I believe it was in 1856, that the Republican party was organized; at
their first convention held in Philadelphia, they incorporated in
their platform the noted plank, "the twin relics of barbarism—slavery
and polygamy," and pledged themselves to rid the country of these two
evils. For sixteen years they have labored incessantly to this end;
but they know not the thoughts of the Lord, nor understand his
counsels. Nevertheless, they are his servants to execute his purposes,
and they doubtless have a desire to accomplish all that he designs
with regard to them. Have they succeeded in strangling the twins? So
far as slavery is concerned they have succeeded in abolishing it in
the obnoxious forms in which it prevailed in the Southern States; but
still it exists and is likely to continue to exist, in a modified
form, while wickedness exists upon the earth. Africans and white men
are in bondage, not in the same form as that in which the southern
slaves were held before the war, for the extreme excesses perpetrated
under that system, in many particulars, were very great wrongs to
mankind, and very grievous in the sight of heaven and of
right-thinking people. And changes were determined in the mind of
Jehovah, and have been effected. The authors of this republican plank
have taken polygamy as taught by the Latter-day Saints as being
synonymous with the polygamy of oriental nations, and the bigamy of
the Christian nations; this is clearly shown in the law of 1862,
passed by the Congress of the United States, designed for its
suppression, the term bigamy being used instead of polygamy. The
offense was made to consist in the marriage rather than in the
cohabitation; following the old English statutes of the New England
States on the subject of bigamy, classing our system of marriage with
that which was made criminal by the English statutes and by the
statutes of the Northern States; when in reality there was very
little, if any, similarity. The bigamy of England and the American
States consists in crime and deception, the betraying and wronging of
two innocent and unsuspecting women. While the corrupt, lying,
deceiving, unprincipled husband was feigning virtue and integrity,
both violating their confidence by lying and deception, and by
violating all the duties and obligations of marriage—the duties that
the father owes to the wife and children and also to the State. But
the fact that our lawmakers took this view of our social system when
they passed this law, shows how poorly and ill they comprehended the
system of marriage as taught by the Latter-day Saints. The republican
party had this view of the case, no doubt, when they first announced
this noted plank. Further experience and knowledge among the people of
the United States has, in some measure, changed their view upon this
subject, and they have attempted to shape their legislation
accordingly; and in the recent law of Congress, known as the Edmunds
law, they have especially, in the amendment they have adopted to the
law of 1862, classed polygamy with bigamy and enacted penalties
against both. And still further, they made it a continuous offense, by
providing penalties for cohabitation as well as for the marriage; for
cohabitation, however, the penalties consist of light fines and short
imprisonment, but for marriage, heavy fines and long im prisonment.
This is the view taken by our Christian Statesmen in relation to the
moral aspect of this question.
Anciently, when God's laws provided a government for ancient Israel,
marriage was honorable both plural and single, as all students of the
Bible know full well. At the same time adultery was punished by death.
From the days that King Abimelech attempted intimacy with Sarah, whom
he supposed to be eligible to marry, but afterwards found her to be
the wife of Abraham, from the time that the angel of the Lord warned
him that he would be a dead man if he persisted, from that time to the
coming of the Savior, adultery was punishable by death, while marriage
both single and plural was honorable, ordained and appointed of God,
and provision was made for the protection and rights of each wife and
her offspring. But our Christian statesmen are offering premiums for
licentiousness, and are seeking to make odious the honor and purity of
marriage. This is all wrong. They are in error in the view they take
of it. If their bishops, priests, potentates and religious teachers
would betake themselves to the task of first seeking the light of
heaven upon this question, and would then strive to enlighten our
statesmen and the people of the United States, pertaining to social
ethics and the purposes of heaven in the union of the sexes, and seek
to encourage honorable marriage and honorable increase in the earth,
instead of encouraging licentiousness and child murder, they would
thereby secure the favor of Heaven and the perpetuity of His blessings
upon them as a nation and people.
