrong
piled on top of another, and see the meager results to show for their
base course, I feel to praise God with all my heart for His goodness
and mercy to us.

Vol. 26,  p.146
A Governor of this Territory perjured himself to do us a great wrong.
He gave the certificate of election to a man who was not elected,
thinking, in so doing, he, was dealing Mormonism—or the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—a deadly blow. What has been the
result? Who is injured? Is anybody injured? I do not, myself, know of
anybody that is injured, except the man who did this perfidious act,
who perjured himself by violating his oath of office. I do not know of
any one else. Certainly the people of Utah are not. Go buick, and look
at Judge McKean's, rulings and acts. We had a reign of judicial terror
in the Third Judicial District for about eight months, and no man knew
when he was to be pounced upon. Prominent men were indicted and put
under bonds, some for one thing and some for another. Who has been
injured by this? Has any one been injured? We have not. We have ate,
and slept, and enjoyed ourselves, and been as happy as men could be. I
am sure President Young, when he was living, was a happy man. It did
not interfere with his happiness and enjoyment, and others who were
indicted in like manner, they enjoyed themselves, and the people have
not been injured. We have had a great deal of this kind of experience.

Vol. 26,  p.146
Now we are passing through a similar condition of affairs to some
extent. We shall come out of this just as we have come out of other
perils and trials and ordeals. We shall gain experience, and it will
increase our faith to see the power of God manifested, and to see how
wonderfully He controls the acts of men for His glory and for the
accomplishment of His purposes. Look at the hubbub that has been
raised in Congress. There has been a tremendous amount of pressure
brought to bear upon that body in regard to the Mormons. Delegation
after delegation has gone from Utah to Washington and appeared before
Committees, for the purpose of getting bills made into laws. It will
be most interesting reading in years to come, the various bills that
have been presented to Congress against Utah. Every sort of scheme has
been resorted to. You cannot think of anything, scarcely, that has not
been embodied as a feature in some of these bills. And with what
result? Have we slept any less? Have [p.147] we been anymore unhappy?
Have we had any less prosperity? Has the sun shone loss upon us? Has
Heaven withdrawn its smile from us? Have our fields been less
fruitful? Have our children been less numerous? Has any blessing that
we value been withheld or withdrawn from us because of these things!
If they have I am not aware of it. I cannot think of any evil that has
come upon us as a people. I look over the past; I review the acts of
the wicked; I review their combinations; I review the many
conspiracies that have been formed, the many determinations that have
been reached to destroy us, to cripple us, to deprive us of our
rights, and I must confess to you this day, my brethren and sisters,
in the presence of our Father, that I cannot think of a single thing
that has been done that we could call injurious to us as a people; not
a single thing. With all the force that has been arrayed against us,
with all the threats that have been made about us, we have lived, we
have prospered, we have increased, we have been blessed of the Lord.
You know how blessed you have been in your families, in your homes.
You know how much peace has reigned there; how much you have had in
your hearts, and in your meetings, and in your associations. You know
how free you have been from fear and from trepidation. You have not
suffered in your feelings, for God has given unto you a peace that the
world cannot bestow, that the world cannot take away. The world has
not given unto us those blessings; the world cannot take them away
from us; they are ours, given unto us by God our Eternal Father. They
will still be given unto us. God's promises will be verified to the
very letter.

Vol. 26,  p.147
But you watch the men who have fought against this work. Watch the men
who have apostatized from this work. Ask yourselves what their fate
has been. Where are the men who have sought to oppress the people of
Utah? Where are they to-day? Who is there among them that has
prospered in this work of oppression? Go through the list of
Governors, Judges, and other officers. Go through the list of those
who have held any office, and who have sought the oppression of the
people and the destruction of their liberties, through their spirit of
antagonism to the work of God, and their desire to destroy it—go
through the list of them, and ask, who among them has had prosperity
and has been blessed, and to whom we can look and say, "Oh, how
successful that man has been; how he has prospered in fighting the
Mormons!" Is there any such man among them? You are familiar with the
names of apostates who have left this work through fear or some other
cause, corrupt in their lives or for some other reason? Can you recall
among the long list of men who have come out and pitted themselves
against this work of our God, any who have prospered and had happy
lives? Is there any of them with whom you, the humblest of you to-day,
the humblest, the poorest of you Latter-day Saints—is there one of
them with whom you would exchange places to-day? Not one. I am sure
that I can reply for the whole of you—that is, there is not one in
that long list of names of men who were once members of this church,
who have come out against it, with whom you would exchange places; not
one.

Vol. 26,  p.147
Why then, should we fear? Why should we tremble? Why should we be
afraid of that which is threatened? I tell you in the name of the Lord
He will stand by us, He will [p.148] stand by all His people. There is
this peculiarity about our God. He is not like the devil. When the
devil gets a man in a tight place he leaves him there; he encircles
him in his net, he lets him get entangled in its meshes, and then
leaves him to himself. That is the devil's way. He deserts those who
follow him when they most need his help. But with God, in the time of
the greatest extremity, in the time when help is most needed, then He
is close to His faithful servants and His faithful children; then is
the time that He stands by them. In the deepest waters He is with
them; in the midst of the heaviest and sorest afflictions He is at
their right hand and at their left; He is around about to sustain and
carry them off victorious.

Vol. 26,  p.148
God help us to be true and faithful to the cause that He has
established, that in the end we may be permitted to sit down with him
and His Son in His Kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.

John Taylor, February 1, 1885

Visit to the South—Persecution in Arizona—An 
American Siberia—Persecutions in Missouri and Illinois 
not the Result of Polygamy—Affecting Reference to the Martyrdom 
of Joseph and Hyrum—Judgment Begins at the House of God—No Man 
Has a Right to Attempt to Control Another's Belief or Conscience—
Ex Post Facto Application of the Edmunds Law—Attempts 
of the Speaker to Conform to the Law As Far As 
Possible—Outrages Heaped Upon the Latter-Day 
Saints—No One Ever Punished, According to Law, 
for Killing a Mormon—the Saints Counseled to 
Endure Their Afflictions, Take Care of Themselves, 
and Serve God—Conclusion

Discourse By President John Taylor, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 1, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.148
I HAVE been very much interested in the remarks made by Brother
Erastus Snow, who has addressed us.

Vol. 26,  p.148
These are precious principles which only the Saints know how to
comprehend and appreciate. We are told "that the natural man [p.149]
perceiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, for they
are spiritually discerned," and therefore those outside of that
influence and spirit which is communicated to the Saints of the Most
High, through obedience to the Gospel of the Son of God, find it very
difficult to understand them. But we comprehend them, because God has
given unto us His Spirit, which takes of the things of God, and shows
them unto us.

Vol. 26,  p.149
I and a few others have been away from here for some time, visiting
among our southern brethren; Brother Snow, who has just spoken to you,
was one of the party. It appears rather an inclement season of the
year to go on a journey of that kind; but circumstances seemed to make
it necessary that we should go and look after the interests of the
people, socially and politically; for notwithstanding our religious
ideas, we still have certain rights, privileges and immunities, which
belong to us as individuals and as citizens of the United States, in
common with others. And seeing that flyings were quite loose in those
far-off settlements, and that men and their families were being
subjected to various kinds of outrage, usurpation and imposition, in
many instances under the form of law, it seemed necessary that
somebody should attend to these matters, and I thought it best for me
to go, in company with others of our brethren, to ascertain what was
the true position of affairs, and to give such counsel as the
circumstances might demand. We found that a great many outrages had
been perpetrated upon many of our brethren; that they had been dealt
with contrary to law, and in violation, as has been referred to, of
the rules of jurisprudence governing such matters; that a vindictive
and persecuting spirit had been manifested, and that several of the
brethren had been sent off to a distant land from their own. I did not
know but that they were without a prison in Arizona, when I heard of
these things, and that therefore they had sent a number of honorable
men who differed from them in their religious sentiments off to
Detroit. I had these things inquired into and found they had a good
Penitentiary in Arizona, and that there was no necessity for any such
outrage as this to be perpetrated upon decent men. I was sorry to find
that things had been conducted in this unusual and vindictive manner,
and without any ostensible reason for such extra-judicial acts. Not
only because injustice had been heaped upon honorable men, but also
because of the position in which it places the nation which was once
the pride and glory of all lovers of freedom and equal rights, and
boasted of as being "the land of the free, the home of the brave, and
an asylum for the oppressed." These foolish men are now seeking to
carry out the enormities that existed among what was called the
civilization and intelligence of ancient barbarism, then, as now,
under the name of Christianity, and other euphonious appellations
which are common to us, and that we are well acquainted with. I was in
hopes that things were not so bad as they were represented to be, but
I found that I was mistaken in that matter, and I was sorry to find
myself so mistaken.

Vol. 26,  p.149
In relation to this anomalous form of proceeding they are now copying
the example of Russia, which is generally considered an arbitrary
government, and where despotism has been supposed to reign supreme;
they have in that nation a place[p.150] callled Siberia, to which they
banish men, under a despotic rule, without much formality of trial. I
was hardly prepared to-day to suppose that we needed an American
Siberia under the form and in the name of liberty and the rights of
men. But this is the fact. We have herein America to-day an American
Siberia in Detroit, to which place, upwards of two thousand miles from
their homes, men are banished for a term of years; and what for?
Because they have the temerity to worship God according to the
dictates of their own conscience, and cannot fall down and worship
before the Moloch of an effete Christianity.

Vol. 26,  p.150
These extraordinary proceedings that have been going on in this
Territory, in Arizona and in other places, simply exhibit the very
principle that Brother Snow has been speaking of. I need not tell you
about affairs that have transpired here. You are quite as well
acquainted with them as I am, and ought to be better: for I have been
away from here for about four weeks visiting the Saints in our
southern settlements, and we have had a most pleasant visit. Outside
of these extraordinary proceedings, we found the people prospering
very well, with pleasant homes and bright prospects before them. We
had with us several of our best brethren, and we visited really of our
settlements in that district of country, the residents of which were
very much gratified at our appearance in their midst, and for the
counsels they received. But I found that such had been the outrages
committed that it was impossible almost for any man standing in an
honorable position to maintain his position unless he broke the law by
resisting the officers, and they thought it not prudent to do so, and
so did I. It may suit others to violate the law, to trample upon human
rights, and desecrate the sacred term of liberty, and this is
frequently done by the arbiters and minions of the law in the name of
justice; but we profess to be governed by higher, by nobler and more
exalted principles, and to move on a higher plane; and if Jesus could
afford to endure the attacks of sinners against Himself, we, if we
have the Gospel that we profess to have, ought to be able to endure a
little of the same thing. There is nothing new in these affairs,
nothing strange in this at all. Many of you have had much to do with
these matters. Some of these grey-headed men that I see before me know
a little more about those matters than some of the younger portion do.
Many of you have been driven from your homes, robbed of your property,
dispossessed of your possessions and had to flee from your homes to
these mountain valleys, and seek an asylum among the red savages which
was denied you by your so-called Christian brethren. Before you came
here you were banished from the State of Missouri into the State of
Illinois. What for? Because you had the audacity to worship God
according to the dictates of your own conscienses. I have had to flee
from blood-thirsty bandits time and time again. Brother Snow had to do
it, and many of you grey-headed men and women have had to do it. What
for? Because of polygamy? No, there was no such thing then alleged.
What for? Because you had the hardihood, in this land of freedom, to
worship God according to the dictates of your own consciences. For
this crime you had to leave your homes, and you were despoiled and
robbed and plundered, and had to flee as exiles into another land. I
had to do it you [p.151] have had to do it. You fled from Missouri to
Illinois, and then from Illinois to this land, and why? Why did you
leave Illinois and come here? Did you injure anybody? No. They killed
your Prophets, and I saw them martyred, and was shot most unmercifully
myself, under the pledge of protection from the Governor, and they
thought they had killed me; but I am alive yet by the grace of God
(sensation). Why had you to leave? Because they murdered your
Prophets, and wanted to possess themselves of your property; murder
and spoliation generally go together. And because they killed them,
they accused you of doing some wrong, said you must leave your homes,
and there was nobody found in all that wide land to check the outrages
of those red-handed assassins, to administer justice and to preserve
you in your rights. I do not know any other reason; I never did know
any other, and never expect to be informed of any other.

Vol. 26,  p.151
The history of these things is quite familiar to you as Latter-day
Saints, and you do not think it anything strange. Some of our young
people think that the present proceedings are very remarkable. But
many of us, grey-headed folks, have seen plenty of such proceedings,
and have had really experiences of this kind; they are nothing new to
us at all. And did we ever expect them to get better? We have not so
understood it. We are told in the Scriptures, and we have kept
teaching it all the while, that "the wicked would grow worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived." That is doctrine which I have
believed in for the last 50 years and I have had a good deal of
testimony and practical confirmation on that point. We expect that
these things will transpire. We have been told about secret
organizations. that should exist, and they are beginning to permeate
these United States, and are laying the foundation for disruption,
disintegration and destruction. It is not necessary that Congress and
the Judiciary should set examples of tyranny and violation of
Constitutional law, and attack the fundamental principles of free
government and the rights of man; far there is plenty of that kind of
spirit abroad; yet men who profess to be the conservators of the peace
and the maintainers of law join in these nefarious, unholy; tyrannical
and oppressive measures. There are any number who are ready to follow
in their footsteps, and the whole nation to-day is standing on a
volcano; but they do not seem to comprehend it. Well, are we
surprised? I am not. It is strictly in accordance with my faith: it is
strictly in accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures; and it is
strictly in accordance with the Book of Mormon; it is strictly in
accordance with the revelations given to us by Joseph Smith, and all
these events that have been predicted will most assuredly transpire.
But I suppose it is necessary that "judgment should first begin at the
house of God," and if it does, "where will the wicked and the ungodly
appear," when it comes upon them? We are told that the wicked shall
slay the wicked. We need not trouble ourselves about the affairs of
the nations, the Lord will manipulate them in His own way. I feel full
of sympathy for the nation in which we live, and for other nations, in
consequence of the troubles with which they are beset and which are
now threatening them; yet they do not seem to comprehend the position.
I know a little of some of the things that will [p.152] transpire
among them, and I feel sorry. Do you feel sorry for yourself? Not at
all, not at all. Do you feel sorry for your people? Not at all, not at
all. The Lord God has revealed unto us great and eternal principles
which reach beyond this earth into the eternal heavens, and which have
put us in possession of light and truth and intelligence, and promises
and blessings that the world are ignorant of and do not and cannot
comprehend. I feel every day to bless the name of the God of Israel,
and feel like shouting, "Hosanna! Hosanna!! Hosanna!!! to the God of
Israel, Amen and Amen," Who will rule among the nations of the earth,
and manipulate things according to the counsel of His own will. These
are my feelings in regard to these matters. But then I feel interested
in the welfare of my brethren and sisters, and when I see their rights
interfered with and trampled ruthlessly under foot, I feel that there
is something at work that ought not to be, and yet that is quite
necessary to teach us some of the principles of human nature, that we
may be able to discern between the good, the virtuous, the upright and
the holy; and the impure, the foolish, the vindictive, the corrupt,
the lascivious, and those who are trampling under foot the laws and
principles of eternal truth. God has revealed unto us certain
principles pertaining to the future which men may take objection to.
He has revealed unto us certain principles pertaining to the
perpetuity of man and of woman; pertaining to the sacred rights and
obligations which existed from the beginning; and He has told us to
obey these laws. The nation tells us, "If you do we will persecute you
and proscribe you." Which shall we obey? I would like to obey and
place myself in subjection to every law of man. What then? Am I to
disobey the law of God? Has any matt a right to control my conscience,
or your conscience, or to tell me I shall believe this or believe the
other, or reject this or reject the other? No man has a right to do
it. These principles are sacred, and the forefathers of this nation
felt so and so proclaimed it in the Constitution of the United States,
and said "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Now, I believe
they have violated that, and have violated their oaths, those that
have engaged in these things and passed that law, and those that are
seeking to carry it out. Congress and the President of the United
States and the Judiciary, and all administrators of the law are as
much bound by that instrument as I am and as you are, and have sworn
to maintain it inviolate. It is for them to settle these matters
between themselves and their God. That is my faith in relation to this
matter. Yet by their action they are interfering with my rights, my
liberty and my religion, and with those sacred principles that bind me
to my God, to my family, to my wives and my children; and shall I be
recreant to all these noble principles that ought to guide and govern
men? No, Never! No, NEVER! NO, NEVER! I can endure more than I have
done, and all that God will enable me to endure, I can die for the
truth; but I cannot as an honorable man disobey my God at their
behest, forsake my wives and my children, and trample these holy and
eternal obligations under foot, that God has given me to keep, and
which reach into the eternities that are to come. I won't do it, so
help me, God.[p.153] [Here the speaker vigorously struck the book on
the desk, and the large audience responded with a loud "Amen."] The
Constitution expressly says that no law shall be passed impairing the
obligation of contracts. But we have entered into covenants and
contracts in our most sacred places, and that, too, in many instances,
before there was any law prohibiting the same, and yet the attempt is
now being made to give the Edmunds law an ex post facto application
and to punish us for these contracts which were not criminal, even
from the standpoint of our enemies, at the time they were formed. I
myself married my wives long before there was any law upon the
subject, and really of you did the same, yet by an ex post facto
application of laws since enacted the attempt is now made to punish us
as criminals. I have never broken any law of these United States, and
I presume that some of you, whom our enemies now seek to criminate and
drag into court as violators of law, can say the same. Under the
present system of things in this Territory, harlotry and adultery are
vindicated sustained and unblushingly protected, and honorable and
virtuous wedlock is trampled upon, condemned and punished. Well, what
will you do? I will obey every Constitutional law so far as God gives
me ability. What else will you do? I will meet these men as far as I
can without violating principle, and I have done it. When this
infamous Edmunds law was passed, I saw that there were features in
that which were contrary to law, violative of the Constitution,
contrary to justice and the rights and the freedom of men. But I said
to myself I will let that law take its course; I will place myself in
accordance with it, so far as I can. Did I do it? I did. I remember
talking to Mr. Pierrepont, who was Attorney-General under President
Grant's administration. He with his son called upon me. They dined
with me, and perhaps I can explain my views on this subject by
repeating our conversation as well as any other way. I have a sister
keeping my house for me—the Garde House. When Mr. Pierrepont came in,
I said:

Vol. 26,  p.153
"Mr. Pierrepont, permit me to introduce you to my sister, who is my
house-keeper. It is not lawful for us to have wives now. And when the
Edmunds law was passed I looked carefully over the document, and saw
that if I was to continue to live in the same house with my wives that
I should render myself liable to that law. I did not wish—although I
considered the law infamous—to be an obstructionist, or act the part
of a Fenian, or of a Nihilist, or of a Kuklux, or communist, or Molly
Maguire, or any of those secret societies that are set on foot to
produce the disintegration of society and disturb the relations that
ought to exist beween man and man, between man and woman, or man and
his God. I desired to place myself in obedience or in as close
conformity as practicable to the law, and thought I would wait and see
what the result would be; and that if the nation can stand these
things I can or we can. These are my feelings. Men and nations and
legislators often act foolishly, and do things that are unwise, and it
is not proper that a nation should be condemned for the unwise actions
of some few men. Therefore I have sought to place myself in accord
with that law. I said to my wives: "We are living in this building
together. We were quite comfortably situated, and we might so have
continued, but I said to them [p.154] that under the circumstances it
will be better for me or for you to leave this place; you can take
your choice. They had their homes down here which they now inhabit;
which were quite comfortable. So I said to them, you can go there and
I will stay here, or you can stay at the Gardo House and I will go
there or somewhere else; for I wish to conform to this Edmunds law as
much as I can."

Vol. 26,  p.154
I am always desirous to let everything have its perfect working. We
talk sometimes about patience having its perfect work. If we have laws
passed against us I like to see them have a fair opportunity to
develop and see what the result will be. These were my feelings then,
and they are my feelings to-day.

Vol. 26,  p.154
Well, do you think, then, that the people have been outraged? I most
certainly do. The usage has been in all legal trials among all
civilized nations to presume that all men are innocent until proven
guilty; but we now have test oaths introduced, which is another
violation of the Constitution and by which an attempt is being made to
hold all men guilty until they prove themselves innocent. Again: there
is a usage which has existed among the civilized nations, and in this
nation also, that a man must be tried by a jury of his peers, selected
from the vicinage, but the juries selected for our courts are composed
to-day of our bitter persecutors and our most relentless enemies, and
in many instances selected from the lowest and most debased men who
can be found or picked up from the gutters. We also have another class
of courts improvised for the occasion in the shape of "U. S.
Commissioners' courts," which are operated and run after the order of
the ancient notorious "Star Chamber." Such institutions provoke the
contempt of all honorable men, and the parties assuming such offices
place themselves in a position to be despised of their fellows. I
might enumerate many other outrages, but time will not permit on this
occasion. No man's liberties are safe under such. administration. What
will be the result? The result will be that those that sow the wind
will reap the whirlwind. When men begin to tear down the barriers and
tamper with the fundamental principles and institutions of our
country, they are playing a very dangerous game, and are severing the
bonds which hold society together, and the beginning of these
irregularities is like the letting out of water. The next step that
followed the Edmunds Act, was the introduction of a test oath. The
legislation already provided was not good enough for some of our
officials here and another portion of the Constitution must be broken
to introduce a test oath without any authority. I think this was
introduced by our Governor. Then comes another class of men called
Commissioners, rather a new idea in American Government. Yet it was
thought necessary that extraordinary operations should be entered into
in relation to the Mormons. Why? Because it is necessary that they
should be dealt with differently from anybody else.

Vol. 26,  p.154
Now, I have seen some of my brethren shot to pieces in cold blood and
under the protection of the State Government, and the promise of the
Governor made to myself and Dr. John M. Bernhisel, who is sometime ago
dead. In Missouri a great deal of that thing was done. In Georgia
lately, and in Tennessee acts of the same kind have been perpetrated.
Now, I want to know if [p.155] anybody can tell me—here is a large
congregation, and many thousands of you acquainted with our history—I
want to know if any one of you can tell me of any individual that was
ever punished according to law for killing a Mormon. Speak it out, if
you know it. I do not know of any such thing. Brother Snow says there
is not an instance on record. Well, I would rather be on the side of
the Mormons in that case than on the side of those who are their
persecutors and murderers, for they have got something to atone for
yet, which we have not under those circumstances. We have got through
with our part of it. The other is not through with yet. There are
eternal principles of justice and equity that exist in the bosom of
God, and He, in His own time, will manipulate these things according
to the counsel of His own will; and with what measure men mete, as
sure as God lives, it will be measured to them again, pressed down and
running over.

Vol. 26,  p.155
Very well, what would you advise us to do? Are we suffering any
wrongs? Yes. Well, what would you do? I would do as I said some time
ago. If you were out in a storm, pull up the collar of your coat and
button yourself up, and keep the cold out until the storm blows past.
This storm will blow past as others have done; and you will see that
many of the miserable sneaks who are active in those measures, and who
are crawling about your doors, and trying to spy into your houses,
etc., will be glad to crawl into their holes by-and-by. Well, what
will you do? Get angry? No, not at all. Let these men have their day
and pursue their own course; we will protect ourselves from them as
well as we can. Why, some of our folks in the South were actually
trying to seek an asylum in another land away from the persecutions of
free, America, and I do not know but that we shall have a lot of
pilgrim Fathers again here in this country, fleeing, not from England
by way of Holland, nor from France, nor from, any of those countries
where they used to persecute people and proscribe them for their
religion, but from America, "The land of the free, the home of the
brave, and the asylum for the oppressed"—fleeing from there because of
their religious sentiments. What an idea! Who could have thought of
it? People say that history repeats itself. It is so doing in our day.
Well, what would you do? Observe the laws as much as you can. Bear
with these indignities as much as you can. But it would not be well
for these men to perform their antics anywhere else than among the
Saints, or they would dangle to the poles, lots of them, by the neck,
if they attempted any such acts. No people would endure these things
as the Latter-day Saints do. Will you endure them? Yes, a little
longer. Wait a little longer. And after you have borne with a good
deal, then endure "as seeing Him that is invisible," and cultivate
those principles that Brother Snow has so beautifully set before us,
and feel, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in
heaven; for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you."
Well, what would you do? Would you resent these outrages and break the
heads of the men engaged in them, and spill their blood? No. Avoid
them as much as you possibly can—just as you would wolves, or hyenas,
or crocodiles, or snakes, or [p.156] any of these beasts or reptiles;
avoid them as much as you can, and take care they do not bite you.
[Laughter.] And get out of the way as much as you can. What? won't you
submit to the dignity of the law. Well, I would if the law would only
be a little dignified. But when we see the ermine bedraggled in the
mud and mire, and every principle of justice violated, it behooves men
to take care of themselves as best they may. That is what I have told
people while I have been in the south—to take care of their liberties,
to put their trust in the living God, to obey every constitutional
law, and to adhere to all correct principles. But when men tamper with
your rights and with your liberties, when the cities are full of spies
and the lowest and meanest of men are set to watch and dog your
footsteps; when little children are set in array against their fathers
and mothers, and women and children are badgered before Courts, and
made to submit, unprotected, to the gibes of libertines and corrupt
men; when wives and husbands are pitted against each other and
threatened with pains, penalties and imprisonment, if they will not
disclose that which among all decent people is considered sacred, and
which no man of delicacy, whose sensibilities had not been blunted by
low associations, would ever ask; when such a condition of affairs
exists, it is no longer a land of liberty, and it is certainly no
longer a land of equal rights, and we must take care of ourselves as
best we may, and avoid being caught in any of their snares. I cannot
think that this crusade is aimed entirely at us; from many
circumstances that have transpired, I have been led to believe that
whilst we are made the victims, these proceedings are introduced as a
political ruse, for the purpose of embarrassing the incoming
administration. What would you do? Would you fight them? No. I would
take care of myself as best I can, and I would advise my brethren to
do the same. Would you resist law? No. As I said before, I can stand
it if they can. It is for us to do what is right, to fear God, to
observe His laws, and keep His commandments, and the Lord will manage
all the rest. But no breaking of heads, no bloodshed, no rendering
evil for evil. Let us try and cultivate the spirit of the Gospel, and
adhere to the principles of truth. Let us honor our God, and be true
to those eternal principles which God has given us to hold sacred.
Keep them as sacredly as you would the apple of your eye. And while
other men are seeking to trample the Constitution under foot, we will
try to maintain it. We have prophecies something like this somewhere;
that the time would come when this nation would do as they are now
doing—that is, they would trample under foot the Constitution and
institutions of the nation, and the Elders of this Church would rally
around the standard and maintain those principles which were
introduced for the freedom and protection of men. We expect to do
that, and to maintain all correct principle. I will tell you what you
will see by and by. You will see trouble, trouble, trouble enough in
these United States. And as I have said before I say to-day, I tell
you in the name of God, Woe! to them that fight against Zion, for God
will fight against them. But let us be on the side of human liberty
and human rights, and the protection of all correct principles and
laws and government, and maintain every principle that is upright and
virtuous and honorable, and let the world [p.157] take the balance if
they want, we don't want it. We will cleave to the truth, God being
our helper, and try to introduce principles whereby the will of God
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we will obey every
institution of man for the Lord's sake so far as we can without
violating our consciences and doing things that are wrong and
improper.

Vol. 26,  p.157
God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

George Reynolds, March 29, 1885

The Work of the Lord in the Sandwich Islands 
and in New Zealand—the Inhabitants of These Islands 
Probably Off-Shoots of the Nephites and Lamanites, and 
Consequently of the Blood of Israel—the Gentile Nations Have 
Measurably Rejected the Gospel, Hence Their Disunion and 
Scepticism—We Can Only Be United on the Principle 
of Righteousness—in God is Our Only Trust—We Cannot 
Compromise With Evil—Our Mission is to Do Good—Causes of 
Opposition to the Gospel—Education Can Only Modify, But the Holy 
Ghost Changes the Nature of Man—the Principle of Revelation 
Distinguishes Us From the Rest of the World—the 
Path of Duty is the Path of Safety and Blessing

Remarks By Elder George Reynolds, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 29th, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.157
I STAND before you this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, with the
desire in my heart that while I do so I may speak to the stregthening
of the faith of the Saints of God, and, therefore, I crave an interest
in your faith and prayers, that whatever time I occupy I may do so in
a way and manner that shall tend to the building up of God's kingdom
here upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.157
We have been interested in hearing the report of Brother Edward
Partridge, who has just returned from a mission to the Sandwich
Islands, where the work of the Lord has been received for many years,
in a very gratifying manner by the remnant of the house of Israel who
dwell thereon. It is also noticeable that the Maoris, a people of a
kindred race to the Hawaiian, who inhabit [p.158] the islands of New
Zealand, many hundred miles to the southward in the Pacific Ocean, are
also receiving the glad tidings of the Gospel of Christ with joy, and
that hundreds are there being added to the Church at the present time.
It has long been the belief of the Latter-day Saints that these races
are offshoots of the great people who once flourished upon this
continent; who were brought out of the land of Jerusalem under Lehi,
Mulek and others, and who have inhabited this land from about 600
years before Christ; that people whose remnants are now found
scattered far and wide over the North and South American continents.
There appears to be a great similarity in the habits, customs, manners
and language of the natives of those two groups of islands; which
similarity, in many respects, extends to some of the races that
inhabit this continent. And for these and other reasons we believe
that in these islanders flows the blood of Israel to a great extent;
and where it does, those who are thus blessed by being the children of
the fathers to whom the promises were made, as races receive the
truths of the Gospel much more readily and apparently, notwithstanding
their many weaknesses, cleave unto them much more devotedly than do
very many of those who embrace its saving principles among the Gentile
nations. It would seem as though at the present time the Gentile
nations of the earth were turning from the truths of the Everlasting
Gospel; they have measurably rejected them; and the consequence is we
find to-day that there is an increase of scepticism, that there is an
increase of a spirit opposed to good order, to obedience, to faith,
and to many other admirable characteristics of generations gone by.
The present is an age of unrest, of turmoil, of contention, of a lack
of faith, not only in religious matters, but in almost everything
else. We may be said to be living in a period of transition, and that
transition does not always appear to be in the most desirable
direction. But this spirit of doubt and incredulity, of uncertainty
and unrest is more manifest regarding religious subjects than any
other questions that attract the attention of mankind; and is perhaps
more manifest in those nations to whom the Gospel has been preached
for many years than in any other parts of the world. This is the
natural result of the course the people of those countries have taken.
Having rejected the principles that God in His kindness has caused to
be revealed, His Spirit, which is the Spirit of life, light,
intelligence and truth, is of necessity measurably withdrawn from
them, and they are left to themselves to serve God as best they may
when they will not serve Him as He requires. The consequence is
division and subdivision in the churches; for every man's opinion is
as good as that of his neighbor; and there remains no trustsworthy,
much less infallible, standard by which to guage the beliefs of
mankind; consequently every man walks in his own way and professes
such a belief as best suits his fancy. But with us it is different.
And the very fact that we are united with regard to that which God
requires at our hands in all things is a rock of offence to many; it
is regarded as an evil by those who do not love us; by those who make
it their business to bring evil accusations against us. Our union is
an opposite condition of affairs to that which exists among the sects
in the Christian world, and being contrary they imagine ought to be
sigmatized' [p.159] decried and derided. But in our union lies our
strength; because we cannot be united on any other principle thorn
obedience to the law of the Lord. There is no spirit but the Spirit of
the Most High God that will make this people one. They can trust in no
one but in God our Father who has revealed His mind and will to them,
and has established in their midst the principles that will make them
wise unto salvation, if they will but give heed to them. It is
useless, worse than useless, for us to attempt to be united on any
principle but the principle of righteousness and godliness. We can
find no union in doing that which is displeasing in the sight of God;
we can find no union in following any course other than that which God
has marked out. We cannot be united in anything but the truth. The
truth will not only make us free, but it will make us united, and we
cannot be united, however much we may strive, on the principles of
error, because there is no bond of union in them. There is only one
path that leads to exaltation; one path by which we can become like
unto our Father and our God, and if we ever attain to that which we
are seeking—eternal life in His presence—we must walk in the path
which He has marked out, and in no other, for no other will will lead
us back into His presence. We must every one walk in that path, and as
we must all walk in it, therefore we must be united. Our union must be
in God, our trust must be in Him. We are, I presume, from present
circumstances, learning that lesson very rapidly. I have noticed on
the coins of this nation the inscription, "In God we trust." Perhaps
that motto may have been applicable at the time it was first placed on
the money of the United States, but at present it does not appear to
be so; for this nation and other nations seem to be rapidly losing all
trust in God. They are willing to trust in themselves, in their own
strength, in their own wisdom, in their own ways, in their own methods
and their own plans, rather than trust in the word of the Lord, for
that the great majority of their peoples will not have. But we, the
Latter-day Saints, are learning rapidly that we can trust no one, save
God our Father, and those whom He appoints to be His representatives
upon the earth. Let us look around in the world. What do we find
to-day? Is there any power upon earth to which we can look for succor
or aid, for guidance or inspiration under the circumstances through
which the Church of Jesus Christ is now passing? If there is where is
it? Where on the face of this wide world can we look for sympathy, for
help, for support? We cannot outside of ourselves. As has ever been
the case those that are not for us are against us. But we are learning
the lesson that God is with us; that He will deliver us; that this is
His kingdom; and the nearer we live to Him the greater will be the
deliverances that He will bring to pass in our favor.

Vol. 26,  p.159
I have met a few in our midst who seemed to have an idea that there
was a Gospel of compromise, if I may so use the term, that might be
advocated. In all the history of this world, from its creation to the
present, I have never read of, never heard of the time when God
Almighty compromised with the Evil One; when he was willing that evil
should have a place in the midst of His people; when He was willing
that any of the principles of eternal truth should be relinquished by
those of His sons and daughters, to[p.160] whom He had revealed them.
No. The word of instruction, the word of revelation, the word of
counsel has always been for man to live by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God; to keep inviolate the ordinances of God; to
preserve the principles of truth and righteousness intact, and never
to consider for one moment that man can gain his salvation by giving
up or resigning any principle or law that God has said is necessary
for the accomplishment of His purposes, which purposes we understand
to be the salvation of mankind and the redemption of the world. Any
plan less than the one devised by Him is imperfect; anything else will
not save the first one of us. It is God's law and God's law alone that
will deliver Israel from his enemies. It is by perfect confidence in
the word of the Lord, and by willing, humble obedience to all His
requirements, accepting all His providences as for our best good, that
we shall be delivered. Do you ever recollect Have you ever heard of a
time in any age or dispensation since this earth first rolled forth
from the presence of God, that men professing to be His servants have
gained anything in this life or for the next by faltering in their
obedience to the requirements of heaven, by laying aside the armour of
faith, by turning from that which they had espoused, and which they
realized to be of God? If you have ever heard of such a people, if you
have ever known such a time, your reading and your experience have
been different to mine. Judging by the experience of the Saints in the
past, and judging by our own experience in this dispensation—as far as
I know it has all gone to prove that the closer we cleave to the Lord,
the nearer He will draw unto us, the greater will be the
manifestations of His power in our behalf, and the sooner will be our
triumph over those who seek to injure us.

Vol. 26,  p.160
We have no conflict with the world only as they may bring it upon us.
We are the friends of all mankind. We are sent forth to preach life
and salvation to every soul who will hearken and obey. Our mission is
one of good will to all men the wide world over. We seek the hurt or
injury of no people upon the face of the earth. The principles that we
proclaim are those which the Savior Himself taught to the sons and
daughters of mankind when He was here upon the earth, and which His
disciples in after years taught also. They are peace on earth and
goodwill to all men. Does any man ever injure his brother or his
sister—be they members of the Church of Jesus Christ, or of any
church, or of no church whatever—be they Christian, Mahommedan,
heathen or Jew—by following the teachings which God has given through
His servants in this age in which we are living? I say emphatically,
no; under no circumstances whatever. The Gospel that we preach will do
all men good. There are no exceptions to this rule. It will teach us;
all to be loving, to be virtuous, to be temperate; it will teach us to
seek to live near unto God, that we may become godlike; it will teach
us to treat all men aright, to infringe upon the privileges or rights
of none, but to teach to them those principles that will make them
better and happier here on the earth, and bring to them eternal
salvation in the world to come.

Vol. 26,  p.160
Then why are we maligned, as Brother Partridge has spoken of! Why are
we hated? Why are we misrepresented? for surely there never were
people who were more [p.161] misrepresented than the Latter-day
Saints. I will tell you, it is because the day approaches when Satan's
reign upon the earth will be brought to a close. He knows and realizes
this fact and fills the hearts of those over whom he has power on the
earth with hatred towards the principles that the servants of God
teach. This is the great secret. This is the originating cause of the
trouble. But then, some will ask why Christians, believers in the
divine mission of the Son of God, act in this way towards us? Why
should they attempt to overthrow that which we claim to be the Gospel
of Christ? For the simple reason that the same causes produce the same
effects. Whenever the Gospel of the Son of God has been preached upon
the earth, in every generation, it has brought forth antagonism from
the great majority of mankind, no matter whether they professed to
worship the true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or whether
they did not. It is no more remarkable that those who call themselves
Christians should oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this age than
it was that the Jews, who claimed to be the children of Abraham,
should oppose those same principles, in that which is commonly called
the Gospel dispensation, when Christ the Son of God Himself was here.
The causes are the same; the results are the same; men's natures are
the same; and though the civilization of today may be somewhat
different from the civilization of former ages, it has not changed the
nature of mankind. Men to-day as in ancient times are governed by the
same loves and the same hatreds; by the same antipathies and the same
prejudices; they are influenced by the same spirit; that spirit of
evil which reared its head in the heavens and was cast down upon the
earth, by which overthrow the warfare was transferred from heaven to
earth,—that same spirit has instigated and carried on and continues to
carry on the same warfare against the truth and against the Kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ to the present day. Civilization and education
are no doubt potent factors in the present history of the world; but
mere education and mere civilization do not cause men to love the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus, any better than they did in former
times. They may learn philosophical truths; they may learn scientific
truths; they may be educated to a very great fineness, and to a very
great extent be versed in the learning of the world; but it is only by
the Spirit of God, as we are told in the Scriptures, that man can
understand the things of God, and the best educated in the things of
the world alone, appear to be no better able to understand the things
pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ than the most uneducated who
are equally honest in their efforts to serve God, or equally
dishonest, as the case may be. Education does not change the nature of
men; it simply develops and polishes that which is in them; it makes
the best of that which there is. As the limestone when it is polished
is not changed into a diamond, but remains limestone still, though it
is more beautiful and can be used for more varied purposes, so it is
with the man who is educated in the learning of the schools only; his
nature remains the same but the most is made of him; but when a man
receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, it is then that his nature is
changed. He learns to love the truth; he learns to seek after it, he
understands it. He sees things in a light so different to that which
he did previously, that it is [p.162] difficult for him to comprehend
how it was possible that he could have been so ignorant and so blind
before times. The reception of the Spirit of God is, as we understand
it, a new birth. We are born to things eternal when we receive it. It
purifies our hearts, it enlightens our minds in regard to the things
of God, and gives us that knowledge, that testimony, which comes to
all those who listen to and follow its dictates. Herein is the great
difference between us, the people of God, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, and the people and the churches of the world. We
have this testimony, this knowledge given us of God, through the gift
and power of the Holy Ghost, that none others possess. And this goes
behind all argument, all assertion, all attempts to convince us that
we are wrong. However wise, however strong, however potent the
arguments of the world may be in their own estimation, they cannot go
behind the God given testimony that we possess. We may say unto them,
you appear to be very wise in your own conceit with regard to these
things, but we can go beyond and behind all your arguments, for we
most assuredly know that that which we have received is of God, and
your arguments amount to nothing when directed against that which we
are satisfied is God's word. And the reason is because we have each of
us the word of the Lord for ourselves; it is a constant revelation to
our own hearts and minds. the word of the Lord is the end of all
controversy as tar as we are concerned. "We know that we are of
God"—to use the expression of the Apostle John—"and the whole world
lieth in wickedness." We wish to God it were not so. We wish they
could see as we see. We wish they could know as we know. We wish they
could understand as we understand that this is the work of God, and
that He has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but desires the
salvation of all His children. But all mankind will have to learn as
we have had to learn that these things can be attained only by an
observance of the word and will of God; by walking in that straight
and narrow path of obedience to which I referred a short time ago.
That is the only way by which they can obtain this knowledge; it is
the only way that we obtained it; and all men must obey the truth, for
the love of the truth, or the testimony of Jesus Christ will not have
a place within their bosoms. Other motives will not stand the test of
God's scrutiny. In this testimony, as I have said, lies the great
difference between the doctrine, the principles and faith of the
Latter-day Saints, and the rest of the world. God is to us a God of
revelation; of constant and continued revelation, of revelation to-day
as much as in any other age of this world's history since Adam saw its
prime. "In this we can and do rejoice." In this we receive strength.
In this we have a power that surprises the votaries of uninspired
creeds, that astonishes unbelievers, that causes the world to wonder
how in the midst of all the varied circumstances of an untoward nature
we have to pass through, we can remain firm in our faith, film in our
reliance upon the beneficent power and goodness of God. It is because
we know that this is His work; it is because we are not dependent on
the testimony or say so of any man or woman—we have the knowledge in
ourselves that He will deliver us, that He will cause the wrath of man
to praise Him, that He will restrain the rest, and that He will
accomplish [p.163] all His purposes in His own good time and according
to His own methods. Whatever He permits, be it little or much, will be
for the best good of those who put their trust in Him, of those who
are willing to abide by His laws, and who are desirous of doing His
will and not their own.

Vol. 26,  p.163
This principle of continuous revelation is one which finds great
opposition from the wicked whenever it is taught. We find there are
many ways in which they strive to cut off the voice of heaven. Some
stop at the Hebrew Scriptures; some bring revelation to an end with
the New Testament; others will admit that Joseph Smith was inspired of
God, but say that with him it ended—that the Bible, the Book of
Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covetnants contain all the word
of the Lord that we shall receive. Well, no matter where it ends, it
is all of the same spirit. The object is to shut out the voice of God
from man to-day, to close the heavens against us, to prevent us who
are now living from receiving the word and will of God for ourselves
in this year of God's grace. But the truth is that God will continue
to speak to His people through His servants and in such ways as may
seem to Him good, as long as His Church is on the earth, and that will
be forever; for He has said that His Kingdom shall never be given to
another people, but it shall reign and rule forever, and the greatness
of that Kingdom shall be given to the Saints of the Most High God, and
they shall possess it without end. Therefore with these unchangeable
assurances we have all cause to feel confidence in God. Our dependence
should be in the great I Am continually. We need not fear the arm of
man; we need not fear what the world will do. If we will but trust in
God and rely upon His arm continually, He will bear us off more than
conquerors. He will bring to pass all His righteous purposes and save
us in His Kingdom. But the path of duty is the only path of safety. It
is the only path wherein we can walk and have the assurance of God's
continued blessing, of His continued deliverances. Any other course
does not carry with it this assurance. Any other path leads to
darkness, to contention, to evils of many kinds; for it leads away
front the truth and the right. But if we continue in the path that is
marked out for us by divine instruction, trusting implicitly in God,
thee shall we be delivered from all impending evils that are sought to
be brought upon us, no matter what they may be; and the nearer we live
to God the greater will be the blessings showered upon its, and
seeming evils will be changed to blessings of untold worth. Of this I
am assured, not only by the testimony of the Spirit of God in me, not
only by the testimony of the Spirit of God that is in my brethren, but
by the experience of the people of God in all past ages, and the
promises of God for the future.

Vol. 26,  p.163
May God bless us and enable us to be firm, true and faithful, relying
upon His arm at all times, trusting in Him for succor, for guidance
and inspiration continually, that we may be His people and He our God,
is my prayer through Jesus Christ. Amen.[p.164] 

Franklin D. Richards, April 4, 1885

Present Conditions—the Hatred of the World 
Toward the Saints—Why the Leaders of the Church 
Are Attacked—the Purpose of Persecution—the Saints 
Need not Be Afflicted or Worried About the Present State of 
Affairs—the Sifting Process—the Epistle of the First Presidency—
Work of God Always Met With Opposition—the Gospel Revealed 
in this Day Was the Gospel that Was Revealed to Adam—
More Revelation to Be Given—Saints Must not Borrow 
Trouble—When a Nation Perverts Justice, Then 
Commences Its Downfall—The Constitution of 
the United States—Saints Must Commit 
No Overt Act—Exhortation to 
Faithfulness—Conclusion

Discourse By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered at the 
Annual Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Logan, Cache County, 
Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and 5th, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine 

Vol. 26,  p.164
IT is very pleasing and it is also· an occasion of heartfelt gratitude
to be permitted to meet, so many of us, this morning and under such
favorable circumstances as those which surround us; even the elements
conspire to make our coming together convenient and agreeable.
Circumstances are such as prevent our brethren of the First Presidency
and several of the Twelve Apostles from being with us, and perhaps
others from among the people, who would be glad to be with us at this
General Conference, but who deem it advisable, or are so situated that
they cannot consistently attend. Let us that have come together seek
unto the Lord for His Spirit and His guidance, that we may receive
that measure of grace and blessing at His hand which we need under the
present conditions which attend upon us.

Vol. 26,  p.164
If any evidence were wanting to indicate to the doubtful, the
unbelieving, or the half-hearted, as to whether we are of the world or
the world of us, we are obtaining daily evidence of the fact that we
are not of the world. The Savior told the brethren that sojourned with
Him: "If ye were of the world, the world would love you: but because
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you." The same reason essentially exists
to-day that existed then. But the Lord has made very gracious and
precious promises to His people—that where only two or three are
agreed as touching matters pertaining to the interest of His Kingdom
and the honor of His name, their prayers shall be heard. There never
was a day since the Church has been organized in these last days that
the Saints [p.165] had better reasons, or more of them, to be strong
and confident in God their living Head, than they have this morning.
We need to know and realize that our trust is in Him and not in man,
for woe! to him that putteth his trust in man and maketh flesh his
arm. God has undertaken to perform a work in the earth which is going
to astonish the world, and which will give to His name honor, and
glory, power and dominion. Now, all these things that occur—I need not
go into any enumeration of them, because in all of your different
settlements circumstances and conditions are more or less varied—it
has been the studied plan of our adversaries to spread snares for our
feet throughout the land; and it need not be wondered at, of course,
that they who stand highest in authority should be the objects more
particularly of their wicked designs.

Vol. 26,  p.165
Take a look at this thing rationally and in a common-sense view for a
moment. The forest trees that are shaken with the wind sometimes
almost seem as if they would be uprooted by it, and blown over. By
this operation the soil is wonderfully loosened about the roots. By
this storm the strength of a tree is tested, and the trunk and the
branches of it, as to whether they bear proper relation to each other
and derive that support that sustains every part in its natural
position. It is also very natural that in that grove, as the wind
passes over it, the tallest trees are really the most tried part of
it, for the wind and storm will dash and blow upon them, while the
smaller ones that are protected by each other, scarcely feel it,
perhaps. Then you need not wonder if some of the tallest trees do not
happen to be here to-day. We will, however, remember our brethren who
are absent, and pray for them; we will ask the Lord to bless and
protect them, to strengthen and fill them with the wisdom of the Holy
Ghost continually, that the joy and comfort of the truth and of the
holy Gospel shall be theirs, and that they shall be preserved from the
hands of their enemies.

Vol. 26,  p.165
We who are gathered together, instead of entertaining in feeling of
cultivating malicious designs towards our enemies, will ask the Lord
to strengthen us and to qualify us not only for what is upon us now,
but for what is before us; for we do not know what there may be for us
in the purposes of Jehovah. All this may be necessary and profitable
to give us an experience that we should pass through trials, that may
tend to our improvement and qualification, enable us in our different
positions to better magnify our callings, and to bear off His Kingdom
in the last days as He requires.

Vol. 26,  p.165
There are times and seasons when the hoary frosts of winter not only
prevent the trees from showing forth their foliage, from developing
any bloom, but cause them to cast their fruit to the earth, scarcely
giving indications of life. It may not be wondered at then, if through
the storms and blasts of adversity which come upon the Church from
time to time that its members are not spreading forth and reaching out
their branches, or that the foliage shows no such immediate prospects
of fruit, as we might, under more favorable sunshine and with more
beautiful weather, expect. While this adverse season is on and the
leaves perhaps have blown to the ground, and all presents the
appearance of barrenness and death itself, the sap is at work down in
the roots. Do you understand this? Gardeners and nurserymen especially
will[p.166] understand that at the close of the adverse season, when
the winds and storms have loosened the soil, the roots have extended
themselves deeper into the earth, when the sun shines and the gentle
rain falls and the pleasant spring appears, those roots, now greatly
enlarged, will cause the trees to put forth larger leaves, with more
abundant bud and bloom, and with larger and more luscious fruit than
before. So it is and will be with the great tree of Life which God has
planted in the earth, and which is bringing forth and will yield more
abundantly the fruits of Everlasting Life.

Vol. 26,  p.166
Well, then, we have nothing that we need be afflicted or worried
about, except our own unrighteousness. I know how the Saints feel
about many things which are menacing and intimidating them at the
present time; but brethren and sisters, now is the best of all times
to go often into your closets, for secret prayer, and there find that
grace and help of God which is able to buoy you up in every time of
need. Men that are the heads of families need now to be filled with
the Holy Spirit, to be Prophets, Seers and Revelators to their
families, to their kindred and to those that are around them. You need
to have your roots strike deep into the soil of Heaven and stronger
into the soil of eternity, that you may derive that nourishment and
that strength that shall bring to you greater, more abundant and more
glorious blessings than ever you have yet realized.

Vol. 26,  p.166
Among other benefits that will be produced by the strange conditions
that attend us is this: that while there are those among us who have
not known whether they were following for the loaves and fishes, or
whether they were following for the truth's sake—many who are ready to
dabble in spirituous liquors and in those intoxicating drinks which
inflame the passions, which madden the soul, daze their intellects,
destroy the faculties of man, drowning their souls in the perdition of
the ungodly; many who have never sought to dig deep and lay their
foundation upon the rock of revelation which is the only foundation of
eternal truth. It is absolutely important that we and they should know
which side of the fence they dwell on; that they make up their minds
either to serve God or the devil; and this is a time that calls all
people professing to be Saints to make up their minds determinedly
whom it is best to serve, and if the Lord is their God, to get some
oil in their vessels that they be not always in darkness.

Vol. 26,  p.166
Again, there are conditions which pertain to all animated nature, and
which are incident to the great body of the Church as well, and they
are these: Notwithstanding it may be the choicest food we may eat,
notwithstanding the most healthful or precious drinks we may use—there
are operations going on in the system whereby those elements that are
not found of use are cast off as waste by the various avenues provided
by nature for the expulsion of that which is not useful to the system.
Just so this principle of life exists with God's people. They who will
not in their due time and place become articles of nutriment and
health to the Church and the Saints will become refuse and will be
cast off. These are principles in nature and in life which all are
conversant with; we know and understand them. In this dispensation of
Providence, wherein it seems as though all the powers of darkness were
arrayed against us, we need to understand that it is to God and to
[p.167] God alone that we must look. We need to understand the laws of
all things well. the Lord has borne us off in troubles and in
tribulations while in Ohio, in Missouri, and in Illinois, and the God
that has been with us through these troubles will not forsake us at
the present time. The great thing for us to do is to feel after Him,
and repent of our sins, our waywardness, and of our weaknesses and
sinfulness, and put away everything that is unrighteous and that which
is displeasing in the sight of God and of angels and good men. If we
do this His favor and His power will rest upon us, and He will allow
nothing to come upon us but what He will sanctify to our greatest good
and to His own eternal honor and glory, and we shall see by and by His
infinite wisdom in all His providences towards us.

Vol. 26,  p.167
I appreciate with you the many precious sentiments that have been
uttered in our hearing since we have come together at this conference,
and also appreciate with you the consideration which our absent
brethren of the First Presidency have felt concerning us, and the work
in which we are engaged.

Vol. 26,  p.167
There is something about our labor that is strangely peculiar, but not
more so, perhaps, in our day than has existed in former ages of the
world when the Gospel has been revealed to man. It has always seemed
to be the case that whatever period of time we take up to read
concerning the work of God and its effects among the inhabitants of
the earth—we always find that the people of God and the people of the
world have been in direct antagonism; and when we get back to the most
remote items of history—or items of information which history is
permitted to furnish us—we find that even in the spiritual state of
man's existence, before the family of Adam came to dwell in the flesh,
that there was antagonism there between truth and error, between those
that embraced truth and those that embraced error, and following down
through the ages that same antagonism has existed and been made
manifest in one form or in another, so that the people of the earth
have never been in a position to see and understand the principles of
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, in the same light,
and to undestand it together and correctly. The principles of the
Gospel which have been revealed of God have been admitted by the
greatest moral philosophers who have lived—aside from religious
professors—to be the most noble principles, the most calculated to
exalt mankind, in the belief, in the exercise, and in the obedience of
them, of any doctrines or principles of ethics that have ever been
given to the human family; great moralists, great scientists have been
willing to give this credit to the principles and doctrines of our
Savior. Philosophers of this world have done this; and all they of the
Saints who have rendered obedience to these principles know, truly,
how a faith in them exalts those that embrace them, until it has come
to be a truism among the people of God, "that righteousness exalteth a
nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Vol. 26,  p.167
Therefore, let it be known to all the world that it is one of the
first principles of the Gospel of Christ that men should repent of
their sins, that they should be washed in the waters of regeneration
for the remission of their sins, that then, in pursuance thereof, they
may receive the Holy Ghost from heaven, which is promised unto
obedient believers.[p.168] 

Vol. 26,  p.168
This is not only the doctrine of the Gospel of this dispensation, and
the doctor me of the Gospel in the dispensation when Jesus and the
Apostles of His day were upon the earth, but this is the very
principle and doctrine that was revealed to Father Adam, after he was
cast out of the Garden of Eden, when the angel of the Lord came to him
and asked him why he offered sacrifices. He replied that he knew not,
only that the Lord had told him to do so. Then the angel of the Lord
proceeded to explain the matter to him—told him that the object of his
offering sacrifices was to keep before his mind the great sacrifice
that must be offered up in the meridian of time. This was the only
symbol and type given to men to cause them to look forward through an
ordinance they practised to the Savior, who was to come as a sacrifice
for sin and to become the Savior of the world. Thus early did God
place this principle before the mind of the great father of the human
family when in that terrible dilemma, he having consented to partake
of the fruit and go out of the garden with mother Eve. It was then
that our first parents began to be taught this principle. Adam was
taught that he mush be born of the water and of the spirit, and in
demonstration of this he was caught up by the Spirit and placed in the
water and brought forth out of the water, as the revelation of God to
Joseph declares. Then he was baptized by the Holy Ghost and with fire.
And the Lord told him to teach those things to his children that they
might look forward with him to the time when the Only Begotten should
come in the flesh and should be made an offering for the sins of the
world. Adam was further told that if he taught these things to his
children he and they should have in this life the words of eternal
life, and in the life to come eternal life itself. Mark the careful
distinction; that if they would keep the commandments they should in
this life have the words of eternal life given to them, and in the
life to come they should have eternal life itself, and, added the Lord
to this great promise, "thus may all become my sons."

Vol. 26,  p.168
Thus the plan of salvation was in brief laid out in plainness to our
Father Adam, that he and all his children might be thought meet to
enter into the favor of God, receive the fellowship of the Holy Ghost,
be born of water and of the Spirit, and thus come to a knowledge of
the principles of eternal life.

Vol. 26,  p.168
We see from this that the first step to be taken in those days, when
the works of Cain had gone forth, and when the people had become
exceedingly wicked—so bad that the Scriptures say the thoughts of
their hearts were only evil and that continually—the very first thing
to consider was how to deprive sinfulness of its power and make
righteousness to take hold of the children of men so that they might
find favor with the Gods, and with all the righteous both in heaven
and on the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.168
This was the principle, this was the doctrine, and this was the way by
which the Patriarch Enoch—that great and ancient worthy of whom We
know so little—went forth and by the power of God reasoned with those
wicked people and preached the Gospel to them, and baptized all who
would receive it and gathered them together into a place which lie
called Zion. It was a very great and mighty work he had to perform;
for the people had become terribly wicked, filled with the spirit of
[p.169] murder and every manner of abomination that the human heart
can conceive of.

Vol. 26,  p.169
This, then, is the foundation that all men have to lay in their hearts
and lives before they begin to receive the principles of eternal life
as they are revealed. You my brethren and sisters that are from
Scandinavia, from the northern countries, from the Cape of Good Hope,
New Zealand, Australia, and from the islands of the sea, including the
frozen regions of Iceland—every one of you were taught and embraced
those first principles in the primitive part of your faith and belief
in the Gospel. It was the beginning; it was the step which every son
and daughter of Adam has had to take, from the days of Adam until now,
in order to cleanse themselves before God, so as to receive the
blessings of eternal life. It was by carrying out these principles and
preaching that Adam was saved. It was by an obedience to the same
principles that Enoch succeeded in gathering out the honest in heart
unto the city of Zion. He was 365 years in building up that Zion and
in gathering into it a people on the same principles that have been
revealed to us in these latter days. We are preaching the same Gospel
that was given to those ancient worthies. You can trace the Priesthood
by referring to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—the holy, high
Priesthood that has come down front Adam to Noah, and down through
Enoch, Methuselah and the different men of God who lived in ancient
times—you can trace it clear back to Adam who was ordained under the
hands of God, who told him that that Priesthood should abide in his
generations and that it should be on the earth at the end of time.
What is the Priesthood that you grey-headed fathers are bearing before
us to-day in the midst of Israel? It is the holy, high Priesthood of
Melchisedec, which is after the order of the Son of God, and which is
after the power of an endless life. Then, brethren and sisters,
understand it. It is not a new Gospel revealed now for the first
time—these first principles are not new, because they have been
revealed from the beginning. They are the same principles that Christ
commenced to preach when He was upon the earth. They were the first
principles that John the Baptist taught when he came to prepare the
way for the coming of the Son of Man; they were the very first
principles that Joseph and Oliver taught in this dispensation when
they began to preach the Gospel. They were ordained to the Aaronic
Priesthood. This is the beginning of the work of righteousness.

Vol. 26,  p.169
There are revelations and doctrines given unto us in our day, however,
which were not given in former ages, because the people were not
prepared and were not in a suitable condition to receive such. Do not
let us think that we have got all the revelation there is. In the last
great revelation which the Lord gave to Joseph, He told him that He
had not revealed all to him, but that there were many laws pertaining
to His Priesthood which He would reveal hereafter. Do you remember it?
But if the world is going to get scared and terrified and ready to lay
waste and destroy the Latter-day Saints before we have got so far
advanced in the civilization of heaven as to understand the marriage
laws and some of the marital relations of the sexes—if they go crazy
over this what will happen to them when something more comes
along?[p.170] 

Vol. 26,  p.170
Now, I hope that none of the Saints will grow weak in the knees; do
not let them hang down their heads, nor allow their hearts to be
troubled; do not let the sisters lie awake at nights brooding over
this and that, that is going to happen, and getting a great deal of
borrowed trouble. There is no promise of grace to sustain them inn
such trouble; but the Lord has promised that His grace shall be
sufficient for our day, sufficient for the troubles we have to bear;
but we have no promise of grace to sustain us in borrowed trouble. Do
not be alarmed though the heathen rage and the people imagine vain
things. While they are in confusion and strife of every kind, you will
multiply upon the earth and establish lasting peace upon the face
thereof. The Latter-day Saints who are the object of all observation
from the four quarters of the earth, are the only people that have
pure and settled peace in their hearts and in their midst. Do you
realize this? Our missionaries go to the Southern States, and the
North Western States; they go to Europe, to Asia, Africa, and every
point of the compass, and when they return they tell us that in no
place do they find as true, settled and substantial peace, as there is
right here in Utah, where one would think, from all that is going on
and all that is threatened, that the waves of the sea were going to
roll over us. Our peace is that which the Gospel brings. The fruit of
the Spirit which the wicked can neither give nor take away. Where is
no use being worried over these things. It is part of our heritage.
They who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution; we
have every reason to expect it. It is our duty to seek wisdom of the
Lord in all matters; seek for the Holy Spirit, and attend to our own
business.

Vol. 26,  p.170
In regard to the principles of the Gospel which the Lord has revealed
to us beyond what, He has to other people, we should remember that we
shall he called to account for the use we make of them; remember that
we use them, live them, and administer them in all righteousness in
our lives and conduct, and while there are no two families whose
conditions and circumstances are just alike, still the same general
principles will have their general effect in all households. We must
cultivate righteousness. We are learning the principles of the Gospel
one after another; how to observe and obey them. We want to know how
to hold them in righteousness, because we cannot hold these precious
eternal treasures in unrighteousness; if we think we can we shall he
deceived and will some day find out that they are not to be held in
unrighteousness, for they only take effect with the pure in heart,
they that are willing to keep the commandments of God, and walk in the
way of His counsels.

Vol. 26,  p.170
Sin is a reproach to any people. It is better for us right, here in
this life that we keep the commandments of God, even if we did not
look for any future reward of glory. Don't you know it is? Why?
Because we feel happy and strong within ourselves when we lie down at
night and rise up in the morning; when we go out and when we come in;
we feel the sustaining influence and approval of an honest heart, of a
pure conscience, and of all just people—a conseience void of offense
towards God and His people. This is the greatest treasure that a
person can possess in this life. And do you know that go where you
will—among those ignorant tribes that surround us, or to the highest
civilized, and most cultivated portions of the European or American
nations,—the [p.171] man that is obedient to the holy principles of
the everlasting Gospel—if they do not know he is called a Mormon—is
respected above all men who disregard the principles of righteousness
and truth. If some of our brethren who work in the mining camps behave
themselves and live their religion, the very men around them respect
and honor them. Why? Because they are reliable; because the principles
they have embraced and put into practice render them substantial and
trustworthy. You go into the classes of the university or of the
colleges where young men have gone in quest of an education, and you
will find that the man who is pure and virtuous in his feelings, in
his thoughts and in his ways, who does not delight in folly, in sin
and the secret works of darkness, but is at home attending to his
lessons and his duty—it is he that makes his way to the head of the
class, and gets the highest honor among his fellows. It is he that
they look up to because of his upright conduct and all that is
excellent in man. That is the kind of men that go forth and make their
way and mark among their neighbors and their countrymen. True virtue
and righteousness exalt individuals, and it therefore must exalt a
nation composed of such individuals. When a nation disregards the
principles of justice, equity, righteousness and truth—so far as to
fail or refuse the administration of its laws equitably to any portion
or class of its citizens, then the people have reason to fear. the
dreadful consequences that must follow, unless a reformation is
effected; then the noble, the honorable, the virtuous and the pure
should be willing to make sacrifice for that which is ennobling,
exalting, upright and praiseworthy. 

Vol. 26,  p.171
Go back in the history of the world and you will see that the greatest
nations that ever existed, as soon as they commenced to pervert
justice, crush truth and right, persecute God's people and exalt
iniquity, then commenced their downfall, and their way was down, down,
down, to demolition and destruction, until more substantial and better
elements were found in their ruins with which to raise up and create
something new. It was that excellence and purity which God saw in the
Puritan fathers that came over to this country for the love of the
truth, and to worship God according to the dictates of their own
consciences,—it was that excellence that preserved them and
established them here, and as long as they maintained the principles
of liberty, allowed others to enjoy the same rights that they
themselves enjoyed, just so long did they prosper. They were powerful
in that that they had influence and faith to receive inspiration from
God, to draw up and establish the greatest Constitution that has ever
been known on the earth—the grandest combination of loyal principles
and fundamental truths that has been established by man, since the
days of Noah, and that is the Constitution with which politicians have
become so reckless, in construing its provisions, and have gone
outside of its limitations to rule and regulate the people of this
great nation as they please. That glorious Constitution was made to
regulate rulers as well as the ruled. It was so constructed that those
who should be appointed to rule over the people should not be their
masters, but their servants. How comes it now, that the whole polity
has been perverted to another way; the rulers have come to be masters
of the people, and are undertaking now to lord it over God's heritage.
We [p.172] ought to understand these things. It is our duty to do so.

Vol. 26,  p.172
I desire now to refer to a particular expression in the epistle which
has just been read, wherein the brethren of the First Presidency have
exhorted the Saints not to allow themselves to commit any overt act.
No matter how much you are worried, no matter how much you are
aggravated by the acts of the ungodly, do not do a thing that you
could afterwards be sorry for. Do nothing that could let blood stick
to one of you. Bear with every impious insult. Put up with it as
Christ did when he was hanging upon the cross and his life's blood
oozing out from his heart, and his spirit ready to depart, and say
"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." That is the way
we want to look as far as we can upon those who are oppressing and
injuring us, breaking up our homes, and scattering our women and
children to the four winds. It is something that could not be allowed
in the old monarchial countries, which are looked upon as being
measurably beneath the United States in the matter of a constitutional
government, and yet we see men among us who are ready to demolish the
very sanctity of home, lay waste and destroy that which lies at the
Very foundation of all law, natural and governmental. It is painful;
it is sorrowful. Let us pity while they are so blind, so ignorant, so
ill-natured, and so willing to depart from good government, even to
enact laws to prevent their fellow-citizens from worshipping God
according to the dictates of their own conscience. But, for my own
part, I feel like the First Presidency in this matter. Let us commit
no overt act, which in any event we could be sorry for. 

Vol. 26,  p.172
We never saw a time when we had reason to feel more thankful and
lifted up in our hearts before the living God than the present. Why?
Because the Savior said: "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well
of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." But says He,
"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate
you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name
as evil, for the Son of Man's sake."

Vol. 26,  p.172
I wish to exhort the Saints to frequent their closets more than they
do; to neglect not their prayers night and morning, and in the season
thereof fail not to bow the knee and call your sons and daughters
around you. If you do this, by and by your sons and daughters will
rise up and call you blessed; if you do not they will get cold and
depart from truth and the faith of the living God, and that will bring
the greatest sorrow you can conceive of. This is a time when we are
called upon to bring our practical religion into use, to put on the
whole armour of God, and to trust in Him. The Savior said He could
call to His help more than twelve legions of angels; more than the
Roman hosts; but He knowing the great purposes of Jehovah could go
like a lamb to the slaughter. He understood those purposes, could curb
His powers, control His feelings, and could make a manly fight for
righteousness and truth, and carry out the decrees of heaven. Can we
do so? Can you and I do so? If we cannot, can we be counted worthy to
be called His brethren, and Saviors upon Mount Zion? We have got to be
considerably more like him than we are before we attain unto all those
excellencies that are promised.

Vol. 26,  p.173
Inasmuch as the work of God spreads, and its influence and potency
[p.173] are felt among the nations of the earth, so long will this
opposition and this antagonism exist, and we must expect it; it cannot
be avoided. It is an eternal consequence of our faith. If we reckoned
upon anything else, we reckoned wrongly. Every true Saint, when he
embraced this Gospel, felt to lay down his good name, his earthly
substance, and life itself,—all was laid upon the altar. We need not
think, however, that although the Lord permits certain things to come
upon us, that He will not soften the hearts of the wicked and ungodly.
He has told us with a firm decree, that from a time when the Saints
commenced to be more faithful they should begin to prevail against
their enemies, and they have proved this in the deliverances that have
been wrought out in their behalf from time to time. Have we any reason
to doubt or lack confidence in the promises of God for the future? Not
a particle. Every step of the way affords a greater, a more powerful
confirmation and assurance that He is true to His promises, and will
carry them out in our behalf.

Vol. 26,  p.173
Do you know, says one, how far these things will go? Just so far as
the Lord will allow them. When it comes to the right time He will put
a stop to them. He knows how to do it, just at His good pleasure.

Vol. 26,  p.173
We should go to work and put transgression from our midst, cultivate
righteousness and put away all sin, and by keeping His commandments
and living by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of His
servants the work of sanctification will go on in our hearts, our
homes, and our habitations will be holy in His sight. He will not
allow the acts of the wicked to come against us any longer than will
be for His own glory and our greatest good. Let us feel that we are in
the hands of the Lord, that He is our Father and friend. Let us draw
near to Him; find Him out, and walk with Him here in the flesh, then
we shall know that it will be well with us hereafter.

Vol. 26,  p.173
I pray that the good Spirit of God may dwell in our hearts; may write
His law on the tablets of our hearts; may impress the principles of
truth upon our minds, so that we may live them and make them
profitable to us in the future. That God may grant these blessings
unto us, I humbly ask in the name of the Lord. Jesus Christ,
Amen.[p.174] 

John Henry Smith, April 6, 1885

Love of Home—Visit to Friends—Sent to 
Preside Over the European Mission—Former 
Ill-Health in England—Extensive System of Tract 
Distribution Inaugurated—Tribute to the Worth and 
Efficiency of the Missionaries—Report of the Condition 
of the Work in Various European Countries—Hatred Manifested 
Towards Us After the Murder of Our Brethren in Tennessee—
America the Haven of Freedom—Truth Has Ever Met 
With Persecution—Professed Ministers of the Gospel 
our Greatest Enemies—No One Injured By Our 
Principles—Plural Marriage—the 
Social Evil—Conclusion

Discourse By Apostle John Henry Smith, Delivered at the Annual 
Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Logan, Cache 
County, Monday Morning, April 6th, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.174
IT affords the pleasure to meet again with the Saints in Zion, and to
have the privilege of mingling with the people of God in a general
conference. It is sometime since I had this privilege, and I can
assure you that I appreciate it very much. I do not think it is
possible for me to express in proper language my feelings in regard to
my mountain home. I never learned but one verse of poetry in my life,
and that one I have repeated many times, and I do not know but what it
would be well for me to repeat it this morning. The verse to which I
allude says:

Vol. 26,  p.174
"There is a magical tie in the land of my home 
That the heart cannot break, though the footsteps may roam, 
Be that land where it may, at the line or the pole, 
It still holds the magnet that draws back my soul."

Vol. 26,  p.174
Such is the case this morning in arising to address you for a short
time. What the Lord may have for me to say to you I cannot imagine.
For a few months past I have not addressed any congregations; I have
been visiting; I have been reasoning with my friends upon the
principles of the Gospel, and seeking to enlighten them in regard to
my position. Having accepted the Gospel, and dedicated my life to the
preaching of the same, I was desirous that my kindred should hear it.
I have not been idle, but have been laboring with zeal to impress upon
them the nature of the latter day work. I did not go there expecting
to make converts but to relieve my friends of prejudice. I have found,
so to speak, that my utterances have fallen on stony ground outside of
my kindred and that while I was received [p.175] with kindness, and
trust that good may in time come from my labors in certain directions,
yet I cannot say, as many have said, that I have accomplished much
good, and that I have removed a world of prejudice. I trust, however,
that I may have done some good during the · past few weeks among my
kindred in the Eastern States.

Vol. 26,  p.175
As you are aware, in 1882 I was sent by my brethren to preside for a
season over the European mission. I proceeded to my field of labor
with some dubiety in regard to my own self. My former experience upon
the island of Great Britain had been such that I was really fearful in
regard to my health. For five years after my first mission to the
British Isles, I had never passed a night in sound and perfect sleep.
I suffered from a cold contracted on that mission. On my departure in
1882, however, my brethren promised me I should go in peace; that I
should enjoy good health; that the blessings of the Lord should be
around me; and that I should be enabled to accomplish the object for
which I was sent forth. And while I went with some foreboding with
regard to myself, still it appears I had to return to Great Britain,
to lose that which had seized upon me on a former mission.

