Remarks by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 9, 1869.

I am very much pleased in having an opportunity to make a few remarks to this Conference. The subjects that have been presented to our consideration are fraught with many very interesting reflections. Every privilege that is afforded us of meeting together in the capacity of a Conference, and taking a retrospective view of the past, gives us a chance to behold the great and marvelous success that has hitherto attended our labors, as the servants of God, in this great and glorious work of the redemption of Israel and the gathering of the Latter-day Saints from the four quarters of the world, to establish the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days.

There are many peculiarities that distinguish the order of things pertaining to the work of God in which we are engaged, from the different systems of religion that are to be met with in Christendom and throughout the various parts of the world. What we do we perform in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and are willing to acknowledge the hand of the Almighty in everything we do. When Moses stood forth as the deliverer of the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage, he did not present himself in the manner of a common deliverer, but he went in the name of the Lord God of Israel, having been commanded to accomplish their redemption by the power and authority which he received from God. And from the moment that he appeared before them in this capacity, until he had accomplished his work, he acted in and through the name of the Lord, and not by his own wisdom or ingenuity, nor because he possessed superior intelligence to the rest of mankind. The Lord appeared to him in the burning bush, and commanded him to go forth and accomplish a certain work, which concerned the peace, happiness and salvation of a great people; and its success and prosperity depended upon the carrying out of the order of things revealed to him by the God of heaven. His success and prosperity were made perfectly sure from the fact that the work to which he was assigned was not a thing of his own invention, but it emanated from Jehovah.

A great deal of speculation might have been entertained by some in reference to his mode of procedure. There might have been some things in the working of the system he introduced that were very disagreeable to certain parties whom they concerned—to the government of Egypt and King Pharaoh, for instance; but that was a matter of very small consideration with him and with the people whom he had occasion to deliver from bondage.

It is so in reference to ourselves. The great work now being accomplished—the gathering of the people from the nations of the earth, had not its origin in the mind of any man or any set of men, but it emanated from the Lord Almighty. Joseph Smith received a revelation and commandment from the Lord, to go forth and preach the Gospel of salvation to the nations of the earth, with power and authority to baptize those who would repent of their sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them; he was also commanded to preach the gathering to them, that a people might be drawn together who would be willing to hearken to the voice of the Lord and keep His laws, that a righteous seed might thereby be preserved when the great day of His wrath should come. This Gospel was preached, and thousands of Saints have been gathered from almost all parts of the globe, who are now scattered throughout the length and breadth of this Territory, making farms, building houses, planting orchards and reclaiming the soil; creating villages, towns and cities where nothing but wild beasts and savages used to roam, and causing the desert to blossom as the rose. Yet all this has not been accomplished by human wisdom, although the enemies of the Saints would try to make the world believe so; it has been done by the wisdom and power of Almighty God, whose outstretched arm has been over His Saints, preserving them from evil of every kind.

Jesus, while traveling here on earth, fulfilling his mission, told the people he did not perform the miracles he wrought in their midst by his own power, nor by his own wisdom; but he was there in order to accomplish the will of his Father. He came not to seek the glory of men, and the honor of men; but to seek the honor and glory of his Father that sent him. Said he, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not, if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

Now, the peculiarity of his mission, and that which distinguished it from other missions, was this: he came not to seek the glory and honor of men, but to seek the honor and glory of his Father, and to accomplish the work of his Father who sent him. Herein lay the secret of his prosperity; and herein lies the secret of the prosperity of every individual who works upon the same principle.

There are many things that are admirable in what is called by our neighbors “Mormonism.” Great men admire the effects that are produced by its operations, or the work of preaching the Gospel, gathering the people from the nations of the earth and settling them in this Territory, in establishing towns, villages and settlements, in gathering the poor from their indigent circumstances, from their conditions of poverty and distress, and placing them in a position where they can sustain themselves and have an opportunity of educating their children and gathering around them the necessaries, comforts and conveniences of life.

People admire the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, they admire the wisdom that is manifest in the perfect organization observable in their cities, towns and settlements, and the unity existing amongst them. They are struck with the peace and good order that reign in our midst, which are not found, to the same extent, in any of the cities of the United States or Europe. One hundred and fifty thousand people, who have been gathered from the poorest classes of persons and brought from the various nations and established in prosperous and happy circumstances, are admired by everyone. But all this is being done in the name of the Lord, and professedly through the commandments of the Almighty; and herein lies the difficulty. Our acknowledgement of the hand of God in what we do is something they do not approve of. If we gathered the people from the various nations, built cities, towns and villages in our own name, and in our own strength and wisdom, and gave ourselves the honor and glory, we should be a very admirable people indeed, and everybody would admire the “Mormons,” and would be pleased with our operations; and as far as the influence of politicians and members of Congress is concerned, it would be employed in obtaining our admission into the Union as a State.

It may be considered by some as unfortunate that we have a principle in the operations of “Mormonism” so disagreeable and annoying; but we cannot help it. This work is not one of our own getting up, and we have not the responsibility of its success resting upon us. Jesus says himself that he would have been received by the people if he had sought the honor of men. If he had not come in the name of his Father, but simply in his own, the people would have received him, honored him and made him King of the Jews; and all would have been agreeable, pleased and satisfied.

It was said by the Prophet that Israel should be scattered, that they should be sifted among the nations, and in the latter days they should be gathered out, two from a city and one from a family, and there should be a time when the people would be gathered from the nations when it should be said to them, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

Joseph Smith received a commandment of the Almighty similar to that which Moses received to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The command to the Prophet Joseph was to go forth and declare the Gospel to the children of men, to gather them from the nations of the earth and place them in a land of peace and plenty, where they could plant and reap the fruit thereof. In many instances the people who received this Gospel were in a far worse condition than the children of Israel, when found by Moses in their bondage.

There are hundreds of Elders here who have traveled through England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and elsewhere, who know very well that the people were found in most of those lands in circumstances of slavery—bondage far worse than the “blacks” in the South previous to their liberation. There was nothing before the people but the prospect of starvation; and they were subject to the will and caprice of their masters, and dependent upon them for their labor and daily bread; and when work was dull, they had before them nothing but the prospect of being turned from their employment and to have their only source of obtaining food for themselves and families entirely cut off. They did not own a foot of land, a plough, an ox, a wagon, a cow, a mule, a horse, in fact, nothing they saw around them could they call their own. They were, in short, entirely dependent upon the will and disposition of their employers for what they wanted, and had to look to them for their only means of gaining a living. Thousands upon thousands of these people are now located in various parts of this Territory, in a far more prosperous and independent condition than that in which they lived while abroad among the nations. Many of them are comparatively rich in this world’s goods. The command of the Almighty to this people is to come out of Babylon to a land where his Saints may gather around them such things as are necessary to the well-being of his children. This is a greater work than that performed by Moses, of redeeming the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage; yet it is done on the same principle. The voice of God to Moses was to deliver His people from their bondage and he would be with him and assist him. The command is now for the people to be delivered from their bondage, poverty and distress, and come to these valleys of the mountains, where they can sustain themselves.

There are many philanthropists who admire the works that have been accomplished in this respect. They say, “The ‘Mormons’ have done a great deal more than any religious society ever did or even expected to do. They have increased the population of the nation and have extended their cities to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south.” But it has been done by the command of the Almighty, and that is where the trouble lies. As for polygamy, our enemies would not be so wrath about our practicing it, so long as we did not do so in the name of the Lord. But as these things are done in His name, they are obnoxious in the eyes of the world. The same state of feeling existed in the days of Moses, the same in the days when Jesus appeared among the Jews. Had Moses presented himself in the same way as Washington or William Tell, the deliverer of the people of Switzerland from the yoke of bondage under which they labored, or as Wallace, the hero of Scotland—had he, I say, appeared in his own name, and presented himself before the people as a person of superior powers and ability, and [not] claimed power greater than that he possessed as a man, all would have been well. But when he went before them in the name of the Lord Almighty, he experienced some difficulty in performing the work which had been assigned him.

We know well we differ very much in our religious concerns from the various denominations existing in the world. An Elder goes in the name of the Lord; he crosses the ocean, calls into an individual’s house and says, “I am a missionary; I have come from America to preach the Gospel.” It is not a very unusual thing for persons to cross the ocean, as missionaries and go to Europe. This is all very natural; but when an Elder goes and says he comes in the name of the Lord to deliver them from their circumstances of poverty and distress, and to call upon them to repent of their sins and be immersed in water for the remission of them, promising them the Gift of the Holy Ghost, he creates a distinction between his mission and that of the various systems introduced by the different sects of the day. Says he, “I come to tell you that the time for the fulfillment of the predictions of the Prophets has arrived. The Lord wants His people gathered from Babylon unto the place where there shall be deliverance.” There is deliverance. There is something that can be realized and experienced, that can be seen and felt and known. There is the promise that, if any man will do the will of God, he shall know for himself that the doctrine we teach is true. There is no chance of imposition. There is an opportunity to know whether the message of this Elder is true or false.

If a sectarian minister had gone to the children of Israel and discovered them in the same condition in which Moses found them, his message would have been entirely different from that of Moses, as would also his conversation and address. Moses said to them, “In the name of the Almighty, having received authority from God, I come to deliver you from bondage and to give you a national existence; to take you to a land that the Lord God has commanded you to go to, and which He has promised you shall receive.” Had a sectarian minister gone under similar circumstances, his ideas and manner would have been entirely different. Says he, “I have come to beseech you who are now subject to your masters’ will and have to recline upon straw, to be patient and long-suffering. Servants, be obedient to your masters and wait upon the providence of the Lord. Bear up, and be kind,” and so on. Anything in regard to delivering them from their bondage under which they are suffering? No, nothing of the kind.

It is the same when a sectarian minister goes to England. He knocks at a man’s door and says, “I am a missionary from America.” Well, the man on whom he calls is in distress. Says he, “I am sorry I cannot take you in; but I am in distress. It is mealtime, but my family has nothing to eat. I am out of employment and have nothing to live upon. I wish I could relieve your wants, but I have nothing with which to assist you.” Oh, says the minister, you must wait upon Providence, you must have a great deal of patience and long-suffering. I am come to preach to you the Gospel, and you must pray and keep praying until you think you have got a pardon of your sins; but still remain where you are. No redemption!

Well, now, that is different from the “Mormon” Elder’s manner. He presents himself in something like this way: “I have come in the name of the Almighty, in obedience to a call from God, to deliver you from your present circumstances. Repent of your sins and be baptized, and the Holy Ghost shall rest upon you, and you shall know that I have the authority to administer the ordinances of the Gospel by the power of the Almighty and the revelations of God. Gather out from this nation, for it is ripening in iniquity, there is no salvation here. Flee to a place of safety.” And as the messenger who went to Sodom said to the family whom he found there, so says the Elder of Israel, telling them, as Moses did the children of Israel, to go to the land that the Lord God has appointed for the gathering of His people.

There is a great difference between the operations of the Latter-day Saints and these of the Christian world. With us there is no deception; nor indeed is there any chance for any. People gather here in thousands on the principle that the Lord God has revealed, and they have an opportunity of knowing that the Almighty has spoken from the heavens. They are not left to the mere statement of anyone.

Jesus says that if any man will do the will of God, he shall know His doctrine. If he will repent of his sins and be immersed in water, by the laying on of the hands of these having authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost shall be given to him and he shall receive knowledge from God in regard to the divine authenticity of these ordinances. People are not left in the dark, they have a chance to know for themselves. They get this intelligence and know what they are doing.

Will we do these things in the name of the Lord God that sent us? This work is the Almighty’s, and it is His business to sustain and support it. If, in keeping the laws of God we do things that are not quite so pleasant to the people around us or the Government under which we dwell, we cannot help it. We cannot act save we do so in the name of the Lord. When Nebuchadnezzar established a certain edict, and that edict was contrary to the revelations of the Almighty, it was disagreeable to many persons whom it concerned. There were three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who received a command from the Almighty that they should not worship any other God than the Lord God of Israel, that they should worship no images. But King Nebuchadnezzar set up an image and commanded that every nation, kindred and tongue, over whom he reigned, should bow down and worship it, when they heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music.

It so happened that the King’s edict concerned, among others, the three men who had received the revelation from the Lord that they should not worship any image. They were in a rather awkward fix. Either they must set aside the command of Jehovah to worship no God but Him, or, on the other hand, disobey the mandate of the King. They knew if they refused to comply with the wishes of so mighty a man as Nebuchadnezzar, their lives would not be of much value, unless they were preserved by the hand of the God of Israel. But they feared not the King and trusted in the arm of Jehovah to shield them from evil. Accordingly, when the signal was given for the people to fall down and worship the image, these three men refused to do so; and being observed, they were taken before the King, who was greatly enraged at the idea that there could be found anyone in all his dominions so fearless as to refuse to comply with his wishes. When they appeared before him he looked at them in a fierce and savage manner and said, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

I often admire the answer of those men, placed as they were in such a perplexing position. A person might be brought before the Emperor of France or Russia and get along very well; but it was something awful to come in collision with a man like Nebuchadnezzar, whose will was as the word of the Almighty, and had never been disobeyed. When the King had done speaking, they answered, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Upon hearing this, the King was extremely angry, and caused the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual, at the same time commanding the most mighty men of his army to bind them and thrust them into the furnace. After awhile, however, he discovered he had made a grand mistake. He had been deceived, and hastily calling his counselors together, he demanded of them whether only three men were cast into the furnace. They answered, yes. “Well,” said he, “I see four there; and one of them is like the Son of God.” He then sent forth another edict, that all those who refused to worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, should be cut in pieces and their houses should be made into dunghills.

Now, Nebuchadnezzar was honest, but through ignorance he was led to act in this way.

It would he very agreeable and pleasant when we carry the words of life and salvation to the various nations, if every part and operation of the work of God should be in perfect harmony with the feelings of the people to whom it is preached; if it is not so, we cannot help it. We know this, that the Almighty has given us power and authority to go forth and gather the people from the nations of the earth and establish them in the land of Zion. But strip from this operation the supernatural part, and the people of the world, members of Congress included, would be pleased; and the Vice-President would be proud of us. They would say we were very patriotic. But they do not like our doing these things in the name of the Lord our God. They are afraid that in getting power and influence, and uniting our interests as one great people, we will do something by and by.

Let us continue, brethren and sisters, to work in the name of the Lord our God; gathering wisdom and intelligence day by day, that every circumstance which transpires may minister to our good and increase our faith and intelligence. If we continue to work righteousness, being faithful to each other and to God, no power will be able to overthrow us, and as brother Hyde remarked, for every stumbling block that our enemies place in our way, to hinder and prevent the work of God from moving forward, two will be placed in the paths of those who put one in ours. If we are faithful and keep the commandments of God, His works will continue to prosper until the prophecies are fulfilled, and we become a great, a glorious and a mighty people. God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1869.

It is a difficult undertaking to address this immense audience. If a man commences speaking loud, in a short time his voice gives out; whereas, if he commence rather low, he may raise his voice by degrees, and be able to sustain himself in speaking some length of time. But with children crying, a few persons whispering, and some shuffling their feet, it is indeed a difficult task to make an audience of ten thousand persons hear. I have listened with pleasure to the instructions of our brethren from the commencement of our Conference to the present time. I have rejoiced in their testimonies. I have felt that the elders are improving in wisdom, in knowledge, in power, and in understanding; and I rejoice in the privilege, which we have at the present day, of sending out to our own country a few hundred of the elders who have had experience—who have lived in Israel long enough to know, to feel, and to realize the importance of the work in which they are engaged—to understand its principles and comprehend the way of life. They can bear testimony to a generation that has nearly grown from childhood since the death of the Prophet, Joseph Smith.

The Lord said in relation to those who have driven the Saints that He would visit “judgment, wrath, and indignation, wailing and anguish, and gnashing of teeth upon their heads unto the third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not and hate me, saith the Lord your God.”

I am a native of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York—a town somewhat famous for its literary institutions, its learning and the religion and morality of its inhabitants. I left there in my youth, with my father’s family, because we had received the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed through Joseph Smith; and followed with the Saints through their drivings and trials unto the present day.

I have never seen the occasion, nor let the opportunity slip, from the time when I first came to a knowledge of the truth of the work of the Lord in the last days, that I understood it was in my power to do good for the advancement of this work but what I have used my utmost endeavors to accomplish that good. I have never failed to bear a faithful testimony to the work of God, or to carry out to all intents and purposes, the wishes and designs of the Prophet, Joseph Smith. I was his kinsman; was familiar with him, though several years his junior; knew his views, his sentiments, his ways, his designs, and many of the thoughts of his heart, and I do know that the servants of God, the Twelve Apostles, upon whom he laid the authority to bear off the Kingdom of God, and fulfil the work which he had commenced, have done according to his designs, in every particular, up to the present time and are continuing to do so. And I know, furthermore, that he rejoiced in the fact that the law of redemption and Celestial Marriage was revealed unto the Church in such a manner that it would be out of the power of earth and hell to destroy it; and that he rejoiced in the fact that the servants of God were ready prepared, having the keys to bear off the work he had commenced. Previous to my leaving Potsdam, there was but one man that I ever heard of in that town who did not believe the Bible. He proclaimed himself an atheist, and he drowned himself.

The Latter-day Saints believe the Bible. An agent of the American Bible Society called on me the other day and wanted to know if we would aid the Society in circulating the Bible in our Territory? I replied yes, by all means, for it was the book from which we were enabled to set forth our doctrines, and especially the doctrine of plural marriage.

There is an opinion in the breasts of many persons, who suppose that they believe the Bible, that Christ, when he came, did away with plural marriage, and that he inaugurated what is termed monogamy; and there are certain arguments and quotations used to maintain this view of the subject, one of which is found in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy (3 chap. 2 v.), where Paul says: “A bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife.” The friends of monogamy render it in this way: “A bishop should be blameless, the husband of but one wife.” That would imply that anyone but a bishop might have more. But they will say, “We mean a bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife only.” Well, that would also admit of the construction that other people might have more than one. I understand it to mean that a bishop must be a married man.

A short time ago, the Minister from the King of Greece to the United States called on President Young. I inquired of him in relation to the religion of his country, and asked him if the clergy were allowed to marry. It is generally understood that the Roman Catholic clergy are not allowed to marry. How is it with the Greek clergy? “Well,” said he, “all the clergy marry, except the bishop.” I replied, “You render the saying of Paul differently from what we do. We interpret it to mean—a bishop should be blameless, the husband of one wife at least;” and “we construe it,” said he, “directly the opposite.”

Now this passage does not prove that a man should have but one wife. It only proves that a bishop should be a married man. The same remark is made of deacons, that they also should have wives. Another passage is brought up where the Savior speaks of divorce. He tells us that it is very wrong to divorce, and that Moses permitted it because of the hardness of their (the children of Israel’s) hearts. A man should leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain should be one flesh. That is the principal argument raised that a man should have but one wife.

In the New Testament in various places, certain eminent men are referred to as patterns of faith, purity, righteousness and piety. For instance, if you read the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, the 11th chapter, you find therein selected those persons “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turning to flight the armies of the aliens;” and it is said by faith Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, and that he conferred upon them a blessing to the uttermost bounds of the everlasting hills. Who was Joseph? Why, Joseph was the son of Rachel. And who was Rachel? Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, a polygamist. Jacob had four wives, and after he had taken the second (Rachel), she, being barren, gave a third wife unto her husband that she might bear children unto him for her; and instead of being displeased with her for giving her husband another wife, God heard her prayer, blessed her, worked a miracle in her favor by opening her womb, and she bore a son, and called his name Joseph, rejoicing in God, whom she testified would give her another son. The question now arises, were not Rachel and Jacob one flesh? Yes. Leah and Jacob were also one flesh. Jacob is selected by the Apostle Paul as a pattern of faith for Christians to follow; he blessed his twelve sons, whom he had by four wives. The law of God, as it existed in those days, and as laid down in this book (the Bible) makes a child born of adultery or of fornication a bastard; and the same is prohibited from entering into the congregation of the Lord unto the tenth generation.

Now, instead of God’s blessing Rachel and Jacob and their offspring, as we are told He did, we might have expected something entirely different, had it not been that God was pleased with and approbated and sustained a plurality of wives.

While we are considering this subject, we will inquire, did the Savior in any place that we can read of, in the course of his mission on the earth, denounce a plurality of wives? He lived in a nation of Jews; the law of Moses was in force, plurality of wives was the custom, and thousands upon thousands of people, from the highest to the lowest in the land, were polygamists. The Savior denounced adultery; he denounced fornication; he denounced lust; also divorce; but is there a single sentence asserting that plurality of wives is wrong? If so, where is it? Who can find it? Why did he not say it was wrong? “Think not,” said he, “that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law and the Prophets; but all shall be fulfilled.” Of what does the Savior speak when he refers to “the law?” Why, of the Ten Commandments, and other rules of life commanded by God and adopted by the ancients, and which Brother Pratt referred to yesterday, showing you from the sacred book that God legislated and made laws for the protection of a plurality of wives (Exod. 21:10), and that He commanded men to take a plurality under some circumstances. Brother Pratt further showed that the Lord made arrangements to protect to all intents and purposes the interests of the first wife; and to shield and protect the children of a wife from disinheritance who might be unfortunate enough not to have the affections of her husband (Deut. 21:15). These things were plainly written in the law—that law of which the Savior says, “Not one jot or one tittle shall pass away.” Continuing our inquiry, we pass on to the epistles of John the Evangelist, which we find in the Book of Revelation, written to the seven churches of Asia. In them we find the Evangelist denounces adultery, fornication, and all manner of iniquities and abominations of which these churches were guilty. Anything against a plurality of wives? No, not a syllable. Yet those churches were in a country in which plurality was the custom. Hundreds of Saints had more wives than one; and if it had been wrong, what would have been the result? Why, John would have denounced the practice, the same as the children of Israel were denounced for marrying heathen wives, had it not been that the law of plurality was the commandment of God.

Again, on this point, we can refer to the Prophets of the Old Testament—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. When God called those men He warned them that if they did not deliver the message to the people which He gave them concerning their sins and iniquities that His vengeance should rest upon their heads. These are His words to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand; yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.” (Ezek. 3:17,18, 19.) How do we find these Prophets of the Lord fulfilling the commandments of the Almighty? We find them pouring out denunciations upon the heads of the people—against adultery, fornication, and every species of wickedness. All this, too, in a country in which, from the King down to the lowest orders of the people, a plurality of wives was practiced. Do they say anything against plurality of wives? Not one word. It was only in cases where men and women took improper licence with each other, in violation of the holy law of marriage, that they were guilty of sin.

