Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, August 24th, 1879.

I have listened with great pleasure to the remarks that have been made by the brethren who have addressed us, and I thought that I would arise and add a few remarks myself to those already given. It gives me pleasure always to meet with the Latter-day Saints, to talk with them and hear them talk of those great and eternal principles, which our Father in heaven has revealed for the salvation, the blessing and exaltation of the human family. Men comprehend very little of these things. And further they know very little about us and our faith, our practice and our doings.

I was pleased to hear Brother John H. Smith make the remarks he did concerning himself, as regards his purity, his virtue, singleness of heart, and his desire to do good. I wish all the Latter-day Saints could say and do the same. I wish they were all actuated by the same principle of honor, of truth, of integrity, and of virtue; and I would say that if there are those who are not they are hypocrites, they are not the representatives of the principles of truth, of these great and glorious principles which God has revealed to us, but they are a disgrace to their profession.

God expects us, at least, to be moral. He expected the Jews under the Mosaic dispensation to be moral. They were also to have faith in God, as we propose to have faith in him when living under the law. They were told to commit no murder, they were told not to covet a man’s house, or his wife, or his land, or his ox, or his ass, or any thing that belonged to him. I wish the Latter-day Saints would incorporate this always in their creed. It is hopeless to suppose the Christians will. But I do hope to see the Latter-day Saints governed by those high and noble principles which they propose to have faith in. But as regards the world they know very little about these things. They talk sometimes about the impurity of the “Mormons.” What! Men wallowing in filth, corruption, rottenness and infamy! Men and women who are the murderers of their own infants by the thousands before or after birth. Who violate incessantly their marital covenants, who do not know the difference between right and wrong! Men who would seek to despoil other men of their goods, their property and possessions and women of their virtue, and then come and preach mo– rality to us! Now, we can talk to one another, I can talk plainly to the Saints, because we profess more, but it does not do for such characters to come and preach morality to us; they had better go home and attend to their own affairs.

But we are expected to do right and to take a proper, consistent, upright, virtuous and honorable course, and then we need not fear any evil. Talk about persecution, why, yes. Will they persecute you? Yes. Will they hate you? Yes. Will they rob you? Yes, and thank God for having the privilege. And what will we do? Try and prevent them, God being our helper. Will they traduce you? Yes, that is, if their words are of any account, but they are not much; these low degraded infamous characters do not believe one another, and we do not believe them. Consequently, we have very little odds to ask of this class of people, nor in fact of the world, or anything that is in the world. We fear God and know no other fear, for God is our friend, and our protector, and he is the only friend that we know anything about in this world. He will take care of us. We will commit our cause to him, and ask no odds of this world, in any shape they can fix it. They may fulminate their decrees, and Mr. Evarts if he please may call upon a number of European nations to assist the United States to regulate the morals of a small people numbering about two hundred thousand here, among upwards of forty millions—he may call upon these European nations to assist the United States to regulate the morals of this people up in these mountains, if it pleases him. But what a magnificent spectacle coming from such a source as it does! Why, there is more corruption in Washington in one day than there is in Salt Lake City in twelve months, Gentiles thrown in! But we certainly all of us need our morals more or less correcting.

In relation to these matters, however, we care very little about them. We have a work to perform that God has commanded us to attend to, and we shall do it, hear it all ye ends of the earth! We will do it in the name of God, nor can this nation, nor any other nation stop it! Hear it! Publish it to the ends of the earth! Write it down and see if it does not come to pass. I prophesy it in the name of Israel’s God, let all Israel say Amen. (The whole congregation as with one voice responded “Amen“). We know what we are doing, whether other people do or not. This kingdom that has been spoken of will roll on. The word of the Lord has spoken it thousands of years ago. It will continue to roll on, and woe unto that man or that people who set their hands to fight against Zion for God will be after them. That people or nation will be wasted away. He will maintain the rights of this people, if they will fear him and keep his commandments. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Morgan, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 17th, 1879.

I will read within your hearing this afternoon the 19th, 20th and 21st verses of the 3rd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles—

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

“And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

In endeavoring to address those who are present this afternoon, I desire that I may have an interest in the faith and prayers of my hearers, that such things may be said, such principles brought forth, as will be for our mutual good and benefit, and acceptable to our Father and God. I have often thought in connection with our services here in the Tabernacle, that it should be a testimony, not only to the Latter-day Saints, but to strangers who may visit us, in regard to the work in which we are engaged, the manner in which our preaching is done. Elders come into the congregation with no anticipation whatever of being called upon to address the people. During the week they have possibly been engaged in their various avocations as farmers, as artisans, as mechanics of various grades and kinds, as merchants, and in the dif– ferent walks of life, and they possibly come to the meeting and into the congregation with their minds filled with the business of the previous week, when they are called upon to stand before a congregation of one, two, three, five, or ten thousand people, and preach to them the words of eternal life. A congregation of that size elsewhere in the Christian world, to edify, to instruct them, would require considerable preparation upon the part of the minister. But it is not so with us as a people. Elders are called to the stand without a moment’s warning, or time to prepare what they may have to say, or what they may be expected to say; and it looked strange to me when I first entered a congregation of the Saints and saw this manner of procedure. It doubtless looks strange to many today who visit us. But we rely on the promises of our Savior, though made many hundreds of years ago. We consider these promises still good and in force, and that in the hour we are called upon to proclaim the words of eternal life he will give unto us words to speak; we shall speak by the inspiration of that spirit which leads, guides and directs us unto all truth.

In the passages that I have just read, especially in the 21st verse, reference is made to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who had come forth in the day and age in which these words were spoken, in a lowly manner, from the city of Nazareth, proclaiming certain principles, certain ideas, and certain doctrines. As it happened, these principles, ideas and doctrines were not popular in the section of country in which he was preaching at that particular time. He taught certain doctrines to the people, which the mass of mankind by whom he was surrounded did not receive, did not accept, and did not believe. On the contrary, they used every means in their power to thwart the carrying out of the designs of the Savior, the bringing forth of the principles and the promulgation of the ideas and doctrines that Jesus and those by whom he was immediately surrounded proclaimed. As the result of this opposition, which lasted a considerable length of time, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was taken by the populace, and by the Scribes and Pharisees and ministers and high priests of that day, and crucified; and said they, “Let his blood be upon our heads and the heads of our children;” considering it better that one man should perish than that the whole nation should be led away. They considered that if they allowed this man to go on, the whole world would follow after him; therefore, this heresy, this delusion, this gigantic wrong, that had sprung up, must be done away with, and the only way to do it was to kill Jesus, whom they looked upon as an impostor. As a result they crucified him, doubtless anticipating that that act would stop the work that he had started; that from the day of his crucifixion, his followers, would dwindle and fall away, and that the delusion he had been preaching would no longer be heard on the face of the earth. Well, to a certain extent they were correct in this. Peter, doubtless, as prophet, seer, and revelator, saw this feature in the future. In telling them that they had crucified the Christ, the Savior of the world, he reminded them that the heavens must receive this man. He could no longer dwell with them in the flesh. He had come forth and was born upon the earth; was baptized; the Holy Ghost came upon him in the bodily form of a dove; he was crucified, buried and resurrected, and had ascended into heaven. Naturally his friends and followers would ask the question, How long is he to remain there, throughout all the ages of eternity? Oh, no, for at the time of his ascension, when his disciples stood looking at him ascending on high, there stood two angels by their side, who said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” They had the promise given unto them from the lips of holy angels, that in like manner as he had ascended in a body of flesh and bone, in like manner should he return to the earth. Peter then informs us how long he is going to remain from the earth, informs us what length of time he is to abide in the heavens, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.”

It must be, then, that something would have to be taken from the earth to enable the bringing about of a restitution. As, for instance, it would be impossible for a man to restore back to me something I had never been in possession of. It would be impossible to return back to the earth something that the earth had never possessed. It would be impossible to restore back to the human family that which they had never possessed. Then, to make a restitution, it must be that there would be restored back to the earth certain things, certain principles, certain doctrines, certain ideas, that had once been extant on the face of the earth. Others of the apostles and prophets, seers and revelators of the Lord Jesus Christ in their day and age looked forward to this time. Isaiah tells us that the time should come when the earth should mourn and fade away and languish. Why? “Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant.”

