Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 10, 1861.

I arise before you, brethren, on the present occasion, with a heart full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for his manifold blessings unto us, for our preservation and the light of his countenance that has shone upon us to enable us to understand so much of truth as has been taught unto us, or at least so much as we have been capacitated to receive; that while the storms lour upon the earth, which the Lord is about to sweep with the besom of destruction, we are enabled to stand in the chambers of the mountains while the indignation of the Almighty upon the wicked passes over. From the time that we entered this valley to the present moment, I have never contemplated our position without feeling to shout Hosannah for the place that the Lord had preserved for his Saints, for the natural fortresses that he had constructed, and for the principles that he had revealed to enable us to develop and to bring from the earth the necessaries of life, and more abundantly for the privilege of participating in the enjoyment of the principles and blessings of our holy religion, uninterrupted by those who are without.

Our toilsome journey across the Plains, the difficulties we had to encounter in making a settlement, were such as are unparalleled in the history of mankind, rendered so by the necessity of conveying our provisions over a desert for upwards of a thousand miles. You may search the history of the whole habitable globe in vain to find a parallel. We were guided by the hand of the Lord from the beginning of this great work. This people commenced to radiate forth from this place, cities began to rise up, Branches were organized, new towns sprang up into being, new valleys have been and still are being discovered, and other advantages gained up to the present moment, with a corresponding ratio of increase which is truly astonishing.

The winter after the pioneers arrived here, in 1847, a committee was appointed to examine this valley and to ascertain how much land could be irrigated. After a careful examination, they reported eight hundred acres was all that could be cultivated, for want of water; and the result is, as many thousands are now cultivated. You might inquire into the condition of other valleys, and you would be invariably told that the whole country was a barren desert. This was the case with Spanish Fork and various other places that are now the most fertile. The Lord has opened our eyes, that we can see and understand the nature of the facilities that surround us, that we can produce the finest of grain, and make ourselves happy.

In the earliest days of the Church the Elders were sent forth with a report that those who were in the Eastern lands should flee to the West, and we continued to flee from the Eastern lands towards the mountains, and we have continued to do so; and at the present time we, above all other people upon the face of the earth, have cause to rejoice. While turmoil, discontent, and bloodshed are increasing upon the earth, we are at peace. We present the spectacle of a people inhabiting a country flourishing as a reward for our industry.

The principles of the everlasting Gospel being established in the minds of the people, and the people being united, there is no power in existence that is able to interfere with or mar the community.

It has been my privilege for the last six weeks to spend my time in traveling and preaching in the southern settlements, in company with Elder Joseph A. Young. Now, I remember the time when all the Saints in Kirtland could have assembled in one of those little school– houses that I have been preaching in of late, and they would not have been crowded either.

During our absence we have traveled eight hundred and fifty miles, that is, going south and north, visiting all the settlements south of Sanpete. We have attended some forty-three meetings. To accomplish this, we had to make long days, traveling eighteen hours in a day, in consequence of deep snow; and we have tasted of the variety of temperature with which the Lord has blessed Utah, from the frigid to the torrid zone.

On our return up the Rim of the Basin, from the settlements of the Rio Virgin and Santa Clara, we appreciated the change more than we did in going down. The brethren are in good spirits, with few exceptions. There were a few places where we had to stay and settle some difficulties. They expressed a willingness to do right, and they were very glad to see us; and, although in midwinter, they would crowd together; and, in fact, they appeared to enjoy our visit more than if they had known we were coming.

It is generally understood that all nations are desirous of getting under their control both a northern and a southern climate. This is desirable in all nations. We found that the brethren in Washington County had again raised, last year, a good quality of cotton, which would be highly creditable in any other country. We have also soil and climate that will produce tobacco as fine as is grown in Virginia: it only needs to be cultivated.

Now, were we to take a man from the broad prairies of Missouri or Illinois and show him the narrow flats of the Rio Virgin, he would be apt to describe it as a certain member of Congress described the Louisiana purchase made by Mr. Jefferson. He said that it was not a belt nor a garter, but simply a mere strip—a mere string west of the Mississippi River. That shows how little a Congressman in Mr. Jefferson’s time knew of the valley of the Mississippi. Such is the feeling in relation to the limited extent of arable land in the southern part of our Territory. The field of operation for the production of a supply of cotton is within our reach.

Many of us choose to use tobacco, and we could save $60,000 from going out of the Territory every year, if we would raise these articles within ourselves.

I am well known as one who is in favor of letting this article of tobacco alone. It is said that many suffered more from the want of it than they did for bread in the time of famine. If we must have it, I am in favor of laying plans to produce it within ourselves, seeing that the Lord has given us the climate.

Now the production of cotton in Washington County is no longer a matter of uncertainty. It can be produced; and as men enter into the business they will gradually learn how to manage it. Experience shows that as we plant the seed, year after year, it becomes naturalized to the climate, and we raise a better article and more of it every year. This may also be said of grain in this Territory, wheat and corn in particular.

Many settlements have arisen within the last few years that are now in a flourishing condition. I visited one, Deseret City, on the Sevier, where they are raising an abundance of wheat and other grain. We organized a Branch of one hundred and twelve members, and a good feeling appears to exist there. The soil is of the best quality, and there is a prospect of its being one of the granaries of the mountains. There is a spirit of waking up among the people, at the present time, to their own in– terests and welfare in regard to home productions. During the last two or three years, while there has been such a vast influx of merchandise, the goods in market being easily obtained, that has had a tendency to cause the people to neglect home productions; and they have exerted their ingenuity to procure means to buy what they needed, instead of producing it. This feeling is now dying away to some extent, and we find the people busily at work to produce those things which they need for their own use, and they do not feel to depend any longer upon a foreign market.

Brethren and sisters, the work that is before us requires our undivided exertions and our best economy and industry. And when we undertake to do a work, we should do it with an eye single to the glory of God and a determined zeal to do his will—to live in accordance with his ordinances.

In taking up the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and looking at the commandments and promises given through Joseph Smith, I am led to rejoice. With some there has evidently been a doubt of their fulfillment; and the idea that there was a possibility of the Saints, ever going to live in Jackson County! Why, say some, it is full of Missourians, many of them possessing the most hostile feelings, which they have nourished for years past. The driving of the Saints from their homes by the people of Missouri and the great prosperity that has attended this people have excited a kind of apprehension that, at some time or other, the “Mormons” would take a notion to go back to root them out of their homes. Fear occasionally takes hold of them, but still there is that same deadly hatred among them towards us which they possessed; and in consequence of that, many have considered that it would be im– possible for the Saints ever to go back to that land and inherit it, and build the temple that has been promised and commanded to be built. Notwithstanding the revelations that had been given to build a temple, the brethren were prevented from fulfilling it, in consequence of the opposition of their enemies, or foolishness, or carelessness in the breasts of many who were called to act with the Prophet Joseph, when the Saints were driven. When the Saints were driven from the United States, we could not see why; but those who have any light in them can see now. If we were in Missouri, we should be obliged to take sides in the present lamentable strife of brother against brother. If we were there, we should be in constant trouble. The present state of anarchy should show us that it is impossible to settle their difficulty peaceably. They may strive to divide and make an amicable division, but it will end in the most awful bloodshed. It is impossible to avoid it. Their determined will and their hatred to each other are such that they cannot be reconciled. The hatred with which they hated us has turned upon each other, and it will continue upon them in such a manner that they cannot avoid it. And by-and-by it will be like it was with the Jaredites and the Nephites. When they became divided, they were determined to exterminate each other: they resolved on the extermination of one party or the other, and it ended in the extermination of both. You look in the Book of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and you will find it. After they had slain two millions of people, the king of one of the contending parties tried his very best to procure peace and cease the shedding of blood. Coriantumr offered Shiz, if he would give peace to the people, he would give his kingdom to him; but Shiz would not consent to peace, unless Coriantumr would come and be slain by the hand and sword of Shiz. Then the people were again stirred up to battle, and fought until all were slain, except him whom the Prophet of God had said should not die by the sword. From the spirit that is now manifest, it is not impossible for like scenes to be again enacted upon this continent. It is just as easy, I contend, for the Lord to cause the Saints to return and build the Temple in Jackson County as it was for the Lord to bring us into this wilderness, or to frustrate the powers of our enemies, here in this Territory, as most of you have seen. When this people shall have learned to do the will of our Heavenly Father, and to be united in all things, then will be brought about the prediction that the wicked shall slay the wicked. The time is not far distant when the distressed of all nations will come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and claim protection from the Saints of the Most High God.

It is high time for the Saints to be awake and on hand to perform their duties, and live up to their calling as Saints of God, doing all things required at their hands, that the light of truth may constantly shine in our minds. The only thing that we have to fear is that the Saints do not realize the importance of their position, and that they will not be awake to the duties that devolve upon them.

The time is nigh at hand when thousands and tens of thousands of our enemies and their children will come to crave protection of this people. There are many persons who have read the revelations of Joseph Smith that have had misgivings in relation to them, and they have feared that they were true; but they did not feel quite willing to believe that they would be literally fulfilled; or, if they did, they dared not confess it. Any persons that have looked at the accounts published in our papers can see how rapidly and how easily the Lord can accomplish his work. He does not wish us to go and slay our enemies, but he wants us to be upon the watchtower. He wants us to build towers, temples, houses, and everything that will make us comfortable; also to plant vineyards and oliveyards, and to watch over them. But when it comes to the wicked slaying the wicked, he has thus far caused the wicked to slay the wicked. The Saints have been and doubtless always will be spared this trouble, but they will have to face dangers—in many instances to lay down their lives for the Gospel’s sake; and to such the Lord will give crowns of glory and endless life, even to all those that live according to the principles of eternal life. But we need not expect crowns of glory in this life. The blessings of light and life that are in the midst of the Saints are only to be had by living for them—by living our religion. There are hundreds and thousands that are willing to fight for their religion. The things that are required are for us to live our religion, walk in accordance with the principles of honesty and justice, that the light of the Holy Spirit may continually shine upon us, and that our religion shall be the uppermost thing in our minds all the day long.

We frequently suffer ourselves to be bound by earthly considerations, so that we neglect our duties and attend to some small matters, and we thereby become careless and indifferent. But of this we should be very careful.

When I first settled at Parowan, in the county of Iron, the nearest settlement to it was Payson; and I believe there were only some three or four families in Payson. There were also a few in Sanpete. The fall after, the location was made at Cedar City. From that day to the present there has been a continual increase and extension of our settlements in that direction; and although it appears to be a great distance from here, settlements are rising up so fast that a man can stop at a settlement every night.

In 1858, I was told at Toquerville that it was impossible to make a road to the valleys up the Rio Virgin, and they were calculating that they would have to carry their seed grain and ploughs over the mountains upon pack animals. I told them that in a few years I would ride over in a carriage. Brother Joseph A. Young and myself visited the two settlements there, and passed over the ground I am speaking of, with four animals to our carriage, and brother Joseph remarked that this road, which is very steep and crooked, was so crooked that it was difficult to see the lead animals. The pass has the name of Johnson’s Twist.

The people are raising cotton and grain; they are cultivating the earth and are enjoying excellent health, and the water is of good quality. These two places (Pocketville and Grafton) are certainly in a flourishing condition.

We also visited the settlement at Minersville, Beaver county. It is composed of some twenty families. They are engaged in digging for lead, and they are trying to bring it into use. Evidence exists that a supply may be had from that quarter.

We organized a few families that live on Corn Creek into a Branch of the Church. We also found a small company of men on Cove Creek, who are commencing to make a settlement there. Those two settlements obviate the necessity of camping out at nights between Fillmore and Beaver, and the settlements in Round Valley and at Chicken Creek prevent the necessity of camping out between the cities of Nephi and Fillmore. This will be a great convenience to travelers.

Our country is a very extraordinary one, indeed; and if the Lord should see fit to send rain to prevent or do away with the necessity of irrigation, it is capable of sustaining a dense population; but as it is, the people are obliged to live in cities located above the fields, in order to secure to themselves pure water, and then go out and farm a patch of land with much labor and toil in the shape of ploughing, digging, irrigating, and weeding; and must so continue until the springs are made to rise up in the deserts, or the vapors descend from the clouds to aid in the better cultivation of the soil.

When I was at Washington, in the year 1856, I was asked by Senator Douglas if I did not think that, if skillful farmers were out in Utah, the land might not be made to produce abundantly without irrigation. That showed me how ignorant Congressmen were at Washington in regard to this country. When the Lord sees proper to break down the barriers that exist and cause the rain to descend upon the land, he can do it; but until then, he has very wisely provided that we shall take the streams in the mountains to irrigate the soil. If the mountains were covered with beautiful timber, and plenty of grain could be raised without irrigation, there is no doubt but our enemies would overrun us, or at least make us a great deal of trouble; but as it is, we inherit the chambers of the mountains: the rocks are our protection, and the oases of the desert our homes. Here we learn the arts of cultivation and of building; we learn to irrigate the land; we also, in many respects, prepare ourselves for a day when we shall go to the place that has been appointed for the building up of the city of Zion and for the building of the house which shall be a great and glorious temple, on which the glory of the Lord shall rest—a temple that will excel all others in magnificence that have ever been built upon the earth. Who is there that is prepared for this movement back to the Center Stake of Zion, and where are the architects amongst us that are qualified to erect this temple and the city that will surround it? We have to learn a great many things, in my opinion, before we are prepared to return to that holy land; we have to learn to practice the principles that we have been taught; we have to study to fill up every hour of our time in industrial pursuits and the acquisition of knowledge, and by economy and patience prepare ourselves as good and skillful workmen, as builders in the great building which our Father has prepared. And let me remind you that it is predicted that this generation shall not pass away till a temple shall be built, and the glory of the Lord rest upon it, according to the promises.

There is nothing in this country that is very prepossessing or encouraging to strangers, and especially to those who come with a bad spirit. When a man loses the spirit of his religion, he wants to leave the country. In a moment he sees it is a hard country—a miserable, barren, Godforsaken country. I have known many men come in here poor, and even destitute of the necessaries of life, in a situation to need help in order to enable them not merely to stay here, but to get food sufficient to sustain life. In three or four years, these individuals would, by industry and good luck, become measurably wealthy; they would become dissatisfied, all at once discover that “Mormonism” was a hoax, and re– solve to leave the country in disgust. Still they were perfectly independent of any assistance, and they were only leaving the country, they said, because they were so oppressed. Notwithstanding they had risen from poverty and degradation to comparative affluence, wealth, and independence, so that they could leave the country, into which they were brought by the Poor Fund, with plenty of mules, horses, wagons, carriages, cows, and many of them with money, yet they say that such oppression they could not endure!

I heard a missionary who came into this Territory by way of California say that on his way he met some seven families. They were apostates, of course, and each one went to work to tell him what they had apostatized for. They gave details of the causes and the reasons they had for apostatizing from the Church. Finally, the brother turned to one of the company who had not been talking at all, and said to him, What did you leave for? He replied very candidly—“I have been trying to think, and I have come to the conclusion that I was treated too well. When I first entered the Valley, I saw Elder Kimball, and he gave me a house to live in, rent free. He supplied me wood to burn. He said he would employ me. When I wanted to work, he told me to make myself comfortable until I had rested, and then he would employ me. I went to work, but was discontented. I went to work; but, not being satisfied, I considered the matter over and concluded that I was treated far too well.” Now, I consider that man a pretty honest apostate, and I rather think that he will come back again to the Church.