The Prophet Joseph Smith, the year before he was slain, testified of these things; and although he taught this social system to
the Latter-day Saints; and to the more devout, wise and prudent of the
women of Israel, as hundreds can testify, have testified, and are able
to testify today, yet it was necessary in introducing it and facing
the opposition and the prejudices of the age, to proceed wisely in
these instructions. And while his name was before the people of the
United States as a candidate for the Presidency, and national
questions were being discussed pro and con by the Latter-day Saints
and throughout the nation by all the political societies of the time,
Joseph Smith took occasion to issue a pamphlet containing his views
of the powers and policy of the Government of the United States; he
also preached some sermons upon the subject in Nauvoo; and in this the
Prophet counseled the people of the United States in relation to the
manner of disposing of the vexed question of slavery, which he
recognized as an evil—that is, the form in which it existed in the
United States, which should be abolished; but rather than proceed to
its abolishment by waging war against the institution, as the
anti-slavery men were trying to do, counseled that this desired
change, the modification of this system of labor in the south, be
effected on a principle of honor, equity and peace; that a fund should
be created, a sinking fund of the nation, for the abolishment of
slavery; and to negotiate with the States in behalf of the
slave-owners, for the gradual emancipation of the slaves, their owners
to be reasonably compensated for the freedom of their servants, and in
process of years to change the status of the negro, make his labor
free, and place him in a condition to be educated and elevated; and
still maintain the faith of the nation and the faith of the northern
states with the southern states. Thus it was that the true policy and
counsel of heaven to our nation was manifested and spurned. The
extremists of the north, the anti-slavery agitators heeded it not; and
neither party approached the subject with any earnest determination to
effect an honorable settlement of this question. The few statesmen
that made propositions in the Congress of the United States looking to
this result, to the accomplishment of the liberation of the slaves,
settling this question on the basis proposed by the Prophet Joseph
Smith; but whether they were influenced by his advice, or whether the
same spirit that moved upon Joseph, moved also upon these
statesmen—there were some that made advances looking to the
accomplishment of the object in this way—but it was not generally
received or favored, or it was deemed impracticable. At all events the
sequel proved that the opposing elements warred against each other,
culminating in that great fratricidal war which resulted in the
shedding of so much blood, and the impoverishing of one-half of the
nation.
Prior to this, however, the union and fraternal feeling that formerly
existed had been gradually weakening in the various religious
organizations of the nation. All the leading churches of the nation
had divided at what was known as the Mason and Dixon line—the line
separating the free from the slave states. We had the humiliating
spectacle throughout the land, of the Methodist church of the North,
and the Methodist church of the South; the Presbyterian church of the
north and the Presbyterian church of the South; the Baptist
church of the North, and the Baptist church of the South. I believe
the only Christian church in America that did not, over the slavery
question, split the blanket, divide its property, its franchises and
ecclesiastical organization, was the Roman Catholic church, who
recognized the necessity of a united body under one grand head. This
division of sects prepared the hearts and minds of the people for the
deadly conflict that ensued.
On the subject of the other twin relic, there appears no such
division. Both the North and the South and religious sects of whatever
name or belief, are united in the denunciation of the Latter-day
Saints, and the system of marriage introduced by the Prophet Joseph
Smith. This, as I have already said, is founded partly in their
ignorance with regard to the true spirit and nature of the doctrine
taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and believed in by the Latter-day
Saints. As I have already said, they have classed it with the bigamy
of England and the American States, and they have classed it with
Oriental polygamy. For it is known to all students of history, to all
who are familiar with the conditions of the nations at the present
time, and the history of nations in past ages, that polygamy has been
the rule—I will not say that it has been the rule among the common
people of all nations, but polygamy has existed, and has been
recognized to a greater or less extent, so far as its practice was
consistent with the conditions of the people of the various nations,
it has been the rule from time immemorial; and there has never been a
time in the history of the world when it has not been common and
recognized among the nations of the earth, with the exception of
modern Europe. The Christians of our time claim the prevailing system
of marriage in modern Eu rope and in the United States, as the result
of Christianity. To this I reply, that neither Christ nor his Apostles
ever uttered one word in condemnation of that system of marriage that
was in vogue in their days, and that had been recognized and
acknowledged in the house of Israel from the days of Abraham until
Christ. In fact Christ Himself was the fruit of polygamy, so far as
the flesh was concerned. And nowhere is there to be found one word in
condemnation of this system, or anything intimating that he intended
to change the then existing relations of the sexes; but while he, as