If plurality of wives had been a violation of the seventh commandment those prophets would have denounced it, otherwise their silence on the matter would have been dangerous to themselves, inasmuch as the blood of the people would have been required at their hands. The opposers of Celestial Marriage sometimes quote a passage in the seventh chapter of Romans, second and third verses, to show that a plurality of wives is wrong; but when we come to read the passage it shows that a plurality of husbands is wrong. You can read that passage for yourselves. In the forcible parable used by the Savior in relation to the rich man and Lazarus, we find recorded that the poor man Lazarus was carried to Abraham’s bosom—Abraham the father of the faithful. The rich man calls unto Father Abraham to send Lazarus, who is afar off. Who was Abraham? He was a man who had a plurality of wives. And yet all good Christians, even pious church deacons, expect when they die to go to Abraham’s bosom. I am sorry to say, however, that thousands of them will be disappointed, from the fact that they cannot and will not go where anyone has a plurality of wives; and I am convinced that Abraham will not turn out his own wives to receive such unbelievers in God’s law. One peculiarity of this parable is the answer of Abraham to the application of the rich man, to send Lazarus to his five brothers “lest they come into this place of torment,” which was—“they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them; and if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” Moses’ law provided for a plurality of wives, and the prophets observed that law, and Isaiah predicts its observance even down to the latter days. Isaiah, in his 4th chap. and 1st and 2nd verses, says, “Seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beau– tiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent.”

A reference to the Scriptures shows that the reproach of women was to be barren, Gen. 30 chap. and 23 v.; Luke 1st chap. and 25 v.

We will now refer to John the Baptist. He came as a forerunner of Christ. He was a lineal descendant of the house of Levi. His father was a priest. John the Baptist was a child born by miracle, God having revealed to his father that Elizabeth who had been many years barren should bear a son. John feared not the world, but went forth preaching in the wilderness of Judea, declaiming against wickedness and corruption in the boldest terms. He preached against extortion; against the cruelty exercised by soldiers and tax gatherers. He even was so bold as to rebuke the king on his throne, to his face, for adultery. Did he say anything against a plurality of wives? No; it cannot be found. Yet thousands were believers in and practiced this order of marriage, under the law of Moses that God had revealed.

In bringing this subject before you, we cannot help saying that God knew what was best for His people. Hence He commanded them as He would have them act. The law regulating marriage previous to Moses, recognized a plurality of wives. Abraham and Jacob and others had a plurality. These are the men who are referred to in Scripture as patterns of piety and purity. David had many wives. The Scripture says that David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, 1 Kings. 15th chap. 5 v. “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” Acts 13th chap. 22nd and 23rd verses. Did David sin in taking so many wives? No. In what, then, did his sin consist? It was because he took the wife of Uriah, the Hittite—that is, violated the law of God in taking her. The Lord had given him the wives of Saul and would have given him many more; but he had no right to take one who belonged to another. When he did so the curse of adultery fell upon his head, and his wives were taken from him and given to another. We will now inquire in relation to the Savior himself. From whom did he descend? From the house of David a polygamist; and if you will trace the names of the families through which he descended you will find that numbers of them had a plurality of wives. How appropriate it would have been for Jesus, descending as he did from a race of polygamists, to have denounced this institution of plural marriage and shown its sinfulness, had it been a sin! Can we suppose, for one moment, if Patriarchal marriage were wrong, that He would, under the circumstances, have been silent concerning it or failed to denounce it in the most positive manner? Then if plural marriage be adultery and the offspring spurious, Christ Jesus is not the Christ; and we must look for another.

All good Christians are flattering themselves with the hope that they will finally enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. I presume this is the hope of all denominations—Catho– lics, Protestants, Greeks and all who believe in the Bible. Suppose they go there, what will they find? They will find at the twelve gates twelve angels, and “names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” The names of the twelve sons of Jacob, the polygamist. Can a monogamist enter there? “And the walls of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb;” and at the gates the names of the twelve tribes of Israel—from the twelve sons of the four wives of Jacob. Those who denounce Patriarchal Marriage will have to stay without and never walk the golden streets. And any man or woman that lifts his or her voice to proclaim against a plurality of wives, under the Government of God, will have to seek an inheritance outside of that city. For “there shall in no wise enter into it, anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, for without are sorcerers, whoremongers, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Is not the man that denounces Celestial Marriage a liar? Does he not work abomination? “I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of (the polygamist) David, the bright and the morning star.”

May God enable us to keep His law, for “blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gate into the city.” Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1869.

It was announced at the close of the forenoon meeting that I would address the congregation this afternoon upon the subject of Celestial Marriage; I do so with the greatest pleasure.

In the first place, let us inquire whether it is lawful and right, according to the Constitution of our country, to examine and practice this Bible doctrine? Our fathers, who framed the Constitution of our country devised it so as to give freedom of religious worship of the Almighty God; so that all people under our Government should have the inalienable right—a right by virtue of the Constitution—to believe in any Bible principle which the Almighty has revealed in any age of the world to the human family. I do not think, however, that our forefathers, in framing that instrument, intended to embrace all the religions of the world. I mean the idolatrous and Pagan religions. They say nothing about those religions in the Constitution; but they give the express privilege in that instrument to all people dwelling under this Government and under the institutions of our country, to believe in all things which the Almighty has revealed to the human family. There is no restriction nor limitation so far as Bible religion is concerned, or any principle or form of religion believed to have emanated from the Almighty; yet they would not admit idolatrous nations to come here and practice their religion, because it is not included in the Bible; it is not the religion of the Almighty. Those people worship idols, the work of their own hands, they have instituted rights and ceremonies pertaining to those idols, in the observance of which they, no doubt, suppose they are worshipping correctly and sincerely, yet some of them are of the most revolting and barbarous character. Such, for instance, as the offering up of a widow on a funeral pile, as a burnt sacrifice, in order to follow her husband into the eternal worlds. That is no part of the religion mentioned in the Constitution of our country, it is no part of the religion of Almighty God.

But confining ourselves within the limits of the Constitution, and coming back to the religion of the Bible, we have the privilege to believe in the Patriarchal, in the Mosaic, or in the Christian order of things; for the God of the patriarchs, and the God of Moses is also the Christians’ God.

It is true that many laws were given under the Patriarchal or Mosaic dispensations, against certain crimes, the penalties for violating which, religious bodies, under our Constitution, have not the right to inflict. The Government has reserved, in its own hands, the power, so far as affixing the penalties of certain crimes is concerned.

In ancient times there was a law strictly enforcing the observance of the Sabbath day, and the man or woman who violated that law was subjected to the punishment of death. Ecclesiastical bodies have the right, under our Government and Constitution, to observe the Sabbath day or to disregard it, but they have not the right to inflict corporeal punishment for its nonobservance.

The subject proposed to be investigated this afternoon is that of Celestial Marriage, as believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and which they claim is strictly a Bible doctrine and part of the revealed religion of the Almighty. It is well known by all the Latter-day Saints that we have not derived all our knowledge concerning God, heaven, angels, this life and the life to come entirely from the books of the Bible; yet we believe that all of our religious principles and notions are in accordance with and are sustained by the Bible; consequently, though we believe in new revelation, and believe that God has revealed many things pertaining to our religion, we also believe that He has revealed none that are inconsistent with the worship of Almighty God, a sacred right guaranteed to all religious denominations by the Constitution of our country.

God created man, male and female. He is the Author of our existence He placed us on this creation. He ordained laws to govern us. He gave to man, whom He created, a helpmeet—a woman, a wife to be one with him, to be a joy and a comfort to him; and also for another very great and wise purpose—namely, that the human species might be propagated on this creation, that the earth might teem with population according to the decree of God before the foundation of the world, that the intelligent spirits whom He had formed and created, before this world was rolled into existence, might have their probation, might have an existence in fleshly bodies on this planet, and be governed by laws emanating from their great Creator. In the breast of male and female He established certain qualities and attributes that never will be eradicated—namely, love towards each other. Love comes from God. The love which man possesses for the opposite sex came from God. The same God who created the two sexes implanted in the hearts of each love towards the other. What was the object of placing this passion or affection within the hearts of male and female? It was in order to carry out, so far as this world was concerned, His great and eternal purposes pertaining to the future. But He not only did establish this principle in the heart of man and woman, but gave divine laws to regulate them in relation to this passion or affection, that they might be limited and prescribed in the exercise of it towards each other. He therefore ordained the Marriage Institution. The marriage that was instituted in the first place was between two immortal beings, hence it was marriage for eternity in the very first case which we have recorded for an example. Marriage for eternity was the order God instituted on our globe; as early as the Garden of Eden; as early as the day when our first parents were placed in the garden to keep it and till it, they, as two immortal beings, were united in the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. This was before man fell, before the forbidden fruit was eaten, and before the penalty of death was pronounced upon the heads of our first parents and all their posterity, hence, when God gave to Adam his wife Eve, He gave her to him as an immortal wife, and there was no end contemplated of the relation they held to each other as husband and wife.

By and by, after this marriage had taken place, they transgressed the law of God, and by reason of that transgression the penalty of death came, not only upon them, but also upon all their posterity. Death, in its operations, tore asunder, as it were, these two beings who had hitherto been immortal, and if God had not, before the foundation of the world, provided a plan of redemption, they would, perhaps, have been torn asunder forever; but inasmuch as a plan of redemption had been provided, by which man could be rescued from the effects of the fall, Adam and Eve were restored to that condition of union, in respect to immortality, from which they had been separated for a short season of time by death. The Atonement reached after them and brought forth their bodies from the dust, and restored them as husband and wife, to all the privileges that were pronounced upon them before the Fall.

That was eternal marriage; that was lawful marriage ordained by God. That was the divine institution which was revealed and practiced in the early period of our globe. How has it been since that day? Mankind have strayed from that order of things, or, at least, they have done so in latter times. We hear nothing among the religious societies of the world which profess to believe in the Bible about this marriage for eternity. It is among the things that are obsolete. Now all marriages are consummated until death only; they do not believe in that great pattern and prototype established in the beginning; hence we never hear of their official characters, whether civil or religious, uniting men and women in the capacity of husband and wife as immortal beings. No, they marry as mortal beings only, and until death does them part.

What is to become of them after death? What will take place among all those nations who have been marrying for centuries for time only? Do both men and women receive a resurrection? Do they come forth with all the various affections, attributes and passions that God gave them in the beginning? Does the male come forth from the grave with all the attributes of a man? Does the female come forth from her grave with all the attributes of a woman? If so, what is their future destiny? Is there no object or purpose in this new creation, save to give them life, a state of existence? Or is there a more important object in view, in the mind of God, in thus creating them anew? Will that principle of love which exists now, and which has existed from the beginning, exist after the resurrection? I mean this sexual love. If that existed before the Fall, and if it has existed since then, will it exist in the eternal worlds after the resurrection? This is a very important question to be decided.

We read in the revelations of God that there are various classes of beings in the eternal worlds. There are some who are kings, priests, and Gods, others that are angels; and also among them are the orders denominated celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. God, however, according to the faith of the Latter-day Saints, has ordained that the highest order and class of beings that should exist in the eternal worlds should exist in the capacity of husbands and wives, and that they alone should have the privilege of propagating their species—intelligent immortal beings. Now it is wise, no doubt, in the Great Creator to thus limit this great and heavenly principle to those who have arrived or come to the highest state of exaltation, excellency, wisdom, knowledge, power, glory, and faithfulness, to dwell in His presence, that they by this means shall be prepared to bring up their spirit offspring in all pure and holy principles in the eternal worlds, in order that they may be made happy. Consequently, He does not entrust this privilege of multiplying spirits with the terrestrial or telestial, or the lower order of beings there, nor with angels. But why not? Because they have not proved themselves worthy of this great privilege. We might reason, of the eternal worlds, as some of the enemies of polygamy may reason of this state of existence, and say that there are just as many males as females there, some celestial, some terrestrial, and some telestial; and why not have all these paired off, two by two? Because God administers His gifts and His blessings to those who are most faithful, giving them more bountifully to the faithful, and taking away from the unfaithful that with which they had been entrusted, and which they had not improved upon. That is the order of God in the eternal worlds, and if such an order exists there, it may in a degree exist here.

When the sons and daughters of the Most High God come forth in the morning of the resurrection, this principle of love will exist in their bosoms just as it exists here, only intensified according to the increased knowledge and understanding which they possess; hence they will be capacitated to enjoy the relationships of husband and wife, of parents and children, in a hundred fold degree greater than they could in mortality. We are not capable, while surrounded with the weaknesses of our flesh, to enjoy these eternal principles in the same degree that will then exist. Shall these principles of conjugal and parental love and affection be thwarted in the eternal worlds? Shall they be rooted out and overcome? No, most decidedly not. According to the religious notions of the world these principles will not exist after the resurrection; but our religion teaches the fallacy of such notions. It is true that we read in the New Testament that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven. These are the words of our Savior when he was addressing himself to a very wicked class of people, the Sadducees, a portion of the Jewish nation, who rejected Jesus, and the counsel of God against their own souls. They had not attained to the blessings and privileges of their fathers, but had apostatized; and Jesus, in speaking to them, says that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.

Now, how are the angels of God after the resurrection? According to the revelations which God has given, there are different classes of angels. Some angels are Gods, and still possess the lower office called angels. Adam is called an Archangel, yet he is a God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no doubt, have the right to officiate in the capacity of angels if they choose, but still they have ascended to their exaltation, to a higher state than that of angels—namely, to thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers, to reign over kingdoms and to hold the everlasting Priesthood. Then there is another order of angels who never have ascended to these powers and dignities, to this greatness and exaltation in the presence of God. Who are they? Those who never received the everlasting covenant of marriage for eternity; those who have not continued in nor received that law with all their hearts, or who, perhaps, have fought against it. They become angels. They have no power to increase and extend forth to kingdoms. They have no wives, no husbands, and they are servants to those that sit upon thrones and rule over kingdoms, and are counted worthy of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. These, no doubt, were the kind of angels Jesus had reference to when speaking to those ungodly classes of beings called Sadducees and Pharisees, one of which denied the doctrine of the resurrection altogether.

There is a difference between the classes of angels called celestial, terrestrial and telestial. The celestial angels have not attained to all of the power and greatness and exaltation of kings and priests in the presence of God; they are blessed with glory, happiness, peace and joy; but they are not blessed with the privilege of increasing their posterity to all ages of eternity, neither have they thrones and kingdoms, but they are servants to those of the highest order. The angels of the terrestrial and telestial orders, while possessing a degree of happiness and glory, are lower than those of the celestial order. We might inquire, have angels not also these affections which belong to the higher class of beings, inasmuch as they are resurrected beings? Yes, but herein they have lost, through disobedience, the privilege of attaining to the higher glory and exaltation. They have affections and desires that never can be gratified, and in this respect their glory is not full.

I am talking, today, to Latter-day Saints; I am not reasoning with unbelievers. If I were, I should appeal more fully to the Old Testament Scriptures to bring in arguments and testimonies to prove the divine authenticity of polygamic marriages. Perhaps I may touch upon this for a few moments, for the benefit of strangers, should there be any in our midst. Let me say, then, that God’s people, under every dispensation since the creation of the world, have, generally, been polygamists. I say this for the benefit of strangers. According to the good old book called the Bible, when God saw proper to call out Abraham from all the heathen nations, and made him a great man in the world, He saw proper, also, to make him a polygamist, and approbated him in taking unto himself more wives than one. Was it wrong in Abraham to do this thing? If it were, when did God reprove him for so doing? When did He ever reproach Jacob for doing the same thing? Who can find the record in the lids of the Bible of God reproving Abraham, as being a sinner, and having committed a crime, in taking to himself two living wives? No such thing is recorded. He was just as much blessed after doing this thing as before, and more so, for God promised blessings upon the issue of Abraham by his second wife the same as that of the first wife, providing he was equally faithful. This was a proviso in every case.

When we come down to Jacob, the Lord permitted him to take four wives. They are so called in Holy Writ. They are not denominated prostitutes, neither are they called concubines, but they are called wives, legal wives; and to show that God approved of the course of Jacob in taking these wives, He blessed them abundantly, and hearkened to the prayer of the second wife just the same as the first. Rachel was the second wife of Jacob, and our great mother; for you know that many of the Latter-day Saints by revelation know themselves to be the descendants of Joseph, and he was the son of Rachel, the second wife of Jacob. God in a peculiar manner blessed the posterity of this second wife. Instead of condemning the old patriarch, He ordained that Joseph, the firstborn of this second wife, should be considered the firstborn of all the twelve tribes, and into his hands was given the double birthright, according to the laws of the ancients. And yet he was the offspring of plurality—of the second wife of Jacob. Of course, if Reuben, who was indeed the firstborn unto Jacob, had conducted himself properly, he might have retained the birthright and the greater inheritance; but he lost that through his transgression, and it was given to a polygamic child, who had the privilege of inheriting the blessing to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills—the great continent of North and South America was conferred upon him. Another proof that God did not disapprove of a man having more wives than one, is to be found in the fact that Rachel, after she had been a long time barren, prayed to the Lord to give her seed. The Lord hearkened to her cry and granted her prayer; and when she received seed from the Lord by her polygamic husband, she exclaimed, “The Lord hath hearkened unto me and hath answered my prayer.” Now do you think the Lord would have done this if he had considered polygamy a crime? Would He have hearkened to the prayer of this woman if Jacob had been living with her in adultery? And he certainly was doing so if the ideas of this generation are correct.

Again, what says the Lord in the days of Moses, under another dispensation? We have seen that in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He approved of polygamy and blessed His servants who practiced it, and also their wives and children. Now, let us come down to the days of Moses. We read that, on a certain occasion the sister of Moses, Miriam, and certain others in the great congregation of Israel, got very jealous. What were they jealous about? About the Ethiopian woman that Moses had taken to wife, in addition to the daughter of Jethro, whom he had taken before in the land of Midian. How dare the great lawgiver, after having committed, according to the ideas of the present generation, a great crime, show his face on Mount Sinai when it was clothed with the glory of the God of Israel? But what did the Lord do in the case of Miriam, for finding fault with her brother Moses? Instead of saying, “You are right, Miriam, he has committed a great crime, and no matter how much you speak against him,” He smote her with a leprosy the very moment she began to complain, and she was considered unclean for a certain number of days. Here the Lord manifested by the display of a signal judgment, that He disapproved of anyone speaking against His servants for taking more wives than one, because it may not happen to suit their notions of things.

I make these remarks and wish to apply them to faultfinders against plural marriages in our day. Are there any Miriams in our congregation today, any of those who, professing to belong to the Israel of the latter days, sometimes find fault with the man of God standing at their head, because he not only believes in but practices this divine institution of the ancients? If there be such in our midst, I say, remember Miriam the very next time you begin to talk with your neighboring women, or anybody else against this holy principle. Remember the awful curse and judgment that fell on the sister of Moses when she did the same thing, and then fear and tremble before God, lest He, in His wrath, may swear that you shall not enjoy the blessings ordained for those who inherit the highest degree of glory.

Let us pass along to another instance under the dispensation of Moses. The Lord says, on a certain occasion, if a man have married two wives, and he should happen to hate one and love the other, is he to be punished—cast out and stoned to death as an adulterer? No; instead of the Lord denouncing him as an adulterer because of having two wives, He gave a commandment regulating the matter, so that this principle of hate in the mind of the man towards one of his wives should not control him in the important question of the division of his inheritance among his children, compelling him to give just as much to the son of the hated wife as to the son of the one beloved; and, if the son of the hated woman happened to be the firstborn, he should actually inherit the double portion.

Consequently, the Lord approved, not only the two wives, but their posterity also. Now, if the women had not been considered wives by the Lord, their children would have been bastards, and you know that He has said that bastards shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, until the tenth generation, hence you see there is a great distinction between those whom the Lord calls legitimate or legal, and those who were bastards—begotten in adultery and whoredom. The latter, with their posterity, were shut out of the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation, while the former were exalted to all the privileges of legitimate birthright.

Again, under that same law and dispensation, we find that the law provided for another contingency among the hosts of Israel. In order that the inheritances of the families of Israel might not run into the hands of strangers, the Lord, in the book of Deuteronomy, gives a command that if a man die, leaving a wife, but no issue, his brother shall marry his widow and take possession of the inheritance; and to prevent this inheritance going out of the family a strict command was given that the widow should marry the brother or nearest living kinsman of her deceased husband. The law was in full force at the time of the introduction of Christianity—a great many centuries after it was given. The reasoning of the Sadducees on one occasion when conversing with Jesus proves that the law was then observed. Said they, “There were seven brethren who took a certain woman, each one taking her in succession after the death of the other,” and they inquired of Jesus which of the seven would have her for a wife in the resurrection. The Sadducees, no doubt, used this figure to prove, as they thought, the fallacy of the doctrine of the resurrection, but it also proves that this law, given by the Creator while Israel walked acceptably before Him, was acknowledged by their wicked descendants in the days of the Savior. I merely quote the passage to show that the law was not considered obsolete at that time. A case like this, when six of the brethren had died, leaving the widow without issue, the seventh, whether married or unmarried, must fulfill this law and take the widow to wife, or lay himself liable to a severe penalty. What was that penalty? According to the testimony of the law of Moses he would be cursed, for Moses says, “Cursed be he that doth not all things according as it is written in this book of the law, and let all the people say Amen.” There can be no doubt that many men in those days were compelled to be polygamists in the fulfillment of this law, for any man who would not take the childless wife of a deceased brother and marry her, would come under the tremendous curse recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, and all the people would be obliged to sanction the curse, because he would not obey the law of God and become a polygamist. They were not all Congressmen in those days, nor Presidents, nor Presbyterians, nor Methodists, nor Roman Catholics; but they were the people of God, governed by divine law, and were commanded to be polygamists; not merely suffered to be so, but actually commanded to be.

There are some Latter-day Saints who, perhaps, have not searched these things as they ought, hence we occasionally find some who will say that God suffered these things to be. I will go further, and say that He commanded them, and He pronounced a curse, to which all the people had to say amen, if they did not fulfill the commandment.

Coming down to the days of the prophets we find that they were polygamists; also to the days of the kings of Israel, whom God appointed Himself, and approbated and blessed. This was especially the case with one of them, named David, who, the Lord said, was a man after His own heart. David was called when yet a youth to reign over the whole twelve tribes of Israel; but Saul, the reigning king of Israel, persecuted him, and sought to take away his life. David fled from city to city throughout all the coasts of Judea in order to get beyond the reach of the relentless persecutions of Saul. While thus fleeing, the Lord was with him, hearing his prayers, answering his petitions, giving him line upon line, precept upon precept; permitting him to look into the Urim and Thummim and receive revelations, which enabled him to escape from his enemies.