I have heard men say that the reason why they apostatized was because they were not well treated. Now, I have often thought, when I have been reflecting that this was the work of the Lord—the only means of exaltation, that the loss of such individuals would be felt vastly more by themselves than by anybody else. What a gratification it would be for such persons, when they lift up their eyes in hell, being in torment, to think that they might have been in a better place, if they had only been well treated! What a comfort, what a consolation, what a balm, especially to one who is lost forever! To overcome such temptations was not an impossibility. But so far as we are concerned, whether our brethren treat us well or not, if we keep the commandments of God, keep ourselves in the path of rectitude, and our feet do not slip, if we pursue a straightforward course, if our raiment is clean, though we encounter many difficulties in getting along while in this life, yet we may trust in the Lord our God, who will exalt the faithful. If we set out in the work of the Lord for time and all eternity, we set out for everlasting increase, for a salvation among the blessed, and for an eternal exaltation. If the principles of life are worth anything, they are worth everything that man can possibly sacrifice or suffer to attain to the reward that is promised. I remember, when in Kirtland, having heard Jared Carter say that he had sacrificed everything that ever would be required of him. He said, I have sacrificed all my property once, but I will never do it again. Where is that man? He is numbered in the long catalogue of apostates. If a man should sacrifice all that he has, and then say “I will do no more,” it is equal to saying I will stop serving the Lord. A man who intends to attain to eternal glory must be constantly awake to the discharge of his duty. He must not suffer his lust for gold, his thirst for wealth, or his desire for gain to fill his heart with covetousness, which is idolatry. We can pass over the pages of Church history and see the incidents that have transpired during the days of Joseph, and see the fate of every Elder who suffered lust or love of filthy lucre to tempt him from the path of virtue. Their fate should be a warning to all good men. We can see the career of many, and behold their conduct and its results. Men took him by the hand, saluted him with a kiss, called him brother, and then betrayed him; yet I can see their career of hypocrisy, their apostasy, and their consummate villainy. I can mark out their path. They were men who did not live their religion; they were not honest with God and their brethren; they were hypocrites; they corrupted themselves and became traitors to that man whom God had inspired to guide Israel. Some of them we regarded as very smart men that had great talents. They labored a little while in the cause, but they were not true to themselves; they were not true in their integrity; they were dishonest and corrupt; and in consequence of this, they fell into darkness, and lifted their hands for the destruction of the Saints of God, and fell from that exaltation which they had aspired to attain to.

The blessings of Providence have been over us from the commencement of this Church; the protecting hand of the Almighty has been visible over us all the day long: every step has been guided in wisdom. To take a people from amongst the nations of the earth and locate them in the midst of these mountains was one of the greatest achievements over natural obstacles ever accomplished upon earth. To organize a State in the midst of a vast desert—one that could sustain itself and bear up against the powers that endeavored to destroy it, was a feat unequaled by any– thing recorded in the annals of history.

When I was in Washington and in the library of the Capitol, I was asked if the “Mormons” would fight. I replied that the people that would have the energy to form a powerful State in the midst of a desert would have energy to defend it. To take persons, of various habits, possessing education of different kinds and degrees, men and women speaking different languages, coming from almost every part of the earth—to bring them here and organize them into a peaceful and united people, loyal to the Government and laws of our country, was certainly no small task. Then take the Saints that were assembled at Nauvoo, that had been driven from their possessions, hurried away from their homes, and robbed of all they possessed, driven away with a design on the part of their enemies that they should perish in the wilderness—to take this remnant that was left and bring them with the rest to this land, that was pronounced uninhabitable—to make it produce the rich provisions of the earth, and to organize a powerful State in the midst of this desert country, shows the power and wisdom of the Almighty, manifested through the man that leads, guides, and instructs the people. It is of such a character that the leading of Israel through the wilderness by Moses bears no comparison. You go to the Book of Exodus and you find the children of Israel made the most crooked paths, whereas we find that we came straightforward through the mountains right into the land of promise. We have straightened the mountain passes; we have made the rough places plain and smooth: the mountains, as it were, are melting away at our presence. The Prophet of the Lord showed all this beforehand by the power of God that was in him.

After a few years in these moun– tains, we hear members of Congress waking up, as did Mr. John Thompson, of New York, in 1858, being from the same State as the Prophet Joseph, and was probably in that State when the Church was organized. This astonished Congressman, having opened his eyes, said—“Mormonism is a stern, ugly fact, and it is halfway between us and the Pacific Ocean, and it stands there with ten thousand bayonets daring you to the contest.” He had suddenly awaked out of his slumber probably by the remarks of Mr. William W. Boyce, of South Carolina, who said—“There are two ways of settling the Mormon imbroglio; one is peace, and the other war: the first is the most humane, the cheapest, and consequently the best. If we choose the second, we make a hell of the passes in the mountains between the Pacific and the Atlantic for the next thousand years.”

They were just opening their eye to behold what they had done by driving the Saints from the United States, and refusing to allow them to lodge upon the banks of the Missouri. They drove them into the wilderness, and hoped never to hear of them again.

The day has passed for us to submit to be mobbed and driven about from pillar to post by our enemies: they have now got something else to do. The sword is now passing back and forth amongst them. I recollect, when I was a schoolboy once, the master gave two of us a stick and set us to whip each other: the master was compelled to stop us on account of our severity. Our enemies would not take the advice of the Prophet; this nation refused to listen to his counsels; they would not hearken to the word of the Lord which he proclaimed unto them; they killed us and drove us away from our possessions; and now the Lord will suffer them to punish each other for their sins, even as the schoolmaster did the boys, until he gets ready to stop them.

I am very much pleased with the privilege of addressing you. I feel that I am awake to the truth, and I try to live my religion, to bear my testimony to the work of God, and sustain the influence of my brethren in rolling on this great and glorious work. My testimony is as it has always been. It is the work of the Almighty, and his hand has guided it, and will continue so to do henceforth and forever, and no power can stay its progress, and he will guide it until it will overcome all opposing forces. It is the little stone cut out of the mountains without human hands, and it will roll forth and grow until it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith was before the court of Judge Austin A. King at Richmond, Missouri, they wanted to prove the charge of treason against him. It was stated in evidence that he had preached from the prophecy of Daniel, where it speaks of the great image and the little stone, and had stated that the stone would strike the image upon the toes and feet and break it to pieces—that then it would become a great mountain and fill the whole each. Judge King inquired of the witness if Mr. Smith did not say that the little stone spoken of was the Mormon Church. The witness answered in the affirmative. Judge King, turning to the clerk, said, “Write that down; that is treason.” According to this decision, the doctrines taught in the Bible were actually treason. General Doniphan replied, “By G—d, Judge, you had better make the Bible treason, and done with it.” They of course believed that the kingdom spoken of is a figurative kingdom; but we know that God has organized that kingdom, and it will roll forth with power and might until it overcomes all obstacles, and fills the whole earth. Then it will grant shelter and protection to all who are honest and upright, and protect them in their religious sentiments, whatever they may be. This will bring about a reign of peace and happiness that the world has long looked for.

Men may speculate and write their squibs; they may undertake to write this way or that; yet the Lord has commenced his work, and it will spread itself abroad until the laws of Zion are sent forth among all nations; for this work and this people will eventually have the dominion, and no arm can hinder it. Every man that is fool enough to be blinded by Satan will miss the honor, the glory, and the exaltation that await those who shall be sanctified and be prepared to enter in through the gates into the city, while those who adhere faithfully to the servants of God that are always on hand to build up Zion, seeking first to build up the kingdom of God and to learn his righteousness, will rise in majesty, glory, exaltation, and dominion.

May this be our case, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1861.

I arise before you to offer a few remarks, and to preach from a text. I do not know that you will find it recorded in any particular volume, and it is not exactly possible for me to tell the chapter and verse, but it will be found in the Gospel according to Saint Brigham—Sectarian religion, sectarian God, and the democracy of our country compared together.

We find in the Methodist discipline that the God worshipped by John Wesley’s followers was a very singular being, without body or parts. In the platforms of the Presbyterians, Baptists, and other denominations, it is declared that he has neither body, parts, nor passions. This is John Knox’s old platform. I never was very much posted in these systems of piety, but I remember, when quite young, looking at the book containing the articles of their faith, and wondering what sort of a being it was that had neither body, parts, nor passions, and I might perhaps, with propriety, add principles or power.

Lindley Murray says a substantive is the name of anything that exists; but if a being had no body, parts, or passions, its existence could only be imaginary. I suppose it would be a noun, but not really a substantive. I understand a substantive, according to Kirkham, to be the name of a substance.

The God that Moses saw wrote with his finger upon the tables of stone. (See Ex., ch. 31, v. 18.) The God that Jacob saw walked with him. Jacob was, no doubt, an expert wrestler, and in the habit of throwing anybody that came along (See Genesis, chap. 32). He was wandering about one night, and met a stranger, with whom he wrestled all night; and when he found he could not throw him, he said, You are something more than a man, or I could throw you. But I will not let thee go, except thou bless me; for thou art more than mortal, or I could throw thee. And Jacob said, I will call the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. The God with whom Jacob wrestled had some body and some parts. I need not go to investigate this subject, only to say that the God worshipped by the sectarian world is not the being that wrestled with Jacob.

We also learn from the old book that the Lord created man in his own image and in his express likeness. Man possesses body and parts: the result is, he is a being in the express image of the Father. The Father of the God that the sectarians worship is not the being who created man. But this imaginary deity, or myth of nothing at all, whose center is said to be everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere (I have heard it described in that language), which is worshipped by the sectarian world, can simply be expressed by using the words of the Methodist discipline and the creeds generally, and with the addition of two or three other words, without body, parts, or passions; then add principles or power. What is the result of worshipping such a being? It is a most indescribable religious confusion—a confusion that our language is inadequate to express. One of the old Prophets says—“Woe to the multitude of many people, that make a noise.”

I once went to a Methodist camp meeting, and heard some thousands of men and women praying, shouting, screeching all at once. At that time I looked round, and thought of the words of the Prophet—“Woe to the multitude of many people, that make a noise like the noise of a sea.” It was like a perfect bedlam of confusion. About midnight I got tired of the noise, and thought I would go away. I had tied my horse about a quarter of a mile from the camp. When I went to get him, he had broke the girth of the saddle, drawn the halter so tightly that I had to cut it and to lead him some distance before I could quiet him so as to ride him.

This will give you an idea of the confusion that can be created by a thousand voices in the extreme of enthusiasm and confusion of a Methodist camp meeting. The different sects differ about almost everything that pertains to their religion.

Harper’s Magazine tells the following story—

“A Mormon Elder from Salt Lake, by the name of Randall, not many years ago, while on a visit to his friends in the State of Ohio, was requested to attend a Campbellite meeting—a society to which his relatives belonged. He went, and listened to an eloquent discourse. The preacher was more charitable than many of the clergy of other denominations; and, in the course of his remarks, said that each denomination or branch of the church formed a link in the chain with which Satan will be bound, and thus usher in the reign of peace. After the sermon was ended, many of the brethren expressed their approbation of the discourse, and bore testimony to the truth of what the preacher had said. Finally, the friends of the Mormon Elder requested him to speak. He hesitated. But, after much solicitation, he arose and said—“I believe what your preacher has said in regard to the different denominations—that they each form a link in the chain with which Satan will be bound; and when bound, both Satan and chain will be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, according to the testimony of John the Revelator;” and sat down. He was not called on again.

But now for the second part of my text—the Democracy of our country. I was reading the remarks of a gentleman, who was insisting that the young men of our country should learn to spout—that is, to make a speech on politics, and be prepared to take the stump. A gentleman commenting on it says gold will ruin the country and destroy the Union. The people being the government, having no recognized head, and having to express itself through the belly, if you please, it takes a long time; and by the time the sentiment comes to the head, it is so confused and divided that the fact is, it would have you to suppose that the greater portion of the brains were in the boots! Read the proceedings of Congress for the last year, and you will see one constant stew. Every man that could get the opportunity would get up and pronounce a solemn speech, or have it printed at the public expense—at any rate, to send home to his constituents, to let them know that he did or must say something to prevent the dissolution of the Union, without ever reflecting upon or seeing the real cause of the difficulty. It is a species of maddening fury that rolls along like the waves of the sea—a kind of universal confusion. Take, for instance, those who have been the most devoted to the Constitution of the United States, and they, like the ancients who shouted “Great is the goddess Diana of the Ephesians!” would shout “Great is the Constitution!” “A great and glorious thing is the Union!” And every step they would take, every single effort they would make, would be to tread on the rights of others. What is the matter? What causes all this confusion? Why, those men who are placed in authority, from the President down, looked silently on, and saw the laws trampled underfoot, the Constitution violated, the rights of the innocent trifled with, the blood of innocence poured upon the ground like water, and the little insignificant body of people, the “damned Mormons,” as they pleased to call them, driven from their homes into the wilderness, and so peace was taken from their midst. Suppose you get the Christians now together and fetch them up here, and ask them to tell us which is the pure religion. Take, say a dozen of the leading sects, and let each one tell us which is the pure religion of Jesus Christ, and they would get up such a quarrel, such a confusion, such a hubbub, that it would be impossible to tell anything about it. Go to work and gather up the different factions of our country, politically, and let them undertake to tell what the matter is, and it would only have a tendency to show a specimen of that ignorance, stupidity, weakness, and universal confusion which reigns throughout the land. When the Latter-day Saints were driven from Jackson County, in 1833, Joseph Smith prophesied that if the people of the United States would not bring to justice that mob and protect the Saints, they should have mob upon mob, mob upon mob, until mob and power and mob rule should be all over the whole land, until no man’s life or property should be safe. This prophecy is being literally fulfilled.

The laws of the country are trampled upon with impunity, and there is nothing but a general and universal mob rule. There is really a combination of corruption which exceeds anything which the world has witnessed for generations.

Take, for instance, the officers of the army; go into any little detachment of the army, and they get together in solemn conclave, and condemn a whole lot of provisions—sell them for a mere trifle. Some of them will buy them in again, and pay twenty times as much as they sold for, and thus bleed Uncle Sam. Such men are in office every year. Men in office think it a fine thing to swindle the Government, which is only a miserable goose for them to pluck.

Now I will put the text together. The religious and political organizations of the country. Abe Lincoln, the present President of the United States, that was—at any rate he occupies the seat and claims the title, and presides over a portion of the Union at Washington in name—this man is the representative of the religious enthusiasm of the country. For the last thirty years there has been a constant stirring up and firm exertion on the part of the North to get up a crusade against slavery—to make the men who live in the Southern States turn over their slaves.

I was raised in the State of New York, and recollect the early movements in this matter. At that time a great many men held slaves. We drove our slaves to Virginia and sold them for the money, and got full pay. We immediately began to feel sorry for them, and began to feel that it was very wicked to keep negroes, seeing we had got the money for ours. Our State was free from slavery, and we desired all the Virginians to turn their negroes loose. We grew more and more conscientious about it. The pulpit took the lead—the Sunday schools and every other religious influence that could be brought to bear. Mr. Lincoln now is put into power by that priestly influence; and the presumption is, should he not find his hands full by the secession of the Southern States, the spirit of priestcraft would force him, in spite of his good wishes and intentions, to put to death, if it was in his power, every man that believes in the divine mission of Joseph Smith, or that bears testimony of the doctrines he preached.

There is no spirit more intolerant, cruel, and devilish than a spirit of religious persecution. It carries its cruelties to a greater extent; and when the civil authority becomes mingled with the religious, and that power is united, and the sword is placed in their hands, it is the most bloody weapon that was ever wielded. Infidelity is almost harmless, compared with it. The bloodthirsty power that has been exercised under such influence exceeds anything that history records. It is a union—a combination of civil and religious power in the hands of corrupt men, and that brought to bear, and turned loose upon us, with a determination to annihilate every Latter-day Saint. But God is our shield and our protector.