Vol. 26,  p.175
I found upon my arrival in that land a corps of very excellent Elders.
The mission was in a very good condition, with an earnest and
determined lot of missionaries who were willing to do anything that
might be required at their hands for the furtherance of the purposes
of the Lord. I found, however, upon investigation and mingling with my
brethren, that the road seemed to be hedged up in a manner so that
they could not accomplish that which their hearts desired. After
visiting various conferences, and giving the brethren such
instructions and counsel as the spirit suggested as to the best method
to reach the people, getting their views and the result of their
experience in the field, some of them having been there for a year or
two—it was decided, on the suggestion of several, that an effort be
made to distribute more of the written word than had heretofore been
done. Communications were addressed to the Presidency of the Church,
and by their consent a system of tract distribution was inaugurated
and has been followed systematically from that day to this. What the
result may be in the future we cannot say. Nevertheless, we have done
the best we could in our ministrations among the people, and have
striven with the power that the Lord has given us to warn our
fellowmen of the re-establishment of the Kingdom of God. the Elders
that have been sent to labor under my watch care and counsel, have
been men of worth. It is a matter of pride to me that those who have
been sent to labor under my direction have been good and humble men.
Many of them have been young men, reared in these mountains—that were
taken from the farm, from the stock range, from the store, and from
the work bench. They had received comparatively little training in the
ministry; but a few weeks time has developed them, and they have gone
forward in faith; the Lord has blessed them in their administrations.
I have had much joy and satisfaction in laboring with them, and in all
my ministrations and counsels to them I believe they have listened to
them and sought to the best of their ability to carry out these
counsels, and labor for the advancement of the [p.176] work of the
Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.176
Since I returned home there has nothing afforded me greater pleasure
than during this conference to take into my arms and press to my
breast the men that have been laboring in the same cause as myself;
for I respect and honor them as I would my own brother. These
sentiments are from the heart in regard to them, and I trust that
their experience with me and our acquaintance, and the friendship that
springs up amid adversity and trials, may be as lasting as life
itself.

Vol. 26,  p.176
I am pleased to report that in Great Britain we continue to do some
baptizing. During my administration in that land a little new ground,
or rather ground that had been worked years ago and been abandoned,
has been opened up in various places. We have gained a foothold in
Finland, and a few have been baptized in that land. Brother Fjelsted
sent some native Elders into that section of country. Some men that
were inspired with zeal, and who were humble, and who were ready to
meet any trial and difficulty that might come in their way, succeeded
in opening a little door. Seed has been sown. Away north on the
borders of Prussia and Russia, an opening has been made through a
native who had been ordained by Brother J. A. Smith, of Cache Valley,
and there is a prospect of the Gospel being introduced in that
country. We have also made a little effort to introduce the Gospel in
Austria. Brother Beisinger has been there and labored some time.
Brother Hammer was there also, but was run off by the authorities.
Brother Beisinger and Brother Jennings are now, I suppose, in Austria,
probably in Bohemia. I felt while in Switzerland, in December, that it
would be impossible for me to return home without another effort being
made to open up the Gospel to Austria, although the brethren had
already suffered considerable in that land. The authorities there do
not treat our Elders as they should; but I trust that by wisdom and
prudence, the Gospel may be preached, and that the inhabitants
thereof—a fine race of people—may sense their position and embrace the
truth. We have also made an effort to establish ourselves in Turkey,
and I trust that a work will be opened up there. A few baptisms have
already been made.

Vol. 26,  p.176
The brethren throughout the British Isles have been making efforts to
introduce the Gospel in every corner and place where opportunity
presented itself. I would say, however, that the England of a few
years ago is not the England of to-day. While the same spirit of
liberty—the love of the rights of man—may exist among the English
people, still that spirit of hospitality that characterized them years
and years ago, seems to be on the wane. Many people are out of
employment, the numbers that are wandering around begging their bread,
closes, in a measure the hearts of the people, and they feel that they
cannot carry the loads that they have been carrying. Still, among the
Latter-day Saints, the same hospitality is to be found. Their hearts
are as warm to-day as they ever were.

Vol. 26,  p.176
We have made recently—through the labors of Brothers Wilson awl
Marshall, two Irish brethren—an opening in the north of Ireland, and
we trust that with care much good will result in that neighborhood.
Some very fine people have embraced the Gospel there, people in good
circumstances, and who, [p.177] inspired with zeal, desire to spread
the principles of the Gospel. And thus little by little we accomplish
the object of our mission, and the world is being warned. When I left
England there were three valley Elders in Ireland, and I hope others
may be added to their number before long, so that the work may spread
at least in the protestant portion of that country. I am inclined to
believe that there are hundreds and thousands of people in Ireland who
will receive the Gospel. My prejudices in regard to the Irish people
have been wiped away in mingling among them. I find them among the
purest of the stocks upon the earth. Virtue is held at a high premium
among them. The statistics of Great Britain show this fact; that
illegitimate births in Ireland constitute 3 per cent. In England six,
in Scotland nine. I say this speaks volumes for Ireland, and I trust
that the Gospel may spread in that land and that thousands may receive
its truths.

Vol. 26,  p.177
I have visited nearly all parts of the mission—at least where there
are any Saints, and some portions where there are none. I went to
Italy in the hope that I might see some chance of making an opening in
that country. I came very near having two of the Elders starved by
staying there. I was determined, however, to try and introduce the
Gospel. There are some sections of the country that are Protestant,
and I trust there may be a time come when the Gospel will spread among
that people. But I regard Italy as in such a condition that there are
but few chances at the present time for any opening to be made. The
Italians are bound up in the religious faith that they have been
reared in, or they are infidel almost entirely. I noticed in my
attendance at the churches, that they are usually well filled with
priests and beggars, and that few, comparatively speaking, of the
well-to-do classes, or the middle classes, or the better informed
classes, were paying any attention whatever to religious observance.

Vol. 26,  p.177
I have also during my administration in the British mission, sought to
have the Gospel preached among the French people. Brother Bunot and
Brother West made an effort on the Island of Jersey. Brother Bunot was
sent to France, and he stayed there just as long as he could possibly
live, using his own means, and striving by every means in his power to
open some door to his countrymen. Brother Bunot is a man who was
educated for the Catholic ministry, a man of intelligence and
learning, and a humble man who did everything in his power to warn his
countrymen. He was not successful in accomplishing the desires of his
heart. On the borders of Switzerland and France a number of the Elders
have labored, and while we have not reaped as we could have wished to
have done, still there has been satisfaction in the labors we have
performed; for we realize that it is not only a day of gleaning and
gathering the people, but it is also a day of warning.

Vol. 26,  p.177
I will say here, that about the time our brethren in the southern
States were murdered in cold blood, a wave of hatred seemed to have
been engendered in the minds of the people in every direction. The
press of Europe teemed with the most horrid stories that can be
imagined. Everything that had ever been thought of everything that had
ever been manufactured for partisan purposes in our own land was
scattered broadcast throughout Europe, and the masses of the people
were [p.178] warned in every direction in regard to us. And not only
were they warned through the newspapers, but lecturers began to take
the field in every direction, and incite the people not to avoid our
meetings, but on the contrary to follow us up and to mob us, giving us
no chance to explain to them the principles of the Gospel, or
represent ourselves as we should. This feeling has been growing in
power from that time until the time I left that land. But as
heretofore a cool wave will by and by come along and as a result of
the heated condition of the people over the Mormon problem, and the
efforts that have been made to impede the Lord's work, people will
begin to inquire, thoughtful people will look into the truth, and the
work will continue to grow in the future as it has done in the past.
It is true that people do not come by hundreds and thousands to hear
the good word of life and salvation; but the eyes of the world are
directed to this our mountain home. They recognize the force of the
utterance of Henry Ward Beecher, when he said: "Gentlemen, say what
you will, but yonder in the Rocky Mountains is the phenomenon of the
nineteenth century." It is a living fact that people in every land and
clime are turning their eyes towards this region of country, and
wondering what will be the upshot of the problem that is being worked
out by the Latter-day Saints in their western home. Men of
intelligence are traveling; they are mingling among our people; they
see their industry; they recognize the perseverance they have
manifested; they see the obstacles they have overcome; they recognize
in them a growing race that knows no failure, that meets no rebuff,
that cannot understand nor sense what defeat means; and they see in
the Latter-day Saints the growth and development of a power that will
accomplish its object in the earth, and that object Deity has designed
it should accomplish—the gathering in of the honest in heart, the
establishment of righteousness, the combating of wickedness, the
driving back of the forces of evil as they cluster around the hearts
of men and that are leading men step by step to inevitable shame and
destruction.

Vol. 26,  p.178
It affords me pleasure, my brethren and sisters, to again put my feet
on the soil of America. I recognize in it the home of a free man.
There may be those who desire to pervert this freedom, who may seek to
engender strife and drive us from the soil upon which we live; there
may be those who seek to trample upon the rights and liberties of man;
but I believe from the bottom of my heart that Deity has stamped it
upon this soil, that He has written it throughout the universe, that
in this land His work should prosper? that it should go forward and
increase until its great destiny shall be accomplished; that this is
the spot chosen, that here it will be nourished, here it will grow,
here it will go forward, and the nations of the earth will look upon
it and recognize it as the great force that will conquer the earth and
bring subject to it the powers that exist thereon; and all this will
be brought about by the law of righteousness, the law of truth, the
law of God given to mankind for their guidance and control, and they
will accept it and live in accordance with its principles. You and I
may tread a thorny path; it may be strewn with rugged places; we may
break the flesh upon our hands, and be bruised in our forward
movement; but the work will advance and progress. Deity is our [p.179]
friend, our guide, our protector. All we need do as a people is to
keep our eye upon the mark of divine truth; move forward without fear,
and ask no favors so far as mankind is concerned; only seek to do
right by our fellow creatures. Hate no one. I dare not hate any man
upon the face of the earth. No matter how vile, how wicked, how
corrupt he may be, if I find him in want of a friend I would extend to
him the hand of friendship; I would give him bread if he was hungry;
water if he was thirsty; clothing if he was naked; for I would
recognize in him the fact that he was a creation of my Father, and I
would not dare to hate him, no matter how vile he might be. I might
hate the principles he had espoused; the wicked acts of which he was
guilty; but I would recognize in him something that I should seek to
benefit, bless and save, and I would use all the powers God had
bestowed upon me in that direction.

Vol. 26,  p.179
"Brother Smith," some may say, "don't you feel uneasy over the
condition of things that now exists in our Territory?" I have
sometimes wished that things were not as they are. As I have wandered
in the earth and stood up in the streets and parks and halls preaching
the Gospel, I have said to myself, I wish that my Father had not set
me to this work; I wish that these things were not required at my
hands. I have sometimes felt timid in being brought in contact with
the world, and the efforts that were being made against me and my
brethren. I have wished it could be otherwise, and yet when I stop and
reflect, when I look over the history of the past, when I read the
facts as history brings them to us, I see no other way, I see no other
road to travel. Every fibre of my being is convinced of the truth of
this Gospel. It is stamped upon every feature, upon every part of my
being. I regard it as dearer than life and everything else upon the
face of the earth. Why need I be fearful, why need I tremble, why need
I be wrought up at the prospect that is before us? No great system has
ever been established upon the face of the earth without much labor
and perseverance. Look at the inventions that have been brought out
and the efforts that have been directed against them, even in those
things that were lobe utilized for our own clothing, for our own
movements from place to place, or for the comfort and convenience of
our homes. The men that have invented these things have met with
continual persecution. They have struggled against nature itself; and
why need we, who have had given to us the great plan of life and
salvation, that which will bring us back into the presence of God,
that which stamps upon our souls the prospect of eternal union with
our wives and our children, and of mingling with our friends and
relatives that have gone before—why need we fear the hand of our
enemies. Who cannot stand a few weeks of imprisonment, a few months of
torture, a few years of difficulty, that they may offer an offering in
righteousness to that God that called them forth? Not one of us.
Therefore, so far as I am concerned, my brethren and sisters as an
individual, I am perfectly happy, just as happy as I can possibly be
under the circumstances in which we are placed. I have no worry nor
concern. One of my uncles, whose home I left but a few weeks ago
warned me that certain things were inevitable; that it was impossible
for us to hope to fight longer these things our pronounced enemies
were seeking to bring upon [p.180] us. All I said to him was, "Wait
and see." That is what I propose to do—wait and see, just wait and
see. I have been waiting from my childhood, and expect to continue to
wait. It is possible that a few men like myself maybe hustled within
the prison walls; it is possible that a few "Mormons" may be outraged
and banished from their native land; it is possible that men may
follow us to the death; but while men die, systems continue to live
and grow, and the powers of earth and hell can never check their
advancement and development. Such is the case in regard to the work we
have embraced. It is a living work. It is one of the active forces in
nature. It is backed by the powers of heaven, and ye are its
emissaries sent here at this time to aid in its advancement. The
Gospel must be preached; the nations of the earth must be warned, and
this nation, or any other nation, will fall beneath the judgment of an
enraged God if they reject the message of glad tidings, which our
Father has offered them for their exaltation in His kingdom. The work
of God must conquer every foe, it must overcome every opposing force,
and it will accomplish that destiny as sure as there is a God in
heaven. Write it upon the page of history; stamp it upon your souls;
for deity has designed that it should be the case.

Vol. 26,  p.180
I find in mingling among the people in the east, that the moving force
to-day against the Latter-day Saints is not the politicians of the
country. The politicians, so far as they are concerned would care
little about us, but there are behind them the people. There are first
the ministers of the Gospel. I do not desire to speak harshly of the
ministers that live among us, or make charges against them, for I have
been away for some time; but this fact is patent to every one—that the
fervor against the "Mormons" is worked up right from our own homes,
and largely by, Christian ministers. Letters are written to the
ministers of the country; the ministers work upon their flocks. Go
among many of the peoples of the east—among the old Puritan stock, of
which my fathers are descendants—and you will find that the tales of
the horrors of Mormonism are of the most startling character. This I
discovered while visiting among my relatives in New England.

Vol. 26,  p.180
They were all more or less prejudiced against Mormonism; but I trust
that the little light I was able to throw upon the question may result
in good. The New Englanders as a rule, have but small families, and
the evil practices that are resorted to by many to prevent their
having children at all, will be the means of carrying them down to the
pit.

Vol. 26,  p.180
Now, brethren and sisters, whom have we wronged? Whom have we wronged
by peopling this desert land? Nobody. If there was anybody wronged it
was the red man, and he has not been wronged but blessed; for we have
tried to feed instead of fight him. The first principle of the Gospel
is faith. Whom have we hurt if we have faith? Then there is the
principle of repentance. Whom have we injured if we have repented? Is
anybody hurt? Is the government hurt? Does repentance beget hostility
to the government? If we make a covenant with God in the waters of
baptism that we will be pure, is anybody wronged? No! Have we plotted
for the overthrow and destruction of the government in which we live
because the hands [p.181] of the servants of God have been laid upon
our heads and they have bestowed upon us the Holy Ghost, the witness
of the Spirit that shall guide us into all truth? No. Have you or I
made a contract with our God to wage antagonism to the institutions of
the country in which we live, or sign allegiance to any other
government upon the earth? I have not. I have sworn allegiance to the
government in which I live. My labors as a man are in the interests of
humanity the freedom of man; that his conscience may not be chained
up; that his body may not be bowed down with the yoke of tyranny; but
that before God he may stand erect, fearless and strong, determined to
benefit and bless the human family. Need we be fearful in regard to
these things? I think not. There is one that will recompense at the
last day; and tike man who denies the other his liberties, who binds
him in chains, who ties him to the rack, is the man who should tremble
when She reckoning of Deity is made with His sons and daughters. We
might go through all the principles of the faith we have espoused and
then ask who is wronged? We have made grass grow where it did not grow
before. If we have built homes, if we pay taxes for the sustenance and
government of the cities and towns that are to be found upon this once
sterile spot, and which was once the great American desert, who is
wronged? No one. Who has raised a standard against the government in
which we live? Not one of us. But you believe in the Priesthood. You
accept of a system of government that is most perfect on the face of
the earth. Who is wronged if we do? You have not changed it. It has
not changed you. It has not wronged you; and that which we have
accepted we have accepted of our own free will and choice, recognizing
the fact that Deity has required it at our hands. Who is injured if my
wife makes a sacrifice with me and takes into our home one of her
sisters and makes her my wife. If she makes the sacrifice; if I
shoulder the additional responsibility, and open the door that will
save one of Eve's fair daughters, who is wronged? Do I plot for the
overthrow of the government, the breaking in pieces of the powers that
be, because I desire that my sister or my daughter, my aunt or my
cousin may be preserved from the evils thrown around them by the
systems that man has created? No. God has laid upon every woman the
decree placed upon mother Eve—multiply and replenish the earth. In
sections of the land in which we live, thousands of women to-day must
become the play things of some vile wretch, if they answer the design
of their being. My whole being is convinced of the fact—that it is a
decree of God Himself that these women should have a chance to marry,
and that He Himself has opened the door. He Himself has established.
the principle. I want my daughters married as I desired to marry
myself; I want them honored wives, whether plural ones or otherwise,
no matter who may seek to brand their offspring as infamous. I
know—for God has given me the witness, He has stamped it upon this
heart that they who come through that lineage are as much honored of
God and approved of Him, as any that have ever walked His footstool
from the day that this earth was peopled until the day in which we
live. This principle was given for a purpose, and that purpose is the
salvation of the female sex as well as the male sex. Go to [p.182]
Great Britain, and you will find a million more women than men moving
upon the streets of the great cities. Go up the Strand in London; Go
up Lime Street, in Liverpool; and the streets in Manchester; go into
any of the leading streets of the great cities of the world, and gaze
upon as fine specimens of womanhood as our Father ever put breath
into. What are their prospects in life? What is written across their
brow? Infamy, shame—going to their graves the victims of loathsome
disease. It is not one, it is not two or three; but it is millions of
them that are going this inevitable road. Who is responsible? Who
placed upon them the interdict, preventing them, from fulfilling the
object of their creation? Not God; for He made His law so liberal and
established principle so correct that there was no necessity for such
a thing. It is man that has introduced it; it is man that has
overturned the condition of society; it is man that has turned his
daughter into the street. I say again and again that the "Mormon"
people can wait the result of this thing without fear; they can afford
to suffer pains and penalties if that will but open the door by which
the fair daughters of Eve can be redeemed from the position in which
they are placed and be made honored and respected women of society.

Vol. 26,  p.182
The speaker concluded by reiterating his allegiance to the American
government, and exhorting the Saints to be faithful in keeping the
commandments of God in all things.

George Q. Cannon, September 28, 1884

The Latter-Day Saints Attract Much Attention—They 
Are the Victims of Scandal and Falsehood, But Have Been 
Sustained By the Spirit of Peace—God Has Revealed to Us the 
Purposes of Our Existence—God is the Father of Our Spirits—He 
Has Given Us An Agency—God Foreseeing that Adam Would Fall 
Prepared a Redeemer—We Are Here on the Earth to Prove Our 
Integrity and to Obtain a Knowledge of Good and Evil—
the Conscience of Man is the Spirit of God Prompting 
Us to Do Right—God in His Wisdom Hides From 
Us the Glories Beyond the Veil—Conclusion

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 28th, 1884.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.182
WE are living in a very peculiar age, and as a people we are doing a
work which attracts the attention of mankind. Our name is known for
good [p.183] and evil in all lands. At no time in the history of
mankind that we have any account of, has there been a people of our
number who have attracted as much attention and created as great an
interest in the minds of the public as these have who live in these
mountains and are known as "Mormons" or Latter-day Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.183
The age in which we live is one in which intelligence travels with
great rapidity. Knowledge is communicated with ease, and by means of
the newspaper, the telegraph wire, and other facilities which the age
affords, everything connected with us as a people is heralded from one
end of the earth to the Other in common with all the acts of the
children of men. Unfortunately, however; with these facilities for the
transmission of true knowledge, there are also equal facilities for
the transmission of falsehood and misrepresentation. We have been the
victims of falsehood and slander. Herculean efforts have been made to
create false impressions concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church
which our Father in heaven has established. It is well for us,
however, that we have been prepared for this. In the commencement of
this work of our God they who received it were warned of the character
of the warfare that would be instituted against them. The Lord
revealed in great plainness that it might cost them everything they
held dear upon the earth, and that the warfare that would be waged
against them would be one of unceasing hatred. These difficulties and
trials, therefore, have not come upon the people without some degree
of preparation for them. The Lord gave the spirit of prophecy and
revelation unto His servants and unto His people to prepare them for
these events, and there is nothing that has yet taken place connected
with this work of our God that has not been made manifest through the
revelations which tie has given. This has been a great cause of
strength to the people and has prepared them to bear with some degree
of equanimity and fortitude, the trials and the afflictions to which
they have been subjected. It is well for us that this has been the
case. It is well for us, also, that accompanying the work of our God,
there has been a spirit of peace bestowed upon those who have espoused
that work. If this had not been the case how unfortunate our lot would
have been! How unbearable! We could never have endured that which we
have been called to pass through had there not been this spirit of
peace that God promised in the beginning to bestow upon us. I doubt
myself whether there can be found anywhere within the confines of the
globe another people living in greater peace, in the enjoyment of more
happiness, pure happiness, than can be found in these valleys from
north to south. While all manner of evil has been spoken against the
Latter-day Saints, while our names have been everywhere cast out as
evil, God has given compensation to us by bestowing upon us these
blessings to which I have referred.

Vol. 26,  p.183
It is well for us to look at the circumstances which surround us and
to take a proper survey of all the events that lie before us, that are
likely to take place in the future connected with us. God has given
unto us the truth. This we have received accompanied by abundant
testimonies. Those who have entered into covenants with God, who have
gone down into the waters of baptism in obedience to His
requirements,[p.184] submitting to the ordinances that He has
instituted for salvation, and have done this in sincerity and with
purity of purpose, have received for themselves testimonies from God
respecting the divinity of the work with which they have become
identified. It is of the utmost importance that we should cherish this
spirit and feeling, that it should be with us constantly in our
movements, in every act of our lives, and that we should so live that
the Holy Ghost will rest down in power and in testimony upon us. It is
not only necessary that those who stand at the head should know for
themselves concerning this work, its divinity and the purposes of God
connected with it, but that every member, however humble and obscure,
should in like mariner receive of that spirit and enjoy its presence
and its power, have its gifts resting down upon him or her. Each
member should stand as a living witness of the truth that the Father
has revealed, and Which each of us who have complied with His
requirements have received.

Vol. 26,  p.184
God has placed us here upon the earth to accomplish important
purposes. These purposes have been in part revealed unto us. Probably
it is not possible for men and women in this mortal state of existence
to comprehend all the designs of God connected with man's existence
upon the earth: but much has been revealed upon this subject to us as
a people. In this respect, if in no other, the Latter-day Saints
should be the happiest, the most contented, the most joyous of all
people that live; for not only has the knowledge of the past been
communicated to us, but the present, that which is connected with our
probation here, and also much knowledge concerning the future.

Vol. 26,  p.184
Now, if a man can only know whence he came, why he is here, and that
which awaits him after this life, it seems to me that he has abundant
causes of happiness within his grasp. Much of the unhappiness and
uncertainty that prevail to-day in the minds of mankind arise from
ignorance upon these points. Hence, we see the course that many of the
children of men are taking. If a man knew exactly why God sent him
here, the object that Fie had in giving unto him a mortal existence,
do you think that men or women who had this knowledge would be guilty
of suicide, would have any disposition to cut off their own existence
and to destroy that gift which God in His mercy has given unto us? I
do not believe that any human being who properly comprehends the
object that God has had in placing man here upon the earth, and who
has a desire to carry out that purpose, would ever attempt
self-destruction. He would shrink from such an act with horror, and
would never dare to destroy the earthly tabernacle given him by God.
In these respects, as I have said, we possess rare advantages. It is a
great favor from God to have this light. There is no unwillingness on
His part to communicate it; but there is an unwillingness on the part
of the children of men to receive it when it is communicated.

Vol. 26,  p.184
The Bible tells us we came from God. The Bible tells us He is the
Father of our spirits. How is He the Father of our spirits? This is an
important question, and one that each of us should endeavor to
understand. I think it is of the utmost importance that the Latter-day
Saints should understand and be able to comprehend this question
thoroughly; because upon the proper understanding of this, must, to a
[p.185] great extent, depend their actions in this life.

Vol. 26,  p.185
It has been argued that because we have no recollection of any
previous state of being, our existence must, therefore, have commenced
at our birth—that that was the inception of existence so far as we are
concerned. This is the general belief throughout Christendom. No body
of worshippers who call themselves Christians, that we have any
account of, have any belief in a pre-existent state for man. They
consider his birth into mortality as the beginning of life for him.
Yet the belief is universal among them that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, and the Redeemer of the world, had a pre-existence. It is the
cornerstone of their faith. If Jesus did not have life till He
appeared in mortality, then their faith in Him is vain, for He would
not be God. But they profess to believe that He is God, the Son; that
He dwelt in the heavens and was the Creator of all things before He
took upon Himself humanity. In believing this they are correct. But
why they should be willing to believe this concerning our elder
brother Jesus, and at the same time be unwilling to believe that the
whole family of man also existed in the heavens with the Father before
they came here, is not clear. Those who saw the Savior while in
mortality saw nothing in Him to distinguish Him particularly from
other mortals. Doubtless those who were enlightened by the Spirit of
God could perceive evidences of His superiority over ordinary men, and
of His divinity. But did Pilate? Did the Pharisees and Scribes? In the
eyes of the latter classes He was a common man and a vulgar impostor
who deserved an ignominious death. His divine glory was veiled from
mortal eyes. Would any one have suspected from the appearance of the
Savior, from His teachings, from His treatment of His disciples, that
He differed so widely from them as to be of an entirely distinct
species? Certainly not. He taught to them and to others the great
doctrine of equality. If they would obey certain laws, conform to
certain requirements, they were to be His equals, that is, be one with
Him, as He would be one with the Father. In this teaching He offended
the Jews. Their dislike to these ideas of His, found expression in the
words: "that thou being a man, makest thyself God." His disciples had
the right to think from all that He taught, that if He had been with
the Father before coming into this mortal life, they also had been
there. If they were to be so closely associated with Him in the great
future what was there to suggest to them that they had not been
intimately connected with Him in the past? If He had been chosen from
before the foundation of the earth to do the work which He was then
doing, what inconsistency would there be in their being chosen also,
as His ministers and associates, at the same time? To look at them as
they traveled and labored together throughout Jewry, there was nothing
unreasonable in the idea of their common origin.

Vol. 26,  p.185
The Lord Jesus was undoubtedly selected for the great mission of
redeeming the world, because of His great qualities and His peculiar
fitness as one of the Godhead. It is written of Him: "Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

Vol. 26,  p.186
Who were his fellows? Were not all the distinguished of heaven's
[p.186] sons there—they who afterwards made their appearance on the
earth as Prophets, Apostles and righteous men I If He was chosen above
all His fellows, and anointed with the oil of gladness, is it not
consistent and reasonable to suppose that His faithful Apostles were
also chosen and anointed to perform their part in the great drama of
human existence for the enactment of which the earth was to be
prepared? If He had companions in the heavens, or to use the language
of the Scriptures—"fellows," is it reasonable to suppose that He left
them there while He came down here and took upon Himself mortality?
Does it violate in the least any idea that we derive from the sacred
records, to think that His "fellows" also came here, and, as He did,
also obtained mortal tabernacles?

Vol. 26,  p.186
If we grant that His "fellows" in the heavens came here, as He did,
and obtained mortal bodies, what shall we say of the undistinguished
millions who have crowded their way forward into mortal life from the
beginning? Shall we divide humanity into classes, and say one class
had a heavenly existence before coming here, while another class
sprung into existence at mortal conception or birth? If we are not
justified, by either Scripture or reason, in placing the Redeemer of
the world in a class by Himself, so far as pre-existence is concerned
and in separating Him in this respect from His "fellows," how can we
find warrant for dividing the rest of the family of God, into two
classes—one as having a pre-existence, and another as not having any
life till they arrive here?

Vol. 26,  p.186
If it were possible for the Lord Jesus to descend from the mansions of
glory and take possession of a mortal tabernacle, and be born of a
woman in the shape of an infant, is it not equally possible that we
all did the same? Everything that we know concerning the mysteries of
this life justifies us in thus believing. But we are not left to
speculation upon this point. God has revealed this in great plainness.
The Bible proves to us that Jesus existed with the Father, and that He
descended from His high estate in the regions of glory to become a
mortal man; for He speaks Himself in praying to the Father, of the
glory he had with the Father before tie came here, that glory having
been revealed to Him. Now, is there anything difficult or
incomprehensible in the thought, that we all in like manner, existed
with the Father, and with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, before we
came here? The Lord in speaking to Jeremiah, reveals to him in great
plainness, that he had a pre-existence. In the first chapter of
Jeremiah, He tells him that before he was formed in the womb He knew
him, that He chose him to be a Prophet, that he had been designated
for the work that he had to accomplish; and thousands of others among
mankind have felt—though they knew nothing by recollection of their
previous existence—that they were called and designated and destined
to accomplish great works upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.186
The revelations that have been given unto us as a people have
communicated this doctrine unto us. We are taught in the record of
Abraham, which has been translated and given unto us, that prior to
man's coming upon the earth, he had an existence with the Father, and
that we all, all the inhabitants of the earth, every man and woman and
child that has ever been born upon the earth, or that ever will be
[p.187] born on the earth—have had an existence with the Father,
before coming here.

Vol. 26,  p.187
With these views that I have endeavored to set before you we can have
some understanding concerning the object of man being placed upon the
earth. If we are the children of our God, then God our Eternal Father
has had an object, a great object to accomplish in placing us here on
the earth. Jesus had a mission to perform. He came and took upon
Himself mortality. A mortal probation was assigned Him. It was a part
of the plan of salvation, not only connected with His exaltation, but
with the redemption of the human family. There has been a purpose in
all this. This earth has been created for a purpose. Man is here for a
purpose. Death is in the world for a purpose, just as much as life,
and all these are a part of the Divine plan connected with man's
existence in the past, at the present and for the future.

Vol. 26,  p.187
A great many have stumbled and have questioned the justice of our God,
and have also gone so far as to question the very existence of God,
because of the earthly circumstances which surround the children of
men. It has been said by those who have taken this view that if there
were an all-powerful Being, such as God is described to be, He would
interpose in behalf of the children of men, and deliver them from the
trying scenes and circumstances which they frequently have to pass
through. The fact that man is in such a condition and is surrounded by
such circumstances is frequently urged as an evidence that there is no
God, that there can be no God, possessing such attributes as are
ascribed to Him by those who believe in Him. Many people have been
deluded by this kind of reasoning; they have become infidels, and
rejected all belief in God and in any providence connected with man
and with man's existence upon the earth. They have abandoned
themselves to complete unbelief upon this point. But those who have
sought after God, those who have humbled themselves before Him, and
obtained knowledge from Him in the way that He has appointed—though to
them all may not be perfectly plain—do perceive and acknowledge the
providence of God in all the circumstances which surround them. They
perceive His hand and acknowledge it in all the events connected with
their mortal existence, and with the mortal existence of their
fellows.

Vol. 26,  p.187
God has had a purpose in withdrawing himself from man; it has not been
a part of His purpose to reveal Himself in His fullness, in His glory,
in His power, unto His children upon the earth. Many, not
understanding why this should be, and unable to comprehend any purpose
in it, have stumbled and yielded to doubts and been ready, because of
this, to deny His existence. Now, it has been a part of the plan of
salvation, as revealed in all the records that have come down to us
from the beginning—from the days of our Father Adam until now—it is a
part of the plan of salvation, I say, connected with man's existence
upon the earth that God should thus withdraw himself, as it, were,
from man, and that a veil should be drawn between himself and man, and
that if knowledge of Him be obtained, it should be obtained by the
exercise of great faith and continued labor on the part of His
children. But why, it may be asked, is this necessary? Why is it that
God has not revealed himself with great fullness and power unto all
the inhabitants of the earth, and left [p.188] them in complete
possession of all the knowledge necessary to prove to them that He is
God? Questions of this kind are frequently propounded by men. They
ask: Why does He not reveal Himself fully to His creatures? Why should
He leave them a prey to doubt? Why should He leave them in darkness?
Why should He give opportunities to the adversary of their souls to
assail them as He does for want of that knowledge which He might
communicate so easily. These are important questions, and they are
questions which as Latter-day Saints we should understand.

Vol. 26,  p.188
We must remember, to begin with, that God our Eternal Father has given
unto each of us our agency. There is no human being born on the
earthfrom whom God has withheld his or her agency. We have as much
right to exercise our agency in our sphere as God the Eternal Father
has to exercise His agency in His sphere; just as much. It is not
sacrilege, it is not any infringement upon the power of Our God to
indulge in this thought or to have this belief. It does not detract in
the least from His glory, from His power, nor from our dependence upon
Him as an infinite and almighty Being to entertain this view of
ourselves. Jesus said when lie was upon the earth: "Be ye perfect,
even as your Father in heaven is perfect." How could we be if man did
not have the power within him, through the agency which God has given
him, to be thus perfect: Everywhere throughout the divine record where
God has communicated Ills mind and His will to men, this principle is
plainly manifest: that man has had given unto him, in the greatest
freedom and without limit, the power to exercise his own agency. It
was so in the beginning—in the very commencement of the work of our
God upon the earth when He placed Adam in the garden and gave Eve unto
him for a wife. He set before them the principle of knowledge—that is,
He told them what they should do; He told them what they should
refrain from doing. He told them that if they did certain things,
certain penalties should follow. Had such a thing been possible and
consistent with the purposes of Heaven, He might, at the very
beginning, have prevented Adam from exercising His agency. Instead of
saying to him, "Of every tree of the garden then mayest freely eat
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil," and leaving him free
to eat of the fruit of that tree, He might have put it out of his
power to touch or taste it. But not so; He gave him the opportunity of
exercising his agency; He told him he could eat of every tree freely,
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but that he should not
eat of it, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die." There was no attempt on the part of our Father to interfere with
the agency of Adam in this respect. He left him perfectly free and in
the exercise of that freedom Adam did partake of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. His wife, Eve, was deceived in eating of the fruit;
she partook of it, being beguiled, yet in the perfect exercise of her
agency, and after she had partaken of it, and become subject to the
penalty that God had pronounced—the penalty of death and expulsion
from the garden—then she came and told Adam what she had done. Adam
was fully conscious of all the consequences that had attended this
act. He knew perfectly well that the penalty would be executed—that
[p.189] that Eve had become mortal, that death had entered into her
tabernacle, and the penalty that God had pronounced would be fully
executed; that she would be thrown out of the garden and that they
would be separated forever—that is, so far as this life was concerned.
He knew this, and, fully conscious of all the consequences which
should follow his partaking of the fruit, he partook of it. In doing
so he was not deceived. He partook of it because of his desire to
fulfill the commandments of God. God had given unto him this woman for
a wife; they were bound together by immortal ties; but because of this
act of hers there must necessarily have been a separation that would
have endured as long as her mortal life endured. Adam understanding
this, partook of the fruit, and as is said by the Prophet Lehi, "Adam
fell that man might be, and men are that they may have joy." If he had
not fallen; if he had not partaken of that fruit, there would have
been no human race on the earth. He understood this, therefore he
partook of it and accompanied his wife. It was a part of the plan that
was understood in the heavens before Adam was placed in the garden.
God by His foreknowledge understood perfectly that Adam, in the
exercise of his agency, would fall. Therefore He prepared a Redeemer
in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, who we are told was "a lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world." God having seen that
Adam would fall, that death would come upon him, and that a Redeemer
would be necessary in order to redeem man from the effects of the
fall—for unless there had been a Redeemer provided, Adam and all his
posterity would have slept an eternal sleep, they would have been
consigned to the tomb, and there would have been no redemption
therefrom because of the penalty that had been pronounced by the
Father upon him if he committed this act—God knowing all this provided
a Redeemer. That Redeemer was the Son of God, Jesus our Savior, in
whose name we all approach the Father, in whose name salvation is
given unto the children of men. It was arranged beforehand that He
should come and perform His mission in the meridian of time—day down
His life, as it was known that He would do through the wickedness of
bad men.

Vol. 26,  p.189
Now, it may be said, why did not God prevent man and woman from taking
this course? Because, as I have before said, it was right that they
should exercise their agency. God—shall I say could not? Do I detract
from His majesty and His glory by placing a limit on His power? I will
say that God would not, because it would be in violation of His own
laws; it would be in violation of those eternal laws which our God
Himself recognizes, for Him to have interfered and deprived man and
woman of their agency. But, knowing the consequences of their actions,
He prepared a way for their salvation and their redemption, and thus
it is that we are born on the earth. It was part of the design that we
should be subjected to all these afflictions and trials and ordeals
that belong to this mortal state of existence. This was part of the
plan.

Vol. 26,  p.189
I have been told by objectors that God ought to reveal Himself in
fullness. Why does He not do it? Because if He were to do so, we
should be deprived of the opportunities of proving our integrity which
we now have. He has marked out the path for us to walk in. He has
[p.190] designed that we shall struggle; that we shall exercise faith;
that we shall contend with the temptations of the adversary; that we
shall overcome evil; and by a continued exercise of faith progress in
the course that He has assigned to us. It is absolutely necessary that
we should be tempted and tried in order that we should receive the
glory that He has in store for us. What would our salvation amount to;
what would heaven amount to if we had never been tried, if we were to
be placed in heaven without trial, without effort, without exertion
upon our part to overcome evil and to contend with those influences
that abound in this mortal state of existence. It would not be such a
heaven as God inhabits, and such a heaven as He designs that all His
children shall inhabit. For let me say to you, my brethren and
sisters, God designs that we shall be like Him. He designs that His
children shall attain unto the Godhead—that is if they will obey the
laws necessary to bring them up to that exaltation, and before they
can attain unto that, before they can enjoy that, before they can be
in a condion to appreciate that, they must pass through just such
scenes of trial and tribulation and affliction as we are subjected to
in this mortal condition of existence.

Vol. 26,  p.190
There is an interesting passage in the new translation of the Bible,
in the Pearl of Great Price, that I have often been struck with. It
shows clearly the feelings of our first parents after they had been
thrust out of the garde, of Eden. I will read a paragraph or two:

Vol. 26,  p.190
"And Adam called upon the name of the Lord, and Eve also, his wife,
and they heard the voice of the Lord, from the way towards the garden
of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not, for they were shut
out from his presence."

Vol. 26,  p.190
That was one of the consequences of the fall. They were shut out, and
man has been from that time to this shut out from the presence of the
Father.

Vol. 26,  p.190
"And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord
their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flock, for an
offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of
the Lord.*  *  *  *

Vol. 26,  p.190
"And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying, Were
it not for our transgression we never should have seed, and never
should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and
the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.

Vol. 26,  p.190
"And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things
known unto their sons and daughters."

Vol. 26,  p.190
Now this couple blessed God because of their transgression. Their eyes
were opened; they had become as Gods; for the devil in tempting Eve,
had told a truth when he said unto her that when she should eat of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil they should become as Gods. He told
the truth in telling that, but he accompanied it with a lie as he
always does. He never tells the complete truth. He said that they
should not die. The Father had said that they should die. the devil
had to tell a lie in order to accomplish his purposes; but there was
some truth in his statement. Their eyes were opened. They had a
knowledge of good and evil just as the Gods have. They became as Gods;
for that is one of the features, one of [p.191] the peculiar
attributes of those who attain unto that glory—they understand the
difference between good and evil. In our pre-existent state, in our
spiritual existence, I do not know how extensive our knowledge of good
and evil was. That is not fully revealed. But this I do know, that
when we come In earth and become clothed with mortality we do arrive
at a knowledge of good and evil, and that knowledge prepares us for
that future existence which we will have in the eternal worlds; it
will enable us to enter upon a career that is never ending, that will
continue onward and upward throughout all the ages of eternity. It is
for this purpose that we are here. God has given unto us this
probation for the express purpose of obtaining a knowledge of good and
evil—of understanding evil and being able to overcome the evil—and by
overcoming it receive the exaltation and glory that He has in store
for us. Here we are subjected to the power of the adversary. He can
tempt us; try us. Satan has power in the earth, and in the exercise of
his agency he tempts the children of men. He has rebelled against God
in the exercise of his agency; for he was a great and a mighty angel
in the presence of our Father and our God. But in the exercise of his
agency he rebelled against the Father and drew away with him one-third
of the hosts of heavens, who likewise exercised their agency and
followed him in preference to following the Lord God, their Father;
and in the continued exercise of his agency he tempts us. He has power
over us to that extent in this fallen condition. At the same time we
have the sweet influence of the Spirit of God pleading with us to do
that which is right, pleading with every human being that does not
drive it from him; for every human being has a portion of the Spirit
of God given unto him. We sometimes call it conscience; we call it by
one name and we call it by another; but it is the Spirit of God that
every man and woman possesses that is born on the earth. God has given
unto all his children this Spirit. Of course it is trot the gift of
the Holy Ghost in its fullness; for that is only received by obedience
to the commandments of God—to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. But it is a Spirit that pleads with men to do right. The
heathen have it. There is no degraded Indian in these mountains or
valleys who does not have a portion of that Spirit pleading with him
to do that which is right. It pleads with all the heathen, the Pagan
as well as the Christian; the Methodist and Baptist as well as the
Latter-day Saints. Everywhere throughout the earth where man dwells
this Spirit rests Upon him. It comes from God. It pleads with man to
do right. It pleads with man to resist the blandishments of Satan. No
man ever did a wrong but that Spirit warned him of it to a greater or
less extent. No mail ever pat his hand forth to do a wrong to his
neighbor without that Spirit telling him it was wrong. He never put
forth his hand or influence to wrong the gentler sex—to commit sin in
that direction—without that warning voice which is in every human
being telling him of the sin. On the other hand, there is the
influence of evil, the influence of the Adversary enticing men to do
wrong, leading into paths of sin, leading them away from righteousness
and from God; infusing doubt, infusing unbelief, infusing hardness of
heart, infusing rebellion against everything [p.192] that is holy and
pure. We are all conscious of the existence of these two influences
within us. There is no child that has reached the age of
accountability and in the possession of his or her faculties but what
has had these two influences pleading with him or her—one entreating
to do right, the other enticing to do wrong, to commit sin and to
violate the commandments of God. If we cultivate the good influence it
will lead us into the truth (if we are not already in possession of
the truth) when we hear it. It was through this Spirit that you
Latter-day Saints accepted the Gospel in the various lands where you
heard it preached. That Spirit that came from God taught you by its
sweet and heavenly influence that it was the truth you heard, and when
you espoused it you had a feeling in your hearts that you cannot
describe. It was the testimony of the Spirit of God that this was
indeed the truth of heaven, and it led you to obey the commandments of
God; and to receive in greater fullness and power the gift of the Holy
Ghost, which you have received through obedience to the commandments
that God has given.

Vol. 26,  p.192
Time will not permit me to say a great many things that I have on my
mind. I see the time is nearly expired. But I wish to say that we had
an existence before we came here. "But," says one, "I do not remember
anything about it." No, you do not. You do not remember the day you
were born on the earth, yet you will not deny that you had an
existence at that time. When you were a year old you do not remember
beginning to walk, yet you will not deny that you had an existence
then. God, in His wisdom, has withdrawn the recollection of these
things from us. If we could understand the glory we once had with our
Father in heaven we would be discontented in dwelling in this
condition of existence. We would pine for the home we left behind us.
Its glory and its beauty, its heavenly graces and delights were of
such a character that we would pine for it with that home-sickness
that men have some partial knowledge of here on the earth. It is said
that at one time in the French army, the bands were forbidden to play
certain airs because of the effect they had upon the Swiss soldiers
whom they employed. These Swiss airs would arouse such sensations of
home sickness as to cause the Swiss to throw down their arms and
desert and go back to their native valleys and mountains. Now, if such
a feeling of home-sickness can be brought about in that way, how much
more would it be the case if we could recollect our association with
our Father and God in the eternal world! Wisely, in the providence of
God, this knowledge is withdrawn from us. We can have a glimpse
occasionally, through the revelations of the Spirit to us, of the
glory there is awaiting us, and sometimes when men and women are
approaching death—when they are ready to step out of this existence
into the other—the veil becomes so thin that they behold the glories
of the eternal world, and when they come back again—as some have, we
all probably have met those who have been snatched from death—they
come back to this mortal existence with a feeling of regret. They have
had a foretaste of the glory that awaited them; they have had a
glimpse of that glory that is behind the veil; and the love of life is
so completely lost—the love of earthly home and friends is so
completely taken from [p.193] them, that they desire with all their
hearts to take their exit from this life into that glorious life which
they knew was on the other side of the veil. Has not this been the
case in many instances? Certainly it has. Therefore our God in His
wisdom has withdrawn this knowledge from us, and left us to seek for
and obtain that aid and strength necessary to enable us to
successfully battle with and overcome the powers of evil that assail
us on every hand.

Vol. 26,  p.193
My brethren and sisters: it is for us to contend with the evils that
surround us, patiently bearing all the afflictions and trials that
belong to this mortal life. We should remember our destiny, and at the
same rinse look forward to that glorious future that God has prepared
for us. We should be filled with the most noble aspirations. We should
never condescend to commit any low, mean, unworthy act when we
consider who we are, and what we are, and the glory that God has
promised unto us if we are faithful to Him. Let us keep those things
in mind. Let us bear patiently the afflictions that come upon us. Let
us contend earnestly for the faith that God desires we should have,
seeking unto Him for that knowledge which He has to bestow, and though
we may not behold His face now, yet we will behold it, and will dwell
eternally with Him and His Son Jesus in the heavens, if we keep the
commandments He has given unto us.

Vol. 26,  p.193
May God grant that we may do so, is my prayer in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

Orson F. Whitney, April 19, 1885

God the Source of All Intelligence—Mankind His 
Offspring and the Instruments of His Will—He Overrules 
the Results of Men's Actions—Pre-Existence of Man and 
Plurality of Worlds—the Gospel One and Unchangeable—
Charges of Exclusiveness, Etc., Against the Saints—the 
Christian World Deny Revelation and Repudiate Bible 
Doctrine—Their Apostacy Predicted and Fulfilled—the Gospel 
Restored and the Last Dispensation—the Earth's Week of History 
and Millennial Sabbath—What "Mormon" Treason Consists 
Of—the Mission of the American Republic—a Fable and 
Its Application—a Prophecy—the Peaceable 
Mission of the Saints

Discourse By Bishop Orson F. Whitney, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 19, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.193
I HAVE been called upon, my brethren and sisters and friends, to
address you for a portion of the time which belongs to this meeting,
and I assure you that in responding to that call I have no desire in
my heart but to be led to say those things which will be pleasing and
acceptable to God our Father, and beneficial to ourselves.

Vol. 26,  p.193
I have always been taught to regard our Father in heaven as the source
of all intelligence, and that wherever intelligence is manifested
throughout the earth, among His creatures, it has its primal origin in
Him who is the fountain of life and light; and that if men are
qualified to perform any great or good work, it must necessarily be by
reason of the power from God which rests upon them. The Latter-day
Saints take this view of the relationship of God with mankind; that He
is not simply the Father, or creator of a part of the human race, or a
portion of earth's creatures, but He is the creator of all things—the
maker of the earth, the maker of heaven, and that the children of men
are the sons and daughters of one common parentage; that He feels for
them all the day long; that He has their welfare constantly in view,
and He makes no movement, so far as His children upon this earth are
concerned, but He does it for their salvation and their good here and
hereafter.

Vol. 26,  p.193
The Latter-day Saints are said to be exclusive, and are called selfish
and presumptuous because they maintain that a certain mission has been
given unto them; that they have received revelations from God; that
the Maker of the world has deigned to speak in these last days, and
raise up men and women whom He knew before-hand would do His will.
This unfavorable view arises [p.195] from the fact that our motives
are misunderstood; that our mission, which we continually proclaim to
the world is not believed in, and we are looked upon as an assembly of
upstarts, enthusiasts and fanatics, who, in our blindness and our
narrowness think that God has only regarded us; that we are His
favorites, and that He cares nothing at all for the rest of mankind.
This is a wrong idea of our position, and it is because our position
is thus misconceived—one cause at least—that we are persecuted and
abused, derided, oppressed and trampled upon as we are. However, I do
not believe that we could escape the common fate of those whom God has
chosen for a peculiar work in all ages of the world. For, while we
acknowledge that God is the Father of the human race, and interested
in the salvation of all, we do maintain that our mission as a part of
the human family is peculiar, separate and distinct from the missions
which have been given to others. God is the author of many plans and
purposes, but all his plans, all his purposes and designs converge to
one point, have one focus, whether He uses the Christian world, the
heathen world, or even this little handful of Latter-day Saints; no
matter whom He uses to accomplish His ends, these purposes blend and
have but one grand object. They are like rivers or streams of
different kinds and sizes flowing towards one ocean into which they
all must empty. And though men deem themselves independent—and it is
true that in one sense they are—while they fail, many of them, to take
God into consideration, and seem to think they can do about as they
please, and accomplish what ends they desire, all their independence,
all their freedom, simply amounts to this; that they have the
privilege to do right or do wrong, but the results of their actions
God will over-rule to suit himself. "Man proposes but God disposes,"
and the history of this world, or any other world which has passed
through a similar probation and been redeemed and glorified by the
power of God and obedience to the principles of righteousness, is one
vast exemplification of that great truth. While man is left free to
propose, to adopt what plans he chooses, to exercise his agency, and
to carry, so far as he is permitted, the thoughts and desires of his
heart to their conclusion, God has never declared that He would not
overrule the results of men's acts to accomplish His own purposes.

Vol. 26,  p.195
We are placed in this world measurably in the dark. We no longer see
our Father face to face. While it is true that we once did; that we
once stood in His presence, seeing as we are seen, knowing, according
to our intelligence, as we are known; the curtain has dropped, we have
changed our abode, we have taken upon ourselves flesh; the vail of
forgetfulness intervenes between this life and that, and we are left,
as Paul expresses it, to "see through a glass darkly," to "know in
part and to prophesy in part;" to see only to a limited extent, the
end from the beginning. We do not comprehend things in their fullness.
But we have the promise, if we will receive and live by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God, wisely using the intelligence,
the opportunities, the advantages, and the possessions which He
continually bestows upon us—the time will come, in the eternal course
of events, when our minds will be cleared from every cloud, the past
will recur to memory, the future will be an open vision, and we will
behold things as [p.196] they are, and the past, present and future
will be one eternal day, as it is in the eyes of God our Father, who
knows neither past, present or future; whose course is one eternal
round; who creates, who saves, redeems and glorifies the workmanship
of His hands, in which He Himself is glorified.

Vol. 26,  p.196
The earth upon which we dwell is only one among the many creations of
God. The stars that glitter in the heavens at night and give light
unto the earth are His creations, redeemed worlds, perhaps, or worlds
that are passing through the course of their redemption, being saved,
purified, glorified and exalted by obedience to the principles of
truth which we are now struggling to obey. Thus is the work of our
Father made perpetual, and as fast as one world and its inhabitants
are disposed of, He will roll another into existence, He will create
another earth, He will people it with His offspring, the offspring of
the Gods in eternity, and they will pass through probations such as we
are now passing through, that they may prove their integrity by their
works; that they may give an assurance to the Almighty that they are
worthy to be exalted through obedience to those principles, that
unchangeable plan of salvation which has been revealed to us.

Vol. 26,  p.196
It is one of the grandest attributes of Deity that He saves and exalts
the human family upon just and eternal principles; that He gives to no
man, or no woman that which they have not been willing to work for,
which they have not deserved, which they have not expanded themselves
to receive. by putting in practice the principles He reveals, against
all opposition, facing the wrath and scorn of the world—the world
which cannot give a just cause, a reasonable pretext for the
opposition it has ever manifested to the truths of heaven. It is a
characteristic of our Father, a principle of His divine economy to
exact from every soul a fitting proof of its worthiness to attain the
exaltation to which it aspires. There are no heights that may not be
surmounted, but they must be reached in the way that God has ordained.
Man may think to accomplish his salvation by carrying out the selfish
desires of his own heart; but when he fails to take God into
consideration, his Creator, and the framer of the laws whereby we
mount unto exaltation and eternal life, he knocks the ladder from
under him whereby he might climb to that glorious state.

Vol. 26,  p.196
The exclusiveness which the Latter-day Saints exhibit is this: they
maintain that the Lord has but one way to save the human race; that
the term "everlasting gospel" is not a misnomer, but means exactly
what it says, and that it is eternal as its maker or framer is
eternal. It can no more change than He can change. A man must obey the
same principles now that were obeyed two thousand years ago, or six
thousand years ago, or millions of ages ago, in order to attain the
presence of His Father and God. There is but one way, one plan of life
and salvation, and there need be but one; for God, being an economist,
does not create that which is superfluous; and there can be, in the
very nature of things, only one true plan of eternal life, for if
there were two they must necessarily differ, since no two things can
be exactly alike, and if one of these two things is perfect that which
differs from it, must be imperfect. Of a necessity God is the author
of perfection; His works are not deficient in any respect; and what He
ordains for [p.197] the salvation of man is the only way for man to be
saved. Thus it is that the Latter-day Saints preach the everlasting
Gospel, the unchangeable way of eternal life, and to corroborate it,
they point to the Scriptures which are now being fulfilled. Among
other things, to the vision of the Prophet John upon the isle of
Patmos, who saw "another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred and tongue, and people, saying with a loud
voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of his judgment is
come." This is the exclusiveness of the Latter-day Saints; it is as
far as it extends. There is but one way to eternal life, and while
there are many systems extant called plans of salvation, yet they
differ from each other as the stars of heaven differ in magnitude, or
as the sands of the seashore, or as the countenances of the children
of men; nay, more than this, for most of them are lacking in features
which are necessary in order to form a perfect whole. If the
Latter-day Saints are in possession of the everlasting Gospel, all
sects, creeds and parties that preach a Gospel which differs from it,
must be wrong; or vice versa, if the Saints preach any other Gospel
than that which was preached in the days of the apostles, which was
delivered to them by the Sons of God, then the Latter-day Saints must
be wrong also.

Vol. 26,  p.197
The selfishness which this people exhibit is of the same character
that might be evinced in the case of a man who was lost and had the
right way pointed out to him by another. If a traveler had lost his
way and should meet one who professed to know the direction he desired
to pursue; or, if the traveler should ask which was the way to such
and such a place, and the guide should tell him, and he in his
self-will and obstinacy should persist in taking a contrary course,
how in the name of consistency could he blame his guide if he did not
reach his destination; or how could he charge him with being selfish
or presumptuous, when he himself confessed his ignorance and appealed
to this man who testified in all earnestness that he knew which was
the right way? Yet this is similar to the position of the world in
relation to the Latter-day Saints, who solemnly testify that the God
of heaven has revealed to them the only way to life and salvation, a
claim which no other sect, church or party advance at the present
time. They deny revelation; they say the heavens are closed; that God
no longer speaks to the human family; that He has left them with a
Bible, the record of a people who are dead; which speaks of
commandments given to an ancient people, who like ourselves were the
children of God. This is the claim of the Christian world—that this
book is the canon of scripture, and that it is full, and we need no
more revelation, no more light than is contained within the lids of
this book. They take that position, and yet say we are exclusive, we
are presumptuous, narrow-minded and contracted, because we testify
that God does speak, and has revealed a newer revelation than this
Bible which I hold.

Vol. 26,  p.197
It is true that our testifying of this does not make it true, in and
of itself. Nevertheless, men are responsible if they do not carefully
weigh and consider the testimonies of those who claim to have more
light than they have. I would hold myself ready, as a speaker after
truth, if not certain that I already possessed it, and I hold myself
ready [p.198] now, while believing that my feet are planted upon the
rock of truth, and that this is the only Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ; to pay due respect to the honest opinions of my fellow
creatures, proving all things and holding fast that which is good. If
the Christian world shall bring forth something better, if they have
it, or ever will have it, than Mormonism, I hope I will not be so
bigoted as to turn a deaf ear to their honest testimonies, claiming
that I have light already, and that I want no more light. I would at
least examine their professions, whatever they were, and try them by
"the law and the testimony;" for if men "speak not according to that,
it is because there is no light in them."

Vol. 26,  p.198
The Bible is a blessing; we do not depreciate its value, for it
enables us to meet the Christian world upon their own ground, using
this Bible as the touch-stone of truth, in relation to their doctrines
and those that we advance, which are taught and confirmed by this very
Book in which Cristians profess to believe. There is no doctrine
preached or believed by the Latter-day Saints, but they can find
confirmatory proof of its authenticity within the lids of the Holy
Bible; and when their views are not received, and they are laughed to
scorn and derided by the Christian world, it is simply an
acknowledgment on the part of those who mistreat them that they do not
believe their own Bible, that they have no faith in the record which
they claim is all-sufficient—the be-all and the end-all of revelation.
They profess great reverence for this good Book, yet they do not
believe or practice what it inculcates. It is a prevalent idea in the
world, with those who are in possession of the Scriptures, that it is
only necessary to believe on the name of the Son of God, and that
constitutes salvation, taking I suppose as a basis for it, the
Scriptural passage which declares that "God so loved the world that He
gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life." Now, we take this
position. We hold that belief in God and the Savior of mankind is
absolutely essential to salvation. But we do not stop there. We claim
that if men believe in Jesus Christ they will keep His commandments;
they will live His laws; they will not repudiate any of the doctrines
He preached; they will not say baptism is unessential; that Apostles
and Prophets are no longer needed; they will not wrest the Scriptures;
they will not say the blessings of the Holy Ghost are done away with;
they will not say it is not in the province of inspired men bearing
the Holy Priesthood to cast out devils, to speak in new tongues, to
lay hands upon the sick and administer those spiritual blessings as
they are empowered by the Priesthood bestowed upon them for that
purpose. The Christian world would not repudiate these these things if
they believed their own Bible; for I nowhere read within the lids of
this sacred volume that the time would ever come, except through
transgression and apostacy, when these things would be done away with,
and it would be said they were no longer needed.

Vol. 26,  p.198
It is true that the Apostles of old predicted there would come a time
when men would wander from the truth, when they would heap to
themselves teachers, and have itching ears, desiring to hear simply
the things which suited their selfish natures; that the day would come
when they would not endure sound [p.199] doctrine, but would hire
teachers to preach for the commandments of God the precepts of men;
when the world would be turned upside down and be emptied of its
inhabitants, because they had transgressed the law, changed the
ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant. This was to be the
condition of the world when these gifts and blessings would be said to
be no longer needed. They could no longer lay claim to them because
they would persecute oppress and put to death those who preached sound
doctrine; and having destroyed the temporal Church from the face of
the earth, its spiritual counterpart would necessarily depart, just as
naturally as the spirit of man will depart when the body ceases to
live. The body is but a lump of clay without the enlivening agency of
the spirit within it. When the body returns to dust, the spirit is
free to soar away. When the body of Christ was dead, the spirit
returned to God, passed into the spirit world. So it is with the
Church, which is called the body of Christ. Kill the temporal Church,
and the spirit Church will take its departure; it will be received
into the heavens.

Vol. 26,  p.199
This is our belief; that the Christian Church, established in the days
of Christ and His Apostles, apostatized and turned from the truth, it
became paganized, mixed up with the religion and traditions of pagan
Rome, and that that is the cause of this wide diversity of beliefs and
conjectures, these many forms of godliness, denying the power thereof;
which are said to be the Church of Christ, yet bear little or no
semblance to the Church which He established; all claiming to be one,
yet divided innumerably; to have the same Gospel, yet not able to
stand the test of comparison with the Gospel preached in former days;
claiming the same power, yet repudiating and denying that power and
trampling upon those who still maintain that it ought to exist. This
is the consistency of the position of the opponents of "Mormonism,"
which claims to be the old Gospel brought back again, the old Church
resurrected, no new religion, no new plan, but simply the everlasting
Gospel revealed anew.

Vol. 26,  p.199
I might occupy your time citing evidences almost innumerable to show
how the Christian world have departed from the teachings of this
sacred Book. I might appeal to it, also, to confirm the teachings of
the Latter-day Saints. It is an old story, many times told, and
perhaps I had better not dilate upon it this afternoon. Suffice it
that we claim that God has spoken from heaven; that He has re-opened
the long-closed portals of eternity, and has raised up a people to
usher in the dispensation of Gospel grace as He has headed every
dispensation which has preceded it; raising up inspired men to do His
bidding; to preach to the world the principles of everlasting life; to
establish upon the earth a system which will foreshadow and usher in
the millennial reign of universal peace and righteousness. We believe
that we are living in the last days; that these are the day's when God
said He would perform a marvelous work and a wonder; that He would set
His hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people; that He
would gather them from the north and from the south, from the east and
from the west, and would bring them to Zion, and give them pastors
after His own heart, to teach them the law of the Lord, and that the
law should go forth from Zion to the inhabitants of the [p.200] earth,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Vol. 26,  p.200
We believe that we are living in the evening of history, that we are
closing the Saturday of the great week, each day of which is a
thousand years, the period preordained in which this earth should
accomplish the purpose appointed by its creator. We believe that when
God spake to Adam and told Him he should die in the day that He
partook of the forbidden fruit, that He kept His word, and that Adam
did die within the day; but it was not a day of twenty-four hours, one
revolution of our little earth; the day of which He spake was based
upon a revolution of the planet upon which God dwells, which we are
taught revolves once in a thousand years. This world was appointed a
probation through which to pass, six working days, before it should
have a rest, or sabbath. We believe we are living in the Saturday
night of this world's history, that we are closing the six thousand
years of its mortal probation, and that the dawn of the seventh day,
or the seventh thousand years, now nearly upon us, will be the
millennium, the reign of peace, when Christ the Ruler and Lord of this
world, who labored and suffered and died to redeem its inhabitants
from death, will be here in His glory to reign upon the earth King
over His people and over the human race.

Vol. 26,  p.200
These simple truths, most of which are plainly spoken of in this holy
word of God, the Bible, are distorted by the enemies of the Saints to
indicate that they are treasonable to the government under which they
live. They say we are traitors because we speak of the Kingdom of God;
that a kingdom cannot exist within a republic; that it is imperium in
imperio; that there is no room in this broad land for the Kingdom of
our God. They might as well say there is no room in Christianity for
the love of God. Why, this great government was established for the
very purpose of introducing this work. Inspired men like Washington
and Jefferson were raised up to frame a Constitution liberal in its
provisions, extending the utmost freedom to all men, Christian or
heathen, who desired to make this glorious land their home; that they
might have the unrestricted right to worship God according to the
dictates of their consciences. We believe that God raised up George
Washington, that He raised up Thomas Jefferson, that He raised up
Benjamin Franklin and those other patriots who carved out with their
swords and with their pens the character and stability of this great
government which they hoped would stand forever, an asylum for the
oppressed of all nations, where no man's religion would be questioned,
no man would be limited in his honest service to his Maker, so long as
he did not infringe upon the rights of his fellow men. We believe
those men were inspired to do their work, as we do that Joseph Smith
was inspired to begin this work; just as Gallileo, Columbus, and other
mighty men of old, whom I have no time to mention, were inspired to
gradually pave the way leading to this dispensation; sentinels,
standing at different periods down the centuries, playing their parts
as they were inspired of God; gradually freeing the human mind from
error, gradually dispelling the darkness as they were empowered by
their Creator so to do, that in culmination of the grand scheme of
schemes, this great nation, the Republic of the United States, might
be established upon this land [p.201] as an asylum for the oppressed;
a resting place, it might be said, for the Ark of the covenant, where
the temple of our God might be built; where the plan of salvation
might be introduced and practiced in freedom, and not a dog would wag
his tongue in opposition to the purposes of the Almighty. We believe
that this was His object in creating the Republic of the United
States; the only land where his work could be commenced or the feet of
his people find rest. No other land had such liberal institutions, had
adopted so broad a platform upon which all men might stand. We give
glory to those patriots for the noble work they did; but we give the
first glory to God, our Father and their Father, who inspired them. We
take them by the hand as brothers. We believe they did nobly their
work, even as we would fain do ours, faithfully and well, that we
might not be recreant in the eyes of God, for failing to perform the
mission to which He has appointed us.

Vol. 26,  p.201
This is the "treason" of the Latter-day Saints. They preach the coming
of the King of Kings, whom all Christians ought to worship; whom all
Christians ought to welcome; and instead of passing laws to prohibit,
and prevent, if possible, the growth of this work, which has as its
object the blessing of all mankind, they should join hands with the
Latter-day Saints in consummating it; for as sure as there is a God in
heaven it is His work, and He will accomplish it. Haling men before
magistrates; immuring them in dungeons; driving them from city to
city, or shedding their blood, will no more stamp out this work than
it will blot out the glory of the sun. They who take up the sword to
fight against Zion will perish by the sword before she perishes; they
who leave God out of the question in dealing with the "Mormon problem"
will find before they get through that it is suicide to run against
Jehovah's buckler.

Vol. 26,  p.201
We, to all appearances are helpless. We make no boast of our own
strength. We are only a handful in the midst of millions. But God has
given us a mission to perform. We can no more shrink from that mission
than the fathers of the revolution could shrink from theirs. That
indeed would be treason, treason to God, treason to humanity, and we
should justify the charges which are now so utterly false. We might be
complimented, "patted upon the back," if we would play the part of
traitors and recreants, but we cannot afford to buy the compliments of
the world, the good opinion of mankind, at such a terrible sacrifice.
Men who died to found this nation, have their names held in
everlasting remembrance, while the name of the traitor, who would have
betrayed his country, and deserted it in the hour of peril, is loaded
with opprobrium. He lived while many of the patriots died; but who are
living to-day in the true sense of the term? The name of the patriot
will live forever, because he had the courage to die for his
convictions; but the name of the traitor will go down to oblivion,
because to save himself he deserted in the hour of danger the cause of
his country, thinking it was of no use to stand up against the great
power which had lifted its mighty arm to crush out the colonies. We
think of these things, but we do not propose to fight. We are a people
who have peace as our object—the ushering in of a reign of peace. We
are a people who build temples. We [p.202] must not imbrue our hands
in blood. But it is not through fear of man that the Latter-day Saints
take this position. They have shown their bravery; they have proved
their courage by coming out of the world and forsaking it, patiently
enduring its scorn and opposition; it is a braver part sometimes to
live than to die.

Vol. 26,  p.202
There are sacrifices which would try the souls of some men more than
to face death in a thousand forms. But the Latter-day Saints have
taken a stand; they cannot recede from it with honor. They are
prepared to meet the consequences, and leave the result in the hands
of God. We do not look to man for our preservation. If there is no God
in "Mormonism" then it will fail, then will our minds be undeceived;
but if there is a God in it, woe! to those who fight against Him, who
fight against their Creator, and suppose that they can trample upon
the rights of their fellow-men and not endanger their own rights and
liberties as well.

Vol. 26,  p.202
The old fable which Æsop tells of the woodman who went into the forest
to get a handle for his axe, describes accurately the position in
which we find ourselves. The woodman went and consulted the trees of
the forest, asking them to give him a handle for his axe. The other
trees, the stronger ones, arrogating to themselves authority and
ignoring the rights of others, thought that they could dispose of them
as they pleased. They conferred together and decided to grant the
request, and they gave to the woodman the ash. The ash fell; but the
woodman had no sooner fitted the handle to his axe, than he began upon
the other trees. He did not stop with the ash, but he bowed down the
oaks and the cedars, and the great and mighty monarchs of the forest
who had surrendered in their pride, the rights of the humble ash. An
old oak was heard to complain to a neighboring cedar, "if we had not
given away the rights of the ash we might have stood forever; but we
have surrendered to the destroyer the rights of one, and now we are
suffering from the same evil ourselves."

Vol. 26,  p.202
This nation may think that it is strong enough—powerful enough—to
treat the people of Utah as they please. They are; we do not pretend
to compare with them so far as that is concerned. But if there is any
truth in eternal justice; if there is such a thing as retributions,
woe! be unto this forest of States if they surrender into the hands of
tyranny the rights of the Utah ash! It cannot be done with safety. If
they trample upon the rights of their fellow men, there must come a
time in the eternal revolutions of the wheels of justice when their
own necks will be beneath the tyrant's heel. They will suffer
themselves from the laws they have passed against the maligned,
misunderstood, down-trodden people of Utah. I hope to God, as an
American patriot, that this newer need come. I hope the eyes of this
nation will be opened, that they may see the danger in which they
stand from afar; but if I were a prophet I would prophesy in the name
of God that if they give away our rights, if they trample upon our
liberties, and surrender us as a sacrifice to popular clamor, the day
will come when their own necks will feel the galling yoke; the laws
they pass now to deprive us of our rights as American citizens, will
deprive them of their rights, and they will drink the cup heaped up,
pressed down, and running over. I hope [p.203] this never need be; but
I dare predict it on that condition, in all humility, with no spirit
of treason, or of ill will to my country; but with a feeling of sorrow
that some of our fellow-citizens have it in their hearts to treat us
in this cruel manner.

Vol. 26,  p.203
We are a people of peace. We only desire to be let alone to accomplish
our mission in peace. God would not permit us to build temples, any
more than He permitted David, if we imbrued our hands in blood. David
was forbidden to build the temple of God at Jerusalem, because he had
been a man of blood. It was reserved for his son Solomon, a man of
peace, to build the temple. So it is with us. We will not need to
fight, we do not propose to take up arms, we do not desire and will
not be compelled to shed the blood of our fellow-men. We may have our
own blood shed in instances, though the work of God will not be
trampled out; but we will let them monopolize that part; they may shed
our blood, but we must not shed theirs. We must build temples to the
honor of our God, and administer in them for the salvation of the
living and the dead; and thus go onward, spreading peace, pouring oil
upon the troubled waters; and while there will be wars and rumors of
wars, while nation will clash against nation and go down in the
whirlpool of fury, the Latter-day Saints must preach peace on earth
and good will to men, and be exemplars in all righteousness; seeking
to let their light so shine that the glory of God will radiate from
them to others.

Vol. 26,  p.203
This is the treason which we preach. We desire to benefit our country;
benefit our fellow-citizens; benefit our fellow-men. We believe this
world is the Lord's, and I that He is coming to reign upon it as it is
His right to reign. I care not how soon it is accomplished. The reign
of Christ will rob no man of his rights; no righteous government need
fear it; neither the United States, nor the nations of Europe, if
their consciences are clear, need dread the coming of the King of
Kings. They must acknowledge if they are Christian nations, that they
owe their allegiance to Him whose right it is to reign. They should be
proud to lay their crowns and sceptres at His feet, and acknowledge
Him to be Lord of Lords, and crown Him King of Kings.

Vol. 26,  p.203
This is a glance at the mission of the Latter-day Saints. These are
some of the views we cherish and which we cannot recede from; we would
be unworthy of our lineage as the sons and daughters of Abraham, the
sons and daughters of Liberty, if we should forsake the things for
which our forefathers lived and died, and suffered all manner of
persecution. We leave the issue with God. Let the world persecute us,
if they desire to assume that responsibility; we will seek to return
good for evil. When they come with the sword we will meet them with
the olive branch. We will say peace on earth when they have war on
earth. We will do our duty as God shall give us strength, and leave
the result with Him who over-rules the acts of all men and all nations
for the ultimate redemption of the human family, of which we are some
of the humble representatives.