In addition to all these blessings that God bestowed upon him in his youth, before he was exalted to the throne, the Lord gave him eight wives; and after exalting him to the throne, instead of denouncing him for having many wives, and pronouncing him worthy of fourteen or twenty-one years of imprisonment, the Lord was with His servant David, and, thinking he had not wives enough He gave to him all the wives of his master Saul, in addition to the eight he had previously given him. Was the Lord to be considered a criminal, and worthy of being tried in a court of justice and sent to prison for thus increasing the polygamic relations of David? No, certainly not; it was in accordance with His own righteous laws, and He was with His servant, David the King, and blessed him. By and by, when David transgressed, not in taking other wives, but in taking the wife of another man, the anger of the Lord was kindled against him and He chastened him and took away all the blessings He had given him. All the wives David had received from the hand of God were taken from him. Why? Because he had committed adultery. Here then is a great distinction between adultery and plurality of wives. One brings honor and blessing to those who engage in it, the other degradation and death.

After David had repented with all his heart of his crime with the wife of Uriah, he, notwithstanding the number of wives he had previously taken, took Bathsheba legally, and by that legal marriage Solomon was born; the child born of her unto David, begotten illegally, being a bastard, displeased the Lord and He struck it with death; but with Solomon, a legal issue from the same woman, the Lord was so pleased that He ordained Solomon and set him on the throne of his father David. This shows the difference between the two classes of posterity, the one begotten illegally, the other in the order of marriage. If Solomon had been a bastard, as this pious generation would have us suppose, instead of being blessed of the Lord and raised to the throne of his father, he would have been banished from the congregation of Israel and his seed after him for ten generations. But, notwithstanding that he was so highly blessed and honored of the Lord, there was room for him to transgress and fall, and in the end he did so. For a long time the Lord blessed Solomon, but eventually he violated that law which the Lord had given forbidding Israel to take wives from the idolatrous nations, and some of these wives succeeded in turning his heart from the Lord, and induced him to worship the heathen gods, and the Lord was angry with him and, as it is recorded in the Book of Mormon, considered the acts of Solomon an abomination in His sight.

Let us now come to the record in the Book of Mormon, when the Lord led forth Lehi and Nephi, and Ishmael and his two sons and five daughters out of the land of Jerusalem to the land of America, the males and females were about equal in number. There were Nephi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel, the four sons of Lehi, and Zoram, brought out of Jerusalem. How many daughters of Ishmael were unmarried? Just five. Would it have been just under these circumstances to ordain plurality among them? No. Why? Because the males and females were equal in number and they were all under the guidance of the Almighty, hence it would have been unjust, and the Lord gave a revelation—the only one on record I believe—in which a command was ever given to any branch of Israel to be confined to the monogamic system. In this case the Lord through His servant Lehi, gave a command that they should have but one wife. The Lord had a perfect right to vary His commands in this respect according to circumstances as He did in others, as recorded in the Bible. There we find that the domestic relations were governed according to the mind and will of God, and were varied according to circumstances, as he thought proper.

By and by, after the death of Lehi, some of his posterity began to disregard the strict law that God had given to their father, and took more wives than one, and the Lord put them in mind, through His servant Jacob, one of the sons of Lehi, of this law, and told them that they were transgressing it, and then referred to David and Solomon, as having committed abomination in His sight. The Bible also tells us that they sinned in the sight of God; not in taking wives legally, but only in those they took illegally, in doing which they brought wrath and condemnation upon their heads.

But because the Lord dealt thus with the small branch of the House of Israel that came to America, under their peculiar circumstances, there are those at the present day who will appeal to this passage in the Book of Mormon as something universally applicable in regard to man’s domestic relations. The same God that commanded one branch of the House of Israel in America, to take but one wife when the numbers of the two sexes were about equal, gave a different command to the hosts of Israel in Palestine. But let us see the qualifying clause given in the Book of Mormon on this subject. After having reminded the people of the commandment delivered by Lehi in regard to monogamy, the Lord says, “For if I will raise up seed unto me I will command my people, otherwise they shall hearken unto these things;” that is, if I will raise up seed among my people of the House of Israel, according to the law that exists among the tribes of Israel I will give them a commandment on the subject, but if I do not give this commandment they shall hearken to the law which I gave unto their father Lehi. That is the meaning of the passage, and this very passage goes to prove that plurality was a principle God did approve under circumstances when it was authorized by Him.

In the early rise of this Church, February, 1831, God gave a commandment to its members, recorded in the Book of Covenants, wherein He says, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and to none else;” and then He gives a strict law against adultery. This you have, no doubt, all read; but let me ask whether the Lord had the privilege and the right to vary from this law. It was given in 1831, when the one-wife system alone prevailed among this people. I will tell you what the Prophet Joseph said in relation to this matter in 1831, also in 1832, the year in which the law commanding the members of this Church to cleave to one wife only was given. Joseph was then living in Portage County, in the town of Hiram, at the house of Father John Johnson. Joseph was very intimate with that family, and they were good people at that time, and enjoyed much of the Spirit of the Lord. In the forepart of the year 1832, Joseph told individuals, then in the Church, that he had inquired of the Lord concerning the principle of plurality of wives, and he received for answer that the principle of taking more wives than one is a true principle, but the time had not yet come for it to be practiced. That was before the Church was two years old. The Lord has His own time to do all things pertaining to His purposes in the last dispensation; His own time for restoring all things that have been predicted by the ancient prophets. If they have predicted that the day would come when seven women would take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach;” and that, in that day the branch of the Lord should be beautiful and glorious and the fruits of the earth should be excellent and comely, the Lord has the right to say when that time shall be.

Now supposing the members of this Church had undertaken to vary from that law given in 1831, to love their one wife with all their hearts and to cleave to none other, they would have come under the curse and condemnation of God’s holy law. Some twelve years after that time the revelation on Celestial Marriage was revealed. This is just republished at the Deseret News office, in a pamphlet entitled, “Answers to Questions,” by President George A. Smith, and heretofore has been published in pamphlet form and in the Millennial Star, and sent throughout the length and breadth of our country, being included in our works and published in the works of our enemies. Then came the Lord’s time for this holy and ennobling principle to be practiced again among His people.

We have not time to read the revelation this afternoon; suffice it to say that God revealed the principle through His servant Joseph in 1843. It was known by many individuals while the Church was yet in Illinois; and though it was not then printed, it was a familiar thing through all the streets of Nauvoo, and indeed throughout all Hancock County. Did I hear about it? I verily did. Did my brethren of the Twelve know about it? They certainly did. Were there any females who knew about it? There certainly were, for some received the revelation and entered into the practice of the principle. Some may say, “Why was it not printed, and made known to the people generally, if it was of such importance?” I reply by asking another question. Why did not the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants come to us in print years before they did? Why were they shut up in Joseph’s cupboard years and years without being suffered to be printed and sent broadcast throughout the land? Because the Lord had His own time again to accomplish His purposes, and He suffered the revelations to be printed just when He saw proper. He did not suffer the revelation on the great American war to be published until some time after it was given. So in regard to the revelation on plurality; it was only a short time after Joseph’s death that we published it, having a copy thereof. But what became of the original? An apostate destroyed it; you have heard her name. That same woman, in destroying the original, thought she had destroyed the revelation from the face of the earth. She was embittered against Joseph, her husband, and at times fought against him with all her heart; and then again she would break down in her feelings, and humble herself before God and call upon His holy name, and would then lead forth ladies and place their hands in the hands of Joseph, and they were married to him according to the law of God. That same woman has brought up her children to believe that no such thing as plurality of wives existed in the days of Joseph, and has instilled the bitterest principles of apostasy into their minds, to fight against the Church that has come to these mountains according to the predictions of Joseph.

In the year 1854, before his death, a large company was organized to come and search out a location, west of the Rocky Mountains. We have been fulfilling and carrying out his predictions in coming here and since our arrival. The course pursued by this woman shows what apostates can do, and how wicked they can become in their hearts. When they apostatize from the truth they can come out and swear before God and the heavens that such and such things never existed, when they know, as well as they know they exist themselves, that they are swearing falsely. Why do they do this? Because they have no fear of God before their eyes; because they have apostatized from the truth; because they have taken it upon themselves to destroy the revelations of the Most High, and to banish them from the face of the earth, and the Spirit of God withdraws from them. We have come here to these mountains, and have continued to practice the principle of Celestial Marriage from the day the revelation was given until the present time; and we are a polygamic people, and a great people, comparatively speaking, considering the difficult circumstances under which we came to this land.

Let us speak for a few moments upon another point connected with this subject—that is, the reason why God has established polygamy under the present circumstances among this people. If all the inhabitants of the earth, at the present time, were righteous before God, and both males and females were faithful in keeping His commandments, and the numbers of the sexes of a marriageable age were exactly equal, there would be no necessity for any such institution. Every righteous man could have his wife and there would be no overplus of females. But what are the facts in relation to this matter? Since old Pagan Rome and Greece—worshippers of idols—passed a law confining man to one wife, there has been a great surplus of females who have had no possible chance of getting married. You may think this a strange statement, but it is a fact that those nations were the founders of what is termed monogamy. All other nations, with few exceptions, had followed the Scriptural plan of having more wives than one. These nations, however, were very powerful and when Christianity came to them, especially the Roman nation, it had to bow to their mandates and customs, hence the Christians gradually adopted the monogamic system. The consequence was that a great many marriageable ladies of those days, and of all generations from that time to the present, have not had the privilege of husbands, as the one-wife system has been established by law among the nations descended from the great Roman empire—namely, the nations of modern Europe and the American States. This law of monogamy, or the monogamic system, laid the foundation for prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting nature and character under which modern Christendom groans, for as God has implanted, for a wise purpose, certain feelings in the breasts of females as well as males, the gratification of which is necessary to health and happiness, and which can only be accomplished legitimately in the married state, myriads of those who have been deprived of the privilege of entering that state, rather than be deprived of the gratification of those feelings altogether, have, in despair, given way to wickedness and licentiousness; hence the whoredoms and prostitution among the nations of the earth, where the “Mother of Harlots” has her seat.

When the religious Reformers came out, some two or three centuries ago, they neglected to reform the marriage system—a subject demanding their urgent attention. But leaving these Reformers and their doings, let us come down to our own times and see whether, as has been often said by many, the numbers of the sexes are equal; and let us take as a basis for our investigations on this part of our subject the censuses taken by several of the States in the American Union.

Many will tell us that the number of males and the number of females born are just about equal, and because they are so it is not reasonable to suppose that God ever intended the nations to practice plurality of wives. Let me say a few words on that. Supposing we should admit, for the sake of argument, that the sexes are born in equal numbers, does that prove that the same equality exists when they come to a marriageable age? By no means. There may be about equal numbers born, but what do the statistics of our country show in regard to the deaths? Do as many females as males die during the first year of their existence? If you go to the published statistics you will find, almost without exception, that in every State a greater number of males die the first year of their existence than females. The same holds good from one year to five years, from five years to ten, from ten to fifteen, and from fifteen to twenty. This shows that the number of females is greatly in excess of the males when they come to a marriageable age. Let us elucidate still further, in proof of the position here assumed. Let us take, for instance, the census of the State of Pennsylvania in the year 1860, and we shall find that there were 17,588 more females than males between the ages of twenty and thirty years, which may strictly be termed a marriageable age. Says one, “Probably the great war made that difference.” No, this was before the war. Now let us go to the statistics of the State of New York, before the war, and we find according to the official tables of the census taken in 1860, that there were 45,104 more females than males in that one State, between the ages of twenty and thirty years—a marriageable age, recollect! Now let us go to the State of Massachusetts, and look at the statistics there. In the year 1865, there were 33,452 more females than males between the age of twenty and thirty. We might go on from State to State and then to the census taken by the United States, and a vast surplus would be shown of females over males of a marriageable age. What is to be done with them? I will tell you what Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York say. They say, virtually, “We will pass a law so strict, that if these females undertake to marry a man who has another wife, both they and the men they marry shall be subject to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary.” Indeed! Then what are you going to do with these hundreds of thousands of females of a marriageable age? “We are going to make them either old maids or prostitutes, and we would a little rather have them prostitutes, then we men would have no need to marry.” That is the conclusion many of these marriageable males, between twenty and thirty years of age, have come to. They will not marry because the laws of the land have a tendency to make prostitutes, and they can purchase all the animal gratification they desire without being bound to any woman; hence many of them have mistresses, by whom they raise children, and, when they get tired of them, turn both mother and children into the street, with nothing to support them, the law allowing them to do so, because the women are not wives. Thus the poor creatures are plunged into the depths of misery, wretchedness and degradation, because at all risks they have followed the instincts implanted within them by their Creator, and not having the opportunity to do so legally have done so unlawfully. There are hundreds and thousands of [unmarried] females in this boasted land of liberty, through the narrow, contracted, bigoted State laws, preventing them from ever getting husbands. That is what the Lord is fighting against; we, also, are fighting against it, and for the reestablishment of the Bible religion and the celestial or patriarchal order of marriage.

It is no matter according to the Constitution whether we believe in the patriarchal part of the Bible, in the Mosaic or in the Christian part; whether we believe in one-half, two-thirds, or in the whole of it; that is nobody’s business. The Constitution never granted power to Congress to prescribe what part of the Bible any people should believe in or reject; it never intended any such thing.

Much more might be said, but the congregation is large, and a speaker, of course, will weary. Though my voice is tolerably good, I feel weary in attempting to make a congregation of from eight to ten thousand people hear me, I have tried to do so. May God bless you, and may He pour out His Spirit upon the rising generation among us, and upon the missionaries who are about to be sent to the United States and elsewhere, that the great principles, political, religious and domestic, that God has ordained and established, may be made known to all people.

In this land of liberty in religious worship, let us boldly proclaim our rights to believe in and practice any Bible precept, command or doctrine, whether in the Old or New Testament, whether relating to ceremonies, ordinances, domestic relations, or anything else, not incompatible with the rights of others, and the great revelations of Almighty God manifested in ancient and modern times. Amen.

Remarks by Elder Orson Hyde, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1869.

Being requested to make a few remarks to the Saints at the present time, I have risen with cheerfulness to add my testimony to what has been said, and to speak a few words more in relation to the Church and kingdom of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ His Son. I rejoice in the opportunity of meeting with the Saints and seeing their friendly faces, which beam as though their hearts felt glad to associate together—to commune one with another, and to hear what the Lord may say through His servants who may be called upon to address you. Brethren and sisters, the feelings of my heart are—The Lord bless you, and pour His Spirit upon you and upon all His Saints everywhere.

I have listened with interest to the remarks that have been made. I rejoice in anything that goes to advance the cause of Zion; and I know of no one thing more potent to that effect than our living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And I apprehend that, if the Saints will listen to the words of counsel and unto the commandments of God, no very serious inroads will ever be made upon us, either by contestants for the supremacy in this kingdom, or by Congress itself. These are my feelings.

I became connected with the Church of God on the 31st day of October 1831. I do not know how many there are now living that can date their connection with the Church to an earlier period than this. There is one, and perhaps there are two, that I know of, I know of no more; still, I cannot say in relation to this. Now, if I had only improved upon the time that has been allotted to me, and gained the experience I might have gained, perhaps I would have been further in advance than I am at the present time. But I am not discouraged; I have no feelings to linger or flag, but feel to persevere and to do all I can for the building up of the Zion of our God.

I apprehend, brethren and sisters, that there are faithful witnesses in this Church who have lived with the Prophet—who have traveled with him, who have eaten with him, who have slept with him, who have preached and prayed with him, and have been as familiar with him as a child ever was with his father. There are, I say, witnesses that lived co-temporary with him, who will continue to live and be able to bear a faithful testimony to the truth, until the kingdom can take care of itself, or God will take care of it. I tell you that light will come upon you pretty soon—the glorious light of heaven. Be patient, enduring—the sun will rise and darkness will flee away. By and by, true to the word of promise, the sun does rise, and darkness flees away; and the sun ascends to the meridian, and his rays illuminate the whole face of nature. You can then see, you can then appreciate the word of promise. Would it be any satisfaction to you if I were to continue and tell you that the sun does shine? It shines in the face of you all. You have no need of my testimony, you have no need of my assurance. It displays its light to all the world, and you behold it, and no one could convince you that the sun does not shine.

So let me say here, that there are faithful witnesses, who will testify to the truth, that lived contemporary with Joseph, the martyred prophet; and they will continue to live and testify till this kingdom can take care of itself. What do you mean by the kingdom taking care of itself? I mean that the veil which is now cast over the world will be rent asunder, and every eye will see and every heart feel. Then the kingdom can take care of itself, and have no need of witnesses to prove that the sun shines. Well, then, if the veil of the covering which has caused so great darkness is rent in twain, and the whole people, as it were, see as they are seen and know as they are known, have they any particular use for the testimony of a feeble mortal, that the power of God, in streams of light from on high, is being poured down upon the children of God on earth? Why it is a character of evidence beyond the feeble voice of mortals.

I apprehend that, so long as these witnesses remain, it will be a pretty hard matter for Congress or for apostates to make many inroads upon the truth, while the servants of the Most High, inspired by the Spirit of God, stand like a flaming sword to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

I will tell you, brethren and sisters, the Apostleship is of some importance to the Saints of God; but I will say, furthermore, that it is very satisfactory to me when I call to mind the remarks of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I will give you my testimony. In one particular place, in the presence of about sixty men, he said, “My work is about done; I am going to step aside awhile. I am going to rest from my labors; for I have borne the burden and heat of the day, and now I am going to step aside and rest a little. And I roll the burden off my shoulders on the shoulders of the Twelve Apostles. Now,” said he, “round up your shoulders and bear off this kingdom.” Has he ever said this to anyone else? I do not know; I do not care. It is enough for me to know that he said it to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And since that time we have endeavored to do our duty and perform the work that was given us to do.

We did not consider, at the time he bore this testimony, that he was going to die or be taken from us; but we considered that as he had been borne down with excessive labors, by day and night, he was going to retire to rest and regain his health, and we should act under his direction and bear the responsibility of the work. But when the fatal news came to us, in the Eastern States, that he, with his brother Hyrum, had been massacred in Carthage jail, I will tell you it brought his words home to our minds, and we could then realize that he had spoken in sober earnest; and the twelve men upon whom he had conferred this power, then stepped forth and took their position. When the Twelve, united heart and soul, stepped forth, everything yielded before them.

Well, now, I will give it as the feelings of my heart—and if I am wrong, I can be corrected right here—that no one need be curious or anxious as to who is going to lead and guide this people. I will tell you that as long as God has a Church on the earth, He will govern it. Now I will tell you a little of my feelings in relation to it. I know that when President Young returned with the Twelve to Nauvoo, he gathered them around him, and said he, “I want you to disperse among the congregation and feel the pulse of the people, while I go upon the stand and speak.”

We went among the congregation and President Young went on the stand. Well, he spoke, and his words went through me like electricity. “Am I mistaken?” said I, “or is it really the voice of Joseph Smith?” This is my testimony; it was not only the voice of Joseph, but there were the features, the gestures and even the stature of Joseph before us in the person of Brigham. And though it may be said that President Young is a complete mimic, and can mimic anybody, I would like to see the man who can mimic another in stature who was about four or five inches higher than himself. Everyone in the congregation—everyone who was inspired by the Spirit of the Lord—felt it. They knew it. They realized it.

I sat myself down in the midst of the congregation, with my two wives, whom Joseph had given and sealed to me. When President Young began to speak, one of them said, “It is the voice of Joseph! It is Joseph Smith!” The exclamation of the other was, “I do not see him, where is he?” Well, the thought occurred to my mind respecting the Scripture which President Young has just quoted—“My sheep know my voice and follow me.” Where is the one that recognized the voice of Joseph in President Young? Where is she? She is in the line of her duty. But where is the other? Gone where I wish she were not. The sheep of the good shepherd will follow the voice they know, but they will not follow the voice of a stranger.

Now this was a manifestation of the power of the Almighty—it was the power of God resting on an individual in the eyes of all the people, not only in feature and voice, but actually in stature. This is my testimony. I might go on and add many more testimonies. I recollect reading that when our Savior was baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit of the Lord descended and rested upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.”

Well, now, it did not depend upon argument, it did not depend upon reason. The voice of the Almighty—the form of a dove descending and resting upon him, were sufficient evidence to prove he was the Son of God. Argument was out of the question. Did it require argument to prove that brother Brigham Young held the position of Joseph, the martyred Prophet? Did it require proof that Joseph was there in the person of Brigham, speaking with an angel’s voice? It required no argument; with those who feared God and loved truth, it required none.

Well, now, we have the consolation to know that, whatever changes may take place in the government of the Church and kingdom of God, we shall not be left in the dark nor will our destiny be suspended on the frailty of argument; but I believe that whatever changes take place will be brought about by a power that every child of God will recognize.

These are the feelings of my heart; and consequently I dismiss every anxiety in relation to it. It is for me to live my religion and honor my God, and to let Him steady His own ark. Let me do my duty and all will work for the best. This is how I feel, brethren. When I began to speak, I had quite an argument fixed up in my mind, but I cannot touch it now, and it is useless to try. I will say, however, that it is all summed up in the excellent quotation made by our President—“My sheep know my voice and will follow me; but a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.”

We must learn, brethren and sisters, to be wise. We must learn to let the world alone. The Lord has brought us out from the nations. Said He, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues.” Now, why should we ever have any lingering desire for any connection with the world again? Will we invite them here and scatter our means among them, and put a weapon in their hands to destroy us?

An illustrious visitor, the one only second in office in the United States, expressed a desire that we should see the necessity of inviting men of capital to our midst, to aid in developing the resources of the country, thereby making our Territory a great commercial center. The Lord knows His own business best, and He will conduct it in a manner and way that will please Him. I apprehend He will take care of His people. And if we will do His will and keep His commandments, He will provide for us; and we may yet learn, in the midst of all our reasoning and argument, that God has never yet desired us to live after the manner of the world. It is for us to keep His commandments and He will provide for His children. He will provide for His servants. Brethren and sisters, you will see the servants of God will have joy at heart; but the enemies of righteousness will have sorrow.

It is well for us to adhere to the principle of cooperation and everything else that is calculated to advance our interests as a people. It is well for us to adhere to the teachings that we receive, and let our enemies and outsiders alone. Is there anything wrong in our concentrating our time and means in a certain channel? Can we not trade where and with whom we will? Are we doing anyone any injustice in this? No. Have we the Constitutional right to invest our capital wherever we like? Yes, we have the Constitutional right. Is it my Constitutional right to get all the power and influence that I can? Yes, it is. Is there anything unlawful in it? Nothing at all. I will venture to say that the Hon. Vice President would not object, today, to have influence over all the citizens of the United States. He would not object to it at all; neither would any other politician.

