The greatly increased numbers of Israel, and the greatly diversified
and multifarious necessities which are occurring, and which increase
like the branches upon a great tree, call upon us each and all, to
seek continually for the mind of the Lord, that in all our varied
ministrations, labors and duties, we may perform the same acceptably
to him and profitably to all of his children; not only to the Saints
but to the inhabitants of all the earth, inasmuch as they will hearken
to his word.
We have a vast number of witnesses and evidences of the mercy, the
favor and blessing of God unto us, as a people, as well as to
ourselves individually and as families, it being the privilege of all
who live faithfully in Christ Jesus to see and acknowledge the hand of
God in all things throughout their checkered lives.
This morning I am reminded of some choice, precious promises which the
Lord has made to us in the dispensation in which we live, having a
peculiar application unto us, though like blessings may have been
promised to people in former generations, those now referred to were
given especially to the Saints of the last days. There is one very
significant saying in the revelations, you will find it in the
Doctrine and Covenants, section 103, beginning at the 19th verse. It
is as follows:
"Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I
said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my
presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go before you, and also
my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land."
Here is a very definite and positive assurance that this work is His,
that he is particularly to figure in it himself; that he has
not entirely committed it, even to angels; as represented in the
parable, so beautifully expressed in the Book of Mormon, where the
husbandman calls upon his servants to come and help him to prune his
vineyard for the last time; we are given to understand that so we are
called to be helpers to the Lord our God, to prune his vineyard for
the last time.
We should not allow the cares or corruptions of the world to lead us
to forget that the work in which we are engaged is the Lord's work; we
should never forget that the work to which all are called, God has
undertaken to direct Himself; especially as it was commenced in former
dispensations, but, for obvious reasons, remains to be consummated and
perfected in the dispensation of the fulness of times in which we
live. The Lord has also told us specifically in his revelations that
it is his business to provide for his people. Most encouraging
words—calculated to increase confidence in the hearts of all those who
walk by faith before him.
Furthermore, he has condescended to tell us in the revelations given
through the Prophet Joseph Smith, "For behold, I do not require at
their (the Elders) hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said
in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your
battles." Doctrine and Covenants, section 105, verse 14.
One after another passages might be repeated relating to the designs
and purposes of God, all going to show that he has not let out the
work to be done by chance or to be controlled by others, but that he
will direct it himself.
Have we not evidence of these facts? We have as pointed and conclusive
evidence of these things, already before us, as the Apostle Paul had
when he told the Hebrews that, through faith the worlds were framed by
the word of God; through faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance,
obeyed; by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, etc. Let us look
at two or three prominent features of our history for evidences of his
divine favor in overruling affairs for our welfare according to the
counsels of his own will.
In former times there was much destruction of life and a great deal of
contention between the enemies of God's work and his people. The
latter have at different times gone forth, and that by the holy
command of heaven, to mortal combat. The Lord has told us in his
revelations of the last days concerning the laws which governed
warfare in the days of Abraham, of Lehi and Nephi, etc., which are
detailed very minutely in the Doctrine and Covenants. He says:
"Behold, this is the law I gave unto my servant Nephi, and thy fathers,
Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and all mine ancient
prophets and apostles.
And again, this is the law that I gave unto mine ancients, that they
should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue or
people, save I, the Lord, commanded them. (Doctrine and Covenants,
sec. 98, verse 32, 33.)"
For an account of the laws that justify warfare the Saints can read
this section from the 23rd verse to the end.
In those days there was more contention or mortal combat permitted and
required, in order to maintain the rights of God's people and
establish righteousness before his face, when idolatrous and
all manner of worship, except that of the true and living God,
prevailed among the nations generally. But it is not given unto us
that we should contend with weapons of war; that inasmuch as we serve
him, he will fight our battles for us. How has he done this? Have we
forgotten how he managed to keep us out of the late terrible
fratricidal war, when our great country was divided in a sanguinary
struggle? How did he graciously regard us? It was by telling us to
arise and go hence.
