Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26
Journal of Discourses,
Volume 26
2
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.]
BLESSINGS FOLLOW CERTAIN ORDINANCES.
2
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."
2
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.
3
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 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 a 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.
3
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.
3
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.
4
The Seventies are a numerous concourse of men who are called in
connection with the Twelve to see 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.
4
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.
4
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, November 20, 1884
George Q. Cannon, November 20, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Provo,
Sunday Afternoon, Nov 20th, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
5
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 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 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 are not thought of nor labored for by others.
Other people, when they form settlements 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 half-way in the
work that we have undertaken, but by divine help be able to
accomplish it.
5
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.
6
In the first place it will not do to judge or measure us 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
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.
6
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 done--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.
7
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 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.
8
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, they 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 right. 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 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.
8
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.
9
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 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.
9
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 if 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 justified 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 he 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.
10
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 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 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."
10
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.
10
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 of
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.
10
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.
11
God has given unto us, as we believe and as we testify, His
Gospel; He has given unto us His Church; He 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, an during 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."
12
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 he 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 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 devote a certain
portion of their time 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, and 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.
13
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 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. 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.
13
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.
14
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 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.
14
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 may be 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.
14
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.
15
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, 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 religion, and that we cannot forego
this principle without feeling that we forego our salvation, our
eternal exaltation, by so doing.
15
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.
15
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 before 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 the
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.
16
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 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.
16
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 and 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--Obed, 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.
18
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 given unto us; let us honor it, and
not be intimidated by the outcry that is raised against us that
we are doing wrong because 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 full
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 of
preferment and office. Why, there is scarcely a man that gets an
office in the United States that is not bound by pledge 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 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.
18
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.
18
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Charles W. Penrose, November 16, 1884
Charles W. Penrose, November 16, 1884
DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY ELDER CHARLES W. PENROSE,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, November 16, 1884.
(Reported by Arthur Winter.)
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.
19
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.
20
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 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.
20
According to the book 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 called 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 has 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 man 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:
20
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus;
20
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God;
20
"But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men;
20
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;
20
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name
which is above every name;
21
"That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
21
"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.--Philippians li, v. 2."
21
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.
21
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.
21
"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.)"
21
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:
21
"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."
22
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 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 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.
22
"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.
22
"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.
23
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
natural light is the grosser substance or particles of the same
Spirit.
23
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.
23
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.:
23
"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."
24
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 came 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 from 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 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. But 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.
24
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 come
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 the 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.
25
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 God 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 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.
25
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:
25
"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."
25
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.
26
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, 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 consideration
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. 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:
26
"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.)"
26
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 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.
26
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 things 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:
26
"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 three 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."
27
It goes on to show how that these three are all exactly alike,
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:
27
"The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, and
the Holy Ghost is incomprehensible, yet they are not three
incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible."
27
Well, that is an attempt of man 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:
27
"This is life eternal, to know thee the only living and true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
27
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 peradventure 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 he 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.
28
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 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.
28
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.
29
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 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.
30
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 stars 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
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.
30
"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."
30
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 dwelt 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, December 14th, 1884
John Taylor, December 14th, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Evening, December 14th, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
31
We hear a great many things associated with the Church and
Kingdom of God in which, as a people, we are very much
interested.
31
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.
33
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 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 him 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 men, 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 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.
33
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 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.
34
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. 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.
34
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 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 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.
35
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 of,--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 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.
36
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 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 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 the 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.
37
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; and if they needed a schooling of
this kind He, as their Father and Creator, was the proper one to
adjudge their punishment.
37
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 hide 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.
38
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 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, thus men and nations are adjudged
by the Almighty, 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 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 shed 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.
38
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
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 to-day 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.
39
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 most
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 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
silver, 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."
39
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.
39
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.
40
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 right, we will treat all men right, and
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. 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 re-act 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.
40
God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of
Jesus, Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, December 7th, 1884
George Q. Cannon, December 7th, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, December 7th, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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--NOW POWER CAN OVERTHROW THE WORK OF
GOD--EXHORTATIONS TO FAITHFULNESS.
40
The speaker commenced by reading the 24th chapter of Matthew;
after which he spoke as follows:
41
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 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 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 did 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.