We say there is nothing unlawful in Brigham Young getting all the influence that he can; but they want him out of the way. They are not willing—they cannot be willing, to see a man who has earned the position he occupies, use his influence for the welfare, elevation and advancement of the people. They want to occupy it themselves, and they are jealous.

I do not feel to detain you a great while, brethren and sisters, but there are two or three things in my mind that I wish to make known. Congress, it is said, is going to give the people “their rights!” I wonder why they never thought of giving us our rights? That is another thing; it is a horse of another color. But our rights are safe. Our rights are in the hands of God; and we will trust in Him for them; and when He does give them to us, He will give them on a large scale.

Brother George A. Smith was computing the interest and indebtedness of Missouri to us; but I tell you when the Lord pays us up, it will be a “big” reward. Be patient, live your religion, and when the Almighty does reward, it will be on a large scale.

And now let me give you my feelings in relation to the interference of the Government of the United States. What do they want to interfere with us for? Whom have we injured? Have we injured anyone? Have we done wrong to anyone, Jew or Gentile? Have we done wrong to the Indians? Have we done wrong in cultivating the soil, and in making this barren and waste desert fertile? What wrong have we done, that it is necessary for Congress to interfere? They say, “We are afraid you intend to do wrong.” Well, then you punish us in advance for the wrong we have not done. They say, “You are guilty of practicing polygamy.” Well, now, this is only one feather in the bird; only one single feather. I will tell you, everything is wrong about us in their estimation. It is wrong of us to get such an influence on the earth, both at home and abroad. And the reason why so much is said about polygamy, is because it is the only handle that they think they can get hold of; but they will discover that even this is so doubtful, in the eye of Constitutional law, that it can give them no assurance of success against us; and they will find it the very principle that will break in pieces the power that would set it aside.

I would not say that I am speaking now as a representative of the minds of the Latter-day Saints as a body; I wish merely to express my own sentiments and feelings, and if I say anything that is wrong, let me be corrected for it right here. I will tell you that, just in proportion as any power, whether the United States or any other nation, seeks to hinder or oppose the progress of the Latter-day Saints, or lay any stumbling block in their way, the Lord will lay two stumbling blocks in their way, to their laying one in ours.

We have something more potent than our own arm to defend us—we have the arm of Jehovah pledged for our protection. He will make bare His arm in the eyes of the nations, and they will feel it. It is getting too late in the day. The battle is too far advanced.

Then let us, as Latter-day Saints, be filled with reverence for the kingdom of God—for His laws and institutions; remembering our prayers, being faithful, doing our duty in all things, and the Lord will bear off His kingdom. God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sept. 5, 1869.

I am called upon this afternoon to make some remarks upon the life and death of Brother Ezra Taft Benson, who has been suddenly taken out of our midst—from time into eternity.

I have long since considered it unnecessary to make any excuses for performing my duty upon any occasion in public; but if there is any position where a man might have doubts about satisfying his own mind or the minds of his friends, perhaps it is on an occasion like this. It is well known, at least to the Latter-day Saints, that the Elders of Israel rise to speak without any written sermon or preparation of any kind. Many of us have been engaged the greater portion of our lives in preaching the Gospel to the world, and on every occasion we depend for assist– ance and preparation upon the Spirit of God. This is my position this afternoon. I rise before you with no prepared sermon, and with no particular principles that I have settled in my mind to address you upon; depending, as on all occasions, upon the Spirit of God and the faith and prayers of my friends. This dispensation of Providence causes me many reflections; and I presume it is the case with every Latter-day Saint present. In the first place I will ask the question, “What position did Brother Benson occupy while in the flesh, and how many have ever held the same position on the face of the earth? The words contained in the 7th verse of the 52nd chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah are brought to my mind. While contemplating the great work of building up the Zion of God in the last days, he says—

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”

What position can any man occupy on the face of the earth, that is more noble, Godlike, high and glorious than to be a messenger of salvation unto the human family? What more responsible position can a man occupy than to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ? I do not know of any in this or any other generation. The thought also arises in my mind, how many individuals have ever held this position on the earth? I find in the history recorded in the Bible, from the days of Adam down through the different dispensations and generations, that prophets have existed on the earth. Adam, himself, was a prophet and he ordained his sons to the Melchizedek Priesthood; the Gospel of Christ was taught to him after the Fall, and he attended to the ordinances of the house of God. He was a High Priest, and, as a High Priest, held the keys of the kingdom of God. There were many sons who were High Priests, having been ordained to this office by their father Adam. Three years before his death he called together Seth, Enos, Jared, Cainan, Mahaleel, Methuselah, and many other of his descendants in the Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and there rose up and blessed them with his great and last patriarchal blessing. This has been given to us by revelation; and these men were prophets and High Priests.

Tracing down the sacred history through the different ages and dispensations, we learn that many prophets existed among the children of men. Moses was a lawgiver in Israel, and held the office of a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. When I say that many prophets have existed, it probably needs some qualification. The number of persons thus honored of God has not been many when compared with the whole of the people who have lived; but in every Gospel age and dispensation God has had His prophets and servants upon the earth to make known His will to its inhabitants. In the days of Moses Elders were chosen as his counselors; and seventy Elders were ordained to bear record of the things of God and to assist Moses in the work to be performed in his day; but we do not read of Apostles being chosen under Moses’s dispensation. Jesus tabernacled in the flesh to establish the kingdom of his Father upon the earth, and when he was thirty years of age he went forth administering in the ordinances of the house of God, and he chose twelve Apostles to assist him, and he gave to them the keys of the kingdom of God. And the highest office that any man has ever held on the face of the earth in this or any other generation is that of an Apostle.

We read that God set in His Church first Apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, graces and helps; and the office of an Apostle entitles him to hold the keys of the kingdom of God; and what he binds on earth is bound in heaven, and what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven. The history of the Twelve whom Jesus chose is to be found in the New Testament; within the lids of that book their travels, the course they pursued and the doctrines they taught are published to the world. Nearly the whole of them sealed their testimony with their blood. Some were crucified as their master was; some were beheaded; and all, except John, suffered martyrdom in some way for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. This was the fate of the first quorum of Apostles we have any history of.

After the death and resurrection of the Savior, when he ministered to his disciples the last time on earth, he informed them that he had other sheep not of this fold whom he was going to visit and minister unto. The Book of Mormon is a record of the descendants of the House of Israel who dwelt on this continent anciently. It gives us the history of the Jaredites who came from the Tower of Babel; of Lehi and his family, who came from Jerusalem, and also of the Lamanites and Nephites, the descendants of Nephi and Lemuel, sons of Lehi. In that record we find that Christ, after his death and resurrection, visited that branch of the house of Israel which dwelt on this continent. On the occasion of that visit we are informed that Jesus chose Twelve Apostles and gave to them the same power, keys, gifts and graces that he had given to his Apostles on the eastern continent, and they went forth and magnified their callings. All of this quorum of the Twelve Apostles had the promise of departing and being with Christ when they were seventy-two years old, except three of them. To these three Jesus gave a promise similar to that which he gave to John the Revelator—namely, that they should tarry in the flesh until he came. History informs us that the wicked tried to kill John in various ways, placing him, on one occasion, in a cauldron of boiling oil, but his life was preserved; and that finally, in the reign of Domitian Caesar, he was banished to the Isle of Patmos to work in the lead mines. While there he was blessed with visions, revelations, knowledge, light and truth, a portion of which we have recorded in what are called the Revelation of St. John. In the reign of Nerva, John was recalled, and afterwards wrote his epistles. The first quorum of Apostles were all put to death, except John, and we are informed that he still remains on the earth, though his body has doubtless undergone some change. Three of the Nephites, chosen here by the Lord Jesus as his Apostles, had the same promise—that they should not taste death until Christ came, and they still remain on the earth in the flesh.

Thus we have an account in the Bible and Book of Mormon of but two quorums of Twelve Apostles being chosen previous to this dispensation; but in these last days the Lord called upon Joseph Smith, gave him power and authority to organize His Church and kingdom again upon the earth, and gave him the Holy Priesthood and the keys of the kingdom of God. Joseph was ordained to the Apostleship under the hands of men holding the keys of the kingdom of God in the days of Jesus—namely, Peter, James and John.

I shall not occupy time with entering into the details of these things. I have referred to them to show the importance of the office held by Brother Benson. He was a member of one of the three quorums of Apostles that have ever been chosen on the face of the earth since Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh, that we have any knowledge of. The first chosen when Jesus commenced his public labors in the flesh; the second after his resurrection, here on his continent; and the third, since the revelation of the Gospel in our own day. Here we find only thirty-six men, chosen at various times and dispensations, in six thousand years, to hold this order of Priesthood, unless they were chosen in the days of Enoch and at times in which the Bible does not inform us. This number has been increased, however, by others who have been chosen to fill vacancies in these quorums, as in the case of Judas, and others; but it is safe to say that the entire number who have held this office from the days of Adam until today has been very limited. As to the number of inhabitants who have dwelt on the earth during that period, it is a pretty difficult matter to form any correct idea in relation to it. I do not think that any statistician could tell this to any degree of correctness. It is a kind of a given point in these days to say that the population of the earth is about a thousand millions, and that this number pass away every generation. It is also estimated that about three generations pass away in a century; this gives three thousand millions in a century, thirty thousand millions in a thousand years, and one hundred and eighty thousand millions in six thousand years—about the period that is supposed to have elapsed since the creation of man upon the earth. Whether these statistics are anything like correct it is not of much importance to discuss; but it is an important reflection that Brother Benson, who has been associated with us so many years, is one of the chosen few, of all the immense numbers who have dwelt on the face of the earth, who have been called to hold the office of Apostle. Well might the prophet say, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet,” &c.

I will say that in my boyhood, while attending Sabbath school in my native State, Connecticut, there seemed something glorious to me about the Apostles of Jesus Christ who were called to preach the Gospel of the Son of God to the inhabitants of the earth; and I have many times felt that I would willingly walk a thousand miles to see a prophet, an Apostle, or any man called of God, who could teach me the way to be saved, a man who held in his hands the power of the Priesthood, who could command the elements and they would obey him, and who could declare the words of life in their truth and purity to the inhabitants of the earth. I always looked upon the lives and missions of these men, though despised by the world generally, as the most important of any men who ever dwelt in the flesh. Jesus himself was called master of the house of Beelzebub, and traveled through a constant scene of poverty, ridicule, persecution and affliction; yet there was something great, good, grand and glorious in the life of the Savior of the world. This was the fate of him and his Apostles; and though they descended below all things, they held in their hands the destiny and salvation, not only of that generation, but of all the human race; and woe be to that house, nation, kindred, tongue or people who rejected their words and testimony, for they will rise in judgment against them.

From the days of my childhood until I heard the fulness of the Gospel, as taught by the Latter-day Saints, I had a great desire to live to see a prophet or Apostle. I have lived to see this day. I have lived to see the Church and kingdom of God on the earth, with all its gifts, graces, power, glory and dominion, revealed and organized by the ministrations of angels from God in heaven and by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have lived to see Apostles and the full organization of the Priesthood again officiating in and administering the ordinances of salvation to the children of men.

Brother Ezra T. Benson, whose death has occurred so unexpectedly, was one of the few called in this day to bear testimony to the nations of the earth of the restoration of this Gospel, and he has traveled many thousand miles to do so. He has been true and faithful unto death, and he will receive a crown of life. He has gone from our midst to the spirit world to mingle with the Gods, or at least with his brethren who have gone before him; whether he will mingle with the Gods until after the resurrection perhaps it is not for me to say. He has gone home to receive his reward. What a cloud of reflection it brings to the mind! It speaks in loud language to every Apostle, prophet, Elder and Saint of God, and to all the inhabitants of the earth, “Be ye also ready!” That is what it says to all men. If you have anything to do, any work to perform that is of consequence to yourself or friends, living or dead, do it.

Is there any sorrow or mourning in my heart with regard to the departure of Brother Benson? I would rather follow a thousand Apostles and prophets to the grave and see their lifeless remains deposited in the dark and silent tomb, than see one man who has tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, make shipwreck of his faith, lose his crown and go to perdition. I have had more sorrow in seeing men, with whom I have traveled and preached the Gospel, turn from the truth, commit wickedness, and lose their standing in the Church, than over all the faithful Latter-day Saints I have seen laid in the tomb. When I see a man depart who, like Brother Benson, has been ever willing to go and come and do the bidding of those over him, I look forward with great joy to his reward. He is the first man in the Quorum of the Twelve, who, for the last forty years, has had the privilege of dying a natural death; for most of the Apostles who ever tabernacled in the flesh have died as martyrs. We have had two in our quorum who have died thus, besides our Prophet and Patriarch. True, they will receive a martyr’s crown, so will all men who are true and faithful unto death and lay down their lives for the work of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Brother Benson has died among his friends; he had not been in pain or suffering, or endured a lingering sickness. Thank God he died in the harness and has gone home to receive his reward. During the time he has been a member of the Church he has been on many missions. I will here remark, without entering into details, that, at the time the Saints were driven from Illinois to this land, he was called upon and sent east, as one of the agents of the Church, to prove the eastern country—our Puritan fathers and friends in New England, after we had been driven from our homes, country, and the graves of parents, wives and children, to see if they would stretch out their hand to assist us while in the wilderness. He labored faithfully on that mission, visiting Boston and other leading New England cities, calling for contributions to help the poor, the widow and the fatherless, who were, in a measure, in a state of starvation in the wilderness, after having been driven from their homes in the midst of an inclement winter. I believe he got fifty dollars. If he had gone into Missouri and split rails by the day, I guess he would have made considerable more money in the same time. But never mind! He was faithful on his mission, and returned faithful, and continued so from the commencement of his career as a Latter-day Saint until the day of his death. I rejoice in this, and it is a consolation to his family and to all Israel to know that he has been true and faithful to his calling. When I contemplate and realize that the little time spent here in this mortal life will fix and mold our destiny for all the endless ages of eternity, I try to realize what manner of men we all ought to be.

I have traveled a good deal with Brother Benson and have been acquainted with him, as you have, a good many years past, and I can bear this testimony of him—he has always been ready and willing to labor in either temporal or spiritual things. Here on this road he labored faithfully during the past year in building a hundred miles of the railroad; he and those associated with him finished their job with punctuality. All these things show the untiring industry and perseverance of the man.

This is the way with all of us. We are all called to labor in temporal and spiritual things in building up the kingdom of God in these last days. We have to preach the Gospel to the children of men; we have to warn the nations of the earth. We have been called to do this; this is the command of God to the Elders of Israel. In obedience to this they shoulder their knapsacks, and without purse or scrip, travel the world over to declare to the children of men the words of life and salvation. In doing this they swim rivers, wade swamps, and endure much toil and privation. During the last thirty-seven years of my life I have traveled one hundred thousand miles in obedience to this command. It will be well with all men who are faithful in the performance of these duties. Brother Benson never performed a mission or any other duty but what he will rejoice over forever and so it will be with us all. The reward of the faithful will amply repay them for all the labors they ever performed or for the privations they have endured. No labor we have ever done that has helped to promote the happiness and well-being of our fellow men will go unrewarded. Brother Benson today, instead of being with his family in Logan, that is in the flesh, he may be with them in spirit, is privileged to mingle with his brethren who have gone before—Joseph, Hyrum, David, Parley, Heber and the prophets and Apostles of former days. He is mingling with them. They have finished their work in the flesh. So has he. He has been suddenly called away from his labors, but his works will follow him.

I wish to speak to my friends a little with regard to the position which we occupy as Elders of Israel, and as the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. I feel impressed to do so. I do not know that I wish to say a great deal more with regard to Brother Benson. His labors are before us and the world, and they are before God and angels. I am satisfied with them, and I do not know who is not who was acquainted with him. I wish now to say something with regard to the organization of this Church and the position occupied by Joseph Smith, Elder Benson and the Apostles and Priesthood of this Church.

We are living in a very important age, an age in which preparations are making for the second coming of the Messiah to reign a thousand years upon the earth with his Saints. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament will never be fulfilled until this comes to pass. An angel of God, the Revelator John informs us, was to fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth—to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, Saying with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him who made the heaven, the earth, the seas and the fountains of waters.” You may take up Isaiah and all the prophets, and you will find that they refer to this latter-day dispensation, when the kingdom of God should be established on the earth. There never was a prophet, from Adam down, whose records we have, but had his eye upon this great dispensation of the last days. When the Lord created the earth He placed men upon it, and though the power of sin has entered it, it has not been left by the Lord to go at random. In Adam all fell, or died; but in Christ, the Apostle says, all are made alive. Our worthy President has often said, when speaking upon the prevalence of sin in this world, that one of the greatest honors and blessings ever conferred on the sons of men was to come and dwell in the flesh in a sinful world like this, amid the power of evil, temptation and darkness, that they might have the privilege of overcoming them and of inheriting eternal life, which is the greatest gift of God. All the prophets have foreseen the establishment of the kingdom of God in the last days; they have seen Zion pass through all her travail and persecution to her final triumph, when she possessed great glory, power and dominion upon the land of Joseph. Daniel saw the kingdom of God, which he likens to a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands, which grew and increased in size until it filled the whole earth. Daniel said this kingdom was to be an everlasting kingdom.

Well, brethren and sisters, you and I have lived to see the dawn of the great day thus referred to by the prophets, in which the God of heaven has set His hand for the last time to establish His kingdom upon the earth; a kingdom not to be overthrown, but to remain until sin, Satan and the power of the devil are banished from the face thereof, and until, as the prophets have said, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ.

This day we have lived to see. This tabernacle, this congregation, and the multitudes through the valleys of the mountains are the fruits of this work. How did it commence? It commenced by an angel of God flying through the midst of heaven and visiting a young man named Joseph Smith, in the year 1827. That was the time of a great awakening among the sectarians of the day—a day of revivals and protracted meetings, when the people were called upon to join themselves to the sectarian churches. This young man looked around amid the confusion among the different sects, each proclaiming the plan of salvation differently, and each claiming it was right and that all others were wrong; in the midst of this contention he did not know which to join. While in this state of uncertainty he turned to the Bible, and there saw that passage in the epistle of James which directs him that lacks wisdom to ask of God. He went into his secret chamber and asked the Lord what he must do to be saved. The Lord heard his prayer and sent His angel to him, who informed him that all the sects were wrong, and that the God of heaven was about to establish His work upon the earth. This angel quoted many of the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and told this young man that they were about to be fulfilled among the nations of the earth; and he also told him that if he would listen and render obedience to the commands of God, he should be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in establishing His kingdom upon the earth.

These visits were repeated from time to time, during which Joseph received revelation and much instruction in the things of God. He taught some of these things to his father and some of his brothers and a few others, but he had no authority to preach or administer in the ordinances of the house of God. Why? Because, as the prophet has said, “No man taketh this honor unto himself, except he be called of God, as was Aaron.” No man, in any generation, has ever had authority to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ unless he was called by revelation. You may read the history of all the prophets and Apostles from the creation down, and they have all received the Holy Priesthood under the hands of God or angels, or under the hands of men who have held this authority. It was so with Joseph Smith. He could not find anybody who possessed this authority, and he called upon the Lord to know what to do, and the Lord sent John the Baptist, who was beheaded for his religion. John held the Aaronic Priesthood, and he came and ordained Joseph Smith to the same Priesthood. This gave him power to administer in some of the ordinances of the Gospel of Christ. He could baptize for the remission of sins, but could not lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord afterwards sent Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the kingdom in their day and generation upon the earth, and they ordained him an Apostle, and sealed upon his head every key, power and blessing, and all the authority which they exercised in their day.

This is the origin of the authority of the Latter-day Saints; and from that day until the present the little stone cut out of the mountain has been growing. The Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six members, and the Elders immediately went forth, one here and another there, bearing testimony and preaching the doctrines the angel made known to Joseph, and some few, out of many, have received and obeyed the same. This Gospel is the same as that taught by the ancient Apostles, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sin, then the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These were the doctrines taught by the ancient Apostles, and the signs that followed believers anciently follow them in our day. Said Jesus, when sending his Apostles forth to preach:

“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

“He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

All these gifts and graces were promised by Joseph and the early Elders of the Church, just the same as by the ancient Apostles; and this is the testimony that every Elder has borne from that day until the present. Has the Lord backed up this testimony? He has. All of the Twelve who have labored abroad, and we have been doing so, more or less, thirty or forty years, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles—have made this declaration. I have preached to millions of my fellow men in my own and other countries; and I and the other Apostles, as well as hundreds of Elders of this Church and Kingdom, have all made the same proclamation, to kings, princes, presidents and rulers, and to the inhabitants of the earth wherever we have gone, as far as we have had an opportunity and have had the privilege of opening our mouths. We have borne the same testimony to all—namely, that all who would receive our testimony and obey the Gospel should receive the Holy Ghost. Would we have dared to go forth and bear this testimony if we had not known this was the work of God? No, there is not a man on the face of the earth who dare do it under any other circumstances, for his hypocrisy and deception would soon have been apparent; the very first man that received his testimony would have proved it. Could we have gathered our hundreds of thousands from the nations of the earth if we had been deceivers and had preached false doctrines? As the Apostle says, “But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” No, we should have had no success; we might have preached false doctrines until we were grey, or as old as Methuselah, but if we had we should never have seen Utah, this tabernacle or these valleys of the mountains. But the Lord backed up our testimony, and tens of thousands throughout this Territory and in the world, who received it, can bear record that they have received the Holy Ghost, and the revelations of Jesus Christ, and that the gifts and graces of the Gospel have followed them.

This Church is organized exactly as it was anciently—with Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, gifts, helps and governments. Are all Apostles, or are all prophets? Do all have the gifts of healing, or do all speak with new tongues? No, but all these gifts and offices are in the Church, and, as the Apostle says, they are placed there for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and for the perfecting of the Saints—until we are come to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, and to the fulness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. That is what they are given for, and they are needed just as much as they ever were in any generation. But the world has been without these blessings and wandering in darkness for nearly eighteen centuries. Now the Lord has raised up a people to establish His kingdom on the same foundation as anciently. This is the work of the Latter-day Saints. We have been called to warn this generation; we understand the signs of the times and know that the judgments of God are at hand. If we had not been faithful to our calling and mission the Lord would have raised up another people, because the set time is at hand for Him to establish His kingdom.