Vol. 26,  p.203
May God speed the day. May He bless those who are persecuted, who are
driven and imprisoned for righteousness' sake. May He bless the
honest, the good, the pure and the patriotic among the American
people; [p.204] the honest and the upright among all nations, who
desire to enjoy their own rights and liberties, and are willing that
others should enjoy theirs. May God bless all fair-minded people, and
may He have mercy upon those who seek to trample upon the rights of
their fellow creatures, and oppose the great and glorious purposes
which have been foreordained. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Moses Thatcher, April 13, 1885

The Speaker's Pleasure in Again 
Meeting With the Saints, and Partaking 
of the Sacrament—the Companionship of the 
Holy Ghost is More Precious Than Gold—Future 
Destiny of the Saints—Their Love for the Mountains—
Blessings Only Appreciated By Contrast—Nobility and Scarcity 
of Moral Courage—Tyranny of Public Opinion—We Cannot Love God 
and Hate Our Fellow-Man—Men and Women Do Wrong When They 
Yield to the Influence of Satan—What Constitutes a Son of 
Perdition—Agencies Which Men Use, Compared to 
Electricity—Truth Has Ever Leen Fiercely 
Opposed—Our Trials Are Agreeable to 
God's Purposes—Conclusion

Remarks By Apostle Moses Thatcher, Delivered in 
Logan Tabernacle, Sunday, April 13, 1885.

Reported By F. E. Barker

Vol. 26,  p.204
MY brethren and sisters, I have spoken but little in public during the
past three months. And without the assistance of your faith and
prayers, through the medium of which I may enjoy a portion of the Holy
Spirit, to direct my mind and inspire my thoughts, I have no wish to
address you this afternoon. I believe, however, that I appreciate the
privilege of meeting with, and of enjoying your society once more, and
I am especially delighted to hear again the sweet melody of the choir,
and rejoice in listening to the testimony of my brethren; but beyond
and above all these things, I am grateful for another peaceful
opportunity of partaking of the sacrament with the Saints; for as
often as we do so worthily, we renew our covenants with our Heavenly
Father, and receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through whom comes
communion with God. To us such communion is worth more than all
earthly things. Men devote their time and talents—the best energy
[p.205] and deepest devotion of their lives in the acquirement of
perishable wealth; and of which, when acquired, they often make golden
gods to pay homage and soulless worship to, imagining that in these
things are found fame, honor, worldly glory and earthly happiness.
Gold, when compared with the riches of eternity, becomes almost
valueless, and yet it is the creation of God, and no man has ever
brought an ounce of it into the world, nor can he take a grain of it
out of the world. But notwithstanding this fact known to all, men for
its brief possession willingly encounter untold dangers, in traversing
deserts, climbing mountains, navigating seas, and battling with angry
waves; they willingly endure the beats of torrid and the colds of
frigid zones, often sacrificing the endearments of home and friends,
and sometimes truth and honor. Created by the Almighty, gold, when
honestly acquired, becomes a means of ministering to the comfort and
convenience of man; but there is that which the Lord bestows upon the
honest, obedient and good, of far higher value. The Holy Ghost, the
Comforter, hath the power of peace and bestows salvation upon obedient
humanity, regardless of their earthly surroundings. Let us, therefore,
secure the Holy Ghost, and in the testimony of the Father and of the
Son which He alone bestows, we shall have secured the "pearl of great
price," which the world cart neither give nor take away. Let us gain
the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and the doctrines of the
Priesthood will distil upon our minds as the dews of heaven, and the
gates that lead to peace and happiness in time and in eternity will,
by the power and authority of his keys, stand wide open for us to pass
through to exaltation, dominion and glory.

Vol. 26,  p.205
Since the beginning of the new year I have been almost constantly on
the move, having, during that time, traveled a distance almost equal
to that of half the earth's circumference; most of it being by rail,
but at least a thousand miles was accomplished with teams, on
horseback and on foot. I have examined a country never before seen by
me, consisting of waterless, timberless plains, and mountains rugged,
wild, and uninhabited. During my absence, my reflections have been
mainly in reference to the future destiny of the Saints of the Most
High. And these reflections have led me to note the striking
attachment they have manifested of late years for countries "exalted
above the hills." In our choice of locations we cling to the mountains
as naturally as a child to the bosom of its mother. As during our
infancy we have clung to them, learning to love their crags, canyons
and valleys, so, I believe, we shall continue in them until we grow
strong, and be able not only to stand erect, but to walk forth with
godlike dignity at least respected, if not honored by all peoples. We
are not strong now. We are weak and few in numbers. But there is much
in the training we are receiving calculated to make our posterity
strong physically and bright intellectually. In illustration of a part
of this training I am reminded of some of the remarks of the last
speaker, Elder Viilet, who recently returned from an Italian mission.
On reaching his native land, according to his statement, he found the
food offered him exceedingly distasteful, but later he ate it with
relish. Hunger changed and improved his appetite. That hunger was the
result of deprivation. [p.206] And in like manner, love of liberty and
a keen relish for its blessings are intensified by the constant
encroachments made upon our rights by those who little dream that, in
sowing to the wind they will have to reap the whirlwind, when their
rights will, also, not only be invaded, but taken away from them; for
the measure which they meet to others, will, in the eternal justice of
God, be measured back to them. The Almighty hath decreed it. Who can
prevent its fulfillment?

Vol. 26,  p.206
In further illustration, I am reminded of a well known elder in the
Church whose name in this connection I feel not at liberty to mention,
but who, gathering with others from England to Zion, became, in the
course of years, wealthy and cultivated, as many having abundant means
do. Luxurious habits of living finally satiated his appetite, and he
went back to old England, anticipating among other things to enjoy,
when there again, the famous "roast beef" of his native land, the like
of which, in his opinion, this country did not, and never could
produce. After searching in vain be declared, on coming back here,
that there was no beef in England half so good as that raised in Utah.
Had the beef of that country deteriorated? No, but our English
brother's appetite, through being pampered, had. Had he eaten it once
a week, as was doubtless his former habit, instead of three times a
day, as is too frequently the custom here, the difference in quality
of English beef had perhaps remained undiscovered by him until this
day. In parallel, who shall declare that blessings so abundantly
flowing to our nation from blood-bought freedom and human liberty
bestowed without stint from heaven, have not pampered the average
American's appetite or relish for blessings that men of other ages
have fought to establish and longed to enjoy.

Vol. 26,  p.206
Ponder this matter carefully, deeply, and you will find few truths
more apparent. Consult railway, banking and commercial kings;
statesmen, philosophers, priests and people, and then note the voice
of pulpit and press, and you will find an indifference born of pride
that plainly, unmistakably, indicates that the rights and liberties
for the securing of which our fathers pledged their fortunes, honor
and lives, are now received by their children, in most instances, as
inherent blessings flowing as a natural consequence rather than as
gifts for which daily gratitude is due.

Vol. 26,  p.206
Not so with the Saints. They of all people on earth are most
appreciative, most grateful. And why? the answer is simple: their most
sacred rights being daily encroached upon, their conscientious
convictions sneered at, their religious privileges trampled under
foot, and even the domain of their heaven-inspired thought invaded,
they could not if they would fail to regard with intense appreciation
and undying love the bequests of the fathers. the very threats, as
well as the attempts of the wicked to deprive them of blessings wrung
from tyrants by revolutionary sires, will but teach the Saints more
accurately to estimate, by the cost, their value; and your high
estimate being transmitted to your children, will bud, bloom and ripen
into most glorious fruit, as delicious and sweet as that produced when
first the tree of liberty was moistened with the blood of patriots.
Let others therefore become pampered, gluttons, if they will, but for
us and [p.207] our children, fewer privileges well appreciated, are
better than many, without gratitude.

Vol. 26,  p.207
Impress these things upon the minds of our children, and among these
mountains will grow up a race of free men whose views will be broad,
high, and deep enough to appreciate liberty themselves, and to wish to
have all others enjoy its blessings. By contrast, they will learn this
and much more. If they taste the bitter the sweet will be to them all
the more agreeable.

Vol. 26,  p.207
You who for years have had peaceful possession of homes with society
of families and friends, can greatly increase your estimation of such
blessings by going abroad occasionally. I have tried it many times,
always, I trust, with profit. And yet wherever I go it has been my
good fortune to find friends. There may be present those who may
think, "if we have friends abroad, why don't they speak out in our
favor using their influence to stop the persecutions of the wicked
against us?" A pertinent query, perhaps, but I am not quite sure that
the Lord wants them stopped; indeed I rather incline to think
otherwise. And while there are thousands and hundreds of thousands of
people in the midst of the Christian world who, if left to their own
agency, would be just, generous, and good men worthy of the blessings
of the Lord, but who to-day are surrounded by circumstances which they
can neither control, nor have they the moral courage to even combat.
And for this reason they dare not publicly express their sympathy for,
nor utter a protest against the wrongs heaped upon us. But
notwithstanding this condition, which all must concede to be
deplorable, let us have charity, remembering that moral courage is
heaven-born and so precious that the world has at no period of its
history ever been over-stocked with it. It is a sentiment than which
none is more noble, beautiful or grand, emanating from God it abides
not in an ignoble, quaking heart. Demanding what the truly courageous
alone can give, self-sacrifice, moral courage numbers in her ranks at
no time vast multitudes. It is a sentiment of which, at no time, even
among us, have we had too much; but wherever found it shines brightly
like a star of the first magnitude, like a diamond of the first water
that cannot be successfully imitated.

Vol. 26,  p.207
A man with right convictions and the courage to stand by them in life
and death hath moral courage, stamina, and the help of God. Testing
its quality we will find it here as elsewhere, good; too good indeed
to abide with those whose acts are predicated not on principles of
justice, equity and truth. He who possesses moral courage weighs
according to equity, unbiassed by popular clamor, unswerved by private
prejuice. In trying cases he judges cases, not men, and on this
principle Satan himself, tried before such a judge, would stand the
same chance to get justice as would an angel of God. And, by parity of
reason, an angel would stand as good a chance to get justice as would
a veritable devil, although a discussion of that kind might innovate
modern jurisprudence as practiced in some countries not far distant
from here. Now, let me, if I can, bring this matter home to your
hearts. Suppose judgment without appeal was irrevocably placed in your
hands with none to say, why do you so? Now imagine in your midst a
despicable character, a Judas Iscariot, ready to betray [p.208] for
thirty pieces of silver, or to gratify a hatred born of hell, your
best friends—the servants of the Lord, or, Benedict Arnold like, sell
human liberty, God's best heritage, for gold. Popular clamor demands
punishment, and at the same time brands the accused as traitor,
apostate; an assassin of good character, a murderer of peace and good
order. Now bring him to judgment without malice, without bias,
protecting him from insult while giving him every right, every
privilege, every immunity guaranteed by the law of God and man and
pass upon his case, not upon him nor his reputation, according to the
rules of equity without fear of popular criticism or condemnation, and
you have demonstrated in actual practice what a beautiful and heavenly
thing moral courage is. Without it God would cease to be God. Without
it we cannot be His people. He who habitually sacrifices principle at
the shrine of policy or power, cannot be a Saint. Unless those who
rule, govern, control and judge under the rules and restrictions of
principle, the liberties of those who are subject to them are
constantly endangered. And here let me say that public opinion is
often the worst tyrant this world has ever known. It crucified Christ,
killed His disciples, martyred Joseph and Hyrum, drove the Saints into
these mountains and continues to track them as persistently and
unrelentingly as bloodhounds ever tracked fugitive slave. Avoid
therefore at home and abroad, the seductive influence of the hateful
tyrant, public opinion, which, wrought to frenzy by popular clamor, is
always dangerous, often destructive.

Vol. 26,  p.208
Planting your feet firmly on principles of eternal justice, emanating
from God, the billows of hate, born of envy, and malice, will beat and
foam harmlessly about you. And, when judgement shall be given into
your bands, friend and foe, Pagan and Christian, white and black,
Saint and sinner, will alike receive even-handed justice, which here
let me say, never has been and never will be bestowed under the
pressure and bias of public opinion, or by men claiming to be a law
unto themselves. Place moral courage in the judgment seat and the
Saint, as to righteousness of judgment has no advantage over the most
wicked apostate sinner on earth, their rights being held equally
sacred.

Vol. 26,  p.208
The reason this high moral, godlike plane has has not long since been
reached, is because of human imperfections and the darkness that
clouds and narrows the souls of men. We as the Saints of the Most High
God, having received the light, should struggle upward until we reach
it; and when we do, then, and not until then will the Almighty give us
dominion, rule and government. When we are prepared to exercise
judgment in righteousness the Lord will mightily increase our
influence and power, and millions will flock to the standard of Zion
to avoid oppression and wrong elsewhere.

Vol. 26,  p.208
This being among the greatest of all the great lessons that God has
decreed we shall learn, I say speed the means by which we may most
readily accomplish the task. If persecutions, unjust judgments,
imprisonments and martyrdoms, be the means, let us receive them them
not with feelings of delight because of the woes that will surely come
upon those who inflict these things upon us, but because the standards
of value are established by the cost of things received, and by this
rule we know that no good [p.209] thing has ever come into this world
without having cost the equal of its value. Nor has any great thought
or noble idea ever been introduced that had not to fight its way inch
by inch. Think of what the principles of the everlasting Gospel, that
are freely given, has without money, without price, cost? Agony that
caused the Son of God to sweat great drops of blood. And that being
too little, He must needs be insulted, spat upon, scourged, adjudged
to die, and that, too, by a heathen who knew Him to be innocent of
crime, and finally He was ignominiously crucified by those whom He
came to save. Humiliated, deprived of judgment and sacrificed, the
Lamb of God descended beneath all things that He might arise above all
things, leading captivity captive and giving gifts to men, while
holding the keys of death, hell, and the grave.

Vol. 26,  p.209
Had Christ been unable to accomplish that foreordained work, this
world would forever have remained without a Redeemer. Expiring on the
cross, amid the taunts and jeers of the wicked, in the agony of death,
crying: "Why hast Thou forsaken me," yet was He, being the spotless
Son of God, able to say, "Father forgive them, for they know not what
they do."

Vol. 26,  p.209
No shadow of hatred, no tinge of revenge, can be found in that
inspired sentence. From its utterance, under those terrible
circumstances, let us learn what He then taught so clearly, namely:
That we cannot hate man, however wicked and cruel he may be, and love
God at the same time. As an aid to the comprehension of this great
truth, it may be well to remember that man, however low and debased we
may find him in this world of trial, is not naturally vicious, nor
would he of his own inclinations seek to destroy human agency. God
made man, and he is, therefore, naturally good. But, under the
influences of him who rebelled in heaven, his judgment warps, his
heart hardens, his whole nature changes, and, while hatred misplaces
love, envy, malice add jealousy supplant in his heart the nobler
sentiments of justice, mercy and charity. The sea captain who
unselfishly, and without hope of earthly reward, placed the life boats
and as many of the helpless and weak as they would safely hold in
charge of his under officer and, with the stranger, remained and nobly
went down with his ship, was the natural man. The ignoble, selfish,
unnatural man would desire to save his own worthless life, at the
expense and sacrifice of untold numbers of others.

Vol. 26,  p.209
The natural woman clings to her husband, keeping sacred the covenants
made with him, and loving with undying affection the fruits of the
union. The unnatural wife and mother is true to neither. Cain as the
murderer of his brother, was an unnatural man whose soul was sold to
Satan under the provisions of an unholy alliance. And where men steal,
rob, commit whoredom, bear false witness, inflict unlawful, cruel
punishments, and kill, they, too, have listed to obey him whom they
serve. But, notwithstanding all this we should never forget that all
such, however debased, corrupt, wicked and low, kept their first
estate by fighting in heaven against him, whom, by reason of darkness
and destructive influence, they now willingly serve. Let us remember
how the angels' song of rejoicing when the "accuser of his brethren"
was cast out of heaven, was turned into lamentation [p.210] when they
beheld the sorrows and woes he would bring upon the inhabitants of the
earth, by reason of his trachery, deceit and cruel murders. When we
look upon the dark, sinful works of men ever tearing down and
destroying but never building up and saving, when we think of these
who rack their brains vainly trying to stop the onward progress of
God's work; when we think of prescriptive, special retroactive laws,
and those who enacted them, of mission jurists who condemn with
malice, of test-oath commissioners who fetter the innocent and free
the guilty, of governors who trample beneath their feet the liberties
and rights of a people with whom they have no interest and for whom
they have no compassion, of marshals who fraternize with criminals
while putting spotters and spies on the track of men good and true,
who to save their lives would commit no dishonorable act; of juries
packed and pledged to convict, and of Christian ministers who gloat
and glory in, and hound all this on, how should we feel.

Vol. 26,  p.210
We should feel, while despising their wicked ways, that they who do
them are the children of God upon whom Satan hath laid his hand hoping
to ruin both body and soul, and cast them down to hell. Can we behold
their wickedness, endure their aggressions, persecutions and malice,
without hating them? If so we are Saints. If we cannot, are we not
sinners?

Vol. 26,  p.210
Read the vision of the three glories and learn that a compassionate
Father has decreed that even these shall not be cast into outer
darkness, but shall be saved with a glory beyond, far beyond the
comprehension of the finite mind.

Vol. 26,  p.210
There is but one class of human beings whom God hath decreed shall
endure eternal punishment, utter and everlasting condemnation, and
they are the "sons of perdition." How few, thank God, will be their
numbers and, correspondingly how fruitless and barren after all will
be the efforts of Satan to frustrate the designs of the Almighty in
his glorious plan of human redemption!

Vol. 26,  p.210
You, my brethren and sisters, know what constitutes a "son of
perdition." To become such, a man, by the testimony of the Holy Ghost,
must know that God the Father and Jesus the Son live, and are the
authors of salvation. Belief is insufficient, positive knowledge is
necessary. I say that this which I hold in my baud is a book. Do I
base the statement on belief or knowledge? I do not believe it to be,
I know it to be a book. And my testimony to the fact would be taken
everywhere, because if required to state trow I know this to be a book
I could say I see the binding, paper, and imprint of the type. I tap
the lids and leaves and hear sounds. I smell the binding, paper and
ink. I put them to my lips and tongue and taste them, and with my
hands and fingers feel them. Thus all my senses combined furnish
evidence that together give indisputable knowledge; and yet the
testimony, the turning away from which, and thereafter denying the
efficacy of the atoning blood of Jesus, putting him, after having
positive knowledge, to an open shame again, is as much stronger than
my testimony that this is a book, as God is stronger than man. In the
one instance, knowledge is founded on the evidence of the five
senses—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling; in the other,
every faculty of the soul, every fibre of the body, receives testimony
direct from God, [p.211] through the Holy Ghost, and he who after
having received, denies it, sins against light just as much as Satan
did when his ambition and pride led him to rebel against God; and no
power in heaven, on earth or in hell can keep such a man out of the
realms of the damned, where he has, in the exercise of his own agency,
elected to go. People without this knowledge cannot be damned; those
with it should be if they turn away and deny it. Those who persecute
and hate this people, have it not, and while they may have to dwell
without the gates of the holy city, among dogs, liars, thieves and
whoremongers, they cannot be damned in the literal sense, as we
understand eternal condemnation, forever hid from the face of a
merciful but just Father. Think of these things, ye Latter-day Saints,
who expect to come up through much tribulation while your garments are
being washed white in the blood of the Lamb. Chains and fetters may
bind your limbs, and the rack and wheel of the Spanish inquisition may
be revived to torture your bodies, but prison walls have never yet
been made thick enough, nor iron bars strong enough to keep a good
man's prayers from ascending to his God. And if He wills to let trials
and difficulties gather around us, they are but for our good. Offences
must needs come, but woe to those by whom they come. I love my family
and the Latter-day Saints with my whole heart, and enjoy their society
beyond measure, and yet as a test, God may require the sacrifice of
their society temporarily, and that my heart remain unhardened. Let
the wicked do what they may, remember we cannot hate man and love God
at the same time. Love of God banishes or consumes hatred as
electricity consumes iron.

Vol. 26,  p.211
While in the city of San Francisco recently, I witnessed an exhibition
of the incandesent electric light, produced from stored electricity
previously generated and forced into vats, composed of substances
unknown to me. These, though filled with the subtle power, are cold
and unresponsive to the touch of the hand; but wishing to give a
sample of the destructive agency of the power sleeping in those vats,
the professor in charge requested us to note the result when touched
with the piece of wire held in his hand. While explaining, the piece
of wire turned in his hands accidently, and fell about midway of its
length across one of the vats, and instantly, as quick as lightning,
for it was lightning, it became ten thousand flying sparks, and that
part in the professor's hand like molten lead, was burning into the
flesh before he could shake off the liquid mass. It is said that
electricity once generated, remains electricity until it comes in
contact with substances which, consuming, it returns to its original
ungenerated condition. Thus it may be seen how man plays, as a child
with sharp tools, with agencies that may consume him instantaneously.
Subservient to his call he flashes thought around the world by means
of electric wires, conveys his voice thousands of miles, and rivals
the light of the sun, but when the universe shall roll up like a
scroll, the earth melt with fervent heat, and mountains run down like
wax, unregenerate man, full of pride, will learn what God hath in
reserve for those who hate Him and despise His works. As this earth
was cleansed by a literal baptism of water, so will it be purified by
a literal baptism of fire, and all the proud and those [p.212] who
love iniquity, will be burned up, even as stubble is consumed by fire.
Happy then will ye be if you have been tried as gold in the furnace
seven times heated. Better welcome a few trials now, that tend to
increase your love of God and of your fellow man, than to go
heedlessly like the dumb brute, to the sacrifice. Let us pray only for
deliverance from such trials as harden the heart and wither the soul,
but not from such as, bearing patiently, testify of integrity. What
matters trials, persecutions, scorns, scoffs and contempt so long as
we remain true to God, and the covenants we have made with Him and
each other? So long as we violate neither these nor our consciences,
which should be void of offense, we are safe. But in our struggles to
maintain the right in a world filled With strife, we may draw
consolation in reflecting upon the fact that every pure thought coming
to us from above, meets fierce opposition, and our fallen natures
contend against its permanent lodgment in our hearts; and in like
manner every heaven-born truth has in every instance, had to fight its
way inch by inch before it could bear abundantly the fruits of
righteousness. Nothing good has come into this world since the fall of
man, that has not met the fierce, concentrated and persistent
opposition and hatred of the wicked. Thus we find how true is the
inspired saying: "there must needs be an opposition in all things."
Enlightened, inspired thoughts crystalizing into undying truths, have
in every age caused great sacrifices, often human life to establish
them, but those who have had the moral and physical courage to stand
by their convictions in life or death, shine as beacon lights along
the shores of time, and their works will bear glorious fruits in
eternity.

Vol. 26,  p.212
Let us endeavor to imitate all worthy examples, following as nearly as
we can in the footprints of our Master, who, if we are faithful unto
death, will give us the crown of life with the keys of death, hell and
the grave, by which we may descend down into the depth of darkness and
misery into the abode of the damned, and there bid those who have
despised, hated and persecuted us, look up, repent, and receive
deliverance at the hands of a compassionate Father, whose mercy and
salvation extend beyond the grave into eternity. Thus, in becoming
mediators, ministers to those who despitefully used us, we shall find
the mystery of glory that cometh from doing good for evil and loving
those who have hated us.

Vol. 26,  p.212
May God grant that we may speedily and thoroughly learn the great
lessons that He is now seeking to teach us, and which are of so much
importance we should learn. The trials through which we are now
passing are but a part of the great programme of the Almighty, long
since predicted by His holy prophets. Let us meet them in a proper
spirit, trusting in Him always, and our victory will be complete.
Amen.[p.213] 

Erastus Snow, May 31, 1885

The Creation, Male and Female—Calling 
of Enoch and Noah—God Selected Abraham 
and His Seed to Be a Chosen People—He Commanded 
His People to Multiply But Forbade Adultery and Whoredom 
in Every Form—Plural Marriage Enjoined Upon Abraham and 
His Seed to Make Them a Great People—the Principle of Life and 
Eternal Increase is a Spiritual Power—Modern Christendom 
Opposed to Large Families—Latter-Day Saints Encourage 
Them—the Edmunds Law Passed With the Pretence of 
Repressing Immorality Among the Mormons—that 
Mask of Hypocrisy Now Thrown Off—the 
Religious Sentiment of the Latter-Day 
Saints the Real Object of Persecution
—Concluding Exhortations

Discourse By Apostle Erastus Snow, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
Provo, Sunday Morning, May 31st, (Quarterly Conference) 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.213
THE speaker commenced by reading from the let chapter of Genesis—from
the 25th verse to the end of the chapter.

Vol. 26,  p.213
Proceeding, he said: In the writings of Moses we have an account of
the creation of this earth and the inhabitants thereof, both man and
beast and every living thing, as also vegetation. In the first verse
we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Vol. 26,  p.213
In attempting to communicate intelligence upon any theme, if we
attempt to do it by using words and phrases, we are obliged to use
such language as the hearers or readers are able to comprehend, and if
the language be imperfect the ideas conveyed may be somewhat imperfect
or defective, and if the understanding of the persons to whom this
language is addressed is limited, and their use and understanding of
language is limited, the information sought to be communicated to them
will be correspondingly limited and defective. It is only by the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost that we are able to see clearly the
things of God; but the language employed by the writer of the Book of
Genesis and by the translators of that work is perhaps sufficiently
clear for our purpose at this time, though the inspired translation
rendered by the Prophet Joseph Smith is somewhat clearer and more
impressive than the present King James' translation. In the inspired
translation by the Prophet Joseph Smith, it is written that in the
beginning the Gods created the heavens and the earth; that the earth
was empty and desolate, and God said unto His Only Begotten, let us do
so and so; let us divide the light from the darkness; let us separate
the waters and cause the [p.214] dry land to appear; let there be
lights in the firmament in the midst of the heavens to give light to
the earth; let us create animals to walk upon the earth, and creeping
things, and fowls to fly in the air and fish to swim in the waters,
&c.; and let make mail in our own image and after our likeness—that is
the Father addressing the Son, taking counsel together. This rendering
of this first chapter of Genesis is sustained by the writings of the
Apostle Paul, when he says: "For of Him"—speaking of the Only
Begotten—"and through Him, and for Him, are all things." Again, it is
written in the New Testament concerning the Savior, that He is "the
brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person." So that
when the Father said unto His Son in the beginning, let us make man in
our image and after our likeness, it conveys to us the idea that man
was organized in the same form and general appearance of both the
Father and the Son. This especially in relation to the man himself;
for you will remark the wording of the text which we have read—"in the
image of God created He him"—referring to Adam—"male and female
created He them." You will perceive a difference in the language in
regard to the creation of females.

Vol. 26,  p.214
Now, it is not said in so many words in the Scriptures, that we have a
Mother in heaven as well as a Father. It is left for us to infer this
from what we see and know of all living things in the earth including
man. The male and female principle is united and both necessary to the
accomplishment of the object of their being, and if this be not the
case with our Father in heaven after whose image we are created, then
it is an anomaly in nature. But to our minds the idea of a Father
suggests that of a Mother: As one of our poets says:

Vol. 26,  p.214
"In the heavens are parents single? 
No; the thought makes reason stare! 
Truth is reason; truth eternal 
Tells me, I've a Mother there."

Vol. 26,  p.214
Hence when it is said that God created our first parents in His
likeness—"in the image of God created He him; male and female created
He them"—it is intimated in language sufficiently plain to my
understanding that the male and female principle was present with the
Gods as it is with man. It needs only a common understanding of the
organism of man and of all living creatures, and the functions of this
organism to show the primary object of the Creator, and that is the
multiplication of the species, the fulfillment of the commandment
given, to multiply and replenish the earth, given to both man and
beast. We need only to study the anatomy and construction of the human
system, and to understand its powers and capabilities, to comprehend
the object and purpose of the Creator, even though the commandment had
not been written to multiply and replenish the earth. The ancients who
feared God, and kept His commandments, showed that they understood
this principle and were willing to obey it. It is written of the first
fourteen generations, that each succeeding generation of them lived so
many years and begat sons and daughters, and some of them lived well
nigh on to a thousand years. They multiplied and increased in the land
until wickedness overran the land and it pleased God to check the
growth of wickedness by the flood, which swept the wicked off the
earth. But before thus destroying the inhabitants of the earth, He
caused the righteous to be gathered [p.215] out from among the wicked
by the preaching of the Gospel. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was a
powerful instrument in the hands of God, of rebuking the wickedness of
the times. He taught righteousness, gathered the people together, and
established a Zion. He labored we are told some 365 years, in the
which he communed with God, and taught the people and sanctified his
people, so that they were translated to heaven. Many others who
remained upon the earth, who had accepted the Gospel, but were not
sanctified and prepared to be caught up with Enoch and his people,
sought diligently to follow; they purified themselves so that angels
ministered unto them, and they were caught up unto Zion before the
flood; even all who remained and kept the faith, except Noah and his
sons and their families, who were especially called and chosen and
detailed to build the ark and enter therein with a selection of the
beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air, to preserve seed through
the flood. Thus did the Lord gather a harvest of souls unto Himself,
of those who believed and obeyed the Gospel and worked righteousness,
while the wicked perished in the flood. Then again, the commandment of
God to multiply and replenish the earth, was renewed to Noah and his
posterity, and soon the desolate places became inhabited. But in the
course of a few generations, blindness and darkness and ignorance
again began to prevail; wickedness began to raise its head among the
children of Noah, and it became necessary that the Lord should select
from among the children of Noah the better and nobler seed with whom
He would establish His covenant, and upon whom He would confer the
keys of the Priesthood, and from among them should be raised up
Prophets and Seers and Revelators to teach the people of the nations
of the earth, as the oracles of God. These chosen people were Abraham
and his seed. Of Abraham it is written that God called him from his
father's house when he dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, and commanded him
to go out from his father's house because his father was given to the
ways of the heathen and to the idolatry of the surrounding peoples. He
called him to go to another land where he should be separate from the
traditions and teachings of his father, and where he would make of him
a great nation, and raise up from his seed a holy people. God appeared
unto him in Canaan, whither He led him, and swore by Himself—because
lie could swear by no greater—that in blessing He would bless him, and
in multiplying He would multiply him; that his sled should be as the
stars of the heavens and as the sand which is upon the sea shore for
multitude. He renewed this promise to his son Isaac, and his grandson
Jacob, who was also named Israel, and from them sprang the house of
Israel, and also the children of Arabia, the sons of Ishmael, and the
chief tribes of central Asia. It was the seed of Abraham that dwelt in
Egypt who were brought into bondage to the Egyptians, and subsequently
delivered by the hand of Moses, after wandering forty years in the
wilderness, in the land of Canaan. It was from among this people that
God raised up prophets from generation to generation to whom He
revealed His mind and will. It was this people that was commanded to
build first the tabernacle journeying in the wilderness—a sort of
moveable temple and subsequently a temple in the land of promise when
[p.216] they should become settled and located there. It was among
this people the Savior was born, and labored and taught the Gospel,
and was crucified, and rose again from the dead. It was from among
this people that He (the Savior) solected and ordained His Apostles to
preach the Gospel to all the world. the whole tenor of the Scriptures
shows us that those who believed God and were counted His people
multiplied and replenished the earth and became numerous as the stars
in the heavens and as the sands upon the sea shore for multitude,
while many of the other unbelieving nations and peoples comparatively
dwindled away; and when the history of the generations of Adam shall
be revealed and comprehended by the truman race, it will be found that
in the providence of God He has greatly restricted the more corrupt,
while He has enlarged and multiplied the seed of Abraham, who did
abide in the covenant; and although many of them have come short in
many things and have wandered in darkness and unbelief, yet as a
people they have maintained a degree of sexual purity unknown in the
gentile world, and for this reason has God multiplied them in the
land. They have great and special promises that in the latter days God
would remember them.

Vol. 26,  p.216
Now, while God commanded His people to multiply and replenish the
earth, He gave strict laws against promiscuous sexual intercourse. "He
forbade adultery, fornication, whoredom in every form, and the same
doctrine was taught by Paul, the Apostle, namely, "Marriage is
honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge." This law prevailed in all ages among the
people of God, encouraging honorable wedlock, and restraining illicit
sexual intercourse, and there are many physical as well as theological
reasons for this law. It is especially binding upon mankind, because
they are organized after the image of God, and are His offspring. I
refer now to the spirit; for we understand that man in the nobler
sense and the true sense, is that immortal eternal being which has
come forth from God, and that the earthly tabernacle is but an outer
clothing of that immortal being; that the earthly tabernacle is in the
image and likeness of the heavenly or eternal being; in other words
the body is in the likeness and form of the soul or the spirit, and
that it is made conformable to any for the spirit to dwell in, and to
fill every portion and particle thereof, and to direct its energies
and powers to develop its capabilities and to guide its actions. Hence
that immortal man is held responsible for the deeds of the body, and
it is written he shall be judged according to the deeds done in the
body; because the body does not control the spirit, but the spirit
controls the body. Still the Apostle Paul says that there is a law of
the flesh—that wars against the spirit; and, says Paul, "to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace." He further says that this law of the flesh—that is, in our
members and the lusts thereof—that wars against the law of the spirit
brings our bodies into bondage, even the bondage of sin; but it is
made the duty of the spirit to subdue the flesh and the lusts and the
desires thereof, and to bring it into subjection to the law of the
spirit. This is the warfare and the struggle of our lives. This begins
with the development [p.217] of our physical power and the lusts and
desires of the flesh. The spirit of man is capable of receiving from
the Spirit of our Father the Holy Spirit, which is in connection with
the Father and the Son, and is a minister of God unto men; which
lighteth up our minds and giveth us understanding; for "the spirit of
man is the candle of the Lord," says one of old. This teaches us just
as far as we will give heed to it, how to walk in obedience to the law
of God, and how to resist and overcome evil with good, and as far as
the written word of God is given to us, its object and influence upon
us is to restrain the flesh and bring it into subjection to the
spirit. The lusts and desires of the flesh are not of themselves
unmitigated evils. On the contrary they are implanted in us as a
stimulus to noble deeds, rather than low and beastly deeds. These
affections and loves that are planted in us are the nobler qualities
that emanate from God. They stimulate us to the performance of our
duties; to multiplying and replenishing the earth to assume the
responsibilities of families, and rear them up for God. They encourage
and stimulate the woman to bear her burden and perform the duties of
life because of the hope of a glorious future, while it stimulates the
husband and father in like manner. Every instinct in us is for a wise
purpose in God when properly regulated and restrained, and guided by
the Holy Spirit and kept within its proper legitimate bounds. But all
these instincts and desires of the flesh are susceptible of
perversion, and when perverted result in sin. Whenever the Gospel has
been preached on earth, and Prophets and holy men have been sent among
the people, the burden of their lives has been to encourage them to
the proper exercise of their powers and functions and to regulate them
and restrain them within proper limits, such as are prescribed in the
written law, and in the law of our being. Excesses of all kinds tend
to death and to sickness and misery, physically and spiritually; while
temperance and moderation and the proper use of all our functions
tends to the glory of God and the welfare of His children. The chief
study of man is to comprehend these principles, and to apply them in
their lives.

Vol. 26,  p.217
I said there was a time after the flood that the seed of Noah began to
corrupt their ways, and God chose out from among them the seed of
Abraham, with whom He established His covenant that lie might preserve
unto himself the Priesthood and its ordinances, and a people who would
receive His law, and among whom He would raise up Prophets, and
through whom He would send His Son in the meridian of time to become
the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Thus Abraham was blessed of the
Lord to multiply and increase in the earth greatly. When the Lord
determined to bless and multiply Abraham and His seed, He commanded
that they should take of time daughters of Eve for wives and multiply
and increase in the land. I do not say that plural marriage was not
practiced prior to this time, but I say from and after Abraham it was
enjoined upon Israel, the seed of Abraham, for a wise and glorious
purpose in Him, namely, that of increasing them and giving them the
ascendency among the nations of the earth, as I once heard the Prophet
Joseph remark. In speaking of these things, and inquiring wherefore
God had enjoined plural marriage [p.218] upon Abraham and his seed,
his answer was, because He had purposed to multiply and increase them
in the land and make of them a great people and give them the
ascendency over other peoples of the earth, and that because, as he
said of Abraham, He knew that He would serve Him and command his seed
after Him.

Vol. 26,  p.218
We are aware that in modern Christendom there are some people who
forbid to marry. In one of the Epistles of Paul [1 Timothy iv. 3] he
states that in the latter times there would be those who would forbid
to marry. We know there are some professing Christians who regard the
union of the sexes as an evil, as a sin, as the result of our fallen
natures, and as a form of the gratification of fleshly lusts which is
offensive before God. Hence we have the Shakers who, acting upon this
doctrine, abstain from marriage. If all were to embrace their faith,
and carried it out in their lives, the human race would soon be
extinct, and the great purpose of Jehovah in their creation would seem
to have failed. But fortunately those who embrace this faith, and
exemplify it in their lives, are few. Yet there are many who are
willing to gratify the lusts of the flesh but strive to avoid its
consequences and responsibilities. But those who have received in good
faith the commandment of God to multiply and replenish the earth and
assume the proper responsibilities of the household, and regulate
their lives and household by the law of the Lord, have always been
blessed and favored of God, and the great difference between the
Latter-day Saints at the present time and modern Christendom, is this
more extensive comprehension of this first law of God to man. We
understand there is a purpose in all these things; that the Supreme
Being is working with an object in view and for the accomplishment of
an end, and that object and end is worthy of the God who has created
us; that in infinite space He may cause to be organized innumerable
worlds and glorious orbs to be filled with intelligent beings capable
of enlargement, of an expansion of glory and of happiness; for in
their enlargement and increase He is glorified, while they in turn are
glorified in and through Him in the performance of their labors and
duties and the multiplying and increasing of their species, inasmuch
as they do it unto the Lord and keep His law, so that they can be
sanctified before Him and be endowed with the power of endless lives.

Vol. 26,  p.218
I know it is supposed by some that the power of increase is inherent
in us and in all living things, and in all plants, but I do not view
it in that light. I view the temporal organism as the instrument and
not the creator itself; it is only the instrument by which it is
worked out and accomplished; that the principle of life and eternal
increase pertains not to the flesh nor to the grosser elements of this
earth, but it is the spiritual power that has emanated front a nobler
sphere that has come out from God, or that had its existence
previously in a first estate. Our Savior Himself is an example of
this. We are told He was born of the Virgin Mary, in the meridian of
time. Yet we learn He was with the Father from the beginning and was
with Him in the morning of creation. While he was here upon the earth
1800 years ago, He said to the Jews, "You speak of Abraham as your
father. Verily I say unto you before Abraham was, I am." And again in
John's revelations it is written that He was as a lamb [p.219] slain
from the foundation of the world. He is called a lamb of God typically
speaking, because the offering of a lamb in sacrifice upon the altar
was a type of the crucifixion of the Savior, and the commandment of
God given to the children of men in the beginning to build an altar
and offer sacrifice with a lamb upon it, was typical of the Savior of
the world. Hence came the term that He was the Lamb of God which the
Father sent unto the world to be an offering for sin. So also it is
written in the Scriptures—speaking of God—that He is the Father of our
spirits, and, says Paul, it is necessary to be in subjection to the
Father of spirits and live.

Vol. 26,  p.219
In modern Christendom—in these United States especially, and in staid
New England more than perhaps any other portion of this American
continent—is this commandment of God to multiply and replenish the
earth nulified. the Lattter-day Saints are looked upon with envy, with
jealousy and reproach because they do not take the same view as they
do, and their numerous families stand out in bold contrast with the
New England families, where you will find as you go through the land
one, two, or at most three children in a family, and many families
with none. In some instances this apparent sterility may have resulted
from various abuses, but in most causes the result of devices of
wicked men and women to counteract and prevent the fulfilling of the
great commandment of God to multiply and replenish the earth, and in
many instances, foetecide, infanticide and child-murder are the result
of this very general desire to avoid the responsibility of families.
It has become a crying evil in the land. Some writers deeply deplore
this crying evil, and represent it in its true light; while many other
writers and speakers are either silent upon the subject or give their
voice and influence in its favor. A few years ago I remembered to have
read a discourse of Brooklyn's great orator, Henry Ward Beecher, in
which he took the ground that any considerable increase of the human
species would be a positive evil, something to be deplored; and he
elaborately attempted to portray the evils that would result from it,
and the whole. tendency of the discourse was to discourage the
multiplication of the human species. Others have followed in the same
train of reasoning. They seem to have forgotten the commandment given
to our first parents, and never to have comprehended the purposes of
Jehovah. Those wile adopt these views have seemed to imagine that
there would be greater happiness in the gratification of fleshly
lusts, and in pandering to pride and worldly pleasures, and the
increase of wealth, than to obey the commandment of God. They have
resolved to avoid raising large families. The last tour I took through
New England, (which is my native country), about twelve years ago, I
was more deeply impressed with this state of things than I had ever
been before. When I was a boy, in Vermont, I knew not the ways of the
world, and comprehended not what was going on, in our large cities and
more populous parts of the country. I was born of honest parentage,
who reverenced the principles of life and salvation, and I understood
not what was going on around me, nor do I think those evils existed
there to the same extent that they now do. But as I remarked, when I
made my last tour through New England, I was more forcibly impressed
with this state of society than ever before. I spoke of it to [p.220]
my aged aunt in Rhode Island. I said to her: "Aunt, when you were
young, and when my mother was young, rearing large families, it was a
source of joy and pleasure to rear offspring. Now as I go through the
land, I see the efforts of the people are in an opposite direction.
"Oh, yes," said she, "it is unpopular now, for people to have large
families; it is considered vulgar, men and women now seek to avoid
these responsibilities." This is a well known fact. The tendency of
the age is to animalism, to the gratification of fleshly lusts and
worldly pleasures.

Vol. 26,  p.220
Well, the Latter-day Saints have experienced in their own lives
something nobler, and have learned to recognize the wisdom of Jehovah
in that order of things which He enjoined upon our first parents. This
is the marked difference between the unbelieving world and the
Latter-day Saints. I say the unbelieving world, because I regard this
doctrine which I have referred to as a doctrine of devils and not the
doctrine of Christ; that the tendency of it leads, as I before
remarked, to foeticide, infanticide, child murder, and to the
gratification of fleshly lusts and worldly pleasure without fulfilling
the great object and purposes of our Father, and the effect in the end
would be the wasting away of the human species if it were generally
adopted. It is high time that a voice from heaven should rebuke it. It
is high time that the Lord, who wishes to raise up seed unto Himself,
should command His people and renew upon them the obligations placed
upon our first parents. It is to the Latter day Saints that this
mission has been committed, and the result is the multitude of school
children that we find all over this Territory. Over fifty thousand
Sabbath school children in the Territory of Utah—nearly one-third of
the entire population, as shown in our statistics at our various
Conferences—are children under eight years of age. This is a startling
fact to that class of the Christian world who are pursuing the
opposite course. One of the Sabbath school superintendents of the City
of New York, recently expressed himself very pointedly and plainly
upon this subject in relation to the wealthy portion of the
church-going people of New York. In several thousand families
attending the popular churches of New York, there could be mustered
only about eighty Sabbath school children, and he attributed it to
this prevailing desire for pleasure, wealth, and the shirking of the
cares and responsibilities of the household, until the rearing of
families was left almost entirely to the poor, to what is termed the
vulgar people.

Vol. 26,  p.220
I need not harrow up the feelings of the people with lengthy details
such as are found in police reports and statistics from various
sources, showing the alarming increase of these crying evils. Suffice
it to say that the chief warfare against the Latter-day Saints at the
present time is an endeavor to compel us to conform to their new state
of things, or to their ideas of social sins and social duties. In
other words it is laconically expressed by President Cleveland in the
late interview he had with our delegates that were sent to him with
the memorial and protest adopted by the Latter-day Saints in mass
meeting a few weeks ago. President Cleveland listened with courtesy to
what our delegation had to say with regard to the feeling and desires
of the people, and expressed himself in this wise: that he would
endeavor as far as lay in his power [p.221] to give us honest men to
administer the law, and he concluded with a smile upon his
countenance, with this expression: "I wish you people out there could
be like the rest of us." This is a homely phrase, it might not attract
any special attention under ordinary circumstances; but when we
consider the facts as they exist, and the tendency of the age, and of
the Christian world at the present time, and the state of things in
the east when compared with us, the remark is very significant. It
comes home to us, and we ask ourselves, can we, after the light that
we have received, after the experience that we have had, and with the
hopes that are placed before us in the Gospel of a glorious future—can
we relapse back into that state of things and be like unto them? I
would not say aught personal in relation to Mr. Cleveland, believing
him to be an honorable man of the world, yet his enemies in the
campaign accused him of some irregularities of life that are common in
the world, and it is reported that he knows something of sexual
relationship, though he has not assumed the responsibility of a family
and household; and in this respect, though perhaps among the most
honorable, he represents a large and respectable portion of unmarried
men. We do not understand that in thus expressing himself to our
delegates that he desired us to exactly imitate himself, but that he
wished we could confine ourselves at least to one wife. If however,
the parallel were carried out more fully, we would not only confine
ourselves to one wife as far as owning them in that capacity is
concerned, but we would try like others have, to limit our children
also and imitate the other vices of the age.

Vol. 26,  p.221
Well, now, the expounders of the federal laws in our midst—the
Prosecuting Attorneys, Judges, Marshals, and other federal
representatives that have been sent among us to enforce the special
laws that have been passed by Congress against the Latter-day Saints,
seem to make the line of distinction more marked than has ever before
been done. During the great furore which swept over the land four
years ago, which resulted in the passage of the Edmunds law, the
Christian ministers urged their congregations to send memorials to
Congress for the passage of that law on the ground of repressing
immorality, licentiousness and crime among the Mormons, and it was
this hypocritical mask which they took on at that time that
hood-winked and deceived the great body of the people and lashed the
country into a furore and crowded Congressmen to vote for the
unconstitutional measure, that wicked and malicious law known as the
Edmunds law. I may be accused of treason for speaking in this way, in
calling this a wicked and malicious law. I may be counted guilty of
treason because I dare to think; but yet, treason has never been
defined by the Constitution of our country nor the Courts, to consist
in a freedom of speech, much less in the freedom of thought, but has
been defined as levying of war against the Government, or aiding and
abetting its enemies in time of war.

Vol. 26,  p.221
The great furore in the Christian world, or at least throughout the
Christian denominations of America four years ago, urging upon
Congress the passage of the Edmunds law, was on the ground of the
immorality and licentiousness of the Mormons, and a desire to repress
it. But now the federal representatives in their efforts to enforce it
in our country,[p.222] have found themselves under the necessity of
throwing the mask off themselves and off the country—off the priests
and religious people. I believe some of you in Provo had something to
do in bringing this · about and rendering it necessary for them to lay
off the mask. I believe Commissioner Smoot was called upon to
investigate a ease of an outsider seducing his wife's sister, and a
child was the result; and he felt called upon under the law to hold
him to answer before the grand jury for unlawful cohabitation. The
assistant prosecuting attorney unwillingly allowed the thing to go on
until the man was committed for this offense; intimating at the same
time that he thought this was pushing the Edmunds law a little too far
and beyond what was the spirit and intent of the law. If this case
should be carried to its legitimate end, and the man should be sent to
prison and fined for unlawful cohabitation, then the door would be
thrown wide open for many others to follow for the same offense. Hence
such a construction was considered an element of danger to themselves,
to the representatives of the federal government and their alders and
abettors in this country; that such a construction of the Edmunds law
as had been the popular construction and the understanding of the
masses, and as was the professed understanding of the Christian
world—for they urged its passage to repress immorality and sexual
crime—that if this construction was allowed to prevail in Utah and the
surrounding Territories, and the District of Columbia, and other
places where the United States exercise jurisdiction, it would operate
very hard on a great many who would not be so well prepared to bear it
as the Latter-day Saints. Hence it seemed very, desirable that their
feet should be slipped out of the trail and ours left in. Accordingly
their wits were brought to bear in this direction, and on the occasion
of the trial of President Angus M. Cannon on the charge of unlawful
cohabitation a plan was concocted and carried out, with all the
leading attorneys of the land and the Chief Justice upon the bench, to
discuss this question and decide upon it. In this connection the
representative of the government boldly came to the front and threw
off the mask and proclaimed at the outset of this trial that he knew
he could not prove sexual intercourse between the parties at bar, and
that he should not attempt it. Furthermore he stated that he did not
consider sexual intercourse any element of crime; that the Edmunds
law, so called, was a blow aimed at the status of the Mormon system of
marriage alone, and that the third section of that law relating to
unlawful cohabitation had no reference to sexual sins; that it was not
designed to repress adultery, fornication, lust, or any term of sexual
sin; that that was left to local legislation; that the legislation of
Congress in the third section of the Edmunds law, as well as all other
legislation upon that subject was aimed directly at the status of the
marriage alone. In this regard, therefore, he took precisely the
ground that Governor Murray did when he first issued his oath for
notaries public, and which was afterwards adopted by the board of Utah
Commissioners and incorporated in their test oath for registration,
referring to cohabitation with more than one woman in the marriage
relation. Mr. Dickson took this view, that Murray was right; that the
Utah Commissioners were right; that this was the sense of the country;
that this was the [p.223] design of Congress; that the Edmunds law was
a blow alined at the Mormon system of marriage, or to use Judge Zane's
term, the habit and repute of marriage, or the "holding out," to use
another favorite phrase, of two or more women as wives of one
husband—that the whole and only object of the third section of the
Edmunds law relating to unlawful cohabitation, as well as all other
anti-polygamy acts of Congress was against the institution of
marriage. Finding, however, it difficult to prove marriages because of
the disinclination of people to testify, and because of the difficulty
of reaching any record evidence of these marriages, it was thought
necessary to take high grounds and assume this: that the Mormons are
known to be a virtuous people, are known to condemn in strong terms
and by every influence in their power every form of sexual sin, and
that they do not indulge in intercourse with the sexes to any extent
only in the marriage relation. This was the well known and established
character of the Mormon people, and was the result of their teachings
and practice for a generation past. Hence wherever children were found
in Mormon families, they are the result of marriage. If a woman is
found pregnant, she must be looked upon as a wife, and the officers
are justified in sezing her and bringing her before a commissioner, or
a jury or judge, and compelling her to give the name of the father of
her child, and that is deemed sufficient proof that he is guilty of
polygamy, or if two or more women live in close proximity to a man,
and he is seen visiting them, and especially if the children call him
father, it is sufficient proof on which the jury may indict for
polygamy or unlawful cohabitation, as the case may be. Consequently
they have taken this high ground that it is no longer necessary to
prove even the first or second marriage, nor is it any longer
necessary to prove sexual intercourse in order to establish unlawful
cohabitation, but the common habit and repute of marriage and the
appearance of marriage is all sufficient. Thus the ordinary rules of
evidence are set aside, and the mask of hypocrisy which governed the
Christian world when they were urging the passage of this Edmunds law
through Congress is thrown aside. A hold and important testimony is
given to the world through our persecutors to the morality of the
Mormon people being so far in excess of the rest of the world of
mankind, and to our integrity to the marriage relation. We wish indeed
that all that is said in this respect were strictly true, that there
were no irregularities among us. We cannot quite say that, but we do
rejoice and thank God for the general good testimony which has been
given of us in truth in this behalf. Not long since President Smoot
and myself and some others were congratulating ourselves, and
President Taylor was congratulating himself, and many others of our
aged fathers, in having placed themselves in a condition to escape the
operation of the third section of the Edmuuds law by confining
themselves to one woman. I said to some of my brethren in a Priesthood
meeting in St. George, one time when they were very badly agitated and
not knowing whom the lightning—or the Edmunds act would strike next—I
said to them, you old grey-headed men whose wives have grown old with
you and are past bearing children, if you choose now to agree among
yourselves that you will live within the third section of the Edmunds
law [p.224] and allow the husband and father to confine himself to one
wife, while he cares for the balance and cares for and protects his
children, I see not but what you may do this with honor to yourselves
and without sacrificing any principles of the law of God, or going
back upon your covenants, providing this be agreeable among
yourselves. I was somewhat with others, congratulating myself in being
able to do this without sacrificing any special principle or going
back on our families, but it would seem that these noble, aged sires
in Israel were not to be let out quite so easily as this, for I am a
little inclined to feel it was a little dishonorable, and yet perhaps
not altogether before God. the idea was that they might possibly
escape, while their sons and others who might have taken wives and
raised families, and entered into those sacred relations which are to
them dearer than life itself, would have to abide the consequences.
But it seems that under Judge Zane's ruling it is not these who are
raising families that are always liable; for you may raise a family by
your sister-in-law, if you don't call her your wife, as you understand
from the case I have referred to. No sooner had Judge Zane sustained
Prosecuting Attorney Dickson's view of the ease, than this Mr. Aimes
was brought before him on habeas corpus and discharged, and he (the
Judge) fully announced the doctrine that a man could have as many
children by sister-in-laws as he pleased; that no matter how much a
man might seduce his neighbor's wife, or neighbor's daughter, if he is
not in the marriage relation with them, it is no offense against the
Edmunds law. But with a Mormon, whether he is raising a family or not,
if he is even so unfortunate as to have no children, or if his wives
are past bearing children, and he has entirely separated himself so
far as bed is concerned, and there is evidence of entire restraint on
his part, still, unless he goes back on himself and on his wives and
children, he comes under the law. In other words, if he continues to
"hold them out" as wives he is guilty of cohabitation. Hence, Brother
Smoot and myself, and others, have been congratulating ourselves a
little too soon. You will find that the old men and the young men are
all coupled together, their feet still in the trap, while the
adulterer, fornicator, whoremonger, harlot and libertine, the trap is
open just enough to let their feet out. Now they can vote, they can
hold office, they can raise children providing they do not do it in
the marriage relation, and they hold out this inducement to you and
me: "Become like one of us." "I wish you out there could be like the
rest of us." "I wish you would only disown your wives, then do what
you will you are secure—that is, you must only own one wife, for this
is the popular idea, the sentiment of the age. This is the voice of
fifty millions of people. You must listen to it. Congress has said it.
If you hesitate, (some go so far as to say) you will be held to answer
for treason. Treason against what? Treason against the law. Well,
then, of course every thief is guilty of treason. Every man that
steals an axe handle shall be tried for treason because he disobeys
the law, by the same parity of reasoning. Again, if you try to avoid
the law and we can catch you, why you are doing a terribly wicked
thing. Yes; if spotters are hunting down some luckless fellow or his
wife, and they slip out at the back door, or hide in a haystack, why,
[p.225] you must be held for treason, or some other crime. Now, I have
always understood that catching goes before hanging; that it is the
duty of the officers to make arrests when indictments are found; and
it is equally understood that there is a guarantee in the Constitution
of the United States that no man shall he held to answer for any crime
except on presentment of an indictment by a grand jury. Furthermore,
when indictments are found, the parties against whom they are found
are known only to the jury and public prosecutor; the general public
are not supposed to know anything about them, and the general maxim of
law is that everybody is innocent until they are proven guilty.
Consequently, we are not supposed to know that when anybody is going
out to the haystack that they are fleeing from an officer, or that
every tramp that comes along is a deputy marshal, or if he is that he
has a warrant in his pocket for that man, and if he has it is his
business to catch him and not ours. Does not the law forbid you to aid
in the escape of a criminal? Yes, if he has been found a criminal by a
competent jury and under sentence of the law. Then it is public notice
to you that he is a criminal, but not otherwise. I merely make mention
of this because of the foolish threats that are sometimes made to
terrify ignorant people. Because it is well known the world over, so
far as anything is known of us, and of the legislation of Congress
against us as a religious people, that there is an issue between
Congress and the Latter-day Saints, and that issue is of a religious
character and relating to the social relations of the Latter-day
Saints. The views which we hold are founded upon the revelations of
God, both ancient and modern. We have given evidence to the world of
our sincerity in this, and yet the world do not seem to accept it. I
believe that Mr. Dickson was honest enough to express his conviction
of our sincerity in this, and that the Mormon people, as a people,
were moral people, and that their teachings and actions showed that
they did not indulge in these sexual sins outside of the marriage
relation to any great extent; while the great mass of mankind who know
us not are not willing to give us this credit. They have raised the
hue and cry all over the land for so many years, that we were guilty
of gross immorality, that it seems as if the Lord intended in the way
now being done to give the world ocular demonstration and a strong
testimony of the integrity of this people, of the sincerity of their
actions, of the depth and strength of their faith, and their devotion
to their religious convictions, and their integrity in carrying them
out. It is a source of gratification and thanksgiving that but few,
comparatively speaking, among us have felt to go back on themselves
and to throw off allegiance to God and to their families and friends,
and to violate their consciences; but few have been found to do this
in order to escape fine and imprisonment. How far it will become
necessary that this testimony should go forth to the world, and how
many should suffer so that their testimony should go abroad to mankind
to convince the world and to vindicate God and His people, I am not
yet able to say, for I am persuaded it will be as the Lord will; that
whatsoever is necessary we must submit to with the best grace
possible. I do not mean to say that every one who may be thought to
come under the third section of the Edmunds law shall [p.226] go and
complain on himself, or if complained of by some spotter that he shall
go straitway and confess guilt, or if arraigned for trial on an
indictment, that he shall plead guilty without a trial; I do not say
this. Every man must be left to choose for himself what course he will
pursue in relation to those matters; for pleading guilty or not guilty
when arraigned before the Court is a mere technical form and a liberty
which every prisoner enjoys, that of pleading guilty or not guilty.
The plea of guilty, of course, saves the expense of a trial, while a
plea of not guilty, means that the prosecutor must prove the charge
made in the indictment. I do not say, therefore, that in submitting as
best we can to the operation of the law that we shall not avail
ourselves of constitutional privileges and the rights accorded to us.
We have the right to be tried by a jury of our peers if we can get
one, but we cannot get one under this act. The act was purposely
framed to cut off that right. The right of a man to be tried by a jury
of his peers—this term originated in Great Britain and was guaranteed
in the Magna Charta—means simply a jury of his equals. If a man
belonged to the nobility of the land, he was entitled to be tried by a
jury of his equals. If he was a plebeian, a common laborer in the
humble walks of life, he was entitled to a jury of his equals, his
associates, neighbors, those that knew him best and were able to
sympathize with him and comprehend his position and circumstances and
the motives governing his acts, so that a righteous judgment might be
rendered concerning him. This guarantee was incorporated in the
American Constitution. The fight of a man to be tried by a jury of his
peers implied all that was necessary to protect the citizens against
malicious prosecutions; but in our special case, under the operation
of special laws enacted against the Latter-day Saints, we are
compelled to go to trial before a jury of our avowed enemies; indeed,
none are qualified to sit upon juries in our case unless they are
pronounced against us; because, as I said before, it is not a sexual
crime that is on trial; it is a religious sentiment of the Mormon
people; it is this status of their social relations founded upon their
religious convictions that is on trial. Hence it is the pronounced
opposition to our convictions that is a qualification for a juryman in
our case.

Vol. 26,  p.226
Well, we were told by the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the United States
Government and people would come to this: that they would undermine
one principle of the Constitution after another, until its whole
fabric would be torn away, and that it would become the duty of the
Latter-day Saints and those in sympathy with them to rescue it from
destruction, and to maintain and sustain the principles of human
freedom for which our fathers fought and bled. We look for these
things to come in quick succession. When I first heard of the—what
shall I call it? the somersault of Judge Zane and Prosecuting Attorney
Dickson, the question was asked, Now that the mask is thrown off, how
will this take throughout the country? Will the hireling priests
throughout the land sustain this action? Will they consent to have
this hypocritical mask thrown off then, and will the Supreme Court of
the United States and the people of the United States sustain the
ruling? I unhesitatingly answer, yes, they will, and if ever it
reaches the Supreme Court of the United States, they will sustain it;
[p.227] the hypocritical hireling priests will sustain it; the people
will sustain it and say, "Crucify them, crucify them, they have no
friends."

Vol. 26,  p.227
It becomes us, then, to be better Saints, does it not? Yes. It becomes
us to be more united than we have ever been before. It becomes us to
put away our foolishness; to cease all sin; to observe the words of
wisdom; to walk in all humility before God; to be faithful and earnest
in our prayers, and to imitate good old Daniel. Never mind the lion's
den nor the murderer's Pen, but so live that we can be counted worthy
before God, and whatsoever He has designed should come upon Us that we
may have grace given unto us according to our day, and that the world
may record of us in future generations that we were an honest and a
noble race, true to our God and to our convictions, and worthy of the
high calling of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We should not
blame one another for not going to the Penitentiary. We should not
find fault with President Taylor, or President Cannon, or President
Woodruff, because they do not rush into the Penitentiary, or go into
court and plead guilty, and at once go to prison. Nor need we until
the Lord requires it, rise up and say, "build a new Penitentiary and
let us all go in together." We are not required to do this, but may
claim our rights under the law. We may leave the Government officials
to do their duty, and if they will honestly and rightly act according
to the rules of evidence within their prescribed jurisdiction, it will
take them some time to get us all into the Penitentiary, because under
the law we can insist upon a trial and upon a jury. Judge Howard was
reported to have said that it took very little law and less evidence
to convict a Mormon in Arizona. Nevertheless there are certain forms
that they have to go through, all of which takes a certain length of
time, and a certain amount of labor on the part of the Prosecuting
Attorney, and if he gets but $40 for each indictment, give him the
privilege of drawing up the indictment and proving the charge therein.
Amen.[p.228] 

Henry W. Naisbitt, June 7, 1885

Ignorance of the World Regarding the Latter-Day 
Saints—Our Doctrines Are Christian and Are Substantiated 
By the Scriptures—Necessity of Present Revelation—First Principles of 
the Gospel—Faith, Repentance, Baptism for the Remission of Sins and 
Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost—Organization 
of the Church of Christ—"Mormonism" is a Restoration of 
Ancient Christianity—Joseph Smith a True Prophet—
Plural Marriage Practiced By Men of God in 
Miss-Called Dark Ages—Conclusion

Discourse By Elder Henry W. Naisbitt, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 7, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.228
MY brethren and sisters and friends: I arise to speak with a little
embarassment, but I look to the Saints, asking for their faith so that
I may overcome.

Vol. 26,  p.228
There is nothing that interests the Latter-day Saints so much as the
enunciation of the principles which they profess and literally accept;
but it would seem as if there was in the outside world, less
comprehension and understanding in regard to the principles that the
Saints believe in, than there is in regard to any other subject which
has acquired the same prominence.

Vol. 26,  p.228
The Church of Jesus Christ for a great many years has kept a large
number of missionaries in the field; they have traversed the whole of
Christendom, in a greater or less degree, visited also the heathen
nations and lands that are afar off; but yet a traveler would find
that but little impression has been made among the masses of mankind.
Even among those which are most advanced, and whose citizens are
presumed to be intelligent, and to comprehend the questions which
agitate the public mind, there is an amount of ignorance which is, to
say the least, discreditable. It has been my lot individually, to come
in contact with many who have visited this Territory and city, and to
hear their expressions of surprise in regard to the religious faith of
the Latter-day Saints. To tell a stranger that the people of Utah
believe in the Bible, appears to be something altogether unlooked for.
The assertion of their faith in God and in His Son Jesus Christ,
appears to be received with more or less incredulity, and there are
others who believe that the marriage customs of the Latter-day Saints
are the beginning and the end, and all there was and is or will be, to
give them distinction and peculiarity among the people of this nation.
And yet if you were to sweep your eye over this congregation—which is
probably [p.229] an average one of the people of this Territory, you
would instantly say, that there does not appear to be much difference
in the appearance of the people here and the average congregations of
worshippers elsewhere. The facts are that the people here—the older
ones at all events—have been called and gathered from among mankind,
and from Christendom, as a rule. There are in this Church many
native-born citizens, who have come from every State of the American
Union, and are fully acquainted with all its religious sects and
creeds. There are those who have come from the different nations of
Europe, and they have been familiar with the institutions which exist
there; they have attended the services and been identified with the
same organizations that you find to-day. They know all about the
churches and the ministers and the Sabbath schools and the literature
of the religious world. They have analyzed and compared and contrasted
these until they understand not only the differences that exist
between the several churches, individually, as they are known in
Christendom, but they understand also the vast differences between
those churches and that record called the Bible. They have been
familiar with that, including the New Testament, from their childhood.
They were taught it of their mothers and their fathers. They read it
in the Sabbath school. They listened to the exposition of its truths
and doctrines in the churches to which they belonged, and it was
personal mental analysis and comparison that gave conviction to their
souls and induced them to receive that order which the world has
designated "Mormonism." As a rule the people of Utah are "Mormons,"
from conviction and from choice. They have left the institutions of
their fathers because of the defects which were discovered therein,
because of the inconsistencies which prevailed there, and in thousands
of instances have reached conclusions because of the teachings that
many of them received in the religious organizations of the world. The
Latter-day Saints, to the surprise of many, call themselves
Christians. Notwithstanding the opposition that they have encountered;
notwithstanding the prejudice with which they have had to contend;
notwithstanding the ignorance that is everywhere manifest in regard to
them and to their institutions, they claim to be Christians,—or
followers of Christ; and in assuming this title, they accept it with
all that it implies. They defend with as much devotion and persistence
the character and institutions and teachings that were given of their
Lord and Savior as recorded in the Books that have been handed down
from the fathers as do the disciples of any system, either secular or
religious, who follow out the dictates, theories and ideas of those
whom they have accepted as their leaders. The followers of John Wesley
are no more tenacious of the teachings of their illustrious
predecessor, the founder of their church, than are the Latter-day
Saints in regard to the teachings of the Savior, and of His servant
the Prophet Joseph Smith. Those who revere the name of Washington and
of the fathers of this republic, and because of that reverence,
cherish the fundamental truths of the Constitution, an d the
Declaration of Independence, are no more tenacious of the truths
uttered by those whom they accept as leaders, than are the Latter-day
Saints in regard to the teachings and ordinances as established by
Christ.[p.230] They have accepted Him as their authority; they have
accepted Him as their example; they have accepted Him as their leader;
and while their claims to Christianity, or the epithet of Christians,
may be ignored, disputed, or repudiated by others, still they are
abundantly able to prove that their position is correct. To those who
would dispute this let it be said that they can find (if they so
desire it) testimony in abundance in the publications which have been
issued by this Church; they can find testimony in abundance if they
will visit our Sunday schools; they can find testimony in abundance if
they will inquire of those who are "Mormons" or Latter-day Saints by
faith and and profession. It is not usual, however, for inquirers to
address themselves to this class. It is well known that of the
thousands who travel this Territory, and who visit the people in the
capacity of tourists every summer, that there are but few, very few,
who ever seek an interview with those who are believers in and
receivers of, that which they designate "Mormonism." They as a rule
are more willing to receive all the flying rumors and reports, and to
listen to all who button-hole them, and believe anyone they come in
contact with, in regard to the character of this community, in regard
to their faith and practice, their social theories, and the results of
these, than they are to inquire of Latter-day Saints; and yet there is
not a man or woman within the confines of this Territory or elsewhere,
who is a believer in the Gospel, but who is more than willing to
impart what information they possess and to give a reason for the hope
that is within them, though they might do it conscious of their own
weakness and with a measure of fear—not fear as to the truth of that
which they might repeat—not fear because they have any doubt as to the
character of the truths they have received, but with that trembling
which inevitably grows in the feelings of those who are ostracized by
society and who are vilified and repudiated by the world.

Vol. 26,  p.230
It may be asked, what then as "Mormons" are your views in a religious
sense? What are your peculiarities? Where do you get the doctrines
that you teach?

Vol. 26,  p.230
I am of the opinion that the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints can be
easily proved and established from the sacred Scriptures, and I can
further say that the missionaries who have gone from Utah—the Elders
who have labored in the midst of the nations of the earth—have always
been able to substantiate their testimony by the word of God. They
have never asked the world to receive a doctrine that they could not
read in their own Bible, in their own study and in their own homes.
They have never asked mankind to accept any dogma, doctrine or
principle which they believed would be calculated to work them injury,
but they have believed that the nature of man everywhere was of such a
uniform character, and the purposes of his creation were of such
divine intent, that those truths which in their essential nature would
bless one man, were equally calculated to bless all mankind.

Vol. 26,  p.230
I presume that it is everywhere comprehended that man is a religious
being; that he has within him aspirations, feelings and thoughts in
regard to the Supreme, which unitedly declare that he needs some
assistance from outside sources if he is to possess knowledge and
understanding of the nature of his existence. Knowledge in regard to
the purpose of that existence, in regard [p.231] to its past, and in
regard to the present and future of that existence. All the facts of a
man's organization hear testimony to the necessity (and where there is
necessity there is advantage) of religious training, culture and
education. The soarings of his spirit, the dissatisfaction with
earthly things, with its failures, and lack of recompense, the
consequent reaching out lute the future for an assurance of
compensation, are all so many evidences that there is somewhere the
material to satisfy these aspirations; the same as the feeling of
hunger and thirst is abundant testimony that somewhere there are
elements to minister to the gratification of that hunger and thirst.
And when this conclusion is reached it is very easy to advance another
step in religious science, and to understand that if there is that
material, that intelligence calculated to minister to his religious
aspirations, its faith and hope, it must come from a source outside of
himself—in other words it must proceed from that Being who is the
onginator, the Creator, the Lord of man, that in Him alone there must
be that fountain of inspiration, revelation and intelligence which is
essential in developing in man the purposes of his creation. This
argument appears to me to be philosophical, to be sound, to be suited
to every man's condition, and there is implied in that conclusion the
inevitable necessity and advantages of inspiration and revelation. The
Christian world have accepted this idea, and they will tell you that
the fountain of inspiration was open to man some 1,800 years ago. The
religious world hold to the theory that there was a period in the
history and experience of mankind when this spirit of inspiration
existed among men, but that it was some two or three or four thousand
years ago. The Christian—I might emphasize that and say the CHRISTIAN
world—have professed to have faith in the Savior of mankind as
occupying an intermediate position between the Creator and his
children, They will take up the Scriptures and point us to
illustrations which establish his character in that respect. They will
tell us in quoting the same that "He was a teacher sent from God;"
that "He sought not His own will but the will of the Father who scut
Him; that He declared that He spoke not of Himself, but of His Father
who sent Him; that He did nothing of Himself, but as my Father hath
taught me. I speak these things, for I do always those things that
please Him!' They will tell us that even his enemies said, "He spoke
like one having authority, and not as one of the Scribes." In all the
churches of Christendom they will repeat the marvelous parables that
He gave to His disciples; they will read to us the sermon on the
mount; they will tell us of His miracles; they will endeavor
ostensibly to carry out the institutions which He established, all of
which substantiates the idea that they have at least some faith in the
mission which He claimed upon the earth. But if you ask whether that
spirit of inspiration and revelation which He promised His disciples
was to be continuous, or whether it has been continuous, or whether it
is now necessary, the whole religious world, both priests and people
have reached the conclusion that it belongs to an era of the past; yet
if ever the religious world needed teachers it is now. If ever mankind
needed revelation it is to-day. If ever there was a necessity for
inspiration, we feel and know that it is in the midst of the
nineteenth century. [p.232] If ever there was a time when confusion,
contention and strife, when inconsistency and skepticism prevailed it
is surely now, among the most advanced nations of civilization and of
Christendom; there men are to be found laying the axe at the
foundation of religious faith, endeavoring to popularize their own
doctrines, and to bring into disrepute and into contempt the teachings
of the Book that for ages has been held sacred. This is being done
with that force of rhetoric, with that glow of imagination, and with
that wealth of illustration Which belongs to men of the type of
Ingersoll, and congregations everywhere, hang with breathless suspense
upon the words they utter, and thousands are grateful in their
iniquity that the myth of religion, the fear of God, the certainty of
punishment, the future life, have been swept away by so ruthless and
so untiring a hand. Ministers are paralyzed and stand aghast in
presence of the enemy, and before a sin-sick world, and now if there
is one medicine needed more than another in this age, it is that
medicine which will minister to faith, to peace, to order, to
confidence, which will bring assurance, and will give men that trust
and satisfaction with and in the doctrines that they teach and
practice, such as was possessed by the Apostles and Teachers and
Saints of olden time. Where in the Churches of the world can you find
men ready to say as Paul said to his converts, "The Gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power and the Holy Ghost, and much
assurance?" 1 Thess. 1, 5, verses. Where are those who have the same
authority to say, "though we or an angel from heaven preach any other
Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accused." "I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was was
preached of me is not after man, for I neither receive it of man,
neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Gal. 1
and 12. This assurance is not to be found. It is not known. The spirit
of authority, the confidence which grows from the possession of truth
is not in connection with the churches, or enjoyed among the
intelligent of Christendom. To be sure the world go to a great expense
in order that they may secure religious instruction. Colleges are
erected. Men of certain temperament spend years and years in order
that they may be fitted for the ministerial profession. The people
delight to pour out of their wealth for the spiritual food that they
receive of their teachers; but with it all, that uniformity, that
beauty, that simplicity, that consistency, that force, that assurance
which pertained to the primitive days of Christianity is not to be
found in the religious world of to-day.