44
I need not say to you, my brethren and sisters, who are familiar
with 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 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 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 come 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 hearing 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,
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
and 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 will 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 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 for 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.
44
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.
46
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 not 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 will legislate against it. If you had
not made it religion we 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
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 hardships 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 and 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 overflowed 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. 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.
46
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 mountains 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 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.
47
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, 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 continued
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.
48
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 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 men 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 man 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 adulteress, 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 living 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 forces,
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Teasdale, January 11th, 1885
George Teasdale, January 11th, 1885
DISCOURSE BY APOSTLE GEORGE TEASDALE,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, January 11th, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
VISIT TO THE SOUTH--TESTIMONY OBTAINED FROM GOD--NECESSITY
AND BENEFITS OF PRAYER.
51
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
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 subject 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 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 consequently 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 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.
53
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 this 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 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 mighty 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
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.
54
Then, again, how 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 of 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 them
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 vouchsafed 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 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, and 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. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding
in him."
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 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, December 14, 1884
George Q. Cannon, December 14, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, December 14, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
56
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 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 transgressed 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 pre-arranged 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, as I 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 them 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.
58
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, 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 His 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 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.
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.
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 Elijah'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 him if he 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.
59
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
poweer, 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 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 werre 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.
60
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, unparalleled 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, 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.
61
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 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.
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 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 gifts 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
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 diligence, 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.
62
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; given to every woman and to every child
who is faithful in the 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.
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 man 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: not 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.
63
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 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 same 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 does 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.
63
Now, in connection with this subject, a man a few days ago--it
suggest 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 Melchizedek."
65
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 be 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, 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 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.
66
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 is 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 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 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, November 30th, 1884
John Taylor, November 30th, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the Stake Meeting House, Provo,
Sunday Morning, November 30th, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
67
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 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.
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:
67
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,
and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
thereof.
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.
67
"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the
Lord hath spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.
67
"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because
they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken
the everlasting covenant.
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."
69
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 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 take 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 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.
70
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, 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 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.
71
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 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.
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."
72
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 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 be 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 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.
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.)
73
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 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.
74
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 Wm. 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 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 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.
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
hydrostatics--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.
74
It is thought and so stated by some writers that there are
subterraneous passages for water flowing from Lake Superior.
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:
74
"And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the
flood were upon the earth.
74
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month,
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."
75
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 be accomplished. It is
explained here in 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
heaven was restrained, and the waters returned from 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.
75
I will find you another Scripture. I 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:
75
"Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and
answer thou me.
75
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.
75
"Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath
stretched line upon it.
75
"Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the
corner stone thereof;
75
"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?
75
"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it
had issued out of the womb."
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."
76
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
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 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.
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 anybody 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.
76
God bless and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, November 9, 1884
George Q. Cannon, November 9, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, November 9, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
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:
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.
77
13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that
which is good?
77
14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye;
and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
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;
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.
77
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for
well doing than for evil doing.
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;
77
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
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.
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:
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.
78
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 flesh hath ceased from sin;
78
2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
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:
78
4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the
same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.
78
5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick
and the dead.
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.
78
7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer.
78
8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for
charity shall cover the multitude of sins."
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 our 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 power 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.
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 inquires 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?"
79
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 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."
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.
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?"
79
"Oh," said he, "but they were not Christians."
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."
79
But he could see a wide distinction between those who were
Christians and those who were not.
80
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
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.
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:
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?
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 among 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."
81
A most important revelation, this, to Enoch, showing unto him the
fate of the wicked after this 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 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."
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 this shall the heavens
weep, yea, and all the workmanship of my hands."
81
Those millions of spirits who had thus committed sin and iniquity
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 antediluvian 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.
82
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
broken-hearted, 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 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 Melchizedek, 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."
82
Now, say some, "Oh, this means when men are dead in their sins.
This is what Peter means--dead in their sins."
83
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 He 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 Gospel of
Christ, or in ignorance of that Gospel, 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."
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."
84
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 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 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.
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.
85
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, 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 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 the
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.
86
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 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.
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.
