Brother Woodruff in the course of his remarks made the assertion that
Joseph Smith was the greatest Prophet that has ever lived of whom we
have any knowledge, save and except Jesus Christ Himself. The world
would say that he was an impostor; and the Lord said that his name
should be had for good and for evil among all the nations of the
earth, and this much, at least, so far as his name has become known,
has been fulfilled. This prediction was made through the Prophet
Joseph Smith himself when he was an obscure youth, and there was but
little prospect of his name ever becoming known beyond the village
where he lived. It was at an early period of his life and at the begin ning of the work that this prophecy or revelation was given,
and it has been truly verified. Today there is not another man,
perhaps, who has figured in religion whose name is so widely known,
and the report of whom has gone so far and is so widespread among
the nations as that of Joseph Smith. In connection with the work of
which he was the instrument in the hands of God of laying the
foundation, his name is spoken of in nearly every civilized nation
upon the globe for good or for evil. Where it is spoken of for good,
it is by those who have had the privilege of hearing the Gospel which
has come to the earth through him and who have been sufficiently
honest and humble to receive the same; they speak of him with a
knowledge which they have received by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, through obedience to the principles which he taught as a
Prophet and as an inspired man. They speak to his praise, to his
honor, and they hold his name in honorable remembrance. They revere
him and they love him as they love no other man, because they know he
was the chosen instrument in the hands of the Almighty of restoring
the Gospel of life and salvation unto them, of opening their
understanding of the future, of lifting the veil of eternity as it were
from before their eyes. Those who have received the principles which
he promulgated know they pertain not only to their own salvation,
happiness and peace, spiritual and temporal, but to the welfare,
happiness, salvation and exaltation of their kindred who have died
without a knowledge of the truth. The work in which Joseph Smith was
engaged was not confined to this life alone, but it pertains as well
to the life to come and to the life that has been. In other words, it
relates to those that have lived upon the earth, to those that are
living and to those that shall come after us. It is not something
which relates to man only while he tabernacles in the flesh, but to
the whole human family from eternity to eternity. Consequently, as I
have said, Joseph Smith is held in reverence, his name is honored;
tens of thousands of people thank God in their heart and from the
depths of their souls for the knowledge the Lord has restored to the
earth through him, and therefore they speak well of him and bear
testimony of his worth. And this is not confined to a village, nor to
a State, nor to a nation, but extends to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people where the Gospel, up to the present, has been preached—in
America, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and
upon the Islands of the sea. And the Book of Mormon, which Joseph
Smith was the instrument in the hands of God of bringing forth to this
generation, has been translated into the German, French, Danish,
Swedish, Welsh, Hawaiian, Hindostani, Spanish and Dutch languages,
and this book will be translated into other languages, for according
to the predictions it contains, and according to the promises of the
Lord through Joseph Smith, it is to be sent unto every nation and
kindred and people under the whole heavens, until all the sons and
daughters of Adam shall have the privilege of hearing the Gospel as it
has been restored to the earth in the dispensation of the fullness of
times.
The world presume that we have not received a knowledge of the truth.
Those who are in ignorance in regard to the character, life and labors of Joseph Smith, who have never read his revelations or studied
or investigated his claims to divine authority and are ignorant of his
mission, revile him, sneer at his name, and ridicule his claims to
prophetic inspiration, and call him all impostor. Jesus was also
called an impostor in His day, except by a few that hearkened to His
instruction, and believed His testimony. The great majority of mankind
then living who knew of Christ, deemed Him an impostor, and considered
him worthy to be put to death; precisely the same feeling existed
towards Joseph Smith.