Certain principles were advanced when Jesus was upon the earth. They were advanced by him and by his followers, the disciples, and those who believed in his mission. Prominent among these principles that were advanced was the principle that he advanced in regard to himself. He spoke of his having come from the Father; and Peter, in speaking of this matter in one of his epistles, says: “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Going further back into history, as we have it here in holy writ, we find that God had spoken to some of the prophets in times of old in regard to the same principle. Said he to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Again, we find in the writings of Job, speaking of the organization of the world, that “the sons of God shouted for joy when the foundation of the earth was laid.” Again, one of the writers in holy writ, in speaking on this subject, said: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” I take it as a logical consequence, that it would be impossible to return to a place where we had never been; that it would be impossible to return to God, if we had not been in his presence.

I find in the passages that I have quoted an allusion to the pre-existence we have had, similar to that which Jesus taught of himself when he was upon the earth. As he and his disciples passed along the road they found a man who had been blind from his birth. The disciples referred to Jesus and asked, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” If the result of the blindness was the sin of the man, certainly that sin must have been committed before the birth in the flesh. It is scarcely possible that a man would have to be punished in this way in the expectation of his committing a sin. That idea is reserved for men in the nineteenth century. We as a people know that men, in hundreds and thousands of cases are judged and condemned before they are proven guilty. That idea, however, is not promulgated by divine authority. I find, then, in these passages, a proof of the pre-existence of these spirits of ours which inhabit our tabernacles, those that I see before me this afternoon, as well as my own. I find in all parts of the world that we have any knowledge of, or wherever I have had the privilege of coming in contact with the children of men, that there is what we call death comes to them; and I find that they almost universally agree—although Sadduceeism does to a certain extent exist in the Christian world today—that when we bring this body of flesh and bone, this outward covering of the spirit, there is a spirit that has inhabited that body that goes somewhere, if you please; that when it leaves this earth it exists as a spirit, or has an existence outside of this body of flesh and bone. And I also find, as a general thing, that the human family recognize that that spirit has intelligence, and I moreover find that the great mass of the Christian world believe that that spirit has not only intelligence, but that it can suffer pain, and can enjoy pleasure. As, for instance, we hear people speak in regard to those of their household who have passed away from their midst. They have buried the body of flesh and bone, and it may molder away in the grave, yet they feel to say, “The spirit has gone behind the veil, and when we go there we expect to meet.” We also find that the so-called followers of the Lord Jesus Christ today, in talking on this subject, assert that the spirit has gone to a place of punishment, where it is punished, or that it has gone to a place of enjoyment, where it can enjoy. In other words that this spirit within us is something that is tangible, something that can reason, something that can sense and feel pain or enjoy pleasure. In other words, when we come to examine this matter, when we come to ascertain the truth in relation to it, we find that the spirit that inhabits this body, the spirits that inhabit the bodies of the human family, is the intelligent part of them—it is the part that receives light and knowledge; it is the part that was created before the foundations of the earth were laid, and which has come upon the earth to tabernacle in the flesh, and when we have done with this body of flesh and bone, the spirit, as far as light and knowledge is concerned, retains its identity and its knowledge. One very erroneous idea that has crept into the minds of the human family, and one that we find traditioned in the minds of our children, is this: A kind of vague, indistinct impression that when we lay down this body of flesh and bone we lay down the frailties and imperfections of this life. Not if the words of this book (the Bible) are true, for we find that those spirits, after having gone behind the veil, according to the Apostle Peter, had to be preached to: “For for this cause,” says he, “was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” They needed to be preached to, to enable them to live according to the Spirit of God, and as we find in the preceding chapter, Peter says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” And I often think that, in connection with this matter, if many of our men in Israel would stop and reflect for a few moments in regard to this point it would be a benefit to them; that if they would but understand and comprehend that the habits and the weaknesses in which they indulge, the frailties to which they become accustomed, and that are not right, that they go with them into the spirit world, there to be repented of, or turned from, they would hesitate before becoming addicted to many of the things they do, seeing that the habits they have contracted will remain eternally with them, unless they are repented of. But repentance here or repentance there must come before progress or exaltation will ever reach them, worlds without end. All the thoughts and the acts we indulge in here, the ideas that we obtain, the principles that we become partakers of, are eternal in their nature, and they will stay and abide with us throughout the eternities to come, for good or for evil. There are certain laws, certain rules, a certain system of order, which controls, leads and guides all this great plan. These principles were taught by the Savior when he was upon the earth. They were not popular, however, because they did not chime in with the ideas of that day and age of the world. Said these wise men of the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Why, these doctrines clash with our particular, or peculiar ideas, and if we admit them for one moment, the fabric we have built up here will tumble to the ground; we cannot stand it.” It is true they could not contend with Jesus and his apostles in argument; and I have always said that any man, any set of men, any government, I care not who they are, or what they are, who resort to brutal force to convince their opponents that they are wrong—I say that those who do so are almost certain to be in error. They have run out of argument, and any government that will force men in regard to belief, political or religious, I consider that that government, or the people who engage in such a thing, are out of argument on their side, they have no longer any argument to sustain themselves, and resort to force to carry their point. In that day and age of the world, those men who opposed Jesus and his apostles ran out of argument, and as a result they say, “We will take the life of this man.”

We find other principles that were taught by our Savior when he was upon the earth. One of these was faith, a very important principle in the plan of salvation. Another was the principle of repentance, and I have often thought, in coming in contact with the human family, that one of the reasons today of the discord and confusion that reign in the midst of the children of men is because they have not truly repented. It is trite, there is a form of repentance indulged in by many millions of the human family—a kind of repentance that moans and groans and cries and laments over the sins that they have committed, but they go and do the same thing tomorrow. That is the kind of repentance that Paul meant when he said: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” There is a kind of sorrow that needs not to be repented of, and which consists in turning away from all that is evil, from all that is wrong or incorrect in the sight of God and of holy angels and of all good men.

Jesus taught also the principle of baptism, and I have no doubt in my own mind that he foresaw the fact that the time would come when the principle of baptism as he taught it would be perverted and changed. Paul undoubtedly foresaw that time, for says he, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” We find many fables in the world today in regard to the principle of baptism. The baptism that Peter taught was widely different to the baptism taught by the Christian world today. Said he, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you.” What for? “For the remission of sins.” Today baptism is not practiced with that object in view, by any means, by those who profess to have the Gospel of Christ. They baptize for a form, for the answering of a good conscience. I find that the baptism that Peter taught, that John taught, had for its object the remission of sin, and another very important principle was to follow this baptism, for said Peter emphatically, “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And for fear that there would be those who would pervert and change and turn away from this principle, he told the thousands of Judea that were listening to him, that “the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” The promise was unto those that were afar off. It makes no difference in regard to nationality, kindred, or race, and today, if God calls any man to obey him and keep his commandments by going into the waters of baptism, this promise is just as good as it was on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured out so mightily upon the apostles. We find an instance in connection with this ordinance in the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles, when at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word of God, and that Philip had been attending to the ordinance of baptism, after the people had repented—but by repentance they did not receive the Holy Ghost. You know repentance in the Christian world today brings the gift of the Holy Ghost. Peter and John went down to Samaria and prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost. But did praying bring it? No. “Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” This was an ordinance instituted by our Lord and Master, taught and preached by him and his apostles, for the reception of the Holy Ghost. But that ordinance today, in the midst of the Christian world, is obsolete; it is no longer considered necessary. I suppose that in this day of enlightenment of the nineteenth century, with their wisdom in regard to mechanism, in regard to discovery, in regard to invention, they have found out some shortcut method whereby they can work out their salvation without the help of the Lord, and consequently have taken upon themselves to do away with this principle of the Gospel.