There are one or two ideas more I wish to refer to with regard to the mission of Christ. That mission did not end when he was crucified. When that event took place we are told that his body lay in the tomb for three days, and that his spirit went to preach to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing. Jesus went and preached to them in the spirit that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. Here is a principle of which the Christian world know nothing, and which has been revealed to us in our own day—namely, preaching the Gospel of life and salvation to the spirits of those who pass away without rendering obedience thereunto. Nearly eighteen hundred years have passed away since God had a Church upon the earth. In that time about fifty-four thousand millions of human beings have passed away without the Gospel. Are they to perish because they lived in generations when God had no Church on the earth? No, they will be preached to by men who go into the spirit world, who hold the keys of the kingdom of God, and the ordinances of the house of God will be administered to them by their descendants and friends here on the earth. The Apostle Paul evidently had his mind on this subject when He says, “Why then are they baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not?”

I do not know how fully Brother Benson has attended to the work for his dead, but I know that he has worked hard for the living; and when he goes into the spirit world and meets with those for whom he has been baptized and been the means of liberating them from prison in the spirit world, what joy he will have! And it will be so with others. And this work of administering the ordinances of the house of God to the dead, I may say, will require the whole of the Millennium, with Jesus at the head of the resurrected dead to attend to it. The ordinances of salvation will have to be attended to for the dead who have not heard the Gospel, from the days of Adam down, before Christ can present this world to the Father, and say, “It is finished.”

Brethren and sisters, let us be admonished by the death of Brother Benson, and if we have anything to do let us do it. Let us go to and attend to our ordinances, then when we go to the spirit world and meet with father, mother, brother or sister they cannot rise up and accuse us of negligence. I have attended to the ordinances for a great many of my friends, and I want you to do the same, so that when we get to the other side of the veil we may look back and be satisfied. This power has been placed in the hands of the Latter-day Saints, then let us go forth and use it for the salvation of the living and the dead. With regard to the unbelief of the world, it will not make the truth of God without effect. These ordinances have been revealed to us; we understand them, and unless we attend to them we shall fall under condemnation.

I rejoice in the work of God and I rejoice to live in this day and age of the world. I want to live as long as I can do good; but, not an hour longer than I can live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, with my Father in heaven, my Savior, and with the faithful Latter-day Saints. To live any longer than this, would be torment and misery to me. When my work is done I am ready to go; but I want to do what is required of me. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, both Jew and Greek. Let us be faithful, keep our covenants, do our duty, and attend to all the ordinances of the Gospel as far as we can, both for ourselves and our dead. When we have done this we shall be satisfied. I pray that God may bless you; that he may bless the Apostles who dwell on the earth; that His power may rest on the presiding Twelve, the Seventies, the High Priests, the Bishops, Elders, Teachers and Deacons, and all who have entered into covenant to keep His commandments. Let us be faithful and we shall obtain our reward; we shall overcome and obtain eternal life and a crown of glory if we magnify our calling by living the religion which we have received, which may God grant for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 18, 1869.

I will say to my friends—those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—“I beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Treasure up every truth that you hear, practice it in your lives, for this will lead you to Jesus. The words that we have heard this afternoon, with regard to the character of the Son of God and the plan of salvation, are true so far as they have gone. We, the Latter-day Saints, take the liberty of believing more than our Christian brethren: we not only believe part of the Bible, but the whole of it, and the whole of the plan of salvation that Jesus has given to us. Do we differ from others who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, only in believing more; we are one with them as far as they believe in him. Do we differ with regard to the practice of the Gospel that he has delivered to us? No, not as far as they really believe in and practice the doctrines taught by him. We believe all that any good man on the earth need believe. We believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His Son, our Savior. We believe all that Moses spoke and wrote of him, all that the apostles said of him, and all that Jesus himself has said, which was penned and has been left on record by his apostles and servants.

Our Lord and Savior has been beautifully described and set before us, by the gentleman who has ad– dressed us this afternoon, but I will take the liberty of saying to every man and woman who wishes to obtain salvation through him (the Savior) that looking to him, only, is not enough: they must have faith in his name, character and atonement; and they must have faith in his father and in the plan of salvation devised and wrought out by the Father and the Son. What will this faith lead to? It will lead to obedience to the requirements of the Gospel; and the few words that I may deliver to my brethren and sisters and friends this afternoon will be with the direct view of leading them to God.

How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life? The apostle says by loving the brethren. How shall I know the brethren? They are my brethren who have received and obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God. This is just as easy to test as it is to test a man who says he is a citizen of the United States. A man may declare that he is so, but upon inquiry we find that he has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even declared his intention of becoming a citizen; but his sole claim to be considered a citizen rests on the fact that he lives in this country and has property, perhaps a farm or a store. This will not entitle any foreigner to the rights and privileges enjoyed by the humblest citizen. He must first declare his intention, take the oath of allegiance to this Government and renounce it to his former one, and then receive his papers of citizenship. It is just the same in the kingdom of God. However much we may profess attachment to God and His cause we are not entitled to the blessings and privileges of His kingdom until we become citizens therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and obeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which has been delivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and have had the Holy Spirit to witness unto them that God is love, that they loved Him and that He loved them, and yet they are not in His kingdom. They have not complied with the necessary requirements, they have not entered in at the door, and Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” He says also, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” Jesus has taught us how we may enter this door and become citizens of his kingdom, and there is no excuse for our neglecting to do so. Herein we exceed and go further than our former brethren. We read in this book (the Bible) of a certain man who came to Jesus by night and asked him what he should do to be saved. This man, in his own estimation, had been a strict observer of the law, but Jesus said to him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” My firm belief is that thousands have been born of the Spirit and have seen the kingdom, but not having been born of the water they have never been permitted to enter that kingdom, for Jesus says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This is why we say it is necessary to obey, fully, the Gospel which Jesus has left on record for us; and to do that we must repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of them, and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.

Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? Yes. Do our former brethren in the Christian world? They say they do. They should believe in it, they preach and teach it. What will the Holy Ghost do for those who possess it? It will bring to their remembrance things past, present and to come, and will teach them all things necessary for them to understand, in order to secure salvation. Is this the office and ministry of the Holy Ghost? Jesus says:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

“Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

Then if we receive the Holy Ghost we shall know and understand things as they are, we shall be able to read the Scriptures by the Spirit, with which they were written, and if we continue faithful we shall be led to a knowledge of God and Jesus whom He has sent, which the apostle says “is eternal life.”

Some believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen Him in our estimation; but I can say that for me to understand any principle or being, on earth or in Heaven, it does not lessen its true value to me, but, on the contrary, it increases it; and the more I can know of God, the dearer and more precious He is to me, and the more exalted are my feelings towards Him. Therein I may be different to some others.

If we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rendering obedience thereunto as he has directed, it will lead us into the kingdom of God here on the earth. We have started to build up this kingdom. The Lord has revealed His will from the heavens, and we have faith in Him. Is there any proof of this? Certainly, there is every proof that is necessary. I recollect reading in the New Testament that Jesus gave a mission to his apostles in these words, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”

This Gospel is for all the children of men, and it will save all who will believe and obey it. Do this people believe in this Gospel? Yes. Is there any proof of this? Yes. Here before me I see men who have left their homes and families; women who have left their homes and families; parents who have left their children, and children their parents; husbands who have left their wives, and wives their husbands, and all to gather with the Saints of the Most High. Is this any testimony that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes; and this is not all. They speak with new tongues, they lay hands on the sick and they do recover. In these particulars we differ from those with whom we formerly fellowshipped in the Christian world, who say they tell the people how to come to God and be saved. But if they ever have done that, I have never heard them. In my young days I have been called an infidel for talking thus, for there was no man who could tell me anything about the plan of salvation; but I never saw the day but what I would have walked on my knees across this continent to have seen a man who could have told me the first thing about God and Heaven. It is true that the feelings and attention of the people may be moved and attracted by beautiful descriptions of Him and Heaven and with beautiful illustrations of His power and goodness, such as we have heard today; but where is God? Who is He? Who is Jesus Christ? Where do they live? What is their power and character, and their connection with the people of the earth? In my scanty experience with the divines of the day I never yet found the first that could describe the character of God, locate His dwelling place, or give the first correct idea with regard to the Father and the Son; but to them they are hidden in impenetrable mystery, and their cry is, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.” To us it is simple, plain, glorious and divine, and it is worthy the attention of every intelligent being that dwells on the face of the earth, for it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

In these respects we differ from our Christian brethren. We are the very men and women that have come out from the Mother Church and her daughters, Methodists, Calvinists and almost every other persuasion on the face of the earth, the Pagans not excepted. We never learned from them, however, how to be saved; but we know how to save ourselves, for the Lord has revealed to us a plan by which we may be saved both here and hereafter. God has done everything we could ask, and more than we could ask. The errand of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and sisters back into the presence of the Father; he has done his part of the work, and it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that the Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that He has neglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to receive the truth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for their salvation, independent of them, has been accomplished in and by the Savior. It has been justly remarked this afternoon that “Jesus paid the debt; he atoned for the original sin; he came and suffered and died on the cross.” He is now King of kings and Lord of lords, and the time will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus is the Christ. That very character that was looked upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was crucified between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will be greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain salvation.

We differ from our Christian brethren, and have long been separated from them; but we are here in these mountains through necessity—because we were not permitted to live with them. But we were never hated, despised and derided as Christ was; we have never been crucified and been such outcasts as Jesus, though our prophet and patriarch were slain; but not in such an ignominious manner as Jesus. Who will believe our testimony? “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” Who will believe our testimony? Who will believe the testimony that has been delivered here this afternoon? I believe and know it is true; and that, too, by the revelations of that very character who was lifted up on the cross. How are we to blame for believing so much? Why, the Scriptures say we are to “prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” I frequently think that the only way for a man to prove any fact in the world is by experience. We go, for instance, into an orchard and someone says there is a sweet apple tree, and he may say the same of other trees, but without tasting how shall I know they are sweet? Unless I taste of them I cannot know it. I may take the testimony of others who have tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or bitter, but without tasting it cannot be proved to my senses that they are so. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that have come to the knowledge of all beings in Heaven, or on earth—all facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite. Sin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask myself the question: Was there any necessity for sin to enter the world? Most assuredly there was, according to my understanding and reasoning powers. Did I not know the evil I could never know the good; had I not seen the light I should never be able to comprehend what darkness is. Had I never tried to see and behold a thing in darkness I could not understand the beauty and glory of the light. If I had never tasted the bitter or the sour how could I define or describe the sweet? Consequently, I let all these things pass, being according to the wisdom of Him who has done all things for the benefit and salvation of His children here on the earth. And when we contem– plate and realize that He is our Father and that Jesus is our elder brother, and that we have the privilege of overcoming sin and death, by faith in Jesus and obedience to His Gospel, and of being exalted into the presence of the Father and the Son, the thought should fill our hearts with gratitude, praise and humility.

I extend my religion further than a great many do. I say it is far beyond the religions of the day; they consists mainly, of forms and ceremonies, never revealing to their votaries the object of their creation and existence, or preparing them to fulfil their high calling and destiny; but ours incorporates the whole life of man. Our religion incorporates and includes all the duties devolving upon us every day of our lives, and enables us, if we live according to the spirit of it, to discharge those several duties more honorably and efficiently. I do not think there is as good a financier on the earth as my Father in Heaven is; I do not think there is a being among the whole human family who understands the principles of finance as well as He does. And I believe the same with regard to any other branch of human knowledge, or of anything which affects the peace, happiness, comfort, wealth, health and strength of body, and in fact the entire welfare, whether political, social or physical, of the children of men, consequently I would like to have Him dictate my affairs. Why? That I might become the possessor of power, wealth, and influence, for all the influence the children of men ever possessed they have received from the Father. Every kingdom that has been set up on the face of the earth has been set up by the will of the Father. He sets up a kingdom here and pulls down another there at His pleasure. He gives influence and power to this one and takes them from another; and so we see nations come and go. Some individuals live on the earth rich, noble, powerful and influential; while others are in the depths of poverty. All this is permitted by the Father, and is according to His decree. Every act of the children of men is the result of their own will and pleasure, but the results of these acts God overrules.

Our religion incorporates every act and word of man. No man should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in the Lord. No lawyer, no, hold on, I will leave the lawyers out; we do not want them, we have no use for them. No man of council should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the Lord, that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and injustice. Should any legislature sit without the Lord? If it does, sooner or later it will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live that counseled and transacted its national affairs without the Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to naught. The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will live.

Our work, our everyday labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is before the world. Yet while the Lord has never commanded me to do it, He has permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever commanded us to build a theater, but He has permitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life. There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all be kept to any one individual branch of study. I recollect once while in England, in the district of country called the “Potteries,” seeing a man pass along the street, his head, perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I inquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and learned that he had never done anything in his life but turned a tea cup, and he was then seventy-four years of age. How do we know, but what, if he had had the privilege, he would have made a statesman or a fine physician, an excellent mechanic or a good judge? We cannot tell. This shows the necessity of the mind being kept active and having the opportunity of indulging in every exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full development of its powers.

We wish, in our Sunday and day schools, that they who are inclined to any particular branch of study may have the privilege to study it. As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large. In following these things they but answer the design of their creation. These, and many more things of equal utility are incorporated in our religion, and we believe in and try to practice them.

I will say, now, to the Latter-day Saints, sometimes you know, if a word be dropped unguardedly, we are threatened with an army; if we speak a word out of the wrong side of the mouth we are threatened with a legalized mob just as we were in the States. Hence, we must be careful of what we say, for our enemies are ready to “make a man an offender for a word, and to lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate.” I will say, however, that if you, Latter-day Saints, will live your religion there will be no necessity whatever to fear all the powers of earth and hell, for God will sustain you. Jesus is king of this earth and he will sustain those who walk humbly before him, loving and serving him and keeping his commandments. I pray the Latter-day Saints to be faithful; love and serve the Lord, keep His commandments, refrain from evil and walk humbly before him. When we were in the Christian world, and were without the Priesthood, we believed in every good word and work, in every moral principle, in everything that tended to promote peace, happiness, morality and virtue, in fact in every good principle that man could teach. Let us live as consistently now as we did then; let us live so that God will bless us and enable us to overcome and be saved in His kingdom, which may He grant for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 11, 1869.

I need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those who have faith; I need the wisdom of God and His Spirit to be in my heart to enable me to speak to the edification of the people. Although I have been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it is seldom that I rise before a congregation without feeling a childlike timidity; if I live to the age of Methuselah I do not know that I shall outgrow it. There are reasons for this which I understand. When I look upon the faces of intelligent beings I look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what have a certain portion of divinity within them; and though we are clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet this mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we inherit from our Father. This is the cause of my timidity, and of all others who feel this embarrassment when they address their fellow beings.

While we are administering the sacrament I will read the 16th verse of the 10th chapter of Corinthians, where Paul, speaking of the administration of this ordinance, says, “The cup of blessings which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

There are many passages of Scrip– ture which refer to the administering of the sacrament. A saying, direct from the lips of Jesus, has not been understood by all those who have believed in his name. When he was about to take his departure from this world he called his disciples into an upper room and he took bread and brake it and blessed it and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” He then took the cup and blessed it and gave to his disciples, saying, “Drink ye all of it.” If we were to stop here, I think it would be more difficult to understand than if we were to read the rest of his sayings on this subject. This is my body which is given for you; this is my blood of the New Testament. This do in remembrance of me; I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

We do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is required of his disciples until he comes again, no matter how long that may be. No matter how many generations come and go, believers in him are required to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his death and sufferings until he comes again. Why are they required to do this? To witness unto the Father, to Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and desire to follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build up his kingdom, revere his name and serve him with an undivided heart, that they may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his Father’s kingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

I know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is preached on this subject; yet people there differ in their belief concerning these emblems. The Mother Church of the Christian world believes that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus, and that the wine becomes his blood; this is preposterous to me. It is bread, and it is wine; but both are blessed to the souls of those who partake thereof. But to be followers of the Lord Jesus more is required than merely to partake of the bread and wine—the emblems of his death and suffering—it is necessary that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements.

On one occasion when the Savior was speaking to his disciples he gave them a mission, saying, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” These are the words spoken by Jesus when he sent his disciples forth to preach the Gospel.

In the search after truth, those who are unconverted might say with propriety that where the signs follow believer’s there is the Gospel. Yet, in the Christian world, it is generally conceded that signs are no longer necessary, and that miracles are not needed now, and were given in the days of Jesus merely to establish the validity of the Gospel he preached and the authenticity of his mission from heaven to earth. I do not so understand it. I think if I had lived in the days of Jesus my mind would have been led very much as it is now. I do not want to see a miracle to confirm the truth of any doctrine or saying that is revealed to me. If I can see that it is calculated to purify the hearts of the people and to sanctify their affections, and to reconcile them to God and to His law and government, it satisfies me; and so far as this goes I might say that I am like the Christian world, in the belief that miracles are no longer needed. But I believe that miracles are as absolutely necessary now as they ever were. Yet I will say with regard to miracles, there is no such thing save to the ignorant—that is, there never was a result wrought out by God or by any of His creatures without there being a cause for it. There may be results, the causes of which we do not see or understand, and what we call miracles are no more than this—they are the results or effects of causes hidden from our understandings.

This, in my own mind, is argued out perfectly, upon natural principles. It is natural for me to believe that, if I plough the ground and sow wheat, in the proper season I shall reap a crop of wheat; this is the natural result. It was precisely so with the miracles that Jesus wrought upon the earth. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, when they had drunk all the wine they went to the Savior and asked him what they should do. He ordered them to fill up their pots with water, and after having done so they drew forth of that water and found that it was wine. I believe that was real wine; I do not believe that it was done on the principle that such things are done in these days by wicked men, who, by means of what they term psychology, electro-biology, mesmerism, &c., influence men and make them believe that water is wine, and other things of a similar character. The Savior converted the water into wine. He knew how to call the necessary elements together in order to fill the water with the properties of wine. The elements are all around us; we eat, drink and breathe them, and Jesus, understanding the process of calling them together, performed no miracle except to those who were ignorant of that process. It was the same with the woman who was healed by touching the hem of his garment; she was healed by faith, but it was no miracle to Jesus. He understood the process, and although he was pressed by the crowd, behind and before, and on each side, so that he could scarcely make his way through it, the moment she touched him he felt virtue leave him and enquired who touched him. This was no miracle to him. He had the issues of life and death in his power; he had power to lay down his life and power to take it up again. This is what he says, and we must believe this if we believe the history of the Savior and the sayings of the apostles recorded in the New Testament. Jesus had this power in and of himself; the Father bequeathed it to him; it was his legacy, and he had the power to lay down his life and take it again. He had the streams and issues of life within him and when he said “LIVE” to individuals, they lived. The diseases that are and ever have been prevalent among the human family are from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the fall—through the disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus, having the issues of life at his command, could counteract those diseases at his pleasure. The case of the Centurion’s servant is a striking instance of this. The Centurion sent and besought Jesus to heal his servant. “Say in a word,” said he, “and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus, seeing the man’s earnestness and solicitude, said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And it is said that they who were sent, returned to the Centurion’s house and found the servant healed. Jesus counteracted the disease preying upon the system of this man, but to himself, knowing the principle by which the disease was rebuked, it was no miracle.

But these miracles or manifestations of the power of God, though not believed in by the Christian world, are necessary for you and me and for all who wish to be blessed by their means. Some may say, “How are we to obtain them?” I answer by obedience to all the commandments of God in the Gospel of life and salvation. After obedience to these requirements an individual is entitled to and may enjoy the blessing of miracles just as well as Jesus did. To the same degree? Perhaps not. Very few on the earth have ever had power to raise the dead. We read that Peter did. But it was a common thing for Jesus to raise the dead, heal the sick, make the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to walk; and every person is entitled to those things according to the obedience and faithfulness inherent in him. When do we need them? I will tell you when I need them—when my family is sick, and they need something to counteract the principle of death working in their systems. Under such circumstances some might want to administer an emetic to the sick, which might be very well if they lacked faith; but if we have faith to feel that the issues of life and death are in our power, we can say to disease, “Be ye rebuked in the name of Jesus, and let life and health come into the system of this individual, from God, to counteract this disease;” and our faith will bring this by the laying on of hands by administering the ordinances of the holy Gospel.

I am happy to say I have never been under the necessity of calling a doctor to my family for forty years. I have had them in my family, but not from necessity. I like them when they are gentlemen; when they are wise and full of intelligence I am very fond of them; but I do not ask them to doctor my family in any case; and there are no circumstances under which I think them necessary except in case of a broken bone, or where skillful mechanical or surgical aid is necessary. But to call a doctor to my family to administer physic to them, I am not under the necessity of doing it. Is this so? Yes, it is; and if the experiment could be tried, independent of the Gospel and of faith, in any community, I care not where, nor for what length of time, of having any number of persons, with regularly qualified physicians to attend them; and the same number without such physicians, but who will doctor themselves according to nature and their own judgments, among that portion without doctors there would be less sickness and fewer deaths than among those who had their doctors. The experience of the Latter-day Saints in Utah confirms this. When we first came here we had no sickness, and we had no sickness until we had doctors. When they began to obey the Gospel they did not want to dig in the field, hoe potatoes, go to the canyon for lumber or wood, to secure for themselves and families the necessaries of life; but they wanted to live by doctoring the people, and from that time on, as we got richer and built warm houses, and have lived more richly, indulging in sweet cake, plum pudding, roast beef and so on, we have had more or less disease among us. Perhaps I have said enough about doctors.

I say, again, however, that it is absolutely necessary that we all possess the gift God has seen fit to bestow upon His children to counteract the power of death. How long? To live forever? O no, men must die; it is the decree of the Almighty that all men shall die within the thousand years. Said He, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This body must sleep in the bosom of mother earth; this is the decree of the Almighty, hence it is necessary that all must die of disease or old age, but for all that, to my certain knowledge, the sick in hundreds of instances are healed by the power of God through administering the ordinances of His Gospel.

The first principle of the Gospel is faith in God—faith in a Supreme Being. This is a point that meets the infidel, and is one upon which I have reflected and talked a great deal, and I have come to this conclusion—that good, solid, sound sense teaches me never to judge a matter until I understand it, and infidels should never pass their opinion with regard to the character of a Supreme Being until they know whether there is one or not. If this principle were an article in the creed of the infidel world, I think they would not be quite so skeptical as they are; I think we should not meet with any person who would deny the existence of a Deity. The infidel looks abroad and sees the works of nature, in all their diversity—the mountain piercing the clouds with its snowy peaks, the mighty river, fertilizing, in its course to the sea, the valleys and plains in every direction, the sun in his glory at midday, the moon in her silvery splendor, and the myriad organizations from man to the minutest form of insect life, all giving the most irrefutable evidence of a designer and creator of infinite wisdom, skill and power, and yet he says there is no Deity, no Supreme Ruler, but all is the result of blind chance. How preposterous! Now, here is a book called the Bible. It is enclosed in what we call the cover, consisting of boards, paper and leather. Within the covers we see a vast amount of writing—syllables, words and sentences; now if we say there never was a person to compose, write, print or bind this book, but that it is here wholly as the result of chance, we shall only give expression to the faith, if faith it can be called, of those who are termed infidels; in fact this is infidelity. I do not want to say much about it, it is too vain! In my travels and labors I have met a great many persons who have desired to contend about the principles I taught, though I am happy to say I have passed through the world thus far without a discussion. My grounds have always been, when out preaching, “If you have a truth and I have errors, I will give you ten errors for one truth just as long as we have any to exchange; and if in setting my views before the people you say that any portion of the principles I preach is untrue, you must prove it or be forever silent; and if I affirm that anything you have to deliver to the people is false, I must prove it or forever hold my peace.” On these grounds I have been free from discussions. So much for infidelity and debating.