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
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 keeping 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, February 12th, 1882
John Taylor, February 12th, 1882
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the Assembly Hall,
Salt Lake City, February 12th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
HOSTILITY 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 POWER 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.
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.
88
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 there was a certain class of
people that loved darkness 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.
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 no 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.
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 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.
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
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.
89
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 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.
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.
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.
90
But before this as 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 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 manner 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
he 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.
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.
90
Many of those 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.
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.
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.
91
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 darkness, 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. 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.
91
In relation to these things there are some remarkable passages
contained in the Bible. For instance:
91
"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be.
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,
91
And knew not until the flood came and took them all away! so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."
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 is 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.
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.
92
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 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."
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.
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.
93
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, 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 be 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.
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.
94
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 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 of 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?
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.
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,
beginning from his father a penny to help to support a miserable
existence. This is compatible with their high state of
civilization and purity. God save us from such "Christianity,"
from this time, henceforth and forever. ["Amen" from voice 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.
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 refereed to who are making so much noise about it; so they
need not trouble their heads.
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.
96
We are seeking to carry 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 and 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 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.
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 as
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 to-day 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."
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.
97
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 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.
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 the 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 he 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 now 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.
97
Well, it is for us to keep the commandments, to train up our
children in the fear of God, to live unto God, and I will risk
the balance. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Franklin D. Richards, January 18th, 1885
Franklin D. Richards, January 18th, 1885
DISCOURSE BY APOSTLE F. D. RICHARDS,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden,
Sunday Afternoon, January 18th, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
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 I should hope broadly expanded views and reflections
in the minds of the Saints.
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 much 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.
99
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 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?
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
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.
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 they have been
placed, to make a comfortable livelihood, yet they have left the
bosoms of the 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 stranger 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
hundreds, their thousands and their tens of thousands to this
country.
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 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 beneficent 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.
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 be clothed upon with power, as the Prophet said:
"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy 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 unto 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.
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.
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 forge 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.
101
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 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 thus
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.
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.
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.
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.
102
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
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.
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.
103
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 he 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 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.
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.
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.
104
My brethren and sisters: let us not be discouraged in the least.
Remember that no great revolution 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 love 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 full
acceptance with God. We must purify ourselves as He is pure.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, October 20th, 1881
John Taylor, October 20th, 1881
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered at Malad, Oneida County, Idaho,
Wednesday Morning, October 20th, 1881.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
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 MINISTRATION 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.
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.
106
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
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.
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 raced 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.
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.
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."
107
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
Melchizedek. 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 Melchizedek Priesthood. But you
understand 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.
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.
108
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 human 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 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 principles 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
antediluvians 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 be their deliverers, by going, as Jesus
did, and preaching to the spirits in prison.
109
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 Melchizedek
Priesthood, and they 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 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.
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 family, 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.
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.
110
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 feel 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 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.
110
These are some of the things we are after. And we are traveling
about to teach 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.
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.
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 lines 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.
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
Letzten 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.
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.
112
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 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 my
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.
113
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 delight 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 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
reprehensible. And if a man abuse a women, who is the weaker
vessel, it is an outrage to me. Have you not made covenants with
your wives for time and 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.
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 to do 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Henry
W. Naisbitt, March 8, 1885
Henry W. Naisbitt, March 8, 1885
DISCOURSE BY ELDER H. W. NAISBITT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, March 8, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
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.
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.
115
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. 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.
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 beginning. 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.
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.
116
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 Talmudic 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 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 held 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."
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.
117
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, will forever remain
to his posterity "the Everlasting Father."
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.
118
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 stratagem and because he did this he fell 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 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 he 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
were 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.
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.
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 his plurality of wives.
119
However, in the Christian dispensation 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 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.
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 from 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.
120
Now, this is the key to marriage in the abstract. It is its
foundation. It constitutes the glories of its architecture. It
brings upon it its 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.
120
We all realize the influence that 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.
121
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? 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.
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.
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.]
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 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.
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.
122
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 of stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Yet
we might here pertinently ask the American nation--"From when did
you derive your monogamy?" We might ask Old 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 religions
of mankind were practiced by them, it was received and accepted
unhesitatingly without comment or consideration, without
understanding as to whether it as 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.