We find that one of the blessings that should be given to those who received this great and glorious gift should be the gift of wisdom. If, however, we are to judge the so-called wise men of the present day, we can only conclude that they are certainly not in possession of it; they certainly cannot be in possession of it, or they would not take the course that many of them do. It should give unto them wisdom, but you do not find wisdom in their midst, and no faith in this ordinance of the Gospel. What is the reason today that this nation, for instance, does not go into the waters of baptism? Because they have no faith that God will keep his promise and remit their sins by that ordinance. What is the reason that the sects of the day omit the ordinance of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? Because they do not believe that the God of Israel will keep his promise; they have got no faith in him. What is the reason that, in the midst of want and misery that is brought about by sickness, they do not administer to the sick by the laying on of hands as commanded? Because they have no faith to believe that God will keep his promise. Consequently, I am led to believe that in all this there is a lack of wisdom on the part of the people; they have not received the gift of the Holy Ghost, which leads, guides and directs them into all truth. That it does not do this to the wise men of this nation and to all the nations of the earth, is an evident fact from the many blunders they make in their political work, in their financial schemes, for today one scheme is raised up whereby the national debt is to be paid; tomorrow another man comes forth with his ideas; next day some– thing else turns up, and so they are tossed to and fro by every wind of financial doctrine; consequently I am led to believe that they have not received this gift.

I also find that this gift will show unto us things that are to come. Well, it is true we do find people talking about things that are to come. We had a man recently who published a little book in regard to great calamities that are coming. By what authority did he speak? By what privilege did he enunciate these ideas, and where did he obtain them? Did he get credit for them? Yes; the world gives him credit. But did God speak through that man? I should judge not, if we are to take as evidence all the belief and the doctrines of the man. Again, when we go abroad in the midst of this nation and the nations of the earth we ask, “Have you wise men in your midst who can foresee and foretell events that are to come? “No,” say they, “we have nothing of that kind; we do not believe today in any man having that gift,” and I well remember the startled look a gentleman gave me when, in conversation on this principle, I told him that the gift of the Holy Ghost revealed unto man things that were to come. He at first seemed very pleasantly struck with the idea. He was a member of a church and lived in a Christian community in which there were thousands of good Christian people. While talking I asked him, what would be the result if he professed such a thing. “Why,” said he, “I certainly think they would kill me. They would not let me live here a week if I were to profess anything of the kind.” “What?” said I, “in the midst of this Christian community, with Bibles all around, with Bible associations, with ministers of the Gospel calling upon people to be saved, and with the fact that the Savior preached this doctrine, and yet when you follow his instructions they would take your life?” “Yes,” said he, “I verily believe they would.” Well, I can also believe they would, too, from what little experience I have had in the Christian world, consequently I am led to believe that they lack the possession of this principle, that they have not received this gift. And I sometimes liken it in this way in my meditations in regard to it; said John, “That was true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” I understand every person on the face of the earth has this lamp in his possession, but I ask you as reasonable beings, what benefit is this lamp to them unless it is lit up? Would a lamp, in a dark room be of any benefit to a man if he had no means of lighting it, or any means whereby to touch the light to cause it to shine? None whatsoever, he would be just as well without the lamp. It must be lit up, and the difficulty with the world today is they may be in possession of that lamp but it has not been lit up, whereas it was lit up within the prophets of the living God in days gone by, and as Peter could tell these people, comforting them in regard to these matters, “Whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” It was by the lighting up of that lamp within Peter that taught him in regard to this great event that was to come at the restitution of all things. Well, when the day of restitution came, what was the result? When the morning sun of the day of restitution arose and began to make its influence felt on the earth what was the result? History but repeats itself. As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man, in the days of the restitution of all things. And when it came to pass that God raised up his prophet on the face of the earth and sent his angel from the courts of heaven to restore these things to the children of men, these great and glorious principles that had been lost, the same opposition, the same character of opposition came forth. The principle of faith, to a great extent, had been lost from the face of the earth, and when it was restored back it had to be a restoration of the same faith precisely that was had in times of old, the faith that would cause men to obey the principles of the everlasting Gospel despite all the opposition of the powers of darkness, of earth and hell combined, that might be arrayed against them. There was restored back to the earth the correct principle of repentance, of turning away from wrongdoing. There was restored back to the earth the correct principle of baptism for the remission of sins. There was restored back to the earth the ordinance of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. There was restored back to the earth the authority to act in these different offices, and as John the Baptist held the keys of the office of baptism for the remission of sins he was sent back to the earth in this day and age of the world as a messenger of God to restore this principle to the earth. “But,” says the Christian world, “We don’t believe it.” I wonder what difference that makes? I wonder if it makes any difference? I wonder if that will have any influence upon the fact? If John did really come, though every man and every woman, every soul that exists upon face of the whole earth, should refuse to believe save the one to whom it was sent, yet it is binding upon them so far as the proclamation reaches them. Believe it or not, it still remains a fact, a principle of truth; and when man, vain man, stands up and tells what he believes; what difference does that make? None whatever, with all due respect to their belief whatever that may be; we as a people today know for ourselves that the authority to baptize for the remission of sins has been restored to the earth by the return of the proper personage, and the Latter-day Saints are well versed in regard to these matters. “How do you know these things; how do you obtain this knowledge.” I have had men ask me in coming in contact with strangers to our belief. In replying to that question let us turn back to the sayings of the Savior. Said he, “If any man,” (he did not bind it to a dozen, a hundred, a thousand or ten million) “will do his (the father’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” The Latter-day Saints have gone into the waters of baptism, have received the laying on of hands, and they know for themselves that these principles that I have been speaking to you about this afternoon are true, and I have often looked on the matter in this way: would it not be a very unheard of and peculiar proceeding for say fifty, or 100, or 500 wise men from the east to come here and try and convince us there was no Lake out there, never had been, that it was all a mistake and a myth, that we were deceived in regard to it, and when they had pushed their argument, to such a length as almost to be offen– sive, unpleasant and disagreeable, without convincing us; it would be an unheard of proceeding if they were to say, “Well, we will put you in prison and fine you if you do not acknowledge that there is no lake.” But just as unheard of is the proceeding made against us today, and for years gone by, in regard to these principles we advocate; we know as a people, as well as we know that Salt Lake exists, that God has spoken from the heavens in these the last days. Talk about convincing men to the contrary in regard to these matters! I am sometimes led to marvel at the folly of men in regard to these things, and it looks like presumption on their part to talk and act as they do. I am willing to talk kindly, courteously, and agreeably with any man in regard to these principles, and when he tells me there is such a place as Omaha, and says, “I have passed through it, I know there is such a place, or that there are certain stations on the railroad here,” I am willing to believe him; I do not contradict him and when I tell him that I know for myself of the truth of my religion, I expect he will treat me courteously in regard to that matter. But our expectations in that respect are not always realized. We are often answered very peculiarly; we are often met with very peculiar arguments. I take it for granted, however, that it is no argument to disprove a principle to libel the character of believers in that principle. The after character of Judas did not prove that his evidence of Christ was incorrect. The denial of Peter did not prove that Jesus was not the Christ. The character of a man has nothing to do with the principle that may be advanced. I do not care where truth comes from; I do not care who preaches it; I do not care if the devil himself enunciated a principle of truth, it is truth all the same, and you cannot change or alter it. I do not care how wise the man is, how long the prayer he may make, or how reverend he may look, if he tells a lie, it is a lie, and you cannot change or alter it. Thus it is we as a people look upon the principles of truth, those principles that led to light and knowledge, and it is time that people laid down the foolish idea of striving against such things. Let us sit down for a moment and examine in detail principle after principle, and I will say to you that if any man on the face of the earth will show me that I am in error on any principle, I will leave it that very hour, and no longer claim it as a principle. Will every man do as much to me? Many will, and many will not. I remember the case of a minister who came to visit me. I wished to be fair with him, and I desired that he should be equally so with me. I said, “Now we are alone in the room, there are no witnesses here; but I will make a contract with you. Here is the Bible; we will hunt for truth, and wherever I find truth you are to acknowledge it, and wherever you find truth I shall do the same.” “No,” said he, “I won’t.” “Why not?” said I. “Oh,” said he, “you might spring some trap. We have a certain discipline to go by; we have got a creed of faith and you may try to catch me in some trap.” “But,” said I, “if you are wrong in your creed or faith, don’t you want to be put right?” “Oh,” said he, “it is the faith of my fathers, it is the faith they died by, it is the faith of my grandfather, my great grandfather; for generations back they have lived and died by it, and I cannot afford to make a change.” “’Well,” said I, “there is no use you and I talking if that is the case, that ends the conversation.” Now, I consider such reasoning as the height of foolishness. Let us, as honest men and honest women, lay down all prejudice and malice, and examine the principles of truth and righteousness as they are placed before us, and as the light and intelligence of the Holy Spirit will show them unto us, for they will lead and guide us back to the presence of our Father and God. The truth will hurt no man. The principles of truth the Latter-day Saints preach to the nations of the earth, the principles that the Elders have carried to the nations, are the principles whereby the human family can be saved if they will but hearken to them. These principles are not for a few, the plan God has revealed is for all. These principles are revealed that God’s kingdom may be established on the earth in righteousness, and they shall lead, guide, and control untold millions of the human family that have dwelt and shall yet dwell upon the earth. We as Latter-day Saints should have broad and philanthropic views in regard to these things. What if our names are cast out as evil? What if they do strike us, or contend in regard to these matters? Read the history of the past, and what has been the result? Take individuals, take the men who have contended against the kingdom of God in the last half century, and what has been the result? Take the plans, and the untold thousands of plots and projects that have been brought forth for the overthrow of the Church of Christ, and where are they today? ”Gone glimmering among the things that were A school boy’s tale of other days The wonder of but an hour.“ Gone no longer to be remembered; forgotten from the face of the earth and their projectors with them. How long will men continue in their foolishness, striving against the bucklers of Jehovah? Why, just so long as the Lord lets them, no longer. We as the people of God, recognize the hand of God in relation to these things, and we want to prepare and fit our minds for an exalted view in relation to the workings of the kingdom of God. We want to put away the “penny wise and pound foolish” ideas that many of us have in regard to these things as not becoming us as Latter-day Saints. I am not finding fault; but we want to look upon these principles with great and noble minds; “we want to shape our lives in connection with these things, and as was said in times of old, let us “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We want to set our faces to the building up of the kingdom of God. To the spreading and promulgation of the principles thereof not only throughout the valleys of the mountains, but throughout the nations of the earth. And will the opposition we have to meet stop it? Not by any means. It will but add fuel to the fire, until the blaze will grow higher and higher until all the nations of the earth shall see it, and Zion shall be set upon a hill, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday Morning, August 3rd, 1879.

