I have unexpectedly, to myself, been called upon to address this
congregation. While I shall endeavor to do so, I desire that you shall
give me your sympathy and faith, that I may be able to speak in
clearness whatsoever may be put into my mind by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, if I shall be so fortunate as to enjoy a goodly portion of
that influence. I have no special subject on my mind upon which to
speak, and am therefore dependent upon the inspiration of the moment
as the spirit shall give utterance.
It has been the privilege of the servants of God in all ages to enjoy
a portion of His power to direct them in their ministry and to make
plain to their understanding the things that they should speak
about when it became their duty to preach the truth. This congregation
is very largely composed of people who profess the same religious
doctrines as those which I have myself embraced, adhered to and
advocate. There are others, however in the congregation who are
unacquainted with the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, and who perhaps are more or less anxious to obtain
some understanding of the nature and character of the work which is
represented among and by this people. Heretofore they have been
dependent upon popular report, which has been, in almost every
instance, erroneous upon this subject, for we have been greatly
misrepresented in all the world. There is one particular point that I
wish to direct the minds of this audience to regarding the work, and
in doing so, I wish to point out a popular error which exists in the
understanding of many people in reference to us. There is a prevailing
opinion, based on false representations regarding the Church which I
have the honor to be identified with, that there exists among the
people called Latter-day Saints, a species of serfdom or bondage, or
that one or more men rule over the people with a high hand—a species
of despotism. I wish to state here that my personal experience in this
Church for half of the time which I have spent in this life, informs
my judgment that such is not the case, that the Latter-day Saints are
a free people, and the system which they have adopted—which they
understand to be of divine origin—is calculated in its character to
make them free. The reason why it makes them free is because that the
greatest bondage which can exist among the human family is the result
of doing that which is wrong, which is contrary to the laws of God,
and to the laws of righteousness, that should exist between man and
man. I do not wish to say that this Church or this people as a whole
are entirely free from evil. It would be very wrong to assert this, to
do so would be stepping beyond the bounds of truth and consistency,
for we are in a state of imperfection, and where imperfection exists
there necessarily follow departures from the strict line of
righteousness. But there is one feature connected with this Church
that is glorious, and it is this: that so far as the laws of this
Church are concerned, there are none who are exempt from them, they
are applicable to all, from those who hold the highest positions in
this Church to the humblest member therein; all must subscribe to
them. There is, however, an organization—an order in this Church which
we recognize and which we sustain. This feature extends to this
beautiful principle in the Church—which is the highest form of what
might be termed the democratic principle—that all the main measures
pertaining to this work, in order to be valid in the sight of heaven,
and to be in accordance with the strict law of this Church, must have
the consent of the people before it becomes binding upon the people,
from whatsoever source it may emanate. In order to show you that this
is the case, I will refer the congregation to what we esteem as the
law and the testimony. We have a book here which is called the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, containing the revelations of Jesus Christ through the Prophet
Joseph Smith, who was raised up specially by the Almighty, according
to our faith, to organize the Church of Jesus Christ according
to the will of heaven, by revelation and commandment from the Most
High. In order to show you that that which I have spoken is according
to the law of our Church, I will read a small portion of instructions
which emanated from him whom we esteem a great Prophet. Talking of the
government of the Church and the people in July, 1830, these
instructions came through that medium: "And all things shall be done
by common consent in the church, by much prayer and faith, for all
things you shall receive by faith." That is a law of this Church that
the affairs of the Church shall be done by common consent of the body
religious, and therefore there is no despotism here; there is no
one-man power in the sense in which it is accepted regarding us in the
world, because when measures that are deemed for the advancement of
this work are brought up, they have to be received by the people, and
their consent obtained, in order to make them in accordance with the
law which God has revealed for the government of the organization that
He has established in this day. And there exists among this people a
reverence for law, a regard for that which is legal and proper, that I
have not seen exist to the same extent in any other community with
which I have mingled.