It was this influence that brought us trouble during the administration of Mr. Buchanan.

The Republican organs whipped Mr. Buchanan into the Utah war, and they then whipped him for getting into it; and they whipped him until he got out of it the best way he could, and then they whipped him awfully for getting out. They meant to keep him there until the work of destruction was done. But, thank the Lord, the Latter-day Saints yet live, and yet have an influence, and they are yet felt.

Now, brethren, this is the word of the Lord. And that contention which exists throughout the country, and which by its actual division is rendered powerless to injure us, is really our protection; God uses it to protect us. He has said, “The wicked shall slay the wicked.” The time shall come when the vengeance of the Almighty will fall upon the heads of those that have persecuted, slain, driven, and rejoiced over the destruction and affliction of the Saints. I know that this is the work of the Lord Almighty. I bear my testimony to it. And I say that if we were as we ought to be, if we would listen to the counsel of President Young as we ought to do, if we would obey his instructions as we ought to obey them, we should be the wealthiest people upon the face of the earth. I suppose, however, so far as the necessaries of life are concerned, we are so now. I presume you cannot find a community throughout the United States as large as ours but what the present distress, growing out of the present financial panic, from political disorganization, the failure of men to pay their debts, the refusal of the South to continue in the Union—among these influences you cannot find a community so large as this but what would be more or less actually in a state of suffering for want of bread. There is no Latter-day Saint in these mountains but what can get good bread, and eat that which is good and wholesome. Hence, I may say, we are the richest people; and if we had listened as we ought to have done for the last four years to the counsel of the Presidency, we should have possessed millions of property which we do not now. The fear there is in the breasts of many that the Presidency will exercise an influence over their business affairs, that would not give them as good a chance as they ought to have, has been all the while a plan to entangle our own feet, and has caused us to grope like blind men in the dark, and scramble for the picayunes when we might as well have picked up the eagles. I have been sorry for this. I know that a wise head to guide us in our movements in our different settlements—to tell us what we should cultivate, what kind of things we should improve in, and the advantages to be taken of the climate and productions of our several localities, and the way we should exercise our labor to produce the necessaries of life, is of vast importance to us. We have our brethren scattered all over the world, far and near, and many of them have been struggling for years to come to Zion. We should be awake while we are here, and try to release them from their bondage, for ere long the terrible storm will break loose; every man’s hand will be let loose upon his neighbor, and blood and distress, turmoil, sorrow, misery, war, and destruction will sweep the whole face of the earth as with the besom of destruction.

Let us, then, exert ourselves to deliver our brethren, that they may flee from the old barn like rats from a building on fire, and escape in time, and escape unhurt. Be wide awake and diligent in these things; and, when we are called upon to go after the poor, regard it as a most important mission. I do not want to bread. There is no Latter-day Saint go as teamsters, select some that are of no account. If you send out a team round which you expect to have gathered fifteen or twenty Saints to cross the Plains, send a man that will be a father to them, and teach them righteousness, and inspire them with good sentiments and exalted feelings. And you that go on such missions, remember you are sent to bring home the sheaves: therefore take care of them; strengthen and encourage them in regard to the things they should do and understand; stir up in their hearts a spirit of obedience, and they will come in here with the light of the Spirit of the Lord burning brightly within them, that their passage over the Plains may be a school to them of principle and doctrine and truth, that they may inherit all the blessings that are in store for them—blessings that will endure forever.

I believe I have got entirely from my text. Excuse me, and may the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, October 6, 1860.

It is about thirteen months since I had the privilege of rising and speaking in your midst. It is therefore with a heart filled with thankfulness to our Heavenly Father that I now enjoy the privilege of bearing my testimony on the present occasion of the things which pertain to the kingdom of the Most High. In his kind providence we are enjoying a great multitude of blessings.

The testimony which has been given to us this morning of the power and manifestations of the Spirit of God in the midst of Israel is calculated to make us rejoice. The Lord speaks unto us in his own way, and after his own manner, and in our language, and after our understanding, and the light of his Spirit which shineth in our minds, inasmuch as we will suffer it to do so; but if our hearts are clogged with the things of this world—if our souls are suffered to become enamored of the earth and the objects that are sought after by the wicked world, we lose the Spirit of the Lord, and by that means do not understand when we are taught and instructed in the way of life.

The object of obtaining wealth and the desire to handle or control a considerable portion of this world’s goods have blinded the eyes of many Elders, and caused them to go astray in the ways of extravagance and folly. It has decoyed them from the path of virtue, and by that means they have become totally estrayed from the path of truth. If we can keep in view the one great principle, to build up the kingdom of God, proclaim the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, to labor for the sustenance of Zion, make that our first, our great, our only object, and fear not for the earthly things we may need, we shall have the Spirit of the Almighty to enlighten our minds and guide our feet in the true path.

When the Presidency bear their testimony to us, our spirits will then meet with theirs, and we shall feel and enjoy the truth of the principles they proclaim to us. But while our minds become concentrated upon earthly objects, we are dark, and we begin to think we know better than other people; we begin to feel that we can do something independently of God or his servants.

I will relate an instance that occurred in 1849. I was talking with one of the brethren who had been many years in the Church. He told me he wanted to situate himself so that he could leave his family and be prepared to go preaching. I said, “Are you not pretty well situated now you have a large farm, plenty of cattle, and other property, and your family are able to take care of themselves?” He said he did not feel as though he had ready means enough to go. “I want to get myself in condition so that I can leave home; and in order to do it, I have determined to go to California; and I think in the course of five or six months I can there raise ten thousand dollars, and on that means I can go to the southern part of California, buy 1,000 head of horses, and bring them to Salt Lake, and next year sell them for one or two hundred dollars each. With that means in my hands I shall be able to leave my family and go preaching.” That was the design he laid out. I may say the plan was very tempting: he went to California, but the tremendous results anticipated were never realized. There are a great many men in the midst of Zion that have lost their power and ability to perform those works they seem to wish to perform by endeavoring to take a wild goose chase to place themselves in possession of wealth on their own responsibility. The circumstances which have transpired in our midst for the last few years have been calculated to try many men.

In reviewing the history of ourselves as a people, we have encountered many things which have been calculated to try some men. They have been compelled many times to submit to the most cruel exactions—seeing their friends murdered, their families driven from their possessions, and yet bearing up under it splendidly. They have had to pioneer into the midst of a barren and hitherto unknown desert, make settlements, rear their families in the midst of want, and toil, and bear it patiently. Yet, after a few years of prosperity, you will see those very men, when they become better situated, surrounded with the blessings and comforts of life—they begin to feel as though they were not doing quite well enough, and their thoughts begin to wander like the fool’s eye to the ends of the earth. In some instances the scenes of the last few years have caused them to turn again, as President Kimball expressed it, like the hog to the mire after he had been cleanly washed.

It puts me in mind of a compliment paid to Queen Elizabeth by an English farmer. Her Majesty was out on a ride, and was caught in a storm. The farmer was very much rejoiced that the Queen had called upon him, and she was pleased with his rough hospitality. Being just after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, he complimented her on the success of her arms by saying—“The King of Spain got the wrong sow by the ear when he made war with your Majesty.” The Queen was much amused at this vulgar comparison.

Though, really, the dream related by brother Kimball, describing the multitude of hogs that were in the city, was so perfectly illustrated at the time the town was so tremendously full of soldiers, teamsters, gamblers, and camp followers, and they floated off so suddenly, that it could almost be said it was dreamed awake. That is the best way to dream: a man can many times dream wide awake straighter than when asleep.

I remember once (when in Zion’s camp), I was very thirsty, hungry, and tired, that I dreamed when I was walking on the road I could see a loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, and a spring of water. It was one of the pleasantest dreams in the world, and I dreamed it while walking along the road. At the same time a great many dreams, as men consider, are no more nor less than open vision, and a great many dreams are the result, perhaps, of fatigue—of overexercise—of overeating before retiring to rest, or some other cause.

When a man’s mind is illuminated by a dream, it leaves a vivid and pleasant impression: when it may be guided by the Spirit of God, it leaves the mind happy and comfortable, and the understanding clear.

I have regretted, for the past year, that I have not been permitted to speak to you, that my testimony to the truth might be heard in the midst of Israel, and in this city particularly. It was owing simply to an accident which lamed me in such a manner that I could not walk about—could not stand up, though after a while I got so much better that I could ride. I have rode about the Territory, and talked to the brethren in the settlements, generally sitting down; and many of them heard my testimony, which is the same as it has been for the last twenty-eight years—a testimony to the truth of the revelation of the fulness of the Gospel to the Saints in these last days. It is the work of the Lord, and the hand of God is visible in everything that is passing before us; his hand and power have been over us. He has shielded us from the political machinations of evil-designing men, and preserved us from the wrath of our enemies. He has given wisdom to our President to guide, to counsel, to direct us; and if ever revelation guided a people on the face of this earth, this people has been guided by special revelation ever since we came into these valleys. The power of the Almighty has been with us, his hand has been over us here, his wisdom has directed us, his inspiring Spirit has been on our Presidency, his revealed will has been given from the lips of him God has given to lead us. Fear not to do right ourselves, and let us be fully aware of our own follies and weaknesses and corruptions, and listen to the watchmen of Zion, and we shall overcome and inherit the blessings of glory. We shall rise above our enemies, light and truth will shine upon us, peace will be on our path and the lamp of life will guide us to eternal glory.

This is my testimony. You have it as I feel and realize it and know it, for these things are of God. And may his blessings attend us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, delivered by Elder George A. Smith, September 4, 1859

At the request of my brethren, I arise to offer a few remarks. And in order to give them to some extent the character of a sermon, I will read the seventh verse of the third chapter of the Prophet Amos—“Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

It is my design merely to draw the attention of our friends to the subject presented in this text. When God has a people upon the face of the earth he can own and bless as his, he always has Prophets among them. “Surely,” says the Prophet Amos, “the Lord will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

Now, it is not certain that the Prophet always reveals those secrets unto the people. It may happen in many instances, that the Lord will reveal unto his servants the Prophets many things that are to come, and yet leave those who are not enlightened by the Spirit of Prophecy to wait until those things transpire before they are apprised of them.

There appears to be in the midst of the Saints a very great stress laid upon the word “prophet,” and the words of Amos seem to be definitely pointed at in the minds of a great many individuals, to show, as it were, there was but one. But when the Spirit of the Lord was poured out in the camp of Israel, and Eldad and Medad began to prophesy, persons whose minds were contracted went to Moses and complained that Eldad and Medad were prophesying. “Would to God,” said Moses “that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” There are in the Church a variety of gifts, and these gifts are all combined together, and are necessary for the development of the principles we understand, the diffusion of knowledge, and the complete organization of the whole body. There are Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers, and all these officers bring about the great and complete organization of the whole. In tracing through the history of the sacred writings, we find that the Lord in some instances chose men that were ignorant. I presume he did this in many instances from necessity, for those who had been learned in the world were seldom found to possess humility enough to humble themselves before the Lord to get the Spirit of Prophecy, and to be a Prophet is to have the Spirit of Prophecy, and to have the testimony of Jesus, “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” nothing more nor nothing less. The man who can testify that Jesus is the Christ has this testimony, and as he improves upon his gift he becomes a Prophet. It is not one individual, it is not three, it is not twelve individuals, but it is for all the Saints who have the testimony of Jesus and live in the exercise of that testimony. A man that does not foresee by the Spirit of God, who does not learn things to come by it, is not living up to his privilege and profession, is not living in the enjoyment of that testimony which he has received; he is blinded by the mists of darkness and is liable to fall into a snare. The Apostle Peter in exhorting his brethren tells them that it was necessary they should add to their faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, that you will be made partakers of the Divine mind, the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you will know for yourselves of the principles and the doctrines which you have received. The storms of adversity which surround us amount to nothing with the man who has this knowledge planted in his breast, he cares not for slanders, for abuse, for sacrifices or losses of earthly goods. He who does not possess this testimony, and is not made a partaker of the Divine nature, and does not struggle to attain to exaltation, is turning away and falling into darkness. It is strange to me that persons who have been many years in this Church, who have borne their testimony of the truth of the work of God in the last days many times, should finally come to the conclusion that they have gone astray, and must go in some other direction. Why is this? It is simply because they have suffered the mists of darkness to overcome them; they have not lived up to the principles they have professed, and instead of advancing to be made partakers of the divine nature and overcome the wiles that are in the world through lust, they suffer them to have dominion over them, and they fall back into darkness. When the storm of persecution surrounds us, then, of course, we are apt to be zealous, but when we are as it were left to ourselves we are tried in another way; and when the Lord commenced giving revelations to this people he said to them, through his servant Joseph, that they should be tried in all things. If there is any one thing that is calculated to try us more than another, that thing we may expect to encounter. I know this people will bear poverty and affliction, they will bear persecution, they will suffer their houses to be burned, their property to be destroyed, and sacrifice what the Lord has given them of earthly goods, expose themselves to suffering and hardship for the sake of the principles they have received, joyfully; but how many of these, when the smiles of Providence have beamed upon them, when prosperity has surrounded them, and they have been blessed and are in affluent circumstances, have forgotten the Lord, like the Prophet said of Jeshurun, “They waxed fat, and kicked, and forgot the Lord.” Such is the fact with hundreds of Latter-day Saints. Now a man that expects to be exalted to thrones and dominions must be just as good a Saint when he is surrounded with wealth, with the comforts and blessings of life in abundance, as he is, when he is in poverty—when being robbed of his possessions, and deprived of the means of subsistence; and the one condition is just as necessary to try some individuals as the other condition is to try any other.

From the time that I first became acquainted with the principles of this Church, I have watched the progress of the development of the Spirit of Prophecy among the Saints. I have never made pretensions to prophesy, though many things have been made manifest to me before they were fulfilled. I have foreseen many results which have been astonishing, in many instances, to others. The man that wishes to know the future let him study well the present, let him be careful that the present is all right; that the principles which he professes are not abused; that he lives up to the doctrines which he has received, and that he maintains his integrity towards his fellow beings as God requires at his hands; let him do this, and the future will be unfolded to him, and he will be prepared for it just as fast as necessary.

As Elder Middlemas said, he knew some things that were manifested to him, and knew how it would be beforehand. There are hundreds that can foresee by the Spirit of the Almighty, the Spirit of Prophecy, things that are to come to pass, without being able to know the precise manner how it will be effected. But I can tell you from the day of Joseph Smith’s first commencement to testify of the things of God unto the present, that the very results that have been predicted have come to pass, but the manner has seldom been understood until it came. When the Saints were in Jackson County, surrounded by our enemies who were determined to destroy us, and had no other idea but what the steps that were being taken would put an utter end to our organization as a religious society, the future was as plainly laid open to thousands, and the present time was as plainly understood by hundreds of the Saints as it is now. The future is before us and many can look into it and know its results. This is the work of the Almighty. God has set his hand in the last days to esta– blish a people on the earth, he has not only commenced to do it, but is now accomplishing it—all the efforts of our enemies to hinder it to the contrary; and all efforts to stay its progress will be futile. They may cast men into prison, cause men to make great sacrifices, cause them to be brought into trying circumstances and endure much suffering, but the result is a fixed fact, no man can help it, no power can interfere with it, even the folly and corruptions of men that profess to be associated with the Saints cannot stay its progress. The work has commenced and onward it will roll, and no power can stay it. I know it is so. They may destroy my life, they may destroy yours, they may cause us to see much sorrow and trouble, place us in a hundred unpleasant positions; the corruptions of our own brethren may cause our hearts to bleed; our blood may be spilled, our enemies may beset us on every side, but we are engaged in the work of the Almighty God who says in the Doctrine and Covenants, “I will save those who fall in the defense of Zion.” Brethren, let us then be faithful, and diligently observe and do all things that are required at our hands by our heavenly Father, that the light of his countenance may constantly shine upon us, for we are engaged in the great and glorious work he has commenced in the last days. His hand steadies the ark, his arm guides and sustains it, his Divine mind, will and power control it, and all that has been done by those who have interfered with it, simply shows the weakness and vanity of men that think to stay the hand of the Almighty. And this testimony I bear continually. It is a day for us to act, to act upon principle, to conquer ourselves by doing right, and while we conquer ourselves by doing right we are enabled to control others. What we do, we should do because it is right, and refuse to do wrong.