I will read a portion of the 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, commencing at the 34th verse:

“Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”

There is another portion of Scripture which I will read. It will be found in the 6th chapter of the Revelation of St. John:

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

Very unexpectedly I have been called upon to make a few remarks to you this morning. Naturally I would prefer to sit still and to reflect upon the sad event that has called us together. It is plain from the reading of these passages of Scripture that you have heard, that innocent blood—the blood of the servants of God, of the prophets, of the wise men, of the scribes, all those who have the testimony of Jesus, who are the bearers of the word of God—when shed wickedly, remains as a heavy debt to be atoned for at some period by the inhabitants of the earth. Also that in the days of John the Revelator, one of the apostles of the Lord, in the visions which he saw it was made manifest that there were yet more lives to be offered up for the cause of truth before the blood that had been shed could be avenged upon those that dwelt upon earth. It doubtless seemed strange to the inhabitants of Jerusalem when Jesus said unto them that all the righteous blood that had been shed in past generations from the blood of righteous Abel to Zacharias, son of Barachias, should be required of that generation. There were reasons for this which he well understood. There are reasons existing now and that will continue to exist and operate, why the blood of those who have been slain for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus in ancient days, should be avenged upon some generation in the future, from the time that John spake and wrote the revelation he had received. Jesus said when he was upon the earth: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light.” They were held to a strict accountability after light was revealed. The generation in which he lived were held to a stricter accountability than any preceding generation, because he himself, the Son of God, was in their midst, performing mighty works, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom in its purity and in its power, and communicating unto them the mind and will of heaven. Every generation who have the privilege of hearing the pure Gospel of Jesus preached in its fulness are held to a similar accountability. Their position is different to that of the generations who do not have that privilege. The generations that intervened between the time that Zacharias lived and the coming of the Son of Man in the flesh, were not held to the same strict accountability as the cotemporaries of the Savior. Why was this? Because they did not have the truth in its fulness revealed unto them; they did not have the prophets and apostles and righteous men in their midst to communicate unto them the will of heaven, as the generations in which the Savior lived had; and for the same reason the generations that have lived since the death of the Savior, and since the visions that John the Revelator had, are not held to the same accountability as this generation, unto whom the fulness of the everlasting Gospel has been revealed. When God communicates his mind and will unto his children by the medium of angels, by the medium of prophets, by the medium of holy men whom he has raised up, those who hear that testimony, those unto whom that message is communicated, are held to a strict accountability to obey the same or be held in great condemnation for their rejection of it. If you will read the history of God’s ways of dealing with the children of men throughout all ages, you will find that it is invariably the case that judgments and calamities, the fiery indignation of the Almighty, always follow the rejection of his truth, when that truth is proclaimed by his authorized servants, such as are apostles and prophets. If Nineveh had not heard the voice of Jonah, the Ninevites could not have been held to the same accountability as those to whom the word of the Lord had been proclaimed; and when prophets arose in the midst of Israel, prophets whom God raised up to declare his word, when the children of Israel repented of their sins and obeyed the warning voice of the servants of God, then the blessings of God always followed their obedience. But on the other hand, when the children of Israel rejected the testimony of the servants of God, when the prophets preached in vain, when they testified and warned the people without the people obeying their testimonies or their warnings, then invariably the judgments of God followed, his anger and indignation were kindled against that people or generation, it rested down upon them and in many instances to their destruction.

This is our position today. In this respect the Latter-day Saints occupy a unique position in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth. Men wonder very frequently at the testimonies that we bear. They express surprise that a people so few in number as we are, should imagine that there is so much importance attending the testimonies that we bear, or the Gospel that we preach. But it is a remarkable fact, abundantly sustained in the history of God’s dealings with the children of men, that he does not hold mankind guiltless because there are only a few who are the oracles of truth in their midst and who have the authority to proclaim that truth. If there was but one prophet on the face of the earth, and he had no followers, but stood alone in the midst of the nations of the earth, his warnings would be followed by terrible results if they were disregarded by those who heard them. The Lord does not look upon men according to their numbers; the importance of his work and his dealings with the children of men is not to be measured by the number of those who adhere to the principles that he proclaims. When Joseph Smith stood alone, when he had only two or three followers, and he declared unto those by whom he was surrounded that God had spoken to him from the heavens, that God had revealed the everlasting gospel in its ancient purity and power, that God had sent his holy angels to him, and that those angels had laid their hands upon his head, and upon the head of Oliver Cowdery, and ordained them to the everlasting Priesthood, his testimony was as binding upon those who heard it as if millions of men had testified to the same truths. His testimony was binding from the moment that he commenced to bear it to those by whom he was surrounded, and the accountability of the people who listened to him and heard his voice, and heard his testimony, began from the moment that he opened his mouth and bore testimony of these things. And so it has been from that day unto this, wherever the Elders of this Church have gone and have borne testimony to the inhabitants of the earth respecting the work that God has commenced—from that very moment the condemnation of the generation commenced if they did not obey these testimonies and warnings. This seems to some minds scarcely what it ought to be, that is, it seems to many that we attach too much importance to what one or two men might say, when we assert that condemnation follows their testimony; but there is this to be considered connected with the testi– mony of God’s servants in ancient days, as in the days in which we live: God has not left the inhabitants of the earth without a witness, God has not left them without some testimony which they can obtain to assure them that the words of God’s servants—that is the true servants of God—which they hear are from him. When he called Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and when he sent his angels to lay their hands upon their heads to ordain them to that priesthood which had been withdrawn from the earth, he also sent his Holy Spirit to accompany their words and to seal the testimony with power upon the hearts of all that were honest, and who prayerfully sought for a knowledge from God concerning the truth of their words. When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery laid their hands upon other men’s heads and ordained them to the same priesthood which they had received from heaven, God confirmed the ordination by bestowing the Holy Ghost upon them, and when they went forth and proclaimed the truth, the Holy Ghost accompanied their words, and those who were desirous of knowing from God respecting the truth of their testimony had the opportunity of receiving a knowledge direct from heaven that it was of God, and on this very account condemnation commences because light hath come into the world, and when men reject it they reject it because they love darkness rather than light. God does not hold people accountable for that which they do not know, or that which they have not had an opportunity of knowing. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. Transgression commences when the law is received and men reject it. What is the duty of the inhabitants of the earth when they hear a man stand up and proclaim in the power and authority of the priesthood, and in all solemnity, that God has spoken from the heavens, that God has revealed the everlasting gospel, that God has established his church in its ancient power and in its ancient purity, that God has endowed man to go forth and administer in the ordinances of life and salvation as in ancient days. What is the duty of the inhabitants of the earth under such circumstances?

