I feel very grateful indeed for the happy and peaceful circumstances
with which we are surrounded this day, and I cannot help realizing how
different they are to those which surrounded us a year ago. The
pressure from the outside world at that time was very great, and the
power of him who has been an oppressor from the beginning was
exercised throughout this nation for the hurt of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. But when perils have threatened we have
learned to appeal to the invisible forces of heaven against the
visible forces of earth, and in no age of the world with which I am
acquainted has the right ever failed to succeed if those who
maintained it were directed, sustained and upheld by the power of God
our eternal Father. When men make it their special mission to contend
against this great work, they do not realize that God is a power, they
cannot comprehend that exercise of faith that turns aside the shafts
of our enemies and delivers us from the snares which shrewd
politicians and wicked and ungodly priests lay to entrap the people.
How well I recollect a conversation I had about a year ago, with a
very thoughtful man, a man connected with the Church, but who at times
is given to view things from the natural standpoint. It was shortly
after the arrival of the Commissioners who came to Utah to administer
the provisions of the Edmunds' law. This brother was not ignorant of
the exertions which has been made throughout the Union to secure the
enactment of that and other proscriptive measures, nor was he ignorant
of the intent of leading politicians in the Republican party to forge
chains with which to bind us, while depriving us of our liberties. He
understood full well the means which had been used; he was not
ignorant of the tearful waves of prejudice which had swept every State
in the Union. Realizing what the intentions of the wicked were, and
understanding the mighty power of a mighty nation, he felt exercised
and desired to know if something could not be done to compromise the
question; in other words; if it was not possible to submit to the
President and Cabinet certain propositions by which the people might
be enabled to maintain their rights and liberties. I have not
forgotten what my reflections were while listening to his
remarks, and I remember the reply which I was led to make. It was
this: We had been gathered from the nations of the earth. We came to
these mountains to serve God without respect to the thoughts or
suffrages of other people. We came here to maintain liberty of
conscience and freedom of worship, the provisions of the Constitution
of our common country, and not to compromise them upon any terms
whatever; that I knew of no earthly wisdom upon which we could safely
rely in maintaining those rights; that if the religious, political and
social affairs of the people were given over to the management of a
hundred of the wisest uninspired men to be found in Zion, they would
utterly fail to accomplish the purposes of God, though they might in
their efforts to please man, sacrifice liberty and the freedom of
conscience, violate the sacred provisions of the Constitution, and
make those whom they sought to serve pliant slaves, unworthy of the
blessings which of right belong to a free people; that the adoption of
such a policy would, within six months, place us in such a condition
of confusion and misery that God alone could relieve our distress;
that if, on the other hand, we would exercise faith in Him, live our
religion, be prayerful and humble, He would bring us off, as He has
done many times before, victorious. Can we not see how the Lord has
stayed the passions of men and made their wrath to praise Him? Let us
reflect upon the difference between the power exercised by the great
leading light of the Republican party during the passage of the
Edmunds' bill in the Senate of the United States a little over a year
ago, and the exercise of the influence of the same man a year later.
Senator Edmunds, when he first called up his bill was, in the Senate,
almost supreme. By the power of his intellect and the fierce invective
of his tongue, he ruled, as it were, absolute master, and his bill,
unconstitutional and unjust, passed the Senate with but little
opposition. Few statesmen cared then to measure arms with him, but
mark the results when God did so a year later.
Had the faith of this people changed? Did we believe more in the laws
of God in March, 1882, than we did in March 1883? Certainly not. Why
then was Senator Edmunds unable to carry out his views and measures
regarding this people in the latter as he had succeeded in doing in
the former year? Because God is a force in the world and its affairs,
whether men acknowledge it or not. His power always has been, and
always will be greater than man's power.
