In compliance with your polite invitation, I am here for the purpose
of speaking to you a short time.
I can readily understand that you wish to see the notorious Brigham
Young; well, you can now look at him, and in so doing you will not see
a very marvelous sight, though my name is had for good and for evil
the world over.
Some of you may have passed through this city before, though I presume
the majority of you are strangers here, and, like other people, you
want to see all there is to be seen and know all there is to be known.
In regard to the position of the people called Latter-day Saints in
Utah, we occupy the half-way house between the settlements on the
Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. Here the traveling public can
renew their supplies, and prepare to meet the toils and hardships of
the remainder of their journey.
The short time you stay in this city, or vicinity, you will have to
judge for yourselves as to the cha racter of the people here. We can
represent all classes—the good, bad, and indifferent; but if you wish
to truly know the people who are now living in these mountains, you
will have to tarry long enough among them to gain the desired
information. If you wish to know why we are here, it is simply because
we had nowhere else to go; we were obliged to go somewhere, and, as a
wise Providence designed, we lodged here. If any of you wish to be
more fully informed upon this point, you can, at your leisure, search
the history of this people, for it is before the world.
We had anticipated, when we came into these distant valleys, that we
should be entirely secluded from the world—that we should trouble no
person and that no person would trouble us. The "Mormon" Battalion had
been disbanded in California, and some of that body first discovered
gold there; the news of that discovery quickly reached the eastern
States, and thousands were soon upon our track. Instead of being se cluded, we find ourselves in the great national highway. We
must be known, and we could not be in a better situation to be known
than where we are.
I think I am not mistaken in the conclusion that you wanted to see the
notorious Brigham Young more than to hear his politics or his
religion, though I can give you a short political speech, if it would
be gratifying to you.
The spirit of our politics is peace. If we could have our choice, it
would be to continually walk in the path of peace; and had we the
power, we would direct the feet of all men to walk in the same path.
We wish to live in peace with our God, with our neighbors and with all
men. I am not aware that we have ever been guilty of inaugurating any
difficulty whatever.
We claim the privilege of freedom of speech—of giving our views on
national affairs and on religion—and this privilege we claim wherever
we are in our free country. Is there any particular sin in this? Is
there anything in this that is contrary to the constitution of our
country, or to the institutions of freedom established by our
revolutionary fathers? Freedom of speech is a right which we hold most
dear, considering, at the same time, that every person availing
himself of this right is accountable to his fellows for the manner in
which he uses it.
Touching the present trouble that exists in our nation, I can say that
we consider it very lamentable and disastrous. Mankind do not
understand themselves nor the design of their Creator in giving them
an existence in the world. It was never designed by him that his
children, who claim to be intelligent beings, should slay each other;
such conduct is anti-Christian and repugnant to every lofty aspiration
and Godlike prin ciple in the better portion of man's nature. War is
instigated by wickedness—it is the consequence of a nation's sin. We
have, however, but little to say upon the war which is now piercing
the heart of the nation with many sorrows, for we are far from its
scenes of blood and deadly strife. We receive contradictory statements
over the wires, and are left to form our own conclusions.
As to religion, we believe in the Old and New Testament, and consider
it unnecessary to hire learned divines to interpret the Scriptures; we
receive them as they are, "Knowing that no prophecy of scripture is of
any private interpretation." We are aware that many mistakes have been
introduced into the Scriptures through the ignorance, carelessness, or
design of translators, yet they are good enough for us and well answer
the purpose designed of God in their compilation, viz., to lead all
men, who will be guided by them, to the fountain of light from whence
all holy Scriptures emanate.
Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are
called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New
Testament defines Christianity. How shall we believe the Scriptures,
if we do not believe them as we find them? We consider that we are
more safe to follow the plain letter of the Word of God, than to
venture so great a risk as to depend upon a private interpretation
given by man who claims no inspiration from God and who altogether
discards the idea that he gives immediate revelation now as anciently.
We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our elder brother. We
believe that God is a person of tabernacle, possessing in an
infinitely higher degree all the perfections and qualifications of his
mortal children. We believe that he made Adam after his own
image and likeness, as Moses testifies; and in this belief we differ
from the professedly Christian world, who declare that, "His center is
everywhere, but his circumference is nowhere." Their God has no body
nor parts; our God possesses a body and parts, and was heard by Adam
and Eve, "Walking in the garden in the cool of the day." They say that
their God has no passions; our God loves his good children and is,
"Angry with the wicked every day," "And him that loveth violence his
soul hateth;" and he reveals his will as familiarly to his servants in
all ages as I reveal my thoughts to you this evening.