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.
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.
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.
123
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 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 books of Christendom, 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 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.
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?
124
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
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.
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.
125
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 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 Established Churches, 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 minster, 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 notice 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 us is dissatisfied.
And so this feature 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.
126
Thus the bonds of society are 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.
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 wife 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.
127
In the carrying out of this relationship the Latter-day Saints
are numerous everywhere 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 a long 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 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.
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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, October 6th, 1883
John Taylor, October 6th, 1883
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 Irvine.)
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.
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 Melchizedek,
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.
129
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. 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 fall 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 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.
130
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 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."
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.
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."
131
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 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
a knowledge of 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.
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.
132
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, 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.
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.
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 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.
133
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 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 a better 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.
133
There are besides these other considerations in connection with
these matters.
133
The brethren who have preceded me this evening have referred to
the celestial, terrestrial 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 some 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.
134
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 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 be 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.
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.
135
"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 and will and law. Let
that law bewritten 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, January 18th, 1885
George Q. Cannon, January 18th, 1885
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden,
Sunday Morning, January 18th, 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
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.
137
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 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.
138
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--what the
effect upon our community is--the effect of the Sunday School,
and of the teachings of the Sunday Schools. 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 catechized, 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 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.
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.
139
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 of 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 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, He
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
141
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 Latter-day Saints will
do that will regardless of consequences. It is the attempt to do
that, that has brought us into disrepute.
142
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 a 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 weak-kneed 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 the
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 with us. Let 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.
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 over the greatest power there was
upon the face of the earth--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 of 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 into 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 his 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.
143
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 pile one law
upon another until they reach to the sky, it would not change
this. It is an eternal principle, and it will stand--this
principle of liberty, the liberty that God has given unto every
human 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. 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 difference;
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.
144
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 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.
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 made
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.
145
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; 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.
146
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 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.
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.
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 back 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.
147
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 we been any more
unhappy? Have we had any less prosperity? Has the sun shone less
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.
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 the
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.
148
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 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Taylor, February 1, 1885
John Taylor, February 1, 1885
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, February 1, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
148
I HAVE been very much interested in the remarks made by Brother
Erastus Snow, who has addressed us.
149
These are precious principles which only the Saints know how to
comprehend and appreciate. We are told "that the natural man
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.
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 things 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.
150
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 called 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 here
in 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.
151
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 many 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
consciences. 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 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.
153
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 many 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; for 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 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 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 man a right to control my conscience, or your
conscience, or to tell me I shall believe this or believe 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. [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 many of
you did the same, yet by an ex post fact 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, violate 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 Gardo
House. When Mr. Pierrepont came in, I said:
154
"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 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 between 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 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."
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.
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 office 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 as 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.
155
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 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.
157
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 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 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.
157
God bless you and lead in the paths of life, in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Reynolds, March 29th, 1885
George Reynolds, March 29th, 1885
REMARKS BY ELDER GEORGE REYNOLDS,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, March 29th, 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
THE WORK OF THE LORD IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS AND IN NEW
ZEALAND--THE
INHABITANTS OF THESE ISLANDS PROBABLY OFFSHOOTS 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.
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
strengthening 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.
159
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 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 question 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
trustworthy, much less infallible, standard by which to gauge 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 bestigmatized,
decried and derided. But in our union lies our strength; because
we cannot be united on any other principle than 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 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 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 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.
160
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
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.
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 principle 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 good will 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 of 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.
163
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 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 to-day 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 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 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 far 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
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, firm 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 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.
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
Covenants 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 this 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 from 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, then 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 us, 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Franklin D. Richards, April 4th and 5th, 1885
Franklin D. Richards, April 4th and 5th, 1885
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.
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.
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.
165
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 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 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.
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.
165
We who are gathered together, instead of entertaining ill 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.
166
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 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Franklin D. Richards April, 4th and 5th, 1885
Franklin D. Richards April, 4th and 5th, 1885
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Franklin D. Richards, April 4th and 5th, 1885
Franklin D. Richards, April 4th and 5th, 1885
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.
167
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 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.
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.
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 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 understand 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.
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.