And the great questions that should reign in our breast are, What is right? What is wrong? And when we are not certain, wait until we understand, until we know we are right, and then go ahead. May the blessing of Israel’s God rest upon us, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 10, 1858.

The Lord says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.”

The address we have listened to this afternoon is directly calculated to inspire our minds with a full fruition of the truth of these sentiments. If the religious nations of the world had been consulted in establishing a new religion with the intention of superseding all other sects and denominations, they would have selected a grave council of the wisest, most learned, and pious men they could find—learned in theology, in philosophy, in law, and in every department of science. Yet we are told that the Savior, when he visited the earth, selected as his ministers and messengers fishermen and other individuals from the lower orders of the people—men with but little learning, and less reputation, to proclaim the Gospel, testify of the truth, and be witnesses of his advent into the world—of his miracles and resurrection from the dead. So it was in the present generation.

When the Lord commenced his work, he neglected to call upon Campbell, Scott, Clarke, Doddridge, or any other celebrated divine. He passed over his Holiness the Pope, and the Bishops that were presiding with so much dignity, splendor, and authority over the different portions of the Christian Church. He passed over the learned institutions of the day, and went into a field and laid his hand on the head of Joseph Smith, a ploughboy—upon one who cultivated the earth, and had scarcely education enough to read his Bible—whom he inspired, appointing him to translate the Book of Mormon, and authorizing him to proclaim the Gospel and administer the plan of salvation.

Ere long, this young man became the scoff, the by-word, and hiss of all the learned Christians on the earth. But the Lord said, “My ways are not as your ways, nor my thoughts as your thoughts.”

When the early Elders of this Church began to preach the first principles of the Gospel, how oft have we heard the question asked—Why did not the Lord call upon some learned man—upon the presidents of theological seminaries, or upon some of our learned missionaries? Why, if this work be true, did he call upon a person so low—so uneducated—so foolish? This inquiry was made in every direction by hundreds and by thousands, and was laid down by them as a sufficient reason for rejecting the Book of Mormon and the testimony of the servants of God.

In a very short time a literary war commenced. The newspapers announced to the world that an impostor had arisen, that an impostor had been palmed upon them, a false religion had been proclaimed, and that an ignorant, stupid, lazy, good-for-nothing set of fellows were pretending to preach a new religion. Thurlow Weed was the first to commence the literary war through the press, under the head of “Blasphemy.”

This proclamation has been often reiterated up to the present time. Pulpit orators announced to their congregations that three weeks would be sufficient to dispel the whole delusion. Three weeks passed away, and the word of God was still preached. Then pulpit proclaimers announced that a year would terminate the delusion.

Editors published their false statements, one of which, no doubt, will be remembered—a pretended miracle of walking on the water. It was said that the Prophet placed planks two or three inches under the surface of the water, and walked on them, to convince the multitude of the truth of his doctrine: but just as all were convinced, and the Prophet was about to step on shore, some rogues pulled out the plank, and he fell into the water, and was drowned.

What next? “This printing lies about Mormonism—this blackguarding, and preaching falsehoods about it, don’t stop it: we must apply something that will.” They applied a suit of tar and feathers to the Prophet, and other abuses, but with no better success than attended their former efforts to stop the progress of “Mormonism.” In fact, the Prophet had not more than got the tar fairly washed off him, before he had to go into the water to baptize.

There is a class of personages who have acted a conspicuous part in opposition to the progress of the work of the Lord in the last days, who are never to be forgotten. The first members of the Church, it will be recollected, came from almost every re– ligious denomination; and if they had never belonged to any religious sect, they had more or less of their prejudices.

I recollect when I first began to discern the operation of the spirit of apostasy. A small company of us started for Zion. One of the company (Norman A. Brown) lost a horse. This man had been baptized for the remission of sins, rejoiced in the light of truth, and started to gather with the Saints; but his horse died. “Now,” said he, “is it possible that this is the work of God? If this had been the work of God, my horse would not have died when I was going to Zion.” He apostatized, fought against the work of God, and died a miserable, lingering, and unhappy death; and all because of so great a trial as the loss of a horse.

Joseph H. Wakefield, who baptized me, after having apostatized from the Church, announced to the astonished world the fact that, while he was a guest in the house of Joseph Smith, he had absolutely seen the Prophet come down from the room where he was engaged in translating the word of God, and actually go to playing with the children! This convinced him that the Prophet was not a man of God, and that the work was false, which, to me and hundreds of others, he had testified that he knew came from God. He afterwards headed a mob meeting, and took the lead in bringing about a persecution against the Saints in Kirtland and the regions round about.

One of the first apostates that published against this work was Ezra Booth. He published nine letters in the Ohio Star, published at Ravenna, Portage County, in which he used all the arguments and made all the false statements he could; and it was generally believed by our enemies, at the time, that the apostasy and revelations of Ezra Booth would put an utter end to “Mormonism.” But the wheel rolled along unabated in its progress.

Ezra Booth had been a Methodist preacher; but on a visit to Joseph Smith, he had become convinced of the truth of the work of the Lord by witnessing a miracle. Mrs. Johnson, an aged lady, had for several years been afflicted with rheumatism, and for more than a year had not been able to raise her arm at all. She was healed by the administration of the laying on of hands by the Prophet, and was enabled immediately to raise her hand to her head, comb her hair, or do anything she wished. This convinced him it was the power of God. He went to preaching the truth, but found, instead of living on the fat of the land, as he did among his Methodist brethren, that he had to labor and toil for the good of Zion, trusting in God, and in the great day of accounts receive his reward; so he apostatized.

The next publication which made a prominent show in the world was a book entitled “Mormonism Unveiled,” written by Doctor P. Hurlburt. In consequence of improper conduct among females, he was expelled from the Church. He confessed his wickedness to the Council. I was present, and heard him. He promised before God, angels, and men that he would from that time forth live his religion and preserve his integrity, if they would only forgive him. He wept like a child, and prayed and begged to be forgiven. The Council forgave him; but Joseph told him, “You are not honest in this confession.”

A few days afterwards he published his renunciation of the work, assigning as a reason, that he deceived that Council, and made them believe his was an honest confession, when he only confessed to see whether the Council had power to discern his spirit. Joseph, however, told him at the time that he was not honest in his confession.

He went to work and got up the “Spaulding story”—that famous yarn about the “Manuscript Found.” When about to publish this lying fabrication, in several of his exciting speeches having threatened the life of Joseph Smith, he was required to give bonds, by the authorities of Ohio, to keep the peace. In consequence of this, the name of E. D. Howe was substituted as the author, who published it.

Hurlburt was cracked up in the world as a scientific man—as an M.D.; but he happened to be the seventh son, and was called Doctor by his parents. It was his given name—not the title of his profession.

The public press heralded forth many encomiums on the book. Mr. Howe agreed to give Hurlburt four hundred copies for the manuscript.

Hurlburt took his subscription list and went from house to house for names, until he had got subscribers for the four hundred copies, which were to be delivered as soon as they were printed and bound, at one dollar per copy.

Howe refused to deliver Hurlburt the four hundred copies until he managed to get his eye on Hurlburt’s subscription list, which he copied, delivered the books, took the money, and then gave Hurlburt his four hundred copies. He thereby swindled Hurlburt out of his manuscript, and he had to sell his books at from ten to twenty cents each, or anything he could get; and great numbers were never sold.

There is one thing in relation to publications against “Mormonism:” No apostate has ever made his fortune by them; for, if he would tell the truth, that would be no mystery; and when they tell falsehoods, the spirit of lying makes them tell such big lies, and so many of them, that their work goes into discredit.

I think the first church attempted to be established in opposition to “Mormonism” was that established by Wycam Clark, in Kirtland. He was baptized about the same time as Sidney Rigdon, and, in company with Northrop Sweet and four others, seceded from this Church, and said they could carry the whole world with them by preaching “Mormon” principles. They had two or three meetings; but the society would never have been known in the world, had not a few of us remembered the circumstance and told of it.

Another species of apostasy took place in the neighborhood of the forge in Kirtland. A man named Hoten seceded from the Church, renounced the Book of Mormon and the Prophet, and established himself under the name of the Independent Church. A man named Montague was appointed bishop. This church got to number about ten members. They pretended, under the order of the New Testament, to have all things common. In a few weeks the bishop, who had charge of the temporal things, made a charge on the president for visiting his pork barrel, and the president charged the bishop with visiting his wife, and that broke up the society.

I shall not undertake to detail all of this species of character that have arisen; but there was another by the name of Hawley. He was attacked by a spirit of revelation, somewhere in the State of New York, while he was ploughing; and it took him in such a hurry that he had not time to put on his boots, but traveled barefoot to Kirtland, some six hundred miles distant, to warn Joseph that he was a fallen Prophet; that God had cut Joseph off, and placed in his stead a man by the name of Noah; and the reason Joseph was cut off was, he had suffered the men to wear cushions on their coat sleeves, and the women to wear caps. He went through the streets of Kirtland with a dismal howl, crying, “Woe, woe to the people.” On one occasion, about midnight, Brigham Young went out, and took with him a cowhide, and said to Hawley, “If you don’t quit annoying the people with your noise, I will cowhide you;” upon which he concluded he had suffered persecution enough for his master’s sake, and shut up his noise.

I believe, if you will take the whole circle of the history of apostates from this Church, that in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred you will find that the spirit of adultery or covetousness was the original cause.

There was a man named John Smith came into the Church, and was somewhat prominent in the State of Indiana. He preached some little, and was considered quite zealous; but he said he had proved that the Book of Doctrine and Covenants was not true; “For it says,” said he, “that if a man shall commit adultery, and not repent of it, he shall lose the Spirit of God, and shall deny the faith. Now, I have done it, and have not denied the faith; and so I have proved that the revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants is not from God.” The spirit of blindness had so taken possession of him that he could not see that when he was proclaiming that the revelations were not true, he was denying the faith. That spirit has such an effect over the human mind as totally to blind them in relation to their own acts and the spirit that governs them.

After the organization of the Twelve Apostles, and the so far finishing of the Kirtland Temple as to hold a solemn assembly and confer the Kirtland endowment therein, the spirit of apostasy became more general, and the shock that was given to the Church became more severe than on any previous occasion.

The Church had increased in numbers, and the Elders had extended their labors accordingly; but the apostasy commenced in high places. One of the First Presidency, several of the Twelve Apostles, High Council, Presidents of Seventies, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, Presidents of Far West, and a number of others standing high in the Church were all carried away in this apostasy; and they thought there was enough of them to establish a pure religion that would become universal.

This attempted organization was under the direction of Warren Parrish, who had been a traveling Elder in the Church, and who sustained a high reputation in the Southern States as an eloquent preacher, and had for a short time been employed by Joseph as a clerk. He undertook to organize those elements into a church, and I was told by them that all the talented men among the Elders were ready to join them.

They named, for instance, Lyman Johnson, John F. Boyington, William E. McLellan, Hazen Aldrich, Sylvester Smith, Joseph Coe, Orson Johnson, W. A. Cowdery, M. F. Cowdery, and others, amounting to something like thirty, who had been prominent Elders in the Church.

They were going to renounce the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and take the “Mormon” doctrines to overthrow all the religions in the world, and unite all the Christian churches in one general band, and they to be its great leaders.

What success did this great apostasy meet with? Brother Kimball, when on a mission in 1844 (this apostasy took place in 1837-8), while crossing Fox River on the ferry, encountered Warren Parrish. He was a grave looking man—a straightjacketed fellow, dressed in black, with a white handkerchief around his neck. Says he, “Elder Kimball, will you have the goodness not to say to the people here that I ever was a Mormon. I am a Baptist minister. I am preaching at that meetinghouse for a salary of $500 a year. If they find out I have been a Mormon, it would hurt my influence very much indeed.”

Where was the big church he had tried to build up? He had tried pleading law; that failed: peddling bogus money, and that failed, like his big church speculation. And where was the origin of this?

I recollect waking up late one evening when I was quite a young man, and hearing my father and one of the brethren talk. Being a little disposed to listen, I learned that there had been considerable of a difficulty between Parrish and one of the brethren. This was when he was in good standing in the Church. He had been too kind with the brother’s wife. Then I learned the commencement of his apostasy.

You may go to every one of these men—I care not which one; you cannot put your finger on any one of these thirty men but what you will find that the spirit of adultery or covetousness had got possession of their hearts; and when it did, the Spirit of the Lord left them. They had not sense enough to repent and put away their iniquity, but suffered themselves to be overthrown with the spirit of darkness; and they have gone to hell, and there they may lift up their eyes, asking for some relief or benefit from those they once tried to destroy; but if they get the privilege of waiting on a servant to those who have kept the laws of heaven, they will be exceedingly thankful and fortunate.

At the breaking up of Far West there was another Prophet appeared. Isaac Russell undertook to lead the Saints into the wilderness. He gathered some twenty followers.

The reason why he apostatized was, the commandment required the Twelve Apostles to take their leave of the Saints on the foundation of the Temple on the twenty-sixth day of April, and it could not be fulfilled because those men were all driven away; but it happened that the Twelve went to that spot, and twenty or thirty Saints recommenced the foundation on the day appointed, held a Conference, and cut off Russell and his followers. He used his influence over a few individuals until they scattered and wasted away.

In Nauvoo we had another shower of dust around the Prophet. There was a man by the name of William Law, who was a Counselor to Joseph Smith, and a man of great gravity. He preached a great deal on the stand in Nauvoo, and told the people they must be punctual and pay their debts; and he repeated it over and over again. Sunday after Sunday he preached punctuality, PUNCTUALITY, PUNCTUALITY.

I was then on a mission in England; but when I got home, I would hear, Sunday after Sunday, these addresses. Thinks I, this is a very righteous fellow; it will be perfectly safe to deal with him; and everybody thought so.

The first time I suspected but what he was as straight as a loon’s leg—at least in relation to his trading, was one day in his mill. Brother Willard Richards and myself met Bishop Smoot, and he offered to bet a barrel of salt that the Doctor was heavier than I was. We went into Law’s mill to be weighed. I was weighed on the scales where he weighed wheat into the mill.

To my surprise, I did not weigh as much by twelve pounds as usual. I thought this was a curiosity. I saw there was another pair of scales on the other side of the mill where they weighed out flour. I weighed the Doctor twice, and he weighed me twice on both scales; and I found that if I had been a bag of flour, I should have weighed twelve pounds too much; and, if I had been a bag of wheat, I should not have weighed enough by twelve pounds.

The Doctor and myself soon discovered that the gain by this villainous fraud would supply the mill with wood and hands to tend it.

Brother Joseph and I saw brother Law come out of his house one day, and brother Joseph said to me, referring to Law, “George, do you know that there is the meanest man in this town?”

“Yes,” I said, “I know he is, but did not know you thought so.”

“How did you find it out?”

