I have been pleased in listening to the remarks of Brother Caine, who
has just returned from Washington; glad to hear that his heart with
ours is turned toward the truth, and that his desire, in common with
ours, is to build up the Kingdom of God in the earth, and to contend
for the rights which belong to us as American citizens. Some people
seem to imagine because we have embraced a doctrine which is not
popular in the world, because we have embraced a faith which is
contrary to the generally received notions in regard to religion, that
we ought to have no rights whatever as citizens of our common country.
We do not look upon the matter in that light. We consider that we have
the right under the Constitution of the United States to believe
anything which seems right to us, and not only to believe it, but to
carry it out in our practice, so far as we can do so without
interfering with the rights of other people. The first amendment to
the Constitution of the United States says: "Congress shall pass no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." We understand that amendment as it is written. We
do not wish to interpret it, or to give to it any meaning other than
the plain language conveys. The language is, "That Congress shall pass
no law respecting an establishment of religion." With the
establishment of religion, then, Congress has nothing to do. Congress
cannot set up a religion, nor can it pass any law respecting an
establishment of religion—that is, to prevent its free exercise. There
are some people in these latter times who interpret that amendment to
mean that people may believe what they please, but it carries with it
no freedom of practice. People may believe what seems right to them,
but they must not carry it out if it happens to be contrary to the
views of the great majority. Now, it appears to me that that
is a very narrow interpretation of the meaning of that Amendment to
the Constitution. It appears to us, as it must to the great bulk of
the people of the country—the sovereign people—that without any
constitutional amendment, or the passage of any law, people everywhere
are of themselves free to believe. We do not think a law can interfere
with belief, even if one were passed for the purpose of interfering
with it. A man's belief cannot be controlled by any Act of Congress or
of Parliament. No edict of a government or any other lawmaking body
can interfere with my freedom of belief. When a proposition is placed
before my mind, and I reflect upon it, and it appears to be correct,
my mind receives it and I believe it. Sometimes persons believe in
spite of themselves. Sometimes a man will believe a thing in spite of
his own desires not to believe. Then this faith cannot be controlled
by any person outside of the man himself, and sometimes he cannot
control it himself. No edict or law, or any power of man on the earth
can alter a man's belief, or prevent him from believing. A law can be
enacted to prevent the carrying of that belief into practice; but it
cannot interfere with belief, and it needs no amendment to the
Constitution, no enactment of Congress or of any lawmaking body on
earth, to protect a man in mere belief. Then it is clear to us that
the intention was, that a man should have not only the right to
believe, but that he should be protected in the free exercise of that
belief. As the language states, Congress is not to pass any law
respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free
exercise thereof. What is the exercise of belief in religion? Why, it
is certain acts men perform prompted by their belief, prompted by
their religion. Suppose a man believes it is right to be baptized in
water—buried in water for the remission of sins—how can he evidence
his belief in that principle? He can only do it in the way specified
by the Apostle James. He says: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and
I will show thee my faith by my works." "But wilt thou know, O vain
man, that faith without works is dead?" That is the only way in which
faith can be truly shown—by works. If I believe that baptism is right
I evidence my belief by being baptized, and if I am not baptized it
either shows that my faith is very weak or that it does not exist:
that I have not the courage of my faith, or else that I do not believe
at all.
Now, we consider that we have a perfect right under the Constitution
of our country to believe what seems right to us, and then to carry it
out. "Well," someone may say, "do you think there should be no
restriction to this? Are people to be protected in any kind of
religion they may have? Suppose a man were to come here from India who
believed it a religious duty, under some circumstances, to strangle a
man, would he have the right under the Constitution of the United
States, to strangle? Again, there are people who believe it is right,
in India, to burn a widow on the funeral pile, that her spirit may be
sent to keep company with her husband in the other world. Would that
person, or those persons have the right, under the Constitution of the
United States, to carry out their belief in this country?" We say no.
We say that the Thug has no right here to practice his faith. We say
the Suttee could not be established in this country. "Why not?