168
This is not only the doctrine of the Gospel of this
dispensation, and the doctrine of the Gospel in the dispensation
when Jesus and the Apostles of His day where 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 must 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."
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.
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.
169
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 he 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 murder and every
manner of abomination that the human heart can conceive of.
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 from 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 this
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 Melchizedek, 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.
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?
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 in 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. There 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.
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 be 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 be 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.
171
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
conscience 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
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.
172
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 ought to understand these things. It
is our duty to do so.
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.
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."
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.
173
Inasmuch as the work of God spreads, and its influence and
potency 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.
173
Do you know, says one, how far these things 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.
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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / John
Henry Smith, April 6th, 1885
John Henry Smith, April 6th, 1885
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.)
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.
174
IT affords me 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 sometimes 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:
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."
175
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 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.
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.
176
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
great 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 work of the
Lord.
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.
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 Fjeldsted 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.
176
The brethren throughout the British Isles have been making
efforts to introduce the Gospel in every corner and place where
opportunity presents 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.
177
We have made recently--through the labors of Brothers Wilson and
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, 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 stock 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.
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, were paying any attention
whatever to religious observance.
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.
178
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
partizan purposes in our own land was scattered broadcast
throughout Europe, and the masses of the people were 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.
179
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 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 has bestowed upon me in that direction.
180
"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 to be 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
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 may be 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.
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 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.
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.
182
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 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 the 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 the 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
playthings 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 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, September 28th, 1884
George Q. Cannon, September 28th, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, September 28th, 1884.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
183
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 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.
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 created 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 He 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 great 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.
184
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, 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 manner 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.
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.
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 He 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 the part of the children of men to receive it
when it is communicated.
185
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 great extent, depend their actions in this
life.
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 imposter 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.
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."
186
Who were his fellows? Were not all the distinguished of heaven's
sons there--they who afterwards made their appearance on the
earth as Prophets, Apostles and righteous men? 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?
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?
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 He 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.
187
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 born on the earth--have had an
existence with the Father, before coming here.
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.
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.
188
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 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.
189
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 earth from 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 though 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 He 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 His 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 thou 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 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--lay down His
life, as it was known that He would do through the wickedness of
bad men.
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.
190
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 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 condition 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.
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 garden of Eden. I will read a
paragraph or two:
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."
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.
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.
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.
190
"And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all
things known unto their sons and daughters."
192
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 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 to 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 heaven, 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 not 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 man ever put 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 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.
193
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 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.
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 time 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.
193
May God grant that we may do so, is my prayer in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Orson
F. Whitney, April 19, 1885
Orson F. Whitney, April 19, 1885
DISCOURSE BY BISHOP ORSON F. WHITNEY,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, April 19, 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
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.
194
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.
194
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.
195
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 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.
196
We are placed in this world measurably in the dark. We no longer
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 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.
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 given 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.
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.
197
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 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 sea-shore, 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.
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
of 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.
198
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 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."
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 Christians 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 acknowledgement 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 the 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 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.
199
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 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.
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.
200
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 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 days 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 earth, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
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.
201
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 Galileo, 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 of 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 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.
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.
202
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 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.
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.
202
The old fable which Aesop 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 hewed 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."
203
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 retribution, 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 never 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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
204
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; the honest and the upright among all the
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Moses
Thatcher, April 13, 1885
Moses Thatcher, April 13, 1885
REMARKS BY APOSTLE MOSES THATCHER,
Delivered in Logan Tabernacle,
Sunday, April 13, 1885.
Reported by F. E. Barker.
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 BEEN
FIERCELY
OPPOSED--OUR TRIALS ARE AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PURPOSE--CONCLUSION.
205
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
thought, 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 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 heats 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 can 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.
206
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 Villet, 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. 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?
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 he 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.
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.
207
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 our children, fewer privileges well appreciated, are
better than many, without gratitude.
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.
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 that 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 not 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.
208
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, unbiased by popular clamor,
unswerved by private prejudice. 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 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 rule 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.
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
judgment shall be given into your hands, friend and foe, Pagan
and Christian, white and black, Saint and sinner, will alike
receive evenhanded 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.
208
The reason this high moral, god-like plan 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.
209
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 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
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.