He has two sets of weights in his mill. He also told me something about Law’s visit to certain disreputable houses in St. Louis, and gave me to understand that he knew something about Law’s hypocrisy and dishonesty in dealing, as well as myself.

I only tell this circumstance because he pulled the leading string in putting Joseph Smith to death. When he comes forth, he may expect to find his white robe dyed in the blood of innocence, and he may expect in all time to come to have that stigma upon him.

The spirit of hypocrisy, covetousness, adultery, and corruption also laid the foundation for Law’s destruction.

When a man professes a great deal of sanctity—a great deal of holiness and piety—when he can scarcely speak without a pious groan, he is to be suspected; for such hypocrisy is in itself the most cursed corruption that can exist.

Law gathered around him a few followers, organized a church, and set himself up for a prophet, went out from Nauvoo, joined the mob, and led the van.

In 1843, when Joseph was taken prisoner in the county of Lee, on a demand from the Governor of Missouri, William Law turned out and attempted to release him. While near Oquaka, and supposing that Joseph had been smuggled to the river side, and that he was about to be carried to the Mississippi, and put on board the steamer, and hurried away to Missouri, says he, “They will carry him on board of a boat and get him over the river; and if the Prophet is carried to Missouri and killed, property in Nauvoo will fall to one-half its present value.” His anxiety was about the price of property going down. A few minutes after, when he met Joseph, he went up, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. He loved him tenderly as long as he kept the price of property up.

After the death of Joseph, a number of men appeared, professing to be revelators. The most noted of them, I believe, was James J. Strang. He gathered a few followers around him, and established himself first at Voree, Wisconsin; then he removed to Beaver Island, Lake Michigan. He remained there some length of time; and finally, in some disturbance got up there, he was murdered. His followers clung together longer than any of the other apostates. They were able to publish a monthly paper, about half the size of the Deseret News, printed in large type and coarsely leaded, in which they advocated James J. Strang as a prophet.

Charles Thompson, Francis Gladden Bishop, G. J. Adams, and others arose, until prophets for awhile were at a discount. But all these vanished into thin air; their names were forgotten, and their pretensions are unknown, unless some of us happen to think and tell of them.

Oliver Cowdery said to the people, when he came to Pottawatomie and requested to be restored to the Church, “Follow the Twelve: they are the men with whom the Priesthood rests. If you follow the main channel of the stream, you will go right; but if you run into a bayou, you will find yourselves among snags.”

You may trace the course of all those characters, and you will find that hypocrisy and adultery have been the leading strings to lead them astray. It is of the utmost importance that every Latter-day Saint thoroughly and carefully tread his own path, correct his own conduct, regulate his own life, banish from his heart the spirit of wickedness and corruption, and see to it that his intentions, desires, and actions are pure in the sight of God—that he covets not that which belongs to his neighbor; for our actions are between us and our God: with him we have to account, and his Spirit will not dwell in unholy temples.

Then let us keep ourselves pure before Him, live the principles that we have espoused, and be prepared for the great day when we shall stand upon Mount Zion, where none will stand, only those who have clean hands and pure hearts.

May God bless us. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 3, 1858.

We have listened to a very interesting course of instructions, which, if treasured up in our hearts and properly practiced, must do us all good. It is of the utmost importance to our welfare in the kingdom of the Most High that we commence and learn to govern ourselves; and when this lesson is learned, then we are prepared to govern others. Unless we can govern ourselves, we are unprepared to be governed in the way that the kingdom of God is to be ruled and directed, which is to be upon the principle of common consent. It is not that a majority shall rule, but that the people shall be agreed; and when all the people are agreed as touching any one thing in the kingdom of God, no power can resist it.

The world look upon us as though we were tyrannized over, because they do not know the principles upon which we act. In all our Conferences and Councils, this people should act as a unit, and have done so to a greater extent than any other people that have existed on the earth for a great many centuries. This has astonished even republicans. It is astonishing to many men to think that a people can all be agreed; and I have read professedly learned illustrations of republicanism, which declare that it is attended with great danger for the people all to be united. There is danger of their being united, lest they oppress somebody—that is, themselves.

In conversation, last winter, with ex-Governor Lane, of Oregon (then a delegate in Congress), on this principle, I told him of an election which occurred in one of our new counties, where the office of Sheriff was vacant, and by accident there were two candidates and a close contest. He said, “That is an evidence of civilization.”

If every person in a family can learn to be governed, there will be no difficulty in that family. And if every person in a Ward can learn to govern and control themselves, there will be no difficulty in that Ward; for the human mind is so constituted that this principle cannot be learned only by the observance of the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, there is no other people upon the face of the earth that could live in these valleys and cultivate and irrigate the soil as we do. They have so little control of their disposition and of their temper, they would kill each other with their hoes over the water ditches. There could not be two, three, or forty owners in a water ditch without fighting. It takes pretty good Saints to get along with water ditches in a dry time, and not quarrel.

When this people live as they should, there will be no disposition in them to quarrel one with another. If anything is wrong, they will be ready to submit that wrong to be made straight by those who understand it better than they do. If any misunderstanding arises, it can easily be adjusted. But, with our views, prejudices, and traditions, we are all the time struggling with ourselves and our own peculiar notions. Every person has in his own brain a series of ideas implanted from early youth, which he considers to be right; and it is a very hard matter for us to relinquish these deeply-implanted traditions, which in nine cases out of ten are not right.

Now, from the early history of this Church, almost every man, every Elder, or member that has undertaken to study or practice law was in a very short time on the high road to apostasy and destruction; and every member of this Church who has undertaken to practice law as a profession has gone neck-and-heels to the Devil. What is the reason of this? They take up the opinions of men that wrote perhaps hundreds of years ago, and lay them down as a standard, drive them down as stakes, and then tie themselves to them, and they are immediately in a peck measure: their minds are contracted to the circumference of a peck measure, and they are a good deal in the condition that a gentleman was, by the name of Silly, who kept a tavern. There was an eminent Presbyterian minister who called on him, by the name of Peck. Silly thought he would joke the minister before the company at the dinner table, and said to him, “Mr. Peck, I believe it takes two pecks to make a half-bushel?” “Yes, sir; but it only takes one silly to make a fool.” So it only just takes one of those “Mormon” lawyers to make a fool.

Instead of taking up the subject as it exists, and enquiring what is right or wrong, they adopt the Gentile mode of undertaking to carry a point, right or wrong; and no Elder of Israel can undertake to carry a point, right or wrong, just or unjust, and stand up and defend injustice, falsehood, and corruption, without losing the Spirit of God; and it only takes one such a man to make a fool.

Trace over the history of apostates, and you will find that in almost every instance they lay down a standard rule—that is to say, “Thus far will we go, and no farther.” For instance, we will take the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, and say concerning them, They are true—the rule and guide of our faith and practice; they are the law we must abide, and we must go no further; and so their light is blown out. Although these books are true, and there are many good instructions in them, by which we may learn the way of life, yet the very moment we tie ourselves to them and say we will receive nothing more, from that moment our light is extinguished, and we are inside the peck measure.

Go back to the early history of the Christian Church, and you find that the very moment the institutions of Jesus Christ and his Apostles were presented to the world, men began to speculate and philosophize on them, and to distribute them into different parts, and speculate on them, adopting their own wisdom for the wisdom of God. Instead of observing strictly the original principles of salvation, and keeping the light always blazing—keeping the spirit of revelation always burning—keeping the spirit of truth, the lamp of light, and communications from the Almighty continually flowing, they adopted a little of that they had received which suited their vain notions, saying, “We have enough, and upon this we will build.”

The very moment that revelation to this Church through our Prophet and Presidency ceases to be commu– nicated unto us, and we adopt any series of books, whether the writings of Joseph or the writings of any other man, or all the writings and revelations that ever have been given, and say, This much we receive, and no more; then we are as dead as the lifeless corpse: we cut off the channel of revelation, and the light and the communication between us and eternal happiness; we cut asunder the thread of light, and we are in darkness and adrift at sea, without a compass to guide us, like any other religious denomination. Hence it is that we bear testimony of the fulness of the Gospel and of the Priesthood conferred upon Joseph Smith, and conferred upon our Prophet and President Brigham Young, and all the authorities of Israel in their sphere and in their standing and position.

I know that this Priesthood is true and is the authority by which we can claim and obtain from God this burning light until the day dawn and the day star arise.

Now, if I could not get up here and bear testimony that we are led by the power and instruction of the Spirit of prophecy—by the Spirit of the Almighty—by a Prophet called of God, ordained and chosen to instruct, teach, and lead us, you would never hear my voice in your midst. But that light never can be put out: it is with the Church, and God has set his hand at the present time to establish his kingdom. But unless the Saints will so live and so exert themselves that they can preserve the purity of the holy Priesthood among them, the work will be left to other people.

There is no opportunity for a half-way place: it is impossible. Men may think they can lie a little, blaspheme a little, get drunk a little, or do a thousand other mean things just a little, and yet be the servants of God. But if we would inherit the blessings of the Priesthood—if we would stand in the presence of the Almighty—stand upon Mount Zion and inherit the blessings of a glorious celestial dominion, we have got to be clean: we must cleanse ourselves, put away our follies, and be prepared to stand united.

A great many people have wondered why it was that it was necessary for the Saints to gather together. The fact is, the human mind is so weak—so susceptible of false impressions, that while the people of God were scattered in the nations of the earth, to come in contact with all the corruptions, prejudices, and traditions of the world, it was literally impossible for the human mind to resist these pressures. But by bringing our firebrands from every part of the world, gathering them from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and placing them together in one mighty heap, and exercising ourselves with diligence to cast out everything that is not right—by doing this we kindle a fire that can never be extinguished.

This is the work of God, and the servants of God that are called to preside over us are the messengers of the Most High, and they have the light and the power. It matters not whether we live to behold it in this life or not, that light will triumph; and all those who live humble and keep the commandments of God will triumph also. This is my testimony. We need not fear the nations of the earth; we need not fear the armies of the Gentiles.

From the very hour that the light began to shine, all the world has been trying to put it out; but the more they try to extinguish it the brighter it will shine; and it will blaze and burn, and it will go forth and will consume out of our midst all those that work iniquity; and Zion will be established in its purity, no more to be thrown down.

It is of no use to be discouraged or alarmed. We may have to sacrifice some of our habits, some of our comforts, and some necessaries; but then it will wake us up to supply our own wants. If our enemies should stop the importation of goods, deprive us of the means of exporting all the gold and silver we can accumulate, we will retain it among ourselves, and turn in and produce for ourselves. The greatest sermon that ever has been preached in these mountains in aid of home manufactures was that preached by General Johnston, when he told the merchants on Black’s Fork that if they undertook to carry their goods to Salt Lake, he would set their trains on fire. If they will keep their traps away, we will produce our own, and then we shall have them, and they will be our own, and we shall be independent, and we will fulfil the commandment given to the Church through Joseph—“Let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hands.”

May God bless us, and enable us to do right in all things, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, November 29, 1857.

It is, as usual, with a degree of satisfaction that I arise before you this morning for the purpose of offering a few reflections, hoping that my brethren and sisters will exercise faith to that degree that I may be able to speak freely and communicate such sentiments as may be pleasing in the sight of our heavenly Father and a benefit to ourselves.

From my childhood, history has been a favorite theme. I have loved to read historical works; and for the little time I have been enabled to devote to reading in my younger days I acquired some general knowledge of what is termed “profane history,” but only a limited knowledge of what is termed “ecclesiastical history.” It did not please me to read the quarrels of the Popes and the cruelties that were inflicted by the dominant powers upon the weak. Those matters never pleased me so much as to read the movements of nations for the purpose of establishing dominion and extending empire; consequently, I am not prepared to speak as readily of the history of the religious world as I would upon that portion of history that is generally denominated profane—of the political conditions of different nations at different ages of the world.

A revelation given in the early history of this Church requires the Elders to acquire a knowledge of countries, of things present, of things to come, of things that have been, and so forth. In perusing the histories of Persia, Arabia, India, China, and the nations of modern Europe, I have felt myself more or less actuated in accordance with the instructions given in that revelation.

At the time I could not conceive why it was that the Lord required his servants to acquire a knowledge of those nations and of political subjects; but experience has taught me that he had in it a design of no little importance; for, from the time that the Gospel was first preached, baptism administered, and ordination first conferred the Priesthood upon the heads of men, we have been constantly and continually upon new ground. The officers of the country in which we have lived could never find a law to fit our case; they could never discover any law that would answer their purpose in relation to us.

There was one principle laid down by them, however, that was simple; and that was, that we had to be used up.

The most honorable of all the mobs that have ever been raised against us was that of Jackson County, Missouri; for they came right straight out and plainly acknowledged that the civil law did not afford them a guarantee against the “Mormons;” therefore they would drive them from their county—peaceably if they could—forcibly if they must.

From that day to this, our persecutors have been pretending to act under color of law so far as to hold men while they could be murdered. They would employ a few troops or a mob, under the pretence of legal authority, and hold men still while the assassin could do his work. This has been the course pursued by our enemies all the time up to the present hour.

Inasmuch as we observed the laws of God, we had no occasion to violate the laws of our country; and, as a matter of course, pretexts were sought in vain from the beginning to the end, and the hue-and-cry of treason has been raised from one end of the country to the other. Hence we see the importance of our Elders understanding the national force of laws of kingdoms, the laws of empires, the rules of nations, the relationship of institutions one to another, and the relationship of subjects to their rulers.

An old principle, laid down from the earliest ages of British jurisprudence, from which we received our national institutions, is that allegiance is that ligament or thread which binds the subject to the sovereign, and that, for this allegiance, the sovereign, by an implied contract, owes, in turn, protection to the subject; and the very moment that the Government withholds its protection, that very moment allegiance ceases.

This is as old as the British Constitution, and it is recognized as natural and eternal both in America and Great Britain; and you may trace this principle back through history to the earliest ages of man. The very moment a government ceases to protect its subjects, that moment they are at liberty to protect themselves.

Whenever national powers were exerted to crush the rights of their own subjects, then the right was founded in nature that they should stand up in their own defense; and the principle of self-preservation is in a greater or less degree binding, and it has been acknowledged from the earliest ages that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

For something like a hundred years the kings of Great Britain, as you will see in King James’ translation of the Bible, claimed the title of Kings of Great Britain, France, and Ireland—a power which they could not exercise and maintain, so far as the kingdom of France was concerned; and finally, in the reign of George III, they saw fit to disclaim it.

The assumption of this right was a mere burlesque. Could they control the organization of France and regulate its internal policy? No—they could not. The only thing was to go to war, and then France could resist and sometimes menace the very existence of the British Empire, and yet the kings of England could claim to be kings of France. But were they kings of France? Not unless the people of France said so; for the people choose their kings to reign over them.

This system of claiming authority from some distant claim has been practiced, and is at the present time; and there is now an individual who claims to be king of France, who assumes that title—an individual who does not live in France: he is expelled, but yet he claims to be the sovereign of France. At the same time the people have, by their unanimous voice, placed Louis Napoleon upon the throne, and they carry out his decrees, while a fugitive claims to be king of France, but without the consent of the people, and has not power enough to pull an old setting hen off her nest.

Circumstances might change so as to throw Napoleon from his rather uncertain seat, and might place some other individual there; but no Government can exist there only by the consent of the people, or such a portion of them as is sufficient to awe the rest and preserve peace, union, and harmony.

Tyrants have attempted to resist this principle, and hence almost every man that has got into power has immediately gone to work to lay plans to conciliate the great and mighty sovereign people, and to perpetuate that authority in their families.

History shows us that some of the Roman Consuls attained power and wealth by their military exploits, and then assumed the title of Emperors and rulers over the commonwealth. We find that they assumed that title by the consent of the military power, and that they enlarged themselves by the aid of the military, till they finally gained the supreme power over the people.