Men may think what they please and sneer at what they may be pleased
to call fanaticism, but this I know, shame and confusion was the part
of Senator Edmunds when, after six hours vain endeavor to force the
passage of another infamous measure against us, he stood up in the
Senate and confessed that he could see by the ruling of the presiding
officer, and by the votes of his opponents, that it was impossible to
carry the measure which he had in hand, and therefore moved for an
adjournment. Was his defeat, chagrin and shame accomplished by the
wisdom of man? We think not. We at least are willing, as we always
have been, to acknowledge the hand of God in these things. God not
only holds the destinies of nations in His hands, but He holds also
the destiny of individual man. He can humble those who measure arms
with Him, as He has done many times in the past. We fear not
the power, nor do we gloat over the fall of man, public or private,
but we have learned by experience that when they rise up and contend
against this people and the principles of liberty and right, God marks
them, and their course thenceforth is not upward but downward. In
March, 1882, when in Washington, D.C., in company with other brethren,
visiting Brother George Q. Cannon, then our honored delegate, I
remember the sentiments expressed by some members of the Republican
party. They would come privately and say: "We view this bill—referring
to the Edmunds' bill—as infamous in its measures; we can see that it
is unconstitutional, that it seeks to rob a whole people of their
political rights. But our profession is that of politics; we have no
other business, and numerous petitions are coming here daily from our
constituents, praying us, commanding us, to pass some law for the
suppression of "Mormonism." Now what shall we do? If we comply not
with their demands our constituents will, at future elections, reject
us at the polls." Was not a similar argument used by the Jews, when
they said, "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe in him, and
the Romans shall come and take away our place and nation?" Fearing
that, they crucified him, and what was the result? The very thing they
sought to save was that which was speedily lost. When weighed in the
balance they were found corrupt, cruel, vindictive, murderous; unable
to maintain principle, defend justice, or do what they knew to be
right. A disposition to oppress swayed their hearts and tyranny marked
their actions to such an extent, that God rejected them as a people,
scattered to the four winds and made of them, in the midst of nations,
a hiss and a byword.
In this connection let anyone who feels disposed, take the pains and
trouble to look over the Congressional Record and see how those who
were willing to sacrifice principle at the shrine of everything that
was wrong, willing to sacrifice the liberties of a people poor and
oppressed, examine and see how many of that character have been
returned. Have not more than fifty percent of them been rejected at
the polls? Ask the democrats how this has come about, and why it has
come about, and they cannot tell you. Ask the Republicans and they
cannot tell you. But ask God, who holds the destinies of nations and
peoples in His hand, and He can tell you. On the other hand examine
the record of those who fearlessly stood up in defense of
Constitutional liberty, maintained inviolate their oath of office,
sustained the right, and were true to themselves. They too felt the
pressure of priestly inflamed public sentiment, but bowed not to its
tyrannical demands. They too realized the dangers and perils that
might beset their efforts for future recognition at the polls, but
having moral courage they planted themselves on principle, not
prejudice, and their constituents, in a great measure, have endorsed
their policy and sustained their heroic conduct. If I have been
correctly informed, a much greater percentage of those who sustained
right on the "Mormon" question in the 47th, have been returned to the
48th Congress, than of those who pursued the opposite policy. We
should entertain no fear of men or nations, for they cannot prevent
the Almighty from accomplishing His purposes, or bringing to pass His
decrees. History, so far as I have been able to trace, no
where records success gained by hatred and persecution over men
pledged to principle, justice and truth.
Mens' convictions, religious beliefs and just religious practices
cannot be persecuted out of them. The nearest approach to success in
this direction was, perhaps, the massacre of St. Bartholomew in
France, wherein seventy thousand defenseless Huguenots perished
miserably, victims of the malice and cruelty of Roman Catholicism.
That shocking butchery of men, women and children was acquiesced in
by Charles IX, then King of France, and when his ally Philip III, of
Spain heard of it he laughed, the only time he was known to laugh in
his life. The Pope of Rome illuminated the eternal city, caused medals
to be struck off, mass to be performed, and named Charles "the
defender of the faith," in commemoration of those horrid deeds of
blood and misery.
Notwithstanding the Pontifical approval bestowed upon the king for that
seventy thousandfold murder, he was till his death daily and nightly
haunted by the thought of his victims until his misery and remorse
caused, it is said, drops of blood to ooze through the pores of his
skin. Through these cruelties the Huguenots received a fearful shock,
but the consciousness of men continued to assert independence and the
right to worship God untrammeled continued to grow. The freedom we now
enjoy is but the fruit of the struggle for right, which persecution
ultimately solidified, united and made strong in the broad, deep
foundations of the freest nation on earth; thereby preparing the way
for the mission of Joseph the Prophet. Much improvement had been made,
but in relig ious matters Joseph found the people insincere, and the
practices of the Christian world inconsistent and unsound. Guided by
the light of heaven he struck a death blow at the idolatrous worship
of a bodiless, passionless God, which the teachings of false priests
had erected in the imagination of the people. In doing so he disturbed
a sea of malice which since has known no rest. But though that angry
sea may roll fierce billows of persecution, skepticism, infidelity and
priestly hypocrisy must yield, for Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the
Almighty came as a forerunner and teacher of true faith in God that
cannot be conquered; it will prevail. God's kingdom will rise and
shine. They say we are endeavoring to establish a theocratic
government. What is theocracy? The kingdom and government of God. Who
will contend against it—will the Latter-day Saints? No. It is our duty
to contend for it, and to assist to build it up. It is a government of
purity. It is a government of the people, and for the people; it
maintains liberty and right, and is always opposed to oppression and
misrule. I would like to dwell upon the subject, but time will not
permit, as I desire to touch upon another at present, of deep interest
to us.