There is at the present time a disposition among the people of the
world which is quite remarkable, I might even say that it is
phenomenal in its character. There is a question now existing in the
world which is not confined to one nation alone, nor one section of
the globe; but there is an influence at work which appears to be fast
becoming a question pertaining to this whole world—I refer to the
spirit, and influence and disposition which are growing everywhere to
throw off every species of restraint. Because of the increase and
development of this power and influence in the hearts of the masses of
the people, some of the governments of Europe are being shaken from
center to circumference, and we not only hear—in consequence of this
feeling which is growing in the minds of the people—we not only hear
of threats to cast down thrones and to destroy the heads of
governments that are existing, but that these things are actually
taking place, and the heads of nations are trembling for fear because
of this existing disposition to break in pieces the powers that be. I
may draw the attention of this congregation to the fact that the
revelations which were brought forward by Joseph Smith, the Prophet,
pointed to this very movement and stated, in definite terms, that such
a condition would exist among the nations, and that it would bring
about the destruction of those governments in which it was suffered to
exist and to spread. But in place of the Latter-day Saints having a
disposition of this kind, it is the genius of this work, it is the
spirit of this Church, to conform to proper organization, to recognize
laws that are according to human rights, to recognize that which will
benefit mankind. It is true that most of the governments of Europe are
not based on correct principles. The rulers do not recognize the
rights of the people whom they govern; but at the same time the
condition that would be brought about by these things which I have
referred to, this undermining governments, etc., would bring about a
ten-fold worse condition of things than the despotism even
which exists in the old countries, because it would bring about
anarchy and confusion; it would bring about a condition of things
wherein the strong would oppress the weak even to a greater extent
than they do at present, and surely there is no need for that.
Then, it might be asked, if you Latter-day Saints have so great a
regard for law, for existing regulations to rule and govern society,
why is it that you make exceptions to this rule? Why is it that there
is, at least, one law that you are not willing to conform
to?—referring to the law that was passed in 1862, for the suppression
of our system of marriage. The reason is this—that we regard the
Constitution of our country as sacred, and the will of our Heavenly
Father as supreme. That sacred instrument—the Constitution of this
land—says that a man and woman in the practice of their religion shall
not be interfered with, that Congress shall have no power to make such
interference as that proposed by the law to which I have made
allusion. But it might be said in regard to this that it is a law
nevertheless because it has passed the Congress of the United States
and been sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Nevertheless—I now speak for myself—I lay it down as a proposition
that any law that infringes upon my religious rights cannot be a
constitutional law, if all the courts in the world should decide that
it is of that character. But it may be said—and it is said
frequently—that our system of marriage—the same system of marriage
that obtained among the ancients who held direct communication with
the Almighty—is not a part of religion. But I state, so far as I am
individually concerned, that I hope never to get into the position
where any man or class on the face of this earth shall prescribe to
me what shall or shall not be my religion, for the moment that such a
condition is admitted, then farewell to religious liberty. It becomes
as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, having no basis in reality.
But it is sometimes said that our system of marriage is obnoxious to
the ruling sentiment of the country, and especially to those whose
crafts are in danger, and who are professors of other religions. Then
on the same principle, if we were in the majority would it be right
for us to use coercive means to put down in the religions of others
what might be obnoxious to our system? It is a poor rule that will not
work both ways. But it seems to me somewhat remarkable that people who
are living perhaps thousands of miles away from this part of the
country, should have such powerful visual organs that they can gaze
and see something that needs correcting among the people called
Latter-day Saints, when there is sufficient perhaps within a radius of
half a mile of their own dwelling places which would require their
attention in correcting for the rest of their lives. But whenever a
man travels in this country or any other, we shall find a large
proportion of the people who are liberal in regard to this community,
and who think that they should not be interfered with in their
institutions, and instead of getting up all this furor and excitement
in reference to what is called the "Mormon Problem," the sensible part
of the community particularly are willing that the "Mormons" should be
left to the solution of that problem themselves, and we assert that,
with the help of God, we are able to accomplish that work and show eventually, if not at present, a model community that it would be
good for others in the world to pattern after.
There are a great many ideas in reference to this people, as I have
said, which are erroneous. I have met, in traveling on the trains
people who were utterly surprised to find that the Latter-day Saints
looked like other people. I presume that they expected to see men
walking about with slouch hats and belts filled with weapons of
destruction, so erroneous and so slanderous have been the reports
concerning this people which have gone abroad about them. There is
only a percentage of the people that were here who are willing, on
account of the deep-seated prejudice that everywhere exists concerning
this people, to speak the truth concerning them. There are men who
have come here who belong to different denominations, without naming
any of the religious bodies with which they were connected—who have
been treated with the utmost courtesy and respect; perhaps more
respect than their characters entitled them to. They have been allowed
to preach their tenets, disseminate their doctrines among the people
here, to build their churches until you can see them on every hand,
not only in this city, but in other cities of this Territory. For
purposes of the deepest mendacity they have gone abroad and been the
chief instruments in arousing public sentiment against the Latter-day
Saints. They have risen in their religious conventions in the United
States, and told to my positive and certain knowledge, as black and
infamous lies as ever fell from the lips of human beings, and were
thus enabled to ply their vocation in collecting money in order to
save the downtrodden women of Utah, and to help solve the "Mormon
problem." I say that such men are unworthy of the title of manhood.