All officers and authorities that depend upon the bayonet are very uncertain; hence very few of the Roman Emperors ever came to a natural death. They who hold millions in subjection by the sword are slain as tyrants whenever opportunity affords. These characters have not all the peace and happiness that might be wished for.

Rulers have assumed to control the people by the power of the bayonet, and many who have attempted to do so have fallen in the attempt, and many have fallen into political disgrace and been destroyed because they attempted to crush down the feelings of a free people. It was in consequence of this that the American revolution was brought to pass.

The American revolution was simply the result of attempting to coerce, by the point of the bayonet, measures that the people of the colonies were unwilling to consent to. The Parlia– ment wished to impose, without their consent, rulers, taxes, and laws which they themselves had no voice in making; and this brought about a revolution, which ended in establishing the present Government of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States was only a little enlargement of the freedom guaranteed under the British Constitution, our revolutionary fathers not thinking any other position or principle as safe or as good; and they made it to surround them with a degree of security, as their fathers did in the British Constitution, forming it somewhat after its model and style. Instead, however, of an hereditary King, they elected a President to hold office for four years; and instead of a House of Lords, they elected a Senate, composed of members or representatives elected by the several State Legislatures; and instead of a House of Commons, they elected the House of Representatives by an apportionment of the people; and in fact, the organization is very similar to that of the mother country. The President represents the hereditary Sovereign, the members of the Senate representing the States, and the House of Representatives the people of the United States, instead of having the members of the House of Commons who represent the property of the realm.

In tracing these things down, and examining and well considering them, they show us, as it were in a glass, our real position.

Now, I do not suppose that there was a man scarcely in the whole assembly who anxiously desired in his heart to move a thousand miles into the middle of a desert with his family, to live in this barren, desolate, cold country. I do not suppose there was an individual but would have preferred to inhabit the vacant prairies of Illinois, Iowa, or Missouri, than to have been under the necessity of wandering into a desert, surrounded by mountains, in the midst of sage plains, where nothing could be raised except by artificial irrigation.

We were willing to come here, simply because we were forced to go somewhere where we could enjoy our religion, which we could not do where we were. This is the principle that brought us here. This is the reason that we were willing to forego the ten thousand comforts that could surround us in the world, and come and turn the wilderness into a fruitful field. Of necessity, I say, we came here willingly, because we were forced to. There was no place else for the Apostles and Prophets to go to.

We petitioned the several States and also the United States for an asylum where we could enjoy ourselves; and all our petitions were answered with coldness and indifference, and there was not a place in the United States where a man that professed to be a Latter-day Saint could have peace. There was nothing but to be mobbed, driven, his houses burned, wherever he might be; and no governor, no legislature, no authority would extend any better prospect than the repetition of the murder, robberies, and persecution we had suffered in Missouri, and that we were then enduring in Illinois.

Under these circumstances we came here, and silently and quietly continued coming away from every part of the Union, and our friends from other nations flocked here from various parts, until we had conquered the desert, and turned the mountain streams, and caused vegetation to grow, and produced grain of considerable variety and of excellent quality. We had begun to make ourselves comfortable, and we had the prospect of peace, as there was nobody upon the face of the earth that would have inhabited this sterile country—a thousand miles from civilized society, where there were no inhabitants but a few naked, savage Indians, whom we cared for and befriended.

The gold fever broke out, and thousands of the gold miners from all nations passed through our settlements. We fed them, for they came here naked and destitute, and we enabled them to proceed on their way, or they would have starved to death in the desert. But although we did this, scarcely an individual desired to stay in this barren country. They could look around and then say, “You are a pack of damned fools to stay in this barren desert;” and they would ask, “Why do you stay here in such a barren country?” It was for something more precious than gold: it was for the privilege of worshipping God under our own vine; and it was with the greatest difficulty that we could raise a vine to worship under, and there was scarcely a tree grew in the valleys. Here we could worship, and here we remain, and what is the result? The moment that our settlements had extended far to the south and to the north—the moment that we were placed in a position that starvation did not stare us in the face, and that a man dare eat as much as his appetite craved, without thinking that he would have to go without tomorrow, that moment the great nation, of which we are a part, rich in gold and silver, powerful in numbers, wealth, and learning, place themselves in a position to annihilate us, to drive us from our homes in the fastnesses of the mountains.

Now, my brethren and sisters, we remember that all good governments are by the consent of the governed; we remember the old principle that allegiance is the thread which ties the subject to the governor; we remember the thread which ties the subject to the Government, and for which the Government owes the subject protection. I ask, Did the Government of the United States ever extend its protection to us? Did it protect us in Missouri? Did it protect us in Illinois? Did it protect us in Iowa? Did it protect us in Nebraska? No, never. We had to protect ourselves or perish and share the fate that lambs share in the paws of wolves. This is the principle as it is presented to us. Have they ever protected us in these mountains? No: we protect ourselves. We made the roads, we explored the country, and we have protected them whenever they passed here; and we have fed, clothed, and aided them on their journeying, and extended every kindness; but have they protected us? No; but they have stirred up the savages of the desert to destroy our weak settlements. This has been the result, and yet we have not been ten years upon this soil. We have not been scarcely able to acquire the comforts of life. A man has scarcely dared to eat as much as would satisfy his appetite. We had scarcely done this, I say, until they sent their armies by thousands to dragoon this people into subjection, with the avowed aim and object, as published in every paper that comes from the States, to deprive us of our religious rights, and to establish and inflict rights or practices which we abhor, and which we have moved a thousand miles to avoid. I ask them, Shall freedom depart? And, in the language of a Roman, I ask which you prefer—slavery or death? Shall they be left to trample upon the rights of free men? Who will not consider which is to be preferred—FREEDOM or SLAVERY? Shall this people be left to the mercy of men who come here with armies to enforce principles that are as degrading to us as degradation can be?

I presume, brethren and sisters, that there is but one feeling upon that subject. I presume that we are willing to dispense with our tea, with our coffee, our tobacco, our finery, and a hundred other comforts that we might have had, had we remained in the States as others have done, rather than be subject to this degradation and cursed dominion.

May God enable us to hold up our heads, and with all our might, mind, and strength, and our reliance in the Most High, live our religion and be prepared to inherit his glory, is my prayer. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, Made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, November 15, 1857.

We have been very much interested, brethren and sisters, by the address of Elder Hyde; and no doubt the value of the sentiments advanced have been duly appreciated. As a people having a knowledge of the first principles of the Gospel of salvation, we are qualified above all others to appreciate the value of the truths of heaven when they are revealed to us. It is of the utmost importance that we divest ourselves of every corrupt and selfish principle and of every species of “covetousness, which is idolatry.” To live before the Lord with honesty is a matter of so much importance that it cannot fail to be duly appreciated by the Saints of the Most High.

Whenever these principles are presented before them, the contrast between the situation that we have hitherto been placed in and our present condition is also very striking, as has been shown us by the contrast drawn by Elder Hyde.

When we had to face the science, the learning, the eloquence, the skill, and the intellect of the entire world—a single handful of us against the whole world—God bore us off victorious. His hand has preserved us. His Spirit inspired us, so that the mighty were confounded, the eloquent were put to silence, and the learned were constrained to say to their fellow men, “Do not listen to it; do not read their books; do not hear them, nor go where they are. You may be deceived.”

In almost every instance, what has been by all philosophers and wise men considered the worst argument that ever was used has been resorted to—that is, brute force. You convince a man by brute force, and he is of the same opinion that he was before. You force a man to accede to your laws and rules, and his mind is only enslaved; and then, when it breaks loose, it is ten thousand times worse than if no brute force had been used. Notwithstanding this, the world cry, “Extermination and destruction.”

In looking over the papers that have been brought from the States, we find that a great proportion of them have been speculating on the cost of exterminating the “Mormons;” and there is one very uncomfortable speculation about it. One of them, in estimating the cost of a war of extermination against the “Mormons,” said, “We shall have to expend from fifty to a hundred millions, and then we shall have nothing to show for our pay but naked, barren rocks.” This is the condition of affairs; but it is a war of principle, and “Mormonism” must be exterminated, though it is not at all a profitable business.

Now, there never was a man, from the time that this work commenced, that ever made himself popular by opposing it; and in future, whatever may be their attempts, it will be the ruin of every man that undertakes it; and this has been the case with every man that has attempted to make such a speculation. It never did and never will pay political expenses.

The God of heaven has raised up this people. He has carried them, as it were, in his arms. He has cradled them in adversity and has brought them into these mountains; and here he wishes to nourish and preserve them. I never lift my heart to the heavens without praying to the Almighty to gather out of the midst of his people all those who do offend and work iniquity, and to gather out of the midst of Zion every corrupt heart—every man that will not turn from his sins, forsake his wickedness, and love the Lord his God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself.

Such a people will have the blessings of God: such a people can be protected by the Almighty: such a people cannot be overthrown by all earth and hell combined. Then let us be such a people; and if corruption exists in our hearts, let us cut it out; for I can tell you we shall be sifted as with a sieve; and while our enemies are endeavoring to destroy us and desiring to murder us, to exterminate us, to deprive us of our existence, to wipe us from the earth, to blot out the name of the kingdom of God, they are only suffered to crowd upon us that we may be tried and purified.

We should not desire the shedding of blood; but we are required by every law of nature, by every principle of righteousness, and by every constitutional principle upon the face of the earth, whether civil, political, or military, to defend ourselves and prevent our being broken up by others. This is a naturally inherited right, and God requires us to defend ourselves. And inasmuch as we have to defend our sacred rights, we should do it in the name of the Lord, with all humility, with a desire to sustain his kingdom; and, let what will come, trust in God for the result and be satisfied with it.

Elder Hyde, in drawing the comparison in reference to the millions of our enemies—to the great wealth that they possess, showed their advantages in numbers and wealth. But let me ask this question, Have they got a thing that the Lord did not give them? Have they got a solitary farthing that the Lord did not bestow upon them? If they use that which he has given them for evil, they will have to give a minute account of that stewardship.

The boasted national surplus funds are directly calculated to produce extravagant and unprincipled legislation, and will have a tendency in the end to strip them of funds and leave them in poverty, while the straitened circumstances of the Saints will only be the means of purifying, driving away, and scattering from their midst those who do offend and work iniquity.

I feel to rest satisfied that the Almighty will control all those things for the good of this people. The Lord has said it is his business to take care of his Saints. If you are taking care of a child and are rearing it up to manhood, you have to look after its education, correct its morals, regulate its conduct, and inflict punishment when necessary, that the child may realize the difference between good and evil—between doing right and doing wrong. Peradventure the Lord wishes to have a tried people, and he has determined to try the Saints sufficiently, and he will protect them in his own way. The Lord will apply the rod. Sometimes he has scourged the people of Israel in one way, and sometimes in another. Sometimes he has scourged them with pestilence, with wasting, and destruction, and sometimes with famine, or by delivering them into the hands of their enemies; and in all these ways he has scourged his people that they might know and realize that God is over them, and that he controls all things.

There was a sheriff that came to an old lady and said to her, “Well, old woman, I have taken your son Jim, and I have locked him up in jail, where he never will do any more mischief.” “Oh,” says she, “is it possible that Jim has gone to jail?” “Yes,” the sheriff replied; “I have put the little whelp where he never will do any more mischief; and I thought I would come and tell you what had become of him.” The old lady felt sorrowful and mortified at the bitter way in which the sheriff told it. “Well, Mr. Sheriff,” said the old lady, “I hope, when the Lord has punished poor Jim all that he deserves, that he will burn the rod!”

This is the sentiment that I have with regard to the means made use of for the purpose of punishing and sifting us, or turning those who are corrupt and causing them to flee away, or of waking us up to our duty. When the Lord gets through with them, like the old woman, I would be obliged to him if he would burn the rod. Doubtless he will look after this matter, if we do our duty. It is only for us to look to the right—to live our religion, and all will be well.

I know that this is the work of God, and that he will sustain his servants; and if we will love truth, though few, compared with our enemies, we shall have light, life, power, and dominion, while our enemies will lift up their eyes in hell, where there is no water. May God prepare us for all that we have to encounter, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, November 1, 1857.

Our Father who is in heaven has placed us in this world in the present generation, and has placed before us laws and principles by which we may obtain exaltation and celestial glory.

In the acquisition of any department of science, the laws thereof must be ascertained and the application properly made, or it is not in our power to become acquainted with its branches, so as to master it and realize the benefit of its effects. So, also, in entering into the kingdom of the Most High God, we enter by a door preparatory; and, to all those who have been traditioned in the false religions of the present age, this door seems to be but little understood.

I have watched the movements of persons coming into the Church of Christ from sectarian churches for many years, and I discover that they are almost entirely enveloped in a kind of cast-iron shell; and it is with the greatest of difficulty that they divest themselves of it—of their prejudices and traditions. It is the work of years; and although many come into this Church while young, without an extensive knowledge of sectarian principles, yet such is the force of tradition, even in them, that they have to stop, consider, and question whether principles are really true and received from a proper source, or whether they are false.

There is a feeling in the human breast to reverence something. We find it among the untutored savages; we find it among what are denominated the heathen nations—among those who are considered pagans, bowing down to worship images, the workmanship of their own hands.

I had the pleasure, while in the States, of being subject to the Sabbath-keeping rules of the railroad company. I wished very devoutly to have the privilege of spending my time with the Saints in Saint Louis: but, to avoid traveling on the Sabbath, the railroad decree had gone forth that we should not leave Chicago; so, on the Sabbath, I went to Saint Mary’s Cathedral for the purpose of hearing a Catholic discourse.

I was there gratified by hearing a very eloquent gentleman explain the reason why the paintings, crucifixion, and emblems of this kind are used in the Catholic churches. He said that it was not understood with them that a person bowing before a likeness or a picture of a saint did so with the intention of worshipping that saint or picture; but that the design was to inspire in the heart of the worshipper a disposition to emulate the virtuous deeds and good actions of that saint. Hence, said the orator, a portrait of the Virgin Mary, placed in a proper position where females, especially the young, can come before it and offer their adorations, inspires in their minds chaste and virtuous ideas, holy thoughts, pure principles, and ardent desires to live as perfectly, to be as humble, and to observe the laws of righteousness as fully as did the virgin whose picture they stand before.

I bring this up simply to illustrate the principle upon which the Catholics answer the objections raised by the Protestant world against the use of images, &c., in their churches, thus accusing them of idolatry.

There are reasons well known to every reader of history why pictures were introduced into the Catholic churches. Although they assign for this the reasons given by the eloquent gentleman in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Chicago; yet they were not originally used in the Catholic churches nor in any of the Christian churches previous to their becoming mixed with Romanism.

When it took its origin, the empire of Rome was both a religious and a political institution: its emperors and senators had attached to them sacred authority; and their religion embodied within it the power, perfection, and consolidated union of the pagan institutions of that age, which consisted in a series of systems of idolatry.

Hence, by order of the government, temples were dedicated particularly to their god of peace, to be opened in the time of peace and to be shut in the time of war; temples were also dedicated to the god of war, to be opened in time of war and closed in time of peace; for at certain times the gods of peace and plenty were to be invoked; at other times the god of war was to be courted.