The disciples of Jesus Christ anciently were regarded in the same
light as their Master, the Savior; so it is not at all surprising that
the people of the world today, who know not the truth, should
pronounce Joseph Smith an impostor and try to ridicule the doctrines
which he taught; but in so doing they make themselves ridiculous, for
they know little or nothing about them; indeed, in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred where the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints—which
are no other than the doctrines which were taught by the Savior
himself or contained in the Bible—are ridiculed and pronounced false
and evil, they are so pronounced by a class of people who, being
ignorant of, or willfully perverting the truth, build aerial castles in
order that they may tear them down, or "make a man of straw" to shoot
at so that they can create a great noise and excitement about the
"Mormons," and thus we are often charged by those who abuse us and
write and preach against us with believing and practicing the most
absurd things—things which no Latter-day Saint ever dreamt of
believing or accepting as a principle of his faith. As I have said, in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the Latter-day Saints are accused
by their enemies of believing doctrines which they do not believe, and
which are not the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints at all. They
accuse us of every abominable thing. They call us murderers; they say
we are immoral, ignorant, superstitious; they call us dupes, they say
we are deceived, that we are enslaved by the Priesthood; that we are
fettered and in bondage. Now, is it true that the Latter-day Saints
are ignorant? If so, then I am sorry for the great majority of
mankind, for millions of them are in a far worse condition than we
are, in this respect. I will say here, and not without good and
sufficient proof to back it, that the Latter-day Saints will compare
favorably with any other people upon the face of the earth for good,
sound common sense, and every other good thing. Hence, to say that the
Latter-day Saints are an ignorant people is saying only what may
truthfully be said of the whole world. Taking the best evidence that
we have to prove the facts, the statistics of the schools as compared
with the statistics of the schools in the various States and
Territories and of European countries, it appears that the people of
Utah stand in the front ranks in relation to education, and are in
advance of many of their neighbors and stand equal with many who have
far greater advantages than they have. Yet we do not boast of being
very intelligent; and only claim the credit which belongs to us, that
we stand on a par with our neighbors and with our fellow citizens
throughout the United States; and for that matter, will compare
favorably with any people on the face of the globe.
But we are called an "immoral people." Well, is the world so
very moral? Are our accusers so very pure and holy and so extremely
righteous that they should accuse us of being immoral? Consistency
would demand that he that is without guilt should throw the first
stone. But it is a fact that in our case our bitterest accusers—and
this has been well demonstrated hundreds and perhaps thousands of
times—are themselves reeking with corruption. Generally those who are
the most immoral themselves are the first to make the charge of
immorality against the Latter-day Saints! But I deny the charge in
toto, and I assert, without fear of successful contradiction—that
there is not an equal number of people upon the face of the globe
today who present to the world as much pure and simple morality and
virtue as do the people called Latter-day Saints. In other words,
there is not a more moral people upon the face of the earth today
than the Latter-day Saints, taking them all in all. Not but what there
are some "black sheep" among them. But who can fathom the depths of
crime and corruption which exist in all the great cities of the world?
You may go to the rural districts throughout the United States, and
gather therefrom the most virtuous of our country to the number that
are gathered together as Latter-day Saints, and I will venture to say
that there are half as many children murdered among them annually,
either before or after their birth, by their own mothers or fathers,
as are born to the Latter-day Saints in the same period. The
Latter-day Saints are proverbial for NOT murdering their children.
They have hosts of them, and they do not try to destroy them neither
before nor after birth, but endeavor to rear them to manhood and
womanhood, that they may teach them the principles of the Gospel of
Christ—the highest code of morals known, that they may be able to bear
off the kingdom of God upon the earth, and to regenerate the world.
This is the object for which the Latter-day Saints are raising
children, that God may have a pure and a righteous people. How much
time Latter-day Saints neglect their opportunities or privileges or
fall short of their duties in regard to training their children, and
instructing them in the principles of morality, virtue, purity and
uprightness, is difficult to say; but of this I feel sure that while
they are the best people that I know of there is great room for
improvement in this direction.