Vol. 26,  p.232
Now, I might ask what was the order of things in the primitive church
as established by the Savior? There are certain first principles which
pertain to all branches of science—chemical science, agricultural
science, astronomical science, or any other branch—there is implied in
connection with all these a possession and use of primary or
fundamental principles upon which the superstructure is built, and it
is the same in regard to the science of religion. There are certain
fundamental and foundation principles upon which the superstructure is
built, and it is the same in regard to the science of religion. There
are certain fundamental and foundation principles upon which the
edifice is to be built, and upon which it must for ever stand, and
these principles did not [p.233] originate in any school in connection
with any college, or really in connection with any organization or
body of men. They are divine. They were revealed. They came through
chosen messengers who tabernacled in the flesh, who taught and then
transmitted them to their fellows, who in turn taught others, and thus
made them powerful by final dissemination among nations. This idea, I
think, is invulnerable. What, then, are the primary or foundation
principles of religion? Faith in God, growing out of the necessities
of man's nature, growing out of the nature of his spirit, the origin
of his being, the history and memory of the past, the outlook into the
future—these all foreshadowing the necessity and advantages and
blessings of faith in God. Hence every man who is a religionist has
sought unto a Being of some kind; whatever his conception of that
Being may be, he looks upon it as fundamental that there is a God, and
there are none but those that David speaks of, namely, the fool, who
has said in his heart that "there is no God." Having established this
faith in God, we want to know what position we occupy towards Him. He
is our benefactor. He is our friend. We are His children. The
Scriptures tell us that we are created in His image and likeness. They
tell us that the Savior was "the express image of His Father's
person." We, then, are like our Father. We are His posterity. We are
His sons and daughters dwelling and tabernacling in the flesh. What is
the position that a man's children occupy toward him as their parent?
Every parent expects obedience. Every parent expects respect to his
wishes. Every parent expects that when he makes a law that that law
will be carried out in his household; that there shall be order, rule
and authority there. This is the idea which prevails between God and
man upon the earth, and that again implies the principle to which I
have already alluded, the spirit of inspiration and revelation; for in
our present condition the Almighty cannot communicate directly,
probably, but He has selected certain mediums of communication. Who
are they? His servants who—like His servants of Biblical note,—teach
in His name. He promised, and gave unto mankind a witness of Himself,
even when there was no law, by His Holy Spirit, and He has sent that
true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, while
to every baptized believer is given "the manifestation of the Spirit,
to profit withal." 1 Cor., 12, 7. And this Spirit will bear testimony
to the truths, or laws, that are revealed by His Son, and taught by
His appointed servants.

Vol. 26,  p.233
Well, now, how shall we ascertain these truths? Why, through this
channel. Jesus Christ was the lawgiver. He established that system of
things calculated to bring man back into the presence of His Father,
and He commanded men everywhere that they should seek after Him, that
they should pray unto Him, "Our Father, who art in Heaven," Thy will
be done on earth as it is done in heaven," and He communicated that
will unto those who listened to His teaching. What was that will? He
continuously advocated and enforced the spirit of repentance. Why?
Because men—all men, had wandered from the path of rectitude. They
lived in violation of those laws which are divine; they failed to
carry out that which would lead them on toward perfection. Hence as a
natural and philosophical conclusion men are called upon to repent.
What! Does this generation need to repent?[p.234] There are many who
think they need no repentance; that they occupy positions in society
too elevated; that they belong to the upper crust, the great "upper
ten," who are leaders in science, in art, and in literature, and who
are among the cultured of our nation and in other nations of mankind.
They think they have no occasion to repent; they "thank God that they
are not as other men, not even as this publican, or as this "Mormon."
But, brethren and sisters and friends, there is no royal road to
salvation in the economy of God. There are no principles in the
science of religion that can he repudiated, or neglected, or disobeyed
by man, without his subjection to the penalty, repentance of all evil
and a return to that which is right is one of the primary elements and
evidences of true manhood and womanhood, and it is also an essential
part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When man has thus accepted and
manifested his faith in God by his repentance, having believed on and
in the word of His servants, and acquired active faith in them, he has
made an advance. When I say His servants, I mean the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, in a primary sense, and those whom lie has delegated and
appointed in a secondary sense; for we read that the Apostles were
commanded to teach that which He had taught them; they were sent out
to "teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;"
they were not to teach their own ideas, their own theories, their own
conclusions, but that they should teach the principles taught by Him,
when they were asked the question, What is necessary for us "to do to
be saved."

Vol. 26,  p.234
It is almost an insult to a great many people now, to tell them that
they need salvation, but yet in the innermost recesses of every man's
heart and every woman's soul, in the depths that no plummet hath
sounded, not even the one made by themselves,—there rests the feeling
that they need be sorry for many of the things that they have done in
life, and if not for those that they have done, at least for the
thousand and one things that they have left undone, for there are sins
of ommission as fatal as those of commission.

Vol. 26,  p.234
Faith in God and repentance, then, and faith in His servants, rests
upon a philosophical as well as upon a scriptural basis. It is
rational and reasonable, it is easy to be comprehended, these things
are true, in and of themselves!

Vol. 26,  p.234
What shall we do after we have thus repented? What say the Scriptures?
What said the Apostles? Why, when asked the question, "What shall we
do?" Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." "Why," say the
religious world, "we don't believe in that?' I know it. I cannot help
that. If you choose to repudiate the authority that you at other times
profess to accept, I do not know that it is much of my business. If
Americans choose to apostatize from the political principles of the
fathers of the Republic, I do not know that I can help that. If any
man belonging to any religious or social organization chooses to
neglect or repudiate the principle of that organization, I do not know
that I can help it. I do not know that any community can help it, we
can only state the facts as they are, premising, however, that
apostacy admissible from the institutions of men in no way justifies
the same action in regard [p.235] to that which is divine. Jesus as an
example went and was baptized of John in Jordan, and there is abundant
proof in the New Testament, if I had time to quote it, to show that
all the early christians were baptized? Have you any record that all
the early christians were baptized? No. But we have a record that many
were baptized, and the fact that one or more were baptised is evidence
presumptive that the whole were, for we read of only "one Lord, one
faith, and one baptism." "Well," says one, "I do not attach any
importance to baptism." Probably not. I was amused just before I came
to meeting in reading an account in the newspaper of a circumstance
that occurred lately in the experience of General Grant. We have all
sympathized with General Grant in his affliction. We have honored him
for the position that he occupied in the nation, and many of us have
hoped that he would live long to do good among the people. But at one
period of his sickness the doctors asserted that the disease was
likely to prove fatal at any moment, and Mrs. Grant was called into
the room where he was. Dr. Newman, and two or three of the General's
medical advisers were present, and Dr. Newman in the excess of his
religion, or of his soul, and probably with some faith in the
ceremony, got a little water and baptized the General—that is,
sprinkled the water upon him—in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost. General Grant was at the time unconscious and
not expected to rally. But one of the doctors went out to an attendant
and asked if he had a little brandy? Yes. After procuring the brandy
he injected a little into the General's veins, which speedily restored
him to consciousness. Dr. Newman on this recovery immediately said,
"Oh! our faith and prayers have saved the General again. "No," says
the doctor." This incident I only mention to show that there are
theories in the Christian churches and among its most noted ministers
in regard to the ordinance of baptism, and probably the great majority
of Americans at some period of their lives have been baptized—as it is
called, some having been sprinkled in childhood, some in more mature
years, others by immersion, having been raised among the persuasion
called Baptists, whether or no, there is some little importance
attached to this ordinance of baptism, and this ordinance of baptism,
the Latter-day Saints accept in common with their fellow-Christians,
or with other so-called Christians. They believe in being baptized as
a necessary consequence of their faith in God and in His Son Jesus
Christ!

Vol. 26,  p.235
Now, how were the early Christians baptized? I do not think that there
is a shadow of evidence in the New Testament that they were any of
them baptized by sprinkling, or in any other way save by that of
immersion. We read of some that were baptized in a certain place
"because there was much water there." We read of others who were
converted in the night time, and who went straightway and were
baptized. We read that the Savior told Nicodemus that, "except a man
be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom
of God." We read that Paul in writing to the Romans said that they
were buried with Christ in baptism, and that their being raised from
the water was an illustration of the rising of the Savior from the
tomb, and we are further told by Peter that as the ark saved [p.236]
Noah, so also doth "baptism now gave us." Baptism, indeed, was a
divine ordinance. It was one of the steps in the science of religion
having its own special position of power and blessing in the economy
of God—one of the ordinances established for securing a certain
measure or portion of salvation.

Vol. 26,  p.236
And after the disciples had thus been baptized they received the Holy
Ghost by the "laying on of hands." Numerous illustrations of this fact
might be pointed out; but as we are not speaking to heathens, as we
are not speaking to skeptics, but to those who profess to believe the
Bible, they can at their leisure refer to these illustrations, where
the early converts had hands laid upon them for the gift of the Holy
Ghost. And they can also look at the practice of the churches in our
day, where in some denominations there is practiced the ordinances of
confirmation and where the minister says unto those of his flock,
"receive ye the gift of the Holy Ghost." This was also one of the
principles of the Gospel. This gift of the Holy Ghost was the source
of life, the source of intelligence, the source of knowledge and
understanding: it was the power of inspiration and revelation resting
upon the baptized—the men and women who had accepted the Savior as
their leader and guide.

Vol. 26,  p.236
I might multiply these illustrations of the science of religion. I
might go on to show that there were other important elements in the
teachings of those who were converted in early times to christianity.
The world to-day is full of organizations. it knows the weakness of
individual effort. It is when men and women are aggregated that they
wield large influence over mankind, and the early christians were no
strangers to the advantages of organization. They formed themselves
into little groups called churches. In some places in the New
Testament they are called the "church," in other places "the Church of
God," in others "the Church of Christ." In these organizations there
were officers. There were men appointed to fill certain positions in
these organizations. This implied rule, authority; their power and
authority to teach are everywhere exemplified in the Acts and Epistles
of the New Testament. So much so that one of the apostles tells us
that God had set in His Church Apostles, Prophets, Teachers,
Evangelists, etc., for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. These were the
officers, the most active members of the church—those who had charge
of its interests—those who had charge of the spiritual and temporal
education of these early converts in the Church. There was a Christian
church, then, in the early history of Christianity. Men were organized
lute groups—into churches and belonged to the true church of which
Christ was the head! So there are organizations called churches in our
day, and in the age in which we live. But there is one great
difference between our age and that one. And what is that? Why, there
is diversity in our time. The Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of
the former-day Saints, was an unit. There was no rebellion within its
ranks, no division in its councils, no clashing theories taught by its
apostles. There was no rival or other organization ostensibly
christian that could stand up and presume to dispute or deny that
authority which the Church of God maintained. Yet in our time we have
every variety of Church organization—the [p.237] Mother Church; the
Episcopal Church; Methodism in all its forms and phases;
Presbyterians, Baptists, and a host of others. These are diverse from
each other in doctrine and sentiment and organization and theory and
practice, and consequently unlike the primitive church as established
by Christ and His Apostles. Now, can they with these differences, with
these divergences, and with this variety of teaching,—can they
accomplish that designed by the founder of the original church? I
hardly think so. Common sense says this is impossible. If the first
church was divine in its order, divine in its ordinances, divine in
its officers, divine in its institutions, if it was to accomplish a
divine purpose, nothing short of that divine order could accomplish
that purpose in this or any other age of the world. That is why
Sectarianism has failed to bring the people to a unity of the faith.
That is why it has not accomplished so much good as it might have done
upon the earth. It is like a rope of sand. Every minister fighting,
and every congregation quarrelling for the ascendency of their own
special and peculiar sect and faith· You go into any little village of
a few scattered hundreds and you will find four or five churches
there, each one endeavoring to perpetuate its own special idea, partly
irrespective of the salvation of the masses. In fact they have become
money making institutions· Ministers have become professionals. They
preach for money and divine for hire." They are more content to ask
the congregation what they shall preach than to stand valiantly for
the truth as preached by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, and as
recorded in the book which from first to last they profess to
reverence and sustain.

Vol. 26,  p.237
This is the criticism of the Latter-day Saints upon the religious
world, and because of this criticism, because of this understanding,
thousands and tens of thousands have been led to embrace that which is
known to the world as "Mormonism."

Vol. 26,  p.237
What is "Mormonism?" It is a restoration, a re-revealment of the same
principles that were practiced by the early Christians. They had not a
doctrine, they had not an ordinance, they had not an officer, but what
is taught and found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Now, the world have no idea we have got away with them that
far. Has it come about by our own wisdom? No, sir. Where did you get
it? Right in the State of New York, through a chosen man—a boy,
rather—by the name of Joseph Smith. Who was Joseph Smith? A man like
you and I. Who were the old prophets? Who was Elijah? He was a man
with all the failings of his fellow men; subject to like passions with
his brethren. Who were the Savior's Apostles? Men like ourselves! Who
was Joseph Smith? A young man with many weaknesses and follies, it may
be, of his own, and some akin to the failings of those by whom be was
surrounded. How did he acquire this knowledge and information? It was
communicated from on high. The spirit of inspiration and revelation
rested upon him. He held communion with God and with His Son Jesus
Christ. He received the ministration, of Angels, and the power and
authority of the Holy Priesthood from those who once exercised that
authority in the flesh and he was ordained and dedicated to introduce
this order again among mankind. Do you believe that? We Latter-day
Saints believe it. Nay, more, we know it for ourselves. We have had
testimony [p.238] for year upon year in our experience that God was
with him in manhood; that He enabled him to establish His Church, and
that He gave him power to ordain others to go forth to the nations of
the earth and gather the obedient and the good from the masses of
mankind. the good I said. "Well," says one, "do you mean that you
Latter-day Saints are any better than we are." I do not know that I do
in this sense of the word. I mean that there was found scattered among
the nations a people prepared of God for the recep- of the truth.
Individuals were looking for the salvation of Israel. They had been
suffering under the inconsistencies, traditions and superstitions of
the churches to which they belonged, and they were waiting for the
coming of the man sent of God. And when he came or sent his
representatives, there were thousands everywhere that heard the word
gladly. Where? In enlightened America, in the land of Bibles, in the
land of churches, in the land of culture, in the land of religious
liberty, where every one is supposed to have the right to worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience, and with none to
molest him or make him afraid. They accepted the teachings of this
lad. Was he an educated person? No, not in the sense that the world
would call education. He had not been raised in any college of our
great country; he had not studied the classics; he was not born in
Boston, or anywhere in its immediate vicinity; but he was taught of
the heavens, he was inspired of God, and he went forth in the strength
of that education, and Utah Territory spreading from the north to the
south, from the east, to the west is the product of his labors and the
labors of the Elders that have followed in his wake. "And," says one,
"you believe this, that he was a prophet of God." Yes, we do. We will
apply the same test that was applied in former days, the days of the
Savior. Jesus said: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself, and as was
said of the Savior "we know that thou art a teacher sent from God, for
no man can do the things that thou doest except God be with him," so
we can say of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Though he was called in
poverty and raised in ignorance, yet the Lord made him mighty, and no
man unless he had been thus sent of God, could have accomplished the
work that he has performed. You can find in this Territory people of
every-nationality almost. You can find them from every state of this
Union. You can find people that have been identified with every
religious organization. You can find people that are well up in the
doctrines of the religious world, and who comprehend the truths that
are taught to them from time to time. These have been gathered from
the nations by the power of truth, by the influence that the Elders
carried, and they have colonized and spread abroad until the
population is numerous in all the valleys of this mountain country.
Strangers come here very curious to know what kind of people these
"Mormons" are. They come filled with prejudice and with hatred, with
contention and strife. Many envy our prosperity, and some say, "If we
let this people alone they will take away our place and nation." Well,
as I have said, this has been done by the power of truth, by the
preaching of the simple principles that you can find in the Bible, and
that can never, no never, be [p.239] overthrown. The Elders of Israel
have never been met successfully by the combined learning of the
ministers in Christendom. the Elders have gone for them like giants,
while conscious of personal weakness; like little David, they have
taken the sling and the stone gathered from the brook, until the heads
of many goliaths of our day have reeled and fallen beneath the blow.

Vol. 26,  p.239
This is what "Mormonism" is. It is nothing more, nothing less, than
the restoration of the old Gospel under the sanction and approbation
of the heavens. The Elders of Israel hold the authority of the Holy
Priesthood to induct men into the Kingdom of God; to baptize in water
for the remission of sins, and relay hands upon them for the gift of
the Holy Ghost, and as in olden times, the signs have followed the
believer.

Vol. 26,  p.239
With this knowledge don't you think we can stand a good deal of this
persecution to which we are subject? Do you think that bonds or
imprisonment or death affects so sublime and decided a faith? "But,"
say some, "you are not persecated for these things: you are persecuted
for other things. Here is that offensive practice that you call
polygamy, this is the great trouble between you and the fifty-five
millions of the nation." Well, who of that fifty-five millions have we
robbed in that? Have we taken any man's wife who may have passed
through this Territory against his consent? What law have we violated
in regard to this thing? Any law in this book (holding up the Bible)
against it? Can you find it, you ministers, you religious professors,
you wide spread organizations? Have we done violence to the laws of
God, or have we not honored the practice of the patriarchs? Have we
not accepted that which was approved of God in the ages that are past,
and which gave men prestige as the favored of our race. Men whom we
are told were the friends of God." Ah, well," says one, "that was in
the dark ages." Just so. But it was when God made Himself manifest
among His children; when angels communed with those that dwelt upon
the earth; when the spirit of revelation was felt among mankind; when
the institutions of God's house and the ordinances thereof prevailed
among the chosen people of God! And you call that a day of darkness!
Boston was not known then, it is true. The great cities of this day
had no existence in their present form. Civilization with all its
concomitants were not then in existence, or like Sodom and Gomorrah
under the hall of brimstone and almighty wrath, its cities might only
have been found to-day, as great, dead, saline seas. The dark ages!
The age of Abraham! the age of Jacob and the founding of the tribes of
Israel. The ages of Samuel! The age of the Judges of Israel! The ages
when God made Himself manifest among that great people in delivering
them from the hand of the iron rule of Pharaoh, and gave unto them a
goodly land. The ages that gave David and Solomon and the magnificent
Temple of Jerusalem. Dark ages, that brought on to this stage of
action the Savior of mankind! Dark ages, when the church which He
established, flourished in the midst of persecution, when its leaders
suffered martyrdom. Dark indeed, if they had not had the light of the
Gospel; if they had not had this sunshine or' inspiration; if they had
not known of the power of God; if they had not had a testimony within
themselves that they had received that [p.240] which would enhance
their welfare not only in this life, but the life to come. Would to
God we had again a renewal—nay, a glimpse of the dark ages of the
past, and that the same benignant light was now spreading throughout
this our land with its Christian churches, schools and colleges, that
its corruptions and evils might hide their head and be banished from
the midst of sorrowing mankind.

Vol. 26,  p.240
This, then, as I have intimated to you, is "Mormonism." It is the
power of God unto salvation to all those who shall obey. And the
promise is not unto us only, but unto our children, and our children's
children, down to the latest generation. And if men and women
anywhere, want that salvation which comes of God, which comes of the
Gospel, which comes of the acceptance of Jesus as the Savior of
mankind, they will have to find it in "Mormonism" as the world call
it, or in other words in the restoration of the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ; and if they want men to induct them into that Kingdom,
to baptize them in water for the remission of sins, to lay hands on
them for the gift of the Holy Ghost, they will have to find them in
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the poor, despised,
derided, and as men believe everywhere, ignorant people in the valleys
of the mountains, called "Mormons;" whose faith and institutions are
now sought to be overthrown by their enemies, by legislation of
Congress, by proclamations of Governors and the action of the Courts,
they will find salvation with that people just as assuredly as in
primitive Christian times the Pharisees, the Saducees, and other
sectarians, found salvation at the hands of the fishermen of Galilee.

Vol. 26,  p.240
I presume I have taken up all the time that is necessary; but I pray
that the power of God may rest upon this congregation; that strangers
may lay aside their prejudices and preconceived notions in regard to
the Latter-day Saints; that they may be willing to believe that some
good may come out of Nazareth, even from here; that every man and
woman professing to be a Saint of God, may be able to give "a reason
for the hope that is in them," in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.[p.241] 

George Q. Cannon, October 18, 1884

Priesthood—Its Authority Necessary to 
Administer in the Ordinances of the Gospel—this 
Principle Well Illustrated in the Life and Example of the 
Prophet Joseph—Jesus Officiated By Virtue of the Melchisedec 
Priesthood—Descent of the Priesthood From Adam—Necessity of 
Temples in Which the Power of the Priesthood Can Be Exercised 
for Those Who Died Without the Gospel—Restoration of the 
Priesthood in These Last Days—the Legitimate Acts of 
Those Holding the Priesthood Are Acknowledged and 
Ratified By the Lord—Binding Power of the Holy 
Priesthood—Opposition of Satan to the 
Priesthood—Virtues of the Latter-
Day Saints—Conclusion

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in 
the Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Morning, October 18th, 1884.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.241
I WILL read a portion of the 7th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the
Hebrews.

Vol. 26,  p.241
[The speaker read the whole of the 7th chapter.]

Vol. 26,  p.241
Proceeding he said: This chapter that I have read in your hearing is
the 7th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. In this entire book
of Hebrews, Paul reasons with the Jews, unto whom the epistle was
addressed, to show them that Jesus, the Son of God, whom they had
crucified, was a Priest after the order of Melchisedec, and that the
Priesthood which had been taken away during the days of Moses in the
wilderness, had been restored through Him. The Jews entertained the
idea that Priesthood necessarily came through the tribe of Levi, and
that the power and the authority thereof—that is, to minister in all
things pertaining to the Priesthood were confined to that tribe, and
that no one had the right outside of that tribe to officiate in the
ordinances pertaining to God and to mediation between God and the
people or the people and God. But Paul very clearly proved in his
reasoning with them that there was a Priesthood higher than that which
had been exercised by the descendants of Aaron.

Vol. 26,  p.241
It is well for us, who, as a people, believe in Priesthood, that we
should understand the nature and character and power of the Priesthood
which God confirms upon man when He calls him to act in His stead in
the midst of the people. As a people we differ in our views upon these
points from almost every other church.[p.242] There are one or two
sects in existence which attach a great importance to Priesthood, but
the most of them which form the so-called Christian world reject the
idea of Priesthood, and deny that it is necessary for it to he
bestowed upon man. This feeling has doubtless arisen as a consequence
of the abuses that have grown up through the maladministration of what
is termed the Priesthood. In rebelling against the Catholic Church and
its pretensions men have gone to the other extreme, and have discarded
the idea of Priesthood entirely, and claimed that all men are alike
before God; that all men are equally endowed with authority from God,
and to exercise the power and the authority that were originally
bestowed upon those who held the truth.

Vol. 26,  p.242
In these last days, in the organization of this Church, God, in His
infinite wisdom, impressed upon his servant Joseph Smith the necessity
of there being a re-bestowal of the Priesthood, in order to give him
the authority to officiate in the ordinances of the Kingdom of God.
This must have been impressed upon the prophet's mind at a very early
day, from the fact that, notwithstanding he had been brought up among
the protestant sects, and had doubtless shared in the views which they
entertained respecting the right of all men who were impressed by the
spirit, and who were prompted by an inward call to act as ministers of
God, he refrained from attempting in the least degree to do anything
in the name of God or of Jesus Christ until he had received the power
and authority from on high through the bestowal of the Priesthood upon
him. The revelations he had received from the Lord, with the
ministration of holy angels, did not, he plainly perceived, authorize
him to act as a minister of elm Lord in the administration of
ordinances. He never attempted to do anything in administering
ordinances, or anything that a Priest might do, until he had been
ordained of God through the administration of John the Baptist. Then,
and not till then, did he officiate in the ordinance of baptism. Much
as he and his companion desired that ordinance; much as they desired
to become participants in the blessings that flow from the reception
of an ordinance of that holy character, he never attempted, until he
had been thus empowered from on high, to administer it.

Vol. 26,  p.242
Now, the prevalent idea in the world has been that if a man should be
so favored as to receive the ministrations or visitations of angels,
or to receive any manifestations of what might be termed a
supernatural character, he would be completely invested with the power
necessary to preach the Gospel unto his fellow-men and to administer
all the ordinances thereof. But the Prophet Joseph not only received
the ministrations of angels, but actually had revelations from God,
which are written in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and which are
now the word of God to the Church. He received these revelations
through the inspiration of the Almighty. He also by means of the Urim
and Thummim translated the Book of Mormon; was, in fact, a seer as
well as a revelator; had the spirit of prophecy to predict those
things that should take place in the future, and many events that have
since taken place were prophesied of by him before he was really
ordained of God to administer the ordinances of life and salvation. I
know that this is an exceptional instance. It may be possible that
there is not another [p.243] like it in the history of our race where
a man was so highly favored of God, endowed with such authority, such
power and had such manifestations of the mind and will of God as he
received without having the Holy Priesthood. But it accords with the
ideas so frequently expressed by the brethren respecting the Prophet
Joseph and many others, that they were ordained before the foundations
of the world were laid to come forth and accomplish the labor and the
work that they did. There is no room for doubt in regard to the truth
of this statement that is so frequently made. In the early boyhood of
the Prophet Joseph, he was moved upon in a mysterious manner to seek
unto God. By the exercise of a faith that was uncommon, and in fact it
may be said unknown upon the earth, he was able to receive the
ministrations of God the Father, and of His Son Jesus Christ; thus
showing in the very beginning of his career, that he was a man or a
spirit that was highly favored of God—a man to whom God desired to
give particular manifestations of his kindness and goodness and power,
and this was followed up from that time until his death by continued
manifestations of the favor and the will and the power of God unto
him. But it is a remarkable fact—and I wish to impress it, I think it
is worthy of remembrance by all of us—that notwithstanding the Prophet
Joseph had all these manifestations, and was, as I have said, a
prophet and seer and revelator, he never attempted—notwithstanding the
ideas that were so prevalent among mankind, and especially in the
region where he lived and where he received his education—to officiate
in any of the ordinances of the house of God, or of the Gospel of
salvation, until he received the everlasting Priesthood. When that was
bestowed upon him; when he received the Priesthood after the order of
Aaron, and was ordained by the angel who alone held the keys, who was
a literal descendant of Aaron, and by virtue of that descent entitled
to the keys of that Priesthood, having exercised the authority thereof
while in the flesh—then and not till then did he administer the
ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins. And then he refrained
from acting in ordinances belonging to the Melchisedec Priesthood,
that higher Priesthood, by the authority of which the baptism of fire
and the Holy Ghost is administered unto the children of men. Having
authority to baptize in water given unto him, he did not go any
farther, until the Lord in His kindness and mercy bestowed upon him,
through the administration of those apostles who held the keys after
the death of our Savior, the authority to administer in those higher
ordinances and to exercise the power and authority of this higher
Priesthood. This illustrates most perfectly how careful men ought to
be in acting in the name of God, not to overstep the bounds of the
authority conferred upon them, but to carefully keep within those
limits that are assigned to them in which to exercise authority. It is
a lesson unto us as a people. We should be particular ourselves and
should impress every man with the great care that he should exercise
to confine his acts to the authority which he has received from the
Almighty.

Vol. 26,  p.243
Jesus himself, no doubt, was equally careful in regard to the
authority which He held. He was called to be a Priest after the order
of Melchisedec—that is, this higher Priesthood. He exercised the
authority thereof among the children [p.244] of men. He still is a
Priest after that holy order. It was by virtue of that Priesthood that
He officiated in the ordinances that He administered unto men. Though
the Son of God, the Savior himself, did not attempt, because of His
sonship, because of His high descent, to officiate angling the
children of men aside from and independent of the authority of the
Holy Priesthood, that is, the Priesthood after the order of
Melchisedec. It was by virtue of that Priesthood and authority that he
officiated, that he administered the baptism of fire and of the Holy
Ghost, which John the Baptist announced unto the people he would do
when He came. Jesus in administering that baptism and conferring that
blessing, did so by virtue of and in the authority of the Melchisedec
Priesthood. He would not, as I have said, have dared to do this
independent of that authority; so in laying His hands upon His
Apostles He conferred upon them this power and this authority. He
commanded them to go forth and administer unto the children of men by
virtue of that power and authority, and the Church that He built up,
and this Church of His that is now established in these last days, and
the officers of it, derive their authority from that source. It has
come down legitimately from the days of Melchisedec; in fact it has
come down from our great father Adam. He received the Priesthood of
the Son of God; He was ordained to that Priesthood, and it has come
down by lineal descent from him unto all his children who have that
authority to-day and who exercise it upon the earth. It can be traced
in the same manner as the descent of man can be traced. It can be
tracheal to Father Adam. He received it through angelic
administration. It was bestowed upon him and upon his son Abel and
upon his son Seth, and from them it has come down I through the line
of the Priesthood—from Seth to Enos, from Enos to Cainan, from Cainan
to Mahalaleel, and so on down until the days of Noah, who received it
from his grandfather. These men were ordained in their various
generations to this Priesthood, the Priesthood after the holiest
order, the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God. By virtue of
this Priesthood Noah and his sons ministered and labored, as we are
told, among the children of men to persuade them to forsake their sins
and to turn to righteousness, lest the Lord should overwhelm them with
a flood. This flood had been predicted long before it came. Enoch had
beheld it in vision, and he went forth, as we are told in the record
that has come down to us from him, and labored to the best of his
ability among the children of men to avert the dreadful consequences
of this threatened flood, which he had been informed by the Lord would
overwhelm the inhabitants because of their wickedness. He labored in
this Priesthood for 365 years and upwards—that is, he walked with God
for that length of time,—and by the exercise of that, Priesthood he
obtained such great power from God that he and his people were
translated. Zion was not. It was taken to the bosom of the Lord. The
Priesthood, however, was still left. His son Methuselah received it,
and he bestowed it upon Lamech, and Noah received it, from Methuselah,
and the sons of Noah received and exercised the authority of it in the
midst of the children of men in order to save them, but were
unsuccessful. Melchisedec received it, and because of his greatness
and the power that he attained unto [p.245] with God, he became so
distinguished that the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God
has been called after his name from that the until the present, to
avoid, as we are told in the revelations, the too frequent repetition
of the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then Abraham received
it, and he bestowed it upon his children. Moses, however, received it
through a different line, as we are told. He received it from his
father-in-law, Jethro, and exercised it among the people. It was the
same Priesthood that his ancestor Abraham held, and by it he performed
the mighty works that he accomplished.

Vol. 26,  p.245
To return again to Melchisedec. We find here that Paul in speaking
about him says that he was "King of peace." And he goes on to say, as
we have it translated, that he was "without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor and of life,"
and the whole Christian world have gone astray over this expression of
Paul, not being able to understand it, thinking that that which I read
in your hearing referred to Melchisedec himself, when in reality it
was the Priesthood he bore. It was after the power of an endless life.
It had no beginning; no end. It is eternal as our Father and God, and
it extends into the eternities to come, and it is as endless as
eternity is endless, and as our God is endless: for it is the power
and authority by which our Father and God sits upon His throne and
wields the power He does throughout the innumerable worlds over which
He exercises dominion. It is the power and authority by which the Son
of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, has attained unto that which
has been promised unto Him, and by which He has become the Savior and
the Redeemer of the world.

Vol. 26,  p.245
This Priesthood, as I have said, came down unto Moses, but the
children of Israel would not have it in their midst. We are told very
plainly in the revelation that Moses sought diligently to sanctify his
people and to lead them into the presence of God by means of this
Priesthood, but they would not have it. The ordinances of godliness
that were administered by it were not acceptable to that generation;
they rejected them, and besought Moses to stand between them and their
Father and God, for they could not endure His presence. Hence the
Priesthood was taken away, and there was no exercise of the power and
the authority of it among the Jews, except occasionally, when Prophets
received authority from the Lord, until the days of the Savior, when
it was restored once more in its fullness and in the plenitude of its
power to the earth, and men began to exercise the authority thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.245
My brethren and sisters, we are building temples at the present time
in which we have ordinances administered unto us for those who have
died. Why is this necessary? It is because the Priesthood of the Son
of God was withdrawn for a long period of time from the earth. The
children of men have been born, they have lived, they have died
without any of the ordinances being administered unto them by those
who held the Priesthood of the Sea of God. It is true that many sought
after God in a certain manner and according to the light they had, and
many obtained some degree of knowledge concerning God. Some of them
had a testimony of Him through their faith and died at peace with God.
Many of our ancestors [p.246] lived in this condition, and God bore
witness to them by His Holy Spirit that He was pleased with them. But
what of that? Is that all that is necessary to place them in a saved
condition? By no means. Something more than that is necessary to
obtain for them the full remission of their sins and to place them in
a condition where they can be saved and exalted in God's presence. As
I said to you in the beginning, something more was necessary for
Joseph than that he was a Revelator, a Seer, and a Prophet to
constitute him a servant of God empowered to administer the ordinances
of life and salvation. A Wesley, a Luther, a Calvin, a Wycliffe, and a
host of others who have arisen in the world, imbued with the highest
and purest motives, and the highest and most intense desires for the
salvation of their fellow men, have labored zealously to turn men to
God, and to bring them to a knowledge of the Savior; but they have not
had the authority of the Holy Priesthood. They themselves could not
usher people into the Church of God. They could not legitimately
administer an ordinance pertaining to the salvation of the human
family. Yet God, in many instances, accepted of them, where they
sought unto Him according to the best light they possessed; He
accepted of them and their labors, and He witnessed unto them, by the
outpouring of His Spirit upon them, that He was pleased with them and
He whispered peace to their souls. In every land, in every nation, and
among the people of every creed, men and women of this kind have been
found, and according to their faith and diligence their works have I
been acceptable to our Father. Men have thought that the Christian
lands and the Christian people, so called, have been the most favored
of God in this respect. No doubt they have, because they have had
knowledge concerning the Savior that other lands and other peoples
have not had; but in pagan lands, where the name of Jesus has never
been heard, where men have sought after God and endeavored to live
according to the light that He has given unto them and the Spirit that
He has bestowed upon them, and which He bestows upon every man and
woman born into the world, He has accepted of them, and in the day of
the Lord Jesus, the heathers will have part in the first resurrection.
Our ancestors have, in common with others, been destitute of the power
and the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Hence we build temples;
hence we go into these temples and attend to the ordinances of life
and salvation for our kindred who have died in ignorance of this
power, or were in a position where they could not have it exercised in
their behalf. They could not be baptized for the remission of their
sins; they could not have hands laid upon them for the reception of
the Holy Ghost; they could not have any other ordinance administered
unto them, because the authority to administer was not upon the earth,
and whatever might be done in the name of God or in the name of Jesus,
by those who thought they had the authority, or who assumed to possess
it, was of no avail so far as salvation was concerned; so far as
acceptance by the Lord our God is concerned it was as though nothing
had been done. Hence it is that in these last days, God having in His
great kindness and mercy, opened the heavens once more and sent from
heaven that authority which has so long been withdrawn—God having done
this, [p.247] we are put in possession of the authority to administer
to each other the ordinances of life and salvation, and not only to
administer to each other, but to exercise that authority in behalf of
those who have lived before us, lived in ages that are past, so that,
we can connect generation unto generation until we reach back to the
time when our ancestors did hold the Holy Priesthood. In this manner
the work of salvation will progress, until throughout the millennium,
temples will be built, and the servants and handmaidens of God will go
into these temples and officiate, until all who have been born upon
the face of the earth, who have not become sons of perdition, will be
redeemed, and the entire family be re-united, Adam standing at the
head.

Vol. 26,  p.247
You can see, my brethren and sisters, the importance there is in our
having the Priesthood of the Son of God in our midst. You see how
necessary it is that it should be exercised and exercised properly.
You can see how necessary it is that the ordinances of life and
salvation should be administered by those who are legitimately
ordained to this authority. When a man lays his hands upon the head of
his fellow man and professes to bestow authority, the mere profession
of that authority will avail nothing unless he has indeed the
authority and has it legitimately. A man who may profess to have the
authority; a man who may say I have ordained this person or the other
person, unless he has the authority to do so is a mere pretender, and
his acts cannot be recognized nor acknowledged of God. I believe the
time will come when it will be necessary for every man to trace the
line in which he has received the Priesthood that he exercises. It is
therefore of great importance in our Church that records should be
kept, and that every man should know whence he derives his
authority—from what source, through what channel he has received the
Holy Priesthood, and by what right he exercises that authority and
administers the ordinances thereof. I believe this is of extreme
importance, and that where there are doubts as to a man's legitimately
exercising that authority, that doubt should be removed. Every man
should be careful on this point, to know where he gets his Priesthood;
that it has come to him clean and undefiled, legitimately; and when
men are cut off from that Priesthood by the voice of the servants of
God, there is an authority on the earth which God recognizes in the
heavens, and that man is cut off from the Priesthood. He said in
ancient days in speaking to His Apostles:

Vol. 26,  p.247
"Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whosesoever sins ye retain; they are retained."

Vol. 26,  p.247
"Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Vol. 26,  p.247
In these last days God has, in like manner, restored this same
authority of the Holy Priesthood. He has restored to man the power to
bind on earth and it shall be bound in heaven. He has restored the
authority to remit sins on earth, and He, the Great Eternal, our
Father in heaven, says that when these sins are remitted tinny shall
be remitted, but when they are not remitted they shall stand against
those who commit the sins.

Vol. 26,  p.247
Therefore, there is this authority in the Church, and you can witness
the exercise of' it, and the power of it, in your own experience.
Whenever [p.248] the voice of the people of God, and the authorities
that God has placed in His Church, whom He has ordained—whenever they
lift up their hands against a man to cut him off from the Church, to
withdraw from him the authority of the Priesthood that he has
exercised, in every instance without a single exception, from the
beginning of this Church until to-day, God has most signally and
wonderfully manifested His approval of their acts and has withdrawn
from that man, (whosoever he may be, however great and mighty he may
have been in the Church) His power and His blessing. It was so with
Oliver Cowdery, the companion of Joseph, the man who received with him
the Priesthood, upon whose head John the Baptist laid his hands, and
upon whose head, also, the Apostles Peter, James and John laid their
hands. These glorious blessings and favors that God gave to him did
not prevent his falling into sin. When he did fall into sin and the
Church and the Priesthood united in lifting their hands to cut him off
from the Chinch, and take from him the Priesthood and the authority
that he had so powerfully exercised and which God had favored him with
so much, God recognized the action. Other men fell, also. Six of the
original twelve fell into transgression. They were men of ability, men
of talent. Some of them were greatly favored. Lyman Johnson had
wonderful manifestations given unto him; but when he fell into
transgression and the Church with the Priesthood united in lifting up
their hands against him the power and authority that had distinguished
him before was withdrawn and he became as other men. And so with all
of them. So with Sidney Rigdon, that mighty man, that eloquent man,
that spokesman for the Prophet Joseph, of whom the Book of Mormon had
spoken for hundreds yes, it may be said for thousands of years before
his birth. He also, when the Priesthood and Church in Nauvoo lifted up
their hands against him, fell like Lucifer, who once was a mighty
angel in the presence of God, and exercised great authority; like
Lucifer he fell, and the authority and power that had attended him
were withdrawn, and he became like unto other men. This has been the
case in every instance. Can you point out an exception? Look at them
wherever you see them, the men that have held the Priesthood, who were
bright and influential and powerful, whom God blessed, whose
administrations God sealed when they were in the possession of that
authority, exercising it in purity and in singleness of purpose—when
this was the case He was with them; but when they went into
transgression and fell and the Priesthood was taken from them, they
became weak, and their strength was gone. They are marked among the
people wherever you see them. Thus showing that God in these last days
confirms the promise that He made unto His servants, that whatsoever
they bound on earth should be bound in heaven, and that whatsoever
they loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven.

Vol. 26,  p.248
It is by the exercise of this power in our midst that we are
preserved. God has given it unto us. It is true He has placed this
authority and power, it may be said, in earthen vessels. He has chosen
weak men, fallible men, men who are subject to all the failings and
weaknesses of human, nature. But, nevertheless, it is the authority of
God. It is the authority by which He has built up His Church in all
ages. It is the [p.249] authority, the only authority upon the earth
that can act in His name. When a man has this authority and goes forth
and confines himself to its legitimate exercise and keeps within the
bounds of his authority, God is with him; God confirms that which he
does; God places His seal and His blessing and approval upon his acts;
and though all the earth should endeavor to undo them and to say they
are of no effect, they will stand, nevertheless, and in the Courts of
heaven will be recorded and confirmed. There is no power among men
that can disannul these acts, that can revoke or invalidate them in
any manner. It is this that raises this Church beyond the power and
reach of man. Courts cannot affect in any manner the decisions or the
acts or the ordinances that are administered by the servants of God.
That which is done in the name of the Holy Priesthood will stand and
will be fulfilled both in the world and out of the world, both in time
and in eternity. Hence it is that when an Elder goes forth in the
authority of the Holy Priesthood, and baptizes a candidate who has
repented of his sins, God confirms that ordinance; God remits the sins
of that individual; God by bestowing His Holy Spirit witnesses unto
that soul that his sins or her sins are remitted. In like manner when
an Elder lays his hands upon the head of a man or a woman who has been
thus baptized and says unto that individual, "receive ye the Holy
Ghost," God in heaven bound by the oath and the covenant that He has
made, bound by all the conditions that pertain to the everlasting
Priesthood, will cause the Holy Ghost to descend upon that soul, and
he or she will be filled therewith. He receives the baptism of fire
and the Holy Ghost, and it stands on the earth and it stands in heaven
recorded in favor of that soul if he continues to observe the
conditions under which that baptism and confirmation are administered.
There is no human power that can deprive that individual of the fruits
of that blessing which has been thus sealed upon him by authority of
the Holy Priesthood.

Vol. 26,  p.249
So with other ordinances. When men go forward and attend to other
ordinances, such as receiving their endowments, their washings, their
anointings, receiving the promises connected therewith, these promises
will be fulfilled to the very letter in time and in eternity—that is,
if they themselves are true to the conditions upon which the blessings
are promised. And so it is when persons go to the altar and are
married for time and eternity. When the man who officiates says: "I
seal upon you the power to come forth in the morning of the first
resurrection, crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives,"
just as sure as that promise is made, and the persons united (to whom
the promise is made) conform with the conditions thereof, just so sure
will it be fulfilled. There is no power anywhere in existence that can
invalidate the force, the efficacy, or that can prevent the
fulfillment of that promise when it is pronounced upon a man and woman
by the authority of the Holy Priesthood—that is, there is no power but
that which they themselves can exercise. It is a remarkable fact, that
there is no blessing that God has promised unto us that any human
being, that any angel, or any devil can take from, us. There is no
power of that kind that can take it from us. But a man himself, by
sinning, can rob himself of his blessing; he can prevent its
fulfillment; but no human being can do [p.250] it beside himself.
Remember this, Latter-day Saints; remember it, and treasure it up in
your hearts, that you have salvation within your own keeping. If you
are damned, you damn yourselves; you will be the instrument of your
own damnation. It will not be because God will damn you; it will not
be because Satan has such power that he can take away every blessing
from you; it will not be because of anything of that kind. How will it
come about? It will come to every soul by wrong-doing on the part of
that soul. He or she alone can bring condemnation on himself or
herself. There is no other power can do it. Hence if we are damned we
shall have no one to blame but ourselves; we shall have no one to
condemn but ourselves; it will be the result of our own agency, the
exercise of that power which God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden when he said, "of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not
eat." He gave them their agency. He said to them: "You can eat of
every tree but one, and you can eat that also; but I forbid you to eat
of it, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; if you do eat of
that tree you will have to endure the penalty."

Vol. 26,  p.250
In the exercise of their agency they did eat of that tree, and the
result was expulsion from the garden of Eden and death. And so it has
been with all the rest of the human family from that time unto the
present. Every one of us will bring upon ourselves either salvation or
condemnation as the case may be, according to the manner in which we
exercise our agency before God. It is by this Priesthood and the
exercise of it, that the blessings of God will flow unto us. It is by
this Priesthood that we are bound together. God has surrounded us by
bonds that are indissoluble. They cannot be separated. Time cannot
wear them out. They will endure throughout eternity. It is a most
wonderful tie, the binding tie of the Italy Priesthood. Never were a
people upon the face of the earth since the Priesthood was among men,
so bound together as we are being bound; and this is the glorious
feature of the tie that binds us together; it can only operate upon
those who are righteous; it can only have effect when righteousness
prevails and where people live in such a manner as to receive the
promises of God. A man who practices wrong may have all these
blessings pronounced upon him; he may have been baptized and have had
hands laid upon him; he may go through the Temple and have wives
sealed to him and have every blessing promised unto him that is
promised to the most faithful of the children of God, and yet if he
does not live so as to be worthy of these blessings he will not
receive them; he will, sooner or later, be bereft of them and left
destitute. This is the glorious feature of this great tie that God has
restored to the earth. It only binds the righteous. It does not bind
the wicked to the righteous. It does not bind the wicked to the
wicked. Its power and saving force can only be exercised or enjoyed
where righteousness prevails. Hence when the people of God come forth
in the resurrection, they will come forth pure. There will then be a
separation of the wicked from the righteous. The righteous will enjoy
their own society. In this probation it seems to be designed in
providence of our God that we should [p.251] all be mixed up
together—no thorough separation. When we came to these valleys we
thought we had left the world behind us. We thought that because these
mighty mountains, which reared themselves on every hand as an
impassable barrier between us and the rest of the world, Babylon was
left behind. We thought we could live comparatively pure lives, and
that we would be comparatively free from the associations of the
world. But such ideas have been dispelled—very rudely dispelled—by
that which has occurred. Babylon followed us. We find that these
mountains are not sufficient to divide us from the rest of the world;
that we must share with the rest of mankind the evils and the
blessings that pertain to this mortal condition of existence. We have
these circumstances to contend with. We are mixed with the wicked. The
tares and the wheat grow together, and will grow until the harvest.
This seems to be designed in the providence of our Father. But the
time will come when there will be a separation, a final separation, of
the righteous from the wicked, and that separation will be brought
about by the exercise of the Priesthood which God has bestowed. That
Priesthood will draw up from the earth the pure, the holy, the worthy.
It will draw them up to the society of God. Everything that is not
pure will be left behind. Then we will feel and know the value of that
tie. By it the man will draw his wives to him; by it the father and
mother will draw their children to them; by it generation will be
linked to generation, until all will be united clear back to our
father Adam, the father of the human race on the earth. All this will
be accomplished by the power and authority of the Priesthood.

Vol. 26,  p.251
Do you understand, then, why the Priesthood of the Son of God is
hated; why the lives of the servants of God are sought after; why it
is that they are sought to be imprisoned and ensnared in various
forms? It is because the adversary of souls knows full well that if
this Priesthood remains on the earth, then farewell to his authority,
farewell to his kingdom, farewell to the dominion that he has
exercised over the children of men. It cannot continue its existence.
He knows that as well as we do. He understands it perfectly. Hence he
has ever sought to destroy from the face of the earth the men who have
held the Priesthood of the Son of God. He was not satisfied until the
earth drank the precious blood of the Savior of the world, and the
life of every man who has held the Priesthood, and has exercised it
from the days of righteous Abel down to the present time, has been
sought for to a greater or less extent by they adversary of souls. He
has used men as his agents to accomplish this. He cannot himself come
here and exercise his power in his own person, because it was
forbidden him, and his angels who rebelled with him, in consequence of
their great transgression, that they should have tabernacles of flesh.
This was their punishment, that they should not have tabernacles of
flesh. But from the day he entered into the serpent in the garden of
Eden to the present he has sought, through the agency of man or beast,
the lives of those who have held the Priesthood. In this way he has
sought to exercise, his power and authority among men. He did so with
Cain. Read in the Pearl of Great Price what he did with him; how he
tempted him, and how Cain succumbed to his temptation. He said to
Cain, "believe it not," and he has been using [p.252] the same words
to all the children of men from that time to the present. "Believe it
not!" When the servants of God have proclaimed the truth Satan has
ever been ready to say, "believe it not!" He has instilled into the
minds of the children of men hatred for the truth—that is, every one
that has been willing to listen to him. He has entered into them,
taken possession of their souls, and has used them to accomplish his
wicked purposes. He has done this through man. He could not do it
without he had some tabernacle to operate through. He could not
deceive Eve—or did not deceive her—except through the means of the
serpent. He entered into the serpent. The serpent was willing,
doubtless, to let him enter, and he spoke through the serpent. It was
the mouth of the serpent, but it was the voice of Satan that beguiled
the woman. He was determined that God's work should not prosper in the
earth. He has determined that the children of men shall do as he
wishes. He has been angry from the beginning because his plan was not
adopted; because the Father did not see proper to select him to save
man without the exercise of man's agency; because of this he has
determined that he will destroy the work. He has drenched the earth
with innocent blood to accomplish his purpose. He is still engaged in
that work. lie would destroy us if he could. See what is being done
all over the Territory. See the agencies that are at work. See how
many men are being used by the adversary of souls to accomplish his
purposes in regard to this people—a people unexampled for sobriety,
for temperance, for industry, for frugality, for kindness, for good
order, for all the virtues that men revere. Where can you find a
people like them? There is no place upon the face of the earth where
these virtues are better exemplified in the lives of the people than
they are in Utah Territory. What woman cries aloud in our streets
because of being defiled? What woman cries in vain for protection in
all our land, from east to west, from north to south? Has the cry of
distress gone up? Has the cry of the poor and the oppressed ascended
from these valleys unto God unheard by the people? Do orphans and
widows mourn and weep because of the circumstances which surround
them? No, not in any part of our land. Not a beggar to be seen
throughout all our settlements. No cry of distress either from man or
beast. Virtue is upheld. Women are shielded as safely as they were
when they were infants in their mother's bosoms—shielded from harm,
shielded from the seducer, from those who would wreck their happiness.
This is the case throughout all our society. Do drunkards flourish
among us? Are they encouraged? We know they are not. Are persons
encouraged in litigation and quarrelling? No; nowhere in the land is
there anything of this kind. Peace prevails; good order prevails;
quarrellings are seldom heard; virtue is protected and encouraged.
Marriage is encouraged everywhere. Yet on this land we are threatened
as a people because of these things. Our liberty is jeopardized. All
kinds of machinery are put into operation to destroy us, or to entrap
and ensnare us, and deprive us of liberty.

Vol. 26,  p.252
Thank God, my brethren and sisters, for the restoration of the
Priesthood. Thank God for the blessings we receive every day.[p.253]
Thank God for the persecutions we are called upon to endure. As the
Savior said, let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad because the wicked
array themselves against us in this manner. It is a testimony to us
that we are not in harmony with the wicked; that we are not taking the
course that Belial would like us to take; that we are pursuing the
path that God has marked out for us. We can do this with perfect
safety, and with the perfect assurance that it will all come out
right. As I have said, there is no power that can separate a virtuous
man and woman who have been united by the power of the Holy
Priesthood; no power can do it; they must do it themselves if done at
all. These ties that bind us together will endure through time and
eternity. Let us so live that we shall never forfeit our claim upon
the promises of our God, and that we may ever be faithful from this
time forward, until we receive the fulfillment of all those promises
in the presence of God and the Lamb, I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Franklin D. Richards, April 6, 1885

Prosperous Condition of the Latter-Day Saints 
in the Valleys of the Mountains—the Kingdom of God 
is One of Peace, While Those of the World Are Kingdoms 
of War and Oppression—Exhortations to Faithfulness—We Must 
Trust in God and He Will Preserve Us—the Saints Are not Using 
Carnal Weapons to Defend Themselves Against the Indians, 
Nor Against Their Enemies—If Necessary, We Should be 
Willing to Give Our Lives for the Cause of Truth—
the Blessings of God Invoked Upon the Saints

Remarks By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered at the 
General Conference, held in Logan, on the 6th April, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.253
THE Latter-day Saints have very great reason to rejoice and to be
exceedingly glad before our Father who is in heaven and before the
people here on the earth. If we take a look at our condition, and
consider the same carefully—whether it be in temporal matters or in
spiritual concerns—we are better and more comfortably situated today
than any other people of the same number anywhere on God's [p.254]
footstool. If we take into consideration our present condition as to
the comforts of life, we are better situated to-day with grain in our
granaries and food in our houses, than any other people of the same
number upon the face of the earth, or that can be found located
together upon the same extent of territory anywhere. If we take into
consideration our condition as to homes, there is a greater proportion
of this people to-day who have comfortable homes of their own than can
be found anywhere else; more of them have no need to strive for the
privilege of earning a living, as a great many of our people had to do
before they were gathered when they often found it difficult to obtain
employment, and even if successful were obliged to work by the piece
or by the day, receiving their pay regularly at the end of the week,
and in this way measuring the conditions of their living by the amount
of means which they were permitted to earn. In this manner life or
existence and its comforts were measured out to them. There was
comparatively no room for the exercise of enterprise, of skill, of
native wit, and those qualities which God has placed in their nature,
and which He designed they should practice and thus become wise and
skilled by their own ingenuity.

Vol. 26,  p.254
We sometimes feel that we are oppressed, that we are pinched and
persecuted by the people who are intruding upon our rights, and
trampling upon our liberties, but as yet we know but little,
comparatively speaking about oppression. The people of the countries
of Asia and of Europe, with all of the liberty that they enjoy, are
under the most severe daily oppression, continued dependence and
subordination to those that are over them. In those countries there is
a feeling of fear—fear of their rulers, terror in their minds caused
by the dread of threatening war which is liable at any time to come
upon them with all its horrors. In every national dispute that arises
they see and feel at once the liability that their sons, fathers,
neighbors and kinsmen may be drafted and sent off to the war, perhaps
never to return. And their hearts are filled with fear and anxiety
over this and other similar things.

Vol. 26,  p.254
We see in newspapers that in Egypt, China, Central America, and almost
everywhere else the air is thick with the mists and clouds of war.
Where is the mother or sister, father or son among us that is to-day
away from one of their kindred on account of war? The worst you have
to dread is a short imprisonment and a few hundred dollars fine; that
is the worst thing you can find to mourn and worry over. Why, bless
your dear souls, there is not another community of the same number
anywhere on the whole earth in which there is to be found such settled
peace as right here among this very people that are before me, and the
people that fill this territory all around us. And yet you think the
times are terribly hard with your granaries full of wheat that you
cannot sell, with large quantities of potatoes and vegetables that you
cannot dispose of, with flocks and herds about you; because you cannot
sell your products and get as good prices as you would like, some of
you think you are in a terribly distressed condition (Laughter).

Vol. 26,  p.254
I wish the Saints would put away these foolish ideas. I want to have
you realize that you are in a condition of peace and plenty, with
liberty, too, for God has made you free.[p.255] God has made His
people free from the bondage of sin and death; we are at liberty, and
there is no power on the earth that has the ability to fasten the
shackles of sin and Satan upon us. It all depends upon our own
conduct, as to whether we are and shall continue free.

Vol. 26,  p.255
In almost all of the countries from which you came and in the nations
that surrounded you in your former homes, people are taxed with a
taxation that is oppressive. On the green Isle of Ireland, where the
poor and afflicted are numerous there are people who have to pay a
rent of five pounds an acre for land, and they must raise sufficient
off it to support their families, and raise the money to pay the rent.
But here we can buy or take up land, and have it, too, for the taking,
but some of us consider it an awful job to fence it. (Laughter). No,
we don't know anything about oppression, as compared with the Jews,
the Poles and the Irish. In older portions of the United States, we
never could have enjoyed the blessings we enjoy here; we never could
have located and built up our towns and cities; as it was the mobs
plundered us of our homes and drove us out here to this part of the
earth. It was like a new world; it looked so entirely new, that it
seemed as if the work of creation was scarcely finished. By the
blessing of God we brought life with us and life came from heaven;
life that animated the soil under our feet; that tempered and
controlled the elements over our heads; so that in these high valleys
and canyons, where it was thought no grain or fruit could be raised,
with snow and frost every month in the year—now we raise good crops
and varieties of fruits. A few years ago it was a problem whether an
apple or a peach could be raised here in Cache valley; but it is not
long since her enterprising fruit growers took the premium in the
Territorial Fair for the best collection of apples to be found in the
Territory.

Vol. 26,  p.255
Who has done this for us? It is the Lord our God. He brought us to
this land as He brought the children of Israel to the land of Judea,
which He gave to them and to their children after them, to be their
inheritance forever.

Vol. 26,  p.255
I want to have us consider these things; and instead of being anxious
and worried, troubled and filled with fear, learn to rely upon the arm
of the Lord and trust Him for His goodness; cultivate the peace of
heaven and let the love of God dwell in our hearts. Though our enemies
may harass, trouble, and disturb us; the trouble that they will bring
upon us will be but as a drop in the bucket compared with what will
come upon them by and by. They cannot stop the work of God. His decree
has established it. We have the promise that it never shall be
overthrown or given to another people. Understand it. This form of
government which the Lord has given to us, is the strongest form of
government that was ever revealed to man. The governments of the world
have power to oppress, annoy, make war upon and destroy men from the
face of the earth. But this Kingdom that God has given to His people
is to be a kingdom of peace, a kingdom of righteousness, and its
righteousness is going to exalt His people, to make them become the
greatest people on the face of the earth, filled with power, wisdom
and intelligence that all the surrounding nations will look up to.

Vol. 26,  p.256
The people that are around us in our midst, and who wish to dictate
[p.256] to us; those who sit in the council chambers to make laws
against us and our holy faith, and thereby make us offenders—are
themselves filled with fear and anxiety at what is taking place in
this and other nations. This spirit of fear will increase upon them.
Look at the dread they experienced at the work of the dynamiters in
the old country, and that is but a beginning of what is to come. These
secret societies will work great mischief and death, with frequent
assassinations, and by and by these things will come so thick and fast
that people will not know what way to escape. The Lord is gathering
His people together that He may deal with them by themselves. the
great trouble is, that we have too many among us who are careless and
indifferent; that are wicked and sinful; that ought to be dealt with
and cut off the Church. There are plenty who are ready to sell their
brethren into the hands of their enemies, but the day will come, when
they will realize the awful consequence of their acts. We have not
much to fear unless we offend the God whom we agreed to serve.

Vol. 26,  p.256
Brethren and sisters, let not your hearts be troubled. Obey the
commandments of God, keep your covenants inviolate and learn to live
by every word that proceeds from Him and the constituted authorities
of His Church—and if you find trials in your pathway you will find
help to endure them. Parents, cultivae affection toward each other,
toward your children and toward all included in your households; do
right by your wives, your husband, your children and your God. You
will find that all the rest will come right in its own due time. The
Lord will bring it about in so strange and simple a manner that it
will be astonishing to us when we find out how He has done it. We
cannot go to the Bible, Book of Mormon or the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, to be informed how this, that and the other thing will be
solved and arranged. We can read how He did anciently according to the
circumstances that surrounded His people then; but we cannot find out
His methods and plans of to-day only as He manifests them to us by the
spirit of revelation. His ways are past finding out. He tells us that
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with
righteousness. We must remember this. If we would have power with God
and with the angels, it must be because of our diligent attention to
God, to the work He has called us to do, and we must see that we
establish it in the earth. Every man should warn his neighbor; should
teach his children and his family, and establish righteousness in his
household. Presidents and Bishops should deal with transgressors in
the Church, that they may repent, or be cut off. It is that
righteousness may be established in the earth that the Lord has
commenced His work again, that it may be established not in a little
place, but in all the land, and it shall spread until His righteous
word and work shall fill the whole earth, as the waters cover the
mighty deep.

Vol. 26,  p.256
Do not let anything divert you from the path of duty; let nothing
cause you to commit an overt act. Honor and respect the laws of the
land as far as possible, consistent with the laws and commandments of
God. Observe and obey every constitutional law. When our enemies place
us in violation of a law of the land, it is painful to us, and it is
our trial, but the responsibility [p.257] of it rests with them. Let
us make up our minds to bear this crusade of legal persecution with
fortitude as Saints have had to do in all ages of Gospel reform,
because they believed in the revelations of Jesus Christ. We have not
revolted against any law of the land; we have not contended against
any constitutional principle, law or doctrine that could benefit,
improve or exalt the human family, nor anything that could promote the
pursuit of happiness—we seek after all these things. But, our
Congressmen, Governors and Judges, in the supreme wisdom with which
they imagine they are endowed, impose penalties upon God's people for
keeping His commandments. Thus we see that wheat the wicked rule, the
people mourn.

Vol. 26,  p.257
We ought to gain by all this experience valuable knowledge. We want to
profit by it. Let every man question himself: "Can I stand this or
that without getting angry!" Or can we be righteously angry and sin
not? If not we should go into our closets and ask God for that measure
of His spirit that is necessary to sustain us in a proper frame of
mind. This is the kind of experience, the very kind of discipline that
is necessary for us, to make us find out whether we will draw near to
Him and have fellowship, and communion with Him. These things are all
for our experience, for our profit. The Lord has made known to us that
the days we live in are dark with threatenings of war. The hour of his
judgment is nigh at hand. We have seen one terrible war in our
land—and it is well that we should take heed to His counsels. Wars and
rumors of wars are spreading abroad upon the face of the earth, and it
will come to pass before a great while that people will be so far from
having peace that they must either take up the sword to contend
against their neighbor, or flee to Zion and gather with God's people.
You will see this come to pass. Mark my words. All kinds and
conditions of people will desire to come here and make homes with us.
You will see the day when it wilt be as hard to keep the wicked away
from us as it ever has been to get people to join us. Mark that too. I
tell you that a people with full granaries, a people of peace and
prosperity, is a people that will be sought after by the peoples of
the nations of the earth, and things cannot always go on in the way
they are going with us, without bringing down upon our oppressors the
retribution of an offended God. We ought to rely upon His promises.
These experiences are well calculated to do us good, and teach us to
trust in the Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.257
Nor should we forget that when a governor of unsavory memory forbade
the use of the militia alike for defense against Indian depredations,
as well as for Fourth of July celebrations; that since that date, no
single predatory excursion of the red man has been experienced by any
one of our settlements. On the contrary it would seem that all use of
fire arms for any kind of military defense had become entirely
obsolete—gone into utter desuetude—so entirely at peace have the
Lamanites become, that instead of either noise of war, or even the
apprehension thereof, there is given us of God to enjoy the most
settled peace from the red man on all our borders round; and now
having assisted to build our temples, they are enjoying with us the
heavenly blessing bestowed therein. Instead of roaming wild and
lawlessly over the plains, numbers have renounced their tribal [p.258]
relations, sworn allegiance to government, have pre-empted or
home-steaded lands of the public domain, are raising crops,
cultivating their flocks and herds, are building and occupying
comfortable dwellings, as good neighbors among their white brethren,
as is evidenced at Washakie in Oneida Stake, and at Indianola in the
San Pete Stake. Their schools are turning out scholars in the
elementary branches of good common school education.

Vol. 26,  p.258
Not only has the need of firearms been done away as between us and the
natives, but we have very great reason to be thankful that in the
present unholy crusade against the Church the onslaught has not been
with fire and the sword as in former times, but with mind and moral
suasion in the application of the law by a perversion of many of its
well-settled methods of interpretation, construction and application.
These conclusions have been the implements and the tactics of the
present warfare.

Vol. 26,  p.258
It is devoutly to be hoped that no one with a zeal which is not
according to knowledge shall commit an overt act that shall
precipitate a conflict with carnal weapons and give the enemy an
occasion or opportunity to shed the blood of the Saints or to increase
their unhallowed oppressions upon us.

Vol. 26,  p.258
Since, then, the weapons of our warfare are not powder, lead and fine
steel; let us put on the whole armor of God; banish unrighteousness
from our midst, and we or our children shall see the governments of
this world become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ in His own
due time, for which all Saints should ever labor and pray.

Vol. 26,  p.258
We have had a great deal of good instruction during this conference. I
have been much edified myself in hearing my brethren talk, and I am
sure you all have. The teachings which have been given are of a
character to promote good feelings between brethren and sisters,
fathers and mothers, parents and children, and it is pleasant to hear
of each other's welfare.

Vol. 26,  p.258
When we go to our respective homes let us go with the determination to
stand steadfast in the faith. I am sure that after such a conference
as this every honest soul who has met with us, if he wanted a portion
of the bread of life, has received that portion, has received
something which he can take home for his own use—some words of
encouragement, some strengthening exhortation, some good words that
will help to put away weakness and enable the feeble to say I am
strong in the Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.258
I pray God to bless you, to comfort your hearts; to increase your
faith towards Him; to strengthen you that you may not be overcome of
sin, and that you may seek in all things to overcome evil with good.
Remember and pray for the brethren—our leaders. We do not know what
awaits us; we care but little. The main thing devolving upon us is to
do our duty acceptably day by day. We will trust in God and go
forward. What if it were necessary that some of our lives should be
taken? There is no need for fear or worriment about it. It has always
been so when God had a people on the earth. Some of the best lives
have been taken—taken as witnesses in yonder heavens to testify to
facts as they exist here. Do you understand this? It is in accordance
with the great principles of eternal justice which rule and regulate
in heaven with a great deal more precision and certainty than here on
the earth. The Lord has told us [p.259] how He does business in some
of these matters before the councils of the Church, namely by the
voice of two or three witnesses every word is to be established, and
so it has to to be up yonder. Perhaps it is necessary once in a while
to have some go in that kind of a way. Well don't get scared about
that. We have all to die some day. It will be all right whether it
shall be to-morrow or next week, if we keep the commandments of God in
all matters. Choose the wise and the perfect way, and if we are right
we will be willing to say, "O Lord, thy will be done." If when we
embraced the Gospel we placed our all upon the altar, it is of very
little consequence about all these things. For if we seek to save our
lives we may lose them, but if we lose them in the service of God, we
shall find life eternal.

Vol. 26,  p.259
I pray that God may bless us all; you who are parents, should bless
your children—that they may render more loving obedience to you, that
you may be more affectionate to them, remembering the union in which
you have been united and in which you have been sealed; that you may
be strengthened of the Holy Ghost, and be enabled to go into the holy
temples and set yourselves in order before the Lord; that you may
obtain those eternal gifts that shall bring an eternal weight of glory
to your household, families, friends and kindred; that you may have
the full assurance of the promises of God, and have joy to animate,
stimulate and sustain you through every trying circumstance in life,
and bring you safely back into the presence of our heavenly Father.
Amen.[p.260] 

Orson F. Whitney, June 21, 1885

Prophecy of John the Revelator—Mission of 
the Ancient Apostles—Their Reception and Fate—
the Great Apostasy—Pre-Servation of the Apostle John—His 
Revelation—Restoration of the Gospel—the Earth to Be Baptized 
By Fire As It Was Once Baptized By Water—We Are Sent 
to the World With a Warning Message—They Can 
Receive or Reject It—Testimony to the 
Truth of "Mormonism"

Discourse By Bishop Orson F. Whitney, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 21, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.260
HAVING been called upon, my brethren and sisters and friends, to
address you this afternoon, I feel as though I would like to read a
portion of the word of God. I will therefore read to you a part of the
14th chapter of the Book of Revelation, from the Bible known as King
James' translation.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a
hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in
their foreheads.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, and before the
four beasts and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the
hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the
earth.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are
virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God
and to the Lamb.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault,
before the throne of God.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;

Vol. 26,  p.260
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the
hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Vol. 26,  p.260
"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the
[p.261] wine of the wrath of her fornication."

Vol. 26,  p.261
It has been charged to the Latter-day Saints that they set but little
value upon the Christian Bible that they criticise its translation and
the revisions through which it has passed, and that it is our endeavor
to belittle the importance of this holy book. The words which I have
read are a portion of that sacred record which we are charged with
undervaluing, and I choose them as a basis for my remarks, in order to
show how groundless is that charge, with many others, which are made
falsely against this people. The words you have heard include a
prophecy uttered some 1800 years ago by an Apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ, one of the Twelve whom He chose in the days of His personal
ministry upon the earth. He had delivered unto them the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, promising them that whatsoever they bound on earth
should be bound in heaven; whatsoever they loosed upon earth should be
loosed in heaven; whosesoever sins they should remit should be
remitted, and whosesoever sins they should retain should be retained.
He gave them power to go forth to all nations and preach the Gospel of
life and salvation, telling them among the last things He said that,
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned;" and that certain signs should follow
them that believed. The Apostles went forth baptizing in the name of
the Lord, and confirmed His word by signs, following:

Vol. 26,  p.261
On a certain occasion, towards the close of the career of the Son of
God in the flesh, His disciples asked Him if He would at that time
restore the Kingdom to Israel, and what would be the signs of His
second coming and of the end of the world. Among other things He told
them that this Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached in all the
world as a witness unto all nations and then should the end come. The
Apostles set out upon the mission which had been given them, and we
read in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their Epistles contained
within the lids of this holy book, of the adventures which befell
them, and the persecutions which they endured. It had been said of
them by their Lord and Master, that they should be hated of all men
for His name's sake; but "blessed are ye," said He, "when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all returner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for
great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you," And the day would come, He said, when they
that put His disciples to death would think they were doing God's
service.

Vol. 26,  p.261
Thus were the minds of the Apostles prepared for the fate which
afterwards befell them. They embraced the truth, knowing that it might
cost them their lives; for they had been told that if a man loved his
life, or loved earthly possessions of any kind more than he did his
God, more than he loved the work of that God, he was in no wise fit
for His kingdom. They went into it with their eyes open; they knew
what would befall them; but being men of integrity, men who loved
truth, who based themselves upon principle, and thought more of doing
the will of Him who sent them than they did of doing their own, they
embraced their glorious mission and were willing even to lay down
their lives for the sake of that Kingdom for which they were
laboring.[p.262] Their expectations were fulfilled. The truth was not
popular. Although devils were subject to these men; although they
performed mighty miracles in the name of Jesus, yet they were
despised, persecuted or ignored by the great mass of humanity. A few
believed in their words; a few rejoiced exceedingly that the Church of
God was established on the earth; that the Savior who had been
promised as a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, had
at last come in fulfillment of the prophecies of old. Their minds were
prepared to receive Him, and they rejoiced in the work of God.
Churches were formed in different lands. The Apostles went forth from
Jerusalem, after they had been "endued with power from on high," and
built up churches in many of the surrounding nations, perhaps in all
the nations that then existed. But although they were successful in
planting the tree of life upon the soil of a fallen world, it seems
that the time had not come for it to remain there and bear fruit
throughout the ages of eternity. It was destined to be uprooted, and
there was to come another time when the truth should be transplanted
once more, and should bear the fruits of righteousness forever. The
glory of God was not destined in that day to cover the earth, as He
has said it would in the latter days, "as the waters cover the mighty
deep." The Apostles labored faithfully; they went forth baptizing in
the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; but the power
of sin, the power of the evil one was so great that it did not please
the Almighty to establish upon the earth in that day a work which
should endure forever. He permitted it for a wise purpose to be thrown
down, and of this fact we are well assured by the prophecies of the
Apostles which they have left on record. Paul, one of the most
faithful laborers in the vineyard of our Lord in that day, said the
time would come when the people would not edure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts should heap unto themselves teachers, and having
itching ears, should turn away their ears from the truth, and should
be turned unto fables.