well as his Apostles and the ancient Prophets and Patriarchs denounced
adultery and fornication they recognized and sustained honorable
marriage whether single or plural; and every form of illicit
intercourse with the sexes was condemned by the primitive Christians,
as well as by the Prophets and Patriarchs of old. The only passage of
Scripture that I have ever heard quoted as appearing to limit the
early Christians to single marriage was the saying of one of the
Apostles, St. Paul to Timothy, in which he said that a Bishop should
be the husband of one wife, having faithful children and one who knows
how to govern his own house, for, said he, if he knows not how to rule
well his own house, how shall he rule the Church of God. Now this
scripture, taken as a whole, evidently shows that his object was not
to intimate that a Bishop should have one wife only, but he intended
to make this impression, that he must be a man of family, one who has
had experience in household affairs, one that understood all those
tender relations existing between husband and wife and parent
and child, one who had shown himself a wise and discreet father; one
who was capable of guiding his own house and of leading his family in
the ways of rectitude and of controlling them in the fear of God; for
except he is able to govern his own house, how could it be expected
that he could govern the Church of God. Now, if in this respect a
Bishop had proved himself a wise and discreet father and husband, a
man who knew how to rule well his own family, this was a qualification
recommending him as a suitable person to be trusted with the office of
a Bishop. And how much more suitable would he be for that position if
he were perfectly able to govern two or more wives, and to rear their
children in the fear of God? The very fact that a Bishop must be the
husband of one wife, if we admit the correctness of the views of our
Christian friends in this regard (which, however, we do not by any
means) the logical inference is, that any other officer or member in
the Church but a Bishop was at liberty to have more than one wife. For
if he intended it to be a general prohibition, why should he confine
it to the Bishop, why did he not make it general? It is sheer
sophistry on the part of our sectarian friends and groundless
assertion that monogamy, to the exclusion of polygamy was introduced
into Europe by the primitive Christians; for that system of marriage
was introduced prior to the establishment of Christianity in Europe,
by the Roman empire, and became the form of marriage in early times
when, as history alleges, men were more numerous in Rome than women.
And the earlier settlers of Rome were political refugees, renegades
and scape-graces from sur rounding nations, and were under the
necessity of making raids upon their neighbors to procure wives; and
it became a matter of necessity and for mutual protection, to limit
the number to one. It was the Roman state that limited the number of a
man's wives to one, and not the Christian church; and this being done,
it was perpetuated. And history teaches us that under that monogamic
system, Rome became the most licentious of all nations. I do not
intend to enter into an argument in favor of polygamy; my spirit
rather leads me to impress upon the Latter-day Saints the character of
this great social question and the duties and responsibilities which
rest upon us as a people, principles that have emanated from heaven;
obligations that we cannot ignore, and duties that we cannot shirk.
For God has set his hand to gather Israel, according to the Prophets;
God has set his hand to establish his Zion; God has set his hand to
build his kingdom in the earth, according to the prediction of the
holy prophets. God is determined to work a work that shall be a
marvelous work and a wonder, which he has commenced and will carry on
to completion in his own peculiar way. His arm is stretched out, and
it will not return void—it will not fail to accomplish the thing that
it has commenced to perform. It is to raise up and establish to
himself a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a peculiar people,
composed of the blood of Israel. He has declared that in the last days
Ephraim shall be his firstborn; them he would gather together, and
upon them he would place his holy Priesthood, and them he would use as
his servants and as his instruments to push the people together from
the ends of the earth. For Moses, while blessing the tribe of
Joseph before his death, says: "His horns are like the horns of
unicorns, and with them shall he push the people together from the
ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the
thousands of Manasseh." Speaking of the tribe of Judah, Jacob says:
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come." Now, the motto or insignia of Judah was
the lion, while the unicorn was that of the house of Ephraim; and in
the days of Rehoboam the kingdom of Israel was divided; and Jeroboam
an Ephraimite, reigned in Samaria over the ten tribes, whilst Rehoboam
continued to reign over the kingdom of Judah, which included the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and fragments of other tribes that
remained with them. After a time the ten tribes so far corrupted their
way that the Lord gave them into the hands of the enemy. The king of
Assyria who made war against them and carried them captive into his
own land; he took the nobility and the more wealthy portions of the
people, and planted them in distant portions of his empire far to the
eastward, and sent back his own people to marry with the poor that he
had left in the land of Israel, and thus grew up that mongrel race
that were afterwards known as the Samaritans. But Esdras tells us that
Israel after they were led into captivity, planted in the far east of