209
Had Christ been unable to accomplish that foreordained work, this
world would forever have remained without a Redeemer. Expiring on
the cross, amide 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."
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 and
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.
210
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, as turned into lamentation
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 those who rack their brains vainly
trying to stop the onward progress of God's work; when we think
of proscriptive, 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.
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?
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.
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!
211
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 hand
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
how 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, 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.
212
While in the city of San Francisco recently, I witnessed an
exhibition of the incandescent 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 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.
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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Erastus Snow, May 31st, 1885
Erastus Snow, May 31st, 1885
DISCOURSE BY APOSTLE ERASTUS SNOW,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Provo, Sunday Morning
May 31st, (Quarterly Conference) 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
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.
213
THE speaker commenced by reading from the 1st chapter of
Genesis--from the 25th verse to the end of the chapter.
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."
214
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 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 us make man 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.
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:
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."
216
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
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 He could swear by no greater--that in blessing
He would bless him, and in multiplying He would multiply him;
that his seed 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 movable temple and subsequently a temple in
the land of promise when 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) selected
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 human 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.
217
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 and 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 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.
218
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
He 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 the
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 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.
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 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.
219
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 from 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 slain from
the foundation of the world. He is called a lamb of God typically
speaking, because the offering 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.
220
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 nullified. The Latter-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, foeticide, 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 who 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
every before. I spoke of it to 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.
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.
221
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 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 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
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
vice of the age.
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 hoodwinked 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.
226
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, 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 case 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 considred an
element of danger to themselves, to the representatives of the
federal government and their aiders 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 immortality 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 jurisdicttion, 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 trap
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 Justic 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. Fruthermore 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 form 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 design of
Congress; that the Edmunds law was a blow aimed 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 seizing 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 bold 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 Edmunds 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 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 case, 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 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, 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 be 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 action 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 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 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
right of a man to be tired 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.
227
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 the 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; the hypocritical hireling priests will sustain it; the people
will sustain it and say, "Crucify them, crucify them, they have
no friends."
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Henry
W. Naisbitt, June 7, 1885
Henry W. Naisbitt, June 7, 1885
DISCOURSE BY ELDER HENRY W. NAISBITT,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, June 7, 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
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.
228
MY brethren and sisters and friends: I arise to speak with a
little embarrassment, but I look to the Saints, asking for their
faith so that I may overcome.
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.
230
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 nation 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 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, and 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. 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 inquire of those who are "Mormons" or
Latter-day Saints by faith 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.
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?
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.
232
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
to its past, and in regard to the present and future of that
existence. All the facts of a man's organization bear 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 into 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 originator, 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 sent 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 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, 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. 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 sinsick
world, and now if there is one medicine needed more than another
in this age, it is that medicine which will minister 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
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.
233
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 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 parents 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.
235
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? 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 be 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
He 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."
235
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 that 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 omission as fatal as those of
commission.
235
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!
235
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 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? 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, 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!
236
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 Noah, so also
doth "baptism now save 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.
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
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.
237
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 into
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 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 ascendancy 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.
237
This is the criticism of the Latter-day Saint 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."
239
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 he 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 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 reception 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 does 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 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.
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 to lay
hands upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and as in olden
times, the signs have followed the believer.
240
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 persecuted 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 of 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 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.
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
Saduccees, and other sectarians, found salvation at the hands of
the fishermen of Galilee.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / George
Q. Cannon, October 18th, 1884
George Q. Cannon, October 18th, 1884
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden,
Sunday Morning, October 18th, 1884.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
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 MELCHIZEDEK
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.
241
I WILL read a portion of the 7th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the
Hebrews.
241
[The speaker read the whole of the 7th chapter.]
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
Melchizedek, 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.
242
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. 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 be 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.
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
the Lord in the administration of ordinances. He never attempted
to 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 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.
243
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 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
Melchizedek 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.
245
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 Melchizedek--that is, this higher Priesthood. He
exercised the authority thereof among the children 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 among the children of men aside from and
independent of the authority of the Holy Priesthood, that is, the
Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. 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
Melchizedek 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 Melchizedek; 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 traced 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 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 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. Melchizedek
received it, and because of his greatness and the power that he
attained unto 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 time 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.