Vol. 26,  p.262
If we follow the history of the Apostles, we will see how their words
were fulfilled. Nearly every one of the Twelve whom Jesus chose, met
with a tragic death in defence of the principles which they
proclaimed. Some were dragged to death, some beheaded, one was
crucified with his head downward, others were thrown into cauldrons of
boiling oil and others to wild beasts; so that at the end of the
second century after Christ, the Church of God in its purity no longer
existed upon the face of the earth. It had been torn asunder; it had
apostatized from the truth; they who were faithful had been put to
death, and in their place sprang up a race of compromisers, who were
willing to barter away to the world the principles of truth, being too
weak and cowardly to stand and die for their convictions as their
fellow laborers had done. They were willing to give up this principle,
and concede that point, to amalgamate for the purpose of making them
popular and palatable the doctrines of the pure Christian faith with
the pagan ideas of ancient Rome. So that the temporal body of Christ,
the Church, became corrupt, deformed by this departure from first
principles. Apostles, Prophets, were done away with; spiritual gifts
became extinct and were said to be no longer needed; Bishops were put
into the [p.263] places of Apostles, and a multitude of new offices,
unknown to the original church, were created. Finally two Bishops
appeared, the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople,
contending as to which was the greatest, and striving, in a Church
professing to regard unity and brotherly love, to divide the dominions
of the Christian world between them. More attention was paid to
outward forms, to grand and imposing ceremonies, than to the simple
beautiful principles of the Gospel, and, in course of time were
fulfilled the words of Isaiah, who said that they would "transgress
the law, change the ordinances, and break the everlasting covenant."
The result of this wide-spread departure, this apostacy from the
primitive faith, was the withdrawal of the power of the Priesthood,
typified by the "manchild" of the Apocalypse, which was taken into the
heavens to preserve it from the mouth of the Dragon which sought its
life; there to remain until a more auspicious time should arrive for
the establishment of the work of God, and the winding up of the great
plan of human redemption.

Vol. 26,  p.263
But one of these original Apostles was left. The Latter-day Saints are
taught that Jesus, on a certain occasion, speaking to the Twelve,
wished to bestow upon them each a gift, to grant the desire of their
hearts, and He asked them what they would He should do for them. They
all but one requested to be taken home to Him in heaven when they
should have filled the allotted age of man. But one turned away
sorrowful, feeling that the wish he cherished in his heart was too
great to be granted. Peter asked the Savior, "What shall this man do?"
and received the reply, "If I will that he tarry till I come what is
that to thee?" "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that
that disciple should not die." It is vaguely given, I admit, in the
Bible from which I have quoted, but modern revelation has made it
plainer, and shown us that the Apostle John obtained a promise from
the Savior that he should remain upon the earth to witness the
downfall and the rise of nations, that he should live to perform a
mighty mission in the midst of the children of men; that he should
prophesy before kings and rulers, and should tarry upon the earth
until the Son of God came in His glory. This Apostle was the only one
who escaped the tragic fate of his fellows. He was the only one of the
original Twelve who was not put to death. An attempt was made upon his
life by throwing him into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he escaped
miraculously, and his enemies, not having the power to put him to
death, banished him to the desert island of Patmos. It was during his
exile upon this lonely spot, that God condescended to reveal to him
what should come to pass in the last days, and the book which is
called the Apocalypse is a record which the Apostle left of the great
things that were shown him, and which he should remain upon the earth
to see. An angel appeared unto him; John mistook him, it seems, for
the Lord, and fell down at his feet to worship him, his person was so
glorious. But the angel reproved him and said, "See thou do it not:
for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets." Here
was one of the prophets who had been slain for the testimony of Jesus,
who wan so glorious when he appeared that John, who perhaps had
labored with him, did not recognize him. He[p.264] had been sent unto
him to show him what should come to pass thereafter.

Vol. 26,  p.264
But not only was John shown what should occur after the time in which
he was lining, but he was shown what had already taken place; not as
the imperfect records of profane history have given it to us, but he
saw it typified in its fullness. The events of the seven thousand
years of the world's temporal existence passed before him, like the
scenes of a mighty panorama. If you will read the book which he left,
you will there find portrayed symbollically each of the seven thousand
years. He saw the events which had followed the creation down until
one period had passed; he then saw the events of the second thousand
years or until two periods had passed, and then the third and the
fourth periods at the end of which Jesus came as the Saviour of
mankind, to perform a personal work in the flesh. John saw, further,
the events of the fifth thousand years. He saw the great apostacy that
was to take place in the Christian church, when they put to death
every inspired man; when they did away with the gifts and blessings of
the Holy Ghost; when they said they were no longer necessary; when
they engrafted upon the olive tree of the Christian faith the wild
branches of paganism. He saw all this taking place down to the sixth
thousand years, and after the world had wandered in darkness for
centuries, he says.

Vol. 26,  p.264
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people.

Vol. 26,  p.264
"Saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to Him; for the
hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

Vol. 26,  p.264
Showing conclusively, as well as language can show, that this was to
be an event of the last days—the hour of God's judgment, which
Christianity itself, in its perverted state, will admit is at the end
of the world. John saw the angel restoring the Gospel shortly before
the hour of God's judgment, saying with a loud voice to all nations,
kindreds, tongues and peoples—not only to the heathen nations, but to
those who professed to have the true Christian faith—"Fear God, and
give glory to Him, for the hour of his judgment is come." This to us
is another proof of the apostasy of the Christian world; for if they
had the truth, as they claim, by apostolic succession, from St. Peter
down to the present day—what need of restoring the Gospel in its
fullness to preach to them? It would be superfluous, unnecessary, a
work of supererogation, to preach to those who were living in the full
blaze of Gospel light, and call upon them to repent of their sins.

Vol. 26,  p.264
I never like to wound people's feelings in regard to religious
matters. I never like to have my own feelings wounded. I try to have
charity for the sincere sentiments of all men; but it is needful that
the truth be spoken in plainness. It is no act of friendship to
flatter, to deceive and to gloss over error, when by exposing it the
souls of some honest people may be saved. The Latter-day Saints erect
a nobler structure before they tear down that which is old. They do
not wish to ridicule the opinions of their fellow creatures, it should
never be done except where good will be the result. All men have the
right to believe[p.265] as they please. They have a right to worship
where, how and what they please. God has made us free. We are in
bondage to no man, to no power. His children, from the rising to the
setting of the sun have been made free. Therefore I do not feel to
ridicule the religion of my Christian friends; but I desire to lay
before them and before this congregation the religion of the
Latter-day Saints. We claim that the Christian world is in a state of
apostasy, and though thousands and millions of them are perfectly
sincere—just as sincere in their belief as we are in ours—still, it
devolves upon me as a servant of God to preach what I know to be the
truth, and you can take your choice whether you accept or reject it.
The responsibily suits with me here; it is assumed by those who
listen, who can act as they feel led; they will he accountable whether
they give heed to the warning message, or whether they ignore and
reject it.

Vol. 26,  p.265
At any rate John saw the time when an angel would come and restore the
everlasting Gospel—not another Gospel, not various kinds of gospels,
not the precepts and fables of men, but the good, old, "sound
doctrine" of ancient times. the Gospel of Christ in its fullness was
to be preached to all the nations of the earth. What for? To fulfill
the prediction of the son of God, who said that "this Gospel of the
kingdom"—that Gospel. which had Apostles to preach it and Prophets;
which had gifts and miracles and signs following; a gospel of faith,
repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and laying
on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and other principles to be
revealed one after another as fast as the people were able to receive
them—that this old original Gospel of the kingdom should come back to
the earth to be preached as a witness unto all nations, and then
should the end come.

Vol. 26,  p.265
That these are the last days very few people will deny. the earth has
almost fulfilled its mortal probation, its working time. It is closing
the six thousand years of its temporal history. It has worked nearly
six days; for "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. When God
said to Adam, "in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt, surely die."
He did not mean a short day of twenty-four hours, a day made by one
little revolution of the little earth upon which we dwell, but it, was
a day of a thousand years, corresponding to one revolution of the
great and mighty planet upon which God our Father dwells. "In the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam lived to the age
of 930 years, so that he died within the day that God had reference
to. The earth has labored nearly six days—six days of one thousand
years each. It is yet to have its sabbath, its millenium of peace,
when the Savior of the world will come to take the reins of
government, to reign upon the earth King of kings as He now reigns
king of Saints; the seventh period, whose dawn is almost upon us, is
the sabbath, the day of rest which God has ordained for the planet
upon which we live, and He will celebrate that sabbath by coming in
person to reign upon the earth over all nations. It is for this that
the Latter-day Saints are preparing; having fulfilled, as the
instruments of God, the prediction of John the Revelator; an angel in
this day having restored the Gospel, which is now being preached as a
witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.[p.266] 

Vol. 26,  p.266
It is a merciful characteristic of our Heavenly Father that He brings
to pass upon the human family no event affecting their eternal
welfare, but He first sends Prophets to prepare the way, to give the
people a warning that such and such things are coming to pass, that
they may be prepared for them and not be caught napping by the
suddenness of their coming, even as a thief in the night. We read that
as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the
coming of the Son of Man. What was done in the days of Noah? A
prophet—Noah himself—was raised up and sent forth to preach a warning
message to the children of men. What was his warning? That the world
was about to be deluged. Its sins had cried unto heaven, and God had
remembered its iniquities. He was about to baptize the earth in water,
to wash away its sins, that they should no longer smoke to heaven, an
offering of wrath to an offended God. Noah preached this warning, and,
as usual, was met with ridicule and scorn. Never did a prophet come
forth that was not ridiculed and persecuted, and the message that he
proclaimed considered foolishness by the wisdom of the world. But how
did it result? Did the superior (?) wisdom of the world in that day
save them from the truth of the words of Noah? Or did God stand by
that prophet? Did He make good His words? Did He drown the world? Did
He sweep the wicked from its surface? History will tell you what took
place. it sees that Noah and the few souls that clung to him were
right, and the world at large were in the wrong. Noah hall really
received a revelation from God. He was pointed at, despised and
derided, doubtless called visionary and fanatic, an old fool, or
anything else; but he had received a revelation and God made good the
words which he proclaimed.

Vol. 26,  p.266
The earth underwent a baptism by being immersed in water, for the
remission of its sins, the washing away of its iniquities. "As it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the
Son of Man." Is the world to be deluged in water again? No; because
God gave a promise to Noah and set his bow in the clouds as a sign
that the world should never again be drowned in water; but in the day
of the coming of the Son of Man it will receive the baptism of fire
and of the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist said: "There cometh one
mightier than I, after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy
to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: he
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Not only man,
but the earth itself, which is a living creature, must undergo this
ordinance—this dual baptism, and Jesus, when Ha comes in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory, to take vengeance upon those who
know not God, who have not sought to know Him, who have persecuted His
people, and set aside the Gospel as a thing of naught, will deluge the
earth with fire and the Holy Ghost. Then will the Scriptures be
fulfilled which say that the glory of God shall radiate from the
rivers to the ends of the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.266
Nor is this all. The earth and its elements will melt, as Peter the
Apostle said, "with fervent heat, and all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of hosts." These things are coming to pass. God
only has to turn upon this [p.267] world the glory of His presence to
consume it from before His face and cause it to vanish like chaff in a
flame. We are not prepared for the glory of His coming. But this work
which has been established in our day, is one that will prepare us for
His glorious advent. All who believe and are baptized into this Church
have been promised the gift of the Holy Ghost. What is the Holy Ghost?
It is the Spirit of God. God dwells in the pure element of fire; it is
the atmosphere which the holy angels, the spirits of the just, the
Gods in eternity breathe and live within, but which would consume us
if we came too suddenly upon it, or it upon us. We must needs approach
it gradually. We read that in the days of Moses, when God wished to
commune with him, He called him up into a high mountain, and filled
him with the Holy Ghost. Moses, therefore, could endure His presence;
but when he came down from the Mount his face shone like an angel's,
and he had to put a vail upon it lest the children of Israel should be
consumed before him. this shows what we may expect when God comes in
the clouds of heaven, if we do not rid ourselves of iniquity and
prepare our souls to meet Him. But ere that day comes there shall be
wars and rumors of wars, thunders and lightnings, famines and
pestilences; the sea shall heave itself beyond its bounds, and all
things shall he in commotion; the sun shall be darkened, the moon
shall be turned to blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven like
figs from off a fig tree. The judgments of God shall stalk through the
earth, decimating the human race, before the great day of the Lord
shall come.

Vol. 26,  p.267
Are we to suppose that in a day like this, when such mighty and
terrible things are coming upon the earth, God would leave the world
in darkness; that he would shut the heavens, as our Christian friends
say He has done; and send forth no more prophets to prepare us for
these great events which are at our doors? I for one would have a very
poor opinion of a God who would leave His children in that cruel
manner. But the God we worship is just and merciful. He never brings
upon the earth any judgment but He sends first a warning message to
prepare the people for its coming.

Vol. 26,  p.267
This is our warning to-day—that the Gospel of the kingdom is being
preached unto all nations as a witness, and then the hour of God's
judgment, or the predicted end of the world shall come. It is a
message of mercy, not one of anger, not one of cruelty. It is not
cruel to tell men the truth. If we see a man on the brink of a
precipice and tell him that if he takes another step forward he will
be dashed to pieces, is that cruelty, or is it charity of the truest
kind? It may humiliate him to be told of his danger; it may cast
reflection upon his eyesight; he may not see the precipice; men do not
always see things which are immediately near them; they who are at a
distance sometimes observe the danger first and give warning. It is
not uncharitable, it is not intolerant to tell men the truth; we must
sometimes be cruel in order to be kind; and hurt men's feelings if
necessary in order to save their souls. I do not mean the saving of
their souls by the killing of their bodies. Heretics used to be
punished on that theory. The object of "Mormonism" is to save the body
and the spirit, which together constitute the soul.[p.268] 

Vol. 26,  p.268
This is the message we bring, the olive branch that we extend to the
world, and for so doing we are despised and persecuted and trampled
upon. But we know that we need expect no different fate from that
which our predecessors have experienced. They laid down their lives in
preaching this same Gospel. We must be willing to lay down ours, if
need be, to establish these truths upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.268
God does not punish except to save, He never chastens except to
purify. In sweeping the antediluvian races from the earth, it was an
act of mercy to them, that they might not add sin to sin and heap up
iniquity until they could not have been pardoned. He swept them off
when their cup was full, and imprisoned their spirits while their
bodies mouldered in the grave. Jesus, however, while His body was
lying in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison; those
who rejected the message that was offered to them by Noah, and were
swept away by the flood. So it will be in this day, if this message is
rejected; God will bring judgments upon the world until He has humbled
the people to a state where they will be glad to receive it. He says
to His Elders: Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature; and after your testimony, comes the testimony of earthquakes
and tempests, of thunders and lightnings, of the sea heaving itself
beyond its bounds, of wars and rumors of wars, of famine and
pestilence. Says He, the time shall come when he that will not take up
his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety,
for there shall be gathered to it of every nation under heaven, and
they shall be the only people who are not at war one with another.

Vol. 26,  p.268
It is that the world may escape these terrible judgments and plagues
that will desolate the wicked, that we put our lives and liberties in
jeopardy in preaching that which is unpopular, and which brings upon
us the wrath and hatred of the world. We desire, as much as men can
desire, the salvation of our fellow-men. Our mission is to save, not
to condemn. This is the Gospel of salvation, not a Gospel of
damnation. Damnation follows as a necessary alternative of the
rejection of the truth. Men who reject the truth damn themselves. The
man who will shut the door in his own face keeps himself out from the
Kingdom: it is nobody's fault but his own. The waters of life are
free; come and partake of them, without money and without price! If
you will not partake of them, how can you blame any one but yourself
if you die of thirst in the desert? If you put out the light by
persecuting the Saints of God, how can you blame anybody but yourself
if you are left in darkness? Could the ancients blame God for taking
His Church from the earth, when they took every pains to exterminate
it? They destroyed the body of the Church, and the spirit departed,
just as naturally as when the body of a man is killed; his spirit has
no longer any business upon the earth. It returns to God who gave it,
to come again at a more auspicious time, with the Son of God in clouds
of glory, provided it be one of the 144,000 faithful ones who follow
the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

Vol. 26,  p.268
If condemnation follows the rejection of the Gospel, God cannot help
it, His servants cannot help it. If we invite men to come out into the
sunlight and they prefer to stay in the shade, who is to blame but
themselves? They prefer darkness [p.269] to light. They have their
choice. Light has burst forth in the midst of darkness, but the
darkness comprehendeth it not. Men love darkness rather than light,
because their deeds are evil. If, however, we extend the message of
mercy and of peace, our responsibility ends. Men will be judged by the
light they possess. The heathen nations will be redeemed and will
obtain a higher exaltation than those who receive the truth and turn
away from it, or refuse to accept it when it is offered to them. God
is merciful to ignorance and lack of opportunity; but responsibility
rests like a mountain upon those who hear the truth and then reject
it.

Vol. 26,  p.269
My testimony to this congregation is that Joseph Smith was a Prophet
of the living God; that Brigham Young was a Prophet of God; That John
Taylor is their legally ordained successor; that there are Prophets
and Apostles in this Church to-day; that we preach the same Gospel
that was preached in the days of Paul, for if we preached any other we
should be accursed. My testimony is that "Mormonism" stigmatized and
hated as it is, is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the
only plan of life and salvation, the only one that will exalt mall in
the presence of God; and the world reject it to their condemnation. I
pray God to bless this congregation, and grant that the words I have
spoken may sink lute some honest hearts, like good seed upon fertile
soil, to spring forth and bear fruit for their salvation to the honor
and glory of God. Amen.

Junius F. Wells, July 12, 1885

Refusal of So-Called Christians to Receive 
the Gospel of Christ—the Latter-Day Saints Desire 
Investigation of Their Principles—the Truth Cannot Be 
Destroyed—We Have Every Requisite for Self-Government—
We Must Maintain Our Fidelity to the Truth—Rarity of 
Crime Among the "Mormons"—Purity of "Mormon" 
Homes—Character of the Latter-Day Saints

Remarks By Junius F. Wells, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 12th, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.269
IT is with pleasure that I arise to speak to you for a few moments,
and to bear my testimony to the truth of the work in which we are
[p.270] engaged. I desire while I am before you that I may have the
support of your faith and prayers, that what I may say may be dictated
by the spirit of truth.

Vol. 26,  p.270
I rejoice in assembling with the Latter-day Saints, in looking upon
their faces, in mingling with them in the exercises of devotion which
we are accustomed to pay our Father and God. I rejoice in the society
of Latter-day Saints, because in their society I recognize a spirit of
purity, of holiness and virtue, that in contrast with the state of
things that predominates in the world is as the heavens to the earth.
I love to be with our people in times when the wicked assail them, for
I feel among them a sense of safety, a feeling of security, of
contentment, of happiness that I do not believe can be realized to so
great an extent among other people.

Vol. 26,  p.270
We have among us our differences and evils. We have causes to mourn;
occasions that make us feel sad; but I know of nothing that produces
this feeling to so great a degree among the Saints as the growing
consciousness among them that what is called the Christian world has
concluded not to receive Christianity as it was revealed in the
ministry of Jesus Christ. We know that God has revealed in the day in
which we live the principles of truth as they were in the beginning,
as they ever have been, as they ever must be in time and all eternity.
We know that that which He has revealed in our day and generation is
identical with the truths that fell from the lips of our Savior in the
meridian of time, and challenge the world to a comparison of the
doctrines to convince themselves. This challenge has been sent abroad
to almost every nation, and kindred and tongue and people, of the
whole earth. It is open to-day. We ask the investigation of mankind.
We ask our fellow-men, brethren and sisters, sons and daughters of the
same God, to listen to the truths of heaven, eternal truths that God
has revealed, But mankind prefers, apparently, even in this
enlightened age the truth that men by their own wisdom are enabled to
discover to the truths which God by His infinite wisdom reveals. This
is true to so great an extent that the foremost thinkers even among
what is called the religious world, have concluded to lay aside the
old truths of Christianity—the old doctrines of Christianity—as
unfitted to the age in which we live. I had the pleasure, I think
eight weeks ago to-day, to listen to first of a series of sermons by
perhaps the foremost clergyman of this age, certainly of the country,
in which, in his inimitable manner, he said he had concluded, after
the profoundest thought and research, that people should wipe out many
of the old ideas of religion that have prevailed in Christendom for
1800 years, so as to maintain harmony with the modern discoveries of
science—with the Darwinian theory and philosophy. He has also
sacrificed the book upon which their faiths and beliefs are founded,
and as the surest possible evidence that faith in that sacred record,
the Holy Bible, is a thing of the past, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
declares that if it is true then "Mormonism" is true! We are exactly
of the same opinion as Rev. Beecher in that respect. But it does not
prove altogether the falsity of that which has been accepted in the
world as Christianity. The Bible contains the doctrines that the
Latter-day Saints preach, that the Latter-day Saints have the courage
in the face of all the world to practice. They [p.271] are doctrines
of truth, of holiness, of progress and advancement, designed to save
men, to build them up, to develope the best thoughts in them, and
prepare them for greater light and greater knowledge and understanding
than dawned upon mankind in ages past; to prepare a people by their
intelligence, by their fully developed characters, for that glorious
day when the Son of God shall come among them and dwell with them. It
is true that it is impossible for the Christian world to harmonize
many of the doctrines that are growing in favor with them to-day with
the holy Scriptures, and for that reason the Latter-day Saints mourn
that their brethren and sisters of the world, though professing
Christianity, should be averse to receiving the principles of
Christianity as they were revealed by the Savior Himself. To-day with
all the Christianity that prevails in the world where do you find men
who are willing to receive the very first, the fundamental principles
of the doctrine of Christ? Where are those who will receive the
ministry of such as conveyed Christian principles in the meridian of
time to the understanding of men? What! the administration of angels
in our day and age of the world? A greater absurdity could not be
proposed. What! faith as the first principle of salvation? No, reason
is the first principle of salvation in the day and age in which we
live. But it is not so written in the doctrine of Christ. "Believe and
thou shalt be saved" is the doctrine of the Savior. It is belief, it
is faith, that underlies that knowledge which secures mankind an
entrance into the Kingdom of God. We teach and have been taught that
we must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: that we must believe in
the words of truth that have been revealed from Him; that we must put
our trust in God who has delivered His people in times that are past
and gone; that we must rely upon His direction and walk in the path
that He shall lead us in, fearing only Him, fearing not man who can
destroy the body but fearing God who can destroy both body and soul.
In our endeavor to keep the commandments of God, to practice them, to
heed the teachings of angels sent from the throne of grace, to put
away our sins, to live pure lives, holy and righteous in the sight of
God and our fellow men, to enter into sacred places and administer the
ordinances of everlasting life for ourselves and for our dead—in
endeavoring to do these things we have incurred the displeasure of an
unbelieving world, of those who have substituted something else as the
first principles of life and salvation for those which were given 1800
years ago by the Savior of the world. The world has assumed to sit in
judgment upon us for this belief. The world has assumed to say that we
have done wrong in accepting these truths and living according to the
law which God has revealed for our guidance and our government. Now,
for one I do not believe that the judgment, in this respect, of the
world will materially affect us in practicing and carrying out the
purposes of Jehovah. Certainly it cannot change the truth. If
Mormonism is truth the adverse criticism and judgment of mankind
cannot materially affect its practice. They certainly cannot stand
against that power which ever accompanies the promulgation of truth.
Because of this Latter-day Saints have no fears of the future. We are
dauntless in our advocacy of these principles because we know that
they are true and must therefore prevail.[p.272] 

Vol. 26,  p.272
There is very little endeavor, I may here remark, on the part of those
who seek to abuse, and misrepresent us and to bring down upon us
evils—there is among them very little disposition to examine the
principles that we profess and teach; there is very little disposition
among them or desire to ascertain if these things are not true, or to
find anything in the way of argument against that which we teach and
practice before the world. They have sent up the strong religious men
of the nation to show us the error of our ways. We have gladly met
them. We have met them in this building in discussion for the purpose
of having them bring forth their reasons to show that we are in error
and that the judgment of the world is right. What has been the result?
The faith of the Latter-day Saints has been increased; they have been
confirmed and strengthened in their belief; and we have heard very
little boasting of the success of those who were sent to show us the
error of our ways. I imagine that if there had been success we would
never have heard the last of it.

Vol. 26,  p.272
This judgment of the world against us, assuming that we are wrong,
assuming that there is something up here in Utah that is not right,
that is not consistent with Christianity, or the enlightenment of the
age, has caused, perhaps, some distress, caused us to witness scenes
that have a tendency to try the faith of the Latter-day Saints, to
prove their integrity. For one, viewing the matter in that light, I
thank God for it. I thank God that we are permitted to live in a day
and age of the world when He has not forgotten His people, and has
demonstrated to them and to mankind as well, that they are in
possession of the truth. If we were of the world the world would love
its own; but we have come out of the world, therefore the world hate
us. They have in various ways manifested their evil disposition
towards us, since the commencement of the Church and Kingdom of God
upon the earth in this generation. Since the day that Joseph Smith
received the revelations of God through the administration of angels
from heaven, there has been a hue and cry raised against our people—an
endeavor to blot out the work that the Saints have been engaged in.
But let me tell you, my faith and belief and testimony is that the
world has lost its opportunity to destroy that which is called
"Mormonism;" that God's eternal truth, as received and practiced by
the Latter-day Saints in these mountains, is rooted and grounded so
deeply and firmly that it will never, while time and eternity lasts,
be uprooted or destroyed. I cannot conceive, my brethren and sisters,
of the destruction of a truth. If mankind will assume that there is an
error here that needs to be rooted out—if their assumption were
correct—I would not deny their power to succeed in the effort. They
have said—that which they say most is—that our homes are not pure,
that our homes are not constructed upon the right platt. They forget
that the homes that God most honored in ages that are gone by, were
constructed upon the plan that the Latter-day Saints advocate and hold
out to the world as the plan of God. They forget that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, delighted in tracing His earthly lineage through the
homes of polygamists. They have undertaken to destroy such homes. I
feel in my heart sorry for the man who conceives that he has the power
to succeed in such an unholy work.[p.273] But they say fifty millions
have declared against us. I do not take any stock in this assumption
on the part of a few that fifty millions have condemned us—have said
that we are wrong, and that we must go. There are those who have been
throwing dust in the eyes of the fifty millions who say so. But let me
tell you how it can very readily be discovered whether we are wrong or
not. We have petitioned, we have plead with the powers of this
government to send among us a commission of honorable men to
investigate the situation here, and to let all the world know what the
great error and crime is that we are accused of.

Vol. 26,  p.273
The kind of commission we want is this: We want the government—if it
is possible in all this land of enlightenment, among all these people
that are offended at the immorality of the "Mormons"—to select a
commission of men who are perfectly true to their marital relations,
who are virtuous, and we challenge the commission of men to prove us
an immoral people. Let them go into our homes and what will we show
them there? We will show them respect of husbands for wives, wives for
husbands, parents for children, children for parents and for each
other. We will show them faith; we will show them virtue, and we
challenge them to deny the truth of our showing to the American
people. Then if we are not immoral, why this hue and cry raised
against us? Can you answer who have passed laws to send men, whose
lives are above reproach, into prison, and to scatter their families
Can you who have passed such wicked laws answer if we prove that we
are a moral people?

Vol. 26,  p.273
They may say that we are in dependent. Well, I thank God for one that
I trace my lineage back through a race of independent men, who had the
courage over 200 years ago to stand up in the face of inimical laws
against their religion and say, "My conscience is my own. If need be I
will leave my native land that I may serve my God." And they did so,
and helped to form a government upon this land that God in His
infinite mercy and wisdom had held in reserve for many ages for a
people that would accord to his sons and daughters the right to
worship and honor Him according to the light that was in them. We do
not see, unless "there is something rotten in Denmark," why the
American people should fear the independence of the "Mormons." I do
not see why there should be any dread at giving us our equal
rights—the. privilege to elect our officers and administer the laws
according to the wisdom that is in us. God knows, our fellow men know,
these hypocrites and liars who are misrepresenting us to the world
know we are capable of self-government, and of instituting and
preserving the seeurest and safest government, and the most economical
of any people in this land. I say that without boasting. But we would
not have that reputation if we elected our vilifiers to the offices,
and I do not think we will do it. I cannot see, my heart, cannot
conceive, my understanding is not broad enough to fathom the reason
why we should not, because of our religion, be accorded equal rights
with our fellow-citizens of this country. We have the stability of
commerce and society; we have the wealth; we have the population; we
have every requisite qualification for self-government, and in the
light of freedom I have yet to hear a reason assigned for withholding
from us our rights. The nearest thing to a [p.274] reason I have heard
is that we are an unpopular people with the rest of the citizens of
this country, and then the next reason is—and that which I really
believe is deeply felt—the jealousy of the east with respect to the
west—the feeling that the great commercial interests of the east
should have greater representation in the halls of Congress than the
sparsely-settled regions of the west.

Vol. 26,  p.274
But I look forward, my brethren and sisters, to the time when the
truth will dawn upon this nation with respect to this people. I look
forWard to the day when they will discover that there has been "a
great bugaboo" raised over this question of "Mormonism," which they
will be ashamed to think they have paid much attention to, or taken
much notice of. I may say in a word that I look forward to the time
when the powers that be in Washington, having raked and scraped the
country as with a fine tooth-comb, will perhaps find half-a-dozen men
of the character I have referred to, who will look into this question
out here in the mountains. And when that time shall come perhaps we
shall be vindicated in the eyes of our fellow-men; perhaps there will
be a blush of shame mantle the cheeks of some; and perhaps they will
discover some slight improprieties nearer home that it will be well to
regulate before mending all creation up here to set as right.

Vol. 26,  p.274
There is one thing and only one thing for us to do that I can see, and
that is to maintain our fidelity, to be true to that which we know is
true. We ought not to be threatened or put in jeopardy for that. We
ought to be protected in that. All the strength, all the power, all
the influence of the land, of the government, of Christian sentiment,
of enlightenment, of civilization—all these ought to sustain us in
maintaining our fidelity to that which our conscience teaches us is
truth. If we quail, if we vary one iota from that which we know to be
true, we should be undeserving of support; but if we maintain our
integrity in the opposition we may meet, God will not forsake us, and
the better sentiment, the genuine and true civilization that is to be
found in the world—for the world is full of truth, notwithstanding
there are errors and wickedness alongside of it—will aid us in
maintaining our integrity. I have yet failed to meet the man of honor,
the man of sense, the man of discernment, the man of good judgment who
would condemn me for maintaining the position that in my heart I feel
to take respecting this question, even in these times. I have but
recently returned from visiting among men in various classes of
society in the east, and I have talked over this question of
"Mormonism" in various forms. I have put the question in this manner
to a great many, and the reply I have received, I must confess, has
been one of encouragement, and one that has been gratifying to me.

Vol. 26,  p.274
There have been gross errors committed in regard to Utah. For some
cause the nation has received the idea that the "Mormons" are a wicked
people. Their record disproves it. There has been a law passed which
makes a crime of a principle of the Latter-day Saints' religion, but
there is no people in this land who have so free a record in the
criminal courts. What was the percentage, as shown by the crime
records in this territory, before the operation of this law against
the "Mormons?" I believe, as nearly as I remember, while five-sixths
of the population of this [p.275] territory are "Mormons," and
one-sixth non-"Mormons," eighty-five per cent. of the criminals were
from the ranks of the one-sixth, and fifteen per cent. of the
criminals were from the ranks of the five-sixths, who are "Mormons."
Now it is intended, it appears to me, to change that by making a
feature of the "Mormon" religion a crime, and sending just as many as
possible into the ranks of the criminals, so-called, for practicing
that principle. I maintain that it is a mistake to say that the
Latter-day Saints are criminals, and have asked men everywhere to
carefully, candidly, and honestly examine the situation for
themselves. I would undertake to show that in our homes there is not
the element of crime or sin or wrong, but that they will compare
favorably with the homes of any. But to call that which I owe my being
to, a crime—to take that position, when I know it is God's eternal
truth, I would be a coward and a poltroon, I would be undeserving the
respect of any man if I should thus reflect upon the holy institution
to which I owe my being. I know there is virtue in it; I know there is
purity in it; that it is right in the sight of my God and my
conscience, and when I deny that, put a stone round my neck and cast
me into the sea. I would have no courage to live and meet face to face
any honorable man; I would slink and cower as a miserable lying
hypocrite. So I consider those who deny "Mormonism." The homes of the
"Mormon" people are homes constructed upon the principles of purity
and virtue. Those men who are abusing us and sending lies broadcast
through the land concerning us know that I speak the truth. Of course
the facilities are not so good to-day for them to enter our homes as
they were before they showed the cloven hoof, before they proved
themselves ravening wolves in sheeps' clothing, going about seeking
whom they may devour. Their aim, purpose and ambition is to bring
reproach upon this people; to see if they cannot in their insidious
efforts introduce sin in the midst of our pure homes and society.
Think you they would hesitate to lead the women of "Mormondom" astray?
No, not they. Think you they would hesitate to destroy the virtue of
the seas of "Mormondom?" No, not they. They have the effrontery, they
have the shamelessness to advocate lechery, to advocate prostitution
as a remedy for "Mormonism," as a corrective of "Mormon" society, as a
means of liberation from "Mormon" influence. Oh, freedom at such a
price! Give me the thraldom that the world thinks the "Mormons" are
subjected to, and let such freedom be embraced by those poor slaves to
passion and to sin. God has given us the truth, and the truth has made
us free. And we are indeed free if we have that freedom which comes
through obedience to the will of God. If we are pure men; if we are
virtuous women, though chains should bind us, or prison walls hold us,
yet we are free in the sight of God, and are better prepared to judge
our persecutors than they us. I know that is the prevailing condition
among the Saints; I know that we are a pure people in the main. We
have those among us who sin; we all have our imperfections and
weaknesses; but God knows we are pure in our intentions and desires.
He knows that this people, gathered from the four quarters of the
earth, have been brought out from Babylon through faith in Jesus
Christ and repentance of their sins, entering into holy and [p.276]
sacred covenants not to repeat them; a people gathered here for the
purpose of honoring and serving God, and not for committing sin of any
form, shape, or description. That is our character. The world, so far
as they will judge us candidly, gives us the reputation for sobriety,
temperance, industry, frugality, virtue; but still we are called the
most immoral people that the sun ever shone upon. What absurdity!

Vol. 26,  p.276
Brethren and sisters, I look to see the day when the refuge of lies
shall be swept away, and we as a people, clothed upon with the power
and favor of Almighty God, shall go forth in the world promulgating
the principles of peace, preaching true holiness as it comes from the
Eternal Father; and the honest, the pure, the upright among men shall
lift up their hearts and rejoice, and shall say, Welcome, welcome,
thrice welcome are those who come to us in the name of the Lord. May
He bless and preserve us that we maybe among that valiant throng is my
prayer and desire in the name of Jesus, Amen.

J. H. Smith, July 27, 1885

Value of Liberty—Persecution Expected—Morse and 
Others Were at First Despised—God Overrules for Good—
Faith and Works—Repentance and Baptism—Revelation—Witness 
of the Spirit—Mission of Joseph Smith—the Wheat Will Remain—
No Malice to Men, But Hatred of Their Wicked Acts—Plural Marriage

Remarks By Apostle J. H. Smith, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 27th, 1885.

Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs

Vol. 26,  p.276
IF there is any one thing in this world above another that I prize it
is my liberty—liberty to speak, liberty to act, liberty to move among
my fellows, discharging the duties and obligations of life without
regard to the frowns or favors of anybody in the world. I rejoice in
the fact that, so far as I am individually concerned, my faith in God
[p.277] and in His promise to us, His people, was never better than it
is to-day. And although the dark cloud may hang over us, and the storm
of opposition beat against us, I am as confident as I am that I stand
before you that God will vindicate the righteousness of His Saints and
bring them off conquerors in the end. So far as I am concerned I see
but little cause for mourning. It is true that some of our brethren
are serving out terms of imprisonment, but it is also true that they
are thus afflicted not for wrongdoing but for conscience sake; and
they do not mourn, so why should we. If they or we should put on the
garb of mourning, it would not be because of any inflictions we may
have to endure in consequence of our religious convictions, for such
things we may expect, and have expected; our cause of mourning would
be and is in man's inhumanity to man, in the tearing away of the
barriers of civil and religious liberty, the results of which none may
be able to divine.

Vol. 26,  p.277
I have preached in many lands and to many peoples that the little
stone cut out of the mountain without hands would cause a commotion in
the earth, exciting the jealousy of the people, not only of our own
land, but eventually of all lands; but that while this would be the
case, we would be able at all times to give tangible reasons for the
peculiar position we occupy, and for the hope and faith we have in the
God of heaven, who has called us to it.

Vol. 26,  p.277
I did not design at all to refer to the persecutions of the Saints;
they are no cause of surprise or wonderment to me; I have expected
such things, having been taught in my youth that such a condition of
things would come. But while we may expect to be persecuted and hated
of all men, we have consolation in the promise of the Lord that He
would from time to time soften the hearts of our enemies, and that
nothing should intervene to destroy this work, or to frustrate the
purposes that it is designed to accomplish.

Vol. 26,  p.277
The doctrines which we believe in and practice should not, in my
opinion, create the feelings against us which now exist. When it is
borne in mind that we believe in faith as the primary and fundamental
principle of the Gospel: that we believe in working out our salvation
with fear and trembling before the Lord, through keeping His
commandments and observing the laws and ordinances which He has made
known to us for our guidance, and which when carried out, produce the
fruits of righteousness, it does seem singularly strange that men
professing Christianity should be found among our most bitter
opponents.

Vol. 26,  p.277
Brother Moyle, who has just addressed you, referred to some of the
famous characters of earth, among them our own Morse, and his
struggles to make men believe in the inspiration with which he was
possessed. Although he has since demonstrated to the whole world that
he was most wonderfully wrought upon in producing marvelous results
from the workings of electricity, yet when he appealed for assistance
he was regarded as and even called mad. He, however, was not daunted,
but persevered in his work, a work that has since brought blessings
and benefit to mankind generally. The experience of Morse has been the
common lot of men who have been the means of introducing new truths
into the world; and who is able to say, that history will not yet
record the fact [p.278] that the sons and daughters of our most bitter
opponents have recognized the Latter-day Saints as benefactors to the
human family.

Vol. 26,  p.278
The principle of faith has been the great motive power by which all
reformers have been actuated; it was faith that impelled us to gather
to this land, and it is faith, in connection with the knowledge we now
possess, that inspires us to steadfastly and firmly move on in our
work of redeeming the land and building up towns and cities, and
bringing order out of chaos. Thus, so far as the principle of faith is
concerned, we do not differ from Christians generally, except in being
more practical, believing, as we do, that faith without works is dead.
There are no doubt many people who are as practical in their views as
the Latter-day Saints, and cling to their views as tenaciously as we,
and perhaps, so far as that goes are similarly treated, but their
faith is centered in other matters than religion or spiritual things,
as was the case with Morse.

Vol. 26,  p.278
We turn to the principle of repentance, that principle that prompts
men to cease doing wrong and to mend their ways. In this we are in
harmony with active Christians generally, although we may not place
this principle in the same relative position in the category of
tenets, as others do. We also accept and regard as essential, the
ordinance of baptism, and could furnish ample testimony to show that
this, as well as the other ordinances, principles and laws of the
Gospel, as believed in and practiced by us are Scriptural; that it is
ordained of the Lord; that He has declared that except a man is born
of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven.

Vol. 26,  p.278
One of the most striking points of difference between the religion of
the Latter-day Saints and that of other people is our belief in
revelation. We not only believe that the Lord did in ancient days
reveal Himself to man, but we accept the doctrine of revelation as
necessary for the guidance of the Church today; that the same Lord who
so signally blessed and sustained His people anciently can bestow
similar blessings in our day; and our faith is just as firmly fixed in
the goodness and power of the Almighty to move in our behalf as in
that of any other people. If it were not for the fact that our
heavenly Father has spoken and revealed to us certain fundamental
truths, and that He does, through His servant, to the Church as a
body, and through His spirit to the people individually, we would be
as others are—without any living distinctive faith. To do away with
revelation would be to refuse to recognize the Author of our faith as
our guide and teacher. Who can find out the things of God except he is
taught either of the Almighty Himself, or those who are taught of Him?
It is a matter of utter impossibility for man through his own wisdom
to either find out God, or to act in the things of God, without first
having been taught and authorized so to do.

Vol. 26,  p.278
Thus might we compare these principles and reason upon them. We have
done this abroad whenever opportunity has been afforded. But when we
have declared the fact that present revelation was and is essential
for the guidance of man, and that the Church of Christ never did or
could exist without it, and that the Lord had again revealed Himself
to man, our hearers would generally either turn aside or perhaps show
[p.279] some sign of pity for "the poor deluded Mormons," for this is
the light in which we are held for believing in such things. It is a
singular thing to me that men and women can take their Bible and sit
down with the Elders of our Church and compare the doctrines of the
scriptures with those taught by our Elders, and fail to sense their
truth. It does seem singular to me—and yet I should not regard it as
strange for this reason: whenever there has been a Gospel dispensation
a man having the Holy Spirit could bear witness of the correctness of
these things. When that spirit of testimony rests down upon a man it
begets conviction in his heart, whether he is willing to acknowledge
it or not. Nicodemus could find his way by night to Jesus, and
acknowledge that there was a power with him that other men were not
possessed of. Others received the witness of the Spirit, and were able
to abide by its dictates, renounce their former ways, and take up the
cross unpopular though it was. Others again treated the whole thing
with ridicule, not being able to see anything in it. Such doubtless
would be the case were the same persons to teach the same things now.

Vol. 26,  p.279
To me it has always appeared singular that there should be any
reflecting honest-hearted person unable to believe in the mission of
Joseph Smith. We may take such men as Luther, Calvin and Wesley, and
others equally learned, who are recognized by all Christians as beacon
lights, and yet notwithstanding their education and ability to act in
the roles they so nobly played, not one of them nor any other orthodox
Christian has been able to evolve a perfect system of Church
government. Their productions are as a rope of sand, void of strength
or spiritual force. The spiritual desires of men are not gratified to
satiety, their souls are not fed; it is the letter without the spirit,
the body without the soul. I do not say this by way of disparagement
to the names of these illustrious heroes; they did their work and did
it nobly, but it was not for them to reveal to man a perfect system of
church government. In later times, however, we find a boy without
experience or education, presenting to the world a system of
government pronounced by statesmen of eminence to be superior to
anything known among men. Our organization is admitted to be without a
parallel; and this through a mere boy. But the fact is, he was not the
author, neither did he ever claim its authorship; he was merely the
honored instrument under God to reveal it to and institute it among
men. And although the press and the pulpit unite in denouncing him as
a crazy fanatic and avila impostor, his work challenges the admiration
of the best thinkers of the age. The principles that he unfolded are
in harmony with the scriptures and with reason; they are in harmony
with true science and with the laws of the universe; and he has
presented them clearly and distinctly so that none need misunderstand
them. It is most singular that the intelligence of the 19th century
can look upon this boy and mark him as being so infamous a being as
they say he was, when the fruits of his labors are before the world
and none can gainsay them. This is the work of the Divine Master, and
Joseph Smith was His servant. The Lord God stands at the helm. We need
not feel concerned about what is termed "Mormonism;" He decreed it,
and He is carrying it out. It is true, it may take us through
persecution and tribulation, but it is true [p.280] all the same; this
I know as well as I know that I live. Having received the witness of
the Holy Spirit, neither you nor I need entertain any doubts or fears
as to the result. And I bear witness before you and before my Father
in heaven, whom I expect to meet at the latter day, that we possess
the fullness of the new and everlasting Gospel, and that God revealed
it unto us; and I further testify that it will remain firm as the reck
of ages, that its course will continue onward and upward, gathering
strength as it goes, until it shall at last fill the whole earth, as
Daniel foresaw that it would.

Vol. 26,  p.280
It seems that the people of the Lord in every age have had to pass
through certain ordeals in order to accomplish certain results; they
would become careless and negligent of duty and worldly-minded and, in
many instances, forgetful of their sacred covenants; and we, it would
seem, need to pass through the same purifying process as they before
us. And, in order to develop a better state of things for Zion, some
will pass through the prison house, and others may suffer death, as
some have already; but whatever the infliction, the wheat will yet
remain and the chaff will be blown away.

Vol. 26,  p.280
One may ask. Have you any feelings of hatred in your heart toward
those who delight in persecuting and oppressing you? If they were
hungry, and it was in my power, I would feed them; I desire not to
bear malice or hatred towards any of the children of my heavenly
Father. We must fight the battles of truth, with a desire for the
ascendancy of truth, and not personal gratification, remembering that
those who oppose us are of the same family, hereafter to be rewarded
for the good or evil which they may do while in the flesh. I hate the
misdeeds of men, especially when they are aimed at the liberty of
their fellows; but I hate none of the sons and daughters of God. I
would bless them and do anything in my power for their good; but I
would not yield my soul into their keeping, or turn traitor to the
principles of my faith for the satisfaction of any living being.

Vol. 26,  p.280
I have been reared among the Latter-day Saints. My father and mother
were as old in citizenship of the United States and as honorable in
their ancestry as any that call be found in the land. I love my
religion, I love my country, and I have no other desire than to honor
my God, and do good to my fellow-man.

Vol. 26,  p.280
There is no necessity for us to be concerned or worried in the least.
It is true we may have difficulties to meet; but with patient
forbearance, pursuing an earnest determined course, time will prove to
the truly loyal citizens of this great nation, that we are the friends
of liberty; that to be free, free from the power of wicked men, and
free from the power of the destroyer of men's souls is the aim and
object of our lives. There is no necessity for overt acts of any kind,
or indulging the spirit of revenge; our course is one of peace and
good will to man, blessing all with whom we come in contact. And as
long as we observe strictly the principles of our religion, the way
will open up before us, for God is our Father and friend. He has been
our guide in the past; and He in His own way has cast down every man,
from the commencement of this work until the present time, who has
raised his hand against us, and their lives have ended in disgrace or
been clouded by some misdeed.[p.281] 

Vol. 26,  p.281
While in distant lands I have had joy in gazing upon the stars and
stripes as they have floated on the breeze from the mast heads of
American vessels, or wherever my eye has happened to see the flag of
our country. I have honored and revered my parents who, in harmony
with their convictions, taught me to obey the laws of the land; and I
trust ever to be found true to my country, and true to my religion and
my God. The laws of Heaven, as revealed through the Prophet Joseph
Smith, are grounded in my heart, and I can acknowledge the power of no
man, however great, to stand between me and my God.

Vol. 26,  p.281
Referring for one moment to the question of plural marriage, I will
here say that it is my candid opinion, freely expressed, that if fifty
million of the people of the United States believed in patriarchal
marriage and only twenty in monogamic marriage, that the judges placed
in power by the majority would decide in favor of the plural form of
marriage, being religion. That prejudice and political influence
affect to a great extent the judgment of men in deciding such
questions, no person can deny. Amen.

George Q. Cannon, November 23, 1884

The Way to Find Out God—Testimony of the 
Elders—"Whoso Receiveth You Receiveth Me"—the 
Missionary Learns to Know God is His Friend—We Must Suffer 
Persecution—Fruits of the Spirit—"Mormon" Society—
Trouble for the Wicked in the Future—Saints to 
Maintain Freedom and to Uphold the Constitution

Remarks By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Nov. 23rd, 1884.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.281
There are a few moments remaining, which it is desired I should
occupy.

Vol. 26,  p.281
It is very interesting to hear the testimony of the Elders who have
been on missions and who have returned therefrom as our brethren who
have spoken this afternoon, and to me particularly so in the case of
young men like Brother Leo Clawson, whose voice we have heard and
whose testimony has been given [p.282] to us. Sending young men upon
missions is an excellent method of testing their integrity and also of
giving them an opportunity of proving for themselves whether the
testimony they have heard from their parents and others is true. When
a young man leaves home to go to a foreign land, in the midst of a
cold-hearted and prejudiced world, without purse or scrip, With no
funds in his pocket to depend upon to pay his way, and has to depend
upon his Maker, and upon the promises which He has made, he is in a
most excellent position to learn for himself the truth of the words of
the Savior and the truth of the testimonies that he has heard from his
parents and friends. I rejoice exceedingly that our young men have
this opportunity, because it brings home to them in a most
unmistakable and convincing manner the truth of those testimonies.
they have heard. When a man has no food to eat, when he has no
friends, and is a stranger in a strange land, traveling as a servant
of God, he has a good opportunity of testing for himself whether there
is a God, and whether that God hears and answers his prayers. In this
way faith becomes knowledge; because if a man prays to God and asks
for that which he wants and God gives it to him, he then knows for
himself that God hears and answers prayer. It is in this way that the
knowledge of the Gospel that we have received is perpetuated in our
hearts and in the hearts of our children—transmitted from one
generation to another, as it has been and is being done at the present
time among these Latter-day Saints. To-day there is a host of young
men growing up in this country who have in this manner proved for
themselves the truth of that which I am now speaking of. It was in
this manner that I learned most convincingly in my youth that this was
the work of God. I believed it, yes, I may say I knew it to be true,
but when I was sent out as a missionary without purse and scrip and
compelled to feel after God and ask Him for those things that I
wanted, I learned to my entire satisfaction that when I did need God's
blessings He was at hand to confer them upon me according to the
desires of my heart and the necessities of my case. In this manner men
who are now of middle age have grown up with this knowledge, and the
youth to-day are in their turn acquiring the same knowledge, obtaining
it through the means which God has appointed and in the manner He has
designed.

Vol. 26,  p.282
There are two objects to be accomplished by the Elders going out
without purse and scrip upon the apostolic plan. In the first place,
they learn for themselves that God lives and that He hears and answers
prayer; in the second place, they test the world. The Savior says:
"Whoso receiveth you receiveth me, and the same will feed you, and
give you money. And he who feeds you, or clothes you, or gives you
money, shall in no wise lose his reward; and he that doeth not these
things is not my disciple; by this you may know my disciples."

Vol. 26,  p.282
We test the world in this manner and prove whether they will receive
the servants of God and supply their simple wants when they travel
preaching the Gospel without salary or pay of a pecuniary character;
but looking unto the Lord for the reward that He has promised to
bestow. When a man has been gone as Brother Clawson has, and as
Brother George Goddard has—Brother Clawson for two years and
upwards—he becomes acquainted with the Lord [p.283] he learns to know
God is his friend, and he through his life afterwards, if he cherishes
that knowledge which he has then acquired, is a faithful servant of
God. There are to-day hundreds of our youth scattered throughout the
various fields acquiring this knowledge of God, becoming familiar with
the things of God, learning for themselves that which they have been
taught in theory, and having it so thoroughly instilled into them, and
becoming so indoctrinated in these principles, that they never will
forget them.

Vol. 26,  p.283
My brethren and sisters: we can rejoice exceedingly in the prospects
before us. We may be hated as our brethren have described; we may be
maligned and calumniated and called all manner of evil names; but with
all these things we can rejoice, because it is the legacy that was
left to us and left to every follower of Jesus Christ by himself when
he was upon the earth. He that lives godly in Christ Jesus, Paul says,
shall suffer persecution. He did not say that they might suffer it—He
did not put it in a doubtful manner—but He said they should
suffer—"they shall suffer persecution." We have proved the truth of
that saying of the Apostle's. But notwithstanding all this, we can
look around us, and see what God is doing for us. We have the most
abundant causes for thanksgiving and praise. He is blessing us as no
other people today upon the face of the earth are being blessed.
Outside of our community there is hatred, there is animosity, there is
a feeling of wrath entertained against us. We are hated by those who
know us not. But inside there is peace, there is happiness, there is
joy, there is health, growth and development—a people growing up in
these mountains that will yet astonish the world by the exhibition of
those grand virtues that God is developing in our midst through the
teachings of the everlasting Gospel that we have received. A union
unparalleled, unexampled at this time upon the earth exists throughout
our settlements and in all our associations from north to south, from
east to west—a people dwelling together in peace and in love, loving
each other with an intensity of love, begotten of God, and that is
unknown elsewhere—the fruits of the outpouring of the spirit and power
of God upon us. Men say that this is imposture; that these are the
fruits of ignorance; that the binding of this people together in the
manner in which we are associated in these valleys is merely the
result of the combination of shrewd men. A most extraordinary
spectacle this! That wherever you go throughout our settlements, in
whatsoever house you enter, if the owners are Latter-day Saints, you
will find there the spirit of peace and of love; a willingness to do
everything possible for each other. And then when we contemplate the
growth of the people in intelligence, to me it is something marvelous
what God is doing for us in this direction. There is no community upon
the face of the earth to-day among whom you will find so many men who
have traveled, who have mingled with people in foreign lands, who are
so familiar with the religious and social usages and with the history
of the people of other lands, as you will find in this community of
Latter-day Saints. Scarcely a man among us now of middle age who has
not been in foreign lands, who has not traveled throughout his own
country, and acquired a knowledge of human nature such as cannot be
acquired [p.284] under any other circumstances. The effect of this
upon the community I can perceive; we all can observe it wherever we
go. It is uplifting the people—not very rapidly, it is true, but still
in such a manner that it is easily perceived. You can perceive the
effect upon the people of the education thus gained by the Elders in
traveling and preaching the Gospel abroad. Nearly all returning
missionaries express themselves as our brethren have this afternoon.
Brother Clawson has said that he is determined from this time forward
to do his share in helping forward the work of the redemption of the
human family. When such men return, bringing with them the spirit that
they have upon their missions—the Spirit of God—what a strength it is
to their Bishops, what a strength it is to their Teachers, what a
strength it is to the entire Priesthood in the Ward where they reside,
or the Stake to which they belong. And when they come back, as they do
by scores, this effect is felt throughout the entire body of the
people, and excellent results follow, a higher tone is developed, a
higher standard is aimed at, and there is an uplifting of the people,
as it were, to that higher standard.

Vol. 26,  p.284
This is going on all the time, and the effect is marked and already
felt. Those who travel through our settlements see many things that
strike them, and strike them more forcibly because of the different
impression created by the falsehoods told concerning us. These
falsehoods have their good effect in this respect; for when a matt
hears so much about the "Mormons," he naturally pictures to himself
the kind of society that he will meet when he goes among them. If he
has never met "Mormons," he has an idea in his mind, from what he has
read, or from what he has been told, as to the kind of people he will
meet when he sees them. But he is thrown into "Mormon" society. He
finds that they have no horns; that they have no cloven feet; that
they do not garnish their conversation with oaths; and that if he had
not been told these were "Mormons," he would not have discovered it by
any outward sign. When he comes into our cities, instead of seeing
drunkenness, instead of hearing blasphemy, instead of seeing the
profanation of all that is holy, he sees a people dwelling in peace,
he sees quietude prevailing, and the contrast strikes him very
forcibly. "Why," says he, "this is not what I expected to see; these
are not the people I expected to meet; this is not the society for
which I looked when I came into the settlements of the Latter-day
saints in Utah." These very falsehoods, therefore, have the effect of
impressing—where men have the opportunity of mingling with the people,
more forcibly upon the mind than otherwise would be the case that
which they see. It takes time, however, to remove prejudice, to
disabuse people's minds. They think that there is something hidden,
something that is very bad, that they have not yet discovered, and
this sometimes remains in the mind a good while.

Vol. 26,  p.284
But, as sure as God lives so sure will we five down these false
charges and impressions, and the day is not far distant when lovers of
good government, lovers of peace, will turn their attention to these
valleys in which we dwell and to this society of which we form a part.
For there is trouble in the future; there is perplexity not very far
off. We can hear a faint rumbling of it, as it were, in the distance.
The time [p.285] will come, as sure as we live, when distress and
calamity will fall upon the wicked, and our own nation has a great
deal to answer for. They have to answer for deeds that cannot be
easily paid. The blood of innocence has stained the soil of free
America—the blood of a Prophet, of a Patriarch, and of other righteous
men and women who have suffered for their religion, and for no other
cause than that they chose to espouse the truth and to advocate it,
living lives of purity, offending no one—that is, no one who should be
offended—breaking no law, trampling upon no human right. They were
cruelly murdered, and we as a people were driven out by violence,
driven out from the midst of civilization, driven out from our homes
and our hard-earned possessions, and our track is marked with the
blood and with the graves of our own people from the borders of
civilization till we reached these Rocky Mountains, and for no other
cause for which we could be punished legally. We broke no law; we
committed no offense against the majesty of the law. We have lived
lives of purity as we do here in these mountains. But prejudice was
created; men became excited; mobs were formed, and extermination was
decided upon, and there was no alternative presented to us but this:
either to submit to be killed off, men, women and children, from the
face of the earth, or to take our flight as best we could in our
poverty to some remote land where we could worship God according to
the dictates of our own conscience in peace and in quietness. We chose
the latter alternative. We preferred to face the wilderness with all
its untold terrors. We preferred to come out among tribes of Indians
of which we knew nothing, and live in their midst and trust to their
mercies, savages though they were, than to remain among civilized men,
men who called themselves Christians. We did this thirty-seven years
ago.

Vol. 26,  p.285
Fifty-four years and a half have passed since the organization of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in this land there
has never been a man punished for killing a "Mormon," never been a man
punished for burning a "Mormon's" house, never been a man punished for
engaging in mobs and banding together for the extirpation of the
"Mormons" and the destruction of their property. And this, too, in
this land of boasted liberty; this in this land, the most glorious
under the canopy of heaven, the most free that ever existed, the best
government ever formed by human wisdom; this in this land with the
constitution as free as God Himself has revealed it, so free that
every human being may dwell under it without let or hindrance, without
interfering with the rights of his fellow man, giving me the perfect
freedom to worship God according to my own conscience, and giving no
man the right to interfere with me in that worship, and giving every
other man the same right, and depriving me of the right to interfere
with any other man in his worship, if he worship according to the
dictates of his own conscience and does not interfere with the rights
of his fellow man. But in this land Latter-day Saints have been
murdered, murdered for no other cause than because they believed in
God and believed He was a God of revelation, and to-day Utah exists
because of this. Because of this spirit of persecution to-day, Utah is
a Territory, a grand Territory, and we as a people are living in these
valleys of the mountains [p.286] for that very cause. We are a
standing monument before God and before all men of the inhumanity of
man to his fellow man. This is the position that we occupy.

Vol. 26,  p.286
Will not these things be remembered? Yes, they will, and they will
bring down the anger of a just God upon the nation. Not for this
alone. There are other things; and the time will yet come when men
will flee for safety to the land where the Saints dwell; for we
design, by the help of our God, to maintain freedom, freedom for every
man, freedom for every creed, freedom for every race wherever we live
and Can have power. All men shall have equal freedom with us, they
shall be protected with us in every human right, in the exercise of
every belief that they choose to indulge in as long as by its exercise
they do not trample upon the rights of their fellow man. And we shall
maintain organized government. Others may trample upon the laws of the
land; others may seek to bring us into bondage; but we shall be free
through the help of our God, and our country shall be a free country;
for if others trample upon the Constitution, we will elevate it, we
will bear it aloft, we will invite the men of all cities and all parts
of our lands to come and dwell in peace and safety protected by that
glorious instrument, and the principles it contains, that God helped
the founders of this government to frame.

Vol. 26,  p.286
Therefore I say, my brethren and sisters, let us be encouraged; let us
cultivate the virtues that belong to our religion; let us love each
other; let us cultivate peace wherever we go, and extend its blessings
as far as our influence will permit.

Vol. 26,  p.286
May God help us to endure all the trials that we may be called upon to
pass through, and may He bless you my brethren and sisters, and all
who are seeking to do His will, I ask in the name of Jesus,
Amen.[p.287] 

George G. Bywater, August 2, 1885

Devotion to God—How It is Made Manifest—Divers 
Opinions—Liberty to Worship God—Jesus Christ the Savior 
of the World—His Apostles Were Unlearned Men—They Were 
Rejected By the Masses—Writings of the Prophets—Persecution 
for Righteousness' Sake—Selfishness—Love of Darkness Rather 
Than Light—Compromise of Principle—Infamy of Sacrificing 
Truth to Gain Place—God Must Be Obeyed Rather Than Man

Discourse By George G. Bywater, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 2, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.287
BRETHREN and sisters and friends: We have met this afternoon to
commemorate the death and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ in His
crucifixion on Calvary's cross as an atonement for the sins of the
world. We have met here to worship God. The spectacle of a worshiping
congregation is not new either in Utah or throughout Christendom at
large. A country or a people who are devoid of the sensibilities of
the obligations which they owe to the Supreme Ruler of the universe,
to the creator of the world and all things that in it are, would be
considered pagan, would be considered an uncivilized people. In
speaking of civilization Emerson once said that a nation without a
well-defined language, without clothing, without a system of marriage
we call heathen, we call barbarous, and he might have added with
propriety and like truthfulness, that a people who assemble not to pay
their devotion to the Great God, the architect of the universe, and
the common Father of the human race, are an uncivilized people. While
we admit this to be true there are other facts associated with and
belonging to this subject of the worship of the Deity, that present
themselves very forcibly to our view, and I may enumerate a few of
them.

Vol. 26,  p.287
As I have already said, the assembling together of a people in a
congregational capacity to pay their adorations to God their Heavenly
Father is not a strange or an exceptional spectacle, but is common
throughout the world. Nevertheless there is great diversity of opinion
regarding divine worship; there are varied methods of paying those
adorations to the Supreme Being. The worship that they offer to Deity
is presented in ritualistic forms and described methods, in systematic
modes; in the form of homilies, in the exercise of prayer, of singing
of psalms, of the administration of sacraments, that differ very
widely the one from the other. But who on account of this diversity
[p.288] of opinion, who on account of this presented variety of modes
of bowing before, or of lifting up unto the Supreme Being our hands in
adoration and praise, or in the discharge of our devotional
obligations would say, that, but one, two, three, or any restricted
number should be guaranteed the liberty, the freedom, the religious
toleration, the political and moral right of bowing the knee before
God, and of lifting up their voices in praise and prayer to Him who
made the sun, the moon and the stars, and who created all things that
live and move and have a being? Show me a people, cite to me a nation
or a family of nations that have come to the conclusion, that have
made a predetermined decree that none shall worship the God of Daniel,
or none shall worship the Dianah of the Ephesians, or none shall
worship the golden image made by Nebuchadnezzar—you show me a people,
a community, or a nation, or family of nations, that are lettered and
bound by this prescriptive spirit and the dogmatic institutions and
traditions of their times, and I will show you a people that are
lettered with chains forged in the fires of bigotry and superstition
and that will prove to them a barrier to national and universal
progress.

Vol. 26,  p.288
The subject that we have had presented before us by my respected
brother who preceded me is a very interesting one, interesting from
more sides than one, interesting from every side, interesting from
centre to circumference, in part and in entirety. It is the subject of
the liberty to worship God according to the dictates of a people's own
conscience, unrestricted and unrestrained by arbitrary or compulsory
measures. He has referred to historical instances related in sacred
history to circumstances under which and by the development of which
the spirit of persecution, the spirit of intolerance, the spirit of
tyranny and oppression has manifested itself. It is a well known and
universally recognized fact throughout all Christendom to-day, that,
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; that Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of God, the redeemer of the human race, is the captain of our
salvation, and that there is no other name given under heaven whereby
man can be saved but the name of Jesus. This will be readily and
clamorously conceded, persistently avowed, and zealously declared, by
every church that lays any claim to the name of Christian throughout
the whole world; that he was the founder and finisher of that faith
which can alone save the family of man; that through His life, death
and resurrection, in connection with the principles of immortality and
eternal life which He brought forth to the knowledge of the world, in
His own person, fill filling very many of the prophecies relative to
the dispensation of the fullness of times—that through Him, and
through Him alone, should salvation come unto Israel, and a fallen
world be redeemed. The Apostles he was pleased to select from among
the unlettered, the uncultivated and the undistinguished among His
fellow men, were called to be ministers of his word, to be ambassadors
of the message of salvation, to be His heralds of peace—peace on earth
and good will to all men. It is true He selected them from among the
humble fishermen that were following their occupation of fishing on
the sea of Galilee. It is true He did not select them from the learned
doctors of the law. It is also true that they were men that had not
attained to any high repute, or had been elevated to any [p.289]
dignified or scholastic position in the land, either ecclesiastical or
political. They were graded as the offscourings and dregs of the human
race. They were, so to speak, the dregs of human society. Yet today,
in this age of boasted Christian enlightenment, in this age of boasted
Christian freedom—pardon me for the remark—they claim that these men
were the servants of the Lord, men that bore in their possession the
principles of life. and salvation unto all the world, and these men
were in their day bold to make affirmations such as fell very
unwelcomely, very unacceptably upon the ears of the elite, of the
educated, of the refined, of the professional classes of Jewish and of
Roman society, and also upon those who were cultivated in Greek
literature, and constituted the most refined element of human society.
Yet they were bold to declard, "We know that we are of God, and the
whole world lieth in wickedness." What do our Christian friends say
What do our pulpit declaimers announce to their congregations when
they select such positive declarations, such strong doctrinal
enunciations as the one I have quoted and many more like unto
them—what do they say? Oh, they tell their Christian friends that they
lament the darkness, the moral blindness, the intellectual and
doctrinal opaqueness of that age; that had they lived in the days when
Jesus sojourned among men, when He went about speaking words of
kindness, uttering sentences of love and mercy, expressing His good
will to the whole human family, and seeking to promulgate the
principles of peace in a distracted age; say they, "Oh that we had
lived in the days of Jesus; oh that we had had the privilege of bowing
down at His feet like Mary and Martha; oh that we had had the
opportunity of surrounding Him when the precious words of life fell
from His hallowed lips—the lips of Him who spake as never man spake;
oh that we had had this privilege." And the heirs of penitence for the
sins of the dead who had gone centuries before them trickle down their
face and stain the pages of the sacred scriptures from which they
select their texts when they refer to the blindness and hardness of
heart of the people who treated with ignominy and contempt the world's
greatest reformer, the world's universal redeemer, the Son of God
Himself. What do they say of theme? "Oh," say they, "how strange it
is, how remarkable it is that those people with the writings of the
blessed Prophets—with the writings of Hosea, of Jeremiah, of Amos, of
Joel, of Habakkuk, of Zechariah, of Malachi, and of all the prophets
in their possession, wherein are found so many prophecies relating to
the coming of the Messiah, relating to the ushering in of a new
dispensation, relating to the inauguration of a reign of peace such as
the world had never seen, such as God had not promised unto the
children of men, until the period of the world's history when Shiloh
should come—how remarkable with all this tibet they did not receive
the Son of God. "If we had lived in these days," say they, "we believe
that we would have been able to see the hand of God; we would have
marked His divine footprints among the people; we would have
recognized by our ears the voice of the Good Shepherd; we would have
listened with hearts subdued with humility, with minds illuminated by
inspiration, to the marvelous and inimitable truths uttered by the
Savior of the world. Oh, how wicked it was for [p.290] those people to
be so hardhearted; how nicked it was not only for the common people
but for the rulers of the Jews, for the members of the Senate, for the
doctors of the law, for the lights of the generation, the leading men
of the period in which they lived that they should be guilty of such
inhuman, such unnatural, such unjust conduct as to persecute men
against whom no charge in truth and in verity could be found except it
was that they were pleased to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord, to announce unto the world of mankind that a dispensation of
divine providence had been ushered in, wherein a change should take
place over the minds of the people; wherein a new order of things
should he developed, and wherein the Mosaic law with all its
sacerdotal rites and ceremonies were to be consummated and brought to
a termination in the fulfillment of the prophecies, and in the
introduction of a higher and a purer law." These are their feelings;
the ministers preach to the people after this fashion, and read to
them such passages as these:

Vol. 26,  p.290
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Vol. 26,  p.290
"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Vol. 26,  p.290
"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Vol. 26,  p.290
This language, my beloved friends, is of a very forcible character.
Probably a few reflections upon the sentiments incorporated in these
declarations of uninspired men may not be altogether uninstructive or
unprofitable unto us at this time.

Vol. 26,  p.290
We learn from these declarations that Jesus Christ and his followers
had their names cast out as evil. If these historians record veritable
facts—and we have no right to question the historical verity of these
statements, because they are established and verified by secular
history: if then, they are true it becomes every thinking student of
history, every earnest and avowed student of natural theology or
sectarian lore, to understand What it was that constituted the essence
of the disagreement, what constituted the gist, the kernel, if you
please, the special reason why the existing spirit, faith and
teachings of the Jewish people, and of the Roman people, in the
commencement of the Christian era, were so opposed to the doctrines of
Jesus Christ and His apostles. I have already referred to the general
recognition by the Christian world of the doctrines of Christ and His
apostles as being the foundation of the hope of all enlightened
nations for salvation before God; for salvation in eternity, for the
redemption of the human race. What, then, was it that was the cause of
the opposition which was so pronounced, so persistent and so prolonged
against Jesus Christ and His followers. This opposition was not
confined to a narrow region. It was an opposition that was not limited
within any special circle; for we read of one inquirer who appears to
be a man of very general information addressing himself, in the term
of an inquiry in his own behalf, and in behalf of those whom he
represented, to the Apostles, saying:

Vol. 26,  p.290
"We desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this
sect, we know that everywhere it is Spoken against." 

Vol. 26,  p.290
It was not a matter of conjecture [p.291] with him. It was a matter of
conjecture with him as to what the Apostle Paul thought: for Paul was
a man of letters, a man of a very extended range of experience and
observation; so much so that one of the learned rabbis of his time
told him that much learning had made him mad. But he was inquiring
respecting his (Paul's) information concerning the Church of Christ, a
body of religious worshipers with whom he was identified, and in the
midst of whom he was an authorized Apostle. 

Vol. 26,  p.291
"We desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest; for as concerning this
sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against."

Vol. 26,  p.291
"We know!" "What do you know, sir?" "We know that it is spoken
against." "Where is it spoken against, sir?" "It is everywhere spoken
against." Hence we see the universality, the general character of the
opposition that was raised against the doctrines of the humble and
despised Nazarene. Why was it, my friends, that they were opposed to
Him? Why was it that His cause was so much misrepresented; that he was
charged with keeping company with publicans and sinners, and
considered worthy of death? Simply because be introduced an organized
system of principles, of ordinances and divine institutions that were
antagonistic, not in their essential nature to the welfare of mankind,
but antagonistic to the existing dogmas, theologies and schools of
philosophy that were then in existence. They were, moreover, systems
of theology, and schools of philosophy and organized methods of
procedure—in matters theological as well as matters doctrinal and
political—that were becoming exhausted. They had reached the period of
their decrepitude. They had attained unto the period of old age. They
had manifested within them the elements of social, moral and organic
decay. Their deteriorating effects were becoming painfully apparent.
They were becoming illy adapted to the newly developing condition of
things; inapplicable to the unfolding environments of those times; and
God, who sits enthroned in the realms of purity and of truth, had
given these systems for the sake of His people. Whatever there was of
a regenerating progressive nature in these systems, God sustained. He
sustained them until the day-star had dawned for a brighter and more
glorious epoch in the world's history, when the shepherds were visited
by messengers of light from the realms of the Eternal Gods, crying,
"Peace, peace on earth and good will toward all men."