But, it is said, the immorality of the Latter-day Saints consists in
their marrying more wives than one! We are not charged with the crime
of frequenting houses of ill fame, of fostering illicit intercourse,
of infidelity to our wives—of child murder, of drunkenness, profanity,
dishonesty, cruelty or indolence, or if we are the charge is utterly
false, but our great offense is in marrying our wives and protecting
them and our children as all honorable men should. God forbid that I
should undertake to compare the honorable marriage of the Latter-day
Saints with the debauchery and sexual crimes of our accusers! If our
actions and our faith in regard to marriage are called wicked and
immoral by them, in the name of God and humanity what will you call
the crimes of those that accuse us? There is no adequate term in the
dictionary of the English language with which to make a comparison,
hence "Mormon" plural marriage cannot be degraded to the level of a
comparison with the sexual crimes and iniquities of the world; there is no similitude between them. One is the antipode of the
other—one is virtuous, pure and honorable, and the other is corrupt,
treacherous and debasing to the utmost degree. Our system of marriage
promotes life, purity, innocence, vitality, health, increase and
longevity, while the other engenders disease, disappointment, misery
and premature death—that is the difference. Hence there is no
resemblance for they are not allied to each other at all.
The people of Utah are charged with having committed terrible murders
and robberies. "Danites" or "Destroying Angels" are talked about
by
sensational writers and believed in by the uninformed. Now, what is
the fact? Utah stands head and shoulders above every other Territory
in the United States so far as the crime of murder is concerned. You
cannot find a western Territory or State within the United States
where there has not been a hundred percent more murders, lynching
and lawlessness than can be found in the annals of Utah. Take the
State of California, the State of Nevada, and all the surrounding
Territories, and it will be found that there has been less violation
of law, fewer murders and less lynching in Utah than in any one of
these from the beginning. There is no man that knows anything about
the history of the western States and Territories for the last thirty
years but knows this to be absolutely the fact. But because a few
horse thieves and murderers have per chance been summarily dealt with
by officers of the law—who were the appointees of the United States,
and acting under the authority of the parent government and the laws
of the Territory—the whole people of Utah are accused of being
murderers. I attended a Methodist revival meeting held in a big tent
in this city a few years ago by some itinerant preachers, who had
spent but a few days in Utah, and were totally ignorant of her
history, and it fairly made one's blood run cold to hear them relate
their pious suspicions of the horrible murders that had been committed
in Utah. They thought, or pretended to believe, that if the rocks of
these mountain gorges could only speak, that nearly every rock could
some terrible tale unfold of horrible secret murder and rapine. The
most damnable nonsense that was ever uttered by man. But this is the
sort of preaching that is generally done against the Latter-day Saints
by this class of men, and as I have said, those who denounce the
doctrines of this people as heresies and as abominable, in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred know nothing whatever of the facts. If the
Latter-day Saints had not been Latter-day Saints, if it had not been
for their religion, and their faith in God and in His omnipotence to
deliver them from the power of their enemies; or if the Territory of
Utah had been inhabited by the same number of people composed of the
various sects and denominations of Christianity, so-called, and the
one-thousandth part of the infamies that have been perpetrated upon
this people had been perpetrated upon them, many of the perpetrators
of these infamies would have been long ago summoned to their final
abode by "Judge Lynch." But the patience of the Latter-day Saints, and
their willingness to leave their cause in the hands of God has spared
them from shedding the blood of their enemies, and preserved them from
violence or harm. Men that have not deserved to live, and would not
have been suffered to live in any other community under the
same circumstances, have equal protection with the very best citizens,
and no man would harm a hair of their heads. We have too much good
sense to make martyrs of such characters, and consequently they are
left alone to pursue their nefarious course. Sometimes it seems rather
hard to bear it, but it is the best to do so, I suppose. We are
engaged in the work of the Lord, and He will bear it off victorious.