The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto salvation; and the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already said, faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. We must believe that he is the character he is represented to be in the holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said to his disciples, “Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” We must believe that this same Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, that is for the original sin, not the actual individual transgressions of the people; not but that the blood of Christ will cleanse from all sin, all who are disposed to act their part by repentance, and faith in his name. But the original sin was atoned for by the death of Christ, although its effects we still see in the diseases, tempers and every species of wickedness with which the human family is afflicted. Again, if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. There is not a spiritually minded man in the world who reads the Bible but will acknowledge that the Elders of Israel, the Latter-day Saints, proclaim the Gospel, precisely, as Jesus and his apostles proclaimed it. Is this heresy? I pause and ask the question of the Christian world, is this heresy? Do not my brethren believe in the Bible? Do not all the Christian world say that they believe in the Bible? They do. Then if we preach Jesus and him crucified as the apostles did, and as they have left it on record, what more can be said? Is there any harm or sin in this? No; for this pertains to the Gospel of life and salvation. Jesus set in his Church, so say his apostles, firstly, apostles. Now I will ask the religious and philosophical world if they have ever obtained any informa– tion or revelation about Christ having taken them out again? No, they have not; and if there are no apostles, there is no Church. Jesus set in his Church, according to Paul’s words to the Corinthians, firstly apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Again I will ask the question: has there been any revelation from heaven that God has taken these gifts out of His Church; and if so through whom and when? Many persons think if they see a prophet they see one possessing all the keys of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is not so; many persons have prophesied without having any Priesthood on them at all. It is no particular revelation or gift for a person to prophesy. You take a good statesman, for instance, he will tell you what will become of a nation by their actions. He foresees this and that, and knows the results; this is what makes a statesman, and no man is a good statesman unless he can foresee the results of any line of policy that may be pursued. To be a prophet is simply to be a foreteller of future events; but an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, has the keys of the holy Priesthood, and the power thereof is sealed upon his head, and by this he is authorized to proclaim the truth to the people, and if they receive it, well; if not, the sin be upon their own heads.

I have already said that Christ set in his Church apostles and prophets; he also set in his Church evangelists, pastors and teachers; also the gifts of the Spirit, such as diverse tongues, healing the sick, discernment of spirits, and various other gifts. Now, I would ask the whole world, who has received revelation that the Lord has discontinued these offices and gifts in his Church? I have not. I have had revelation that they should be in the Church, and that there is no Church without them. I have had many revelations proving to me that the Old and New Testaments are true. Their doctrines are comprised in the Gospel that we preach, which is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. What are the traits of this Gospel when it is received into the heart of an individual? It will make a bad man good, and a good man better; it increases their light, knowledge, and intelligence, and enables them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, as the Savior did, until they understand men and things, the world and its doctrines, whether Christian, heathen or Pagan, and will ultimately lead them to a knowledge of things in heaven, on the earth or under the earth. I will say one thing more about the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints, and I will quote the words of Jesus—this Gospel will eventually lead all who faithfully observe its precepts to a knowledge of the “only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, whom to know is life eternal.”

Now I would ask the Christian world a question, and in doing so I do not mean to reflect upon, or cast an insinuation in the least derogatory to, all Christians, or to any who believe in God; but I would ask them, what do you know of God? Take all the divines on the face of the earth and place them in this stand, and beyond the attributes of God they know nothing of Him; they are entirely ignorant of His person. There is the difference between the various religious sects of the Christian world and the Latter-day Saints. We do know God, and we know Jesus Christ. We understand why Jesus came to the earth; we know the design of the Father in sending him. We also understand the earth, and the nature of the earth, and why God permitted Mother Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. We should not have been here today if she had not; we could never have possessed wisdom and intelligence if she had not done it. It was all in the economy of heaven, and we need not talk about it; it is all right. We should never blame Mother Eve, not the least. I am thankful to God that I know good from evil, the bitter from the sweet, the things of God from the things not of God. When I look at the economy of heaven my heart leaps for joy, and if I had the tongue of an angel, or the tongues of the whole human family combined, I would praise God in the highest for His great wisdom and condescension in suffering the children of men to fall into the very sin into which they have fallen, for He did it that they, like Jesus, might descend below all things and then press forward and rise above all. Our spirits once dwelt in the heavens and were as pure and holy as the angels; but angels have tabernacles and spirits have none, and they are anxious to take tabernacles and they come to the meanest, lowest and humblest of the human race to obtain one rather than run any risk of not doing so. I have heard that the celebrated Mr. Beecher, of Brooklyn, once said that the greatest misfortune that could ever happen to man was to be born; but I say that the greatest good fortune that ever happened or can happen to human beings is to be born on this earth, for then life and salvation are before them; then they have the privilege of overcoming death, and of walking sin and iniquity under their feet, of incorporating into their daily lives every principle of life and salvation and of dwelling eternally with the Gods. I would hardly dare say this, but Jesus said, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If He called them Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?” The Apostle Paul has also said, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.” “And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” And all who are faithful to the precepts of the Gospel will see Jesus and be as he is.

I recollect once, not long after we came to the Valley, I think it was in 1851, a Baptist preacher came here; he put up at my house; I kept him while he stayed in the city. He was a gentlemen, very kind and very good. I preached one day on the character of the Deity, and when I reached a certain point, a point where he could learn nothing further, I left it. When we reached home he said to me, “Brother Young, why did you not proceed with your discourse? I would have given anything in the world if you had, for I should then have learned your belief with regard to our heavenly Father.” I said to him, “Do you believe the Bible?” “O yes,” he replied. I then quoted to him the 26th and 27th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis, in which we find the following words: “And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

I also referred to the visit of the Lord to Abraham in which Abraham said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on.” I also referred to where the Lord, talking to Moses, says, “Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

All of these passages, said I, to the reverend gentleman, go to prove, if they prove anything at all, that man is made in the image of his Maker, and that he is His exact image, having eye for eye, forehead for forehead, eyebrows for eyebrows, nose for nose, cheekbones for cheekbones, mouth for mouth, chin for chin, ears for ears, precisely like our Father in heaven.” “Well,” said he, “I have been for twenty-nine years a preacher of the truth, and never thought that man was created in the exact image of his Father; I always had the idea that God was a being without body, parts or passions.” He admitted, however, that he had never gained that idea from the Bible. And notwithstanding the Scriptures dwell upon this point with such force and clearness, the idea entertained by this gentleman is that entertained by the Christian world in general. We are told that Jesus was “the express image of his Father’s person.” Think of it! Was Jesus a man? Yes. Clothed upon as we are? Yes. Did he pass for a man the same as others? He did. When he did not wish to be known he could pass through a crowd, and from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town, without the people knowing who he was. He had this power; and yet he was like other men, having eyes, forehead, nose, eyebrows, mouth, cheekbones and chin like we have, and the Apostle tells us that he was the express image of his Father’s person; and if the saying is true, that to know the only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life, we have eternal life, for we know them.

I have talked a great deal about what we believe as far as spiritual things are concerned; but the result of our faith I have not done with. The faith of the Latter-day Saints, so far as moral excellence is concerned, leads them to adopt in their lives, the practice of every moral principle believed in by the Christian world. It leads them to do good to each other and to all their fellow beings, and to injure none. It leads us to honor our beings upon the earth as sons and daughters of the Almighty; to honor Him that created us, to observe every true principle, everything that produces peace and happiness, for everything that has this tendency is of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches him that has stolen to steal no more; it teaches the swearer to swear no more; him that has borne false witness to do it no more; him that has dishonored his being to do it no more; and, in fact, there is no height, depth, length or breadth in moral conduct believed in and practiced by the Christian world but what we are one with them; and we go so far beyond them in the things of God that they are lost, and yet they think we are lost. I have smiled thousands of times within myself to hear them talk; they are ignorant, but they think we are. Besides being far ahead of the Christian world in the things of God, I will say that in their morals and their recreations the Latter-day Saints will compare favorably with any of them. The question arises sometimes in me, Is there anything immoral in recreation? If I see my sons and daughters enjoying themselves, chatting, visiting, riding, going to a party or a dance, is there anything immoral in that? I watch very closely, and if I hear a word, see a look, or a sneer at divine things or anything derogatory to a good moral character, I feel it in a moment, and I say, “If you follow that, it will not lead to good, it is evil; it will not lead to the fountain of life and intelligence; follow, only, the path that leads to life everlasting.” Where is it? God has it.

Not only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people acquainted with the things of God, and develop within them moral excellence and purity, but it holds out every encouragement and inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the world are from God, and are designed for the good of His people. If I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by those who had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to take the suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the standard they occupied, and to place them in possession of every comfort, it would have been a matter of great joy to me. But it was not so then, neither is it now. Men generally use their wealth for selfish purposes, and do not seek to devote it to God and to the glory of His name. In the kingdom of God only will the poor and the ignorant of the children of men be purified and elevated and prepared to hold the positions God has designed for His children.

I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for Christ’s sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have enjoyed a great deal; but so far as suffering goes I have compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I think of what I have suffered for the Gospel’s sake—I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No man or woman ever heard me tell about suffering. “Did you not leave a handsome property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois?” Yes. “And have you not suffered through that?” No, I have been growing better and better all the time, and so have this people. And you may take the history of the world from the days of Adam down, and I am at the defiance of any historian to prove that the Saints have ever suffered as much as the sinners. This is my belief about the religion of Jesus Christ. Some may say, “Did not the children of Israel suffer?” Yes. “Why?” Because of their iniquity. They transgressed the laws God has given them; they changed the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant, and for their sin and disobedience they were led into captivity. If they had been obedient, I reckon they would have been led direct to the Holy Land and stayed there. Some may say, “Now, Mr. Speaker, you have been driven from your home, was it for righteousness?” No, I expect not. I expect it was to chasten me and make me better. I never attributed the driving of the Saints from Jackson County to anything but that it was necessary to chasten them and prepare them to build up Zion. They were driven from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois here, only for the advancement of Zion and the work of God on the earth. I do not complain of persecution. I have left a great deal of property in different States, considerable in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Do I care anything about it? No, we have more land here than we can occupy. God led us from a sickly to a healthy country, and I thank him for it. Were the Latter-day Saints driven time after time on account of their sins? One of the first revelations that God gave to Joseph Smith was for the gathering of Israel, and when the people came to Jackson County, Missouri, they were as far from believing and obeying that revelation as the east is from the west, and a great deal further, for the east joins the west; but the people were so far from obeying that revelation that they scarcely complied with it in one instance. They were ignorant and had neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to understand, and God suffered their enemies to drive them. What were we driven for? Was it because of polygamy? No, for that was not known generally until after our arrival in these valleys, although we received the revelation years before. The accusation brought against the Latter-day Saints was that they tampered with the slaves in Missouri, with the design of setting them free, and because of this the people were driven, and the Lord suffered it. But I ask did the Latter-day Saints ever suffer in Missouri as the Missourians did in the late struggle? No, not a drop in a bucket compared with it. The Missourians have been driven from their houses and hung up, their property confiscated, their women and children murdered, and every conceivable evil has been heaped upon them. Did we ever suffer like that? In very few instances; and it is a shame for the Latter-day Saints ever to talk about suffering.

What are we doing here, for the people that we are gathering from the nations? The majority of those that we gather are from the poorest that can be found; we gather a few scientific and learned men, but the great majority are the poor and the ignorant. We take them and we calculate to make them rich; we have taken the foolish and we calculate to make them wise; we take the weak and we calculate to make them strong. We calculate to build up this people until they know as much as any other people on the face of the earth, in mechanics, in the arts and sciences, and in every true principle of philosophy. All true wisdom that mankind have they have received from God, whether they know it or not. There is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial to the human family but what he obtained it from that One Source, whether he knows or believes it or not. There is only one source from whence men obtain wisdom, and that is God, the fountain of all wisdom; and though men may claim to make their discoveries by their own wisdom, by meditation and reflection, they are indebted to our Father in heaven for all.

We calculate to make this people just as wise and prudent as they will be made and just as humble as they will be made. When I look at the world of mankind and see their pomp, splendor, covetousness and worldly-mindedness, I think what a shame! What have you got to be so proud of? They have gold, silver, houses, lands and possessions, and they feel, “O, we are kings, potentates, or men of great influence, because of our wealth.” But where did they get their wealth? They will say they have been fortunate and have gathered it together; or it was bequeathed to them by their father or grandfather. But none of them have aught but what came from Him who lives and reigns in the heavens—the God whom we serve, who alone bestows blessings upon His children, the sons and daughters of Adam.

I have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for people to go and get religion and have their names written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” I want to inform the whole world, all the sons and daughters of Adam, that their names are written there, and there they will remain to all eternity unless they by their evil acts blot them out. I want to inform everybody of this fact.

I want now to say a few words on political matters. First, I will say we are a very religious people; the world knows that; and it was our religion that influenced our minds to leave our homes and parents, and in many instances our companions and children. Are we a political people? Yes, very political indeed. But what party do you belong to or would you vote for? I will tell you whom we will vote for: we will vote for the man who will sustain the principles of civil and religious liberty, the man who knows the most and who has the best heart and brain for a statesman; and we do not care a farthing whether he is a whig, a democrat, a barnburner, a republican, a new light or anything else. These are our politics. If we could have got men to control the affairs of the nation who had sufficient foresight and forethought to know the results of their own actions, it would have been better for the nation than it is at present. But we are just as we are; no matter what brought about the present condition of things. I leave the people to judge whether it is righteousness or sin that has brought upon the nation the evils it has been called to endure. Of one thing I am sure: God never institutes war; God is not the author of confusion or of war; they are the results of the acts of the children of men. Confusion and war necessarily come as the results of the foolish acts and policy of men; but they do not come because God desires they should come. If the people, generally, would turn to the Lord, there would never be any war. Let men turn from their iniquities and sins, and, instead of being covetous and wicked, turn to God and seek to promote peace and happiness throughout the land, and wars would cease. We expect to see the day when swords shall be turned into ploughshares, spears into pruninghooks, and when men shall learn war no more. This is what we want. We are for peace, plenty and happiness to all the human family.

A great deal could be said about our peculiar faith, and our peculiar internal institutions, as the world terms them. I do not want to say anything about them; I act them out. I have got a family, and a pretty large one. I am willing to compare them with any family on the face of the earth when the privileges they have enjoyed are considered. I think that so far as I myself am concerned, when it is remembered that I never went to school but eleven days in my life, and that until I commenced to preach the Gospel I had to work hard every day for my bread, I have made some improvement. I think this people are improving; and I think we shall continue our work until the whole human family will give up all notion of going to war with each other. I expect to see the time when this people will possess every good thing. All knowledge and wisdom and every good that the heart of man can desire is within the circuit and circle of the faith we have embraced. The day will come when the Gospel will be presented to the kings and queens and great ones of the earth; but it will be presented with a different influence from that with which it has been presented to the poor, but it will be the same Gospel. We shall not present any other Gospel; it is the same from everlasting to everlasting. No man will be saved and come into the presence of the Father only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the same for one as the other. The Lord has His cause, His ways, His work; He will finish it up. Jesus is laboring with his might to sanctify and redeem the earth and to bring back his brethren and sisters into the presence of the Father. We are laboring with him for the purification of the whole human family, that we and they may be prepared to dwell with God in His kingdom.

God bless you. Amen.

By President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 20, 1869.

When Joseph Smith was about 15 years old there was, in the western part of the State of New York, a considerable excitement upon the subject of religion. The various denominations in that part of the country were stirred up with a spirit of revival. They held protracted meetings and many were converted. At the end of this excitement a scramble ensued as to which of the denominations should have the proselytes.

Of the family of Joseph Smith, his mother, his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, and sister Sophronia, became members of the Presbyterian Church. Joseph reflected much upon the subject of religion, and was astonished at the ill-feeling that seemed to have grown out of the division of the spoils, if we may so use the term, at the close of the reformation. He spent much time in prayer and reflection and in seeking the Lord. He was led to pray upon the subject in consequence of the declaration of the Apostle James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” [James, 1st chap., 5th verse.] He sought the Lord by day and by night, and was enlightened by the vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one of his first inquiries was, “Which of the denominations of Christians in the vicinity was right?” He was told they had all gone astray, they had wandered into darkness, and that God was about to restore the Gospel in its simplicity and purity to the earth; he was, consequently, directed not to join any one of them, but to be humble and seek the Lord with all his heart, and that from time to time he should be taught and instructed in relation to the right way to serve the Lord.

These visions continued from time to time, and in 1830 he published to the world the translation of the book now known as the “Book of Mormon,” and on the 6th of April of that year, having received the authority by special revelation, organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was composed of six members—namely, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jun., Samuel H. Smith and David Whitmer.

The family of Joseph Smith were in moderate circumstances. They were very industrious, and had held a respectable position in society; but on this occasion the tongue of slander was pointed at them, and very soon after the organization of the Church, vexatious lawsuits were commenced, and Joseph was arrested and taken before a magistrate and dismissed. He was again arrested and taken to an adjoining county and treated contemptuously, spit upon and insulted in various other ways. His case was investigated and he was again dismissed. This time the mob resolved to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, from which, however, he was shielded by the officers in whose custody he had been held. It was looked upon, by many in those days, as a species of fun to treat Joseph Smith or the Elders of the Church, wherever they went, in a contemptuous manner. The pulpit and the press almost invariably joined in the outcry against the new Church, and the predictions were that in a few days it would be annihilated.

After a few months a Conference was organized and missionaries started towards the West, Joseph having been commanded, by revelation from the Lord, to establish a gathering place near the western boundary of Missouri. He accordingly sent missionaries in that direction, among whom were Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt. On their way across the State of Ohio they visited a society known as the Campbellites, led by Sidney Rigdon. They preached to them and baptized Rigdon and about a hundred members of his church, many of whom, and their children, are citizens of this Territory today. After this they continued their journey westward to Independence, in the vicinity of Jackson County. Soon after this the Saints who were scattered in various parts of Western New York removed, part to Missouri and part to Kirtland, in Geauga, now Lake, County, Ohio, where they founded a city and built a Temple. In Jackson County, Missouri, they purchased land, built mills, established a printing office, the first one that was established in the western part of the State of Missouri, and opened an extensive mercantile house. They introduced the culture of wheat and many other kinds of grain, for the inhabitants of that locality were principally new settlers, and they cultivated chiefly Indian corn. The Saints also commenced the culture of fruit, and although they came there with little means, the heads of families were generally able to buy from forty acres to a section of land, and in a few months, by their untiring industry, they began to prosper and flourish in a manner almost astonishing.

In about two years, however, they met with opposition; a mob assembled and tore down their printing office, broke open their mercantile house, scattered their goods to the four winds. They also seized their Bishop and presiding Elders, and inflicted upon them personal abuse, such as whipping, and daubing them with tar and feathers, while others were mutilated and killed, which finally resulted, in the month of November, 1833, in the expulsion from the county of Jackson of about fifteen hundred people; about three hundred of their houses were burned to ashes.

During the period of the residence of the Saints in this county there had never been a lawsuit of any description instituted against any of them; if there had been any violation of law amongst them, there were ample means to have had the law enforced, because the officers, both civil and military, were not of their faith. But the real facts of the case were, the Saints were regarded as fanatics; and one of the main points in a declaration published against them was, that they “blasphemously professed to heal the sick with holy oil.” In accordance with the instructions of St. James, contained in his epistle, 5th chap. and 14th verse, it has ever been a practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its organization, when any are sick among them, to send for the Elders of the Church to anoint such with oil and pray for them, believing the Apostle James, “that the prayer of faith will save the sick.” This item of faith is still practiced in all the branches of the Church, and thousands and tens of thousands bear testimony at the present time of the miraculous healings that have been effected by the power of God through these administrations. Yet at that period it was made a crime, and was one of the principal charges on which the Latter-day Saints were expelled from Jackson County.

From this county the Saints were driven to Clay County, and most of them remained there about three years, during which time they performed a great amount of labor for the people of Clay County, for the inhabitants were mostly new settlers who possessed nothing seemingly in the way of property save Indian corn, hogs and cattle. They hired the Saints to labor, who made brick, built fine houses, and enlarged their farms, erected mills, and, in fact, acquired considerable property by industry in laboring for the people in Clay County. The mob of Jackson County endeavored to stir up the people of Clay against the Saints, which culminated in a request on the part of the people of Clay that the Latter-day Saints would leave. They accordingly hunted out a new county without inhabitants and almost without timber, called Caldwell County, and moved into it, purchasing land and occupying it, of which they were the sole inhabitants. They also spread out into the adjoining new counties, onto the unoccupied land, and purchased and improved it.

From the best of my recollection the Latter-day Saints paid the United States Government some $318,000 for land in the State of Missouri, but yet, in the winter and early spring of 1839, they were expelled from that State, with the entire loss of their lands and improvements and most of their personal property, under an exterminating order from Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of that State, requiring them to leave under pain of extermination. But they were told that any of them who would renounce their religion would be permitted to stay. The result was that about fifteen thousand persons were expelled from Missouri and their property, to most of which they still hold the titles; and when the day arrives that the Constitution of the United States becomes absolutely the supreme law of the land, so that all men can be protected in their civil and religious rights, they and their children will go back and enjoy their cherished homes in the State of Missouri.

After leaving Missouri they located themselves in the State of Illinois. There was a town known as Commerce—noted for being unhealthy. The location was very beautiful, but the place was surrounded with swamp lands to a considerable extent. Attempts had been made to settle it, but there were a great many graves in the burying ground, and but very few living people in the vicinity. The Saints went there and purchased property. They drained the swamps and cleaned them out, and converted the whole vicinity into gardens, and continued to improve and enlarge the place until February, 1846. The commencement of the settlement in Commerce, Hancock County, Illinois, was in the summer of 1839.