Vol. 26,  p.291
But my brother who preceded me spoke of selfishness. He touched a
chord that seems to me to be unbroken and of a very extended length. I
think it reaches over all the ages. I think it has come down from the
border times of prehistoric history. I think it is found right through
human nature, crude and cultivated, civilized and uncivilized.

Vol. 26,  p.291
The doctrine which the Savior taught touched this feeling of
selfishness. It touched the personal vanity of many. The supporters of
the systems that I have alluded to—I have no time to name them; there
may be many of you who are historically well informed and know all
about them; you know there were a number of philosophical schools in
existence in Athens and elsewhere at that time; you are acquainted, no
doubt, with the dogmas of the period. Suffice it to say that the most
violent and determined opposition [p.292] that Jesus of Nazareth met
with in His day and generation was from the very class of men that the
Christian world to-day have supposed and thought He ought to have
derived the greatest possible support. Our christian preachers and
ministers tell their congregations that the learned doctors of the law
who had little else to do but study the technicalities of the laws, to
familiarize themselves with the genius of their construction, with the
wisdom that promulgated them, with the necessities underlying the need
for their legislation; these ministers tell us that they of all other
men ought to have discovered the signs of the times, ought to have
been able to read them, and in reading them to have discovered that
the set time had come for God to bring forth His Son Jesus Christ, and
to usher in a reign of peace. But it was from this class of people
that Jesus met with the most violent and persistent persecution.

Vol. 26,  p.292
And how is it to-day, my friends How is it to-day with the Latter-day
Saints? I want to propound a few questions to my friends, as well as
to those who have no desire to be considered our friends. I have one
word to say to them. I would say, as my brother before me has said,
would to God that they could be inspired by the same divine
intelligence, by the same supreme wisdom and enlightened by the same
heavenly understanding that chased away the darkness of ages, cleared
up the obscurity in which the human mind was enveloped in the days of
Jesus; would to God they were sincere and devout and honest,
consistent believers in the Bible, the word of God. Then we would not
have so much trouble in reasoning with our friends. We have no trouble
to-day in obtaining an intelligent reply from our Christian friends
when we ask them, Why did Jesus and His Apostles receive persecution
at the hands of the Jews and of the Romans in their day, both as
religious and political communities? Why did they do it? the answer
would be freely given. Because they loved darkness rather than light;
because they would not purify their lives by the regenerating
principles of Christianity; because they would not deny themselves of
those forbidden fruits and of those unrestrained passions which ran
riot, and which the adherents of the Christian religion pronounce
against; because Jesus upbraided them for sin and iniquity. It was
because he told them the truth against themselves that they were
opposed to Him. What were the principles He taught? "Oh," says our
Christian friend, "they are to be found in the writings of Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, and in the epistles of the Apostles. You will
find there the teachings that Jesus and His Apostles taught, and
there, too, are found the reasons for all the opposition and
persecution which they endured even unto death, even to the
ignominious death of crucifixion.

Vol. 26,  p.292
Well, suppose we were to ask the question now, what is the reason that
the Latter-day Saints are everywhere spoken against? What is the
answer? Well, we would be answered variously, but all in harmony with
one certain note of disapproval. The answer would be: "You are unlike
us. You choose to profess a religion and a polity different to us. The
constitution of your social structure is at variance with our ideas of
morality. We are enthusiastically, frantically, and mercilessly
incensed against your social system. We cannot endure it. You must
believe as we do. You must think as we do, and [p.293] if you don't
choose to think and believe as we do, you must act as we do, or you
cannot be in fellowship with us." Now, my friends, this is the spirit
of the age in which we live, and I am respectfully at the whole
world's defiance to present to me or any other intelligent Latter-day
Saint a solid, logical or truthful argument of a contradictory nature.
There never has been and there never will be an opponent whose acumen
is equal to the task of formulating reasons rational and sufficiently
cogent to overthrow the doctrines of the religion of the Latter-day
Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.293
Now, then, if the people in the days of Jesus and His Apostles were as
consistent—or, pardon me, rather inconsistent—as the people of our day
are, they would persist in maintaining that these doctrines should not
be taught in Judea, nor in the regions round about, nor in Pamphilia,
nor in Rome, nor in Galatia, nor anywhere. You must renounce these
doctrines they said. But they did not renounce, and they put them to
death. Ah! That is the secret. Do you, then, Christians—the professed
promulgators of Bible Christianity—do you choose to repeat the deeds
of your forefathers? Do you choose to imitate the examples of the
persecutors of the humble and despised Nazarene by persecuting,
imprisoning and putting to death men and women who profess precisely
the same theology, who worship the same God, who bow at the same
sacred altar as Jesus and His Apostles did, who advocate the same
doctrines, who administer in the same ordinances, and who in every
doctrinal particular are following their divine Master and fellow
laborers, the Apostles of old? "Ah!" says one, "it is not that
exactly. If you would only promise that you would remove from your
religion every objectionable feature that it now presents to the
Christian world we would hail you as brethren, as fellow Christians."
What did the Jewish people do? What did the Roman people do? They told
Jesus of Nazareth in effect that if lie would strike out of the
constitution of the new faith every principle and doctrine that was
uncougenial, if not with the prophecies which they professed to
believe in, at all events, with their construction of them; if they
would only put these away, then they could live with them. What would
our divines to-day think of Jesus and His Apostles if they had
permitted to be handed down to history that in consequence of the
opposition which the revelations of God had evoked in the human mind,
and had caused the public pulse to beat high, to arise to feverish
temperature, until they came to this conclusion: if we let these men
alone they will take away our name and nation; we cannot stand it;
crucify him! crucify him! release unto us the thieves—Barabbas,
anybody except Jesus of Nazareth; crucify him! crucify him!—His blood
be upon us and upon our children forever; this was the cry of the
populace; and had He made this affirmation, that in consequence of the
determined opposition, of the broad and deep-seated enmity that was
engendered in the hearts of the people against the revealed will of
God, it was best to cease to proclaim His glorious principles, it was
best to stop the administration of His ordinances, it was best to
surrender their allegiance to Almighty God, and bow in crouching
servility to their fellow men, in deference to them and rebellion to
the God of heaven. What would our christian ministers think of such a
body of [p.294] men as that of Jesus and His Apostles assuming a
position of that kind before them? How well they have declaimed in
favor of the martyrs of Christianity. With what burning eloquence they
have extolled the heroism, the stout-heartedness of the men and women
who were willing to go as lambs to the slaughter, like their divine
Master, rather than prove recreant to the sacred obligations they had
assumed. What would they say of such a Christianity? They would say,
Fie! upon such miserable stuff; fie! upon such men and women who
should attempt to lay hold of such glorious and benignant principles
as those of Christianity. They would say, the touch of such men and
women upon such principles was a contaminating touch; it would have
been an upas breath that they would have brent bed when vindicating
Christianity; while they themselves were so inadequate to the
responsibilities—being devoid of the inspiration pertaining to the
truth—and so indisposed to live a life of purity which those
principles required at their hands.

Vol. 26,  p.294
If you would so judge of the former-day Saints, how would you judge of
the Latter-day Saints? What would you think of us if we were to tell
you that we would cease to believe in the religion of Jesus Christ? It
is true you do not know what it means, and hence we pity you. It is
true that we know we are of God: we know that these principles and
revelations are divine; we know that they have emanated from Him who
cannot lie; we know these things, and if you knew them would you ask
us to deny our faith, to prove recreant to our trust, to become
unworthy the confidence of our families and of honest men around us on
every hand. A gentleman in this city was known to say—and he said it
in language more forcible than eloquent, and you will excuse me for
not repeating it, because it might be considered sacrilege in a sacred
desk to do so—he was known to say: "If I knew what you say to be true,
I would go to prison—I would not deny it for anybody." Well, what
would you think of a man who would deny that which he knew to be true,
or say no when the truth required him to say yes? Could you trust him
as a Free Mason or an Odd Fellow, or in any other capacity where true
heartedness and genuine human worth is to be appreciated and sought?
Certainly not.

Vol. 26,  p.294
Well, now, my friends, we have made some very plain remarks this
afternoon. Permit me in conclusion to say that I am very sorry that we
are forced into this uninviting situation; but being forced into it,
pushed into it, if you please, driven into it, legislated into it,
what can we do? What would you advise us to do? Your advice would be
this possibly: "We believe that you people only say that you know this
work in which you are engaged is of God. We do not believe you do
know. We think you are like the rest of the Christian world, and that
your knowledge is no more divine, or that you have any closer
communion with God than the rest of the sects of the Christian world,
and they don't profess to know, only to believe. Therefore you are
very presumptuous to say you know these things. You ought to know
better. You had therefore better place yourselves in accord with us,
come a little nearer to us, and just say you don't believe certain
principles in your religion, and we will tolerate the other portion."

Vol. 26,  p.296
My friends, if we were placed in this position of our own doing, we
[p.295] would gladly come to terms, we would gladly settle this
question before the setting of another day's sun. But when we know
that God has spoken from heaven; when we know as well as we know that
we live that the revelations which we have received—against which the
world are now fighting—are of God, born of heaven, of heavenly
descent, we can but say in conclusion that we will do all we can, we
will keep every law that it is possible for us to keep, we will honor
our government to the best of our ability; but if we are asked to
choose this day whom we will serve, God or Belial, what do you take us
for? Hypocrites, knaves, fools, asinine actors in the drama of life,
or what? No, my friends, I will say as one of old said: "Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him." We know the principles are right;
we know they are eternal, no matter what may be the consequences.
Suppose some of us are put to death, what of that? By putting us to
death they simply place us beyond their power—they can do nothing
more. As Jesus said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell." Now, if we are philosophers, if we are
men of wisdom, if we are students of the principles of intelligence
and of truth, why certainly we will make a wise selection, we will
elect to serve Him who created us, and we trust that God our heavenly
Father when He has so far matured His purposes, which are essential to
the consummation of the end for which He has permitted this crusade to
be waged against us, will be pleased to soften the hearts of those
around us as He did in former dispensations, and as He has done with
our own nation in our own day—that He will mould and temper the
dispositions of men, and that He will make the wrath of man to praise
Him, and the residue He will restrain. May God grant this is my prayer
in the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.296] 

Franklin D. Richards, August 30, 1885

Parable of the Ten Virgins—Rapid Development 
of the Arts and Sciences—the Lord Hastening His Work 
in Its Time—Enmity Between the Church of Christ and the 
World—the Gathering Together of People From Every Nation After 
They Have Been Baptized Into One Spirit—the Law of Tithing—Blessings 
Which Follow Obedience Thereto—Binding Upon All, Rich and Poor 
Alike—Giving to the Poor—Power of the Principles of the Gospel 
and Effects of Their Observance—Jehovah—Jesus Christ—His 
Ministry—His Followers—Their Mission—Preaching to the 
Spirits in Prison—Baptism for the Dead—Saviors Upon 
Mount Zion—Responsibility Resting Upon the 
Saints—a Word of Encouragement 
to the Missionaries

Discourse By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered in the 
New Stake Tabernacle, Provo, Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 30th, 1885.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.296
OCCASIONS of this kind have a very precious significance to those who
are interested in the great work of the last dispensation. They awaken
the better feelings of our natures to commune together as the people
of God, to contemplate His providences towards His people, the
experiences through which they have passed, and are passing. It is
very pleasant to the Elders who are called to speak to the people in
going from place to place, to meet those with whom they associated in
earlier times and in far distant countries. In this respect my journey
was made pleasant this morning upon finding myself in the carriage
with brethren whom I labored with almost thirty-five years ago in the
British Isles.

Vol. 26,  p.296
Thirty years ago, in about one month, our brother and friend,
Professor Maeser, with several others, in the City of Dresden, the
capital of Saxony, strolled away one night, and finding ourselves
beyond the surveillance of the police, a mile or more, down to the
banks of the river Elbe, we there had the pleasure of seeing him enter
into the covenant of the everlasting Gospel with us. This and like
circumstances cause me to thank the Lord for His grace that has
preserved, helped and sustained us, and kept us in the truth until
this present time, while many who have been baptized into the Church
have fallen out by the way. When we contemplate the parable of the
Savior in reference to the ten virgins—five of whom were wise and five
foolish—behold, we are seeing in part the fulfillment of that parable.
When we consider how many have turned [p.297] away at one time and
another because the way was too straight or the road was too rough for
them, we have reason to be very thankful that the love of the truth
has continued and increased in our hearts. It is fitting that we
should labor with diligence and faithfulness and with our mights to
bring to pass the purposes of God, inasmuch as they are rolling upon
us rapidly, and seeing that He has promised that He will cut His work
short in righteousness.

Vol. 26,  p.297
Since the Father came forth from the heavens with His Son and spoke to
the Prophet Joseph—then a boy only about fourteen years old, and told
him that all the people of the earth had gone astray from His
ordinances and had broken the everlasting covenant—I say since that
time what wonderful progress has been made in developing the arts and
sciences. Those were the days of the stage coach instead of the
railroad. Then postal facilities were very slow. It required mouths
for communications to go from this country to Europe and back again.
Now it is done in an instant, steam and electricity enable people to
transact business in one day or an hour, perhaps, that used to take
months to accomplish. The Lord is in this way fulfilling His promise
that He would hasten His work in its time. He has increased facilities
during our day and generation for the accomplishing of work and
bringing about His purposes which it would take many times as long to
accomplish under the old regime—the slow-coach order of things.

Vol. 26,  p.297
Thirty-eight years ago, when we came across the plains, it took us all
summer to get from the Missouri river to Salt Lake. We had to walk and
toil by the road; our teams gave out and died by the way. A company of
us in the year 1848 were from the 18th of February till the 19th of
October, earning from Liverpool to this Territory. Now the Saints
start from the old country and come here by steam in about three
weeks, a journey that formerly took nine months to perform. This is
one of the ways in which the Lord is shortening His work—cutting it
short in righteousness—and furthermore He has said He will hasten it
in its time.

Vol. 26,  p.297
Now, there must necessarily be, as there always has been, the same
enmity between the Church of Christ and the world that ever has
existed. And what is the great reason why there must be such
opposition? I can tell you one reason. It is because that we, by the
blessing, power and requirement of God, have been enabled to go forth
and preach the Gospel, gather the believers together, organize
churches, build cities and temples, and establish a church and kingdom
unto God, and that the world cannot do. That is one reason why they
feel enmity toward us. This is a great testimony to the whole
world—the work of gathering the people of every language under the
sun, from the frigid, the temperate and the torrid zones. From Iceland
on the North, as well as from New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope on
the South, and all countries intermediate, where the Gospel has been
preached.

Vol. 26,  p.297
It is a subject that is an enigma for the greatest statesman of the
earth; this gathering together of people of different languages,
different education and habits, and harmonizing them all. The great
secret is that they are first baptized into the same spirit, one
baptism, one faith, and one Lord. They come here and being taught
correct principles they govern themselves. That is just what we want;
and is what [p.298] every family needs, that those who become rulers
in Israel, or heads of families, shall be men of God, filled with the
knowledge, the revelations and power of God.

Vol. 26,  p.298
I am thankful that I live with you to see the great and mighty
operations of Jehovah's purposes going on in the earth. I feel
thankful that I am permitted to perform any humble part in this
marvelous work. The Saints, even those in the humblest station, should
feel thankful that they can contribute one way or another by their
efforts or their means to help advance any of the interests of the
Church or Kingdom of God.

Vol. 26,  p.298
Former speakers have referred to the principle of tithing. This is one
of the very important features of the faith of the everlasting Gospel.
It always was when there was a people of God on the earth. Go back to
our Father Abraham—whom all professed Christians would like to claim
heirship with—and we find that he was very tenacious in paying his
tithing, his whole tithing. When he went to war against the thirteen
kings, with his company of three hundred and eighteen trained
servants, followed them all night, overtook them, and became their
victors, he brought home the spoils, and when he reached Jerusalem he
found there Melchisedec, the ruler of the country, the minister of the
Lord, the king of peace; one of the first things he did was to pay his
tithing of the booty, and he received a blessing at Melchisedec's
hands. So it was with Isaac and Jacob. We are informed in the
Scriptures that Jacob covenanted with the Lord, saying: "Of all thou
shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee," which he did.
And when in after years the Lord brought Israel back from Egypt to
Canaan, where He promised they should live and have an everlasting
inheritance if they would keep His law, He gave it them with this
reserve, that a tenth of the people's possessions should be paid to
Him:

Vol. 26,  p.298
"And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, the
fruit of the tree, the tithe of the herd or of the flock, is the
Lord's, and shall be holy unto the Lord." (Lev. xxvii, 30-32.)

Vol. 26,  p.298
If they did not do this they would be robbing the Lord. the fact was,
all they possessed was the Lord's, and when they appropriated all to
their own use, paying nothing into the Lord's storehouse, they did
that for which He afterwards, by the Prophet Malachi, charged them
with robbing Him, even their whole nation." (Malachi iii, 9.)

Vol. 26,  p.298
The Lord has said unto us, very emphatically, if we do not sanctify
this land and make it holy unto Him by keeping this and all other of
His commandments that it shall not be a land of Zion unto us. Let us
hearken to it, take it to heart, think of it, study it prayerfully,
and learn what it means.

Vol. 26,  p.298
Says one, "Here is a poor widow that does not owe any tithing; there
is a poor brother who is lame and cannot work who does not owe any
tithing." Don't they? Let us see. the paying of tithing, like every
other ordinance, has its peculiar blessings, and what are they? In the
receipt which the Prophet Joseph Smith gave to me in Nauvoo, signed by
himself and the tithing clerk, he stated that having paid my tithing
in full to date, I was entitled to the benefits of the baptismal font,
which had just been dedicated in the basement of that Temple. Do not
this poor widow and that lame, unfortunate brother need the benefits
of the baptismal font for their deceased [p.299] kindred just as much
as the rich, the sound and the fortunate? I think they do. How then
can they obtain a right and title to their blessings? The Lord has
instituted a means by which they may receive their blessings by the
payment of their tithing. The first Thursday of every month is a Fast
day, for the Saints to gather together in prayer and fasting, and to
bring their offerings for the poor, that the afflicted and unfortunate
may not lack for food or clothing, and the comforts of life. Now, if a
poor man received one hundred pounds of flour or any other gift, it is
his privilege to pay one-tenth of it as tithing, and have it credited
to him on the book as a tithing payer, and in this way he pays just as
much as the man who pays one hundred dollars. The same with the poor
sister who receives her aid from the Relief Society. She can pay her
tithing in the same way—have her name recorded on the books, and thus
acquire the right to be baptized for her dead kindred. These rights
and privileges are not confined to the rich. They are for people of
all conditions in life, provided they comply with the requirements of
the Lord. The Savior said that the widow, with her two mites, paid in
more than the rich out of their abundance. Some have been inclined to
practice this principle on a kind of sliding scale. If they donate an
amount to the building of a Tabernacle or a Temple, they must take
that out of their tithing. This is not the correct way.

Vol. 26,  p.299
God has given us commandments concerning the law of tithing: He has
also given us instructions in regard to our offerings for the poor, as
follows:

Vol. 26,  p.299
"Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made,
and impart not his portion, according to the law of my Gospel, unto
the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in
hell, being in torment."—(Doc. & Cov., Section 104, par 18.)

Vol. 26,  p.299
He directs all these things. If we learn His way and walk in it, we
shall be abundantly blessed, and those who are too poor to walk in the
right way of the Lord, will become so poor that they will perish from
the land by and lay.

Vol. 26,  p.299
What has brought you here from distant lands? It is the potency of
those principles you have embraced. What has inspired you to labor and
make this part of the wilderness so beautiful? I recollect, when I
first came to Provo on the 4th July, 1849, we had a sort of
celebration; some of the authorities of the Church were here, and
arrangements were then made and directions given for the location of
this city. Since then, see what has been accomplished! See this
meeting house, court house, bank building, your woolen factory—the
greatest one of the Territory, and one that would be a credit to any
part of the continent—what has done all this? It is the potency of
those principles God has revealed to you. It is this that induced you
to leave your native lands and come to this country, strangers in a
strange land, as Abraham was when he left his home and went down to
Canaan. These principles are known by you, my brethren and sisters.
They, however, are principles the world do not know anything about,
especially this principle of tithing. They have their own way of
making contributions, etc., but they do not understand tithing as a
law of God. We, who do comprehend these things, must follow out
heaven's requirements, that the favor and strength of the heavens may
be with us.[p.300] 

Vol. 26,  p.300
While we have been in this land what else have we been doing? We have
been sending away missionaries by scores and hundreds, year by year,
to inform and if possible to convince the people of the truth of the
Gospel. They will not, however, receive it. It seems as though mankind
now, as in the days of Jesus, have ears to hear, but they will not
hear; eyes to see, but they will not see; hearts to understand, but
they will not understand. When we tell them that certain principles
and views we hold are our religions convictions, or our conscientious
understanding of the word of the Lord, we are told at once that there
is no religion about it, as if others had a better right to know what
our religious convictions should be than ourselves.

Vol. 26,  p.300
We have a great and marvelous work laid upon us, and its more
marvelous features are still to be developed and made manifest. We yet
see but a small part of it. The Lord has shown us all we can bear; all
we can, in our present state of development, comprehend and apply.

Vol. 26,  p.300
The Savior said, when He was upon the earth, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life.' Now, if we can find out sufficiently about our Savior.
His views and doings, we shall be able to understand gellerally the
principles of the glorious Gospel, which has been revealed and
something of its outcome. We learn that our Savior was born of a
woman, and He was named Jesus the Christ. His name when He was a
spiritual being, during the first half of the existence of the earth,
before He was made flesh and blood, was Jehovah. He was in the
beginning of the creation, and He had to do and has had to do
continually with the creation and government of this heaven and this
earth.

Vol. 26,  p.300
But up to the time that He came and dwelt in the flesh and was born of
Mary, His Mother, He dwelt in the spirit life. He was the spirit Being
that directed, governed, and gave the law on Mount Sinai, where Moses
was permitted to see Him in part. He is the Being that appeared unto
the brother of Jared, when he brought the stones that were to be put
into the barges, and asked the Lord to touch them with His finger that
they might receive and emit light. When the Lord drew near and touched
the stones with His finger, the brother of Jared's eyes were opened,
and he saw the finger of the Lord. He was afraid and fell down before
the Lord. the Lord asked him, "Why hast thou fallen? Arise!" And he
said that he was afraid, for he beheld the finger of the Lord, and he
did not know that the Lord had flesh and blood. Jehovah then showed
him His whole person, saying, "This is the body of my spirit"—He that
should come in the meridian of time and take upon Himself a body of
flesh and blood. When that time arrived, and he attained the age of
thirty years, He began to officiate in the ministry, after He had been
baptized by John the Baptist.

Vol. 26,  p.300
Without stopping to detail as much as I would like, I want to call
attention to two or three leading features of His work. The Savior
commenced to labor in the ministry, and found men here and there of
the right spirit, whom He commanded to follow Him. To one of these he
said, "Before Philip called thee, I saw thee." So He continued to find
and select choice spirits whom He knew before the foundation of the
world. He ordained twelve of them to be His ministers, [p.301] and
then He sent them abroad. But did He send them all over the world? No.
He first told them to go only unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, and they went. They worked with great success, healing the
sick, casting out devils, etc. They neither lacked food nor raiment;
freely they received, freely they gave. Thus they reported their
mission. The Savior not only sent the Twelve Apostles, but other
seventy also, missionary men, sending them forth to teach Israel that
the kingdom of heaven was at hand. During His mission and long before
He was crucified He taught them that He would be crucified, and on the
third day he arose from the dead, but they did not seem to understand
it.

Vol. 26,  p.301
After His resurrection He said to them, hitherto you have asked
nothing of the Father in my name, but now, said He, whatsoever you
shall ask the Father in my name it shall be granted unto you. Now is
all power given into my hands both in heaven and on earth. After His
resurrection He called His Apostles together and commissioned them,
saying, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he
that believeth not shall be damned." That was another feature of the
work wherein He sends the Gospel—now that Israel had proved themselves
unworthy of it—to all the world. We see, then, that the great work of
the brethren was to carry the Gospel to the whole human family first.
But the Savior told them that if He went away, they should do greater
works than He had done, because He went to the Father. What did He do?
After He was crucified He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
even to that great multitude that were destroyed through disobedience
before the flood and by the flood. He unlocked the prison doors to
those that were bound. While upon the earth the Savior and His
brethren of the Twelve labored to impart the Gospel to those that were
living. The Savior set the Priesthood in order and offered the Gospel
to the people, but they would not receive it. Still this was the great
work that had to be performed. The Gospel had to be preached to
mortals first, and next to those in the spirit world.

Vol. 26,  p.301
What are our condition and labor now? In this last dispensation the
Prophet Joseph Smith, in the year 1820, first received revelations
from the heavens, and it was only until 1844 that he was permitted to
live. By 1830, the Book of Mormon was brought forth from the mountain
Cumorah, was translated and printed, and fourteen years from that time
the Prophet Joseph was taken from us.

Vol. 26,  p.301
When he went away he went with the keys of this last dispensation to
the prison house of the dead, who had died in times that were past;
and he, his brother Hyrum, the brethren of the Twelve Apostles—for
there are now nearly a quorum of the Twelve Apostles with
them—constitute a great and mighty church in the spirit world,
laboring and preaching the Gospel to the spirits of our fathers who
are in prison. They are called upon to do the work Brother Smith has
been speaking about this afternoon. The prophet Elijah came and
delivered his message on the 6th March, 1836, in the Temple in
Kirtland, and he has been at work, ever since then, turning the hearts
of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the
children.[p.302] 

Vol. 26,  p.302
Referring to this work the Apostle Paul makes this declaration: "For
to this end Christ both died and rose, and revived again, that he
might be Lord both of the dead and living."

Vol. 26,  p.302
So it is with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He has gone before with the
keys of this dispensation, after having lived and conferred them upon
the authorities of the Church, even all that was necessary until he
shall come again to build up this kingdom preparatory to the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He with others are helping to carry out the
great work of the redemption of the dead. And this part of the work we
are called upon to perform in the temples. To be baptized for them, to
be confirmed for them, and to perform all those holy ordinances for
your righteous dead, for your worthy ancestry, which you have done or
shall do for yourselves, makes you to become saviors upon Mount Zion.
The responsibility resting upon the Saints in regard to these matters
is very great. I heard the Prophet Joseph say, in a sermon he preached
before he was killed, that no greater responsibility rested upon the
Saints than the work of attending to ordinances for their dead. This
then, ought to be taken into serious consideration. Brethren who
cannot go abroad and preach the Gospel, may labor in the temples, and
thus bring to pass the purposes of God.

Vol. 26,  p.302
When we contemplate this great work, shall we wince at persecution?
Though we are persecuted, though our enemies are hunting and harassing
and breaking up our families, shall we be frightened and be any less
wise and discreet, or adopt unworthy measures to keep out of prison?
Certainly not. Let us be true to the truth. Let us be true to what God
has committed to us, in every iota.

Vol. 26,  p.302
In conclusion I would say a word of encouragement to the brethren who
are engaged in the ministry. In the early times of the Church in
foreign lands the work of the Lord spread rapidly when the Elders
labored with unity of purpose and faith, and a great many were added
to the Church. Many were brought to this land. Now we have come to a
time when but few come into the Church. Some of the doctrines that
have been revealed are a stumbling block to the people. It was so in
the days of Jesus and His Apostles. He taught the doctrine of the
cross and of the resurrection, which was a great stumbling block to
them—a rock of offence, as is the doctrine of eternal and plural
marriage. Through the opposition that the Elders have to meet, owing
to that doctrine, they sometimes feel that their labors are very
trifling when they baptize but few. I want to say to the brethren,
that you do a great deal of good, be not discouraged, nor of a
doubtful heart. You do a vast deal of good you cannot see. Your
testimonies to the world are a savor of life unto life or of death
unto death—life unto life to those who receive and render obedience to
the Gospel; death unto death to those who reject it, The world is
filled with lies concerning God's people and the truths they teach.
The influences of the press and pulpit seem concentrated for the
publication of lies in reference to the Latter-day Saints. The world
seems inclined to believe lies and be damned rather than receive the
truth. A painful thought. Still, there is this good you may do: you
should be assiduous in your labors to correct the errors and lies that
are circulating among the people; you may soften the people's
susceptibilities and prejudices; and perhaps [p.303] you may be the
means of preventing a great many men and women, who might otherwise be
guilty of the shedding of innocent blood, from entering into anything
of that kind, or consenting to it in their hearts, and though they may
not be willing and ready to receive the Gospel in this life, yet, by
not imbruing their hands in blood, may be they will have the privilege
and be willing to receive the Gospel in the spirit world. You know
not, therefore, the good that you may do in this respect.

Vol. 26,  p.303
I pray God to bless every interest of this Stake of Zion, temporal and
spiritual, present and future, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Moses Thatcher, August 28, 1885

The Speaker's Dependence Upon the 
Inspiration of the Holy Ghost—Comprehensive 
and Exalted Nature of the Plan of Salvation—Satan's 
Coercive Scheme—the Sons of Perdition—the Testimony 
of Jesus—Physical and Moral Courage—True Religion is 
Practical—One Straight and Narrow Way to Eternal Life—True 
Religion Compared to Genuine Coin—True Faith is Inseparably 
Connected With Works—Baptism of Water and of Fire—Apostles, 
Prophets, Etc., Placed in the Church—God's Impartiality to His 
Children—Testimony Obtained By Obedience—All Will Be Saved 
Except the Sons of Perdition—God Has Prepared a Place 
for All—Paradise—Salvation Beyond the Grave—the 
Saints Will Have to Endure Persecution—
Patriarchal Marriage—Conclusion

Discourse By Apostle Moses Thatcher, Delivered in 
the Tabernacle, Logan, Sunday, Aug. 28, 1885.

Reported By F. E. Barker

Vol. 26,  p.303
IN seeking to address the audience this afternoon I feel a degree of
weakness and of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, known to the Elders
of Israel; and that I may secure the guidance and inspiration of the
Holy Ghost to direct me what to say, I desire an interest in your
faith and prayers. Nothing to my mind can be greater sacrilege in the
sight [p.304] of the Almighty than to undertake to speak in His name
without the inspiration of His spirit. We may talk upon the branches
of human learning and knowledge, speaking after the manner of men with
but little of this feeling of timidity, but not when we undertake to
speak of the principles of life and salvation, of the plan of human
redemption as it has always existed—as it existed before the
foundations of the world were laid, as it will continue to exist until
every child of God except the sons of perdition shall be brought back
and exalted in a degree of glory far beyond the comprehension of the
finite mind. It has sometimes been said that Mormonism, so called, is
narrow, prescriptive and selfish; yet those who comprehend it, even in
part, have never made such an assertion.

Vol. 26,  p.304
God so loved the human family that He gave His only Begotten Son to
die for the sins of the world, and in all the dealings of God with the
human family, the careful student will find that the deepest, the
strongest, the chord that gives forth the sweetest music, is that
which vibrates under the touch of this infinite, almost
incomprehensible, love of the Almighty. The chief corner stone, the
foundation of our faith is built upon the doctrine of vicarious
salvation, founded in the deepest philosophy of love. The doing by
others the things that we are not able to do for ourselves, is a
divine principle the practice of Which saps the very foundations of
human selfishness, and it exalts, glorifies, and so far as understood
and practiced, brings those who obey it into a nearness with God. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is in no sense narrow. It is broader than
eternity, deeper than earth, higher than the heavens. Note the
affection of earthly parents. Their child may stumble and fall, his
feet may traverse bye and forbidden paths, he may do ten thousand
wrong things, but in the midst of all the love of father and mother
reaches out and yearns for the reclamation and redemption of the
wayward one. This love, implanted in the human heart, is of divine
origin. It is the mainspring that prompts saving efforts. The plan of
salvation being permeated with it, strikes unerringly at human
selfishness, and bidding us do unto others as we would have others do
unto us, cannot possibly be narrow.

Vol. 26,  p.304
Whatever may have been the efforts of Satan and the hosts that follow,
whatever they may do in the future to destroy, a merciful and loving
heavenly Father's plan is broad enough to save and will save, in some
degree of glory, every human being that has or ever will breathe the
breath of mortal life except the sons of perdition who, sinning
against light, put Jesus to an open shame by denying the efficacy of
His stoning blood after knowing of its power. Thank God these will be
few in number. Whatever may be the views of uninspired sectarians as
to the utter condemnation of the heathen, and of the un-sprinkled
infant who dies before the dawning of reason upon its intellect, none
but those mentioned will be consigned to eternal condemnation and to
the misery and torments of what is called hell. Men will be judged by
the deeds done in the body. If, therefore, a man, in full possession
of intellectual faculties sins against light as the son of the
morning, Satan, sinned against light, no power on earth or in heaven
can save him. For he has deliberately, while freely exercising his own
agency, elected to be [p.305] damned. To such the sealing powers, the
keys of which were restored to the Prophet Joseph by Elijah, are of no
more avail than were they when Satan, followed by a third part of the
hosts of heaven, sought to enforce against the decree of God and His
Son Jesus, his coercive scheme of human redemption, which scheme in
its very nature was calculated utterly to destroy the agency of man,
thus denying him the means of growth and final intelligent exaltation.
Satan knew of the existence of God and of His Christ, His first born,
and he knew of their power, honor, glory and dominion. But being
envious and full of ambitious pride was anxious to supplant all for
his own advancement. He fell, and was cast down as those will be who
follow him and do the works of their master, sinning against knowledge
and the light of heaven.

Vol. 26,  p.305
The coercive, agency, destroying plan of Satan, having been rejected
by the councils of heaven, a better, more noble plan, one founded in
unselfish love that distills the mercies of God in the human heart, as
the dews of heaven moisten and gladden the parched earth, was adopted.
This plan, while holding the keys of the Godhead in the authority of
His priesthood, is yet simple and easily understood—so plain is it
that a wayfaring man need not err. there is a spirit in man and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding; the sinful who
listen and obey are led to repentance, and, through the doors of
baptism of the water and spirit are brought out of wickedness to the
enlightenment of pure knowledge, until in obedience to heavenly law
they secure the keys of power authorizing them to pass by the angels,
inherit glory, become heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ; and,
having abiding in them eternal lives shall beget, throughout the
endless ages of eternity, the souls of the children of men to the
honor and glory of God, and create and have dominion over worlds.

Vol. 26,  p.305
Such is the high destiny of obedient man. But Satan was an accuser of
his brethren from the beginning, hence the rejoicing of angels when he
and his kind were cast down to earth bodiless, estateless and
powerless, except for evil. Wandering spirits in the realms of
darkness, seeking everywhere and under all circumstances to enter,
defile and. destroy the souls and bodies of men. Where God is he can
never abide, nor can those having received the testimony of Jesus who
deny it. Such can never, if they reject the truth, sin against the
light and put Jesus again to an open shame, abide the presence of God.
When through the stoning blood of Christ their spirits and bodies are
brought together in the resurrection of the wicked and are judged
according to the deeds done in the body, the second death will pass
upon them. The first death resulted in a temporary separation of body
and spirit, but the second will result in eternal separation. As the
rebellious in heaven lost their first, so these will lose their second
estate and become like the first.

Vol. 26,  p.305
How many people in this world to-day are capable of becoming the stats
of perdition? And those are the only ones of the human family who will
not be saved in some degree of glory. Are there two hundred thousand
mature, intelligent human beings throughout the Christian world to-day
who have knowledge enough to enable them to become the sons of
perdition? How many in the Christian world [p.306] have that testimony
of Jesus which the Apostle declared was the spirit of prophecy? Such a
testimony is stronger than can be the testimony of the existence of
any earthly thing as evidenced by the five senses. As the heavens are
higher than the earth, so is the testimony of Jesus above earthly
information for it penetrates every fibre of the human organism. A
slight degree of inspiration, without such a testimony enabled the
Waldenses about whom Brother Leishman has been speaking, to endure,
while singing songs of joy and rejoicing, the horrors of fagot, wheel
and rack. A comprehension of the testimony that rewards, in time and
eternity, enabled the Apostle Peter to meet undismayed the death of
crucifixion. It caused the disciples of Jesus to take gladly the
spoiling of their goods and bear patiently the contumely heaped upon
them. How few can comprehend it! Physical courage is common enough
even in this degenerate age. Exhibitions of brute force can be
witnessed on every band. The crawling worm as it drags its slimy term,
will turn and fight for existence, and the lowest of God's creatures
struggle for life. A sensitive, refined human being, made in the image
of God, may face physical danger in every form, meeting without fear
the wild savage, while the dark messengers of death whistle by his
heedless ears. Without a tremor, he may listen to the whir of grape
and canister, and the Shriek of shell, as they scatter desolation and
ruin all around; but a sneer of contempt from the lips of the
scornful, or envious hate expressed in fierce sarcasm, may dull the
very marrow of his bones, causing him to quake like an aspen leaf.
Thus the physically brave may quail, falter and fall under the attack
of the scornful egotist, whose sneer to many is like the poison of
asps. But he who has the testimony of Jesus springing up in his heart
like a well of living water bath that higher courage which tends
upwards, step by step, to a comprehension of the inspiration that
enabled the Savior while suffering the agonies of death to utter the
heaven-born sentiment of divine love expressed in the words, "O, God
forgive them for they know not what they do."

Vol. 26,  p.306
No man without the Holy Ghost can testify that Jesus is the Christ;
neither could any men under similar circumstances utter from the heart
such sentiments of forgiveness without the direct inspiration of the
Almighty. Christians may assimilate, preach about, and praise a love
that passeth the comprehension of the finite mind, but no mortal can
love his enemies and pray for the forgiveness of those who
despitefully use and would kill him, without the testimony of Jesus,
and the knowledge accompanying it.

Vol. 26,  p.306
God will forgive whom He will forgive, but for us it is required that
we forgive all men. Whether they ask forgiveness or not? Yes, whether
they ask it or not! This doctrine is founded in the deepest philosophy
and leads up to final victory for all who through obedience to the
commandments, have gained for the spirit ascendancy over the passions
of the body and are thus enabled to love even their enemies. Scribes,
Pharisees and hypocrites love each other. The distinguishing
characteristic of a taint is that he can do more. And his ability to
do more comes of the knowledge that the love of God abides not in the
heart that harbors hatred of a single human being. He who preaches and
practices the doctrine of hate knows not God. As we [p.307] judge of
the quality of a tree by the fruit it bears, so also may we judge of
the quality of a religion by the fruit it bears and not by the
professions of its adherents.

Vol. 26,  p.307
I say to the Latter-day Saints, if the religion you have received
fails to prevent you from bearing false witness, it is either untrue
and not the religion of Christ, or it is not grounded in your hearts.
True religion is bound to be practical religion, teaching the merchant
to give sixteen ounces to the pound, thirty-six inches to the yard,
and in every way to be honest and truthful. It will teach the laborer
to do honest work and the employer to give honest and fair wages for
the work. It will unveil hypocrisy and place a premium on the
execution of equity and justice; it will supplant malice with charity,
hatred with love, distrust with confidence. It will silence the voice
of envy and remove the foot of oppression from the neck of the poor.
Its church steeples will cast no shadows over the homeless, starving,
shivering child of God, left miserably to perish under the very
droppings of the sanctuary. True religion will do these and ten
thousand kindred deeds of charity, whenever and wherever practiced.
The fearful wrongs everywhere seen in the Christian world were not
fore-ordained, nor are they any part of heaven's economy, but are the
fruits of the acts of sinful man, the results of God's laws broken and
trodden under feet of men whose wicked injustice blotch and mar the
harmony and peace of the universe.

Vol. 26,  p.307
True religion refreshes the heart as gentle rains the parched and
thirsting soil. The law and prophets hang upon perfection,—the doing
unto others as we would that others should do to us, under the
practice of which the grinding monopolies, cruel wrongs and awful
sacrifices known throughout the Christian world would melt away as
snow before the rays of the sun. Millions may profess to follow the
meek and lowly Jesus, but if the misery and sorrow of Christians is
the fruit they produce, their religion is lifeless, untrue, or has
failed to act upon their hearts. Strait is the gate and narrow is the
way, and few there be that find it. Simple, unmistakable, yet how few,
holy few indeed, seem to understand that unchangeable declaration of
Christ.

Vol. 26,  p.307
Ministers claiming to speak in His name daily contradict and seek to
nullify its force. Some years since I remember to have read a sermon
preached by the Brooklyn divine, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in which
his mighty intellect,—he is conceded to be one of the foremost
thinkers of the age,—seemed to grasp material with which to bridge the
gulf separating the various Christian denominations, by comparing the
kingdom of heaven to the City of Philadelphia, leading into which were
many railways, over each of which many trains, with many cars
containing many people, passed daily. All starting from different
points, traversing different roads, but all going to Philadelphia—that
is, heaven. How generous, how charitable, how humane! but however
pleasing the doctrine it lacks one important ingredient, it is not
true. Beecher says there are many ways. Christ said, straight is the
gate, not gates, and narrow is the way, not ways, etc. As they
separate, and disagree, let us leave Beecher and follow Christ. One is
an authority, the other is not. Jesus, the Mediator of the Covenant,
the Captain of our salvation,[p.308] through whose atoning blood our
sins are washed away, and by whose merits and our faithfulness we
shall be brought again into the presence of God the Father, has
declared that a man cannot enter the Kingdom of God except he be born
of the water and of the Spirit; and yet think of the audacity, the
blasphemy of those claiming to act in His name and for Him, while
denying His statements and rendering His laws, in the estimation of
those whom they teach, nugatory. And yet these same people are quick
to brand as nullifiers all who seek to test in a peaceful way the
special, proscriptive laws of man. These things indicate that which is
genuine and detect that which is spurious. Let us obey the laws of
God, the laws of no Christian nation should conflict therewith.

Vol. 26,  p.308
As the value of a coin is largely determined by its purchasing power,
so the value of a religion may be partly determined by its cost and
largely by the blessings it will bring. Becoming familiar with the
coin issues of our country the careful, prudent man is able in many
ways to detect counterfeits. Note for instance the authorized issue of
gold twenties. Above the eagle, the nation's emblematic coat of arms,
and surrounded by stars and rays of light are the words, "In God we
trust;" around the face margin "United States of America" and "Twenty
Dollars." On right and left scroll connecting at top of shield we find
the words, "E pluribus Unum;" in its left talon the eagle grasps a
bundle of three arrows. On the reverse side we find the impress of the
head of the "Goddess of Liberty" surrounded by thirteen stars
representing the thirteen original States. Across the diadem on her
head, is the word "Liberty," (on certain silver coins of more modern
issue "Liberty" is printed on the shield upon which the Goddess sits).
These, with date of issue and a small letter indicating the mint that
coined the issue are the distinctive features of the coin alluded to.
Now supposing any person, high or low, ignorant or wise, should offer
you a coin in exchange. for twenty dollars value lacking any of these
distinctive features, would not your suspicions be aroused? If so,
what would you think of a person offering you a coin as genuine
bearing none of the distinctive features named except the words, "In
God we trust?" And what would you think of any one who would receiver
it, as an authorized coin? Do you think our Government would
acknowledge such as genuine? What would be the penalty for issuing and
attempting to circulate such an authorized and genuine coin? Let the
thoughtful reflect upon these questions.

Vol. 26,  p.308
Now examine the genuine plan of human redemption impressed by the die
of inspiration, issued by the Almighty and endorsed by His Son; Faith,
a principle of power, Repentance, turning away from sin; Baptism,
being buried in the water, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost conferred
under the hands of those having the authority of the Holy Priesthood
to officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel, are distinctive features
of that plan, obedience to which shows its value in signs following,
casting out devils, healing the sick, speaking in tongues, testimony
of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy, the sealing powers, keys and tokens
of endless lives, thrones, dominions, all hights, all depths, heir
with God, joint heir with Christ.

Vol. 26,  p.309
Think now of an offer as genuine of a plan having none of these
except, [p.309] "Believe in Christ and you shall be saved." Accept it,
try it, and see if it will purchase those gifts and blessings
mentioned, or any of them. Failing in this it would not be genuine
though the form, in every particular, corresponded with the
authoritative plan. Hence none need be deceived.

Vol. 26,  p.309
Brother Leishman indicated by his remarks that salvation predicated
alone on belief was nowhere taught in the Scriptures. This needs
qualification for it is written:

Vol. 26,  p.309
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."

Vol. 26,  p.309
This being in the same chapter and in connection with the same
subject, it is clearly seen that the belief spoken of contemplated
works. Now what is faith or belief? It is a principle of power by the
exercise of which worlds were made. Christ Himself declared that he
that said he believed in Him and kept not His commandments had not the
truth in him. True faith, then, merges into, and is inseparably
connected with works. The Apostle James testifies that faith without
works is dead. In the sense that true faith leads to true works, we
understand the sayings above quoted. And that, I presume, is what
Brother Leishman meant. Now I believed that I would come to this
Tabernacle to-day. In this respect I had a living faith and it
prompted to the work necessary to bring me here, hence I am in your
presence. Had my faith been dead, how long do you suppose I would have
remained absent?

Vol. 26,  p.309
If you believe in Jesus you will keep His commandments, and the
assertions of man or any number of men can never change this divine
decree. Again He said: "Verily, verily I say unto you (speaking to
Nicodemus) except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of
heaven." How forcibly can thousands realize this truth among this
people. How true, how potent, and yet how little comprehended is that
saying Christ further declared to Nicodemus that, except a man be born
of the water and of the Spirit he could not enter the kingdom of
heaven.

Vol. 26,  p.309
It would seem that not only man but other creations of God respond to
this law. The earth upon which we dwell had its birth out of the
waters. And, when the debasing, corrupting sins of man defiled the
face thereof, they were remitted—swept away by immersion. The windows
of heaven being opened and the fountains of the deep broken up, the
earth was literally baptized in water, as hereafter, abiding the law
of its creation it will be literally baptized in fire and the Holy
Ghost. Thus, though men may lightly consider the foundation upon which
rests the plan of human redemption, heaven and earth testify of it.

Vol. 26,  p.309
God dwells in eternal fire, and no human being who has not been
baptized in water and Spirit can abide that which will come, when the
earth is immersed in flames, mountains melt with fervent heat and run
down like wax. To prepare humanity for the great day of the Lord
Almighty, He placed in his Church Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists,
Teachers; that they might do the work of the ministry and bring us to
a oneness of faith in Christ Jesus. Any church with less than these
should show the command authorizing the change. If the Savior has made
such change, or any change, it is important for us to know it. But if
He has made no [p.310] change, He will surely, hold us responsible for
accepting any that men have made. Can a church not even bearing the
name of the Redeemer, and having neither Apostles nor Prophets, bear
the fruits enjoyed by the disciples of our Lord in the days of and
subsequent to His ministry? Do any of them ever claim to have such
fruits? Who among them have the endowments of the Comforter, whose
mission it was and is to bring the teachings of Jesus to the memory,
show things to come and lead into all truth? God neither changes nor
is he a respecter of persons; the causes, therefore, which lie
ordained to produce certain results in one age will produce them in
another. What would we think of an earthly father who, having bestowed
every care in the education, advancement and exaltation of his first
born; giving instruction, encouragement, sympathy and love, but to
children born later only the history of his doings with their older
brother? Quick to hear and answer the prayers of the first, deaf to
the supplications of others. A living testimony to one, doubt and
despair to the rest. The fruits of knowledge to one, dead forms to the
others. Could such a father be considered impartial, generous or just?
No. And yet men would have us believe that God deals with His children
in just this way. I bear my testimony that it is not true. The Apostle
James declared that "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him." Men tell us that He has ceased to communicate with His
children. Thus Joseph, the unlettered boy, was confused, perplexed and
made most miserable. The Methodist, with good intentions no doubt,
said to him, "Lo, here is Christ." The Presbyterian, with equal
sincerity, bade him follow them, while the Baptist called on him to
seek Jesus, in their way. In the midst of all this confusion and
conflict, obeying the injunction of James, he sought wisdom direct
from God, and got it; receiving in time authority to organize the
Church of Jesus Christ, perfect in all its parts, as it existed
anciently. By the knowledge of the things of God revealed to him, and
by the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood received from John the
Baptist, and of the Melchisedec Priesthood received from Peter, James
and John, and not by the learning of man, he did this great work which
is genuine—the Gospel of Christ with all its gifts and blessings. And,
as Jesus testified, so we testify, if any will do the works of the
Father he shall know whether the doctrine be of man or of God.

Vol. 26,  p.310
In the things of this world men are on the testimony of their
fellow-men, adjudged innocent or guilty; and if the inducements of
wealth are offered as a reward for testing the statements of men few
refuse, but when eternal life through a knowledge of the plan of human
redemption is promised on simple conditions, how few are willing to
test it. Thus are the words of the Savior verified, "many are called
but few are chosen."

Vol. 26,  p.310
When less than fifteen years of age an humble, unlearned (in the
knowledge of the world) Elder promised me in the name of the Lord that
if I would obey the first principles of the Gospel as taught and
administered in the days of Jesus, I should know whether the doctrine
was of God. I obeyed and proved his words true. I received a testimony
and the spirit of prophecy. Not from Joseph Smith or [p.311] Brigham
Young or John Taylor, but from God. Unhappy is the condition of the
Saint who has not received it, for in the midst of scorn, hatred,
ostracism and persecutions of the world, it is the lamp that shines
along the narrow way that leads to the presence of the Creator. It is
the well of living water springing up unto eternal life, the
inspiration that testifies of a love stronger than death; willing to
endure all things while pleading with humanity to receive the message
of a merciful, long-suffering and loving Father. For this reason the
Elders of Israel gladly take the spoiling of their goods, and, as it
were, their lives in their hands and go to the ends of the earth
delivering their message while patiently enduring the whips and
scorns, derision and insults of those whom to save they would perish.
With such love as this in their hearts, how many have wandered without
sympathy, friendless and alone save the companionship of the Holy
Ghost, in the streets of London, Liverpool, Paris, New York, and other
large cities and densely populated regions of the world! And how truly
have they verified the words: "If they hated the Master so also will
they hate you."

Vol. 26,  p.311
Read the fierce resolutions and burning expressions of late issuing
from religious and other societies and organizations. Do they inspire
you with feelings of bitterness in return, or with profound feelings
of sorrow? Can you mourn for those who do these things ignorantly Can
you think of Paul as he persecuted the early Saints in the belief that
he was doing God's service, and pray for these too?  Thousands who
have been deceived by those who love and make lies, honestly believe
that it would be God's service to drive the "Mormons" from the land.

Vol. 26,  p.311
Let us remember that all these, and those also who judge us
wrongfully, harshly, cruelly and with malice aforethought, having
knowledge of their injustice, were true to God in heaven when Satan
and a third of the hosts there fought against Christ and Michael. They
kept their first estate, and whatever in their blind wickedness they
may be led by the power of darkness to do here, let us pray for them,
and, as far as possible returning good for evil, treat them with
kindness, for they are the children of our God. Deceived now and
inspired by the Prince of Darkness, but they will be saved hereafter
if they sin not against the Holy Ghost in shedding innocent blood.
Ignorant, low and wicked, they may be drunken, blasphemous, bearers of
false-witness whose testimony may lead to the imprisonment of the
innocent; defilers of men and women and the workers of all manner of
iniquity; if they shed not innocent blood God will save them, though
in the fitness of things, many will be outside the walls of the
beautiful city among that class in whose society alone they are
prepared to go.

Vol. 26,  p.311
When persecuted, driven, and many killed, the Saints implored the
President of this great nation for redress: He answered: "Your cause
is just, but I can do nothing for you." Another President ordered, on
misrepresentations, an army to Utah. How will the Almighty deal with
these? They will be judged as you and I will be judged, according to
the deeds done in the body. According to the light they had, will they
be held responsible.

Vol. 26,  p.311
To an extent our history as a people is but a repetition of the
history of the early Christians.[p.312] Paulines, Waldenses and
Huguenots knew the cost of Being true to their convictions. We speak
of them now as reformers, brave, valiant, God-fearing men and women.
They were not so regarded by those who delighted in killing them.

Vol. 26,  p.312
God has prepared a place for all. Outside the gates will be sorcerers,
adulterers, the lover and maker of lies, and those that lay in the
gate snaking men offenders for a word will be there among dogs, but
the means of increased knowledge and a power will be within their
reach. Thousands of honest men are anxiously watching the issues of
our day, and while they have not moral courage to express interest in
our sympathy for the Saints in their hearts, they feel both. The Lord
will reward such according to their merit, for He is just. But those
alone who have obeyed or will hereafter obey the Gospel in its
fullness, can pass into the presence of God, and dwell forever in the
celestial kingdom.

Vol. 26,  p.312
The doctrine of salvation by faith so extensively taught and believed
is founded on a misunderstanding of the sayings of the Savior to the
thief who requested Christ to remember him when He carne into His
kingdom and was answered, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou
be with me in Paradise." (Luke, 23: 43.)

Vol. 26,  p.312
The expression of the thief brought no promise that he should be
saved. Where and what is paradise are important questions. It is not
heaven, nor is it where God dwells, for on the third day after the
crucifixion, Christ declared to Mary that He had not yet ascended to
His God and her God. Where them did He go on that day in Which He
promised to meet the thief in paradise? The Apostle Peter says that
being put to death in the flesh lie was quickened in the spirit by
which He went and preached to the spirits in prison that were
disobedient in the days of Noah. Thus it would seem that paradise is a
place where the spirits of the disobedient are imprisoned, and as
Christ preached His Gospel to them, it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the thief also heard there, the conditions upon which he could be
saved, for, says Peter 3, 6, "for this cause was the Gospel preached
also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men
in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Now in
connection with this clear and comprehensive doctrine, which plainly
shows that there is salvation beyond the grave, how easily understood
is the saying of Paul on the same subject,—"If the dead rise not at
all, then why are they baptized for the dead." Thus verifying and
testifying to the unmistakable declaration of the Master that no man,
whether alive or dead, can enter the kingdom of God without the
baptism of water and of the spirit. Baptism of the living for and in
behalf of the dead is founded in the doctrine of vicarious
salvation—the doing for us that which we cannot, under certain
conditions, do for ourselves. So also is the blood of the Lamb,
without effort of ours, the vicarious means by which our bodies and
spirits shall be reunited after death.

Vol. 26,  p.312
The opinions of men as to where and what paradise is, are of but
little value. It is at least the abode of spirits, good and bad. A
place of peace and rest for the good, of imprisonment and punishment
for the bad. Referring to the Territory we might say we are in Utah,
yet those who are here in Logan are not in Salt [p.313] Lake City, nor
are any of you in prison though you are in Utah.

Vol. 26,  p.313
If every human being who has, or ever will live is to be judged by the
law of redemption as Christians believe, and there be no repentance
beyond the grave, how then shall infants and heathens who never heard
of Christ or his law be redeemed? To say nothing about the dead what
is to become of the four hundred millions of Chinese now inhabiting
the empire of China, who do not, and in all probability will not in
this life, know anything about the Gospel I What about the two hundred
and eighty million followers of Mohammed, who, like the Chinese, have
never heard of water and spirit baptism! Then think of the billions
who have died equally or more ignorant of these vital questions, and
tell me that God intends to mix them up with infants a span long, who
died without being sprinkled by some poor, narrow-minded priest
without authority from heaven, and I will tell you that I don't
worship that kind of a God. Christians may do so, and speak of him as
bodiless and passionless; he certainly would have no passion either of
justice or affection. The God we worship is full of compassion,
justice and love. Hence the broad scope of His plan of human
redemption, reaching the living and the dead, in time and in eternity.
I can comprehend hews demon might want to consign to eternal
punishment without a hearing, without law, His creatures, but how men
can pretend to worship a God possessed of such attributes is a
mystery.

Vol. 26,  p.313
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.—He who created the heaven and
earth and is the father of all spirits, will not thus condemn. He will
judge men by the light they have had and by the deeds done in their
bodies; and His judgments will be full of mercy for those who have
ignorantly erred. As for innocent children Christ has fixed their
status: they are of the kingdom of Heaven. Wicked and foolish men may
teach to the contrary, but they cannot effect the result. Mortals
entrusted with a little brief authority, as they suppose, may exercise
unrighteous dominion over the bodies and souls of men, imprisoning
many, killing some. Many a saint may hereafter be commanded to worship
the golden image or perish in the fiery furnace, deny his faith or be
cast down into the lion's den. You have among you Latter-day Saints
some who would, if necessary, give their lives for you and the cause
which they have espoused. They are willing to die for the testimony of
Jesus. It would seem from prophecy that such an event is foreshadowed.
For when the souls of those whom the Revelator John saw under the
altar of God, and who had been slain for the testimony which they
held, cried: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" they were answered,
"until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be
killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

Vol. 26,  p.313
If violent death comes to some—and it will—can they meet it as others
have, rejoicing in the truth. Can those in whose hands the scales of
judgment balance unevenly, change the color of your hair, add one
cubic to your height, slow or quicken your pulse? Can they remove
pain, rebuke death and increase your years? No. What can you do for
them? You can't change the decrees of God who has written on the
archives of heaven that with what judgment we judge [p.314] others so
shall we be judged, and that we shall, receive the measure that we
have measured to others, but we may pray Him to defer the day when
this shall be, in hopes that men may repent and make restitution here.
How little did those who caused the enactment of the special decree
that entrappod the Prophet Daniel, think of the consequences! How
little did they think of the fasting, sleepless king whom they had
deceived and made the instrument of betrayal. How gladly did that
king, who dreaded the weight of innocent blood, hear the voice of the
Prophet testifying of the temporal salvation which God had wrought in
subduing and rendering harmless the lions. How sorrowful, how pitiable
on the other hand, the condition of Daniel's accusers when the decree,
the passage of which they had caused, was turned on them. They, their
wives and children being cast into the den, the touch of God removed
from the fierce beasts, the bones of the hapless victims of their own
works, were crushed and broken even before their bodies reached the
bottom of the den. So shall it be with all such. God hath decreed it,
man cannot change it.

Vol. 26,  p.314
Well, says one, "these doctrines are scriptural and all right, but the
Mormon church is nothing but a Polygamic Theocracy, alien to the
Government that permits its existence." Under certain conditions, and
regulated by revelation, we believe it is true, in plural marriage,
and so far as the word theocracy conveys the idea of the government of
God in the affairs of men, we are willing to be called theocratic, and
we confess that we prefer the motto, "Vox Dei vox Populi" to "Vox
Populi vox Dei," for we think that the voice of God should be the
voice of the people, but we very well know that the voice of the
people is very often far from being the voice of God.

Vol. 26,  p.314
As to patriarchal marriage its results are said to be bad and that
there are, in consequence, many breaking hearts in Utah. In reply to
these assertions I have to say, in reference to results it is not
true, for its fruits are good. the mental and physical condition of
the issue of such marriages bear this out unmistakably. "If, however,
the cry of a single "Mormon" wife in Utah or else here, whether in the
monogamic or polygamic relation, falls upon deaf ears and unresponsive
hearts, God will hold the responsible parties answerable. Should the
day ever come when the cries of the daughters of Zion pass their
husbands unheeded and reach the ears of the God of Abraham, it will be
a sorrowful day for the elders of Israel. And further let me say, I
know of no Mormon husband whose wife's body or soul is subject to him
except in love, as he, in like manner, is bound to be subject to
Christ and His laws. Nowhere in the world are women freer than in
Utah. As God hates putting away, husbands among this people can put
their wives away only for causes mentioned in the holy writ; but
wives, on the other hand may claim freedom and support on other and
more numerous grounds. Here, man regards his wife as a helpmeet,
companion and part of himself, with whose assistance alone he can pass
by the angels and inherit eternal, celestial glory. She is not to rule
over him nor be trampled upon, or abused by him, but, having been
taken out of his side her place is near his heart, to be loved,
cherished, protected. Husbands, be ye therefore kind to your wives.
When they ask for bread give not a stone, for love [p.315] give not
hate, for as God lives, if you are harsh and cruel to them so shall
you, in return, receive harsh and cruel treatment until the utmost
farthing be paid.

Vol. 26,  p.315
We were not sent here to manifest the fruits of the flesh but those of
the spirit; and if the hearts of any of the wives of the elders of
Israel are breaking, by reason of their husbands conduct, may God have
mercy on such husbands, for knowing better, they sin against light in
transgressing their covenants. The allegiance of a wife in this Church
is not due to an unfaithful, deceiving or cruel husband. And he who
regards his wife as the creature of his sinful pleasure, made and
given to gratify his fallen nature is unworthy of a wife or to be the
father of children. Were I to seek to find happiness in the marriage
relation, I should expect to find it most abundant, perfect and pure
in Utah, notwithstanding all that is said to the contrary. And this
conclusion is reached after years of observation here and abroad.
Nowhere exists so great confidence between husbands and wives as in
Utah. Nowhere is sexual impurity regarded with greater disgust, or
chastity esteemed more highly. Philosophers, preachers and moralists
may insist on the enforcement of Roman instituted monogamy, but its
practice throughout the Christian world is fraught with all manner of
deceivableness, of iniquity and sexual abominations. Better practice
what we preach and preach what we practice, leaving no room for
distrust; for, as between man and wife, where confidence dies, there
you may dig the grave of love. Destroy one and the other cannot exist.

Vol. 26,  p.315
In conclusion, let us be considerate of others, kind and courteous to
all. By your fruits shall ye be known. A number belonging to different
Christian organizations have, I understand, been and are holding
conference meetings in Logan. Every facility for their peaceful
enjoyment while here, should be extended, and those having an
inclination to hear should hear them, conforming, in a respectful
manner to the rules that govern their gatherings. Whatever truth they
have is of God, and belongs to the Gospel, which is a perfect law of
liberty.

Vol. 26,  p.315
Note carefully the predictions of the Prophets, watch the signs of the
times, remembering that the end will not come until the Gospel is
preached as a witness to every nation and people. Without
apprehensions as to the final result, let us not forget that while God
will forgive whom He will forgive of us, He has required that we shall
forgive all men. In the knowledge of the use of this key, there is
happiness here, and exaltation hereafter. May a full comprehension of
its meaning be granted to every honest heart, is my prayer.
Amen.[p.316] 

George Q. Cannon, August 26, 1883

Growth of the Latter-Day Saints—Necessity 
of the Spirit of Revelation—Conditional Promises—the 
Lord Designed Israel to Be a Peculiar and Holy People,—and 
He Has the Same Design Concerning Us—We Will Have to Pass 
Through the Same Ordeals As They—We Should not Intermarry 
With Those not of Our Faith—We Should Build Up Nothing 
that is Opposed to Zion—the Favor of God is Better Than 
Earthly Riches—Exhortations to Faithfulness

Discourse By President George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
Meeting House, Heber City, Sunday Morning, August 26th, 1883.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.316
WE are becoming a great people—that is, compared with what we have
been—not very great compared with the world; but, nevertheless, we are
increasing very rapidly; the rising generation is very numerous; and
it requires exceeding diligence and watchfulness on the part of those
who have the people in charge as shepherds to see that the means of
instruction and counsel are in proportion to the growth of the people.
If this were not the case we should soon have a generation of young
men and young women ignorant of the principles of life and salvation,
and of the policy and polity of the work of God that He has
established on the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.316
It is very necessary that as a people we should have with us the
spirit of revelation from God, and not only should we have it
ourselves, but it is also necessary that we should be taught by those
whom God has called to preside over His Church and to lead in the
affairs thereof.

Vol. 26,  p.316
Our position is in many respects critical. We are surrounded by
enemies who are constantly on the alert, and who are doing all in
their power to thwart the work of God, and to destroy its influence on
the earth. This being the case it is exceedingly necessary that every
means which God has placed within our reach for our improvement and
for the advancement of His work should be used by us.

Vol. 26,  p.316
The prophecies concerning Zion which are on record are full of
promises concerning the future growth of this people, concerning the
glory that shall rest upon Zion. But these predictions and promises
are all conditional. They will be fulfilled if we place ourselves in a
position to merit their fulfillment, or to bring them about. If Zion
fails to come up to the requirements which God has made of us, then
the fulfillment of these glorious promises will undoubtedly be
deferred. It is therefore of importance that the Latter-day Saints
should [p.317] come up to the standard that God has given unto us—that
is, fulfill the requirements which He has made of us.

Vol. 26,  p.317
Now, there are many points upon which we need correction. We are
guilty of many things that are not in accordance with the mind and
will of God. There is a certain policy—if I may use that phrase; I use
it to convey the idea to your minds—connected with the building up of
Zion, a policy which God has sought to enforce upon us from the
beginning until the present time. It is to a great extent the same
policy that He urged upon and endeavored to enforce in the midst of
Israel, when He led Israel out of Egypt. When He inspired Moses to
take the steps that He did towards the emancipation of the children of
Israel from the thraldom of the Egyptians, He had a definite purpose
in view, and that was to make them a nation of His own, a people who
should acknowledge Him as their God, and He wished to make a distinct
race of them. For forty years He led them through the wilderness
teaching them, counseling them, pleading with them, training them, in
order to relieve them as far as possible from the old traditions with
which they were burdened. There was no other object in view than
this—that is, I may say this was the principle object. He wished to
separate them entirely from all the nations of the earth by whom they
had been surrounded, and to make them a peculiar people, a people who
would look upon Him as their law-giver, and who should look to Him for
all the instructions and counsels and directions that they needed; but
because of their rebellious, and their unwillingness to be thus
submissive, He caused every man over 20 years of age who left Egypt,
to die in the wilderness except two. You remember, doubtless, the
circumstances which brought about the preservation of the lives of
these two. The rest over 20 years of age all perished in the
wilderness, they not having faith sufficient to receive the promises
and to gain the end that they started out for when they left Egypt. A
new generation grew up during the 40 years of travel in the
wilderness—a generation that had to a great extent forgotten the
traditions of Egypt, that had forgotten the idolatry of Egypt and the
evil practices of Egypt, and then when this was brought about, God led
them unto the promised land, and He made of them a nation, a peculiar
people. They became His people. He placed His name upon them, although
they failed as a generation to come up to the fullness of power that
He designed they should have. In other words, they failed to come up
to the possession and exercise of the Melchisedec Priesthood.

Vol. 26,  p.317
Now, God in like manner has designed in these days in laying the
foundation of Zion to establish a new order of things on the earth; to
gather us out from the nations of the earth; to make us a peculiar
people; to make us a holy and a pure people upon whom He could place
His name and through whom He can accomplish His great designs and
purposes on the earth; to make us a distinct people from every other
people that lives upon the face of the earth, and through us to
establish and perpetuate a new order of things on the earth which
shall be preparatory to the ushering in of the full reign of
righteousness through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is for this that the
heavens have been opened. It is for this that God the Father and Jesus
the Son have [p.318] descended. It is for this that angels have come
and ministered unto men. It is for this that the Gospel has been
restored; that the Priesthood has been given to men; that the
authority to administer the ordinances of life and salvation has been
restored from the heavens. It is for this that the spirit of gathering
has been poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth who have
received the Gospel, which has impelled them to do as we have done, to
gather together as we are gathered together at this time in these
valleys, and it is for this that all that you witness connected with
this work, the power that is manifested, the deliverances that have
been wrought out—it is for this that these have all been accomplished.
God has chosen this people and has given unto them a mission. But I
ask myself, who of us comprehend it? Who of us rise to the full
conception of its importance, and who understand the mind and will of
God in these mighty works of which we are the witnesses and connected
with which we are actors? We have been pleaded with all the day long
by the voice of Prophets, by the voice of inspiration, I may say by
the voice of God through His servants. We have been told with the
greatest plainness, the mind and will of God concerning us and the
objects that He has had in view in gathering us out and placing us in
the position which we occupy. But, like the Israelites of old, the
flesh pots of Egypt have been sweet to us; the leeks and the onions of
Babylon we have hunkered after. We have lusted after these things. We
have lusted after that which God has commanded us to forsake, and we
have not become emancipated from the love of Babylon. It has been in
our hearts. It has influenced us in our actions. It has governed us in
our policy, and it has been the great labor of the leaders of this
Church to endeavor to uproot this accursed lust that has been in the
hearts of those who are called Latter-day Saints for that which they
have been commanded to forsake. God has commanded us to forsake
Babylon. He has called us out from Babylon; but though we have come
out from Babylon we have brought to a great extent Babylon with us,
the love of Babylon, the love of that which God abhors, and which He
commands us to forsake. We have brought it with us, and to a great
extent we cherish it. And this is the great obstacle in the way of
building up Zion. At the same time I do not wish to speak
discouragingly to my brethren and sisters upon this point. I know that
there are many, very many in this Church, who have sought with all the
faith and diligence of which they are capable to love the Lord, to
love Zion, and to rio everything they could to build it up in the
earth. I know this. We have constant testimonies of this in looking at
the Saints, in mingling with them, and in witnessing the spirit they
possess. But, my brethren and sisters, I sometimes feel that it is
with us as it was with our fathers whom God led out of Egypt, for we
are the descendants of that people. Like our fathers we Shall have to
undergo the same ordeals—that is, ordeals that shall have for their
object the accomplishment of the same ends, and I do not believe that
He will allow a generation of people to grow up and witness the
accomplishment of all that He has spoken concerning Zion who are not
perfectly willing to do that which He requires at their hands. I
believe the old generation will pass away. I believe that like our
fathers the [p.319] bodies of the Saints of God will be laid by the
wayside in the various places where they live if they do not exercise
faith to receive the blessings that God designs to bestow upon us as a
people, and that He will raise up a generation as He did in the case
of our fathers, which shall have the necessary faith, which shall be
divorced from the old order of things sufficiently to go forward and
accomplish the mind and will of God concerning Zion.

Vol. 26,  p.319
To-day look over the entire field that we occupy. Examine the
condition of the Latter-day Saints from the far north to the extreme
south; examine the evils which surround us and with which we have to
contend, and that threaten the perpetuity of the institutions of Zion.
Examine our condition in its true light, in all its aspects and in all
its particulars, and what will be the conclusion that will be reached
respecting our circumstances? It will be this: that there is no evil
to-day that menaces Zion that we feel it difficult to cope with, that
threatens the supremacy of our rule in this land to which God has led
us, that is not traceable to ourselves and that does lint have its
origin in the reluctance of the people to comprehend and to obey the
counsel which God has given through His servants ever since we came to
these valleys. I leave it to every one of you to decide for yourselves
under the spirit of God if this statement which I make is not
abundantly true and sustained by facts. It is a sorrowful statement to
make, but it is nevertheless a true statement. We have no dangerous or
threatening evils to contend with that have not had their origin in
the disobedience of some of the Latter-day Saints to the counsel which
God has given them.

Vol. 26,  p.319
God intended when He led Israel out of Egypt, that there should be no
intermarriages between Israel and the nations which surrounded them,
and a great many of the evils that came upon Israel were due to this.
I may say, however, for the men of this Church, that there have been
but comparatively few instances (probably because there have not been
so many temptations for them) of their taking wives who were not of
the Saints. They have not married strange women as did many of the
Israelites, as did Solomon the wise king, which God gave to Israel. He
married strange wives, and through these marriages he was led away
into idolatry in his old age, and the anger of God was brought upon
him and his house because of this. Many of the evils that felt upon
Israel were due to intermarriage on their part with women who were not
of their faith, and who were from nations who did not have the same
worship that Israel had. Marriages of this nature are contrary to the
command of God. We are commanded not to marry with those who are not
of our faith, and no woman ever did it, no girl ever did it that has
not sooner or later had sorrow because of this. God is not pleased
with such marriages, and it is not in the nature of things to expect
blessings to follow such intermarriages.