They obliterate within their narrow souls every principle which is
worthy or entitled to respect. I have no respect for them whatever.
Although I do not wish them any harm at all, I have no regard for
them, because they are too limited, too narrow, too devoid of
principle; in fact they can get along with as small an amount of
principle as any class of men that I ever knew of in my life. So far
as I am concerned, I have not reached that condition of perfection
which our Savior taught and practiced. I am imperfect in that
respect—when He says you shall love your enemies. I say that I do not
have any love for characters of that kind, who will go in the face of
facts with which they are acquainted, as well as men can possibly be
acquainted with anything, and willfully and knowingly misrepresent the
characters of this or any other people on the face of the earth. I
would feel the same if these animadversions and calumnies which are
heaped upon this people were heaped upon any other. There is one
individual especially whom I knew when he was here, at least
passingly, who said that in Provo, a quiet, peaceable settlement in
the South, one of the most peaceable places on the top of this earth,
perhaps—at least it would be if they were all Latter-day Saints who
are there—this individual said that he was under the necessity, in
going to preach in the morning or in the afternoon, or whenever he had
to ascend the stand, of laying a pistol by the side of the word of
God—a falsehood as plain and direct as ever was spoken; for I have
lived in this Territory fifteen years and have never known the time
when it was any more necessary for one of those hirelings who
preach for money and divine for wages and not for the good of the
souls of men, to go on to the stand armed and equipped for defense,
any more than it is for me to do the same thing at this moment, in
this building.
But my brethren, sisters and friends, that is the way false reports
are started regarding this people. And what is the reason? One reason
is, I presume, because of our success.
I told you that the measures adopted by this Church are done by common
consent, as anyone knows who has attended one of our General
Conferences when this huge building is filled in every part with the
Latter-day Saints from the various places that we have located in this
Rocky Mountain region, when we come together to worship God according
to the dictates of our own conscience and according to that which we
have accepted as true. When we come together for that purpose our
missionaries are called. They are not reared in colleges for the
purpose. We claim to have in our midst the same Priesthood and
authority which existed in the ancient Church, and the same power
characterizes the administrations of that Priesthood. Men are called
from the plow, they are called from the carpenter's bench, from the
shoemaker's bench, from the office of the accountant, from the
merchant's store, and from any of the other vocations of life by the
authorities of the Church, and when the selections are made their
names are called out in this conference that the voice of the people
may be given by which to endorse the selections which are thus made.
The people are requested to manifest whether the selections meet with
their wishes or no, a show of hands is called, a forest of them goes
up, and these men, if they be filled with the faith of this Gospel,
are ready to go to the ends of the earth at such a summons, and
perform their God-given duty in fulfillment of the words of the Lord
and Savior when He said, referring to it as one of the signs of the
last days, "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness and then shall the end come." They lay aside
their business interests and go forth without remuneration and perform
this labor. Their efforts are blessed, for they are generally
successful, and they return after as many years as may be assigned
them to labor in the nations of the earth in preaching this Gospel;
they come back with their sheaves with joy and rejoicing, to reunite
themselves again with the main body of this Church.
There is a statement in the Scriptures something like the following:
"To the pure all things are pure." Now there are many who attribute
the existence of our marital institutions to a desire on the part of
the men who form this Church to minister to the lower instincts and
passions of their natures. I do not say that in every instance the
Church is free from this kind of crime, for crime I consider it is;
but I say that when such is the case, when a man enters into this holy
bond, whether it be in taking more wives than one, merely for the
gratification of his passions he infringes upon a law of God, of
nature and of this Church, for this Church decides that its members
shall be pure in every respect; therefore those who are governed by
impure instincts, feelings and sentiments are departing from the
genius, the spirit, and the true practice of this Church, whoever
they may be. But this is not the purpose. There are purposes
in the mind of Jehovah in regard to this principle, at least we accept
them as such. God has decreed that in this day He will build up His
Kingdom, and we are seeking to build it up, and as it is said in the
Book of Mormon that was brought forth by the power of God, through the
instrumentality of Joseph Smith, that if the Lord should desire to
raise up children to himself, that He shall command His people,
otherwise they shall not practice the principle of plural marriage.