Some of you well remember in what haste we gathered our little
remaining substance in Nauvoo, leaving our homes in the winter season,
and how we crossed the river on the ice. History attests the fact that
we left none too soon to escape the dire necessity of taking up
weapons of war against our fellow man. The great reason why David was
not allowed to build a house to the Lord, was because he had been a
man of blood. He had commenced to gather his thousands of talents of
gold and silver together, and was ready to build, but the Lord told
him he should not, that he had been too much a man of war, had shed
too much blood; but that he might get the materials together, and that
Solomon, his son, should build a temple to his name. It is plainly to
be seen, in the wisdom of God, that the Saints are not to take that
course; but on the contrary, the Lord requires of them that they
preserve to themselves pure hearts and clean hands to build His
Temples. Was not this a great and wonderful manifestation of his
loving kindness, was it not a demonstration to a great people of his
tender mercy in preserving us from that fratricidal strife that arose
in the nation? Where is the heart that cannot be thankful for this?
Here is one great, we may say, worldwide demonstration of his kindness
and goodness to provide for his people, and to preserve them from dire
calamities, the direst of calamities that overtake the human family.
Let us then sense the feeling and spirit of the ancient prophet Isaiah
when speaking of the judgments of the latter days, that the watchmen
should lift up their voices and speak comforting words to Zion. And
what should they say? "Thy God reigneth." That is the word to us,
brethren and sisters. "Thy God reigneth." Let us learn to know and
sense it, put our trust in him, and learn that it is he that builds up
nations, and it is he that levels them to the dust; that it is he that
raises up and makes rulers and people to become mighty in the earth,
and that it is he that permits them to go down into insignificance,
shame and contempt.
How has it been when our enemies in our midst, in violation of a
sacred principle of the Constitution, have said that we should not
bear arms, which we had been wont to do in celebrating the anniversary
of our national independence, and for our own protection in this new
and Indian country, and that too in accordance with a provision of the
Constitution; when we submitted in silence to this indignity, what has
been wrought out in our behalf? As if the heavens took momentary
record of it, from that day to this the enmity that has existed among
the unprincipled, low and degraded Lamanites upon our borders has been
hushed to silence; the manner in which we have dealt with them has
been felt for good. Terrible wars have been prevented by the influence of the Latter-day Saints among them, until today it is not
necessary that any, in this region of country, should have arms to
protect themselves unless it be from professed friends. Is there no
God in this? Look all around us, God has made even our adversaries to
be at peace with us. He has made the blessings of peace to be
multiplied around us, until the very occasion for weapons of defense
is removed. The wicked had no sooner forbidden us to bear arms when
God in his tender mercies and parental solicitude removed the very
occasion of defense, leaving us at peace with all around us. The
glorious tidings, "peace on earth and good will to man," have come
sounding to us through the ages, and they are being echoed and
reechoed to us by the voice of those who hold the keys of the
kingdom, and we see it not only in word but in power and demonstration
of truth.
These are none other than the blessings of God unto us, my brethren
and sisters. We ought to think of these things; we ought to
acknowledge in gratitude this dispensation of his providence; and we
should make it our business to sanctify ourselves before him; yea, let
the man that has taken to his cups depart from them; and let he who
has drunk of the spirit of the world, and who fraternizes with the
ungodly, turn from the error of his ways, wash himself from the filth
of unrighteousness and purify himself before God, and call upon his
name that he may forgive and extend his pardoning favor. It is to be
deplored that there are so many that are so easily to be civilized by
this damning "civilization" that has come among us; it is an occasion
of sorrow to the Latter-day Saints that so many are so easily drawn
away to affiliate with the ungodly. When we remember the mercies and
blessings of God to us, it is a fitting time to turn and seek his face
and favor afresh, and renew our covenants before him, and become
worthy in his sight.
I might enumerate many other instances of the goodness and mercy of
God unto us, how he fed the suffering Saints with quails on the banks
of the Mississippi, how he sent gulls to rid us of the crickets when
they threatened us with starvation here.