Vol. 26,  p.319
I have not time to dwell upon the many points wherein we have failed.
To build up Zion should be the thought of every heart—to labor to
establish the cause of God in the earth, to be a compact people. But
we have violated this counsel, until to-day, in some places, it is
questionable who shall rule—the Latter-day Saints or those opposed to
them. Now, you all know that the policy of this organization which God
ha [p.320] given us is not one that is hostile to strangers. I would
not be understood in making the remarks that I do on this occasion as
having any disposition to excite hostility in the minds of my brethren
and sisters against those who are not of us, We never have had that
feeling. No man who has any of the spirit of God within him, and
comprehends the nature of God's work, will have that spirit. But there
is a great difference, remember, between hostility to those who are
not of our faith, and our sustaining and upholding and taking them in
our arms and caressing them and bestowing favors upon them that should
only be bestowed upon the household of faith. For instance, if there
were two stores in this town, one occupied by a man who is not of our
faith, and another occupied by a man who is of our faith, a man whose
whole interests were identified with Zion, whose whole thought was to
build up Zion and to advance the cause thereof on the earth, would I
be an enemy of the man not of us because I did not patronize him, but
patronized and sustained the man who is of us? Certainly not; it would
be no mark of enmity on my part to him. I might have and would have a
preference for my brother, for the man who was identified with me and
who was laboring for the same end; and this is the spirit we should
have. There are a great many Latter-day Saints who have not been able
to discriminate sufficiently between these two spirits. They have
imagined that because we are not hostile we must therefore be very
loving, and they do not see the line of demarcatiom which God has
drawn and which He wished us to observe. There is a line and that line
ought to be observed by us. Joseph said in the beginning that it was
the duty of the Elders of this Church to labor constantly to build up
Zion and not to build up that which is opposed to Zion. That embodies
in these few words the policy that we should observe. It is not my
business; God has not required it of me that I should build up
anything that is opposed to Zion, but on the contrary that I should
always keep in my thoughts and be influenced by it in my actions that
which will advance the cause of Zion, and that which will not retard
it or operate against it in any manner. We have erred in this
direction in the past. There is a class of people among us who have
thought more of money than they have about Zion. They have gone where
they could get the best bargains regardless of the effect it would
have on the public weal. They only looked to their individual benefit
and aggrandizement. There are many such among us throughout our
settlements, and particularly in Salt Lake City. They have bought and
sold, they have traded, they have done that which seemed right in
their eyes, that would promote their own personal benefits regardless
of the effect it would have upon the public, and I believe that that
is a sin in the sight of God with the light and knowledge that we
have. I believe that the man who does that grieves the spirit of God,
whether he does it on a large scale or on a small scale. I believe
that such a man, unless he repents, will not live to reap the
blessings and benefits that God will bestow upon those who labor for
the building up of Zion. I believe he will perish just as our fathers
perished in the wilderness, and will not live to enjoy the blessings
God has in store for the faithful. I would rather my brethren and
sisters, stand before you clothed as these Indians are who [p.321]
wander through our settlements; I would rather be clothed in deer
skins or in goat skins; I would rather be destitute of those things
that men place so high a value upon and be sure that I had the
blessing of my God, be sure that I would secure, by continuing
faithful, exaltation in His kingdom, than to have all the wealth that
this world can furnish. I would rather have the peace of God in my
heart; I would rather have the blessing of God and His Holy Spirit
resting upon me than to have a thousand things, however grand they
might be, bestowed upon me and be destitute of the favor of our God.
That is the feeling I have. I know it is pleasant to have good things;
I know it is pleasant to have beautiful surroundings; I know it is a
sweet thing for us to be able to supply our families' wants, and when
they ask to have it in our power to give; but there is something
higher, something nobler, something better than this, and that is the
favor of our God. We should labor so as to have this, and at the same
time if we do, we may rest assured that all the rest will be added to
us. He will not leave us destitute. He will not deprive us of the
blessings of the earth. On the contrary he will impart those blessings
to us, and not only to us but to our children after us. For we live
not for ourselves alone, but we live for our posterity. We hope to be
faithful so as to gain the favor of God, that our posterity after us
will be remembered in the days of trial and in the days of tribulation
and of calamity that are to come upon the earth, a desire that every
faithful man connected with this Church must have if he understands
the promises and blessings of God. His desire must be that, so long as
the earth shall stand, so long as time shall endure, he will never be
destitute in any generation of a man who will bear the Holy
Priesthood; that be will have a representative in all the generations
to come, the generations from now until time shall cease. In order to
obtain this promise and this blessing men must be faithful unto God;
men must labor and struggle as our fathers did through whose
faithfulness we have received those promises, and through whose
faithfulness, also, we have received the Holy Ghost that we now enjoy
this day; that we, like them, shall gain the favor of God so
effectually that he will confirm upon us and our posterity after us
the blessings he confirmed upon Abraham our father, those blessings
that shall be felt throughout all the generations to come as long as
time shall endure. That is our privilege as Latter-day Saints, and we
should live for it, and God will help us to obtain it, if we are
faithful, if we do that which is right before Him.

Vol. 26,  p.321
In conclusion, my brethren and sisters, I entreat you as a servant of
God, in the name of our Lord and Master, to love Zion with all your
hearts, and not allow any other love to enter therein. Love this work.
Devote yourselves to it. Love our God. Love Him supremely and He will
never desert you. Keep His commandments, no matter what the sacrifice
may be. Keep every commandment of God, and stand before the Lord
blameless, so that you will not be condemned, and if you will do so He
will lead you and all of us back into His celestial presence and crown
us with glory, immortality and endless lives, which I pray may be our
happy lot, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.[p.322] 

John Taylor, July 20, 1884

Nature of the Gospel, and of Our Position and 
Calling—Responsibilities of the Latter-Day Saints—the 
Right of All Men to Religious Freedom—Honorable Men of the 
Earth—We Aim at a Higher Exaltation Than the Rest of the World

Remarks By President John Taylor, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Afternoon, July 20th, 1884.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.322
WE are occupying a very peculiar position in the world, and in many
respects different from the position that is occupied by any people
that at present live upon the earth. Our ideas, and views, theories
and doctrines; our principles and our mode of life generally are very
distinct from that of other people. We look at things from another
standpoint to that which the world generally do Our ideas are
predicated upon the work that God has commenced, by the ministration
of holy angels, by the opening of the heavens, by the voice of God,
and by the revelation of His will to the human family; in which all
mankind, whether they comprehend it or not, are very much interested.
The Lord has been pleased to make known unto us certain things of
which we were ignorant; and certain things of which also the world of
mankind are ignorant; and of which we know nothing, and could know
nothing, only through the revelation of God to man.

Vol. 26,  p.322
The Gospel, we are told, brings "life and immortality to light"—life
for ourselves, life for our families, for our wives and children, life
for our progenitors, and life for our posterity; and consequently it
is pregnant with greater events than anything that has yet transpired
upon the earth. It goes back, back, back into the eternities that
were, it unfolds things that now exist, and are on the eve of
fulfillment, and it develops things which are to come. Consequently,
as I said before, we are in a different position from that of other
people. We do not look at things from the same standpoint which they
do. We have other ideas and feelings and anticipations, and are in
possession of another spirit and principle of intelligence other than
that which is generally diffused in the world. Men in the world talk
about the Gospel, but they do not comprehend it. We as Latter-day
Saints talk about the Gospel, yet we understand only very little about
it, Just in proportion as [p.323] we live our religion and possess the
Holy Spirit, do we comprehend the position that we occupy and no more.

Vol. 26,  p.323
We read, in the Scriptures, of a dispensation of the fullness of
times, when God would gather together all things in heaven and all
things in the earth—that is, a certain dispensation which would
include everything that has existed in other times, and in other
dispensations, and would embrace in one dispensation what has been
scattered throughout the world in different dispensations, from the
commencement of time until the present. Hence this is a matter that
affects the earth and the heavens; it is a matter in which those who
are in the heavens are concerned, and also those that are upon the
earth. It reaches back to the commencement of time and goes forth to
the final winding-up scene of all things pertaining to this earth
whereon we dwell. Hence, as I said, we occupy a very peculiar position
before God, and also before the world. The world do not comprehend our
position, and hence they reason very strangely and very vaguely about
us, and they get some very strange notions pertaining to us. That is
not surprising. It is as much as we can do ourselves to comprehend our
position. It is as much as the Elders of this Church can do to magnify
their callings. It is as much as the Apostles or the Presidency of the
Church can do to comprehend their positions, and it needs continual
watchfulness, and prayer, and self-abnegation, and devotion to God,
and the continual guidance of His Spirit, that we may comprehend the
relationship which we sustain to each other, to our heavenly Father,
to the world in which we live, to the nation with which we are
associated, to the world of mankind generally, and the duties and
responsibilities that devolve upon us pertaining to all of these
matters, both to the living and the dead.

Vol. 26,  p.323
We have a fight to fight. We have a faith to contend for. we have
principle to learn, and to develop to others. We have our relationship
to God, and to holy angels, and to the world to maintain. We have
duties and responsibilities devolving upon us that mankind, and that
we ourselves comprehend only very little. It has been thought
generally that if men could secure in some way or other their
salvation, and get to heaven, as it is called, that they were doing a
great work. We have, however, got a great deal more than that to do.
We have first to learn ourselves the way of life; and then to teach
others that way. Hence, what mean our Seventies and our High Priests,
our Elders and our Apostles and men holding the Priesthood of God?
What mesa those various missions they take to the nations of the
earth? What mean our gathering together here, and the efforts that we
make for that purpose? What mean the building of Temples and the
administering therein? What mean some of those things that we begin to
have a slight glimpse of regarding certain duties and responsibilities
resting upon us, pertaining to the dead as well as the living? What
mean those Scriptures that speak about saviors upon Mount Zion? What
mean our dedications to God, and the ordinances that we administer in
His house? What means the development of those great principles
pertaining to eternal lives that begin to enter lute our minds
partially?

Vol. 26,  p.323
Man is a dual being. He possesses a body and a spirit. He is connected
with eternity as well as time. He existed before he came here. He
exists here. He will exist after he [p.324] leaves here. Before he
came here he had to do with intelligences; he has here, if he will
only fulfill his part; and he will have to do with them hereafter. We
are here on a mission. What does that consist of? That is the
question. Some of us have to go to the ends of the earth and preach
the Gospel to every creature under the heavens. That is something
which God requires at our hands. Some of us have to assist in
establishing the Kingdom of God upon the earth. Some of us have to aid
in purifying the Church of God. We have the same kind of material now
that they had in former ages for this very purpose. In former times
God placed in His Church Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and
Evangelists for the perfecting of the Saints. These officers were
requisite to the Church then, and they are requisite now. We all have
our follies and weakness. We all need the assistance of the power and
Spirit of God.

Vol. 26,  p.324
We talk sometimes about the world, we Latter-day Saints, and we are
very flippant in referring to their follies and foibles. We have
enough follies of our own; and I often very much question whether they
do not live as near to their religion as we do to ours. "How is that,"
says one: "we are a much more moral people than they are?" We ought to
be. We make greater professions than they do. They do not talk about
having revelation. They do not talk about having any special mission
to the nations of the earth, and we do. They do not talk about any
celestial glory, and know nothing about it. We profess to know a
little about it. They do not aim at a celestial glory, for they do not
know what it is; and we understand  a very little about it. One thing
we do know; one thing is clearly told us, and that is if we are not
governed by the celestial law and cannot abide a celestial law, we
cannot inherit a celestial kingdom. What is it to obey a celestial
law? Where does the celestial law come from to begin with? From the
heavens. Very well. What have the people here to do with it
generally—that is, outsiders? Nothing. They do not say they have had
any revelation. They have had no principle of that kind unfolded to
them. They are living under what might be termed a terrestrial law;
and many of them, I think, under the circumstances, do quite as well
as we do under our circumstances. We profess to be moving on a more
elevated plane than they are. We profess to have come out from the
world; to have separated from the ungodly. We profess to be under the
guidance of Apostles and Prophets, Pastors and Teachers, etc., and to
be living under the inspiration of the Most High. They do not profess
anything of the kind.

Vol. 26,  p.324
These are some of the things we profess to believe in; and some of the
things that the world do not believe in. We have, however, enough to
do in attending to the duties of our Priesthood and calling without
troubling ourselves with the follies and foibles of those who are not
of us. As I have already said they do not profess what we do. We
profess to be governed by higher principles and nobler motives, and by
more exalted ideas. Let us try and live up to our profession. So far
as the people of the world are concerned, I look upon them very
charitably, my self. I do not entertain any vindictive feelings toward
them. "Well, say you, "have they not got curious ideas pertaining to
religious matters?" Yes, they have; but they have as much right to
their ideas as [p.325] I have to mine. I have no right to interfere
with them. They have a right to worship whatever kind of a God they
please, or in any form that suits them. If a man has a mind to worship
a red dog it is none of my business. It is for me and for my brethren
to fulfill the duties that God has placed upon us. He has revealed
certain principles to us from the heavens for the benefit of the whole
human family, and we will do that which God has commanded us, Will
they persecute us? No matter about that. God has told us to do certain
things, and we will carry them out, persecuted or not persecuted. We
must perform our duty. At the same time we have rights and privileges
that belong to us in common with everybody that lives in the United
States. We have as many rights in these United States as any other
people have, and no man has the right to deprive us of them. They are
trying to deprive us of them all the time. That makes no difference.
the principle is still the same, and it is for us to look after our
rights. God has given us a goodly land here, and we have paid for it.
It is ores by right of purchase and possession. If we have got farms,
or city lots, or inheritances of any kind, we have paid for them
according to the laws of the United States. We have complied with all
the requisitions of the United States that are constitutional, and
mean to do that all the time. We simply contend for our rights. We
simply contend for the principles of human liberty, not only in behalf
of ourselves, but in behalf of thousands who are in these United
States. There are thousands of honorable men in these United States—in
the Senate and House of Representatives, and all through the land—who
are quite willing men should have the rights and privileges of free
men, and then there are thousands, and ten of thousands, and millions
of others who want to trample the principles of freedom under their
feet and deprive men of their liberties. In relation to the people of
the United States, I have nothing myself but kindly feelings. I feel
sorry for them. I am sorry to see people act under wrong influences,
influences that will lead them to destruction. The people of the world
are placed under influences that they do not comprehend. What is the
matter with them? I have numbers of prominent men call upon me from
the United States, and from all parts of Europe, prominent men of all
classes and grades, and when we meet together they tulle very kindly
and very pleasantly. They admire our beautiful city and improvements,
and they do not believe one-hundredth part of the stories that are
circulated about us broadcast throughout the earth. They say, "We know
better than that." There are a great many honorable men among the
peoples of the earth, and we do not want to get a spirit of enmity and
hatred against anybody because of the infamous acts of a few
unprincipled men. We are here as saviors upon Mount Zion; and the time
will come, and it is not very far distant, when, in consequence of the
evils, the corruptions, the adulteries and licentiousness that prevail
throughout the land, that God will bring the people to judgment. Then
the time will come, and it is not very far distant, when the sinners
in Zion will be afraid, when fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites.

Vol. 26,  p.325
We are here to build up the Zion of God, and not to build up
ourselves. We are here to establish righteousness, and to establish it
first within ourselves; to feel that [p.326] "as for me and my house
we will fear God." We should prepare ourselves for glory and for
eternal lives, that we may associate with the Gods in the eternal
worlds. We are the sons of God; but we occupy a different position in
many respects to the rest of the world, because we have obeyed the new
and everlasting covenant; been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and had hands laid upon us for the
reception of the Holy Ghost, and have lived up to our privileges, many
of us. Consequently we are aiming, as I said before, at a higher
exaltation and a greater glory than the world know anything about, and
that we ourselves at present comprehend, but very little. But we shall
improve from time to time and become better instructed in the laws of
life and in the principles of eternal truth. We are gathered together
for that purpose.

Vol. 26,  p.326
Well, brethren and sisters, God bless you and lead you in the paths of
life, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.[p.327] 

Moses Thatcher, October 8, 1885

The Lord is Teaching Us Valuable Lessons 
in Our Present Experience—He is Teaching Us 
to Rely Upon Him and to Exercise the Faculties He 
Has Given Us—Nature of the Government of the United 
States—the Elements of a Variety of Governments Enter Into 
It—Physical and Moral Courage—the Judge of the Third District 
Court not a Christian—a Concubine Was a Wife and It Should not 
Be a Term of Reproach—the Character of Abraham Vindicated—
Sympathy for Our Enemies—When the Saints Learn to Be Strictly 
Impartial, Judgment and Rule Will Be Given Them—not All in 
the United States Are Arrayed Against Us—Weakness of the 
American Government—Power of Secret Societies—Zion to 
Be a Place of Refuge and Safety—President Cleveland's 
Opportunity to Be Just and Great—We Must Purify 
Ourselves that Liberty May Come

Discourse By Apostle Moses Thatcher, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Logan, Cache County, (Semi-Annual Conference,) 
Thursday Afternoon; October 8th, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.327
THERE have been a great many very excellent things said at this
conference, and in attempting to add thereto, I desire the assistance
and aid which come through the faith and prayers of the Saints—that I
may be inspired by the Spirit of God to utter such things as may tend
to our edification and good. It will doubtless be somewhat difficult
to make all hear unless a goodly degree of order is maintained. Of
course I am aware that it is not an easy task for mothers to keep
their nursing babes quiet in a crowded house like this and upon a warm
day; but we hope to have as good order as possible under the
circumstances.

Vol. 26,  p.327
I have rejoiced very much in the testimonies which have been borne
during the meetings of this Conference, and they find in my heart a
responsive chord. I do not feel that we are living in unprofitable
times, and notwithstanding the trials, temptations and injustice with
which we are surrounded, I view the present as times in which the Lord
is teaching to His people very valuable lessons. It has often been
asserted, by our outside friends, that the union of this people was
maintained by reason of the influence which their leaders hold over
their minds. If this statement were true, and the influence exercised
is unrighteous, the leaders of the people should be removed. But if
the influence which they exercise over the minds of the people is for
good, it ought to be maintained. As an [p.328] Elder in Israel, I hold
that the influence which binds together this people to be the spirit
of God, and that the Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the
earth, is not dependent upon one man or many men, and that the Lord
will demonstrate to all the Christian world, that the religion which
is called Mormonism is the religion of the heart for the masses of the
people who have espoused its cause; and if, in the experiences of the
past few months, and that which is yet in the future, the Latter-day
Saints learn to rely on God, learn to receive for themselves heavenly
communications for the guidance of their feet, though it may cost the
exile of our leaders or the imprisonment of those who have worked as
their servants, they will have received that which is of much value;
and although it cost much, it will be worth more than the cost. We can
see now that a few who have relied upon others, who have sought the
counsel of their file lenders and have depended upon that counsel when
they can no longer reach those leaders, falter and fall by the
wayside. I believe that God intends that every than and every woman in
His Church and kingdom shall exercise the faculties which He has
givenS them, that in the exercise of their agency He designs to exalt
them in eternal glory. So long therefore as the people rely upon their
leaders they are not manifesting that degree of faith, they are not in
a position to think and reflect for themselves as they should. I have
known the time of the Presidency of the Church and of the Apostles
taken up in frivolous matters that ought never to have gone beyond the
family circle, at least ought not to have gone beyond the confines of
the Ward organization. But times have changed. We approach not now so
easily the Presidency of the Church. We receive not their counsels
with that facility that we have done in the past. And although we miss
their presence much—for this people love their leaders—in their
absence the channel of communication between the heavens and the earth
is open to this people as it never could have been under former
circumstances. Men and women are now learning that their prayers can
be heard, and that if they are not able to receive the counsels of
their brethren, they can in all places and under all circumstances,
receive the counsels of God, their Heavenly Father.

Vol. 26,  p.328
Men, communities of men, governments, nations, powers, and
principalities have never yet been able to build walls so strong, or
make iron doors so thick as to prevent the prayers of a righteous man
ascending unto his God, hence every man and every woman who keep the
commandments of the Lord can have a light and a lamp for their feet,
and those who have oil in their lamps will not be uncertain as to the
course they should pursue. The revelations of the Lord will inspire
them and direct them in the Ways of truth and right.

Vol. 26,  p.328
When we reflect oh the growth of governments, civilization, the rights
of men and the liberties which we so much enjoy, to what source do we
look as the one from whence they came? The great government of which
we form a part—the most liberal, the broadest and the deepest in its
foundation, the greatest government which God has ever smiled
upon—except when he has administered according to His own will in the
affairs of men—to whom is due its birth and expansion. To men who were
willing to bow in obedience to the mandates of kingly
governments?[p.329]  No! But rather to men who were inspired by God,
their heavenly Father, to reach forward to a higher and a grander
civilization and liberty. Had the Pilgrim Fathers and others who were
unwilling to bow to the mandates of European powers not fled to the
land of America, we should have had no government like this. It was
founded as a refuge In which the oppressed of every land and clime
should find a resting place. Not Republican altogether, not Democratic
wholly, not theocratic, not aristocratic, not monarchical, but a
combination of them all. For this government, in the strictest sense,
is not a republic, as I understand it. the laws of a republican
government are enacted by a central power. Were the United States such
a government, the laws which govern the citizens of all the States and
Territories would be enacted by Congress, instead of by their several
Legislatures. In the purest sense, democracy consists of a government
in which the people are governed by laws enacted with their mutual
consent and by their direct vote. We cannot consistently call the
government of the United States theocratic only in so far as the
people acknowledge the rule of God. If we pick up a coin, a $20 gold
piece, we can see impressed upon its face the words, "In God we
trash;" and in so far as this is true, and expresses the sense and
feelings of the people, this government is theocratic, but in no sense
beyond that. A Territorial government may be said to be in a large
sense monarchial. in that the governor of the Territory has conferred
upon him by act of Congress absolute veto power, and the legislators
who are chosen by the people, may labor for sixty days, unite their
profoundest thought in expressing the wishes and wants of he people,
and they may frame laws by which the people might be governed
according to their choice, but by a single stroke of the pen the
Governor of the Territory of Utah can veto every act of the
Territorial Legislature. Is not this, then, monarchial, and is it not
in a very strong sense a one-man power? It would seem to be at least
autocratic. And in the sense that the people of the Territories have
no choice in the governor or in the judges who administer the laws, or
in the marshals who enforce the process of the courts and in every
other way wherein the government takes upon itself the government of
the people, without the consent of the people, is it not an
aristocratic government—the government of the many by the few? Thus,
if my conclusions are correct, the government of the United States is
theocratic in so far as the people trust in and obey the laws of God;
it is republican in a partial sense; it is democratic in another
sense; and it is certainly, so far as the Territories are concerned,
monarchial and aristocratical. Thus we have a combination of the
elements of a variety of governments entering into this great Union.
But, as was clearly shown this morning by Brother F. D. Richards, in
the disposition of the people to have Congress enact certain
prescriptive laws, we as a people are being deprived of many of the
rights and privileges for which our forefathers contended, for which
they pledged their sacred honor, and for which many of them devoted
their lives. But, knowing the manner in which public opinion is
manufactured in this great land of curs, I have personally a degree of
charity and of sympathy, not only for Congress, but for the President,
his Cabinet, and for the supreme [p.330] judiciary of our nation. It
is no unusual thing to see men manifest physical courage. You can see
it in all nature. Tread upon a worm and it will turn and sting you if
it can. Men, for the love of the things of this world, will often face
physical danger in every form. They will dig down into the bowels of
the earth, navigate the raging seas, and penetrate, as it were, to the
North Pole—they will face the cannon's mouth when it belches forth
death and desolation in all its horrid forms; they will face death and
destruction in all its horrid forms; they will face death and
desolation in every shape; but when you call upon them to manifest
moral courage, when you call upon them to stand up and maintain the
right because it is right, when that right is unpopular, you appeal to
something that gives but weak response. I have seen men that would
thee danger in almost every conceivable form, shrink and cower before
one breath of scorn. They could not bear it, and hence you see them
make promises and apologies because of the influences that surround
them. Now, this is a popular government, and it would take a very
courageous President to do justice to the Latter-day Saints. Why?
Because the great majority of the nation are prejudiced against us.
Not that they are aware of any ham or wickedness having been done by
this people, but because of falsehoods that have been circulated
against the Latter-day Saints, Therefore, I say that were Mr.
Cleveland to administer, or cause to be administered all the laws in
Utah impartially, he would be manifesting a degree of hardihood, a
degree of moral courage that certainly has not been exhibited by any
recent President of the United States. This country has produced few
men like Charles Sumner, who stood up in the Senate of the United
States and fought slavery. He stood there singly and alone, but he
espoused a righteous cause, and by degrees he made adherents until
this nation was converted and the Supreme Court of the United States
that declared that a black man had no rights which a white man was
bound to respect, was overturned at the point of the bayonet and the
sword. Such men as Washington, Jefferson and Adams—such men as
Cromwell, Knox, Luther, Wycliffe, Huss and Jerome, stand along the
shores of time as beacons that have lighted the way to the higher
liberty we ought to enjoy in this glorious land today. When I say we,
I refer to the nation as a whole, and not to the Latter-day Saints as
a community. If we could enjoy our constitutional rights, we would be
of all people upon this earth the most happy; because, with all our
faults and failings, God smiles upon no people upon the earth as pure
as are the Latter-day Saints, and happiness consists in purity—the
living of a holy life before the Lord.

Vol. 26,  p.330
I was very forcibly struck, a few days ago, with the remarks made by
the Judge of the Third Judicial District. I don't think him to be a
Christian; if he is, he does not understand the Scriptures as I
understand them. in referring to remarks which had been made by an
individual who had been convicted by the jury, the judge remarked that
he did not wish to hear any more hypocritical cant, and in referring
to the wives of the Latter-day Saints on one occasion he mentioned
them as concubines; and some of our brethren have looked upon that as
being a reproach. Well, of course, you can convey contempt in the
manner in which a word is uttered. But I do not look [p.331] upon the
word concubine as being a contemptuous term by any means All
concubines, anciently, were considered wives, but all wives were not
concubines. A concubine, then, was a maid servant married to a free
man; and although her mistress still maintained some jurisdiction over
her actions, the fact that she was a wife gave her an honorable
position—made her a legal wife in the sight of God.

Vol. 26,  p.331
Again, the judge, in referring to what father Abraham did, said,
"Abraham not only lived with his wives, but also with his wife's
handmaids; in other words," said the judge, "the same as though you
were to live with your hired girls. Now, while that might do for
Abraham, said he, "it will not do for this enlightened age." Now I
desire to show by these remarks that the judge of the Third District
Court is not a Christian, and that if he has any hopes of eternal life
he does not understand the plan and the promises of the great Jehovah;
for Abraham was a friend of God; Abraham talked with God face to face,
and although it may be thought that he lived in the dark ages, would
to God that the Christian world would walk in such darkness to-day!
If, then, the acts of Abraham would not do for the Chief Justice of
the Territory of Utah, neither would the city in which Abrabam dwells
do for that judge; and when he passes into eternity and behold the
names of the twelve apostles written upon the twelve foundations of
the Eternal City he may admire their beauty and grandeur, but when his
attention is drawn to the twelve pearly gates, he will find engraven
thereon the names of the twelve sons of Jacob by his four wives, and
their great grandfather Abraham will be within that city. Without its
walls shall be sorcerers, adulterers, liars and whoremongers, and
those who love to make a lie. Jesus bore testimony to the virtues of
Abraham. He proclaimed himself to be a literal descendant from him,
tracing back his lineage to the loins of David, another polygamist;
and when he, Jesus, spoke of Lazarus, who picked up the crumbs that
fell from the rich man's table, and who was so poor and wretched,
whose sores the dogs licked to his ease, delight and comfort—when
Jesus spoke of this Lazarus, he spoke of him as being in the bosom of
Father Abraham. But the rich man, who perhaps had had control of him,
and who had kicked and cuffed him, and looked upon him with scorn as
he picked up the crumbs—as we pick up the crumbs of liberty grudgingly
dropped from the table which our fathers made in the day of oppression
and dread—I say, when that rich man looked upon Lazarus in his
degradation, he was then but his serf and slave; but when he looked
upon him over that wide gulf that separated them, he saw him in the
bosom of Abraham, and he pleaded that Lazarus might be sent to dip his
finger in one drop of cold water, that the thirst might be slaked in
his throat, and that his burning tongue might be relieved. The answer
was, "Lazarus had his ill things while upon the earth and then hadst
thy good things. Now, behold Lazarus has the good things and thou hast
thine "evil things:" "Well, said the rich man, if he comes not to me
send him to tell my friends and my neighbors of the condition of
affairs here." The answer was made, "They have Moses and the prophets,
and if they heed not these, neither would they listen to one though he
rose from the dead." If the Judge of the Supreme Court of [p.332] the
Territory of Utah is a Christian, how will he feel when he comes into
the presence of Father Abrabam, whom he has sought to cast reflections
upon? Will not the blush of shame be upon his cheek? And if there is
an eternal God, and if that eternal God is the creator of the heavens
and the earth and all our spirits; and is the friend of Abraham, how
can that Judge bear his presence? I would rather be the poorest
Latter-day Saint on earth and bear chains and fetters upon my limbs
until my flesh dropped front my bones than to be in the attitude of
the man who must bear, without the spirit of God, the measure of
unjust judgment which be has measured to others. For this reason, my
brethren and sisters, I say I have the most profound sympathy for all
those whom we sometimes denominate our enemies, and I am not able to
forget the fact that whatever their condition in this life may be,
they fought not on the side of Satan in the eternal worlds when Satan
rebelled against God because the Almighty was unwilling to adopt his
coercive plan of human redemption: God was determined that every man,
woman and child born into the world should be free. I say, because God
would not adopt his coercive measures he rebelled against Christ, and
one-third part of heaven followed him, and he fought against Michael
and the hosts of heaven, and was cast down to earth with the hosts
that followed him. But you can find no living man or woman that ever
breathed the breath of life that fought on his side; for the
condemnation that came upon them was a loss of opportunity to take a
body. Therefore, those people who seem to be our enemies are such only
by reason of their blindness, and because their eyes are closed
against the things of God, and if the judgments of God are to come
upon them according to the predictions of the prophets, we can well
afford to have charity and sympathy for them, and we do as a people. I
tell you that I can pray for my one-miles; I can pray that God may
lead them away from darkness, that He may touch the eyes of their
understanding that they may see, and in their hearts repent.

Vol. 26,  p.332
It is awful to think for a moment of the terrible condemnation that
will surely come upon men who endorse the shedding of innocent blood;
but we must, at last come to love our enemies and pray for them who
despitefully use us. And when we are prepared to do this from the
heart, we are prepared to say to this world, "I am not afraid of
anything you can do." The power of the Spirit lifts the body out of
the reach of harm, the spirit of Christ has gained the victory, and we
can say when under the influence of that spirit, "O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" I can pray for the
President of the United States, with a desire in my heart that God
will direct him aright, that he may have moral courage sufficient to
do that which is just; because, unless the rulers of this nation are
actuated by the spirit of justice, they cannot be sustained by the
Almighty. And although we may find prejudice on the right hand and on
the left, we shall never have given unto us the victory until we learn
how to govern upon principle. When men are tested, when they are
brought before the courts, cases should be tried, not men. Whenever
the Latter-day Saints shall have reached that high degree of
excellence in the administration of the laws of [p.333] God as to
judge impartially between the Saint and sinner, when they shall be
willing to give Satan his rights as quickly as a Saint or a brother,
then will judgment and rule be placed within their reach, and I pray
that it will never come before that time.

Vol. 26,  p.333
Whether a man is a heathen or a Christian, when the kingdom of God is
established, he will have his rights and liberties extended to him.
There will be no bias, no prejudice, every thing will be done
according to the laws of justice and equity. Have we always, as a
people, I may ask, manifested a disposition to act upon the basis of
principle? You can answer the question for yourselves. Have you been
willing, as Latter-day Saints to extend to the Gentile as readily his
rights, under your municipal, your county or your Territorial
government as you would extend them to a Latter-day Saint? If you
have, then have we administered upon the basis of principle; but if we
have not, then have we not come to an understanding of that which the
Lord has revealed; for when His kingdom bears sway there will be
thousands and millions of people who do not subscribe to our religious
views, who will be gladly governed by the laws of God's kingdom; and
the Chinese in the empire of China, the Hindoo in Hindoostan, or the
Christian in Europe, may read the laws that govern Zion, and, with
mathematical accuracy, figure out the liberties they can enjoy under
the laws of the kingdom of God. There will be no prejudice or packed
juries in the kingdom of God that will bind the innocent and set the
guilty free. God will govern His kingdom as He governs throughout His
universe, by the laws of justice and equity.

Vol. 26,  p.333
What I say to the Latter-day Saints is, let us be of good cheer. I
never have seen a better day than this. the kingdom will come off
victorious, and those who have hated us will see the day when much woo
and affliction will come upon them.

Vol. 26,  p.333
We hear talk about 55,000,000 of people being opposed to the
Latter-day Saints. I offer to you this afternoon my testimony that
this is not true. There are not 55,000,000 in this glorious government
of ours who are opposed to the Latter-day Saints; it is a great
mistake; there are thousands in the United States to-day, who are
anxiously waking for the solution of the "Mormon" problem, who are
praying for the deliverance of this people. It is a great mistake to
suppose that every man, woman and child in this nation are opposed to
this people; there are scores that, while they have not courage to
come out and speak a word for them, have a warm throbbing in their
hearts for the victory of this people and their cause, and they are
not blind to their surroundings either. As an American citizen I
deplore it, but I tell the Latter-Saints this afternoon that this
great government is not strong, and the reason is, they have torn up
the foundations of the structure that was built by our fathers. They
have tipped up the moorings of the great ship. They have allowed mob
rule to get power in this land, and like a dark cloud, secret
societies are gathering around. And while it may be smiled at, yet I
tell you this nation stands as it were upon a mine. When the Knights
of Labor and the different brotherhoods can say in calm language that
within thirty minutes they can stop the motion of every car wheel
between Omaha, Nebraska, and Butte, Montana, I say to you there is
power there.[p.334] More than five years ago, certain secret societies
instituted what were called the Pittsburg riots. the State militia was
called out to quell them, and they were not able to do it. The army of
the national government was appealed to, and a United States officer
told me that when he led his soldiers to Pittsburg he feared to give
the word of command to fire upon those insurgents, "for," said he," "I
did not know whether they would obey or turn round and fire upon their
officers." I have heard merchants of Chicago and New York declare that
they had private arms stacked away in their business houses because
they could not trust the municipal, the county, the State, or the
national means of protection; will you tell me that a nation is strong
thus situated? It is not. The iron heel of the monopolist has long
been upon the neck of labor, and the great question which is looming
up in this nation to-day is that of labor and capital. Would to God we
had statesmen with eyes clear enough to see! Would to God that they
would pull out of their eyes the "Mormon" mote and behold the beam
that threatens the nation. The occurrence at Rock Springs, and the
mutterings we hear from the Atlantic to the Pacific ought to be a
warning that the day is not far distant, unless the Democratic and
Republican parties open their eyes to the situation, when desolation
and war will be in this government. When men who live in San
Francisco, Chicago and New York, have said to me, "Mr. Thatcher, why
don't you renounce this objectionable feature of your religion, the
nation is opposed to it, the civilization of the age does not want to
permit it—why don't you renounce it and live in peace?" I have said to
them, "I thank you for your kind sentiments; I thank you for the
kindly feelings that you entertain," and as an evidence that I feel
it, I will say when this nation, having sown to the wind, reaps the
whirlwind; when brother takes up sword against brother; when father
contends against son, and son against father; when he who will not
take up his sword against his neighbor must needs flee to Zion for
safety—then I would say to my friends come to Utah; for the judgments
of God, commencing at the house of the Lord, will have passed away,
and Utah, undisturbed, will be the most delightful place in all the
Union. When war and desolation and bloodshed, and the ripping up of
society come upon the nation, I have said to such, "Come to Utah and
we will divide our morsel of food with you, we will divide our
clothing with you, and we will offer you protection." I will tell you,
my brethren and sisters, the day will come, and it is not far distant,
when he who will not take up his sword against his neighbor, will have
to flee to Zion for safety; and it is presupposed in this prediction
that Zion will have power to give them protection. We are not going to
do it outside of the government, either; we are going to do it inside
the government. There is no power in this land to turn this people
against the government of the United States. They will maintain the
Constitution of this country inviolate, and although it may have been
torn to shreds they will tie it together again, and maintain every
principle of it, holding it up to the downtrodden of every nation,
kindred, tongue and people, and they will do it, too, under the Stars
and Stripes. They will stand with their feet firmly upon the backbone
of the American continent and maintain the principles [p.335] which
cost their fathers so much, and those principles cannot be taken away
by men who violate their oath of office, and betray their trust.

Vol. 26,  p.335
I tell you that there are boys growing up in these mountains who have
the principles of human liberty grounded deep in their hearts, and
they will maintain them, not only for themselves, but for others. God
speed the day I say—if the nation pursues its downward course and
tears up these fundamental principles of government which have made
them strong—when the Constitution may be rescued and all men and women
shall be free again. I pray that Grover Cleveland may stand up as the
chief executive of the greatest nation that there is on God's
footstool to-day and say to the waves of public opinion and public
pressure that the nation must be ruled upon the principles of
righteousness and justice· If he would do that, he would make himself
a name that would be embalmed for ever upon the pages of history. But
if he will not do it—if he is not morally strong enough to do it, and
if Congress will not come forward and help him do it, we will say, "O,
God, we put our dependence in Thee," and where Thou leadest we will
follow, and we will seek to maintain our rights, until the Almighty
grants them unto us. May the spirit of the testimony of the Lord Jesus
Christ be in your hearts, for above all things it is the most
precious; and when you come before the judges take no heed of what you
shall say or the answers you shall give, but trust in God, and if you
go before the judges silent as did your Lord and master, if they
choose to nail you upon the cross or stretch you upon the wheel or the
rack, or if they thrust you into dungeons or prisons, it is nothing
more than was done to your Master before you. Let us trust in God. I
tell you nothing of importance has ever been attained in this world
without a hard struggle against the opinions and prejudices of men.

Vol. 26,  p.335
God grant that we may soon regain and forever maintain our liberty.
But may it not come as long as we have an adulterer, a fornicator, or
whoremaster who professes to be a Latter-day Saint. As long as such as
these partake of the Holy Sacrament with this people, let bondage
continue. But let us purge out these things, let us be pure and holy
before God, cherishing the principles of justice in our hearts, and
the day of liberty will surely come, which may God grant, is my
prayer. Amen.[p.336] 

Franklin D. Richards, October, 1885

Our Efforts to Inform the World of Our Doctrines—
We Must Expect Persecution—Man Has No Right to Make 
Laws Contrary to the Law of God—Plural Marriage is No Crime—
Bigamy a Crime—There Are More for Us Than Against Us—the Work 
of God not Upheld By Numbers—the Blood of the Prophets 
is Upon the American Nation—God Will Test Us

Discourse By Apostle F. D. Richards, Delivered at 
the General Conference, at Logan, held in October, 1885.

Reported By John Irvine

Vol. 26,  p.336
PROVIDENCE seems to smile upon our gathering together for a conference
at this time. Indeed, as a people, if we take into consideration all
of the blessings of our common salvation, we are to-day highly favored
of the Lord, in every general respect. I think our hearts ought to be
moved by a sense of gratitude for all of His many blessings to us,
both temporal and spiritual. Our brethren here have gone to and
improved the condition of their tabernacle, so that we are very
comfortably situated. The singers, I think, feel that they have got
into the right place; a good table is also provided for the reporters.
I take this opportunity to invite reporters of any and all newspapers
that may be present, who wish to do so, to come forward, take a seat
at this table and report the proceedings of our conference. The only
favors we ask at their hands is that they will please report us
correctly.

Vol. 26,  p.336
We have been striving half a century to inform the world of the
principles of our faith, and we have not tired at it yet; we are still
sending missionaries to the four quarters of the earth. We have sent
them without stint of numbers to the people of this great nation, the
United States; have endeavored to inform them ever since the year
1830, and especially since the endowment at Kirtland in 1836, when the
Apostles, High Priests and Elders went forth into all parts of this
nation, as far as permitted, and as fast as they had opportunity, to
inform the people of the principles of our faith. But it seems almost
impossible to get to their ears, and much less likely to reach their
hearts. It appears to have been easier for us in an early day to
receive that measure which the Lord had revealed for our benefit than
it is now when He is giving us so much that the new wine cannot be
received into the old vessels, and if it could we do not know what the
results would be. In these our times, some of the feeble and
faint-hearted, will no doubt think that because of the efforts at
persecution against us we [p.337] have reason to be very sad, to pull
long faces and be cast down because we are oppressed. Brethren, not
so. Do not think of it a minute. So long as we are dealt with in a
milder manner than our Master was, we have reason to be thankful and
ought to go on our way rejoicing. So long as we are not dealt with
more harshly than our brethren have been in former periods of time and
in this dispensation in which we live, we have reason to be thankful.

Vol. 26,  p.337
We lament the absence of our brethren of the First Presidency, and
several of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. We would be glad and
thankful if we could have them all with us, but we are pleased that so
many of us can be with you as are here. We hope that the conference
will result in the strengthening the good resolutions of every
Latter-day Saint—in invigorating the energies of all who are in
anywise afflicted, or oppressed with temptations and trials of any
kind. the Lord told the brethren in his day—those whom He appointed,
laid His hands upon and ordained to the Apostleship—that this would be
their heritage; that they would be vilified and hailed to prison, and
that men would think they were doing God service in taking their lives
from the earth. And, said He, is the servant greater than His master?
No. He told them that when they experienced these things, they were to
lift up their heads and rejoice; for great was their reward in heaven.
Therefore, we have the assurance that if we are true and faithful, we
shall suffer trials and temptations as they did in former days, and as
Joseph and Hyrum, and the brethren of the Apostles, with a host of
Elders, have done in these latter-days for the principles of the
Gospel.

Vol. 26,  p.337
These things, however, should not move us, or they should only, if
they move us at all, strengthen us to stand true to the holy faith of
the Gospel, to the principles, ordinances and institutions which the
Lord has revealed unto us. We may expect to meet opposition on every
hand, but our opposition may come in a different form from what our
brethren have formerly had to endure; we should, however, be armed
with the spirit of divine truth, so that we may comprehend our duty
under every circumstance and every condition in life. I know some of
the brethren feel that it is a very serious thing to be cast into
prison. Why, there is many a thing worse than that, It is a thousand
times better to go to prison than to deny the principles of the
Gospel, and to be forsaken of the Holy Spirit. What did Brother
Brigham say before he left us? When Congress passed the law of 1862, I
heard him make this remark—rather startling at the time—that a man who
would not be willing to pay his fine and take a term of imprisonment
for a real good, virtuous woman was not worthy of a wife at all. Well,
let us learn to look at these things in a proper manner, and be
thankful that our conditions are no worse. Let us look to God
continually; He will guide and control all things for the good of His
people.

Vol. 26,  p.337
There is a portion of the writings of the Apostle Paul to the
Ephesians, that seems so appropriate to our condition, that I propose
to read in the hearing of the congregation a part of the 6th chapter,
commencing at the 10th verse:

Vol. 26,  p.337
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"Put on the whole armor of God, that, ye may be able to stand [p.338]
against the wiles of the devil.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having
on the breastplate of righteousness.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which
is the word of God.

Vol. 26,  p.338
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all
Saints."

Vol. 26,  p.338
I have read these words because of their remarkable adaptation to our
present condition and circumstances.

Vol. 26,  p.338
I feel, in attempting to address the Saints, a very great degree of
helplessness, and of dependence upon the enlightenment and aid of the
Holy Spirit in order that I may speak to you a short time unto
edification; for without the spirit of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit of
divine truth which is sent forth to testily of God and of the truth to
the hearts of the honest in the earth, our labors will be of very
trifling account. But if we have the aid and help of that Spirit, then
we may be edified and rejoice together as the children of God—both he
that speaketh and he that heareth.

Vol. 26,  p.338
It would seem that after the very elaborate and comprehensive epistle
that has been communicated to us by our brethren of the First
Presidency, in which they seem to cover many of the circumstances
which now attend upon God's people, and in which they also give to us
such words of exhortation and instruction as, if followed by us, must
not only make us understand better our condition, but know better how
to occupy our positions with credit to ourselves and to the acceptance
of God our heavenly Father—I say it would seem, after reading that
epistle, and having it impressed upon out' minds, as I am sure it must
be upon all who listened in spirit and in truth, as if it were
scarcely necessary that anything more Should be said to put us right
in regard to our duties and give us understanding concerning them, or
strength in the performance of them. But we each of us have a
testimony of the truth of the Gospel and of the work of God to bear to
our brethren and sisters, and I feel a desire myself, in common with
my brethren, to communicate such things as may be given to me, so that
we may be encouraged in the work in which we are engaged; that we may
feel our good resolutions strengthened within us, that we may be led
to realize in whose name we trust, in whose strength we stand, and
that we may be able also to realize, as the Apostle Paul did, when he
wrote, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Vol. 26,  p.338
Our condition is a very peculiar cue in regard to this nation, and yet
it is no more strange or peculiar than has been the condition of God's
people, in other ages which are recorded [p.339] in history for our
comfort, encouragement and consolation. Therefore, I feel this morning
like speaking a little about the nature of that which is called crime,
which is charged upon us.

Vol. 26,  p.339
We are told by men in high places that it is the highest duty of good
citizens to render obedience to the laws of the land in which we live.
Now I can scarcely believe that any professor of religion—any honest
religious professor of any Christian denomination in these United
States—can honestly and solidly endorse that sentiment, much less any
one who is clothed with the ermine and is honored with a scat upon the
judicial bench; yet it is from judges that we hear this. A great
apostle of the law, the greatest, the ablest and most popular
delineator of the law from the days of Justinian of ancient Rome down
until his day, was the renowned Mr. Blackstone himself. When portions
of various nations had settled together in the island of Great
Britain—some from the northern states of Scandinavia, others from
Brittany, and the different parts of the German or Saxon nations and
had collected the laws of those countries for the purpose of having
them assimilated, so that those people who came from their various
countries should have one established usage of law for the regulation
of all their civil and criminal procedures in the adjudication of
their difficulties with each other, the learned Chancellor Blackstone
undertook this great task, and from the alembic of his intelligent and
powerful mind brought forth and enunciated his views of the law. These
views have been held to be the basis of all legal administration; the
fundamental principles of jurisprudence among all Christian nations
ever since tie published them.

Vol. 26,  p.339
This celebrated gentleman who is considered to this present day as one
of the greatest, if not the very greatest legal light of the age, laid
it down plainly and emphatically, that man had no right to make any
laws contrary to or in conflict with the law of God. I wish every
lawyer throughout the nation would read it and understand it; for when
they depart from that rule they become apostate from the faith of true
legal jurisprudence as laid down by this distinguished apostle of the
law; and furthermore, he held that the laws which should regulate or
constitute the jurisprudence of every nation were derived from and
based upon the laws revealed by God, through the Prophet Moses. This
gentleman stated and laid down as a fact that the Ten Commandments,
the ancient law of God, were held by him to be the basis, and
fundamental principle of all law, justice and administration that
should be had among the human family. He claims that as the basis of
his work. Then no man who is a true lawyer, after the order of the
celebrated Blackstone, can say in truth that it is the highest duty of
a good citizen that he should observe in all things the laws of the
land, unless it be first established that those laws are consistent
with the laws of God.

Vol. 26,  p.339
Now, then, wherein are we transgressors? I wish to call your attention
to this a few minutes, because I desire my brethren and sisters to
understand whenever they are called in question before the tribunals
of this nation—I want our boys and girls that are growing up around us
to understand what is the nature of that which is called crime, which
is alleged against their fathers, and in which their mothers are
participants. It was never alleged against [p.340] us as men of
Israel, as "Mormons," if you please, that we were violators or had
been, violators of the law of the land until July, 1862. It was never
proven and cannot now be shown that we, as a people were violators of
any Taw of the land whatever. In 1862, a law was enacted against
bigamy, or polygamy. The term bigamy had always been used before, but
now it was coupled with polygamy in order that it might be made to
reach, and be understood by everybody as intended for, the Latter-day
Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.340
Now, then, to come at the matter in question, what is the crime, if
any there is, in this doctrine of heavenly marriage as we hold it, the
doctrine of the eternal covenant of marriage, incident to which is
plurality of wives? When we married our wives at the first,—we were
New Englanders, Britons, Scandinavians, &c.,—we were married until
death should us part. That was the period for which we made contract,
whether we went into the church and had the ordinance solemnized by an
ecclesiastic, or whether it was done before a justice of the peace,
judge, or any civil magistrate. When the law of God came, before the
doctrine of the eternity and plurality of marriage was taught to us,
the Lord gave us a revelation, in a very early day, in regard to
members of other churches being re-baptized. Some of them doubted the
need of being re-baptized. They said we were baptized into the Baptist
church; we were sprinkled in the Methodist church, in the
Presbyterian, in the Congregational: why be baptized again? The Lord
in answer to this question told His people that all old covenants He
had caused to be done away; but "behold!" He said, "I give unto you a
new and everlasting covenant." Therefore, all had to go forth, who had
been baptized by men having no authority to administer, and be
baptized by one who had authority, in the name of Jesus, for the
forgiveness of sins, and for admission into the Church of Christ. By
and by, when we had walked before the Lord for a number of years, He
revealed to us the laws of marriage. Well-regulated parents do not
teach their children when they are dandling them on their laps the
nature of the covenant, or the ordinance, or the duties of marriage.
They wait until they grow up. It is proper that they should wait until
their children have attained to years of judgment, understanding, and
perhaps to the age of puberty. So the Lord, in dealing with his
children did not reveal this eternal covenant of marriage until his
people had lived a while in keeping the first laws and ordinances of
the Church, and learned to walk in the light of the Holy Spirit, and
to purify themselves from the various besetments with which they were
attended when they went into the waters of baptism, and become better
prepared for more exalted principles and truths. One of the last great
principles that the Prophet Joseph was commanded of God to teach us,
was the law regulating the eternity of marriage; that whereas, we had
taken our wives only until death should us part, we should now
understand that we were, while in the flesh, laying the foundation for
eternal dominions, crowns and exaltations; that our wives and our
children were given to us of God for the purpose of laying the
foundation of a kingdom; that we shall have, if we are faithful and
obedient, the covenant of eternal life ourselves and the power to seal
the same upon our generations, that they [p.341] may become, as
Abrahams's like the sands of the sea-shore for number.

Vol. 26,  p.341
The Latter-day Saints claim to be the children of Abraham, and if they
are the children of Abraham, they will do the works of Abraham. It was
difficult for men and women from all parts of the world, who had lived
in the monogamic order all their lives to accept this doctrine of the
eternity and plurality of marriage. It was "a new and everlasting
covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned, saith
the Lord." This was the obligation that was laid upon the Prophet
Joseph, and through him, upon the true believers of the Church, even
all who were worthy to accept of these obligations. It was herein that
the Elders and their wives extended their faith enlarged their
obedience, and accepted the terms of the new and everlasting covenant
extending not through time only, but eternity also.

Vol. 26,  p.341
Now, I ask, who is injured by a man taking a second wife, when the
wife he now has is agreeable and it is mutually understood between her
and him and the newly affianced; it being entered into with a mutual
understanding and a mutual agreement according to the law of God—I
ask, who is injured?

Vol. 26,  p.341
Wherein consists the crime of bigamy? It is this. When a man takes one
wife he covenants to adhere to her until death do them part. He
violates that covenant when he takes another woman, unknown to his
wife; he thus practices fraud upon her. This is where the crime comes
in. Fraud is perpetrated upon his own family. I want the old and the
young to understand it; want to come down to the root of the matter,
and find out and show up what the crime is, if any, that is charged
upon us. This crime of taking another wife when a man has one is
called bigamy; and there are laws and penalties against it. With the
Latter-day Saints there is no fraud practiced, the second wife being
accepted with the mutual consent of the first, and in accordance with
the revelations of God. There is in that no crime at all, unless some
law of God is violated, or somebody is injured in the matter. If this
transaction that I have just named violates the law of God, or if it
injures or infringes upon the rights of a brother or a sister, then
there may be some ground for pronouncing it a crime, but belief in,
and practice of, the eternity and plurality of the marriage covenant
do not violate the law of God, because He has commanded His people to
accept and obey it. Neither is it an infringement upon the rights of
others, neither men nor women, but gives all women an opportunity to
become honorable wives and mothers, and thus to shut out what is
politely called the social evil, with all its horrid concomitants of
seduction, foeticide, infanticide and all the train of sexual
monogamic evils which haunt and infest Christendom.

Vol. 26,  p.341
If, then, we violate no law of God nor right of our fellows, wherein,
I ask again, consists the crime of our religious faith? It is in this:
that Congress forbids it; just as Darius forbade Daniel praying to
God, and because he persisted, cast him into the den of lions; the
same as Herod caused all the male children to be slain, hoping to kill
Christ our Savior in his infancy; the same also as Nebuchadnezzar cast
the Hebrew children into the flames because they worshiped the living
God rather than his idol. Wherein consists the crime of Daniel praying
to the God of Israel? Simply because [p.342] King Darius forbade him
doing it.

Vol. 26,  p.342
What constituted the crime of the Hebrew children in worshiping the
God of Heaven? Solely because Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to worship
the golden image, which they would not do. What is the intrinsic
nature of our crime in believing and practicing the eternal covenant
of plural marriage as revealed by the Almighty, and as we are
commanded to do? Simply and solely this: Congress passed a law making
it a penal offence to do so. This is all the criminality there is
about it; and the question remains for each one to answer, Shall we
obey God or man?

Vol. 26,  p.342
What is liberty—the liberty that you and I and all men are entitled to
enjoy? It is that we do not violate the law of God, or that we do not
infringe upon the rights and liberties of our fellow creatures. That
is true liberty. Upon that hang also the law and the prophets.

Vol. 26,  p.342
In the establishment of this principle of the Gospel, the marriage
covenant, it is intended only for God's people, and not for the people
of the world. They do not want it. They would like to have that
liberty which is not liberty but license—by which they can continue
and perpetuate seduction and adultery among them—keep up their houses
of prostitution and their places of assignation. It is a part of the
business of both high and low to keep going this degradation and
destruction of the female portion of the race, and it is because the
people of God have taken a course that every righteous woman may have
an honorable husband, become an honorable wife and have a position in
the family and household, that our brethren are hailed to prison;
because they are and faithful to their families; because they have
taken wives in order that they may rear up children, have a generation
to hear their names and their priesthood, and to become a people
devoted to the living God.

Vol. 26,  p.342
I want to say in this connection, as I wish all to understand it, that
when we adopted this principle by the revelations of God, there was no
law in the land against it. Understand it, brethren and sisters. But
it is now as in ancient times, when the captives of Judea were carried
into Babylon. Their captors found excellent qualities in them, as some
say now they like our industry, our enterprise and our virtue "outside
the marriage relation," but we want you to put away this commandment
of the Lord and "become like us," "be as we are," then we will like
you, and we will be hail fellows well met.

Vol. 26,  p.342
The representatives of the country at Washington have discovered
something or other in these mountains that is displeasing to them;
that we are increasing; that we delight in our children, and do not
take measures to prevent their coming forth, as is very frequently
done in the world; that we are willing to take wives and support them
rather than to indulge in whoredom and the like; and they said, "This
won't do." Hence they went to work and passed a law against us, that
would prevent us carrying out the principles of our religion. I want
these young boys and girls, as well as the older ones, to know that
God has never given us a law that was in conflict with any law of the
land; but that Congress has enacted laws to make us criminals. There
is no crime in that which we practice, inasmuch as no man is injured,
no woman injured, and no person's rights are [p.343] invaded; on the
contrary, our people are called upon to exercise a great amount of
self-denial and self-abnegation, that all may be blessed, and that the
charity of the Gospel may be extended to all the human family, as God
has designed and ordained. Thus, we are not violators of the law of
the land, but the lawmakers of the nation make us transgressors. God
commands us to keep His law. The people through their representatives
say we shall not. That is all there is in it. They undertake to say
that we shall not observe the law of plural marriage, and in
consequence of this they are hailing us to prison. Our outgoings and
incomings are watched by marshals, so as to find something upon which
to bring us before a commissioner or before a grand jury; not for any
crime we have done, but because we have obeyed God, which Congress has
said we must not do—making a law against us—whereas we are violating
no law.

Vol. 26,  p.343
I do not love to talk against my fellow-men; I simply present these
things to you to show up the real state of the case. It is unpleasant
for me to say that the men of the Congress of 1862, and that of 1882,
were not men of the most immaculate virtue. It is understood
throughout the land that nowhere on this continent is the practice of
whoredom and of the seduction of women carried on to a greater extent
than in the city of Washington, and by those men who go there to make
laws against this people. What attitude does it place the people of
this nation in, and the Congress of the country, in relation to us and
this law we are undertaking to keep Why, as soon as the Lord has
established His Gospel and covenant, the spirits of the other world
are seeking to come and dwell among us; they desire a parentage among
the Saints of the living God, where they can be welcomed with filial
love and not repulsed by foeticide, where they can be brought up in
the fear of God, with a hope of returning pure to the Father's
presence, without being lost by blood guiltiness or other crimes while
in mortality.

Vol. 26,  p.343
How do you think the spirits contemplate the necessity of a birth in
the nations of the earth where so much harlotry and whoredom exist? I
tell you this very presumption of the country in which we live, that
we shall not have these children to dwell in our midst and bear the
name of Christ in the earth, is a presumption against the very
heavens, and against those spirits of the just who are waiting to be
made perfect through their sufferings in the flesh.

Vol. 26,  p.343
Ah! says one, you folks in the mountains, numbering only one hundred
and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand, need not talk in that kind
of way; for here is a great nation of fifty-five millions of people
who say you shall not do this thing, or, if you do, you cannot have a
home with us. Well, we will admit that about two hundred people of the
United States say to everyone of the Latter-day Saints that we must
put away this doctrine, or we cannot dwell in this land. Well, that is
a terrible majority against us: but let us look at this a little. I do
not think that we need be very badly scared. You recollect at one time
a young man was with Elisha the Prophet, when a large host compassed
the city, both with horses and chariots, and a battle was imminent. It
was turbulent times with Israel then, worse than it is with us now.
The defending army was a very small one, and the heart of the [p.344]
young man began to falter. He could not see how the few of Israel were
going to prevail against their numerous enemies. Whereupon Elisha
prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he" the
young man "may see." And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man;
and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire round about Elisha. Fear not, said the Prophet, "for they that
be with us are more than they that be with them."

Vol. 26,  p.344
Now, it is so with us exactly. All the fathers who have gone before,
the Prophet Joseph, and Hyrum, the Apostles and Patriarchs, the
Elders, High Priests, and hosts of others, say nothing of the fathers
of our generation hundreds of years back, are all around us, waiting
trod watching and anxious to see us go forward and triumph; so that we
have really more for us than against us, the fifty-five millions to
the contrary notwithstanding. Therefore, we have no occasion to let
our hands hang down from fear, or our knees to tremble; not a bit of
it. On the contrary, I tell you, my brethren and sisters, that one of
the greatest evils existing in our midst to-day is that there are too
many of us. You may think that is a hard saying; but there are
decidedly too many of us. There are people among us who are committing
all manner of sin and transgression—people who drink with the drunken
and spend their substance with harlots and in riotous living. All such
should be severed from the Church, unless they repent speedily. The
numbers should be reduced, like unto the army of Gideon. The Lord told
Gideon that he had too big an army, and it was reduced, (in the manner
related in the seventh chapter of the Book of Judges) from two and
thirty thousand to three hundred, which was all the Lord wanted. The
others were told to go home, and Gideon, by following the instructions
of the Lord, put all the hosts of the Midianites and Amalekites, who
were said to be "like grasshoppers for multitude," to flight.

Vol. 26,  p.344
That is just what is the matter with us. There are too many with us
who are not living as Latter-day Saints ought to live. Again, there
are many who walk in other men's light. If they whose duty it is will
only put away from us those who will not serve God, we shall find
ourselves strengthened in the work in which we are engaged. If we will
but do what is right, we need not fear what our enemies can do. The
Lord only wants the honest, the obedient, the faithful, and He will
"turn the world upside down, waste the inhabitants thereof," and
glorify Himself by His people.

Vol. 26,  p.344
I have referred to the instance of Gideon on purpose to remind you
that the work of the Lord is not upheld by strength of numbers, but it
is by the Spirit of God—the spirit of obedience, which is better than
sacrifice or the fat of rams, and that the wisdom of God is better
than strength or weapons of war.

Vol. 26,  p.344
Men of intelligence—politicians from European countries as well as our
own—have risked this country, and I have heard them tell President
Young that we had a very strong government in this Territory. We all
know that: but it is good to have wise men visit Utah from abroad and
see the excellence and strength of its government.

Vol. 26,  p.344
I would say to the people of the land—inasmuch as they are making this
bugaboo about polygamy—not to be deceived. The Governor has told men
upon the streets that he did not care anything about polygamy; [p.345]
(we knew very well that he did not by his conduct;) but it was the
power of the Church that must be broken. Must it? This is the work of
the Lord, and there need not anybody mistake it. The order of God's
church and kingdom is the strongest government ever known on this
earth, and if the people of this great nation entertain any fears of
the consequence or effects of such a government, why, I ask, don't you
of the nation, you of Congress, you of the Cabinet, if you please,
embrace this order of government and establish it over the nation! You
can do it. You can repent of your sins, every one of you, and be
baptized for a remission of them. You can adopt and extend this strong
government which God has established in these mountains, and if you
will do it, God will establish you and the government and this nation
never to depart from before His face; and you shall be made the means
of helping to bring everlasting righteousness—the millenium—upon this
land, and of causing the Spirit of God to rest down upon all flesh. Is
it not worth your while to engage in a thing of this kind?

Vol. 26,  p.345
But, ah! the terrible fact exists that the blood of the prophets is
upon this nation, although the nation has not shed their blood, yet a
sovereign state permitted it, and the nation have not washed their
hands from it. This accounts for the terrible hardness of heart that
is to be found in this country.

Vol. 26,  p.345
Were it not for a lying press and a corrupt people in our midst, who
incite ignorant people to send petitions against the "Mormons," to
Congress by the bushel, the nation could not be wrought up to such
frenzy, nor to make such laws as the Edmunds law against us. But they
do these things because their hearts are hard, and because the blood
of innocence rests upon them this nation have yet to rise up and rid
themselves of this blood, and place the responsibility where it
belongs, or they will have to suffer as accomplices after the fact for
these terrible things done in their midst—this people driven from city
to city, despoiled of their goods; driven into the wilderness to this
country, to find a home in which they could dwell in peace. Blessed be
God for enabling us to find it out! We have had a home of peace and
rejoicing, and we have been blessed in all things. Have we need to-day
to be terrified? Do cur hearts need to palpitate for fear? We have had
a United States army camp in our midst already, and we have no
occasion to fear now; God will work out the deliverance of His people.

Vol. 26,  p.345
The Lord never more thoroughly frustrated the design of an army than
in the instance of that which came out here, and never was there a
time when He caused the gain of the Gentiles to be scattered among His
people more effectually than He did with the goods the army brought to
this country.

Vol. 26,  p.345
Shall we fear to-day? Let us look back to Israel and see their
deliverance—as related in the Bible and Book of Mormon—see what He did
in former times. the secret of success is obedience to the
commandments of God, and to the covenants we have made with Him.

Vol. 26,  p.345
It does not become me to say what I will do when I am brought to the
judgment seat to be tried and sentenced. A man don't know what he will
do. Let us recollect the instance of Peter, who walked with [p.346]
Jesus by day and by night. In the light of these things it does not do
to boast what we will do; but I hope by the blessing of God to remain
firm and immovable when these things look me in the face. I ask God to
give me grace sufficient that I may keep His commandments, honor every
law He has given, or shall give, and stand firm to the truth under
every circumstance in life.

Vol. 26,  p.346
I pray that the blessing of God may be upon you. Be true and faithful
to God. Let the brethren attend to those things which the First
Presidency have pointed out in their epistle in regard to
transgressors, and they that fear not God neither regard His precepts
and laws. Keep the commandments of God, and let us teach our families
to do so also, that we may grow strong in His righteousness; then we
shall find it is no matter how many there are against us, we shall
know that there are more for us than against us. He will bring us all
right up to the test, and will find out what is in every man and what
every man is able to endure. Our sisters think that they had all the
hurt of this matter, that the men had it nice and fine; but I tell you
the men will get their full share, and you sisters will get even with
them, if you will only abide true and faithful.

Vol. 26,  p.346
May the Lord grant His blessing upon each as we have need; I ask it in
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

John Taylor, February 20, 1884

Remarks By President John Taylor, Before the High 
Council of Salt Lake Stake of Zion, February 20th, 1884.

(Reported By John Irvine)

Vol. 26,  p.346
The case of the officers of the Deseret Hospital versus Dr. Ellen B.
Ferguson was heard before the High Council of the Salt Lake Stake of
Zion, on the 20th of February, 1884, and a decision was rendered
therein by President Angus M. Cannon. President John Taylor on that
occasion, made lengthy remarks which were applicable to the case in
question, and upon the general principles of justice. The request has
been made that they should be published, as they would [p.347] be of
benefit for the guidance of other High Councils. For this reason, his
remarks and the proceedings in the case are now published. Mr.
President and Members of the High Council:

Vol. 26,  p.347
I listened with a good deal of interest to a trial that you had before
you, yesterday and the day before, in which there were certain
principles developed that I thought it might be necessary and
advantageous to reflect upon, and to give you some of my views
thereon.

Vol. 26,  p.347
I should have been pleased to have done this had there been time when
the High Council was before in session; but I thought as I had not
then an opportunity I would take the opportunity to-night, this
meeting having been convened for that purpose.

Vol. 26,  p.347
There are a great many principles underlying the subject that was
presented before you, and acting as you are in the capacity of a High
Council, and having many cases to adjust, I thought it might be proper
to touch upon some of the leading principles pertaining to government,
rule, authority, dominion, the conflict of opinion, the necessity of
being prepared to act wisely, prudently and intelligently, and to
discriminate between right and wrong: so that upon general principles
we might be able to comprehend things that would be calculated, in
many instances, to help us to avoid a great deal of difficulty. I have
been very much hurried for time to day, or I would have liked to have
had some of my views prepared. As it is, I have had a few items put
down very hastily, and I will get Brother George Reynolds to read what
I have stated on this subject.

Vol. 26,  p.347
I made a few remarks at the conclusion of the investigation you have
had here. I call it an investigation; for I think it was more an
investigation than a trial.

Vol. 26,  p.347
The investigation was instituted to find out the true status of
certain things whereby injury had been received by certain parties,
and, on reflecting further upon the subject, I have had some leading
items put down, which, as I have said, Brother Reynolds will read,
after which I will make some remarks.

Vol. 26,  p.347
I speak of these things before Brother Reynolds reads ray views,
otherwise the attitude that I take might seem strange to you.

Vol. 26,  p.347
In the few remarks I made before the High Council, at the conclusion
of the investigation, I stated that I was pleased to see the harmony
and unity, the kindly feelings, care and anxiety that you manifested
to all parties, both for and against, with a view to arriving at a
just conclusion in relation to this matter. I also spoke of the Board
of Directors of the Hospital, stating that they also had done as near
right as they knew how. Then I spoke of the accusers of the party in
question—Sister Ferguson—and I thought that although there were some
errors associated with the action taken, that they were quite sincere
in their intention to correct a supposed evil, and I would not except
Sister Ferguson from the same rule, and the question is, with such a
diversity of opinion, with so much commotion in existence, with so
many severe charges being made, how it is possible for all to be
right, and yet all acted upon principles that they conceived to be
right; but which were in many respects incorrect. This I may explain
more fully hereafter; and it is for this purpose that I wish to talk a
little to lay my views more fully before you.

Vol. 26,  p.348
Brother George Reynolds then read as follows;[p.348] 

Vol. 26,  p.348
I. The care, justice, equity and proper deference to all manifested by
the High Council.

Vol. 26,  p.348
II. the care and zeal manifested by the Directors, the President and
associates in the interests of the Institution—the Deseret Hospital.

Vol. 26,  p.348
III. the zeal, energy and competency of the resident surgeon, as
vouched for by the testimony of other eminent physicians.

Vol. 26,  p.348
IV. The dilligence and zeal manifested by the matron and the
assistants.

Vol. 26,  p.348
Whence then originates this difficulty; these hard feelings, sayings
and doings, this bitterness, acrimony and ostracism?

Vol. 26,  p.348
These arise partly from misunderstanding, partly from ignorance, and
partly from a misconception of law, order, precedence and
jurisdiction, with probably the best possible motives. It will be
found on a careful examination of this subject that there is a great
principle involved that affects in some respects all institutions,
associations and nations.

Vol. 26,  p.348
Among the nations of the earth there are various forms of government.
There are what are called absolute monarchies—such as Russia, Turkey,
China, Persia, Morocco and others; then there are limited monarchies,
such as England, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Portugal and others;
these are governments which are called representative, having a
monarchy, but that monarchy partially under the power of the
representative of the people. There is another species of government
which is called oligarchical, which is under the direction of
notables, who manipulate the affairs of the country for the benefit of
the people. Then there is what is called the republican form of
government, such as the United States, France, Switzerland, Mexico,
and the South American Republics and others. These are supposed to be
governed by the people and are said to be "governments of the people,
for the people and by the people," their general motto being Vox
populi, vox Dei, or the voice of the people is the voice of God. These
governments assume different phases according to the nature of the
government, varying from absolute despotism, wherein the will of one
man governs the whole, to that of the freest and fullest and most
unrestricted will of the people; and to prevent usurpations in the
republican forths of government, as well as in some of the limited
monarchies, constitutions are introduced and subscribed to, which are
an agreement or compact between the rulers and the people, or the
governors and the governed, and such governments whether monarchical
or republican are called constitutional governments. These
constitutions prescribe the powers and authority of the various
officers in the government, and how and in what manner the several
officers of the government shall be selected, elected and qualified.
In our government, whether in a National, State, or Territorial form,
all officers, of every grade, are requested to take a solemn oath to
sustain and maintain the constitution of the United States, and of the
State, or if a Territory, the organic act of the Territory as the case
may be. If these things are not a fiction all these officers and
authorities throughout the land in every department of National, State
or Territorial government, are as much bound by their obligations and
oaths as the people are bound to be subject to all constitutional
laws, and the people are not one [p.349] whit more bound to the
observance of the law than these men are bound to the observance of
the sacred and solemn covenants which they have entered into. And if
the people have given up to governors, legislatures, the judiciary and
to the officers of the law certain powers, rights and privileges, this
authority coming of or from the people, it is expected that they shall
act for and in the interests of the people; and furthermore, that
while they possess those rights ceded to them by the people, whatever
is not thus ceded and placed in the hands of their rulers is
emphatically stated to be reserved to the several States or to the
people.

Vol. 26,  p.349
There are again other branches of government among the several
nations, or States in the nations, as well as in this nation; there is
martial law and civil law; also the governments of cities acting under
the directions of the authorities or legislators of the nations or of
this nation; to whom certain rights, immunities and privileges are
given in the shape of municipal regulations or of charters. But it
must be understood here in matters pertaining to our government, that
no charters or grants of any kind can be given by any parties, in
excess of the rights which they themselves possess, and that the same
obligations which vest in regard to constitutional rights and
guarantees must be observed in all those municipal regulations by the
recipients as of the grantees of those charters.