You believe it is right under some circumstances for a man to have
more wives than one, and that those who thus believe are protected by
the Constitution in the practice of their religion. Why should not
those who believe it right to strangle, or to burn widows, have the
right to practice their religion under the Constitution of the United
States?" The dividing line is very simple, as truth generally is. It
is very easy to be drawn. It is to be drawn in consonance with the
spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and with the principles
that underlie our government. In the Declaration of Independence it is
laid down that there are certain rights that cannot be alienated, that
are natural, that are inherent, that are not imparted by governments:
they do not belong to politics, but they are inherent in the
individual—the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to
property, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. These rights are
inalienable. They belong to every individual. They are not conferred
by law. They belong to us. They are born in us. They belong to every
person who breathes the breath of life. Then, an act of any individual
or any government which infringes upon these natural rights is wrong
in and of itself. If any individual interferes with the rights of his
fellow men he may be restrained by the secular law. The right to life,
and to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness, and to property
belong to all individuals alike. One body of people professing one
faith must not interfere with the rights of any other body of people
professing another faith. The Latter-day Saints, as well as the
Latter-day sinners, the Methodist as well as the Catholic, the Jew as
well as the Gentile—all people alike in this great country must be
protected equally in these natural rights which belong to them.
Here, then, is where the line must be drawn. Anything that persons
profess to do under the name of religion, which interferes with the
rights of others is wrong, and the secular law may step in and protect
the citizens and restrain or punish those people who attempt to do
this under the plea of religion. If I do anything which interferes
with the life, the liberty, the happiness, or the property of my
neighbor, the law has a right to step in and protect my neighbor and
restrain me. But if my religion—that which I believe to be true, and
which I try to carry out as a part of my faith—does not interfere with
human rights, does not infringe in any degree upon the rights of my
fellow man, neither Congress, nor any other lawmaking power on the
face of the earth, has the right to interfere with me under the
Constitution of the country. I have a right to the exercise of my
religion so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of other
people. There is where we draw the line, and we think it is the right
place. And we are standing up, not only for our own rights in this
respect, but for the rights of all people upon the face of this land.
As has been said by Brother Caine, this afternoon, in passing certain
enactments which infringe upon our religious liberties, the Congress
of the United States is doing something that will come back upon the
very individuals who have been trying to establish this principle or
to enact these laws. Because, we may be the society or body aimed at
today, and tomorrow another sect or party or body may be aimed at by
the same enactments which are passed against us, and perhaps
will hold good in both directions. It is a poor rule that only works
one way. It may be found convenient today to single out the
"Mormons," because they are unpopular, for special legislation; but in
a little time some other religious body in this country may have the
same inimical legislation applied to them, to bear down upon them with
greater weight than it does upon us. You cannot violate a principle of
truth without receiving very bad consequences. Those who attempt to do
that will be sure to reap the fruit of their labors at some time or
other. And when the Congress of the United States commences to move
away the foundation stones of the system that the fathers of this
nation built up, they are working on very dangerous ground, and the
consequences thereof will not be confined to the few people against
whom these measures are made. It is the duty of every patriot, of
every man who loves his country, and of every woman who loves her
country, to do their part in preventing the passage of such enactments
as these, and in vindicating the principles and doctrines which enter
into the Constitution of our beloved country. So we are standing up
not only for our own rights, but for the rights of others, and this is
one of the duties enjoined upon us by our Heavenly Father.
We have been brought from the various parts of the earth into these
mountain valleys that we may establish a system of religion which has
been revealed from heaven, which our Heavenly Father has committed to
us. We have not taken this religion from any of the sacred books that
are in existence; we have not concocted this system from the Bible, or
from any other religious work; but it has been revealed to us in our
own day and time. God has broken the silence of ages. That same God
that spoke to the prophets of old, whose record we have in the Old
Testament, and who sent His Son Jesus Christ in the meridian of time
to die for the sins of the world—that same God that inspired the
Apostles of Jesus Christ in their great works has Himself spoken from
heaven in our own day, and angels have come down from the courts of
glory with a message of life and salvation for the inhabitants of the
earth. This Church, this system, this organization to which we belong
has not been set up by the wisdom of man, but has been set up by the
power of God, by the command of the Almighty, and has been sustained
by him up to the present time. All the efforts which are made to break
it down will only tend to build it up. Every law the United States may
pass with the intent to disintegrate this work, to divide the people,
to crush the power that exists in the midst of the Latter-day Saints,
will only tend to consolidate the people, to bind them closer
together, to make their faith more intense, their convictions more
certain, and to make their determination more persistent. That will be
the effect. God is working with this people, and has worked with them
from the beginning. And this, as we have heard this afternoon, is not
a mere matter of faith. We have seen so many proofs of an overruling
power, and manifestations of special providence, as a people and as
individuals, in answer to our prayers, that we know that God lives,
that God answers prayer, that God Almighty is with the Latter-day
Saints while they keep His commandments and do His will, and that He
will overrule for good all the evil which is intended against
us.