I must refer to the time when the Lord permitted the United States to
send an army to Utah. It was told to us that there were a million of
bayonets in the States ready to be turned toward Utah. We did not
count them, but we know the details of their coming and how the
soldiery arrived here. They came with their mouths full of ribaldry,
full of threatenings, full of animus and destruction towards
President Young, his family, the Apostles, and towards all that were
immediately associated with them, threatening to hang them like Haman
upon a tree. But God in his mercy before they got here very much
cooled their ardor; and when they arrived they came as harmless as any
4th of July celebrators. They marched in quiet through our streets, no
man daring to commit an indignity as they passed.
Our Heavenly Father sanctified this to our good, for while they
scattered much means among us, scarcely an act of hostility was
committed, and, when the time of terrible destruction came they
marched away to the violence of death. Is not the hand of God to be
seen in this? If so, should we not acknowledge with thanksgiving his
mercy in thus making us the objects of such care. We ought to
bestow the best efforts and energies of our lives to build up his
kingdom, establish his righteousness, and make him our friend for time
and eternity.
I would not dwell too lengthily upon these things, although they show
the divine goodness and tenderness. Is there a loving father that
deals more affectionately with his children than this? Could the Lord
deal more lovingly with us? It is to be feared that his tender mercies
are so abundant, and we become so used to them as to grow ungrateful.
A few words in regard to the fundamental law established for the
guidance of the people of this great nation, called the Constitution
of the United States, that instrument was framed by our forefathers,
who purchased the power to do so with their blood; they were men who
went into the revolutionary war pledging their lives, their fortunes,
their sacred honor, and placed everything they possessed upon the
altar of liberty. The Constitution they adopted has been admitted by
European statesmen to be the grandest palladium of human rights known
upon the earth. The flag of our nation has commanded respect in every
part of this habitable globe, whether on land or sea.
All representatives and officers of the government, state or national,
from the highest to the lowest, lift up their hands to heaven and
swear that they will observe that Constitution and the laws of the
nation or State, as the office may require, to the best of their
knowledge and ability, so help them God. When Congress so far descends
as to make special laws, and send forth its legislative missiles to us
bearing the odor, power, and character of at tainder, and ex post facto
laws; when they can provide, directly or indirectly, for conviction
without trial by jury; when they frame and pass measures having for
their object the deprivation or spoliation of rights common to all
citizens, and that in direct opposition to the provisions of the
Constitution, as appears on the face of the Edmunds' bill, they
themselves violate that oath of office which they took before God and
their country. They may, standing in high places, think that it does
not become citizens to question their acts; but citizens of this
Republic are the sovereigns of the nation; and when the Constitution
was created it was provided that every power not granted by that
instrument was retained by the people. Public men, in the true spirit
of the Constitution of our government, are the servants of the people,
put in office to administer the will of the people as defined in that
instrument.
When men in high places forget themselves, and in violation of their
oaths dictate or forbid what shall or what shall not be observed as
religious rites, they become amenable to the higher laws, and will
have to answer to the charge of perjury to an immortal court, from
whose decisions mortals have found no mode of appeal by any bill of
exceptions.
The principles upon which our government is founded are most
excellent, and to all intents and purposes most satisfactory. The
great and learned Webster, Clay, and their contemporaries, considered
them a standard of liberty—far above that of any other country upon
our globe; something that every American had cause to be proud of. If
the American nation will be governed by its doctrines, it will
extend to the whole human family the precious boon of liberty, and
will make this land in reality an asylum for the oppressed of all
nations. But we have come to a time when Congress has undertaken to
dictate our ethics, to declare what we may or may not accept as tenets
of religion. This is a right or power that is not conveyed in the
Constitution; but on the contrary, Congress is expressly prohibited
from making any law establishing any form of religion or preventing
the free exercise thereof; this right of worshiping God according to
the dictates of one's own conscience is the right of every American
citizen.