We have been called out from the nations of the earth to serve the
Lord. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." In this connection I
desire to touch upon a few practices existing among us that are not
pleasing in the sight of God. Intemperance is one of them; the use of
alcohol, the use of intoxicating drinks that fevers the blood and
maddens the brain, incites to sin, debases man, destroys his better
judgment, drives the Spirit of God from his heart, and renders
the daughters of Zion unsafe in his company. What is the condition of
the Christian nations in this respect today? Two hundred thousand men
and women crowd the poorhouses, prisons and asylums of Great Britain
alone. Seventy-five percent of them the wretched victims of
alcoholism. Can we think a business legitimate and honorable that
deprives a hundred and fifty thousand men and women of comfortable
homes, drives them wild, and sends them as driveling idiots and
paupers to the asylums and jails of a Christian nation, which derives
a revenue from the liquor traffic of $150,000,000 per annum, and finds
even that enormous sum inadequate to meet the expenses entailed by
reason of its use? We cannot consistently so consider it.
Aside from the debauchery, misery, ruin and death caused by the use of
intoxicants, the waste in Great Britain is simply startling.
Seventy-five million bushels of grain—equal at our present rate of
production to what Utah would yield in forty years—is annually
consumed in the manufacture of liquors there. The inhabitants of
Britain expend yearly for intoxicating drinks over $640,000,000.
During the past seven years they have expended for the same purpose
more than sufficient to cancel their national debt, or build a new
house for every family in the kingdom, and schoolhouses in which to
educate all their children.
Had the money expended there for liquor during the past half century
been invested in five percent interest bearing securities, it would
now be equal to the entire capitalized wealth of the nation, including
her cities, railroads, ships, factories, mines, farms, fields and
gardens. And yet in view of these figures, taken from parliamentary
returns, we hear of the cry of want and complaints of oppression. Do
the people not oppress themselves in the use—excessive use of things
that weaken and corrupt their bodies and darken their minds?
Is the condition of our own nation in this regard much better? But
little if any. In 1882, according to official reports, the people of
the United States paid nearly twice as much for liquor as they did for
bread. More than the entire value of the products of all our woolen,
cotton, boot and shoe factories. An amount equal to seventy percent
of the wages earned in all the manufacturing institutions of the
country, during the same period. Three hundred millions of dollars,
more than was paid for Governmental, state, territorial, county, city
and school taxes combined. Enough to school the children of a nation
numbering 300,000,000, or six times as numerous as ours for the same
year.
The nation consumes in liquor the value of all the public and private
libraries of the country every sixty days, and spends annually nine
times as much for drink as for printing and publishing.
Now what can we say for the people of Utah? In the main they are
temperate, but there is room for much improvement. Here, I have no
means for acquiring exact knowledge from statistics, but I venture the
assertion that more money is spent even in Utah for alcohol than is
expended for the education of our children, or the support of the
Territorial government. Do we not expend more means in the purchase of
stimulants than we pay to sustain the Church and Kingdom of God on
earth? And in doing so are we not, though perhaps thoughtlessly, undermining the virtue of our boys, and the chastity of our
girls? Do not inebriates and harlots usually go hand in hand, and
saloons and houses of ill repute grow up side by side?