Let us return to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was accused of nearly
everything that was vile, by his enemies, who, as is well known by the
Latter-day Saints, were generally entirely ignorant of his true
character and mission. What did Joseph Smith do? Was human blood found
upon his hands? No, verily no. He was innocent. Was he a slanderer and
vilifier? No, verily, he was not. Did he wrongfully and unjustly
accuse men of wickedness? No, he did not. Did he institute an order of
things that has proven injurious to the human family? Let the people
who have become acquainted with his doctrines, and with the
institutions which he established upon the earth and his own life's
labor answer. He was born December 23, 1805, in the State of Vermont.
His parents were American citizens, as had been their ancestors for
generations. In the Spring of 1820 he received the first supernatural
or heavenly manifestation. He was then fourteen years of age.
Ordinarily we do not expect a very great deal from a boy who is only
fourteen years of age, and it is not likely that a boy of that tender
age could have become very vicious or wicked, especially when he was
born and reared on a farm, apart from the corrupting vices of great
cities, and free from contact with the debasing influences of vile
associations. It is not likely that he spent many idle moments during
the working years of his life up to fourteen years of age; for his
father had to labor for his living and earn it from the soil by the
labor of his hands, being a poor man with a large family to support.
In 1820, as I have said, Joseph Smith received a revelation in which
he claimed that God had declared that He was about to restore the
ancient Gospel in its purity, and many other glorious things. In
consequence of this, Joseph Smith became very notorious in the
neighborhood where he resided, and people began to regard him with a
great deal of suspicion. He was at once called an impostor, and a few
years later he was styled by his enemies, "old Joe Smith." His fame
became known throughout the United States. He was called "a money
digger," and many other contemptuous things. If you will look at his
history, and at the character of his parents, and surroundings, and
consider the object of his life, you can discover how much consistency
there was in the charges brought against him. All this was done to
injure him. He was neither old nor "a money digger," nor an impostor,
nor in any manner deserving of the epithets that they applied to him.
He had never injured anybody, nor robbed anybody—he never did anything
for which he could be punished by the laws under which he lived. When
he was between 17 and 18 years of age, he received another heavenly
manifestation, and some great and glorious things were revealed to
him, and for four years subsequently he received visits from a
heavenly messenger. He did not claim he was in communication with
wicked men or demons from the lower regions. He claimed he was in communication with Moroni, one of the ancient Prophets who lived
upon this continent. He was a good man when he lived here and it is
not likely that he had become wicked since he went away. This
personage, he claimed, revealed to him the mind and will of the Lord,
and showed him the character of the great work that he, in the hands
of God, was to be instrumental in establishing in the earth when the
time should come. This was the labor that was performed by the angel
Moroni, during the four years intervening between 1823 and 1827. In
1827 he received from the hands of the angel Moroni, the gold plates
from which this book [Book of Mormon] was translated by him through
the inspiration of the Almighty, and the gift and power of God unto
him. I heard it read when I was a child, I have read it many times
since and I have asked myself scores of times, have you ever
discovered one precept, doctrine, or command within the lids of that
book that is calculated to injure anybody, to do harm to the world, or
that is in contradiction to the word of God as contained in the Bible?
And the answer invariably came, No, not one solitary thing; every
precept, doctrine, word of advice, prophecy, and indeed every word
contained within the lids of that book relating to the great plan of
human redemption and salvation is calculated to make bad men good, and
good men better. Did Joseph Smith, during the three years intervening
between 1827 and 1830, while he was laboring with his hands for a
scanty subsistence, dodging his enemies and trying to evade the grasp
of those who sought to destroy him and prevent the accomplishment of
his mission, struggling all the while against untold obstacles and
depressing embarrass ments to complete the translation of this book,
have much chance of becoming wicked or corrupt? I do not think he had.
When he had finished translating the book he was still only a boy, yet
in producing this book he has developed historical facts, prophecies,
revelations, predictions, testimonies and doctrines, precepts and
principles that are beyond the power and wisdom of the learned world
to duplicate or refute. Joseph Smith was an unlearned youth, so far as
the learning of the world is concerned. He was taught by the angel
Moroni. He received his education from above, from God Almighty, and
not from man-made institutions; but to charge him with being ignorant
would be both unjust and false; no man or combination of men possessed
greater intelligence than he, nor could the combined wisdom and
cunning of the age produce an equivalent for what he did. He was not
ignorant, for He was taught by Him from whom all intelligence flows.