the Assyrian Empire, took counsel among themselves and began to
repent, and they said among themselves in council: Let us call upon
the Lord and see if he will not lead us into a country where we may
dwell together, and keep the commandments and judgments which he gave
unto our fathers, which we never kept in our own land. And God heard
their prayers, and the Lord led them and they journeyed, a year and
a-half's journey to what he called the north country, and God divided
the waters before them, and he planted them in a land by themselves;
and the Book of Mormon clearly shows, in that notable parable about
the olive tree, that God has planted branches of the house of Israel
not only on the American continent, but on other distant portions of
the globe, where he nourishes them. And our Savior tells us in one of
his graphic parables, that the kingdom of heaven is likened to leaven
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Now, one
of these measures of meal in which the leaven was deposited, was the
people of Israel in Palestine; another measure of meal in which the
leaven was deposited was upon this American continent; and a third
measure of meal in which the leaven was deposited was among the tribes
of Israel whom the Father led out of the land into a country yet to be
discovered. And this leaven was to work until the whole should be
leavened. And this the Savior clearly explained in that saying to the
Jews: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold
and one shepherd." When the Savior showed himself to the Nephites on
the American continent, he quoted that saying and said unto the
Nephites that they were the other sheep referred to. And he still told
them that he had other sheep that were not of that fold either, to
whom also he would show himself, and among whom he would minister. And
the time will come that they shall be gathered into one, when
there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And he commanded the people
that they should write the things which he taught them; both those at
Jerusalem and those upon this continent were commanded to write what
they saw and heard. And he gave the Nephites to understand that when
he should show himself to the other tribes of Israel, whom the Father
had led away, that they also should write; and the time should come
when the Jews would have the writings of the Nephites, and the
Nephites would have the words and writings of the Jews; and both the
Jews and Nephites would have the writings of the Ten Tribes, and the
Ten lost Tribes would also have the writings of the Jews and Nephites;
nay, more, that the time would come when all the people of God should
be gathered together in one; and the things they write shall also be
gathered together in one; and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd, and then shall we see the three measures of meal all
leavened together. And let me say, there is no power in the United
States, neither is there in Europe, nor in the whole world that can
hinder the accomplishment of the purposes of the Almighty, which are
outlined in the predictions of the Prophets.
The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the everlasting
Gospel—the record of the ancient Nephites, translated by the Prophet Joseph
Smith, by the gift and power of God in him—that we may come to a
knowledge of the principles of the Gospel in simplicity and in purity.
It makes clear many dark sayings of the Jewish Scriptures, as they
have come down to us. It sheds a flood of light over the Bible; it
contains the key of knowledge and understanding; and it is more
precious than all the works of modern times, and is worth more. And
the youth of Israel should read and become familiar with it, and
compare it with the Jewish Scriptures; there is more to be learned out
of it, my young friends, that is calculated to prove of real worth and
blessing to the soul, than can be acquired at all the universities,
colleges and schools of science and of modern times. And in saying
this, I say nothing prejudicial to science, nor anything in the least
degree to discourage the acquisition of science, but the more forcibly
to impress upon the minds of the youth of Israel everywhere not to
neglect those things which are the weightier matters—the Holy
Scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the revelations of God as contained
in the Doctrine and Covenants; for the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. And a knowledge of the only true and living God,
and of his purposes concerning us and our being upon the earth, the
object of our creation, and that which is designed concerning us, both
in time and in eternity, is of paramount importance, and of greater
value than anything that can be bestowed upon mortal man. The greatest
of all the gifts of God is the gift of eternal life; and eternal life
is only attainable by a true knowledge of God, through obedience to
his laws and commandments. Therefore, study the Scriptures; acquaint
yourselves with the Book of Mormon. Read them in your Sunday Schools;
read them at your firesides; let them always be found upon your
tables, and never permit your families to be without them; and if you
are poor sell your coat and buy them; for you are far better without a
coat than without the word of God to teach your children. Let our
Bishops, and Elders and Teachers attend to it; and enquire
whether you are surrounded by those milk-and-water Saints who love
fine dress more than the love of God, and who love to furnish their
children with musical instruments and toys, and who neglect to furnish
them the words of life; if you are, labor with them and teach them in
all sincerity the duties of a Latter-day Saint, a Saint of the living
God; and God will bless you in your labors, and you will have more joy
in doing this than anything else you could do.