245
To return again to Melchizedek. 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 end 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
Melchizedek 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.
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 plentitude of
its power to the earth, and men began to exercise the authority
thereof.
247
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
Son 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 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 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 heathen 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, 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.
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 that 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:
247
"Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whosoever sins ye retain; they are retained."
247
"Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven."
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 they shall be remitted, but when they are not remitted
they shall stand against those who commit the sins.
248
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. When ever 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 Church, and take from him the
Priesthood united in lifting their hands to cut him off from the
Church, 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.
249
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 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 of 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 received
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.
250
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, 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 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."
251
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 holy 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 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 known 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.
252
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 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 the 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 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. 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 this purpose. He is still engaged in that work. He
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 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.
253
Thank God, my brethren and sisters, for the restoration of the
Priesthood. Thank God for the blessings we receive every day.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 /
Franklin D. Richards, April 6, 1885
Franklin D. Richards, April 6, 1885
REMARKS BY APOSTLE F. D. RICHARDS,
Delivered at the General Conference, held in Logan,
on the 6th April, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
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 KINGDOM 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.
254
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 to-day than any other people of the same
number anywhere on God's 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.
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.
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).
255
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,
which liberty, too, for God has made you free. 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.
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.
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.
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 of the face of
the earth, filled with power, wisdom and intelligence that all
the surrounding nations will look up to.
256
The people that are around us in our midst, and who wish to
dictate 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.
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, cultivate 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.
257
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 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 when the wicked rule,
the people mourn.
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 will 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.
258
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 relations,
sworn allegiance to government, have pre-empted or homesteaded
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
259
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 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
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 every 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.
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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Orson
F. Whitney, June 21, 1885
Orson F. Whitney, June 21, 1885
DISCOURSE BY BISHOP ORSON F. WHITNEY,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, June 21, 1885.
(Reported by John Irvine.)
PROPHECY OF JOHN THE REVELATOR--MISSION OF THE ANCIENT
APOSTLES--THEIR
RECEPTION AND FATE--THE GREAT APOSTASY--PRESERVATION 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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
260
"And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without
fault before the throne of God.
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;
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.
261
"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
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:
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 of 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 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," And the day would come, He said, when they that put His
disciples to death would think they were doing God's service.
262
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. 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 endure 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 into
fables.
263
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 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.
264
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
when 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 his 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 was so glorious when he appeared that
John, who perhaps had labored with him, did not recognize him. He
had been sent unto him to show him what should come to pass
thereafter.
264
But not only was John shown what should occur after the time in
which he was living, 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
symbolically 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 has passed, and then the third and the fourth periods, at
the end of which Jesus came as the Savior 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.
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.
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."
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.
265
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 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 responsibility ends with me here; it
is assumed by those who listen, who can act as they feel led;
they give heed to the warning message, or whether they ignore and
reject it.
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.
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 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 had
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.
266
The earth underwent a baptism by being immersed in water, for the
remission of 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 days of 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 He 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.
267
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 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 be
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.
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 heaven, 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 leaven 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.
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 given 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.
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.
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.
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.
269
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 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.
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 man 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 into 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.
Journal of Discourses / Journal of Discourses, Volume 26 / Junius
F. Wells, July 12th, 1885
Junius F. Wells, July 12th, 1885
REMARKS BY JUNIUS F. WELLS,
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, July 12th, 1885.
Reported by John Irvine.
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.
270 JUNIUS F. WELLS
IT is a 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
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.
270 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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.
271 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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 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 are doctrines of truth, of holiness, of
progress and advancement, designed to save men, to build them up,
to develop 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.
272 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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.
273 JUNIUS F. WELLS
This judgment of the world against us, assuming that we are
wrong, 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 plan. 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. 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
power 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.
273 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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?
274 JUNIUS F. WELLS
They may say that we are independent. 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 leaven 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 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 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.
274 JUNIUS F. WELLS
But I look forward, my brethren and sisters, to the time when the
truth will dawn upon this nation with respect to the 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 fellowmen; 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 sending all creation up here to set us right.
274 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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 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.
276 JUNIUS F. WELLS
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 make 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
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