Aside from what may be pronounced legal, there is an equity side of
the court to which all Godfearing people have recourse. One principle
of which the courts of the nation seem to have taken no consideration,
but which the Latter-day Saints cannot afford to pass unnoticed, is
this: Wherein it is given in the Constitution that the States shall
make no law to impair the obligation of contracts. I wish to ask the
people, not in the legal sense, but in the sense of equity, of
righteousness and eternal truth, if the marriage relation is not to
all intents and purposes a contract? Do we not enter into a covenant,
a contract, an agreement with our wives. Yes; not only a contract, an
agreement of a civil nature, as it is regarded in the world, but our
contracts are of a higher order, of a more sacred nature extending as
they do in perpetuity from time into eternity. Now, if it is a
violation of States rights to pass a law impairing the obligation of
contracts in common financial matters, is it not a graver and more
serious violation of the Constitution to pass a law impairing the
obligation of contracts as between man and wife? It is laid down by
the most eminent law writers of our country that properly maintained
marital relationship is the true basis of all human society; it needs
the solemn covenants of husband and wife to be taken into account, and
then what follows? The reasons why contracts and faith in them should
not be violated is because of vested rights that accrue under those
contracts; and have you any vested rights, my brethren and sisters,
under the contracts that you have made with your wives and husbands,
have you not acquired under those covenants and contracts the most
precious of vested rights—those of sons and daughters given you in the
flesh? These are possessory rights, the value of which bear no
comparison with any thing that can be called goods or chattels. We
look upon the increase of our families, as the foundation of our
eternal dominion, we cannot but look upon any hand impairing the
obligation of these contracts as striking at the very root of our
prosperity. Our children are our vested rights growing out of these
holy relations, rights not only of a temporal but of an eternal, and
finally immortal character, and of the highest possible consideration.
I apprehend while I talk upon this subject, that it is very improbable
that the courts of the world would regard these matters in any such
light, but they are matters which pertain to the laws of the living
God before whose court we shall all appear and our rights be
vindicated; those who have undertaken to deprive us of these rights
will also appear and on such a writ of errors as will bring them
effectually within the jurisdiction of the court.
The Lord has given unto us these rights, which we are learning to
appreciate, but which the world know nothing of. Is it to be wondered
at that they do many things, as did those who slew the Savior,
concerning whom he said, "They know not what they do?"
The rulers of our land have undertaken to set snares for our feet, to
bring us into subjection to the political will of the Republican party
to teach us how to promote party discord, be oppressed with heavy
taxes and become burdened with debt. Let us put our trust in the
living God, and see that while we violate no law of man unnecessarily,
that we do not violate any of the laws of God, so that we may be
entitled to His protection and that his blessing may abide with us.
Not desiring to occupy too much time, I would exhort my brethren and
sisters to renew their diligence in trying to honor the Lord by
keeping his commandments, remembering our obligations to each other;
that we continue preaching the Gospel to the nations, gathering the
honest in heart who receive the word through the ministrations of the
Elders; and inasmuch as this is God's work we have no need to fear.
There are those who dwelt here in 1848-9, who for days and weeks,
scarcely tasted bread. Those who have passed through these scenes will
never fear anything that may come upon us again. I often think of the
peculiar circumstances of the Savior when upon the earth, who when
Herod the Great sent word to him, inquiring who this Jesus of Nazareth
was; the answer of the Savior being, Go tell him that the birds of the
air have nests, and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man hath not
where to lay His head. Think of it my friends; He by whom the worlds
were created, who gave the law upon Mount Sinai; He who communicated
with the brother of Jared, directing him to cross the sea and people
this continent; He who was and is our great Ruler came and dwelt in
the flesh, instead of making himself the possessor of houses and lands
and earthly substance, had not where to lay His head. And after
passing through a life of sorrows he was tried for His life, when the
judge washed his hands, saying, he found no fault in Him. The fact was
He was above the law, He was without sin, and of the things of which
they tried to convict him he was not guilty, wherein he said he was
the Son of God, which they, in their blind ignorance, looked upon as
blasphemy.