I started to give briefly the views which I entertain with regard to
the providences of God that are overruling all things. Our Christian
statesmen have mistaken the spirit of Mormonism; they have not
understood it. Our Christian persecutors, of the various religious
sects, would urge on our American statesmen to persecute this people,
but they know not what they are doing. True, as someone said here
yesterday, they do know when they insert in the oath which has been
specially prepared for our people, that extraordinary clause, "in the
marriage relation," that they mean to exclude from the polls honorable
men and women who are in every respect justly entitled to take part in
the affairs of the government of this land; but to do so they must
deny their religion and abandon their wives, or wives their husbands,
and they betake themselves to the streets as common prostitutes, and
they mean to include at the polls, whoremongers and adulterers. This
is well understood, and when this form of oath was adopted by Governor
Murray and the Commissioners for special purposes, they knew what they
were doing. And so did the Congress of the United States know what
they were doing in passing the Edmunds Bill, for when an amendment was
introduced making that proposed law binding upon adulterers, it was
quickly disposed of; and one gentleman who was sitting near Captain
Hooper at the time, remarked, that if that were to carry, it would
leave the House of Representatives without a quorum. Such an
amendment, of course, did not express the mind of our American
statesmen and that of hireling priests; they needed adulterers,
whoremongers, and fornicators, to carry out the vote in Utah over the
Mormons. I thank God that they have, as a matter of political
necessity, been compelled to hoist their true colors and nail them to
their mast, so that all honorable men of their party cannot mistake
it. They ignore it; they close their eyes to it; they do not want to
talk about it; they are self-condemned; and the great party of boasted
moral progress is weighed in the balance and found wanting. It is not
morality they seek; it is not public purity they wish to maintain.
The decision of the heavens is already passed upon them, and they will
go down like a mighty millstone cast into the depths of the sea. They
cannot hold the reigns of government of this American soil, only to
work out their own destruction. God spoke by the mouth of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, in a sermon delivered by the Prophet at Nauvoo a short
time before his death, on the powers and policy of this government of
the United States and the freedom and liberty secured in the American
Constitution, that it was broad and ample in its provisions, extending
human freedom to every soul of man and protecting them in every
natural right; and he classed among others the Jew, the Muhammadan,
and the oppressed of every nation who desired to find an
asylum under the broad folds of the Constitution. Yes, the Patriarchs
as well as the Muhammadans, and their descendants who may believe in
plural marriage, may come with their three or four wives, as the case
may be, and enjoy freedom and liberty dear to all. Referring at the
same time to those narrow, contracted, bigoted, sectarian laws of some
of the States against plural marriage, he said they were not in
harmony with the Constitution nor the purposes of heaven; that God had
caused our fathers to establish this Constitution, to maintain the
liberty of all people of every creed, and it will become the duty of
all lovers of freedom throughout the land to maintain those principles
of human freedom; but, says one, are we not between the upper and
nether millstone; shall we not be ground into fine powder? Just wait
and see. As for myself, I feel as calm as a summer's morning; I have
the utmost assurance in my heart that God reigns; that he overrules in
the armies of heaven and of earth; that he overrules presidents,
senators and governors, and that they have no power only that which is
given of our Father in heaven. He curtails their power when it pleases
him; he pulls down and he sets up, and he over rules all things for the
good of those who fear him and keep his commandments; and whatever
persecution there may be in store for us, whatever trying scenes we
may have to pass through, as a people, it will only prove us, and
redound to his glory and to the sanctification of his people. It is
necessary, peradventure, that the hypocrites in Zion become afraid,
and fearfulness surprise them; it is necessary, perhaps, that many
that cannot be restrained by the persuasion of Presidents, nor
Bishops, but who have crowded themselves forward following the spirit
of the world rather than the Spirit of the Almighty, and "who have
done despite to the spirit of grace," and lost, peradventure, wives
and children, and if they have not they will; it is needful that such
should be restrained, and that fear seize hold of them, and all others
who are prompted by sordid motives; for the wicked flee when no man
pursueth; but the righteous are bold as lions in the fear of their
God, and like Daniel will never shirk from duty. But in all this God
will overrule the wrath of the wicked to the best good of those who
fear and serve him, and the residue of their wrath will he restrain.
God bless the people, in the name of Jesus, Amen.