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and
try to keep his sayings. He said, "If you love me, keep my
commandments." One commandment to his disciples was to preach his
Gospel in all the world, and baptize believers for the remission of
sins, and then lay hands upon them for the reception of the Holy
Ghost, that they might possess the gifts and graces promised in the
Gospel to all believers.
We worship a God who can hear us when we call upon him, and who can
answer our reasonable petitions, and who gives guidance and direction
to the affairs of his kingdom which he has established on the earth
in our own day. We believe in making his statutes our delight, in
observing his ordinances and keeping all his commandments. You may
inquire whether all professed Latter-day Saints do these things. My
answer is, They should do them. Are they all truly Saints who profess
to be Saints? They should be. Are all this people, in the Scriptural
sense, Christians? They should be. Do they all serve God with an
undivided heart? They should. Many of them do, seeking daily to do his
will. You do not find many of this class of Saints wandering idly over
your campground, wanting and desiring this, that and the other from
the passing stranger. Those who visit you in this way wish to see how
you look, as you want to see how the "Mormons" look. The great mass of
this people tarry at home, they are in their houses, their gardens,
their fields, and shops, paying attention to their own business, and
not running after strangers for gain; and in attending to their own
business many get rich. While some of our community wish to see how
their former Christian brethren look, they, at the same time, wish to
trade with you, and a stranger might suppose that they are first-class
Latter-day Saints. Do not be deceived, for all first-class Latter-day
Saints, both men and women, may be found minding their own business at
their homes or where their business requires their presence. To know
them and how they live is the only means by which you can form a true
conception of the "Mormon" people.
We are trying to improve ourselves in every particular, for God has
given us mental and physical powers to be improved, and these are most
precious gifts; more precious are they to us than fine gold. God is
our Father, and he wishes his children to become like him by improving
upon the means he has supplied for this purpose.
I do not know that you have hitherto met with any difficulty from the
Indians on your journey. You have heard of Indian hostilities against
the whites on the western route, but you will have no trouble with
them if you will do right. I have always told the traveling public
that it is much cheaper to feed the Indians than to fight them. Give
them a little bread and meat, a little sugar, a little tobacco, or a
little of anything you have which will con ciliate their
feelings and make them your friends. It is better to do this than to
make them your enemies. By pursuing this policy you may escape all
trouble from that quarter, while you are journeying on the Pacific
slope.
I am satisfied that among the red men of the mountains and the forest
you can find as many good, honest persons as among the Anglo-Saxon
race. The Indian faithfully follows the traditions and customs of his
race. He has been taught to steal and to shed the blood of his
enemies, and the most expert in these inhuman practices is considered
a great chief or a great brave. The Anglo-Saxon race has been taught
not to steal, not to lie, not to shed the blood of mankind. If the
Indian steals or sheds the blood of those he considers his enemies, he
is doing what he considers to be right, and is not so much to blame as
the white man who commits such crimes, for the white man knows them to
be wrong and contrary to the laws of God and man. We have men among
us, whose fathers and mothers belong to the Church of Latter-day
Saints, that will steal our horses and run them off to sell in
California, and then steal horses there and sell them to us in Utah.
Travel in kindness and peace with one another, and cultivate a
friendship on this journey that will be lasting after you have reached
your destination. You are now essential to each other for mutual
safety; let not this be lost sight of, and approach each other as
becomes intelligent beings who are brothers. Judge not each other
rashly, for you will find that ninety-nine wrongs out of a hundred
committed by men are done more in ignorance than from a design to do
wrong.
My friends, you have seen me—Brigham Young—the leader of the people
called "Mormons." You see a mere mortal like yourselves, but the Lord
Almighty is with me and his people. He has led us by the right hand of
his power, and he gives me wisdom to lay before his people good,
wholesome doctrines, and to set good examples before them. By pursuing
this policy we expect to restore the confidence which has been lost
among men and the integrity that belongs to the heart of man.
Try to do right and God will bless you. I heartily bid you God speed
on your journey. Farewell.