Now, we are charged with blasphemy, because we believe and declare
that the holy Priesthood has been restored to us from heaven. It is
made blasphemy to believe that Peter, James and John were sent from
heaven to earth to ordain Joseph and Oliver, and because, as they had
been instructed to do, they ordained others to the same Priesthood,
and then commissioned them to go to all the world and preach the
Gospel. This is put forth and published as one of the blasphemies
that we believe in which has made us to incur the displeasure and
wrath of this self-righteous generation. While we contemplate that the
Prophets of God have been slain, their blood ruthlessly shed, and the
nation has never made an expression to exculpate themselves from the
act, they have never even expressed their disapproval of it, but, on
the contrary, multitudes have said, they were glad of it, but that
they disliked the way in which it was done.
While this is upon the nation and until they wash their hands
of it, we can but look upon them with sorrow and apprehension and
dread for thus acquiescing in breaking and overriding the fundamental
laws of the land; for if these things can be inflicted upon us they
can be done to others. And they have been to others. Do you not
recollect when the army came here, it was the nation's first effort
against the "Mormons," against what they were pleased to term a "twin
relic" —polygamy; and having extirpated the "twin relic" of the
south—slavery, which was deemed necessary to secure the triumph of the
republican arms, now the attack is made again upon the people
representing the remaining "relic." They and we are in the hands of
God, and it becomes us to move on in all our duties quietly, peaceably
and prayerfully. The nation, of course, can cause us a great deal of
bodily and mental suffering if God permits. They have already shown
what they are capable of doing by their deprivations and arbitrary
rule in the south; and we have every reason to believe they would do
as much for us were it the pleasure of the Almighty to permit them.
The few men now sitting in Congress, from the Southern States, who had
the manhood and the moral courage to protest against the measure,
which has since become a law, aimed directly at our liberty and
rights, knew from experience the effects of military law, and those
usurpations which have tended to ruin their country after the
desolation caused by the war. They had been through the furnace, they
could feel anew the burnings of the fire, and they could see the grief
into which we are to be crowded.
The question with us is, are we sufficiently devoted to the interests
of the kingdom of God to enable us to confidently believe, without a
doubt, that he will sustain us in all that we may be called upon to
pass through? If we are he certainly will not permit any more to come
upon us than we can endure and that will be for our good; because he
is that God who is nearer to us than a friend or a brother.
He had told us that those who kept his commandments had no need to
break the laws of the land. We made no law nor passed any ordinance
contrary to the laws of the land; the lawmakers of the nation made
the law which brought us in conflict with our government; and,
therefore, we must look to him to overrule this conflict, and trust
that he will do better for us than we know how to ask or even to think
for ourselves; provided, we pursue the path of duty faithfully and
steadfastly.
I pray that we may so take consideration of our ways that we shall not
feel vindictive to those who are vindictive towards us; but, on the
contrary, rise above such a feeling upon the more elevated platform
which was introduced by the Savior, in which he taught his disciples to
do good to them who despitefully used and persecuted them. This is a
lesson that we have not fully learned.
May the Lord bless and prosper all who seek to do his will, and may his
mercy be multiplied to all nations until the ends of the earth shall
see the salvation of our God, and until the kingdoms of this world
become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ; may we live and our
generations after us to perform efficient and faithful service in
bringing about his purposes. Oh, that our enemies might see the error
of their ways, repent as in dust and ashes and place
themselves in a condition to receive the favor of God, and thereby
escape the terrible judgments that must sooner or later overtake those
who willfully battle against the truth.
It remains for us to continue to bear our testimony to the world, to
build our Temples, in which to per form the work for ourselves and our
dead, essential to salvation and exaltation in his kingdom, and to
build up a Zion to the glory of God. That this may be our determined
purpose to a faithful consummation, I humbly pray, in the name of
Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
- Franklin D. Richards