The Christian religion silently advanced until it became a power to be courted by men who thirsted for dominion. When Constantine got possession of the throne, the empire had become to a considerable extent Christianized, and it became necessary to do something to consolidate the feelings of the whole. To destroy idols entirely would be taken with a bad grace by the higher order of the Roman people. In order to meet this difficulty, Constantine substituted pictures instead of idols. Instead of the statue of Minerva, he had the picture of the Virgin; instead of a temple dedicated to Jupiter, a church dedicated to St. Peter; instead of a statue of Apollo, a likeness of some of the Apostles, or of some saint or personage, imaginary or real; thus completely co-mingling the Christian religion with idolatry. Then men started up to assign reasons for this, and these reasons were presented in the eloquent style of the address I heard in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Heathen and pagan idols are built for the same purpose. You ask the priest of a heathen temple if the real intent is to worship that stone or that image of gold, silver, brass, or iron, and he would tell you that it was only a representative of something—that you could not see the real god, and the image was introduced as a substitute.

Among the early inhabitants of the world who rejected the true religion, many began to pay their adoration to the sun, moon, stars, &c. These soon adopted personages that they considered would represent the objects of the adoration. Hence, we find Jupiter is represented as the king of gods, or as the god of thunder, more particularly—the thunder, representing his weapon, being the most powerful agent they had any idea of; and his image or statue was worshipped by the early inhabitants of the earth as the representative of that power. There was generally attached to these deities an idea of terror.

In studying the principles of mythology held by the Greeks, who are considered the most classical people of early ages, we discover that to almost everything they associated the idea of terror; hence, when a man passed from this world to the next, they considered it necessary to place a little change in his coffin to pay his passage across the river Styx. They had a personage named Charon, who, in their mythology, operated as ferryman; and the very moment the spirit of the dead crossed the river, it came in contact with a dog, Cerberus, with three heads, and, instead of hair, covered with snakes: that dog answered as watchman to keep the departed spirit from returning to the abodes of men.

The human imagination was tortured to bring up the most hideous pictures. In following these imaginations, they had a variety of detail; and in these we find that scarcely any two writers agree. The Greeks were about as united in the worship of their gods as the Christians are who profess to worship Jesus. They went in, however, for worshipping all the deities, and some of them to a great extreme.

For instance, go to Athens, in the day of its glory, as did the Apostle Paul, and you might see the statues of all the gods of the ancients; and, among the rest, an altar to the “unknown God.” There was a God they did not know; but they were determined to hit every case and be prepared to worship everybody, like the man in a storm at sea—it was good Lord and good Devil with him, for he knew not in whose hands he should fall: therefore, to be sure that they worshipped all, they set up an altar to the unknown God, that, if they should fall into his hands, they could claim that they had worshipped him; and that is about the sum and substance of the so-called Christian worship of the present age.

You may go into any society of people, almost, and ask them what they worship, and they would as soon tell you they worship the unknown God as not. You may take up their creeds, and they give it out that they worship a God that has neither body, parts, nor passions, and yet has three persons. Their ideas are so perfectly confused, and their knowledge so supremely ridiculous on this subject, as to make it clear to those enlightened by the Holy Ghost that they are entirely ignorant and totally in the dark on this matter. They must have made their creeds without thinking whether the words composing them had meaning or not.

When I was 18 years of age, I was sent on a mission preaching the Gospel. I called one Sabbath to see a friend of the Baptist persuasion. The old gentleman wanted I should go to the Baptist meeting with him. As I had no appointment until evening, I went with him. I had not been there a great while before he made an effort to have them let me preach. They, however, did not feel disposed. Their minister was gone, and one of the deacons got up and read an old-fashioned, close-communion, dry chip-and-porridge sermon; and besides the deacon being a miserable, poor reader, I was not very much interested.

When the meeting was dismissed, the deacon came up to me, and asked me where I lived. I told him; and I in return enquired of him what church that was. He said it was the Church of Christ. Said I, “What Apostle built it?”

“The Apostle Paul,” he replied.

I said I was not aware that Paul had been in this country preaching and building up churches.

“Well,” said he, “it was built up upon his doctrine.”

“Indeed,” said I: “what Apostle presides over it?”

“We don’t have any in these days.”

“Then it is not the Church of God.”

“Yes, it is,” said he; “Apostles and Prophets are done away.”

“Not so,” said I; and I drew out the New Testament and read, “God hath set in his church first Apostles,” &c. “Now,” said I, “the very fact of there not being Apostles and Prophets in your Church proves that it is not the Church of God; and I don’t want anything to do with it.”

Says he, “You are a strange fellow: I never thought of that before.”

I told him to read the Scriptures, and said, “You may forever read such sermons as you have been reading today, and they will keep you blind. Unless there is a principle in the organization of the Church inspired from the Almighty—unless there is an authority that is governed by the power of God and his Spirit, men might just as well worship dumb idols, the fancy gods of the ancient heathen, or the pictures of the Catholics, as to go to meeting or perform any other kind of worship. If you undertake to go to any place, you have got to take the right road: you must start right. If you start wrong, you are sure to come out wrong; and the further you go in a wrong direction, the further you are off the starting point.”

I have heard it said, in the course of my travels, that if persons think they are right, they are right—that if persons are only sincere, all will come out well. That may answer for people to talk about who know they are wrong, and are trying to carry themselves into the idea that it is just as well to be wrong as right. But if we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven, we have to enter by the door; for, says the Savior, “I am the door: by me, if any man enter in, he shall have life.”

But suppose you enter through somebody else; where has the idea originated that there is the least possible prospect of coming out right from starting wrong? Suppose a man should start to the States, but instead of that he makes his way into the Western desert, saying, “It don’t make any difference which way I go;” what would be the result? He would wander in the desert and perish. Suppose a man, in attempting to serve the Lord, by mistake should serve the Devil; is the Lord going to reward him for serving the Devil? Not at all.

When Joseph Smith commenced to proclaim to the world the truth, the way of life and salvation, in the manner he was inspired of the Lord to do, every religious denomination, Protestant, idolater, or what not, the moment they heard of it, commenced a dismal howl of, “False prophet! False teacher! Imposture! Deception!” &c. Why? Because there was a light directly from the Almighty; a man had come forth that taught in the name of the Lord; a personage bore testimony of the plan of salvation, that would actually overthrow, dissolve, use up, annihilate, and destroy everything that did not come from God.

“Well,” says the old priest, “if this goes abroad, what will be the result? The people will see the light, the true doctrine, and they will quit coming to my meeting and paying me for preaching; and I cannot grunt and groan over them and play the hypocrite with them any longer; and I shall have to go and get an honest living: I will therefore stir up the people to kill and destroy the man.”

This was the spirit and design of every one over whom the spirit of the Devil had dominion. The very instant the first message of truth began to be proclaimed to the children of men, all the devils in hell and all the devils on earth and the spirits of demons were stirred up, and went to work at once to frustrate, destroy, and overthrow this work.

“Where did you get your authority?” say they.

By the inspiration of the Almighty the holy Priesthood was conferred, and we were ordained to the Apostleship and Priesthood to go forth and preach to you the plan of salvation. Where did you get your authority?

“It came down from the ancient Apostles, through the Church of Rome, and by the way of the Waldenses,” says the Baptist, or by the way of the Reformers.

But were not those reformers expelled by the Church of Rome?

“Yes.”

If they, then, had their authority from the Church of Rome, that Church must have had the power also to divest them of that authority. If we admit that the Romish Church had this power and authority, we must go back there to find it; and if we take that testimony, it proves that all the reformers have no authority.

The Baptists attempt to show that their authority came through Waldo. Who was this Waldo? He was a merchant, and hired a man to translate for him the four books of the Gospel. He went to preaching without any inspiration, revelation, or light from heaven: he had only the light which he could discern from the translation made by an excommunicated monk. He was zealous and doubtless honest in his intentions, but without the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Priesthood, or authority from God.

Now, as I said before, if you start wrong, you will be wrong all the way. Without a messenger from God, without the revelation of the Most High, it is all folly and useless to attempt to follow the Savior. It is written, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

The Savior said, “If any man will be my disciple, let him take up his cross, and follow me.” You may follow all the men and devils in the world; but, unless you follow Christ, you cannot be his disciple; and the more men and devils you follow, the worse you are off.

When we talk about following Christ, we hear it said that we should believe in him with all our hearts, repent of our sins, and be baptized for the remission of them. Before the Savior commenced his mission on the earth, he went to Jordan to be baptized, that he might set an example for us to follow. Take any other track, and you go wrong. The right track is the only plan, the only design, and the only intention that can bring us to the enjoyment of salvation; and it is not only in starting right that salvation depends, but when we start it is necessary to continue to the end.

Now, it is plain and reasonable to me why it is that the nations of the earth seek to destroy the Saints. They pretend that the Bible is their platform, and it condemns them on every page, both their doctrines and practices. In order to maintain their false systems, they have created a kind of aristocracy, called Priesthood, who are hired to explain away the sayings of the sacred book. By this means, having itching ears, they have heaped to themselves teachers to turn away their ears from the truth unto fables.

These false teachers have a strong hold on the minds of the people; the rulers bear rule by their means, and most of the people love to have it so. If anybody comes to change this order of things, almost every man is up in arms against him. They are so perfectly organized that it takes but a few devils to keep them in subjection.

This makes me think of an old Chinese fable. A man traveling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, “This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.”

The guide replied, “You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation, and abomination of every kind, that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.”

Traveling on a little further, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hillside, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse-looking devils.

“Why,” says the traveler, “this must be a tremendously wicked old man! Only see how many devils there are around him!”

“This,” replied the guide, “is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.”

The Devil has these Christian Priests and the whole world with them so perfectly at his disposal, that it only takes a very few devils to keep them all in subjection; and the whole legion of devils have nothing to do but look after the “Mormons” and stir up the hearts of the children of men to destroy them—to put them out of existence.

If you will examine the public prints of the United States for the last two years, you will find in them the most bloodthirsty articles, cruel declamations, and awful imprecations, originating from the pens of religious priests and their dupes. Say they, “If we talk with the Mormons on principles of religion, the Bible, of course, sustains them; if we talk with them on human rights, those principles sustain them; if we talk with them on the Constitution and laws of our country, these sustain them; if we talk with them on the dealings of God with man, they get the better of us; and our only way is to try and destroy them from the earth.”

This is the spirit that is being stirred up in the hearts of the children of men. There have never been in reality but two kingdoms on this earth—the kingdom of God and that of the Devil; or, I will say, those who are willing to observe the prin– ciples of truth and those who are not. The latter array themselves against the Saints.

A gentleman, with whom I came in contact while at Washington, made this objection against “Mormonism.” Talking about the institution of plurality of wives, said he, “It never will answer; it will break up all the whorehouses in the country; for women would not abide in such establishments and sustain them, if they could only have respectable and comfortable houses. This polygamy system will smash up that (Christian) institution altogether.”

The spirit of opposition to “Mormonism” takes hold of the king on his throne, the president in his chair, and all those would-be sacred priests—those holy hypocrites who stir up the hearts of the people to seek to overthrow the work of God. High and low, great and small are united in one grand union for the destruction of the Saints of God, though they be deadly foes on all other questions.

To endure this hatred—to be cursed, despised by his friends, jeered at by his neighbors and all who ever knew him, and to be set down as a poor, cursed, worthless, good-for-nothing “Mormon” fool, requires a courage in any man or woman who will step forward to receive the pure principles of this Gospel, that is a stranger in the heart of the greatest warrior that ever faced an enemy on the battlefield.

It is the animosity of the Adversary that fills the hearts of the children of men to overflowing, so that they desire to destroy the Saints—so that they are filled with anger, violent wrath, and indignation. But they know not the reason of these things.

Go and ask a Christian priest why he wants to put down “Mormonism;” and if he would honestly acknowledge the truth, he would say, “It will upset our trade, and,” as the gentleman said in Washington, “it will destroy our peculiar institutions.” The politicians say, “If the Mormons adopt the principle that honest men are to come into power, and they succeed with that principle, we shall be rooted up and our means of gain be taken from us.”

You understand that a petition was sent from the Legislature of this Territory, begging of the President of the United States to send no more damned scoundrels here, but to send good men. Then, it went on to tell him, if he did not send good men, we were not going to have them. It was considered by Congress and the great men of this Government as one of the greatest outrages, and equivalent to treason, because we said we would not receive the cursedest scoundrels that could be scraped from the very scum of the earth, and bow down to them and lick the dust of their feet.

We are right in this matter, whether we act as Saints of the Most High God or as citizens of the Republic of the United States. There could not be a greater outrage committed on any community than to place over them, contrary to their choice, corrupt demagogues to rule their destiny. The idea of forcing these corrupt dogs on a community to rule it is what I call dogmatism.

I am not very familiar with the dictionary, but I will tell a story that will illustrate my meaning. A fine fellow, who considered himself smart, had married a learned lady, and he felt very proud of her learning and education; and in order to be on a par with her, he used many very pretty words, and, now-and-then, one he did not understand the meaning of himself. On one occasion he used the word dogmatism improperly. Says she, “My dear, what is the meaning of that word?”

He drew down a hard face and said, “Dogmatism, dogmatism, my dear—why, it is full-grown puppyism.”

I do consider that to undertake this kind of measure is full-grown puppyism, whether it is to exterminate men for their religion or to annihilate them from the earth for political motives.

Every human being has rights; and it is a true principle, in all governments upon the earth, that governors should rule by the consent of the governed. But there is not a people on the face of the earth that I know anything about, except the Latter-day Saints, that are actually governed in this way. In our government, all our movements are by the unanimous consent of the governed; and we are the only people on the earth that observe this constitutional principle. Other people may try to do it to some limited extent.

When men are placed as rulers and governors to control the destinies of any people, they must do it by the consent of that people, or it is unlawful, unconstitutional, unjust, unholy. God himself does not rule the children of men upon any other principle. “You can serve me, live under my dominion, observe my laws, if you choose,” says the Lord: “if not, you may serve the Devil and reap the reward that follows.”

I forgot, however, that I was preaching a religious sermon when I ran off into politics; but I have had my head a little charged with politics of late; and consequently, when I undertake to preach, it is natural for me to shoot off in that direction.

We, as a people, have to depend, to a great extent, upon the policy we adopt. We have got to respect ourselves, at least, if the world will not respect us. It will not be many years until the world will understand that when they speak of us we are to be respected. They will realize, feel, and understand this more and more.

To be sure, we have submitted to them, suffered our houses to be burned, and ourselves to be driven from our homes; we suffered our friends to be murdered, and we have fled into the wilderness: for 20 years we have fled before our enemies. But it is a long road that never has a turn. The day will come when our enemies will flee before us. There must be a change. Although they may despise us, let them remember—an old adage has it—that despised enemies are dangerous.

The time will shortly come when it will be considered better policy for men to stay at home and mind their business than to be marching a thousand miles to murder the “Mormons.” The day will come when it will be considered more for the health and happiness of the human family to let the “Mormons” alone.

Brother Hyde, in addressing us this morning, spoke very strongly about cutting out an ulcer. When any man goes to cutting off a member of his body, he mars it. If he only chops off his big toe, he cannot hop quite so good as he could before. So, when the Government of the United States—our dear uncle, whom I have always been so afraid of, chops off one member of the great confederacy, the work of dismembering begins.

Peace has been taken from the earth, and there is little or no confidence among the children of men; and while all the devils in hell and all the priests upon the earth are at work to unite for the extinction of the kingdom, it is in the mountains, pursuing the even tenor of its way, every man minding his own business. But, confusion will increase in the midst of the wicked—those who are our enemies, and, as says the revelation, “the wicked will slay the wicked.”