Situated as the world is today, there is no voice from God. You travel throughout the whole of Christendom and there is an unbroken silence reigning between heaven and earth; no voice to disturb the solemnity of eternity. Go visit all the different churches, and all the ministers of the various denominations, and talk to them who profess to be the followers of Jesus Christ; ask them, “Do you know anything about God? Has God communicated his mind and will to you?” And the universal answer from all sects is “No, revelation has ceased, God no longer speaks to man; we depend upon his written word in the Bible for our knowledge of God. We are divided into sects, we are split up into parties, we have all our own way of worshipping God, but there is no voice from God, there has been no revelation from God to disturb the silence of ages, since the death of the Apostles, and our knowledge concerning the plans and purposes of God is derived from the Bible.” This being the case, then, what is the duty of the inhabitants of the earth when a man comes as Joseph Smith did, and as the Elders of this Church are doing, proclaiming the truths which I have alluded to? Why, they being in ignorance of God, they having no revelation from God, they not having heard the voice of angels, they being split up into parties and sects, and divided and quarreling respecting the points of doctrine which Christ revealed—they being in this position should humble themselves and ask God, in the name of Jesus, and in mighty prayer to reveal unto them whether the testimony of those men who come with this new revelation be true or false. That is the duty of every living soul upon the face of the earth who hears the testimony of God’s servants concerning this truth, and there never has been, from the time that Joseph Smith made his first proclamation until this day, the 3rd of August, 1879, a time when a man who took this course did not receive a witness from on high, the testimony of Jesus Christ, that these truths, proclaimed by the servants of God are divine and from heaven. Wherever the Elders of this Church have gone and lifted up their voices in humility, in meekness, calling upon the inhabitants of the earth to repent—and they have gone to many lands and spoken in many languages—and the people have repented and sought unto God in the name of Jesus Christ for a testimony of the truth, there has never been a single instance where they have failed to receive that testimony; not one. Who have rejected this gospel? The indifferent, those who would not take the trouble to investigate it, those who would not take the trouble to bow in submission before the Lord and ask his testimony concerning it, those who thought it beneath them, those who have been too proud, or too rich or too well situated or who, for some other reason, have failed to take any interest in this work; these are they who are not members of this Church and who have failed to obey this gospel when they heard it preached in its simplicity and its purity amongst the nations of the earth. Well, now, will this generation escape condemnation? I say unto you, nay. There will be a heavy condemnation fall upon this generation because of their inattention to these things. Judgments and calamities will be visited upon the inhabitants of the earth in consequence of neglecting the word of God written in the Scriptures, and also the word of God to his servants in these days. The Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and numbers of others have been slain. What for? Why, said the mob who killed him, because they could not reach them by law. They were brought before courts, Joseph Smith particularly, as you all know, from time to time, but they failed to find any cause of condemnation against him, and at last his blood was shed. He sealed his testimony with his blood. Like other apostles and prophets, he laid down his life as a witness before God and before all men of the truth of the testimony that he bore. Others have done likewise.

We have met here today on this mournful occasion to pay the last rites, to offer the last testimony of respect to the remains of one who has in like manner laid down his life for the truth, one of the many who have been slain for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God which he bore. Was there anything wrong in the testimony that he declared when he lived? Was it wrong to call upon men to repent of their sins, to be baptized for a remission of them, to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost? Was it wrong to entreat men to forsake sin and to lead better lives, to be more pure, more holy, to live near unto the Lord, to seek knowledge from God, to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints? If these things were wrong, then our brother, whose remains are before us, was guilty of wrong. This was the extent of his offense and no more. He endeavored to persuade men to lead purer, holier lives, and proclaimed that the days of God’s judgment was near at hand. He went forth to declare these principles, filled with zeal, filled with good desires, exemplary in his life, pure in his conversation, the admiration of all who knew him, the joy of his father’s household, an example to all his associates of the same years, and even to those older than himself, a young man of whom we all had great hopes, whose future we thought was bright. In reading his letters, in listening to the accounts of his labors, in hearing from his co-laborers, we could not help feeling gratified. We indulged in bright anticipations for his future, not because of his birth, not because his parents were rich, not because of any extraordinary talent which he possessed, not because of any earthly advantages, but because in his youth he humbled himself before God and attained a knowledge concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and burning with zeal, he had a heartfelt desire to proclaim the great truths which God had revealed to him, to a fallen world and tried to save the children of men from the pit into which they were likely to be engulfed. The same spirit that animated the breast of the Savior, animated the breast of Joseph Standing, that is, he had a portion of that same spirit. He did not count bodily fatigue anything, he did not count toil anything, he did not take into consideration his health, the feebleness of his frame; none of these things had weight with him. He did not think how, by staying at home and attending to his business, he could benefit himself and receive worldly advantages; none of these things were thought of, but the very moment he was called to go from home he dropped everything, although in somewhat feeble health and although he had already filled an honorable mission, he felt it his duty to go when he was called, to go without purse and without scrip, without hope of earthly reward, putting his trust in God, laboring with unselfish zeal for the salvation of his fellow men, and thus he labored until he fell a victim to the ungodly hate of those who knew him not, who understood not the objects for which he labored, and the purpose which animated his noble heart.

Who shall mourn today? The Latter-day Saints? No. Who shall mourn today? The family and friends of Elder Joseph Standing? No. It would be difficult and it would not be right that we should repress the natural emotions of our hearts, that we should stifle those natural affections; it is right and proper that we should shed sympathetic tears, allow the heart’s affection to flow out in this manner and receive relief by the tears that are shed. But there is no cause for grief today in this Tabernacle. A servant of God who has occupied a faithful position, who has been true, who has been upright, who has been blameless, has fallen a victim—a victim to that hate that the adversary of souls seeks to instill into the hearts of all the children of men who will be led and guided by him, and the men who have to mourn today are those who have been guilty of this foul deed. The land that ought to mourn is the land that has been drenched with his blood. If the Governor, the Judges, the Legis– lature, and the other officials of the State of Georgia feel as they should they will not rest satisfied until there shall be atonement made, and the guilty wretches who took part in this great crime shall have been brought to justice. But it will be a most extraordinary thing if such shall be the result. Not but what I believe the Governor is an upright man, and, so far as I am acquainted with him, would do everything in his power to punish these murderers; but there are other influences at work that are stronger than the influence of the Governor, there are prejudices harder to conquer than anything else that can be met with and there are hundreds, and probably thousands of people who think that in killing the “Mormons” they are doing God’s service. Shall we hate them for this? No; they are to be pitied. Men who indulge in such feelings carry with them in their own breasts their punishment, and they will experience a still more severe punishment before they get through.

My brethren and sisters, when we embraced this Gospel, those of you who were old enough to comprehend it, doubtless took into consideration all the consequences that might follow; those who were not old enough, or who have been born in the Church have had experience enough upon these points to see and understand what the results of the espousal of the truth are likely to be. It cost the Savior his life. It cost the greater portion of his apostles their lives. It cost every prophet almost that has lived his life for proclaiming the truth. It has cost the best blood of this Church and this generation to lay the foundation of this Church. We have been mobbed, we have been driven, we have been persecuted, we have been hated, our names have been cast out as evil, there is no crime, there is no evil of which men could be guilty that we have not been accused of, and we all know how falsely and with how little foundation we have been charged with these things. This is part of the results that we have to meet in espousing the truth. The man that holds his life dear, that values it more than the truth is unworthy of the truth. If we value house, if we value lands, if we value good name, if we value property, if we value self, if we value even life itself more than we do the truth we are unworthy of the truth. But God has given unto us the truth; it is worth more than all else beside. He has revealed himself to us. When we pray to him we know that he hears us. When we ask him for a blessing that we need we have the testimony from on high that he hears our prayers, that he is willing to answer and grant unto us the righteous desires of our hearts. These things compensate for the loss of all other advantages; we have this consolation which our persecutors do not have.