He possessed a knowledge of God and of His law, and of eternity, and
mankind have been trying with all their learning, wisdom and power—and
not content with that, they have tried with the sword and cannon—to
extirpate from the earth the superstructure which Joseph Smith, by the
power of God, erected; but they have signally failed, and will yet be
overwhelmed by their efforts to destroy it.
Again, the world say that Joseph Smith was an indolent person. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized April 6th,
1830. Joseph Smith was martyred in Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of
June, 1844—14 years after the organization of the Church. What did he
accomplish in these 14 years? He opened up communication with the heavens in his youth. He brought forth the Book of Mormon, which
contains the fullness of the Gospel; and the revelations contained in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; restored the holy Priesthood unto
man; established and organized the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, an organization which has no parallel in all the
world, and which all the cunning and wisdom of men for ages has failed
to discover or produce and never could have done. He founded colonies
in the States of New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, and pointed
the way for the gathering of the Saints into the Rocky Mountains; sent
the Gospel into Europe and to the islands of the sea; founded the town
of Kirtland, Ohio, and there built a temple that cost about a quarter
of a million of dollars; he founded the city of Nauvoo in the midst of
persecution; gathered into Nauvoo and vicinity some 20,000 people, and
commenced the building of the temple there, which when completed cost
one million dollars; and in doing all this he had to contend against
the prejudices of the age, against relentless persecution, mobocracy
and vile calumny and slander, that were heaped upon him from all
quarters without stint or measure. In a word, he did more in from 14
to 20 years for the salvation of man than any other man save Jesus
only, that ever lived, and yet he was accused by his enemies of being
an indolent and worthless man! Where shall we go to find another man
that has accomplished the one thousandth part of the good that Joseph
Smith accomplished? Shall we go to the Rev. Mr. Beecher or Talmage, or
any of the great preachers of the day? What have they done for the
world with all their boasted intelligence, influence, wealth, and the
popular voice of the world in their favor! Joseph Smith had none of
their advantages, if these are advantages. And yet no man in the
nineteenth century, except Joseph Smith, has discovered to the world a
ray of light upon the keys and power of the Holy Priesthood or the
ordinances of the Gospel either for the living or the dead. Through
Joseph Smith, God has revealed many things which were kept hid from
the foundation of the world in fulfillment of the Prophets—and at no
time since Enoch walked the earth has the Church of God been organized
as perfectly as it is today—not excepting the dispensation of Jesus
and His disciples—or if it was we have no record of it. And this is
strictly in keeping with the objects and character of this great
latter-day work, destined to consummate the great purpose and designs
of God concerning the dispensation of the fullness of times. The
principles of baptism for the redemption of the dead, with the
ordinances appertaining thereto, for the complete salvation and
exaltation of those who have died without the Gospel, as revealed
through Joseph Smith, is alone worth more than all the dogmas of the
so-called Christian world combined. Joseph Smith is accused of being a
false prophet. It is, however, beyond the power of the world to prove
that he was a false prophet. They may so charge him, but you who have
received the testimony of Jesus Christ by the spirit of prophecy
through his administrations are my witnesses that they have not the
power to prove him false, and that is why they are so vexed about it.
In my humble opinion many of our enemies know that they lie before
God, angels and men, when they make this charge, and they would only
be too glad to produce proof to sustain their accusations, but
they cannot. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. He lived and died
a true prophet, and his words and works will yet demonstrate the
divinity of his mission to millions of the inhabitants of this globe.
Perhaps not so many that are now living, for they have in a great
measure rejected the Gospel and the testimony which the Elders of this
Church have borne to them; but their children after them and
generations to come will receive with delight the name of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, and the Gospel which their fathers rejected. Amen.
- Joseph F. Smith