The Lord says it is his business to take care of his Saints. The safest place on the earth is in Zion. If you were in the city of New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, or in any of those great cities, and had 10 dollars in your pocket, a valuable penknife, or a gold watch, and should happen to be walking in the streets at night, you would be under the necessity of keeping a constant guard, peradventure your life should be taken for the property in your pocket. Policemen are not of much use. If you place two policemen in a street, there will be four robberies; if you place four, there will be eight robberies: they nearly all colleague together, and no man that is decently dressed can lie down or walk the streets in safety or quiet in any of those cities without risking his life almost as much as he would in facing an enemy on the battlefield.

These are solemn truths: they are what I have seen. Somebody is after a stranger every moment he is in the streets, to rob him. Is it so here? No. This is the safest place on this earth; and as we learn more righteousness, divest ourselves more and more of selfishness, and become more and more instructed in the intrinsic value of earthly substance, compared with eternal riches, the principle of safety will increase and the Millennium will actually commence with this people.

There is yet in the hearts of our people, although the reformation has done a great work, a spirit of selfishness. We have got to divest ourselves of this principle; we have got to become so perfectly stripped of it that we will love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, that our hearts will not be set upon our own property or upon the property of others, so as to covet the things that pertain to this world, and that, with our whole soul, mind, and strength, we will desire to serve the Lord our God—that we would just as soon set fire to our own dwellings, sacrifice our property, and flee into the mountains, to dwell there in dens, caves, and holes, as did the ancients, as dwell in palaces and enjoy the soft raiment of kings.

Every man and woman should cultivate in their hearts a desire to love the Lord, keep his commandments, and appreciate the spirit and the freedom of the Gospel and the privilege and blessing of the fulness of the holy Priesthood more than all the treasures upon the face of the earth.

Do you recollect that when the children of Israel were invading the land of Canaan, to drive out the Canaanites and inherit the land, in some instances they coveted the property of their enemies? In one instance, an individual stole a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment. Because of this, God was offended and suffered Israel to be driven before their enemies. Let us not be caught in this snare, but cast out from our hearts every principle of covetousness, and let our desires be to serve the Lord.

If our enemies will let us alone, we are rich enough, and can enjoy all the comforts of life that we need to make us healthy and happy, and we will spring forth a mighty people. If they do not let us alone, God will preserve us and reward us for all the sacrifices we have to make. Covet not anything that is theirs; let not our spirits desire it, but in all things do as we are counseled, and pray God for wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence to live righteously, soberly, and be devoid of idolatry, to be prepared to dwell as Gods and reign and have dominion in our time and season.

Had it not been for the faith and works, the union and exertions of the Saints, we might this day have had our streets paraded with the martial forces of our enemies. But God has blessed us for our faith and exertions—for our willingness to listen to the counsel of him whom he has appointed to direct us, to be our father and counselor in Israel. Because they have to spend their time in the mountains, some men may feel as though it is a waste of both time and labor to no good. Others say, “We have been robbed so many times of our homes, and so many of our friends murdered, we would now like to draw the sword and slay our enemies.” If it had not been for this principle in the breasts of many, I do not believe our enemies would ever have crossed the South Pass.

I believe, if we, as a people, were of one heart and mind, and would place ourselves in the right position before the Lord, and ask him for what we need, that we never would have any serious annoyance from our enemies. But it is a great labor to place the whole people in this position.

I believe, for the time the work has been progressing, that the people of Enoch’s city were not more united than are the inhabitants of these valleys. I believe the greatest work has been performed towards bringing the children of men back into the presence of God, since Joseph Smith commenced to preach the Gospel to this generation, than ever was since the creation. It requires all our faith and watchfulness to continue the work and roll it on fast enough to keep out of the way of our enemies.

If there are any among us who have not obeyed the Gospel, now is a good time for them to repent of their sins: or, if there are any who have not renewed their covenants, now is a good time for you to repent of your sins and be rebaptized for the remission of them; and let it be our whole intent and only desire to serve the Lord our God all the days of our lives. May the blessings of Israel’s God rest upon us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 13, 1857.

The last time, I believe, brethren and sisters, that I had the privilege of speaking from this stand, was the day previous to my starting for the southern country. We were then expecting a visit from a very formidable force, directly from the State of Missouri. It waked up in my mind the feelings that I used to have—say from ten to twenty years ago, in hearing the constant annoyance of an approaching enemy. And according to the report which has been published of my remarks, I talked rather strong. But one thing is evident—if I did not talk strong, it was not because I did not feel strong on the occasion.

I left the next morning and wended my way southward. I visited the different settlements hurriedly, until I reached Parowan, in the county of Iron, the place of the first settlement in the southern part of the Territory. When I arrived there, it appeared that some rumor or spirit of surprise had reached them; for there were active operations going on, seemingly preparing for something that was near at hand. As I drove in at the gate, I beheld the military on the square exercising, and was immediately surrounded by the “Iron Battalion,” which seemed to have held its own very well since it was organized in that place.

They had assembled together under the impression that their country was about to be invaded by an army from the United States, and that it was necessary to make preparation by examining each other’s arms, and to make everything ready by preparing to strike in any direction and march to such places as might be necessary in the defense of their homes.

As it will be well recollected, I was the President of the company that first made the settlement there. I was received with every feeling of enthusiasm, and I never found them in better spirits. They were willing any moment to touch fire to their homes, and hide themselves in the mountains, and to defend their country to the very last extremity.

Now, there had been no such preaching as that when I went away; but the Spirit seemed to burn in my bones to visit all these settlements in that southern region. Colonel Dame was about organizing the military of that district under the law of last winter. As the Colonel was going along to organize the military, I got into the carriage and went on a mission of peace, to preach to the people. When I got to Cedar, I found the Battalions on parade, and the Colonel talked to them and completed the new organization.

On the following day, I addressed the Saints at their meetinghouse. I never had greater liberty of speech to proclaim to the people my feelings and views; and in spite of all I could do, I found myself preaching a military discourse; and I told them, in case of invasion, it might be necessary to set fire to our property, and hide in the mountains, and leave our enemies to do the best they could. It seemed to be hailed with the same enthusiasm that it was at Parowan. That was the same Sabbath that brother Young was preaching the same kind of doctrine; and I am perfectly satisfied that all the districts in the southern country would have given him their unanimous vote.

I then went to Harmony. Brother Dame preached to the military, and I to the civil powers; and I must say that my discourse partook of the military more than the religious. But it seemed that I was perfectly running over with it, and hence I had to say something about it.

I then went over a lovely country, and passed over “Peter’s Leap,” and some other such lovely places. It is rather rough; but I could not but admire its extreme beauty; and I think, if the Lord had got up all the rough, rocky, and the broken fragments of the earth in one, he might have dropped it down there.

When I reached the cotton country, I had previously learned that they were failing in their attempts to raise cotton, and that the waters of the Rio Virgin were poisoning the cotton. But I learned that the seed had not come up: but what had come up, perhaps one-third of it was exceedingly fine. The difficulty was, that their cotton was planted very late, and the sun heated the sand; for the soil is nothing but the red sand of Sahara. They planted in the sand, as there was nowhere else to plant it, and the sun was scorching it; but they found that all that was necessary was to keep the sand wet; and when they poured on the water, the cotton grew. And old cotton growers told me that they had never seen a better prospect for cotton, for the time it had been planted, in the world; and this is the condition of things in that country, and the prospect is, that they will have pretty good cotton and about the third of a crop, and the next year they will be able to raise lots of cotton; for they will be there early enough, and have seed that can be depended upon.

The corn in Tutse-gabbot’s field, which was planted early, was eighteen feet high. If the sand was not wet, it would all blow away. The country seemed very hot to me; otherwise, I enjoyed the visit very well. But the brethren insisted that it was a very cool spell while I was there.

I preached to them in Washington City, and I thank the Lord for the desert holes that we live in, and for all the land that can be watered—in all, amounting to but a few hundred acres. There are but a few rods wide that can be watered in a place; but I tell you, when the day comes that the Saints need these hills to be covered with vegetation, they have only to exercise faith, and God will turn them into fruitful fields.

We started from Washington in the night, and the brethren told me, if I had seen the roads, I would not travel them. But I told them I did not want to see the roads; for I was determined to go ahead.

We traveled ten miles, and camped by a small spring, called “Allen’s Spring.” Some Indians took our horses. We told them we were afraid they would get into some cornfields. They told us they would put them where they would get plenty to eat and do no mischief. The Indians brought our horses early in the morning, and we arrived at “Jacob’s Wikeup,” as the Indians call Fort Clara, about nine o’clock, and found their crops suffering for want of water. I saw beautiful indigo, cotton, and corn; and the stalks of the corn were perfectly dry, while the ears were green and fit to boil.

We also had a glorious interview in this, as in other places, with the natives of the desert. We remained there through the heat of the day, and then proceeded down “Jacob’s Twist” (a magnificent canyon), to where the California road joins the Santa Clara, and then followed up the Santa Clara in the dark of the night—a river upon whose banks many scenes of desperation have been enacted.

About ten o’clock at night, we were surrounded by some hundreds of the natives that were anxious we should stop overnight. They took care of our horses, built us campfires, and roasted us corn, and made us as comfortable as they could; and I never ate better corn or better melons in my life. We stopped overnight with them, and not one of them asked me for a thing; which is remarkable, as the Indians are intolerable beggars. But I was treated as well as if I had been among the Saints, and I never enjoyed a treat better.

We pursued our visit to the Mountain Meadows, and there were kindly treated by the families of the missionaries, who lived at this place on account of the abundant grass for their stock. I then went to Penter, and there addressed a houseful of people in the evening, and then proceeded to Cedar the next day. They had heard they were going to have an army of 600 dragoons come down from the East on to the town. The Major seemed very sanguine about the matter. I asked him, if this rumor should prove true, if he was not going to wait for instructions. He replied, There was no time to wait for any instruction; and he was going to take his battalion and use them up before they could get down through the canyons; for, said he, if they are coming here, they are coming for no good.

I admired his grit, but I thought he would not have the privilege of using them up, for want of an opportunity. I also visited the Saints at Paragoonah and preached to them, and in every place felt the same spirit. I then came over to Beaver, which is a new settlement; and the day previous, an Indian came in and told them there were shod horses’ tracks at a spring over the big mountains about twenty miles to the east.

Major Farnsworth, supposing that there was a body of men in the neighborhood, and that these were the tracks of the scouts, they immediately went over the mountains and traced the horses’ tracks, until they ascertained they came from Parowan. I do not know whether the inhabitants of Parowan intended to whip a regiment of dragoons, or not; but it is certain they are wide awake, and are not going to be taken by surprise. There was only one thing that I dreaded, and that was a spirit in the breasts of some to wish that their enemies might come and give them a chance to fight and take vengeance for the cruelties that had been inflicted upon us in the States. They did feel that they hated to owe a debt and not be able to pay it, and they felt like an old man that lives in Provo, brother Jameson, who has carried a few ounces of lead in his body ever since the Haun’s Mill massacre in Missouri; and he wants to pay it back with usury; and he undertook to preach at Provo, and prayed that God would send them along; for he wanted to have a chance at them.

Now, I never felt so; but I do not know but it is on account of my extreme timidity; for I would a great deal rather the Lord would fight the battles than me; and I feel to pray that he will punish them with that hell which is to want to and can’t; and it is my prayer and wish all the time that this may be their doom. This is what I want to inculcate all the time; and at the same time, if the Lord brings us in collision with them, and it is his will, let us take hold—not in the spirit of revenge or anger, but simply to avenge God of his enemies and to protect our homes and firesides. But I am perfectly aware that all the settlements I visited in the south, Fillmore included, one single sentence is enough to put every man in motion. In fact, a word is enough to set in motion every man, or set a torch to every building, where the safety of this people is jeopardized.

I have understood that there are half-a-dozen fellows in Provo that have but one wife each, and that they are not for fighting, because they say this trouble has come on account of plurality. Well, I pity them, because I know the women will leave them, and that it would not be but a few days before there would be so many brokenhearted, disconsolate men; for the women among the Latter-day Saints will not live with such men.

I have rejoiced and enjoyed myself on this visit to the south as much as at any time; for I perceive a hearty willingness to do and sacrifice anything that was required for the preservation of Zion; and whenever I got up to preach, I was full, and it seemed as if I could not stop; and before I got through, I would be tired.

I will say to the brethren and sisters, that I feel to return to my heavenly Father my thanks that he has thus far frustrated the designs of our enemies; and I know that he has got the power to wield and frustrate them at his will; and I know, if we are humble and united, and moved upon by the right Spirit, God will fight our battles. And if any of us are called to lay down our lives in the defense of our religion, God will save us in celestial glory, and he will preserve us, though all the world be against us.

[President B. Young: “That is true.”]

These are my feelings, and this is my faith. No matter what day or hour we are called to go into the presence of our Father in heaven; for every man and woman that has not got a religion that is worth more than their mortal lives, and unless we are willing to sacrifice all that pertains to these temporal feelings, we are not worthy of salvation.

Why, there was an honest Dutchman came to me this morning, and he had just heard that the President had concluded to let the soldiers in here. His heart had sunk within him at the thought, and “Oh!” says he, “can I live to see those troops come in here?” He can live through a great many things besides that. God will protect his people, and he will fight their battles; and if he wants a little help, I presume that he will find us ready.

I have preached to the brethren to live their religion, and “trust in God and keep their powder dry.” I borrowed it from Cromwell. Be ready to defend Israel; and when we have done all we can, the Lord will do the balance. Why, say the world, it is presumption for you to talk so. Uncle Sam has twenty-five millions of people, and 100,000,000 of surplus money in the treasury, and thousands of men in the country that are aching to be killed. We used to talk to them in this way when we lived down in their midst; and then, when it came to the sticking point, we would bow to them; and what did we get by it? Brother Taylor told you that thousands had suffered in consequence.

I tell you, we have suffered more waste of life and property than we will to face the music; and let them do their cursedest, and then every honest Dutchman and every man will get all he wants; and many of us Yankees will get many of our dirty tricks purged and pruned out of us; and our picayunary will vanish; it will all fail; for everything that we have in our hearts that is not right will be purged out; for our interest will be centered in the kingdom of God.

When I was back in Washington last season, I had a long conversation with Senator Douglas; and he is a kind of personification of modern democracy—very thick, but not very long. He asked a great many questions about our Temple, and I gave him a description of the foundation, and he asked me if I expected we would ever be able to accomplish it? The manner he communicated it was to show that he had his eye upon another thing than that which he alluded to; but I realized then just as well as I did when I read his proposition to “cut out the loathsome ulcer.” I said to him, “O Judge, we are not a little handful, as we were in Nauvoo: we can now do anything we have a mind to.”

Some of our national statesmen profess to be Christians and wonderfully pious. Mr. Morill, of Vermont, said to me, “Your domestic relations are so at variance with sacred books!” Why, said I, the Father of the faithful, our father Abraham, seemed to have the same view of the matter that we do. “Oh,” says he, “Abraham was guilty of a great many eccentric tricks.” “Eccentric as he might be,” I replied, “it is in his bosom that all Christians expect to rest; and we do not expect that he is going to kick his wives out to please anybody.”

Many people do not know why it is that they feel so enraged against us. I found in talking with hundreds and thousands of persons, in the course of our travels, that there was a deep-rooted spirit of hatred; and in talking of this I found that my reasons were superior to theirs; and they felt it and realized it, and my conversation seemed to suit and carry a good influence.

Our Elders have preached the Gospel freely throughout the world, and they have tarred and feathered them and put them to death. If they could have defeated them by arguments, all well enough: but no—these weapons proved ineffectual, and they tried mobs and violence; and now they array the armies of the United States against us, that under their wings they may send missionaries among us to convert our souls. Poor cursed slinks! Do not they know that we were raised among them in the very hotbed of sectarian bigotry, and that we know all that the priests know about their religion, and ten thousand times more?