June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered in Carthage jail, in Hancock County, Illinois, while under the pledge of the Governor, Thos. Ford, who had plighted the faith of the State, at the time of their arrest, that they should be protected from mob violence, and have a fair trial in the lawfully constituted courts of the State. They were confined in jail on a trumped up charge of treason upon the affidavit of a drunken vagabond. They were murdered by about 150 persons with blackened faces, some of them persons of high position in society. I will here say that in all these transactions—I refer to the outrages committed by the mobs on the Latter-day Saints—there never was a single instance of the guilty parties being brought to justice under the laws of the State where the occurrence transpired.

The city of Nauvoo and vicinity had probably about 20,000 inhabitants. They were remarkable for their industry, and the city was conspicuous for peace, quietness and good order, and for the rapid manner in which improvements had been made. They continued to build up the city though they were constantly harassed by mob violence, and warned from time to time that they should be driven away. They finished the Temple, which was one of the most beautiful structures in the Western States, and dedicated it unto the Lord. They were progressing with other large buildings, establishing factories and making many improvements, when the efforts of mobocracy culminated in their expulsion from their beautiful city and Temple.

That they might not act hastily nor unadvisedly, a committee of Latter-day Saints prepared a petition and sent it to the Governor of every State in the Union, except the Governor of Missouri, and also to the President of the United States, asking them for an asylum, and to afford them that protection which was extended to other religious bodies. All the States, except one, treated their application with silence. Governor Drew, of Arkansas, wrote them a respectful letter, in which he advised them to seek a home in Oregon.

Previous to the death of Joseph Smith, he had selected twenty-five men—most of whom now reside here—to explore the Rocky Mountains, with the view of finding a place where they could make a location that would be out of the range and beyond the influence of mobs, where they could enjoy the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of our common country. The premature death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however, prevented their departure; the result was that, during the year 1845, it devolved upon the Twelve to carry out this design. But in the course of that year the mob broke upon them with more than their usual fury. They commenced by burning the farmhouses in the vicinity of Lima; they burned 175 houses without the least resistance on the part of the inhabitants. The sheriff of Hancock County issued orders for the “citizens who were not Mormons” to turn out and stop the burning; but none obeyed his order. He then issued a proclamation calling upon all, irrespective of sect or party, to turn out and stop the burning. The burning was accordingly stopped, but there was a general outcry against the “Mormons,” and immediately nine counties assembled in convention and passed a decree that the “Mormons” should leave the State. Governor Ford said it was impossible to protect the people of Nauvoo. The Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Gen. John J. Hardin and several other gentlemen repaired thither and made a kind of a treaty with them, in which it was agreed that mob violence and vexatious lawsuits were to cease on condition that the people of Nauvoo would leave the State, and that they would assist the Saints in the disposal of their property. It was also agreed that if a majority would leave, the remainder should be permitted to remain until they, by the sale of their property, were able to get away. The Saints then organized themselves into companies of a hundred families each, and established wagon shops for every fifty. They took the green timber out of the woods and boiled it in brine and made it into wagons. Their supply of iron was very limited, but with what little means they could control they purchased iron, and exhausted the supply of all the towns on the upper Mississippi, and made up the deficiency with raw hide and hickory withes.

On the 6th of February, 1846, the Saints commenced crossing the river. They crossed first on flat boats; but in a few days the river closed up and something like a thousand wagons crossed over on the ice, moving out west into the sparsely settled district on the eastern borders of Iowa; the settlements extending back from fifty to seventy miles. From that point it was a wilderness without roads, bridges, or improvements of any kind. They moved off, however, into this wilderness country in winter, and continued through the spring amid the most terrific storms and suffering from cold and exposure. In their progress to Council Bluffs they bridged thirty or forty streams, among which were the Locust and Medicine rivers, the three forks of the Grand River, the Little Platte, the One Hundred-and-Two, the Nodaway, Big Tarkeo, and the Nishnabatona. Bridging these streams, constructing roads, and breaking and enclosing three large farms required immense labor, which was done for the benefit and sustenance of those who would follow. In consequence of this and the inclemency of the weather they did not arrive at Council Bluffs on the Missouri River until late in June. The wagons and tents were numbered by thousands. The camps were spread out on the prairie for three hundred miles, moving in companies of tens, fifties, and hundreds.

While the advance companies were crossing the Missouri, they, on the 1st of July, were called upon by Captain James Allen, of the United States army, who was the bearer of an order for the enrolment of five hundred volunteers. They could ill be spared in their condition, but the number was made up in a few days and they proceeded on their journey to Fort Leavenworth and thence by way of Santa Fe to California, where they, among a number of our countrymen, were instrumental in adding this large domain to the United States.

The families of the volunteers who formed the battalion, being thus left without protectors, entailed much additional responsibility and labor upon those left behind, and rendered it impossible for the companies to proceed to the Rocky Mountains that season. They encamped at Winter Quarters, the place now called Florence, in the Omaha country, where they built 700 log cabins and 150 caves or dugouts, in which a great number of the people resided through the winter. Some two thousand wagons were scattered about in the Pottawattamie country, on the east side of the Missouri—a country then uninhabited except by Indians—which, by a treaty of purchase, came into the possession of the United States the ensuing spring.

The winter of 1846-7 was one of great suffering among the people. They had been deprived of vegetable food; their diet, to a great extent, had consisted of corn meal and pork, which they had purchased from the Missourians, in exchange for clothing, beds, jewelry, or any other property that would sell. Yet they had sold comparatively none of their real estate and valuable property; in fact, most of the land remains unsold to this day. Under these circumstances the people suffered a great deal from scurvy; the exposure they had undergone also brought on fever and ague, hence their stay in Winter Quarters and the region round about is a memorable period in their history, from the sufferings, difficulties, and privations with which they had to contend. However, they made the necessary preparations for their departure, and in the spring of 1847—early in April, 143 pioneers, led by Brigham Young, started to explore and make a road to the Great Salt Lake Basin.

There was not a spear of grass that their animals could obtain for the first two hundred miles of the journey, and they had to feed them on the cottonwoods that grew on the banks of the Platte River and other small streams. In this manner the pioneers worked their way, making the road as they went along. They traveled on the north side of the Platte, where no road had been before until they reached Laramie; they then crossed the North Fork and took the old trappers’ trail and traveled on it over three hundred miles building ferry boats on the North Platte and Green rivers, and then constructed a road over the mountains to this place.

During this journey they looked out a route where they were satisfied a railroad could be built, and were just as zealous in their feelings that a railroad would follow their track as we are today.

They arrived here on the 24th of July, 1847. They had some potatoes which they had brought from Missouri; they planted them not far from where the City Hall now stands. In a few days after their arrival the Mississippi Company, which had wintered on the Arkansas River, a few of the sick and some families left by the Mormon Battalion, being unable to proceed with them to the Pacific—numbering altogether about 150—arrived here. They then began to feel that they were quite a populous settlement, as they counted in the neighborhood of some four hundred persons. They laid out this Temple Block, and dedicated it to the Lord. It really was one of the most barren spots they ever saw. However, they asked the Lord to bless the land and make it fruitful. They built a dam and made irrigation ditches. Some of their number lacked faith under those trying circumstances, and subsequently turned away and went to other parts of the world.

That fall—the fall of 1847—there came in here 680 wagons loaded with families. They built the fort commenced by the pioneers on the land, a portion of which is now occupied by A. O. Smoot in the 6th Ward of this city, the whole only covering about thirty acres. They dwelt in this contracted space that no temptation should be presented to the Indians to commit depredations.

During the winter they prepared a systematic plan for the irrigation of the land, for they knew nothing about it previously. They were compelled to ration out their food in small allowances, for they had no way to get more until it grew, and it required a great deal of faith on the part of the people to remain here and run the risk of procuring supplies from the earth. In the winter one or two hundred of the brethren from the West arrived almost without provisions, having been discharged from the Mormon Battalion without rations or transportation to the place of their enlistment. They explored a new route from California. Some of them passed on to their families in Winter Quarters, suffering much for the want of provisions by the way. Many of them remained here, using as food everything that possibly could be used. The Saints divided with the battalion their scanty allowance of food. During the next spring many hundred acres of land were planted. There was, however, a pest here that they had never seen anywhere else. After the nursery of twenty thousand fruit trees had come up and the fields were green and there was a good prospect of grain being raised, there came down from the mountains myriads of large black crickets, and they were awfully hungry. The nurseryman went home to dinner, and when he returned he found only three trees left; the crickets had devoured them. The brethren contended with them until they were utterly tired out, then calling on the Lord for help were ready to give up the contest, when just at that time there came over from the Salt Lake large flocks of gulls, which destroyed the crickets. They would eat them until they were perfectly gorged, and would then disgorge, vomiting them up, and again go to and eat, and so they continued until the crickets had entirely disappeared, and thus by the blessing of God the colony was saved. I believe the crickets have never been a pest in this vicinity to any serious extent since. This we regard as a special providence of the Almighty.

The early settlers did not know how to irrigate the crops properly and the result was that their wheat, the first year, was most of it very short, so short that it had to be pulled up by the roots; but singularly enough there was considerable grain in the ear, and they raised enough to encourage them to persevere in their experiments, for their labors were only experiments at that early day and also enabled them to diffuse information on the subject, which proved of general benefit. This location is so high in the mountains, the latitude about 41 degrees and the altitude so great that nearly every one thought it was impossible to raise fruit, but some continued to plant. In the second year of their arrival here their settlement was increased by nearly a thousand wagons from the East and a few from the West. The third year the immigration continued. In 1849 a handsome sum of money was contributed as a foundation for the Perpetual Emigration Fund, and Bishop Edward Hunter went East to aid those to emigrate who could not do so by their own means. While the Saints were surrounded by their enemies on every hand in Illinois, they entered into a solemn covenant within the walls of the Temple at Nauvoo that they would exert themselves to the extent of their influence and property to aid every Latter-day Saint that desired to gather to the mountains. This covenant they did not forget, and the very moment they began to gather a little surplus they commenced to use it to aid their brethren and sisters left behind. At first they purchased, in the East, cattle and wagons necessary to bring the emigrants here; but in a few years they raised cattle here, and sent their teams to the Missouri River year after year, sometimes two hundred and sometimes three hundred, and they have sent as many as five hundred teams, for several successive seasons—a team being four yoke of oxen (or their equivalent in horses and mules), a wagon, a teamster, also the necessary officers and night guard for each company of fifty wagons. In this way they continued to bring their brethren not only from every part of the United States, but also from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. This system of emigration is continued up to the present time, and has resulted in bringing many of the Saints together, and has materially increased the population of Utah.

In the early settlement of the Territory, the Latter-day Saints had other obstacles to contend with besides those already referred to. In 1849, and for several years after, a considerable number of men passed through here on their way to the gold mines in California. Numbers of them would have perished had it not been for the provisions and supplies unexpectedly obtained here. They knew not how to outfit themselves for such a journey, and were unwilling to abide the restraints of organization necessary for their own preservation on the Plains. Hence they wore out their teams and quarreled with each other, and arrived here in every conceivable stage of destitution. Upon their arrival here they were treated as friends, employed, and furnished with the necessary outfit as far it could be obtained. I may say that tens of thousands received the assistance necessary to enable them to proceed to California to realize, if possible, their visions of gold. While the Latter-day Saints were pursuing this course, they too were tempted with a spirit of going to the gold mines. The counsel given to the brethren by President Young was to stay at home, make their farms, cultivate the earth, build houses, and plant gardens and orchards. But many preferred to go to the mines, and they went; but I believe that in every instance those who went returned, not having made as much as if they had followed the counsel given. There was this difference: the men who went to California could dig a hole and take a little gold out of it; but after a time the supply of gold would be exhausted, and then, after paying their expenses, the most of them had nothing left but a hole in the ground; but the men who went to work here on their five or ten acre lots, or even on their city lots of an acre and a quarter, in the course of a year or two had a snug little home. The result was that those who remained at home and diligently attended to agricultural pursuits were the most successful.

But among the strangers traveling through the Territory to the mines were many men of desperate character, and they would cause trouble by killing Indians near the settlements. One difficulty occurred here in the north—a band of men from Missouri shot some squaws who were riding on horseback, and took their horses; in revenge for this the Indians made an attack on our northern settlements. Similar occurrences took place in the south. The result was we were troubled with expensive Indian wars, caused by the acts, not of our own people, but of those over whom we had no control, and in some instances through the acts of men who would rather entail trouble upon us than not. In consequence of outrages inflicted on the Indians, we were under the necessity of keeping ourselves armed and having in our midst a vigilant militia. In the year 1853 the inhabitants found it necessary to encircle this city with a wall of earth, at a cost of $34,000, which they did for the purpose of preventing the Indians stealing their horses, and to enable the small police force to protect the city from their depredations. From that period the Indians have made very little inroad on the property inside this city. There is, among the Indians in these mountains, an innate principle to steal anything and everything that lies unguarded in their way. When the number of horses, sheep, and cattle, that the people throughout the Territory have raised, is considered, the number stolen by the Indians is surprisingly small. Yet some of the outside counties have suffered severely and are suffering today from thieving bands from neighboring Territories. In their intercourse with the Indians they have acted on the principle that it is cheaper to feed them than to fight them. In all cases they have treated them with the strictest justice as far as possible, and have maintained their relations with them in a manner truly astonishing.

We look around today and behold our city clothed with verdure and beautified with trees and flowers, with streams of water running in almost every direction, and the question is frequently asked, “How did you ever find this place?” I answer, we were led to it by the inspiration of God. After the death of Joseph Smith, when it seemed as if every trouble and calamity had come upon the Saints, Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, then the presiding Quorum of the Church, sought the Lord to know what they should do, and where they should lead the people for safety, and while they were fasting and praying daily on this subject, President Young had a vision of Joseph Smith, who showed him the mountain that we now call Ensign Peak, immediately north of Salt Lake City, and there was an ensign fell upon that peak, and Joseph said, “Build under the point where the colors fall and you will prosper and have peace.” The Pioneers had no pilot or guide, none among them had ever been in the country or knew anything about it. However, they traveled under the direction of President Young until they reached this valley. When they entered it President young pointed to that peak, and said he, “I want to go there.” He went up to the point and said, “This is Ensign Peak. Now, brethren, organize your exploring parties, so as to be safe from Indians; go and explore where you will, and you will come back every time and say this is the best place.” They accordingly started out exploring companies and visited what we now call Cache, Malad, Tooele, and Utah valleys, and other parts of the country in various directions, but all came back and declared this was the best spot.

I have traveled somewhat extensively in the Territory, and I bear my testimony this day, that this is the spot, and I feel confident that the God of Heaven by His inspiration led our Prophet right here. And it is the blessing of God upon the untiring energy and industry of the people that has made this once barren and sterile spot what it is today.

We have struggled with all our power and might to maintain that morality and uprightness which pertain to the kingdom of God, and to place all men and all women in that high position which God designs them to occupy, and to prevent them being led astray by the immoral tendencies which are abroad in the world; but while doing so we have had to contend with obstacles of every kind. The Latter-day Saints have built commodious schoolhouses in every ward of the various cities and through all the settlements of the Territory. They have done all they could to promote education, but they have received no assistance from any source on earth. Almost every newly settled country has received certain donations in land and money to aid them in support of their schools, but in this Territory we have never received a cent. The money that has been expended for the furtherance of education in this Territory has been by the voluntary will of the parents. Oregon received donations in land to encourage its settlement, and persons who made the earlier settlements were permitted to occupy 640 acres of land, others who settled later 320, and subsequently 160, and liberal donations of land were made available to promote the cause of education. Utah has had no such encouragement. But it is my opinion today that had Congress been as liberal with us as with Oregon, and had given 640 or 320 acres of land to each, it might have hindered our progress under the circumstances. Most of our farmers cultivate from five to thirty acres of land, very few of them cultivating forty; and it requires tolerably good Saints not to quarrel about the water while irrigating in a dry time even on small tracts of land close together; but how would it have been if our agriculturists had each possessed 640 acres, or even half or quarter of that, if they were compelled by law to live upon and cultivate the same or forfeit it? Most of the water would have been wasted by evaporation and soakage because of the lengthy ditches which extensive cultivation would have rendered necessary. I verily believe that if “Gentiles” lived here they would fight and kill each other with their hoes in a dry time over the water ditches.

The brethren will pardon me for devoting my time on the present occasion to this brief sketch of the history of the Church and of the Territory with which they are so well acquainted. In consequence of there being so many friends and strangers present, I felt inspired to give a little detail of the circumstances that led us here, and of some of the incidents since our arrival in this Territory.

I feel to bless God for the many privileges that we enjoy, and among others that we are now permitted to buy our lands and obtain a title to them. I feel thankful to the rulers of our nation for showing a disposition to extend to us the privileges which are enjoyed in this respect by our fellow citizens in the other territories.

As early as 1852 our Legislative Assembly memorialized Congress for a national railway, which was subsequently endorsed by immense mass meetings in this and other counties. We have done all in our power to hurry it on. Many looked on it at the time, and since, as if it were work for a hundred years; but the work is completed, and men can come from the States in a few hours. When I came here with my family, in 1849, I was one hundred and five days driving oxen from the Missouri River across the Plains to this place. Now a man can come with his family in a few days. This is a great progress, thank the Lord for it.

We are still at work with all our power developing in the new Territory everything that is useful for the sustenance of its inhabitants, for the establishment of manufactures, the promotion of agriculture, and everything that will tend to build up, strengthen, and benefit mankind. I fully believe that there is no one hundred thousand people in the United States who have done more actual service for their country than we have; for what benefits a nation is to take its worthless desert domain and endow it with beauty and wealth, by the strong hands of a loyal people.

May God help us to fill out our days with honor is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1869.

I understand that many of the brethren and sisters in the old country lent money to their friends now here to assist them to emigrate; quite a number of letters have been sent, stating that those friends covenanted before leaving that they would repay that means with the first money they earned after arriving here, and that they would also send more than they had borrowed, in order to assist those who had previously assisted them. A number of our elders who have been from here on missions to England and other countries, have been in the habit of borrowing money, or of getting it in some way. Some of these elders, when asked to refund what they had borrowed, have said, “We did not borrow it, it was a gift to us.” I wish to say to such elders, return the money with interest. If it was a gift, return the gift, that it may go back and help many instead of one.

I do not wish to spend much time on this subject, I wish to give instruction, and to tell you my mind with regard to those elders who have borrowed money from the Saints in Europe. They may pretend to say that it was given to them to excuse themselves for not repaying it, but if they do not refund it, they are unworthy of the fellowship of the Saints, and I ask their bishops to cut every one of them from the Church, without favor or affection. If the bishops do this, they will be doing their duty. Disfellowship them, they are not worthy of a standing in the Church and Kingdom of God.

I wish to ask my brethren, the elders of Israel, to give liberally to help home our brethren and sisters who are now in bondage in the old countries. We have not said anything to the people for a long time with regard to donations. A year ago last fall we commenced a subscription to bring home the Saints. By the following February the amount reached, I think, some nine thousand dollars. Our agent left here about the 27th of February, and about ten days before he started we gave notice that he was going, and between that time and the time he left, the nine thousand had swelled to about thirty thousand; and in the course of three months from then the amount had increased to seventy-six or seventy– seven thousand dollars. With this amount a great many were helped here who could only raise part means, some were brought all the way. The brethren and sisters continued to give through the summer, and if I recollect rightly, we have now over thirty thousand dollars in money to help home the poor. Most of this has been sent to Liverpool, but we have some in this city. Now we wish the charity of the brethren and sisters to be extended to bring home the poor Saints, and perhaps it would be as well for me to commence the list. I will say to our clerk he may put down two thousand dollars for Brother Brigham; also one thousand for William H. Hooper, our delegate in Congress, who told me before he went away that he would give another thousand. Now we are ready to receive your thousands or your hundreds, and we will not refuse a five-dollar bill. We got a great many of them from the sisters last fall, more than the people would imagine; if the list were read of the sisters who put in five dollars, ten dollars, and some twenty-five, it would astonish you. This is a short sermon on this subject. The brethren here from the settlements throughout the Territory can carry it home, and it will become generally known.

I have thought of proposing certain conditions in relation to those who are helped here from abroad; but whether it would be prudent and consistent to do so, I leave the Latter-day Saints to judge. The cogitations of my mind on the subject of bringing home the Saints are somewhat strict. I have thought it would be as well, before helping the poor to emigrate, to have them covenant that after arriving here they would be Saints in every sense of the word. Now, to particularize, I will say that we gather a family here, consisting of father, mother, four, eight, or twelve children, as the case may be. They are Latter-day Saints; they wish to gather to Zion and to enjoy all the blessings of Zion; they are anxiously waiting for every gift and blessing God has in store for the faithful, and to be numbered with the Church of the Firstborn; but when they reach here, if we go into their houses, we shall very often find, if they have the means to do it, that they will perfectly soak their systems with tea and coffee, and are perhaps chewing tobacco and doing a little tippling, a little swearing, and so on. This is the way with some who were gathered last year. Now, whether it is better to leave such people to die in the faith in their native lands, or to bring them here to apostatize and deny their Lord and Master, is a question. I think, if I had the knowledge and the power, I would never gather another member of the Church who would apostatize; but I have not this knowledge. I cannot say to a man, you stop and let your family come to Zion. I cannot say to a woman, you stop where you are, you are in the faith now, but if you gather you will apostatize; but your husband and family can gather, they will stick to the faith. I cannot say this, I have not the power, and hence we see many after they arrive here turn away from the holy commandments. I do not know but what it would be perfectly reasonable to make every man and woman, before leaving their native lands, covenant before God to observe the Word of Wisdom, let liquor alone, use no language unbecoming a Saint, and, in a word, live their religion after arriving here. Whether it would be reasonable and consistent to lay such injunctions on the people before assisting them to gather I do not know. If we were to say to them, before leaving their homes, “Now if we gather you home, will you live your religion?” they would jump up, clap their hands together, shout “hallelujah,” and say, “Yes, we will do anything you require if you will only gather us to Zion.”