Vol. 26,  p.349
These rights and privileges in our government are formulated upon the
idea that our government is "of the people, by the people and for the
people." There are other institutions which receive more or less the
patronage and sustenance of the general, the State, and Territorial
governments, such as educational institutions, hospitals, infirmaries,
asylums, railroads, canals, steam boat lines, etc., all of which are
more or less sanctioned by law, and are more or less of a quasi public
character. These institutions generally have usages of their own, and
operate under certain stipulations specified in charters granted to
them, each having their own regulations and by-laws, as their
directors, boards of management, or other officers may dictate. These
are all subject to the common laws of nations and the usages of the
people. Then there are other laws, there are laws that pertain to the
physical world in which we live, and those that govern the sun, the
moon, and the countless stars that shine in the dome of heaven. With
all these man has nothing to do. He never has been and in the nature
of things never can be able to change what are called the laws of
nature. If any congress, parliament, or convocation was to pass a law
changing the period of the earth's revolution, or the phases of the
moon, or the rising or setting of the sun, or if all the congresses,
parliaments, or legislative bodies in the world were to unite to pass
such a law, it would be of none effect, or utterly useless, for the
simple reason that these laws are entirely independent of man's action
and outside of his control. So with the laws governing man's physical
being or that of the brute, or those natural to the animal, vegetable
and mineral kingdoms, all these are irrevocably fixed and unchangeable
so far as man is concerned. All beings, all things, from the Great
Creator to the minutest form of life are governed by the law of their
existence. The laws by which all created things fill the measure of
their existence were placed there by a superior power to [p.350] that
of man, and he is impotent to change or annul them. All these are
called natural laws. Then there are celestial laws, adapted and suited
to celestial beings; terrestrial laws adapted to things of the earth,
and other lower laws called telestial. As we are taught in the
Doctrine and Covenants; in all the universe there is no space where
there is no kingdom, and where there is no kingdom, there is no law;
and all things that are governed by law are preserved by law, and
sanctioned by law; also even the law or laws of the state of existence
to which they belong, be it higher or lower, much or less.

Vol. 26,  p.350
There are again celestial laws as before referred to, and terrestrial
laws, and the question arises, what is the meaning of a celestial law;
and what again is the meaning of a terrestrial law; a celestial law
pertains to the law of heaven; and is a principle by which the
intelligences in the celestial world are governed. The Gospel in its
fulness places those who obey it, under its influences, while at the
same time it does not relieve them from other obligations of a
terrestrial nature. It is said in the Doctrine and Covenants, that he
that keepeth the laws of God, hath no need to break the laws of the
land. It is further explained in section 98, what is meant in relation
to this. That all laws which are constitutional must be obeyed, as
follows:

Vol. 26,  p.350
"And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is
my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I
command them.

Vol. 26,  p.350
"And that the law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that
principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, be longs to
all mankind, and is justifiable before me;

Vol. 26,  p.350
"Therefore I the Lord justify you and your brethren of the Church in
befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land. And
as pertaining to laws of man, whatsoever is more or less than these
cometh of evil."

Vol. 26,  p.350
That is taking this nation as an example, all laws that are proper and
correct, and all obligations entered into which are not violative of
the constitution should be kept inviolate. But if they are violative
of the constitution, then the compact between the rulers and the ruled
is broken and the obligation ceases to be binding. Just as a person
agreeing to purchase anything and to pay a certain amount for it, if
he receives the article bargained for, and does not pay its price, he
violates his contract; but if he does not receive the article he is
not required to pay for it. Again we ask, what is this celestial law?
the celestial law above referred to is absolute submission and
obedience to the law of God. It is exemplified in the words of Jesus,
who, when He came to introduce the Gospel said, "I came not to do my
will but the will of the Father that sent me;" and His mission was to
do the will of the Father who sent him, or to fulfill a celestial law.
And when His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, He said,
"When ye pray, say: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdome come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in
heaven." This it would seem was the celestial law, or the law of the
Gospel.

Vol. 26,  p.350
Thy kingdom come. What kingdom? The kingdom of God, or the government
of God, or the rule and dominion of God, the will of God—thy will be
done on earth as it is [p.351] in heaven. This seems to be the grand
leading feature of that celestial law. Connected with this are all the
blessings, rights, privileges, immunities, promises of exaltations,
promises of blessings in this world, and of exaltations, thrones and
powers in the eternal worlds; being heirs of God and joint heirs with
Jesus Christ. While such persons do not neglect the lesser duties
associated with the responsibilities of life, and do not violate any
correct principle or law, they still feel a responsibility resting
upon them to yield obedience to the mandates of Jehovah; and thus as
good citizens, loyal and patriotic to the country and its
institutions, fulfilling all just and equitable requirements, whether
civil or political. They have at the same time the same inalienable
right as men, to worship their Creator, and yield an obedience to His
laws, without infringing in any wise on the rights and privileges of
others, and that right is guaranteed to them also by the constitution
of the United States.

Vol. 26,  p.351
I have before spoken of certain associations, such as educational
establishments, co-operative institutions, hospitals, and other
organizations, which legislatures, private bodies of men, or
individuals may establish. These institutions must be governed by
their constitutions and by-laws as shall be agreed upon among
themselves. And any parties entering into those compacts, take upon
themselves the responsibilities of the conditions associated
therewith. But as in National or State affairs, these duties and
responsibilities are often very imperfectly understood; and hence in
consequence of the weakness and imperfections of men, many
misunderstandings and difficulties are liable to occur. the case that
you have had here before the High Council is one of these cases.

Vol. 26,  p.351
The question is, how far shall rule, dominion, authority and power be
used, and how far shall mortal suasion, individual and special rights,
and a judicious and intelligent policy obtain.

Vol. 26,  p.351
It is rather a peculiar case and requires an understanding of the
position occupied by the various parties. It will be observed that
there are two usages or laws in existence—one of these would be the
general law, regulating an institution of that kind, which would be
applicable to a university, a co-operative institution, a shoe
establishment, such as we have, or any other well regulated
institution. In our co-operative institution here in the city, there
is a President and Board of Directors; they appoint the
Superintendent. He has the charge of the buying, selling, engaging, or
dismissing men, making contracts, and generally supervising and
manipulating all the affairs of the institution. The Directors would
be empowered to remove him, if thought advisable. In the University
the Board of Regency stands in the place of the Directors, and they
appoint Dr. Park as President, and he has general control of the
studies and the internal management of its affairs. In like manner,
Mrs. Ferguson held the position of resident surgeon, and is supposed
to manipulate the affairs of her department in the hospital subject to
the hospital physicians and the directory. of course Sisters Van
Schoonhoven and Beck would be under her direction as they belong to
the medical department; while Sister McLean, being matron, would have
charge and control of the domestic arrangements. It does not appear
that any [p.352] one of them was direlect in her several duties; but
that a misunderstanding had arisen between Dr. Ferguson and these
officers of the hospital, she being charged with being austere and
dictatorial in her intercourse with them, and she on the other hand
charges them with insubordination and plotting against her. Bitter
feelings and acrimonious remarks passed between them, crimination and
recrimination, until it culminated in those three ladies drawing up
specific charges of a most serious character against the resident
surgeon. These charges, it would seem, were credited by the directory
and she was requested to resign. It, is evident that the directors did
this sincerely for the benefit of the institution; and to prevent a
person whom they considered incompetent, as an opium eater, a drunkard
and a thief, (for these were the charges made according to their
ideas) to officiate any longer in that institution.

Vol. 26,  p.352
But here arises another phase of the matter which is this; that while
they had authority to dismiss her from the institution on these
alleged charges, they had no right to malign her private character and
reputation which it does not appear that they desired to do, but to
avoid, as far as possible. Yet these things having taken place, and
these allegations having been made on paper, and she having been
dismissed from the hospital, they leaked out without her having any
opportunity to defend herself against these statements, and her
reputation has been seriously injured; hence comes in another law—the
law of the Gospel, above referred to, or under other circumstances,
the celestial law, or what is sometimes substituted for it here, the
law of equity.

Vol. 26,  p.352
President Taylor resumed: There are very many nice points of
discrimination associated with a subject of this kind. When we talk of
law it is a very comprehensive subject, and enters into all the
ramifications of human life, and, as has been remarked, through all
nations. Generally among the governments of the world—and also among
many of the institutions referred to, there is a kind of neutral
ground, a sort of neutral zone, something similar to that which
sometimes exists between one State and another in order to prevent
collision and difficulty, and it is upon this ground that a great many
troubles and difficulties frequently exist on various matters. The
people on their part occasionally claim things that they have nO right
to claim, and those who govern sometimes go beyond its bounds allotted
to them. And hence arises difficulty and trouble. Courts are appointed
generally for adjudication of these matters. and sometimes it is very
difficult for these courts to decide correctly, justly and equitably
the cases that come before them. Among the nations they are very
frequently submitted to what is termed the "arbitrament of the sword."
That, however, is a very poor thing when put into the scales of
justice. I have heard it said, for instance, when certain questions
have arisen in the United States—that is, in regard to States rights
and in regard to the rights of the people, and in regard to how far
they should be sustained in their privileges, rights, etc. I have
beard some people very flippantly say, "Oh, that has been decided by
the sword." A very singular piece of justice is a sword with which to
administer one's social, political, or national affairs. When we come
to put it in the balance of the goddess of justice—who is supposed to
[p.353] the blind and to hold the scales evenly—it will not stand the
test. Hence when people make this remark it shows that they are very
ignorant of the principles of jurisprudence, of the rights of man of
the obligations that the nation sustains to its people, or the people
to the nation.

Vol. 26,  p.353
But what I wanted particularly to arrive at are the principles
associated with this case that has come up before you, and I will try
and show you why and how these difficulties have occurred between
these parties.

Vol. 26,  p.353
Sister Ferguson—who according to the evidence we have had, and from
questions presented, and remarks made—evidently is a lady of
intelligence and very well acquainted with medical affairs, and as
such she was appointed House Surgeon of the Deseret Hospital. From
this position she was removed. And here comes in a principle that I
wish to speak upon.

Vol. 26,  p.353
In this city we have a co-operative institution. I refer to it because
it is an institution with which we are all familiar. I have already
referred, in what has been read, to the nature of its organization,
and the kind of government by which it is carried on. There are quite
a number of employees in the institution—some 150 or 200. There is a
Board of Directors, and there is a president and a superintendent. The
superintendent seems to be the man upon whom rests the greatest
responsibility, and he is responsible to the directors for all his
acts. As stated already, he makes the purchases or orders them made;
he disposes of the goods, or orders them disposed of. He makes
arrangements for all its business transactions, and he reports to the
directors, monthly, the status of the institution. In his hands is
placed the power to manipulate and regulate the affairs thereof. If
some person in that institution—he may be a good man—is incompetent,
he uses his discretion in removing that man. He requires men that are
acquainted with the business that he is associated with: and although
this may be a very good man, the superintendent may think it proper,
in the interests of the institution to have him removed. He uses his
authority and has him removed because of his incompetency. The man who
is dismissed may feel aggrieved. He may think he is competent: and it
is difficult in all such circumstances to meet the wishes and views of
all these people. Hence the necessity of a wise discretion. "But,"
says the man, "I am a good Latter-day Saint." "Very well, that may be;
but, then, because you are a good Latter-day Saint, you may not be a
good blacksmith, a good carpenter, or a good shoemaker, or you may not
be—to come to their terms—a good salesman, one who comprehends the
value of goods and the wants and interests of the business."

Vol. 26,  p.353
Now, a great many questions arise out of these things, and how far
they shall go and how far they shall not. On the other hand there may
be a man who is very competent. I could refer to some of these and yet
they ere not good men. "Well," says one, "we don't want such persons
as these in our institution. Although they are competent men and well
acquainted with the business, I am afraid their example and influence
would be pernicious, and we don't want them; and we think we would
have a right to act in such a case." So they would think anywhere. The
same thing would [p.354] apply to the institution I have mentioned.

Vol. 26,  p.354
Then another question arises associated with these matters, and it has
come up before you here. We have a hospital. There is an Executive
Board, which amounts to the same thing as the Board of Directors in
the other institution. Then there is a resident surgeon or physician,
and it becomes her duty to attend to certain rules and principles that
are laid down to use medical talent and ability for the benefit of the
patients and the hospital, and to manipulate certain things committed
to her charge. I suppose they have some rules associated with these
matters, although I cannot state them definitely. Sister Ferguson, it
would seem, got up a set of rules. They might be very good; I do not
know, but it would seem they were not adopted by the Board, and it
would also seem that the Board held the power in its own hands to
manipulate these affairs. So that, although the rules drawn up by
Sister Ferguson might have been very good and very advantageous if
adopted, it appears they were not.

Vol. 26,  p.354
Let me refer to another thing. Sister Ferguson received her medical
education in some medical college in the east. All such institutions,
it was stated yesterday, both in England and this country are governed
by certain rules and the general usage is that the resident physician
takes charge of and manipulates the general affairs of the
institution; and what are termed by some the inferior officers—I
merely make use of that term for want of a better one—are under the
direction of the resident physician or surgeon as the case may be.
This was Sister Ferguson's experience. Those acting in one department
had no right to interfere with the privileges belonging to others. If
these things had been specifically defined by the Board in this
Hospital, and each had known her proper duties, and each fulfilled
them, difficulty might have been averted; although according to the
evidence we had, all were very diligent and sincere in carrying out
their several duties. If a set of rules had been adopted and lived up
to, a great amount of difficulty arising out of this subject would
have been avoided between the parties, and which has more or less
involved you and I and others, and caused us to look into these
matters. Well, was there anything wrong in that? No. At the college in
which Sister Ferguson obtained her medical knowledge—and a diploma as
a mark of that knowledge or education—she also obtained a knowlege of
the rules and usages of that kind of an institution; consequently it
became almost part of her system. Is not that so, Doctor? That is the
way I understand it. Well, now, Sister Ferguson comes here and she
gets among a lot of us novices. At least I should call myself a
novice; for I have never been in any of these establishments; I have
never attended medical lectures, etc., consequently I should consider
myself a novice in these things. At the same time, independent of
this, there is a principle of rule and propriety that ought to exist
everywhere, that does exist among all the nations of the earth, and
that does exist among all those various institutions of which I have
spoken. But for want of a better knowledge of these things, I am not
surprised if, with her superior knowledge, Sister Ferguson did assume
a dictatorial air and said, when interfered with, "I do not know that
that is any of your business. I think that is mine."[p.355] And then,
again, those other sisters have got their feelings on the same
question, and no law being laid down in relation to those matters,
they carry out their ideas according to their theories, and they do
not think it is proper for any kind of airs to be put on by anybody
whether rightfully or assumed. They do not comprehend that, and
neither do we, generally, in our republican institutions. It is a good
deal the same in our Church affairs. We are apt to think that "Jack is
as good as his master," and a little better. That is about the feeling
that exists. And if people should sometimes see their authority
interfered with, it creates feelings of irritation. To a person
accustomed to be governed by correct rules, and to see things carried
out intelligently, it is painful to their feelings to see them carried
out otherwise; they feel as though something was wrong and wanted
putting right.

Vol. 26,  p.355
I will relate a little circumstance of that kind; for we have all
kinds of things among us Mormons. We had a war here a while ago.
Brother Wells here was appointed a Lieut. General, and then myself and
George A. Smith were appointed his counselors—(laughter), if anybody
knows what that is in a military capacity. I never was able to find
out. Well, we went out and did the best we could, and I must say that
General Wells displayed a good deal of knowledge, tact, vim, life and
fidelity, and we tried to step up, to him as near as we could—being
his counselors. (laughter.) There was a little difficulty arose about
Brother Nathaniel Jones—or Colonel Jones—a very excellent, good man,
and a thorough disciplinarian; and he had not been rubbing his back
against that medical college wall and become familiar with all its
usages, but be had been in the Nauvoo legion and an officer in the
Mormon Battalion, and there he had got a smattering of military
tactics, military ideas, military rule and authority, and when he saw
all kinds of curious doings among the boys—as they called
themselves—who were not strictly under military rule, etc., he wanted
to straighten them out. But they, like the associates of Sister
Ferguson, felt that "Jack was as good as his master." They didn't want
too much military rule; they wanted a great amount of latitude, that
they might be able to carry out their ideas and enjoy themselves and
kick up their heels and feel like a lot of wild colts. Well, General
Wells wanted me to go down, as his counselor, and see if the
difficulty could not be put right. I was not even a corporal; I don't
know what office I did hold; but he wanted me to go down and adjust
matters. So I went. I examined into things generally; talked with the
officers, and mixed up with the men, and found out how things ware
exactly. There were Captains, and Colonels, and Generals, and all
kinds of big men there, and they each had men in command; but Colonel
Jones, whenever he saw anything wrong anywhere, wanted to go to work
himself and put it right. I soon found out the feeling that was
against him. The men considered him too straight-laced, and as they
expressed it, "had too many epaulets on his shoulders," because they
saw in him a disposition to exercise authority, and the officers of
the several companies did not object to that because it relieved them
from responsibility. "Now, Brother Jones" (said I)—I called him
brother; I had not got the length of calling him colonel, I called him
plain Brother Jones—"let me tell you [p.356] how to fix these matters.
Such and such a man is a captain, is he not?" "Yes." "Another, there,
is a lieutenant?" "Yes." "And another is major?" "Yes." "And you are
in command here?" "Yes." "Well, now, instead of going to work to
regulate all these matters yourself, why do you not detail lieutenant
so and so, captain so and so, and major so and so, to look after the
men who are acting improperly?" He thought the advice was good, and
followed it, and order and harmony were restored.

Vol. 26,  p.356
Now, this would apply to Sister Ferguson. There was nothing
particularly wrong about her; there was nothing particularly wrong
with the Board; the directors did not wish to harm Sister Ferguson;
they were simply seeking to remedy what they thought was an evil.

Vol. 26,  p.356
Now we come to another principle which is this: if in an institution
like that, without any regulations pertaining to these matters, there
was any kind of—shall we call it arbitrary feeling? I do not know that
much of that feeling was displayed. There may have been a little of
it; I do not know; but when we come down to the Gospel, which we
profess to be governed by, it places us in another position. This
Hospital was started, I believe, as an institution for the benefit of
the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These
sisters I suppose, were selected because they were considered
competent, and then, on the other hand, because they were considered
good Latter-day Saints. Now, I believe that about them, and they
desired to do right, and then sister Ferguson desired to do right too.
But then there were these discrepencies exhibited. But when we come
down to the law of the Gospel, that places us altogether in another
position. And the law of the Gospel and the law of the steeds of the
world do not always altogether harmonize. Sometimes we require to
exercise a good deal of forbearance, a good deal of kindness, and a
good deal of that kind of feeling expressed by the poet in speaking of
his wife:

Vol. 26,  p.356
"Be to her faults a little blind, 
Be to her virtues very kind."

Vol. 26,  p.356
I have had a good deal of experience of this nature. I have to meet
with all kinds of men and all kinds of women. We are all surrounded
with a good many infirmities, and I feel as the old lady said, "we are
all poor, miserable, independent sinners." We all make egregious
mistakes sometimes when we think we are acting for the very best.
There is nothing new about that. The same thing exists in the nations.
The same thing exists among the leading men of this government and in
other governments.

Vol. 26,  p.356
Let me here refer you to a case that took place in New Orleans.
General Jackson when he was in command had some difficulty with the
mayor of that city. To make defensive works he called for cotton. One
man, I think objected, and said, "General, that is my cotton, and I
don't choose that you shall use it in this public way." "Well," said
the General, "if it is yours why don't you take your gun and help
defend it?" He ordered the cotton bales. to be rolled up, and it was
necessary, as he thought, under the necessities of the case, that
military authority should be obeyed; in other words, that martial law
should be exercised. He got the cotton. He drove back the British. He
accomplished his object. And after he was done he was fined, I
believe, $1,000 for interfering with the civil authorities, [p.357]
and resisting the writ of habeas corpus. He thought he had a right to
do what he did, and he assumed the responsibility. But they fined him
for it, and that flue stood against him until pretty near his death.
He had transgressed the civil laws of the land, and if he could do
that with impunity, it was considered that others could do the same,
and they did not want to set such a bad example. In this we see a
conflict between military and civil authority. The mayor thought he
was doing his duty; the general thought he was doing his; but when it
was brought before the courts the general was filled. He paid the
fine, but it was remitted some little time before his death.

Vol. 26,  p.357
Then there is a case of a similar nature right before this nation at
the present time. I refer to the case of Fitz John Porter. I am not
competent to enter into the full details of it. However, suffice it to
say, that his superior officer, General Pope, had ordered him to make
a certain movement, and, it is alleged, he disobeyed the order,
thinking that if he did obey the result would be injurious. In this he
committed a breach of military etiquette and military law. They had
the law there—not like this hospital—and he violated it. For this he
was censured.

Vol. 26,  p.357
I merely want to show that there is nothing in these kinds of
misunderstanding for they exist everywhere and have existed from time
immemorial. And it is not uncommon for parties when their dignity is
unsuited to settle the matter by pistols or swords, as the case may
be, and frequently one or the other is killed, and "honor is
satisfied." I merely introduce this to show how such things operate,
and that you make the very best rules you can, and the very best laws,
and there is a danger of their being violated. I might mention other
instances, but I do not wish to occupy too much time in relation to
these matters. From what I have said it will he seen that these folks,
to whom I have alluded, were pretty decent people. I do not know but
the Mayor of New Orleans was a pretty good man, and General Jackson
had a pretty good reputation, and was afterwards President of the
United States. I expect Fitz John Porter is a pretty good man; I
expect that General Pope is a pretty good man; yet they have disturbed
the nation and Congress with the difficulties that have existed
between them in spite of all those laws. As I said before there is a
kind of neutral zone, and yet men come in conflict.

Vol. 26,  p.357
Here as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we
profess to be governed by a law that is different from others. I have
mentioned it already. It is the law of the Gospel. Then, as has been
stated, we have our institutions separate and distinct from the
States, the same as others have. Other religious bodies have the same.
We have our religious usages, our ideas, and our theories. We
believe—and hardly I was going to say we believe in a celestial law.
Hardly. What is it? "Thy will be done on earth as it is done in
heaven." That is the way I understand it. As I have said before, Jesus
came not to do his own will, but the will of His Father that sent Him.
And when He told His disciples to pray, as I have stated, He said,
say, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy
kingdom come," what! thy kingdom! whose kingdom? the kingdom of God.
What! The kingdom of God come upon the earth? yes, that is what it
says—the rule of God, the government [p.358] of God, the dominion of
God. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
When that is done we shall have a celestial law here. We have not got
it yet quite, and we are not prepared for it quite; but we are trying
to introduce those things, and the Gospel has been restored for that
purpose, and revelation has been given for that purpose, and the
heavens have been opened for that purpose, and the Priesthood of God
has been organized for that purpose in all its various forms and
ramifications, and predicated upon that principle, the High Council
has been organized, and other officers and peoples associated with the
Church and kingdom of God.

Vol. 26,  p.358
Now, then, as has been stated here, the Executive Board of this
hospital were desirous to be set apart by the Priesthood that they
might act under the blessing of God. They came to consult me about the
hospital in general, and wanted to know if something could not be done
in the interest of the sick and afflicted of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were desirous of having a house that
was dedicated to God, a house where the Elders could go in and
administer to those who were afflicted as well as the physicians, and
that all these things should be conducted under the direction of the
Almighty. Now, while I am a strict believer in discipline and rule,
yet I could not but believe, on the other hand, in the feelings that
were exhibited by Sister Eliza Snow and others, in relation to these
matters. It has appeared in this investigation that some difficulty
arose among those in charge of the hospital, and Sister Eliza and
others tried to get them to harmonize and act as Latter day Saints.
That was very good counsel to give, and it would have been well if it
had been obeyed, but, it was not, and things have resulted as they
have done.

Vol. 26,  p.358
Now, what would you do? These sisters prayed, etc. I presume they did,
and certainly I do not want to set them down as hypocrites. They had
seen Sister Ferguson take opium once or twice. She alleged that site
took it for neuralgia of the heart. Being afflicted with a disease of
that kind she had consulted some eminent physicians, and they had
advised her to take morphine for an affliction of that sort. It was
supposed to be a proper thing to take under the circumstances. Now,
while the taking of this morphine might look a little suspicious. yet
if they had had that same neuralgia, would it not have been the proper
tiring to have said, "Oh, my sisters, won't you be merciful to me. And
while I am sick don't attribute my sickness to any wrong or any evil,
but won't you come and pray for me and be my good, kind sisters and
friends and help me in my affliction." That would have been the right
thing to have done instead of trying to find out something bad. There
was nothing that could be brought against Sister Ferguson here. She
had to stand the fire of all kinds of witnesses, and not one solitary
thing could be proven either against her moral conduct or against her
actions, or against her reputation in regard to these things—either as
a brandy drinker or as a morphine taker under those peculiar
circumstances.

Vol. 26,  p.358
Well, now, it would look naturally cruel to me to throw out
reflections, especially when a person was laboring under extreme pain,
and we ought not to give way to that kind of feelings any of us. Why,
if I were to see the lowest and most [p.359] depraved suffering under
an influence of that kind, I would want to follow the teaching given
by Jesus in regard to the man that had fallen among thieves and had
been abused and robbed. The Priest passed by on the other side of the
road, thinking doubtless it was only some poor devil. Then came a
Levite, and he passed by, thinking no doubt, "he is only a poor
outcast; let him die and be damned or anything else" But a certain
Samaritan came along, and his feelings seemed to be this: "You have
fallen among thieves. Won't you allow me to administer to you." That
would be proper. That is the way I look at it. I would do the same
thing to anybody that I saw in distress. I would not seek to injure
their reputation or to malign their character.

Vol. 26,  p.359
Now, I suppose that these sisters were mistaken in their ideas. I do
not think that they have bad hearts; but sometimes when people allow
their prejudices to run against a person, they carry these things too
far. While we are desirous to put down iniquity we must not go to work
and act a cruel part toward anybody. God does not do it. He sends His
rain on the evil and on the good. He causes His sun to shine on the
just and on the unjust. A wicked man's field may lay alongside a
righteous man's field. He don't take His sun off the field of the
wicked man. He makes no distinctions of that sort. He pours blessings
upon all, and He has to be merciful to us all, otherwise we would not
be as we are to-day, surrounded with the blessings we enjoy.

Vol. 26,  p.359
In regard to all these matters, it requires great care and great
discrimination. When those sisters came to me and reported that Sister
Ferguson had got out of the way, and read those charges, I felt
ashamed. I could hardly believe it at first. I said to them: "These
are grave charges you are making. Do you know that these things are
so?" They answered they thought they did. "Well,' said I, "If these
things are true, Sister Ferguson is not fit to hold that position, nor
to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
For she was accused, you know, of being false—in other words, a liar.
Some things, too, were said to be strangely disappearing, so that she
was accused of being a thief; but when we come to inquire into these
things we find there was no foundation for the charges. They seem to
have arisen from unworthy jealousies. We should not be too ready in
harboring such feelings.

Vol. 26,  p.359
Now, I will tell you of a principle taught by Joseph Smith. It may be
of use to you as a High Council, and it will not hurt anybody else. In
speaking of the discernment of spirits, said he, a man may have the
gift of the discernment of spirits; he may see what is in the heart;
but because that has been revealed to him he has no business to bring
that as a charge against any person. The man's acts must be proved by
evidence and by witnesses.

Vol. 26,  p.359
I speak of these things for your information, and I do not know but I
have talked long enough.

Vol. 26,  p.359
Suffice it to say that as Latter-day Saints we ought to be under the
law of love, of kindness, and of mercy. And yet at the same time we
cannot overlook the wrong. It is right to probe certain things to the
bottom as you have done this thing. I was pleased to see the energy
displayed all the way through on both sides, and I think this is the
general feeling that prevails—a determination to ferret out wrong and
to correct [p.360] evil. One thing is just as necessary as the other.

Vol. 26,  p.360
I have already published a statement about a woman who had committed
an act of adultery while her husband was away from home. I was written
to about it. Why, said I, cut her off from the Church. We cannot have
such people in the Church. Ultimately I requested the husband of the
woman to come and see me, but instead of coming himself he brought
along the seducer of his wife and three beautiful children—three as
beautiful children as I had seen anywhere and as promising. It made my
heart ache to see the position that that woman had placed her family
in. But I could not help it. She had entered into covenants which were
sacred. She had violated those covenants. The Book of Covenants says
that such people shall be destroyed. I could not change it. I did not
make that law. When they told me that the seducer was there, I said, I
do not want to see him. I can't have anything to do with such a
wretch—a man that would enter into a family and debauch another man's
wife while he was away, thus taking advantage of the circumstances in
which she was placed. I do not know who the man was; and I don't care.
I don't want to see him. The woman wept. "Can I stay in the Church,"
she asked. "No, madam, you can't." I could not assume the
responsibility, the Bishop could not assume the responsibility, the
High Council could not assume the responsibility without becoming
partakers of the crime. I have seen other things of a similar kind and
have had to deal with them. This High Council has no right to condone
sin. This is an error that people fall into. If men transgress and
violate the laws of God, they have no right but to deal with them
according to the law of God. Treat them kindly; do the best you can
for them, but do not condone their crimes. Apostles, Prophets,
Pastors, Teachers, Deacons, and High Councils are placed in the Church
as they formerly were, for the perfecting of the Saints; not to pass
over iniquity because of certain influences. No influence of any kind
ought to control you, only the pure principles of eternal truth as
laid down in the law of God. No man can inherit a celestial kingdom
who does not keep a celestial law. No man can inherit a terrestial
kingdom unless he abides a terrestial law, and no man can inherit a
telestial kingdom unless he abides a telestial law. And it is for us
to see that these laws are executed. We must purge ourselves from sin.

Vol. 26,  p.360
Then, in regard to this affair. As I have already said, I think there
was a little weakness in Sister Ferguson and in those sisters. And is
there not a little weakness in all of us? I have many weaknesses and
infirmities. Shall we condemn one another? No. But I wanted to point
out some of these things for the benefit of this Board of Directors,
of Sister Ferguson, of this High Council, and of all concerned, that
we may be enabled to look carefully, dispassionately and intelligently
into all of these matters, and seek lot the Spirit of the living God.
It is your privilege as a High Council always to know the right, if
you are living your religion and keeping the commandments of God, and
to have the inspiration of the Most High to guide you in your acts,
and it you have that and seek unto the Lord, He will bless you and
guide you in all of your doings. And so He will all men who seek unto
Him, for as really as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons
of God. And we [p.361] have to discriminate between the laws of the
world and the laws of God. We have no need to break any just and
equitable laws, and never mean to.

Vol. 26,  p.361
Now in regard to the position of the United States to-day. What a
pitiful example we have when we come to look at it. They talk about
our debauchery and corruption. Why they have twenty criminals right
among us to our one, and more than that. I have read that in
Springville, out of the outsiders there, 45 per cent. of them are in
some way or other, some lesser and some greater, violators of the law.
Yes, according to statistics that are clear, pointed and plain they
have from 20 to 80 violators of the law to the Latter-day Saints one.
Well, that is not much for us to boast of, for we ought not to have
any. But, then, the idea of our being accused of licentiousness and
crime, and these pure people being sent out here to correct our
morals!

Vol. 26,  p.361
But it is all right. We will try to do right, maintain the law and
sustain all correct principles. We put up with a good deal of
indignity. Still we will do right and leave ourselves in the hands of
God; for if we do right and cleave unto Him, He will take care of us;
He will average the cause of Zion, and judge the men who are fighting
against her; and I say now, as I have before, over and over again,
Woe! to them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against them.
We will pursue our course and observe the law of God, and keep His
commandments.

Vol. 26,  p.361
And I say God bless this High Council with the President and his
councilors; God bless the brethren and sisters associated with the
Hospital; and those sisters who may have unwittingly done wrong; they
will try and do better; and Sister Ferguson, if she has walked a
little too strait, she will try to be a little more pliable; and we
will all try to move along and feel that we are living among the
Saints of God, and that we are of one family and one household.

Vol. 26,  p.361
God bless you all and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of
Jesus, Amen.

Vol. 26,  p.361
Brother Angus M. Cannon asks: Do we understand you to sustain the
decision of the Council? Certainly I do. I feel always like sustaining
such things. And I will say, moreover, that it is very seldom I find
it necessary to change what has taken place and been decided by the
High Councils, among all the High Councils there are in the Church.
And why should they not do right?—men that are disinterested, men who
are working for nothing, men who are seeking to adjust difficulties
among their brethren, and who meet together from time to time and
spend hours and days and weeks in adjusting these difficulties, simply
for the love of God and humanity and to correct error and establish
the principles of righteousness, etc.

Vol. 26,  p.361
In regard to Sister Ferguson, I give you my right hand of fellowship
and say God bless you, and try and be a little more humble. And I will
do the same to those other sisters. God bless you all. Try to
ameliorate the wants and sufferings of humanity, and seek to do all
the good that lays in your power; for as you do good to others God
will be good to you. God bless you all in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Vol. 26,  p.361
The following are the remarks made at the investigation, or trial, by
President Angus M. Cannon, and the decision of the High [p.362]
Council in the case above referred to:

Vol. 26,  p.362
President Angus M. Cannon proceeded to review the evidence which had
been adduced in the investigation. He took the charges seriatum. With
respect to the first charge—that of taking morphine to excess—he held
that there was no evidence to support the allegation. It was admitted
by Sister Ferguson that she had been accustomed to take morphine to
relieve her from pain induced by neuralgia of the heart; but never,
except upon one occasion, was she rendered incapable of attending to
her duties by the taking of this drug, and it was very supposable that
severe pain was the cause of her administering what appeared to be an
overdose. But was she to be denounced as a confirmed morphine taker
because upon this one occasion she had administered an overdose of
this drugs? Was that circumstance to be used as a means to destroy her
communion with the Church, to destroy her reputation, and to brand her
as being an habitual slave to this terrible medicine? By no means.

Vol. 26,  p.362
With regard to the second charge—that of being false—President Cannon
said he had not discovered anything in the evidence to substantiate
that Sister Ferguson was false. She might have appeared to be
arbitrary, commanding, in her desire to have respect and obedience
from those under her charge; but a good deal of this kind of feeling
appeared to have arisen from jealousy and from watching for faults,
and when found, magnifying them to a great extent.

Vol. 26,  p.362
In reference to the third charge—that of stealing medicine from the
Hospital—it had been proved that Sister Ferguson took some pills once,
and they were administered to an outside patient of the Hospital she
took this medicine as was her right, for the use of outside patients.
And as to the taking of brandy—about which so much had been made—all
the evidence upon that point was that Sister Ferguson had asked the
nurse once for a "sling" of brandy to be brought to her room, and she
felt that she had need of it. Was it criminal for her to take a little
brandy under those circumstances? Was she to be proclaimed as a
drunkard? Not by any means.

Vol. 26,  p.362
Fourth charge that of malpractice in the case of an old woman by the
alleged administration of morphine—was held to be entirely unfounded.
The old woman referred to was in a bad state of dropsy, and in a dying
condition when brought to the hospital; she suffered great pain; and
doubtless, as a doctor, and considering it the right thing, sister
Ferguson did administer morphine for the purpose of relieving the
patient from pain and getting her to sleep. The patient subsequently
died. But because of this was sister Ferguson to be accused of causing
her death? No.

Vol. 26,  p.362
The very fact of the sisters having signed those charges showed that
they conceived them to be right. They expected this matter to be
investigated. They expected to meet Sister Ferguson face to face. the
question had been asked, did Sister Snow prompt the sisters to write
those charges. The reply was elicited that Sister Van Schoonhoven made
a draft of the complaints and that Sister McLean copied it. Sister
Snow took it for granted that the charges were true, not thinking,
probably, the damaging effect they would have upon the character of
Sister Ferguson. This being the case it was concluded that it would
not do for Sister Ferguson to be allowed to continue in her
position.[p.363] He (President Cannon) had no doubt that Sister Snow
believed every word of the charges, and after considering the easiest
mode of letting Ferguson down, the Executive Board asked her, finally,
to resign. They did not see, apparently, that this would come out and
damage, as it had done, the reputation of Sister Ferguson; but having
become a party to this thing, they shouldered the responsibility. On
the other hand, while he maintained that these charges had not been
sustained, still, under the circumstances, he thought the wisest thing
the Board could do was to ask Sister Ferguson to resign her position
in the hospital. Her resignation was not asked with the intention to
hurt her. But the devil took advantage of the position and used it to
the injury of Sister Ferguson. He would say, however, that if Sister
Ferguson would live humbly before the Lord and take what had
transpired for good, and listen to counsel, the Lord would bless her,
and the Lord would bless those sisters who had erred in this matter
unwittingly, if they would take hold of Sister Ferguson and help her
along, and thus promote union and fellowship in our midst as the sons
and daughters of God upon the earth.

Vol. 26,  p.363
The decision therefore in this case will be: That these charges are
not sustained against Sister Ferguson before this council; but I do
think the sisters acted wisely under the circumstances in asking her
to resign. That is my judgment. But that the evil one has magnified
these charges to the injury of Sister Ferguson in that investigation
was not had at the time. And I would say to these sisters, take hold
of Sister Ferguson by the hand and help her to sustain her reputation
and practice before this people, and as you seek to build her up so
the Lord will build you up and bless you by increasing your influence
for good.[p.364] 

Lorenzo Snow, January 10, 1886

No Prominent Latter-Day Saint Who Lives 
His Religion Need Expect Justice in the Courts—the 
Same Sacrifices May Be Required of Modern As of Ancient 
Apostles—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 
Established By Divine Revelation—We Will Be Made 
Perfect By Suffering—Our Character As Latter-Day 
Saints Must Be Preserved Inviolate—Visit of 
Jesus to Kirtland Temple—Farewell

Discourse By Apostle Lorenzo Snow, Delivered in 
Brigham City Tabernacle, on Sunday, previous to his sentence by 
Judge Powers in the First District Court, Jan. 10th, 1886.

(Reported By John Burrows)

Vol. 26,  p.364
I AM thankful for the opportunity of addressing this large audience,
most of whom, I recognize as my intimate friends and associates, for
whose spiritual, moral, and intellectual advancement and temporal
prosperity, I have labored diligently through a period of over thirty
years, ever since the establishment of its first dwelling or hamlet.

Vol. 26,  p.364
This, I presume, will prove my last opportunity, for some length of
time for addressing you, being now under bonds of six thousand
dollars, to appear next Saturday, the 16th inst., at Ogden, to receive
sentence for cohabiting with my wives—having been pronounced guilty
for the same offense, under three indictments. Undoubtedly my sentence
will embrace the extreme limit the law allows—eighteen months
imprisonment, nine hundred dollars fine, with costs of prosecution
added.

Vol. 26,  p.364
I do not now propose to enter into details respecting the three
trials, under those indictments, resulting in verdicts of guilty,
without one particle of evidence by which to justify such verdicts—the
very singular and extraordinary charge to the jury by Judge Powers—the
urgent appeal of the Prosecuting Attorney, for the jury to assist in
convicting the defendant—the eloquent and forcible arguments of my
counsel—the intense anxiety of Judge Powers and the prosecution to
impress the jury that it was their imperative duty to convict the
defendant, as (in the language of the attorney), "He was a high
official in the Mormon Church, and therefore it was expedient in the
warfare against that Church, that he should be made a victim." All
these matters and proceedings will be recorded, and published to the
world; they will be preserved and handed down as items of history for
the consideration and judgment of future generations.

Vol. 26,  p.364
In passing, I will observe, however, that in the progress of my trial,
and in the outcome, this FACT was [p.365] demonstrated—it is needless
for a Latter-day Saint, occupying any position of prominence, and
living his religion, to expect justice in the tribunals of this once
boasted land of civil rights and religious liberty; but now, under the
blighting, merciless influence of religious bigotry and sectarian
fanaticism of an apostate Christianity. It is even better to look for
justice in courts under the ruling powers of a moral and honest
infidelity.

Vol. 26,  p.365
I was pronounced guilty of violating the Edmunds law. Previous,
however, to its enactment, my wives (except the one with whom I was
living) having passed the period of maternity, by mutual consent, we
were living in accordance with the requirements of that law, and this,
too, without violating any principle or object embraced in the law of
celestial marriage.

Vol. 26,  p.365
To "multiply," was the first commandment given to our first parents.
Purity in matrimonial intercourse, I always believed, should accompany
that command, and I have always endeavored to observe faithfully its
practice. I married because it was commanded of God, and commenced in
plural marriage. I contracted marriage with four women about the same
time, and with a mutual understanding with each that they were to be
equal—neither was to take or assume the status of a first or legal
wife. Two of them were united to me in the sacred bonds of matrimony
at one and the same time, by the same ceremony. The other two shortly
after, also at one and the same time and in like manner.

Vol. 26,  p.365
Of all the witnesses introduced by the prosecution, the testimony of
each tended directly to establish my innocence. The Prosecuting
Attorney, when addressing the jury, said: "This case of a prominent
leader of the Mormon Church is under investigation—he is one of the
most scholarly and brightest lights, and we require your encouragement
and assistance. The eyes of the nation are now upon you, and as loyal
citizens, from you a verdict of guilty will be expected; and if you
heed this appeal, I can assure you, and predict emphatically, if the
defendant, Mr. Snow, with a few other Mormon leaders can be secured,
it will not be long before a new revelation will follow, calling for a
change in the law of patriarchal marriage.

Vol. 26,  p.365
Last year one thousand sectarian ministers petitioned Congress to
legislate more severely against the "Mormons," and punish them with
greater cruelty; and this has been the cry and watchword of priest and
people throughout the length and breadth of our unhappy country,
arousing and fostering a popular feeling and sentiment that it would
be right, and doing the will of God, to overthrow and destroy this
kingdom which the Prophet Daniel foresaw, and which God has now
established.

Vol. 26,  p.365
For many years past, my heart and feelings have been devoted to the
promotion of your interests—your welfare and happiness; with what
success, you, my friends, are the proper judges. I shall soon depart
from your presence, and submit myself to the officers of the law, and
whether I may be permitted again to address you from this stand, I
cannot say—a matter, however, about which none need have the least
anxiety.

Vol. 26,  p.365
I go to prison with the full assurance that I can serve God and His
purposes—magnify my calling, and [p.366] prove to the world, my faith
and sincerity in the principles I have taught, during fifty years,
among many nations—that Jesus is the Son of God—that He has revealed
His Priesthood, and the fulness of the ancient Gospel, and established
His Church by revelation.

Vol. 26,  p.366
When I received the Apostleship, I well remember saying to my
brethren, who were present, that very possibly the same sacrifices
would be required of the modern Apostles as were experienced by the
Apostles anciently, including their persecutions and martyrdoms. I
said, in receiving this sacred calling, I felt as though it were
ascending an altar where, perhaps, life itself would be offered. The
Lord 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;
for, if ye will not abide in my Covenant, ye are not worthy of me."
Seriously considering all this, I asked myself: Am I willing to accept
these conditions—to so deny myself and suffer for the glory of God,
and to horror and magnify this Apostleship?

Vol. 26,  p.366
God is now feeling after us, and will disclose our secret thoughts. It
would be well to purify and prepare ourselves, and in the language of
the Psalmist, call upon God, saying, "Search me, O God, and know my
heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Vol. 26,  p.366
If we succeed in passing through the approaching fiery ordeals with
our fidelity and integrity unimpeached, we may expect at the close of
our trials, a great and mighty outpouring of the Spirit and power of
God—a great endowment upon all who shall have remained true to their
covenants. We must be more eager to cultivate friendly relations with
our neighbors, together with love and affection for our wives and
children that peace may dwell in our households, and confidence in the
midst of the people.

Vol. 26,  p.366
"Fifty millions of people" are said to be calling loudly for the
extermination of the "Mormons." If it be a FACT that our religion is
divine, established of God, there is no cause for alarm, nor even
anxiety or uneasiness. Tens of thousands, through obedience to the
sacred Gospel, know it to be true—a FACT, by immediate revelation to
themselves. Therefore, these "Fifty millions of people," are not
fighting the "Mormons," or their religion, but they are fighting God
and His purposes. 

Vol. 26,  p.366
Israel, on the banks of the Red Sea, were God's people—a fact
perfectly known to Moses; and he knew, also, what were the purposes of
God concerning them. Hence, there was no occasion for alarm or anxiety
in view of the overwhelming forces of Pharaoh's army, threatening
immediate annihilation. God's eye was upon Israel—they were there by
His direction—a FACT—a revealed FACT, known to Moses and Aaron, and
doubtless to many others, by direct communication from God. It is
true, they were placed in a frightful situation—naturally, a hopeless
one, from which no human power or ability could extricate them.

Vol. 26,  p.366
Israel was there, not from choice, but by the command of God; and He
had arranged His own programme; yet Pharaoh with his armed hosts,
sought to thwart His purposes, and in the end was overthrown and
destroyed; and the result of this ignorance and folly stands recorded
on the page of history as a lesson to all generations.[p.367] 

Vol. 26,  p.367
God established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by
direct revelation; this is a FACT, clearly and distinctly revealed to
thousands. the so called "Mormon" people, in these valleys, are the
acknowledged people of God, and are here, not by their own choice, but
by immediate command of God. The work and management is the Lord's—not
the people's—they do His bidding, and He, alone, is responsible for
the result.

Vol. 26,  p.367
We have no occasion for fear or cause for trembling—the purpose of God
will be accomplished—what He has recommenced will be consumated though
the combined armies of the earth should rise up and oppose. It is a
FACT that God has spoken, and called latter-day Israel from among the
nations, and planted them in these valleys; therefore this work is
His, and although He may lead us as He did Israel of old, into
seemingly desperate situations, requiring serious sacrifices—the
despoiling of homes—incarceration in prison, and even jeapordizing our
very existence; and yet, it will be but for a moment, as it were, and
then those trials will terminate as did Job's, in an increase of
possessions; and as ancient Israel's, in a kingdom and country—honor,
glory and dominion.

Vol. 26,  p.367
Some of our brethren have queried whether hereafter, they could feel
themselves worthy of full fellowship with Prophets and Saints of old,
who endured trials and persecutions; and with Saints of our own times
who suffered in Kirtland, in Missouri and Illinois. the brethren
referred to have expressed regrets that they had not been associated
in those scenes of suffering. If any of these are present, I will say,
for the consolation of such, you have to wait but a short time and you
will have similar opportunities, to your heart's content. You and I
cannot be made perfect except through suffering: Jesus could not. In
His prayer and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, He fore-shadowed the
purifying process necessary in the lives of those whose ambition
prompts them to secure the glory of a celestial kingdom. None should
try to escape by resorting to any compromising measures.

Vol. 26,  p.367
All who journey soon or late, 
Must come within the garden gate, 
And kneel alone in darkness there, 
And battle hard, yet not despair.

Vol. 26,  p.367
It is now proposed to enact laws to govern the "Mormons" in Utah,
similar to those passed in Idaho to afflict our people, viz: "Whoever
claims membership in a church or organization, teaching or practicing
the principles of Patriarchal Marriage, shall be deprived the right to
vote or hold office." Thus we understand the time is at hand when,
whosoever admits he is a Latter-day Saint, must feel the oppressive
grasp of persecution. How many now here, are ready—having oil in their
vessels, and lamps trimmed, and prepared for coming events?

Vol. 26,  p.367
I am not sorry, nor do I regret on account of the near approach of
these fiery ordeals; the Church, no doubt, needs purifying—we have
hypocrites among us—milk-and-water Saints—those professing to be
Saints, but doing nothing to render themselves worthy of membership;
and too many of us have been pursuing worldly gains, rather than
spiritual improvements—have not sought the things of God with that
earnestness which becomes our profession. Trials and afflictions will
cause our hearts to turn towards our Father who has so marvelously
wrought out our redemption and [p.368] deliverance from Babylon.

Vol. 26,  p.368
I wish to offer a word of caution to my brethren that you may beware,
and commit no grave errors when brought into positions of trial and
temptation. Some, unfortunately, have disregarded this injunction, and
have imprinted a stain upon their character, and a blot upon their
record which cannot be erased in time—perhaps not in eternity. These
are fearful mistakes Better suffer a thousand deaths than succumb to
the force of persecution by promising to discard a single principle
which God has revealed for our glory and exaltation. Our character, as
Latter-day Saints, should be preserved inviolate, at whatever cost or
sacrifice. Character, approved of God is worth securing, even at the
expense of a lifetime of constant self-denial.

Vol. 26,  p.368
While thus living we may look forward far away into the spirit-land,
with full assurance that when reaching that happy clime, we shall be
crowned with the sons and daughters of God, and possess the wealth and
glory of a Celestial kingdom.

Vol. 26,  p.368
Apostle Paul in his time, taught the Saints to have the same mind in
them as was in Christ Jesus, who, finding Himself in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Apostle John, on the same
subject says, "When Jesus appears we shall be like Him." "Every one
that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as God is pure."

Vol. 26,  p.368
As man now is, God once was—even the babe of Bethlehem, advancing to
childhood—thence to boyhood, manhood, then to the Godhead. This, then,
is the "mark of the prize of man's high calling in Christ Jesus."

Vol. 26,  p.368
We are the offspring of God, begotten by Him in the spirit world,
where we partook of His nature as children here partake of the
likeness of their parents. Our trials and sufferings give us
experience, and establish within us principles of godliness.

Vol. 26,  p.368
Jesus has, in our day, visited this world, and been seen of men on
different occasions. He appeared on the 3rd day of April, 1836, to the
Prophet Joseph Smith, and Oliver Cowdery, in the Temple at Kirtland,
Ohio. This important visitation is described as follows:

Vol. 26,  p.368
"The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding
were opened."

Vol. 26,  p.368
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit before us,
and under His feet was a paved work of pure gold in color like amber."

Vol. 26,  p.368
"His eyes were a flame of fire, the hair of His head was white like
the pure snow, His countenance shone above the brightness of the sun,
and His voice was as the sound of rushing waters, even the voice of
Jehovah, saying:"

Vol. 26,  p.368
"I am the first and the last, I am He who liveth, I am He who was
slain, I am your advocate with the Father. Behold your sins are
forgiven you, you are clean before me, therefore lift up your heads
and rejoice."

Vol. 26,  p.368
"Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my
people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my
name."

Vol. 26,  p.368
I now will bring my remarks to a close. In a few days I must leave
family, kind friends and associates with whom I have spent so many
pleasant hours in "The City I love so well"—proceed to Ogden—receive
my sentence, then retire to private life, within my prison walls, for
"The word of God and testimony of Jesus."[p.369] 

Vol. 26,  p.369
I hope to address you again, many times in this life, though this may
be my last:—however this will be, I shall expect to meet you in yonder
world clothed in robes of celestial beauty, amid the glory of the Sons
of God, where grief and suffering shall have ceased—when tears will no
longer moisten your cheeks, and sighs and moans no more be heard; but
where, peace and joy forever reign, in those realms of glory, honor
and immortality.

Lorenzo Snow, March 6, 1886

The Gospel—It Brings Temporal As Well As Spiritual 
Salvation—the Prophet Joseph Smith—Persecution—Our 
Religion Cannot Be Destroyed

Discourse By Apostle Lorenzo Snow, Delivered 
in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City.

[From Deseret News of March 6, 1886.]

Vol. 26,  p.369
IN addressing an assembly of Saints I expect the benefit of their
prayers, without the ceremony of asking; being assured they are aware,
as well as I am, that our teachings and administrations in the Gospel
of life are blest according to our faith and prayers, and the
diligence and patience we bestow.

Vol. 26,  p.369
I propose to make some general observations upon the Gospel and its
administrations, and in relation to its effects when received, and the
important blessings derived by this community, through its divine
power and virtue. This Gospel, which God has commanded us to offer to
the world, is an order or system of things, simple, plain, and may
easily be understood. In regard to its principles, the nature of its
requirements, and the precise kind and character of its blessings and
promises, no one, however ignorant or unlearned, needs to be left in
the dark; but may discover its golden truths, and the emblazoned mark
of divinity in its arrangements as distinctly and as speedily as
Naaman, the captain of the Assyrian host, found divine virtue and the
hand of Divinity in the order prescribed to him by Elijah, through
which his leprosy was removed. In his case, the order of obtaining a
miraculous blessing, viz: to immerse seven times in Jordan, as
prescribed by Elijah, was so simple, so plain, and in regard to its
divine efficacy so easy of ascertainment, that the [p.370] great
captain at first, was exceedingly wrathy at the idea that God should
propose to work upon him through such easy and simple forms; but the
order through which he could be healed of his leprosy was prescribed
of God, through the Prophet, and finally the Assyrian officer, through
the plain, common-sense reasoning of his servant, concluded to waive
his objections and comply with the requirements; and having done so
received the promised blessing.

Vol. 26,  p.370
The first principles of the Gospel which we offer, and which put men
in possession of the revelations of God, and a knowledge of this work,
are precisely as simple, plain, and as easy of understanding as the
order before alluded to, through which the heavens were opened to
Naaman.

Vol. 26,  p.370
The Gospel was brought to our respective locations, far remote from
these mountain vales. It found us citizens of various nations,
speaking our respective languages, each possessing his peculiar
notions and prejudices, with his associations, and a strong attachment
to kindred, friends and country. However unpleasant, unkind, unjust,
and inconsistent it might appear at first, we clearly foresaw that in
receiving the Gospel we should be compelled to break off those
associations, and sever those attachments, leaving the lands of our
nativity, and go forth with our wives and our children to a distant
land of which we had but little knowledge. Yet, a similar requisition
was made upon the House of Israel, in the land of Egypt; also upon
Noah and his family, and upon Abraham, and the family of Lot in the
city of Sodom, and upon the families of Lehi and Ishmael, as mentioned
in the Book of Mormon.

Vol. 26,  p.370
But, in the provisions of the Gospel which was offered to us, there
were fairness and safety; it proposed to give, through obedience to
its requirements, a perfect knowledge of its divine authenticity; so
that, in leaving our kindred, breaking up our social relations, and
going forth from our native lands, we should first become perfectly
assured that it was no human contrivance—something gotten up to effect
a political purpose or satisfy some worldly ambition, or to achieve
some private end through human cunning or craftiness.

Vol. 26,  p.370
The Gospel was plain and simple in its requirements, and there could
be no mistaking the precise nature of its blessings and promises, nor
the manner and time in which they were to be secured.

Vol. 26,  p.370
The first feature, in this system, which struck us with surprise and
arrested our attention, was its perfect similarity, in all its parts,
with the Gospel as recorded in the New Testament. It required
repentance, and a forsaking of sins, immersion in water for the
remission of sins, with a promise that, through the laying on of hands
by those having authority, people should receive the Holy Ghost, by
which the knowledge would be obtained of the truth of the doctrine.
Another remarkable feature, which called into exercise our most
serious consideration, was the solemn testimony of the Elders, that
they possessed the right to administer these sacred ordinances, by
virtue of the Holy Priesthood committed to Joseph Smith, through the
ministration of the Apostles, Peter, James and John. And furthermore,
that this solemn and most important fact should be revealed to every
man, upon his faithful obedience to the Gospel requirements. 

Vol. 26,  p.370
In these propositions, though at [p.371] first seemingly strange, we
saw that everything was plain, fair and honorable. In doing what they
required, we should only do, in fact, what, as true-hearted believers
in the ancient Gospel, we ought to do; and if we failed to receive the
promised blessing, and thereby proved the Elders' testimony false, our
religious condition would, nevertheless, be then as good as other
Christians, and a little better, perhaps, because we should have
approached a little nearer to the doctrine of the Scriptures, so far
as their true forms and ceremonies were concerned. Of course, in this
case, having proven to our satisfaction, that there was no Holy Ghost,
no supernatural manifestations, no knowledge, no revelations
accompanying the Elders' administrations of the Gospel; no human
persuasion, no cunning sophistry could have induced us to leave our
homes and friends to embark in a scheme which our common sense taught
us would eventuate in bitter disappointment and inevitable ruin; but,
like other Christians, we should have continued in the enjoyment of
friends and home, still groping our way through religious darkness,
expecting nothing, hoping nothing, and receiving nothing.

Vol. 26,  p.371
But the fact that I am now speaking to assembled thousands of
intelligent and enlightened people, who received this Gospel with the
aforementioned fond considerations and lively expectations, gathered
here by their own free will and choice, out of almost every nation,
demonstrates most clearly, most forcibly and most solemnly, that this
system of life, this Gospel as proclaimed by Joseph Smith, has been
made known to us by the revelations of the Almighty,—that it is
undeniably His will, His word and His message. not only this, but we
find within ourselves a fixed purpose, an unalterable resolution to
do, if need be, what many of us have already done, viz: show the
sincerity of our convictions of these solemn truths, through
sacrificing all we possess—not even holding ourselves so dear to us as
this religion.

Vol. 26,  p.371
There was yet another prominent feature embraced in this order of
things, viz: where it found the people in poverty, misery, in a
condition but a little above starvation; it spoke in positive terms of
future relief, and effectual deliverance. It did not simply say: "Be
ye warmed, and be ye clothed," but it declared plainly, and in
distinct terms, that the Lord had seen their bondage and oppression,
and heard their cries of sorrow and affliction, and now had sent His
Gospel for their deliverance, and would lead them into circumstances
of independence. There, again, was something consistent, and worthy of
admiration, and characteristic of our Great Parent, discoverable in
all His dispensations, when in actual working order, as they were in
the case of Noah, and in the calling of Israel, making them an
independent people; likewise in calling Lehi to establish a people
upon this continent, as well as in many other instances.

Vol. 26,  p.371
A religious system is of but little account when it possesses no
virtue nor power to better the condition of people, spiritually,
intellectually, morally and physically. Enoch's order of the Gospel,
did for his people all this, and it has done the same in every
instance when preached in its purity, and obeyed in sincerity. Many
thousands of the persons in these beautiful valleys, who formerly were
compelled, with their wives and children, to subsist in a half-starved
condition—not owning a [p.372] habitation, or a foot of land, a horse,
a cow, pig or chicken—nothing they could call their own; subject at
any moment, through the whim of their employer, to be turned into the
streets, miserable beggars; now own cabinet shops, factories, mills,
flocks and herds, beautiful gardens and orchards, and productive
farms, wagons and carriages, dwelling in their own houses, in
comfortable and easy circumstances. No one has any apprehension of
starvation within the jurisdiction of the Latter-day Saints.

Vol. 26,  p.372
The Gospel proposed these blessings at its announcement, and they have
been most miraculously accomplished. No other religious system could
have achieved such things, nor dared any other Christian denomination
venture to send out its missionaries "without purse or scrip," and
without a college education, to declare to the people that they had
authority from God to administer the sacred ordinances of the Gospel,
through which should be revealed tangible evidence and knowledge of
its divinity and of their authority to administer it; and to take
people from a state of poverty, and lead them thousands of miles, and,
despite every obstacle, establish them a comparatively independent
people in the midst of a wild, desert country. Had they found them
poor, friendless, without the means of living, and in servitude little
better than Egyptian bondage, as we found many of them; they would
have imparted no cheering news of an approaching salvation from the
God of heaven; but could only have exhorted them to be contented and
reconciled with their unhappy lot, and in no case must they look for
any new revelation, or miraculous interposition.

Vol. 26,  p.372
What philanthropists have wished to accomplish, and often attempted,
the Lord is now doing on a magnificent scale in this American Desert.
Flourishing settlements. towns and cities have sprung into existence,
extending over a distance of five hundred miles in length, and
hundreds of miles in width, through the untiring energy and
perseverance of a people, formerly totally ignorant of such labors. In
these cities people live in harmony; and poorhouses, grog-shops,
gambling-hells, houses of ill-fame and prostitution are not known in
any of our numerous towns and cities, except in some instances, where
Christians, (so-called) possess a footing and influence.

Vol. 26,  p.372
No one, however prejudiced he may be, can scarcely avoid acknowledging
the palpable fact, that this system has conferred miraculous blessings
upon thousands and tens of thousands, in the way of putting them in
possession of the means for sustaining themselves, after having
delivered them from oppression and tyranny, little better than African
slavery; and, no doubt, our legislators at Washington, one and all,
would give us credit for our indefatigable and successful labors, in
establishing an extensive and flourishing colony, on a portion of our
Government domain, formerly inhabited by savages and wild beasts;
provided we would admit this work to be the work of man, and not of
God—that it had been accomplished through the artifice and wisdom of
man, and not by the power, wisdom and revelations of God.

Vol. 26,  p.372
Joseph Smith, whom God chose to establish this work, was poor and
uneducated, and belonged to no popular denomination of Christians. He
was a mere boy, honest, full of integrity, unacquainted with the
trickery, cunning and sophistry [p.373] employed by politicians and
religious hypocrites, to accomplish their ends. Like Moses of old, he
felt incompetent and unqualified for the task, to stand forth as a
religious reformer, in a position the most unpopular—to battle against
opinions and creeds which have stood for ages having the sanction and
support of men, the most profound in theological lore; but God had
called him to deliver the poor and honest-hearted of all nations from
their spiritual and temporal thralldom. And God promised him that
whosoever should receive and obey His message—be baptized for the
remission of sins, with honesty of purpose—might receive divine
manifestations, should receive the Holy Ghost, the same Gospel
blessings which were promised and obtained through the Gospel, when
preached by the ancient apostles. And this message, this promise, was
to be in force wherever and to whomsoever it should be carried by the
Elders, God's authorized messengers. So said, Joseph Smith, the
uneducated, the unsophisticated, the plain, simple, honest boy.

Vol. 26,  p.373
It is through the virtue and force of this boy's statement, that I
speak this afternoon, to assembled thousands.

Vol. 26,  p.373
In the integrity of my heart, with honesty of purpose to know the
truth, I received this message—I obeyed this form of doctrine and I
received, in the most tangible and satisfactory manner, a divine
manifestation—the promised blessing—I a knowledge of this work. Am I
the only witness? How is it with the experience of thousands whom I
now address? Are you also witnesses? If you are not, I ask you in the
name of common sense, why are you here? Why did you leave your homes
and country, giving your sanction to the truth of a system which
promised you divine manifestations, but which you failed in
experiencing? Being honest ourselves, if we can not bear a truthful
testimony of having received divine manifestations that God, Himself,
has founded this order of things, then it becomes a serious fact, that
we are witnesses, and in truth the only proper witnesses, that this
whole plan and pretention of Joseph Smith is a sheer falsehood, a
miserable fabrication.

Vol. 26,  p.373
It will be recollected that this Gospel message proposed to give us
divine manifestations through our doing certain specified acts; we
have performed those acts in precisely the manner indicated. None but
ourselves have attempted to conform to this arrangement; consequently,
no other people are prepared to be witnesses either for or against
this system. *  *  *  *  *

Vol. 26,  p.373
When the Gospel, or order of things which we have received, was
presented to us, we carefully compared it with the Gospel recorded in
the Scriptures, and found it alike in every particular, as regards its
forms, ordinances, and the authority to administer them; its promise
of the Holy Ghost, and the signs that should follow, together with the
promise of a knowledge of its divine origin. in many instances it was
brought to us by men with whose character we were familiar, and for
whose honesty and integrity we could vouch, who solemnly stated that,
through an obedience to its requirements, they had obtained a
knowledge of its heaven-born principles.

Vol. 26,  p.373
This was my experience, and after having complied with its demands,
and thereupon received a knowledge of its genuineness, and having
obtained authority to preach [p.374] and administer its ordinances, I
commenced forthwith to proclaim it to the world; and undoubtedly there
are persons in this congregation, out of different nations, to whom I
have administered this Gospel, who can witness to its virtue and
efficacy. Many years I have been engaged in forwarding the interests
of this order of things, and you are the proper judges whether it be
of God or of man.

Vol. 26,  p.374
We have the same Gospel the primitive churches had, and the like
knowledge and evidence they had of its divine authority; and we have
just as brave and honest Elders to preach it; men who have proven
their integrity through sacrifice as great as the Elders of the
primitive churches ever made. The testimony of our Elders is as valid
and worthy of credit as the testimony of their Elders. Our present
Apostles are as honest as the Apostles of the New Testament, and our
testimony is as worthy of credit, so far as we live and speak
according to the Scriptural law and testimony. If this order of things
which we have obeyed is not the Gospel—if these evidences, these
manifestations, this knowledge, this Holy Ghost, these deliverances
from misery and bondage, and being placed in comfortable and happy
circumstances, living together in peace and harmony, building
beautiful towns and cities, free from demoralizing institutions, be
not the legitimate fruits of the working of the pure and holy system
established by God, through Joseph Smith, we shall be compelled to
question the genuineness of the Gospel of the former-day Saints, as
recorded in the New Testament.

Vol. 26,  p.374
By some, it has been argued, that Joseph Smith and the prominent
Elders were the most corrupt, wicked and infamous of impostors, but
his followers, the Latter-day Saints, in general, though deceived,
were very good people, and scrupulously honest in their religious
opinions.

Vol. 26,  p.374
From what I have already said in regard to the operations and effects
of this work, it may readily be seen that, if it be an imposition, it
is not confined exclusively to the leaders of this people, but this
whole community are actively, and knowingly engaged in a stupendous
scheme of deception and hypocrisy; and, by the way, as I before
hinted, if this could be proven to be the case, we should be driven to
the belief that the former-day Saints, also, had been engaged in the
same disgraceful imposition.

Vol. 26,  p.374
More than one hundred thousand people now dwell in these valleys, many
of them having come from distant climes and nations. In this great
fact they willingly and understandingly exhibit to the world a
powerful testimony more expressive than any language could command,
that they did, undeniably and positively receive, through the
ordinances of this Gospel, administered unto them by our Elders, a
knowledge of this work, through divine manifestations.

Vol. 26,  p.374
But it may be objected that, whereas, members of our community were
found by our missionaries in great poverty and distress, therefore,
they obeyed the Gospel and migrated here, to better their
circumstances financially, without regard to its truth or falsity as a
divine system. Although this might be true in isolated instances, it
is impossible as regards its application to our people as a community.
Those persons who received this work without religious motives, and
without an honest conviction of its divine requirements, but solely
for the "loaves [p.375] and fishes" can not possibly abide the test to
which every one's faith, sooner or later, must be brought, but will
have his dishonesty and hypocrisy exposed, and will sooner or later
apostatize.

Vol. 26,  p.375
Hundreds of our Elders, full of Godly zeal, animated with the purest
motives, having obtained a knowledge of the will of God, have left
their wives and children, whatever the heart holds most dear, and gone
forth to the nations without worldly compensation, calling on all to
repent and turn their hearts to the Lord—obey the Gospel, with a
promise that they should receive the Holy Ghost, which would "lead
unto all truth and show things to come," and would be their guide and
monitor—a principle of revelation, remaining with them through life,
inasmuch as they preserved their honesty and integrity, continuing
faithful in keeping the commandments of God, and devoting their time,
their means, their talents, their all in building up the Kingdom of
God. These duties were required, these blessings promised by our
Elders in the preaching of the Gospel. To obtain light—a knowledge of
the will of God, to secure the true religion—divine manifestations
regarding the truth of the doctrine as taught by Joseph Smith, was the
first, and all-absorbing proposition presented to the people.

Vol. 26,  p.375
Now, whether these Elders and missionaries were base impostors,
promulgating sheer falsehoods, or not, is of course a question of
grave consideration; yet it is a matter of far greater importance, and
of more serious inquiry, whether our people, as a community, having
failed to receive those divine testimonies, keep silent as to that
most vital and important question, and come here to practice fraud and
deception in religion, and thus fasten irresistibly upon the minds of
our children and future generations a system of falsehoods, for a
divine religion.

Vol. 26,  p.375
Joseph Smith affirmed that Peter, James and John visited him, and
conferred on him authority to administer the holy ordinances of the
Gospel through which every honest-hearted man and woman was promised
the Holy Ghost, and a perfect knowledge of the doctrine.

Vol. 26,  p.375
I had been a member of this Church but a short time when I obtained,
by a divine manifestation, a clear, explicit and tangible
demonstration of the truth of this work. Thousands and tens of
thousands of Latter-day Saints, men and women, in private life, can
testify to the same experience; and though I may know many principles
in regard to this doctrine, which in their limited experience, they
may not understand, yet in that one fact, they are equal to me in
knowledge, equal to the messengers who have administered to them this
Gospel.

Vol. 26,  p.375
I now wish to examine another prominent feature of our religion. An
important item which was prominently held forth wherever this Gospel
was proclaimed, was, that its followers should have an abundance of
persecutions, and probably, in the progress of this new life, be
compelled to suffer the most trying sacrifices, as wife, children,
houses and lands, despoiling of goods, and perhaps even, of life
itself. No persons are properly prepared to enter upon this new life,
until they have formed, within themselves, a fixed resolution to abide
this ordeal.

Vol. 26,  p.375
The Savior, the Apostles, Joseph Smith, and the Latter-day Elders,
when offering this system to the people, told them clearly and
emphatically, [p.376] that it required sacrifices of the most serious
character—that it would bring persecutions, change our warmest friends
into bitter and relentless enemies, and that instances would occur
when the world in the confused ideas of right and wrong, would even
conceive they were doing God's service in taking our lives. These were
dark and forbidding prospects to a rational person in allowing himself
to be proselyted to a system whose truths he could not know, but only
guess at by what he was told, or of which he had read. Every man and
every woman, before receiving a system that called for such
sacrifices, would require a positive assurance that submission to its
requirements would bring indisputable knowledge of its true divinity,
so that, after having obtained a divine witness of its genuineness,
they could willingly, cheerfully and with a resolution, inspired by
the Almighty, move forward along the pathway of persecution and
sacrifice, traversed in all ages by martyred Saints and Prophets.

Vol. 26,  p.376
On this point permit me again to quote what Jesus promised, viz:
"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And upon this
rock I will build my Church; and the gates of bell shall not prevail
against it." Peter had obtained a revelation which Jesus called a
Rock, which every man might receive individually for himself to build
upon, with perfect assurance and safety—on which he could anchor his
hopes and prospects of salvation. Peter, on the day of Pentecost,
promised the Holy Ghost to those who would repent and receive baptism.
That principle imparts the knowledge or the rock of revelation upon
which the Savior declared His people should be established; and we
constitute the only religious community which dares assume this
Scriptural position; and our realization of the Savior's promise,
"that hell I shall not prevail against" a people thus established,
affords us peace, tranquility, unshaken confidence, and a cheering and
happy assurance of security in the midst of all kinds of threatened
ruin and overthrow. It is the people, the masses—not exclusively their
leaders, who possess this knowledge, and boldly testify to its
possession.

Vol. 26,  p.376
The astronomer may know of many laws and phenomena relating to the sun
and its movements through ethereal space; but as regards the simple
fact that it exists, and shines upon the earth, millions know as well
as himself. President Brigham Young and even Joseph Smith, so far as
respects the fact, that this Gospel which we preach as a divine
institution, never professed to have a knowledge more convincing and
satisfactory than tens of thousands in these valleys who never arose
to address a public audience.

Vol. 26,  p.376
This system of religion, in its nature, in the character of its
origin, the manner of its operations, and in the purposes for which it
was designed, coupled with the fact, that people of honest hearts, can
and will appreciate divine truth, is such that it cannot be destroyed.
A man who is honest, full of integrity and love for the interest and
happiness of mankind, having explored this long untrodden path, and
made this glorious discovery, will not and cannot keep silent, but
despite of threats and opposition, however fierce and terrific, will
boldly declare the glorious fact, spreading and multiplying this
divine intelligence, and if so required, seal this testimony with his
own life's blood.