The Prophets who have preceded us have been slain generation after generation; they have passed away. The Savior and his apostles likewise passed away, the work, the foundation of which they laid, having been overcome and destroyed by the adversary from the face of the earth. They foresaw that for a long time ahead, apostasy would follow their labors and administrations, and a sorrowful thing it was for them to contemplate: but in our case it is different. We live on the threshold of a new era; the work that God has established in our day shall never be given to another people. The priesthood which God has restored, the authority by which men can ad– minister in the ordinances of God—that priesthood shall never be taken from the earth. Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, David Patten and other martyrs may fall, Brother Joseph Standing among the rest, their blood may be shed, and the blood of others yet living may yet be shed to confirm the testimony that has been borne, but though this is the case, there is this to console us who live, to console us in contemplating the future for ourselves and our posterity after us, and it is that there is no power on earth, nor in hell that can destroy the church that God has established, nor obliterate the priesthood from the earth again as it was obliterated in ancient days. It was necessary when this Church was started that angels should come to restore that which was taken away, the everlasting priesthood, but there will be no future necessity for this. We are at the threshold of a thousand years of peace, we are engaged in laying the foundation of that work which shall stand forever, not only the thousand years but as long as time shall last and as long as the earth itself shall endure. This is the consolation we have that our predecessors did not have, and we can rejoice in the contemplation of the glorious future of this work. As for Brother Standing, no hero could wish to die a more glorious death than his. He will be crowned among the glorious army of martyrs, as one who was willing to lay down his life for the truth without shrinking, without fear, without faltering when the time came. He has borne a noble and untiring testimony all the time to the truth of God, and there is in store for him a glorious crown along with those who have been alike faithful in this work.

That his companion, Elder Rudger Clawson is alive and in our midst today, is due to the wonderful providence of God. My belief has been that had the mob commenced their whipping they would both have been killed. The death of Brother Standing doubtless saved Brother Clawson’s life.

I pray God the Father to comfort your hearts, to pour out the spirit of consolation and peace upon the family and upon all the friends of the deceased. I pray for his enemies and for those who have shed his blood. I would not do them any harm if I could. There is not in my bosom, nor should there be in the bosoms of the Latter-day Saints who have the true spirit of the Gospel resting upon them, a feeling to revenge. We ought to be and I think we are, far uplifted above such feelings, and if we do not have we should have the feeling which Jesus had when he was upon the cross and led him to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” They had treated him with the greatest ignominy, treated him as if he had committed the greatest crime, but in his dying hour he could implore the blessing of his Father upon them. And so we may upon those who seek to destroy this work. They think they are doing God service; they are actuated by a spirit of which they know nothing. They are to be pitied, they are to be mourned over, and the day will come when, as we comprehend the sufferings of those who did these deeds, our souls will swell with pity and compassion and sorrow for their wretched condition. I pray that the Spirit of the Gospel may rest down upon all of us, and that the peace of heaven may be and abide in all our hearts, which I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday Morning, July 20th, 1879.

I am greatly pleased this afternoon at having the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints, and of listening to the testimonies that have been borne by Brother Staines in relation to this work. I, also, have been absent for some length of time. Upwards of 34 weeks ago I left this city to go east; I have been back twice during that period for a few days, and it is a great pleasure and I may say a delight to me to have the opportunity of being here to listen to the instructions, to the singing, and to partake of the Spirit that prevails in this Tabernacle; to me it is the spirit of home, it is the spirit of peace, and I have more delight and satisfaction in mingling with the Latter-day Saints than I have under any other circumstances. They are my people. Their religion is my religion. Their God is my God. Their future is the future in which I hope to share. If they be prosperous I hope to be prosperous. If they have adverse circumstances to contend with I expect to share in them; and it is this knowledge of which Brother Staines has spoken that prompts these feelings to which I refer.