Had we the means of ascertaining the facts I am satisfied we should
find that nine out of every ten cases of the lapse of virtue among us,
could be traced to the use and influence of liquor of some kind. I am
led to this conclusion by positive knowledge in a few sad cases that
have come under my personal observation. Again, the love of liquor is
transmissible. No man, therefore, can be a true servant of God while
entailing misfortune and misery—perhaps decrepitude and idiocy upon
his posterity. If any among us cannot control their appetite for
drink, at least let them not transmit their thirst as a heritage to
their children, who should be begotten in purity and brought forth
untrammeled by unnatural and debasing appetites that tend to the lust
of the flesh. A man addicted to intemperance cannot subject himself to
the will of God, nor can he govern his passions to the sanctification
of his body, failing in which he cannot reasonably expect to govern
others in righteousness for their salvation. How then, are such worthy
to stand at the head of families in Zion? To me few sights are more
painful than to see a sorrow stricken wife bending over the wash tub
and working like a slave to support herself and children; and perhaps
her drunken husband, who warms his miserable, useless body on the
sunny side of walls frequented by others of his kind. If we could gaze
through the sorrowful eyes down into the pain-stricken hearts of such
wives—and there are some even in Zion of that kind—we should hardly
find a blessing there for those who lift the tempting cup to the lips
of their fallen husbands. It is true the liquor traffic, among
Christians, is regulated by law and disposed of generally under
license, but that does not make it an honorable business, nor does it
in any way, so far as I can see, restrict the evils that follow its
use. To regulate and license the manufacture and indiscriminate sale
of whiskey may, in some places, be a necessary and unavoidable evil,
but such laws as moral and reformatory agencies have certainly proven
failures. The poor, half-starved children, depraved men, and ruined
women that nightly visit the gin palaces of London, Liverpool, New
York, Chicago, and other great cities, speak unmistakably of failure.
The crowded prisons, poorhouses, insane asylums, testify of failure.
The gambler who resorts to forgery as a means with which to retrieve
his fortune, the sot that wallows in the gutter and blasphemes the
name of God, the raving maniac whose reason drink has dethroned, the
murderer who took the life of his brother while intoxicated and dies
with a curse upon his lips as he falls through the trap of the
gallows, all testify of the woe, utter failure and irreparable ruin
wrought by the use of alcohol, made easy of access by the regulations
of law.
Let me, in the name of the Lord, urge the Saints to abstain from its
use. It weakens the body and impairs the mind. When the highest order
of physical excellence is required, science interdicts its use. Men
trained for great bodily effort and long endurance are forced to be
temperate or be defeated. Those who compete for collegiate or literary
honors understand the value of tem perance. In view of these
facts, the Elder, High Priest or Seventy who is addicted to the use of
liquor, is unfit to perform the labors which God requires of him. Is
it possible that we as Elders of Israel, at home and abroad, cannot
see the results of these things? Do we not know that like begets like?
Do we not know that men whose blood is fevered and whose judgment is
blinded are not fit to multiply and replenish, not fit to be in that
holy law of matrimony ordained and made sacred by the Almighty? Let
the world talk about and deride the institution of celestial marriage.
What concerns us more in Utah is the fact that there are not men
enough who understand the laws of life, and who stand pure and holy,
upon the higher basis of that sacred law, to become the husbands of
all the pure and today marriageable women in Zion. God foresaw what
the nations would do. We were told yesterday by Elder Erastus Snow
that men of great influence in the world were preaching the doctrine
of human limitation, which leads to murder. And yet these very men
will preach morality to you and me. While killing their own offspring,
and urging others to do it, they tell us we shall not obey the laws of
God pertaining to increase. I say we will. And upon natural
principles, upon scientific principles. The boys and girls who live
according to the law of the Lord will become the head and not the
foot. They will have stronger bodies, stronger minds, and by the force
of the "survival of the fittest," will, eventually, under the
direction of divine revelation, govern the affairs of the world. It
has been so predicted; God has decreed it, who will prevent it? Let us
therefore unite in turning our faces against the evil practices so
prevalent in the world. Let us begin to understand and live according
to the laws of nature, realizing that violations thereof bring
penalties which sometimes are transmitted to the third or fourth
generation. In the transmission of life God has devolved upon His
creations the highest and most delicate functions, and which, if
abused, entail misery and often premature death. God has His glory in
the perpetuation of life. With wonder and admiration, we behold life
everywhere. We see it struggling in the vegetable kingdom and
breathing in the animal creations. Cut down and trample under foot the
noxious weed, and yet by the law that governs its increase it
struggles upwards, and unless utterly destroyed matures seed for new
life, and thereby perpetuates itself. All nature responds to the
eternal law of increase. Man, being prompted by him who rebelled in
heaven, alone seeks to defeat life, and bring confusion and death.
While he and his emissaries strive through the commission of horrid
crimes, even murder, to limit human increase, let us as Saints
sanctify body and soul being pure in heart and mind, a fit lineage
through which noble spirits may possess tabernacles unto the glory of
God the Father of spirits. Let fathers and mothers in Zion beget
children, as Samuel the ancient prophet was begotten, and I tell you
there is no power on earth or in hell that can stop the progress of
this people. We will increase and spread abroad until Zion shall arise
and shine, and the Kingdom of God shall have supremacy and sway
forever. Amen.