Our Elders go abroad into the nations; they sound the trumpet of the
Gospel both long and loud. But although they meet with some success,
the numbers that hear their testimony and embrace it are comparatively
few, compared with the great masses, that disregard their message.
This kingdom must have people, and if the people of the world will not
come and join with us and build up the kingdom of God, we will build
it from the internal strength within itself. Let a person who does not
believe in this go through this Territory from north to south and from
east to west, and see the flocks of beautiful children who are growing
up in the midst of this people, who will aid in bearing off this
kingdom.
There is a great cry in reference to the stoppage of the influx of
population to Utah. Attempts have been made to stop the flow of
immigration of Latter-day Saints on the most flimsy pretexts. I have
no fears, however, that anything of that kind will ever amount to
much, because no measure of that kind can, in this country, obtain
without overriding and trampling under foot every principle of the
constitution of our country. But it appears to me that there is a
source of power that is growing up in this community that is
comparatively lost sight of. That is the youth who are growing up.
Many state that the youth of this community are becoming demoralized.
There are some who are demoralized, and who have departed from the
faith which their fathers suffered to establish and sustain. Some of
the latter have suffered death and others have suffered almost death
time and time again, because of the persecution and opposition with
which they have had to contend in almost every form. But those who
suppose that the bulk of the youth of this community will not sustain
this work are mistaken. The bulk of them will, and a great many of
them are, and I will say today, in behalf of our young men, that,
according to my experience, having been recently on a mission abroad,
generally the most successful among the Elders of this Church, and the
most fearless in the enunciation of the principles and doctrines of
this Gospel, the most laborious and indefatigable laborers in the
cause of truth, have been the boys who have been born and reared in
the Territory of Utah, and in the city in which we now are. I have
great hopes of our young people, and I am pleased to note within the
last few years the great solicitude, the anxiety which has been
manifested in regard to their welfare, that they should be brought up
in the nurture and admonition of the God of Jacob, to shun the
drunkard's path, the path of the libertine, and every form of
pollution and degradation.
But this brings me back again to an idea that I was about to draw your
attention to, in regard to the idea that men embrace the principles of
plural marriage in order to minister to their baser passions. I have
spent between five and six years exclusively preaching this
Gospel in the nations, and I have been acquainted, in that capacity,
with hundreds of Elders. I have labored and traveled with them in the
nations of the earth, and I know, as well as I know that I stand here,
and that you are listening to the tones of my voice, that they are, as
a rule, as pure as the angels in regard to the matter to which I now
allude. They go abroad for one, two, three or four years, or as many
years as may be necessary, and refrain from every form of
gratification of the kind to which I now refer. I have known of
instances of departures from this rule, and there is a singular thing
connected with this work that I wish here to note. Those who have been
guilty of thus violating the principles of chastity, and consequently
the holy Covenants they have entered into, there has been a departure
from them of the light and power of the Holy Spirit, and they became
wilted like the flower without moisture which has been blighted by the
heat of the sun. It was visible to every eye that something had
happened which was derogatory to such individuals. It is opposed to
the spirit of this work that men should violate the principles of
purity and chastity, and I know this to be the case. Where such
instances have occurred, what has been the sentiment of this Church?
Has it sustained it? If it has ever been sustained by any person in
authority in this Church, I know not of any instance of that kind.
What is there so very horrible, what has awakened the sentiment of the
world at large that they should become so shocked in their moral
susceptibilities regarding this people? What is there about this
people that appears so enormously wrong? There is peace, there is
regard for each other, there is respectability, there is a large
amount of honesty and uprightness. What is there to shock the
sensibilities of the most enlightened professor of religion or of
anybody else in the world at large, which is reeking with corruption
from center to circumference. Some people say—"What is going to be
done in regard to this question? "The United States Government are
going to come down on you and crush your institutions or crush you."