If there is any peculiarity about what the world calls Mormonism, or that which we term the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as taught by his Church, that I admire, that I love, that causes me to feel thankful unto God; it is the peculiarity which reference has been made by Brother Staines, namely, that William C. Staines, or George Q. Cannon, or any other man or woman however humble, who is connected with this Church, has a right, according to the promises of our heavenly Father, to receive revelation from him when needed. I would not give much for a religion, the revelations of which were confined to two, three, four, or perchance twelve men. It would not recommend itself as the religion of that Being who is the Father of all, who has created all, and who has placed us all here upon the earth as his children. This feature to which I refer is one of the most delightful characteristics of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Staines has referred to the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and to others who have stood in prominent places in this Church, who have re– ceived revelations from God; and who imparted these revelations to the people. Of what value, of what special value, would these revelations be to those to whom they were imparted through the medium of these men, unless they had some means of testing their truthfulness? What a terrible condition we should be in if God, in his providence, were to confine his knowledge in that way—if we were required, as some imagine mankind are required, to submit to the teachings of their fellow men and to accept and practice them because those men say they are from God! Imagine the condition of the Latter-day Saints if this were the case! Imagine the condition of the whole world if one man stood prominent, or three men, or twelve men, or fifteen men, stood prominent, receiving revelations from divinity and conveying these revelations to the children of men, with the requirement that those who received them should submit to them as the voice of God, and the people themselves be destitute of any means of testing the truthfulness of these revelations, except so far as they might appeal to their reason and to the sense of right that is begotten in them! Now, a great many people who are not acquainted with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the teachings of that Church—and I do not know but some who are members of that Church—imagine that this is the nature of the organization of the Church of Christ, and that this is the manner in which knowledge is conveyed to the people, and in which the requirements of the people are submitted to by the people. Why this Church could not stand, could not have endured the trials and afflictions and the opposition to which it has been exposed, one hour if that were the case. It would fall to pieces, there would be no power, no cohesive power, to hold it together. The strength, the power, the cause of the perpetuity of this work, the marvelous character of its operations throughout the nations of the earth, the wonderful attractiveness of this Gospel, the secret of its great success in foreign land, preached by illiterate men, consists in the fact that God the Eternal Father, reveals his mind unto every honest soul who humbly seeks for it. Not to one man, not to three men, not to apostles, not to bishops, not to high priests, not to seventies, not to elders alone, but to every humble soul who in sincerity, and with a broken heart and contrite spirit, bows himself or herself in secret before the throne of the great Eternal, and in humility asks, in the name of Jesus, for a knowledge to be imparted to him or to her whether it is the truth he or she has heard. This is the secret of the success of this work. This is the cause of its wonderful power and the attractiveness it has for the hearts of the children of men. This is the reason that illiterate men, going forth bearing testimony of these things, have been so successful throughout all the nations of the earth where they have been, and it is this that draws them, as we have been told this afternoon by Brother Staines, by thousands from foreign lands and causes them to come to this land and to assimilate with those already here; until we have in this Territory of ours, throughout these valleys running north and south, east and west, a people unexampled, and, in many respects, unlike every other people that we know anything about. Why, in this last company, which came in a few days ago, the members of it spoke some seven languages. I remember a company of Saints leaving Liverpool while I was there, the members of which spoke nine different languages. They were Latter-day Saints gathering up from various lands, some from Switzerland, from France, from Great Britain, and from the various nations of Europe, all coming together, singing the songs of Zion in their own languages, bearing testimony that God had revealed to them in their own language the truth of this, the everlasting Gospel. With such a spirit they come to these mountains, they scatter among the people already here, they become homogeneous. We have here a oneness of feeling and purpose, a oneness of spirit, and a oneness of sentiment and of heart, that you may look for in vain elsewhere throughout the whole earth. I sometimes think we overlook those great and glorious blessings that God has given to us. We overlook too frequently the spirit of oneness that has been poured out upon this people. Men ask for a sign; they say, “Where are the evidences of the divinity of the work you believe in? You say that you preach the Gospel of Jesus; you say that you are the people of God.” Why, could there be any greater evidence given of the divine character of this mission than is witnessed in the effects of this Gospel upon the people who embrace it? We are led to expect that heaven is a place of unity, a place of love; that there is no quarreling, no litigation, no strife in heaven; no man warring against his fellow men, no man exalting his creed and his ideas as superior to the creed and the ideas of his neighbor; all dwelling in peace and in love. That is the idea of heaven that has been taught to us in the Bible? Anything else would not be heaven; any other kind of place could not be heaven. Is it not reasonable to suppose, then, that if the spirit of heaven rests down upon a people, that they will be united, that they will love one another, will die for one another, if necessary? Why, certainly. If I were to start out today in search of the Church of Jesus Christ, if I did not know of its existence upon the earth, I would expect to find a people united together, a people who loved one another, and who brought forth the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus as he taught it. I would expect to find a people who gave an exhibition in their lives of those heavenly truths taught by Jesus when he was upon the earth. And until I found such a people I would despair of finding the Church of Christ. Men might perform miracles before me, and say a great many wonderful things unto me, but unless I could find a people with the love of Christ in their bosoms, united together as the heart of one man, a people who loved one another, I do not think I could, with the knowledge I have, recognize them as the people of Christ, or as the people of the Church of Christ. For the evidences that they were that Church it would not be in profession alone I would seek. It would not be in their Sunday service alone. It would not be in the sermons that were preached in their tabernacles, or meetinghouses, or churches alone. It would not be in any of these things alone that I would seek, but it would be in the fruits of the Gospel as I found them exhibited in their daily life, in their conversation, in their associations, one with another. If I found a quarrelsome people, if I found a people fighting one with another for their rights, if I found a people taking up weapons of war against each other, no matter by what name they were called, no matter how high-sounding their professions, I would say, these cannot be the people of Christ; these are not the fruits which the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ brings forth. But if I found a people who were humble, meek, lowly, willing to endure wrong rather than do wrong; if I found a people persecuted for righteousness sake; if I found a people of whom all men spoke evil, though their lives were not evil, though their conduct was humble and pure and they were disposed to love one another and dwell together in peace, I would begin to say, here are some of the signs, some of the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I must stop here. I must examine into this matter. I must look after these people, and see whether they are the people of whom I am in search. If I were to come into this valley of Salt Lake and find a people professing to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were I trusted to report I would be inclined to say they cannot be the people they profess to be. Why? Because all manner of evil is spoken against them. Is there any crime in the black catalogue of crime of which they have not been accused? Is there any evil which people can perpetrate with which they have not been charged and declared guilty? If I were to be disheartened by reports, I need only stop in Salt Lake City, or in Utah Territory, to have that feeling; but if I remembered that those in Christ Jesus are sure to suffer persecution, and that “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”—I might, if I bore that fact in mind, stop and examine further. If I looked around me and inquired concerning the Latter-day Saints, I would probably find that they did not drink liquor, did not get drunk; I would probably find they did not take the name of the Lord in vain, did not go to law one with another, but were averse to it, and were in favor of promoting peace, and that because of this they offended lawyers, judges and others. If I were to look at the material aspects of the city, I would find a beautiful city, laid out and planned with wisdom, laid out by somebody who knew something of life and what was proper for society. If I made further inquiry I would learn that a few years ago, before the advent of so-called civilization in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, that from the Idaho line in the North to the Arizona line in the South, there were no liquor saloons, no drunkenness, and profanity was punished; but in every settlement and in every house, throughout the length and breadth of the land, prayers ascending morning and night to the God of heaven, on behalf of themselves and their children, and on behalf of the honest in heart throughout all the nations of the earth. If I happened to be there when a company came in, and in mingling with that company asked what brought them to this land, I would be told in Norwegian, in Swedish, in Danish, in German, in Italian, in Welsh, in English, in Polish, in Dutch, in French, that each of these men and women had obeyed the Gospel as it was taught to them by the Elders who had been sent to them, and that in answer to prayer they had received a testimony from the Almighty for themselves that they knew this was the Gospel of Christ, that they were commanded of God to gather out from the various nations, and that in response to that commandment they had come out and were here. These would be the things that would be told to me. If I were to inquire among them respecting other matters, I would find that they believed in this book (the Bible) in its entirety, not a part, not in isolated parts of this book, some parts of this book, some parts separated from the rest, but in its entirety, in its doctrinal parts. I would find that they believed that God was the same today as he was yesterday, that he is a God of revelation, a God of truth, a God who could hear and answer prayer. I would find that they believed in the organization of the Church as it was in ancient days, God having first set in the Church apostles, prophets, teachers, etc. I would find further that they were contending, as James commanded the Saints to do in his day, earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints, a faith by which the mighty works concerning which Paul speaks in the 11th chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews were accomplished. I would find that they were contending for this faith that they believed in the signs following them that believe; that they were contending for them, contending for that faith; and teaching their children to exercise it to the greatest possible extent. Now, where else upon the face of the earth could I find a community teaching and practicing these things! I have been, in my time, a somewhat extensive traveler. I have mingled with a great many people, in a good many lands, and I confess to you today, I have never seen a people who answered this description, except the Latter-day Saints. I do not say this out of vanity, or by way of boasting, because this Gospel is intended for every person, not only for those who are Latter-day Saints today, but for every honest man and woman throughout the face of the whole earth. This Gospel of the kingdom has to be preached to all nations, and then will the end come. It is not, therefore, with any feeling of pride because of these being the doctrines believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints that I allude to them in this manner, but because God, in his infinite mercy, has revealed the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, because it is taught again by divine authority. How could you account for it in any other way? Tell me, if there be philosophers or wise men here. Men say it is delusion, men say it is imposture, men say that the building up of this system is the result of fraud. Most extraordinary results of fraud, if this be fraud! Men going out without purse or scrip, as in ancient days, and preaching the everlasting Gospel, baptizing people, and the spirit of unity and love resting down upon them, accompanied by the Spirit of God, which testifies, as we have heard this afternoon from Brother Staines, as it had testified to him, that this is the Church of Christ, that this is the Gospel of Jesus which they have embraced. People may think, people may talk about the delusion of the Latter-day Saints. Why, to believe that these results which we see are the product of fraud, or imposture, would require far more credulity than faith to believe them to be from God. Where is there a peculiarity of the ancient Church that is not possessed today by the Latter-day Saints? Can one be mentioned? Can a doctrine or a principle be mentioned that was contended for in the ancient Church, that is not contended for and sought after today by the Latter-day Saints? Were they persecuted? Then it is quite certain we can claim a blessing, if it so be that persecution brings blessings. Were their names cast out as evil? Then we can claim with them the same results, if blessings attend any such thing. “Oh, but,” says one, “they were good people, the Apostles in ancient days were good people, but you Mormons are a very wicked people.” Why, do you imagine that if they had considered Jesus a very good man, a very holy being they would have crucified him between two thieves? No. The populace, when Pilate wanted to have him forgiven because of the feast of the passover, cried out: “No; release to us Barabbas, the murderer, the vile person. Let him be released, but crucify the Christ; let his blood be upon us and our children.” They were willing to risk the consequences, because they believed him to be a vile impostor. Do you think that Peter and Paul, one of whom was beheaded, and the other of whom was crucified with his head downward—do you imagine that in killing them the Romans thought they were killing good, innocent, pure men? Certainly not. They were hated just as much as we are hated. Of course they thought they were doing God service, as many think they are doing God service today in persecuting the Latter-day Saints. They thought they were doing the world some good by ridding the earth of such impostors as Peter and Paul. Their eyes were blinded to their goodness and to their virtues. Such things were hidden from their sight. They could only say they were deluders of the people, that they led people astray, and as impostors were worthy of death. And so it is throughout this Territory. The virtues of the Latter-day Saints are not perceived. Our temperance, our frugality, our perseverance, our industry, our union, and all the qualities that have made this wilderness blossom until it is the admiration of every visitor, the joy of every traveler—all these things are obscured, and with many people lost sight of, before the idea, imagined by very many, that Brother Brigham was a vile impostor, that all those who have been associated with him are no better, and that it would be doing God service to destroy them from the face of the earth that the people who are deluded by them might be free from the influence which they wield over them. Oh, generation of blind—I was going to say fools, but shall I use such a phrase? But is there not evidence sufficient before the eyes of this generation of what has been done in the past, in the persecution of righteous and holy men, in the killing of them, in the shedding of their blood, that men cannot learn that there is such a thing as a man being a good man, a virtuous man, a pure man, and yet be maligned by the enemies of purity and virtue, as in the days of Christ? This generation will have a great deal to answer for in consequence of this thing. As Latter-day Saints, we have been accused of every crime. It has been told of us that we were ready to commit murder at any time, in order to serve our own ends, that we were ready to shed the blood of the innocent, and that this feeling to destroy life existed among us, when at the same time, throughout these wild mountains and secluded valleys life has been more safe, property more secure, than in the streets of the best managed cities in the Union. There never has been a day since we came beyond these mountains that travelers could not pass from the North to the South, and from the East to the West, and through all parts with perfect security. There never was a day, when the Latter-day Saints lived alone in these valleys, that a woman would be insulted either by word or by gesture, night or day, whether an old lady or a young lady, in traveling from one end of our Territory to the other. Can this be said of us today? Certainly not; but it was the case a few years ago throughout these valleys, and let me say to you it will yet be the case.