Do you not see that I am perfectly tied up? and so are all the elders of Israel in this respect. We may lay all these injunctions on the Saints, and some would break them all. All these things are turned over in my mind, and I look at every side of the question, sound every principle and behold the people as they are. Well, what is to be done? I do not know any better way, perhaps, than to gather the Saints and try to sanctify them after they are gathered together, for when they are baptized they virtually covenant to observe all these rules. When we see the course that the Saints, or those professing to be such, have taken in feeding, clothing and making our enemies rich here in our midst, it makes me feel that it is time to cease gathering those who will not be Saints indeed. I know, as well as I know that I am a living being, that there is not one professing to be a Latter-day Saint, who has the spirit of his calling, who would not cease this course as quick as he would draw his hands out of the fire, if he thoroughly knew and understood that it tends to the overthrow of the Kingdom of God; and the fact that he helped to sustain the enemies of the Kingdom of God must be attributed to his ignorance. The people have eyes, but they see not; they have hearts, but they do not understand. I will ensure that there are scores, and perhaps hundreds, looking at me while I am speaking, who think, “Brother Brigham, you are a fool; we have as good a right to trade with one man as another; and we will go to what store we please, and do what we please with our means, and we will trade with those who will do the best by us.” Yet there are hundreds who, and in fact the most of the people, understand the folly of this course, as the experience of the past six months has proved. During that period we have done wonders in guiding the minds and the movements of the Latter-day Saints. Still there are some who seem to have no understanding. I will venture to say they are the foolish virgins. I was going to say they are like the foolish virgins; but they are the foolish virgins, and by and by they will find they have no oil in their vessels, and nothing to prepare them to go and meet the bridegroom, and they will be found wanting. But so it is, and we must cultivate the wheat with the tares; the sheep and the goats have to run together. Here I am thinking of exacting a covenant from men and women before they are gathered, that they will be Saints indeed afterwards; but while I have such feelings the question stares me in the face, how do you know whether they will be or not? You see men and women here who have been in the Church thirty years, and the most trifling, frivolous, foolish little circumstance imaginable will throw them off the track, and they will go to the devil. It is astonishing, it is marvelous! When I think of these things it recalls a saying that I have sometimes made, that I do my swearing in the pulpit, for they make me think that we have those in our midst who profess to be Latter-day Saints, but who are damned fools. You may say that is swearing; but they are damned, and the wrath of God is upon them, just as much as it was in the days of the old apostles. Men and women would take a very different course if they could see and understand things as they are. But I will take back the expression “if they could see and understand.” I say they can see and understand, if they have a mind to cast out of their hearts the love of the world, the love of riches, and the little frivolous traits of character they so often manifest. The love of fashion, for instance, which darkens, beclouds, and casts a shade over the spirits of our sisters. They cannot have this, and they do not like that, and the next thing anger creeps into their hearts and they feel revengeful, and “I wish I could do somebody an injury; I wish I could come up with my husband; I wish I could do something or other to mar his peace, inasmuch as mine is marred, because I cannot follow somebody else’s fashion.” Such little, trifling, contemptible, frivolous, things cast a dark shade over their feelings, and the first thing they know they give way to a revengeful, vindictive, wicked spirit, which leads them to destruction.

Now, I will go back again to my text—whether we should exact the injunctions I have named of the Saints before gathering, or whether we should not? I leave it to the people, for I do not care much about it, for the simple reason that I do not know enough to decide, and yet I know as much as anybody else. I might pick up this man and that woman, and this family and that family, and leave others because I might not think them worthy, when those who are left behind would probably stick to the faith, while those who are gathered might apostatize. I do not know how to do any better than we are doing, unless the Lord reveals it. I will say to the brethren and sisters, we are ready to receive your donations. Open your hearts and your purse strings. I leave this matter now for your action.

I spoke a little here yesterday and the day before; but I have not really said what I wish, and whether I shall be able to answer my own feelings with regard to our success in our cooperative system of merchandising I do not know. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints we have wrought wonders. It was observed here by one of the brethren that to guide the minds of the people and to govern and control them is a greater miracle than to raise the dead. That is very true. The Lord Almighty could resuscitate a corpse lying before us a thousand times easier than He could control the congregation in this house. He has the material on hand, and He knows every process, and He could give life to a lifeless being, with ease, by the elements He would operate upon and with. This is a great miracle in our estimation; but it would be no miracle at all to the Lord, because He knows precisely how to do it. There is no miracle to any being in the heavens or on the earth, only to the ignorant. To a man who understands the philosophy of all the phenomena that transpire, there is no such thing as a miracle. A great many think there are results without causes; there is no such thing in existence; there is a cause for every result that ever was or ever will be, and they are all in the providences and in the work of the Lord. It would be no particular miracle for the Lord to resuscitate a person whose breath had left the body. By bringing the elements to bear on the system, He could make that system breathe again and live, but to control this people can only be done by persuasion. We have the privilege of choosing, refusing, acting, rising up, sitting down, doing this or not doing; we are just as independent in our sphere as the Gods are in theirs, and our agency is our own, and we can do as we please. We can govern and control ourselves, and when we do this by the law of truth it produces life within us and leads to eternal life; but when we take the opposite course and yield to principles that tend downward the result is death and destruction. Now I will make the application, that you and I have done just as we please. We have traded with whom we please. We shall do so as far as we can. We cannot all do just as we please, because a great many times we want to and cannot, and that is what produces misery, which is called hell. We have done as we please with regard to trading. We requested the people last Conference in this room to cease trading with their enemies. Do you see the effects of this? Yes, they are apparent to every inhabitant of this Territory; they are apparent to the passer-by, to the transient person and to the world; and the commercial world has said, “This is the first thing we have ever seen in the character of you Latter-day Saints, that manifested that you knew enough to take care of yourselves.” It tells also upon our enemies. Suppose we had not checked this trading with outsiders, and had not turned the stream into another channel, you would have seen, perhaps, one hundred merchants in this city now more than last year. They would have brought their clerks and friends and a great number who would have operated against us. Not but what there are many here now, and have been, who have been very gentlemanly and kind; but where is their friendship? Is there a man who does not belong to this church who would not vote for a man out of the church for mayor of the city, and for men who do not belong to the church for aldermen and councilors? No, there is not one amongst them but what would do this. And what would they not do? They would not do right and righteously, that is what they would not do. But anything on the face of this earth to remove power and influence from the Latter-day Saints, and to remove them from their homes, many of them would do. We have been able to check this, and it is for our advantage. Many of us have suffered the loss of all things several times. I have been broken up five times and left a handsome property, and have taken the spoiling of my goods just as patiently as I could. I do not want to see these things enacted again. I know how to avert them. If the people will hearken to the counsel which God gives through His servants, they will never experience any such thing again; but if they will not, they will, perhaps, suffer just as they have heretofore—the good with the bad, the righteous through the evil deeds of those who profess to be righteous and are not; the simple, the honest and the good will have to suffer with the hypocrite and the wicked. I am thankful to God that the ears of the Latter-day Saints have been open to hear and their hearts open to receive and act upon good counsel as far as they have been.

The sisters in our Female Relief Societies have done great good. Can you tell the amount of good that the mothers and daughters in Israel are capable of doing? No, it is impossible. And the good they do will follow them to all eternity. If we get the sisters on our side with regard to trading in stores, with regard to donations, or with regard to improvement, we have gained all that we can ask. What do men care about fashion? You will not find one man in a thousand that cares anything about it. Men have their business before them, and their care and attention is occupied with that. You will find that the farmer, the blacksmith, the carpenter and even the merchant, were it not that he is compelled to appear decently in society, care nothing about fashion. They want the dollars and the dimes. The lawyer cares nothing about fashion, only to gain the feelings of the people and have influence over them, that he can bring them one against another, so that he may get their dimes; that is all he cares about fashion. The doctor cares nothing about fashion. If he can make the people believe that he knows it all, and that they know nothing, he would as soon wear a hat with a brim six inches wide, and the crown an inch and a half high, as he would wear one with the crown six inches high and the brim an inch and a half wide. He cares no more for fashion than that, if he can only get the purses of the people, that is all he cares for. I speak now in general terms, for there are exceptions in every class. It is the ladies who care for fashion. They are looking continually to see how this and that lady are dressed. But if we can enlist their feelings and interests in business matters, then victory is sure. The mothers and daughters in Israel have better judgment, and they do know more than females in the world. They do understand the true principles of comfort, and how to adorn their persons so that they may present an attractive appearance to their husbands, families, friends and neighbors; and if we can make them believe this, I reckon that, by and by, they will begin and make fashions to suit themselves, and will not be under the necessity of sending to Paris or to the East to find out the fashions or to find out whether they shall make their Grecian bends one-half, two-thirds or one-third as large as in New York; or whether they shall cut a frock so as to show their garters every step or to drag yards on the ground behind them. I think that, after a while, they will consider that they know a little of something as well as other people, and if we can enlist their sympathies and judgments, tastes and abilities with regard to trading, fashion, etc., the battle is won.

The sisters have already done much good, and I wish them to continue and go ahead. Have a Female Relief Society in every ward in the mountains; and have a Cooperative store in every ward, and let the people do their own trading. There are some of the brethren around who have asked me whether they shall trade at the Parent Store or whether they shall send East for their goods. They cannot see and understand things; after a while they will. You take the Lehi Cooperative Store, for instance: Bishop Evans started it there last summer. Suppose he had sent East for his goods in July; if he had had the same luck that others have had, they would have been landed about this time, and some of them by and by, and when they had been operating three months what would they have made? Nothing. But they came down here and bought their goods and took them home, only a thirty miles’ drive, and put them on the shelves, and they were soon bought up. They sent to Salt Lake City about once a week to replenish their store, and when five months had passed away they struck a balance sheet and every man that had put in twenty-five dollars—the amount of a share—had, in addition to that amount, a little over twenty-eight dollars to his credit. Have any of our city merchants who have traded from here to New York, made money like this? Not one, and yet the people here have paid one-third more for their goods than the people had to pay in the Cooperative Stores. I understand the brethren in Cache Valley are going to send East for their goods. Well, send for them, and you will get a little knowledge; but you will buy it; however bought wit is pretty good, if you do not pay too dear for it.

Recollect that in trading there is great advantage in turning over your capital often. Suppose the Cooperative Stores were to send to New York for their goods, they might turn over their capital once a year; then instead of making anything they would run under.

I want to impress one thing on the minds of the people, which will be for their advantage if they will hear it. When you start your Cooperative Store in a ward, you will find the men of capital stepping forward, and one says, “I will put in ten thousand dollars;” another says, “I will put in five thousand.” But I say to you, bishops, do not let these men take five thousand, or one thousand, but call on the brethren and sisters who are poor and tell them to put in their five dollars or their twenty-five, and let those who have capital stand back and give the poor the advantage of this quick trading. This is what I am after and have been all the time. I have capital, and have offered some to every ward in the country when I have had a chance. I would take shares in such institutions. I am not at all afraid; but nobody would let me take any, except in Provo and in the wholesale store here. I will say to Bishop Woolley, in the 13th ward, do not let these men with capital take all the shares, but let the poor have them. I say the same to the 14th ward and to every ward in the city; and you bishops, tell the man who has five thousand or two thousand to put in, to stand back, he cannot have it. If your capital is doubled every three months, it would make him rich too fast, and he cannot have the privilege; we want the poor brethren and sisters to have the advantage of it. Do you understand this, bishops and people?

The capitalists may say, “What are we to do with our means?” Go and build factories and have one, two, or three thousand spindles going. Send for fifty, a hundred, or a thousand sheep and raise wool. Some of you go to raising flax and build a factory to manufacture it, and do not take every advantage and pocket every dollar that is to be made. You are rich, and I want to turn the stream so as to do good to the whole community.

I am delighted every time I hear a company say, “We do not want your capital, we have plenty.” I know what to do with mine. I have been the means, in the hands of God, of starting every woollen and cotton factory there is in the Territory, and almost every carding machine. We are going to build a large factory at Provo. Some say we have not wool to carry on the business. Yes, we have, and we have plenty of capital. Suppose we send to the States and buy a hundred thousand or five hundred thousand pounds of wool; we are as well able to do it as others; or suppose we send to California or Oregon and buy fifty thousand pounds of wool, and ship it on the railroad and work it up. Will the people wear it? Yes, just as quick as we get the women to tell their husbands to wear homemade instead of broadcloth, they will do it. I would not even wear out the cloth that has been given to me were it not that my wives and daughters want me. If they were to say, “Brother Brigham, wear your homemade, we like to see you in it,” I would give away my broadcloth, but to please the dear creatures I wear almost anything. Only let us get the sisters into this mind, and homemade clothing will soon become the fashion throughout the Territory. I had a present sent me the other day of some homemade linen for a coat, and I calculate to wear it this summer. I wear my homemade a great deal, but I have not got it on today; if I could only get my wives to say, “Brother Brigham, your homemade is very nice, and we should like to see you wear it,” I should certainly wear it.

When the first merchants came here I foresaw all that we have passed through. I knew the foundation was laid for the destruction of this people if they were fostered here, and I know so today. We have turned the current, and we are controlling it, and the sisters are helping us. Now, sisters, if you will continue to help us, and will trade with none but Latter-day Saints, just hold up your hands. [The vote was unanimous.] Now, I will tell you why we bother you women, though I acknowledge that if we did not go to see the women they would come and see us; but we are so anxious to see you that we follow you up. But the reason why we are so anxious to have you sisters on our side in regard to these trading matters, is because we know if you will only say whom you will trade with and with whom you will not trade, that we shall follow you.

What I have been saying with regard to these ward cooperative stores doubling their capital once in three months, is for the encouragement of the poor, and to induce them to invest their little means and do something for themselves. Here is the 10th and the 5th and 6th wards, which are looked upon as the poorest wards in the city, though I believe the bishop of the 3rd ward feels that his ward is the poorest in the city; but I will venture to say that if these wards will each establish a store and concentrate their influence, they will double their capital every three months. I know that the 10th ward, which started with 700 dollars, three weeks afterwards had a thousand dollars worth of goods paid for and considerable money in the drawer. Think of that, in that poor little ward, though I will give it the praise of being one of the best wards in the city. It has one of the finest bands of music in the city, and they make one of the best turnouts when they exhibit themselves.

I have talked long enough. I will turn again to my starting point. Let us have your money to bring home the poor Saints. I feel also to urge upon my brethren and sisters to observe every word that the Lord speaks. Observe the counsel that leads to life, peace, glory and happiness, but do not observe that which leads to contention, ruin and destruction. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1869.

I think I shall not be under the necessity of talking long, as there has been a great deal said to the people this afternoon. I will commence by saying to the Latter-day Saints and to all the inhabitants of the earth that I am responsible for the doctrine I teach; but I am not responsible for the obedience of the people to that doctrine. My position in the presence of God, before the Angels and upon the face of the earth, is that it is easier and more delightful to serve God than to serve ourselves and the devil.

There has been considerable said this afternoon with regard to redeeming and building up Zion, the Order of Enoch, &c. I see men and women in this congregation—only a few of them—who were driven from the central stake of Zion. Ask them if they had any sorrow or trouble; then let them look at the beautiful land that the Lord would have given them if all had been faithful in keeping His commandments, and had walked before Him as they should; and then ask them with regard to the blessings they would have received. If they tell you the sentiments of their minds, they will tell you that the yoke of Jesus would have been easy and his burden would have been light, and that it would have been a delightful task to have walked in obedience to his commands and to have been of one heart and one mind; but through the selfishness of some, which is idolatry, through their covetousness, which is the same, and the lustful desire of their minds, they were cast out and driven from their homes. We have been driven many times; but each time, if they who professed to be the servants of God had served Him with an undivided heart, they would have had the privilege of living in their houses, possessing their lands, attending to their meetings, and spreading abroad on the right and the left, lengthening the cords of Zion, and strengthening her stakes until the land had been dedicated to the Gospel of the Son of God. Well, I have been with the rest and I expect I have been covetous like them, and probably I am now; but if I am, I wish somebody would tell me wherein.

Brother Pratt, in his discourse, had considerable to say with regard to the property of the Saints. I would like very much if the time was now when the Lord would say, “Lay down your substance at the feet of the bishops,” and find out who in this Church would be willing to give up all. This cooperative movement is only a stepping stone to what is called the Order of Enoch, but which is in reality the Order of Heaven. It was revealed to Enoch when he built up his city and gathered the people together and sanctified them, so that they became so holy and pure that they could not live among the rest of the people and the Lord took them away.

Ask any Christian in the world if he thinks the Lord rules and reigns supreme in heaven, and he will tell you, “Yes.” Is it right for the Lord to reign? “Certainly it is.” Ask him if he would delight to live in a place where one character rules and reigns supreme, and he will answer, “Yes, if I could go to heaven.” Why? “Why, the Lord reigns there.” Just ask the Christian if he knows the Lord, and he will tell you, “No.” Did you ever see him? “No.” Can you tell me anything of His character? “No, only He is something without body, parts, and passions.” One of the apostles says that “God is love, and they who dwell in God dwell in love.” Ask the Christian world if their know anything about God, and they will tell you they do not. Ask if He has eyes, and they will say, “No—yes, He is all eyes.” Has he a head? “Yes, He is all head.” Has he ears? “Yes, He is all ears, He is all mouth, He is all body, and all limbs;” and still without, body, parts, or passions. Why what do they make of Him? A monster, if He is anything; that is what they make of Him. Would you like to go to heaven? “O, yes,” says the Christian, “the Lord reigns there.” How do you know you would like the place and the order when you get there? Do you think you will have your farm and your substance by yourself, and live in the gratification of your selfish propensities as you now do? “O, no, we expect to be made pure and holy.” Where will you begin to be pure and holy? If you do not begin here, I do not know where you will begin. “O,” says the Christian, “if we are going to heaven, where God and angels dwell, and live where one-man power prevails, we should all be satisfied, I expect.” We, Latter-day Saints, say so, too. We like to see that power manifested by those whom God calls to lead the people in righteousness, purity, and holiness. This opens up a subject that I am not going to talk about.

Brother Orson has spoken on the Word of Wisdom. The people have done pretty well in keeping it for the last year or two. But are they going to continue, or will they return to their old habits like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow that is washed, to her wallowing in the mire? The sale of tobacco, tea, and coffee is increasing in the midst of this people at the present time. What does this prove? It proves that, stealthily or openly, the people are eating and drinking that which is not good for them. Hot drinks, tobacco, and spi– rits are not good for them. Will the people continue to keep the Word of Wisdom, or will they become like the brutes in the parable, or, like fools, return to that which will injure and destroy them? The elders of Israel have talked a great deal to the people upon the principles of life and about the course they should pursue to lay a foundation for health. Let a mother stimulate her system with tobacco, tea, coffee, or liquor, or suffer herself to hanker after such things at certain times, and she lays the foundation for the destruction of her offspring. Do they realize this? No, and in very many instances they care nothing about it. With all the teachings given to this people I think they are very much like the rest of the world, or like the dumb brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed. And it almost seems that the last comparison is the most appropriate, for intelligence is given us to preserve ourselves, to preserve our health and prolong our natural lives, preserve our posterity, preserve and beautify the earth and make it like the Garden of Eden. But what is the disposition of the people? It is true we are in advance of the world, but we are only just commencing to learn the things of God. I know that some say the revelations upon these points are not given by way of commandment. Very well, but we are commanded to observe every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

I cannot say that my family is clear in this respect. They want a little of this and a little of that that it is not wise to use, and I suppose it is the same in other families. Every man, I expect, indulges his wife and children and allows them to take this or that when he knows it is not the best for them. But we, in and of ourselves, ought to be independent; every son and daughter in Israel should say, we will keep the “Word of Wisdom” independent of father, mother, or any elder in the church; we know what is right and we will do it. By so doing this people will increase health in their systems, and the destroying angel, when he comes along, will pass them by. Will you take this course? I, as the leader and dictator of this people, feel disgraced when I think they are becoming slothful and negligent and are returning to their former foolish and useless habits; and, refusing to hearken to the least counsel, are turning away to the counsel of the Evil One and doing that which leads to death.

I want to say a few words still further to the people with regard to their faith in temporal things. If the people called Latter-day Saints do not become one in temporal things as they are in spiritual things, they will not redeem and build up the Zion of God upon the earth. This cooperative movement is a stepping stone. We say to the people, take advantage of it, it is your privilege. Instead of giving it into the hands of a few individuals to make their hundreds and thousands, let the people, generally, enjoy the benefit arising from the sale of merchandise. I have already told you that this will stop the operations of many little traders, but it will make them producers as well as consumers. You will find that if the people unitedly hearken to the counsel that is given them, it will not be long before the hats, caps, bonnets, boots and shoes, pants, coats, vests and underclothing of this entire community will all be made in our midst. What next? Shall we have to run to London, Paris, or New York for the fashions? When I see the disposition among the Latter-day Saints to follow the fashions and customs of the world, I think, why do you stay here? You had better go back again. I am tired of this everlasting ding-dong about fashions. If I happen to have a coat on that is not what is called fashionable, some of my wives will be sure to say, “Husband, or Mr. President, may I give this away;” or, “I wish it was out of sight, it is not fashionable.” If I were to tell the truth I should say, who cares for the fashions of the world? I do not; if I get anything that is comfortable and sits well, and suits my system, it is all I ask. I do not care who wears a bonnet that is six feet above the head behind, twelve feet in front, or that sits close to the crown of her head, or whether it is three straws thrown over the head with ribbons to them. But to see a people who say, “We are the teachers of life and salvation,” and yet are anxious to follow the nasty, pernicious fashions of the day, I say it is too insipid to talk or think about. It is beneath the character of the Latter-day Saints that they should have no more independence of mind or feeling than to follow after the groveling customs and fashions of a poor, miserable, wicked world. All who do not want to sustain cooperation and fall into the ranks of improvement, and endeavor to improve themselves by every good book and then by every principle that has been received from heaven, had better go back to England, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, or the Eastern States; we do not care where you go, if you will only go.

I will take up my text again—I am responsible for the doctrine I teach. I will say to this people, as I have said ever since I commenced to lift up my voice to the inhabitants of the earth, I will read to them out of the Book of Life. If they will hear it, well; if they will not, I am clear of their blood. I read to the Latter-day Saints out of the Book of Life, and I can give them lessons that will lead them back to the presence of God in the celestial kingdom. But oh, the slothfulness, negligence, and the low, groveling feelings in the midst of this people are a disgrace to them. Will we improve? Yes, let us try and redeem the time and commence anew.

Yesterday we explained a little with regard to cooperation; we can explain just as far as the people wish to hear and know. Those who rise up against this or any other measure do it because darkness and the spirit of the Evil One reign within them. There is not a man and woman in this Church and Kingdom, who is in possession of the Holy Ghost, but what will lift up their hands to heaven and say, “Blessed be God, there is somebody to lead and improve the people,” when they contemplate this movement and the results it will work out; and they who fight against it and feel to murmur are actuated by a spirit from beneath.

I frequently think of the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil. To illustrate, here is a structure in which we can be seated comfortably, protected from the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Now, it required labor, mechanical skill and ingenuity and faithfulness and diligence to erect this building, but any poor, miserable fool or devil can set fire to it and destroy it. That is just what the devil can do, but he never can build anything. The difference between God and the devil is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of the devil is to destroy. Everyone that follows the evil inclinations of his own natural evil heart, is going to destruction, and sooner or later he will be no more. I pray you Latter-day Saints to live your religion. Amen.