Well, you see, we have got so often crushed in theory, that we are
becoming used to it. We have been crushed, obliterated, annihilated,
until there was not a spot left of a Latter-day Saint in theory, but
the practical part has not yet come. We have no fears. Some of our
friends regard us with solicitude, they are deeply concerned for our
welfare, and they think surely the end will come this time, whichever
time it might be, but we do not think so. We have great faith in the
Almighty. That is a good quality in any people, is it not? To have
faith in God. I do not know of a people who have more faith in God and
the Scriptures, so that, seeing we are told that without faith it is
impossible to please God, in that respect at least we must to some
extent please our Father in heaven. We have often seen the clouds that
have gathered around us thick, dark and threatening, at the darkest
hour dispelled. Then we have seen the sun of prosperity shine again in
its glory and in its strength, so that we think every cloud that comes
will be dissipated in a similar way, and that the God of heaven will
not forsake a people who put their trust in Him. We put our trust in
Him, and also believe in doing the best we can our selves, believing that God helps them the most who help themselves. But some
say—"You will have to give up what is demanded of you; you will leave
to abolish your institutions and become like unto us." This is what
the world say. Then I say God forbid that we shall become in some
respects like the world or their institutions. We do not want to
become like that, and no people have a right to coerce us into that
condition, notwithstanding that there is a journal published in this
city—and we have preserved the record of it, published to the
world—advocating what? Purity, instruction and intelligence to be
disseminated among the Latter-day Saints, that their delusion might be
dispelled, and that they might be brought out of the thralldom in which
they are supposed to be involved? No. What are the measures advocated?
The establishment, encouragement and sustenance in the midst of the
Latter-day Saints of gambling dens, houses of ill fame, drinking
saloons, and all those institutions which are damning in their
character, and which drag poor humanity down to the very depths of
degradation! Surely the words of the Prophet are coming to pass when
he said that in the last days the corrupt in heart would say, "let us
go up to Zion that her sons and daughters may be defiled." And I now
say, that leave it to the sentiment of the Latter-day Saints, leave it
to the prevailing feeling in the midst of this people, and there would
not exist in the Territory of Utah today, an institution of the kind
which I have named. I have seen the day when houses of ill fame were
not suffered to exist within the confines of this Territory. But those
officials who are sent forth to us by this mighty government have in
many instances encouraged these evils instead of sustaining the noble
sentiment of the people. They have ignored and set aside local laws
enacted for the suppression of these iniquities. I say, out on such
characters as these, whether they be judges, whether they be
governors, whatever position they hold, as far as I am individually
concerned. I have no hesitation in saying that I have not the
slightest atom of respect for such individuals. These are the men who
would bring into this community the worst species of despotism that
could exist among any people, that is, to force into and encourage in
the midst of a community those elements which are degrading and
corrupt. They have not the welfare of the people at heart, and I
utterly and totally, as an individual—I am not speaking for others,
but for myself—I despise them from the bottom of my heart and all such
characters. But all those men who sustain righteousness and uphold
purity and equal rights, I say that I feel in my heart to bless them
and to sustain them, and to respect them as every man who takes a
course of that kind should be respected.
"But will you not forego your institutions because of the amount of
pressure which may be brought against you." I say so far as I am
concerned that I have no concessions to make. I do not want to be
understood as talking for others; but I say we claim that God has
revealed this system, and the only concessions which can be made so
far as our principles are concerned must be made by their Author,
otherwise they are null and void. So far as religious liberty is
concerned, we claim the same as other people, and, in the language of
the celebrated orator who figured in the early history of this
country—Patrick Henry —I hope to be able to say as he said:
"Give me liberty or give me death." I believe that is the ruling
sentiment among the faithful of this Church, and those who suppose
that we are always going to lay our necks down to be trampled upon and
crushed, and that we shall always be crowded to the wall, I say that I
am of the opinion that they will sometime find out their mistake.
But we Latter-day Saints have a great deal to learn. Sometimes we
complain of the waywardness of many who have become connected with us;
that they have gone back into the practices of the world; that they
have become backsliders and do not conform to the principles of this
Gospel. Then I say there is a provision in the law for cases of this
kind. To the law and the testimony, for God has revealed the laws, and
they are contained in this book (Doctrine and Covenants), in the
Bible, and in the Book of Mormon, for the regulation of His Church,
and for its preservation and purity. There is one universal law in
regard to the evildoer in this Church, and it is this, in the
language of the revelation in which it is given, "He who sinneth and
repenteth not shall be cast out." If that law were applied, the
unpardoned and unrepentant would be shaken off and the Church purged
of its worthless elements.
This, my brethren and sisters, is a great work. God has revealed it.
Then let us cultivate within us that principle of eternal life which
Jesus spoke about when he said to the woman at the well, that if she
had asked him he would have given her to drink that which would have
caused her never to thirst, and would have been as a well of water
springing up to everlasting life, which is the Spirit of the living
God, given to the faithful for their guidance.
May the Lord bless all the House of Israel, the dispersed of every
tribe, and the righteous, the pure, the holy and the good in every
nation under the whole heavens, is my prayer in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.