I sometimes think that if we were one-twentieth part as bad as we are accused of being, it would be very unhealthy throughout this country for a good many who are now unmolested. I know this, that no other community would have born one-twentieth part the insult and injury that we have submitted to so quietly. What has caused us to do it? Is it because we are incapable of feeling, or that we do not understand our rights, or that we do not want them, that we suffer ourselves to be imposed upon? No, it has not been because of these things. Our bosoms have burned, probably, with the fire of indignation, as much as any people on the face of the earth could under such circumstances. What has retained us? Simply the knowledge that these men are ignorant, and I believe that the Latter-day Saints have partaken of that spirit which Jesus had when he hung upon the cross. It has been somewhat in that spirit that the Latter-day Saints have acted. It would have been easy for them to have acted otherwise had they chosen to do so. It may be said they were restrained by fear. It has not been through the fear of man, but the fear of God has restrained this people. It is far better for us to suffer wrong than to do wrong; it is better to endure evil, ignominy, shame and per– secution than to turn and practice any of these things ourselves.

I am looking for a great change to take place in our circumstances. The nation of which we form a part looks with more interest upon us as a people than upon any other part of the United States. There is no people, no community, within the confines of our Republic concerning which there is so much interest felt as the Latter-day Saints. Men’s eyes are directed towards us. I believe we are becoming better understood. The completion of this railroad, which was supposed to be the death knell to Mormonism, the discovery of these, mines, which we ourselves rather disliked, those things that many supposed would be the means of destroying this people, have now been in operation for years, and with what result? With this result, so far as my observation extends—a better knowledge concerning this people, and the circumstances which surround us; a more extended knowledge of our land, and all the difficulties we have had to contend with. I have remarked this in Congress myself, that whenever I want to accomplish anything in connection with our Territory, I always find men who have been here and who have seen for themselves and formed their opinions accordingly, ready to do anything in reason that I ask. Intercourse has had the effect to remove prejudice. There are people in this country who fear us. The very fact that they do fear us by their refusing us our rights, not only shows that they do not understand us, but it is a recognition on their part of our power; and as such we should accept the denial of these rights to which we are fully entitled. Governors, judges and other officers are sent here, in the selection of whom we have no voice whatever. Even if they were all honest, patriotic, fair and just men, their selection without our voice is an injustice, but which no people can bear better than we. We are, however, learning lessons which will be of immense importance to us in days to come; for as sure as the sun shines, as sure as God lives, so sure will this people called Latter-day Saints become a governing people. It is an inevitable consequence in the very nature of things. We possess all the elements to make a strong, mighty, governing people. There is therefore a great future in store for us, and to prepare us for that future it is necessary that we should pass through the furnace of affliction, that we should feel the hand of oppression, and that we should feel the effects of injustice, so that when it shall become our turn, as undoubtedly it will in the very nature of things, we shall know, by the treatment we have received, how to temper justice with mercy, to extend to others that which has been denied unto us, and the value of which we have well known. You cannot keep down a people like this. I do not say this to flatter you, because you have many faults. We know them, and I do not think we are afraid to tell you your faults, and to tell our own faults. But a people possessing the qualities of the Latter-day Saints must grow and become powerful. Union is strength. Love will prevail, it is a great power on the earth, and added to this there are integrity, frugality, temperance and virtue—for there is virtue in this land—there is chastity here. In these mountains, amongst this people called Latter-day Saints, if virtue is not cherished next to human life, it is because people are not living up to the teachings they have received. If man is not as virtuous as woman, then it is because man has not profited by what he has been taught. Do you think that a daughter should be expected to be more virtuous than a son? Do you think that the girls of a family should be more chaste than the boys? Certainly not. One of the greatest crimes, the greatest, with the exception of the shedding of innocent blood—and it is a doctrine that is taught by the Latter-day Saints, and should be taught by every man in his household—that can be committed, is the seduction or defilement of the weaker sex. There can be no greater crime committed, except the shedding of innocent blood, and people thus taught, what will they be? Why, if they observe such teachings, they will be strong, vigorous and mighty. Can you repress such a people? Will the sending of a few men to prison for breaking the law of 1862 destroy this work? Will the entering of a suit against the executors of the estate of the late President Young, or the Trustee-in-trust of this Church destroy this work? Why, the men who say so have failed to read history. They do not understand anything connected with human progress and with human powers, if they flatter themselves with such opinions as these. All these things intensify the people, they add to our strength.

As to plural marriage, in dealing with that great question, as it is called, if I had been anxious to extinguish or repress it, I would never have allowed it to have received the attention it has done. There has been a complete misconception as to the best method of dealing with this question. Why, this ancient practice, practiced by a few people in these mountains, has been lifted into national importance. Mormonism has become famous, because of the practicing, by a portion of the people, of this doctrine, until the whole earth resounds with the talk of “the Polygamy of the Mormons,” as though the Mormons were half the people of the United States. In fact, if they numbered twenty-five millions instead of two hundred thousand, they could not have received more attention. This is a grand mistake in statesmanship on the part of those who want to put down Mormon doctrines. If men understood statesmanship they would let the question pass, but instead of that they are determined to give us world wide notoriety, to uplift us before the world, and by their foolish acts make people suffer as martyrs for that principle. Most unwise. It reminds me of an incident mentioned in Macauley’s history of England. He drew a contrast between the policy of James the Second and his successor, William. You all know that James was looked upon as an old impostor, and that ultimately he was expelled from the throne. There was a Bishop in James’ day who seemed very anxious to attain some object, and he annoyed the king so much that the king got it into his head that the Bishop wanted to be a martyr, and, said James, “I am determined he shall be one.” Macauley contrasts this policy with that of William under similar circumstances. William was a wise ruler, and there was a man who did something similar to him in his day, and acted offensively, as the Bishop did to James, his father-in-law. He, too, seemed anxious to be a martyr, and, said William, “I am equally determined he shall not be gratified.” In this we see the difference between the statesmanship of the two kings; and a true statesman, dealing with the question of polygamy, would let it alone severely. If he wanted it exterminated he would not take George Reynolds and send him to prison and make him a hero, instead of a felon. Such a proceeding only had the tendency to make people cling to their faith and be willing to suffer for it. If plural marriage be divine, as the Latter-day Saints say it is, no power on earth can suppress it, unless you crush and destroy the entire people. But supposing it is not divine, as many people say it is not, supposing that it is not of God, do you not think the forty millions can afford to let it alone? If their position be true do you not think they are safe to do more among the 200,000 people who believe, and a portion of them practice it, by moral force than by persecution and violence? I think so. Now we will see which is the best policy. I do not believe in being defiant. Men that marry more wives than one should be able to bear the penalty of it if there be any attached thereto, or they should not take them. A man that enters this Church ought to be able to die for its principles if necessary, and certainly should be able to go to prison for them without crying about the matter. If you are sentenced to prison for marrying more wives than one, round up your shoulders and bear it like men and no murmuring about it; prepare yourselves to take the consequences. We know that for the Gospel in ancient days many laid down their lives with joy, that the great Captain of our salvation was crucified, and that nearly all the prophets perished by violence. If we expect, then, to be one with them, and inherit the same glory that they do we should be prepared to endure the consequence of adhesion to, and our advocacy of the truth; and so we should in regard to every doctrine we have embraced. We have embraced certain doctrines. They are unpopular. Still if we are men we will be prepared to endure all the consequences, whatever they may be, and make no fuss about them. But I am trespassing on your time. May the Lord bless you, fill you with the Holy Ghost, and keep you a holy people, and enable you to overcome all evil, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.