This work is established for the purpose of bringing about His designs
in regard to this earth upon which we live. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. The
silver and the gold belong to Him, and the life of all mankind is in
His hands. He is Lord over all, blessed forever, and it is His right
to rule and regulate and control all things on the face of this globe.
Jesus Christ His beloved Son has been here. He dwelt on the earth for
a time and performed the work allotted to Him, by which he obtained
all power and sits at the right hand of the Father; and the time is
coming when He will stand on the earth, establish His government and
dominion, extending it from pole to pole and from shore to shore, and
the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and His
Christ; not in some figurative, mystical, spiritual sense, but really
and truly as a matter of fact. The Savior, as foretold by the
prophets, came upon the earth literally and truly. He was hung upon
the cross, and His spirit left His body. He was laid in the tomb, but
He was raised again from the dead, not in a spiritual sense, or some
mythical sense, but really and truly His body was raised from the
dead. In that body He appeared to His disciples, and went up from
their gaze, saying that in like manner he would descend again. And His
promises are that when he shall come the second time, it shall not be
as the babe of Bethlehem, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief; nor to be persecuted by His own, but that He
shall come in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory to sit
upon the throne of His Father David and reign and rule from the rivers
to the end of the earth, so that all nations, kindreds, tongues and
people shall serve and obey Him. Now, we look for the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we expect it just as much as when the sun goes
down we expect it to rise above the hilltops in the morning. And when
He comes we expect it will be Himself—Jesus of Nazareth, our Elder
Brother, the firstborn of God in the spirit world, the Only Begotten
of God in the flesh. We expect that He will come and reign over the
earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we expect that all
kingdoms, all governments, and all institutions that men have set up
will be broken down, and as Nebuchadnezzar saw them in the vision
which Daniel interpreted, they will become as the chaff of the summer
threshingfloor, and be swept away, and no place found for them upon
the face of the whole earth; because the Kingdom of God and of His
Christ will prevail everywhere, and it will cover the earth. For it is
the kingdom that was spoken of by the Prophets, and we are told that
"the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heavens" —that is over all the earth, is it not?—shall be His
kingdom and shall "be given into the hands of the people of the saints
of the most High, and their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom."
Now, we expect the fulfillment of all these things, and when they come
to pass they will occur just as they are written, like other
prophecies have been accomplished. When Isaiah prophesied that "a
virgin should conceive and bear a son" and that they should "call his
name Immanuel," the prophet meant what he said, and it came to pass; and all the predictions in regard to the second coming, as it
is called, the second advent of the Messiah, and the establishment of
God's Kingdom and government on the earth, will be fulfilled exactly
as the prophets have predicted. There is no need to mystify, nor to
spiritualize, nor to explain them, they will come to pass word for
word; for "heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle
of the word of God shall pass away; it shall all be fulfilled."
Now, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to which we
belong is established by the Almighty for the express purpose of
opening up the way for the accomplishment of this great work. In this
Church is the germ of that kingdom that Daniel saw. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, set up by the power of God, by the
authority of the Most High, is exactly the same Church that Jesus
Christ built up—that is, the same in all its essential principles; the
same organization, the same kind of officers, the same doctrines, the
same in its spirit, the same in its ordinances, the same in the power
that attends those ordinances, doctrines, principles and commandments
as were revealed to the ancient Church. It is governed just exactly in
the same way that the church which Jesus Christ established when he
was upon the earth was governed. Every principle which was taught by
the ancient Apostles in their time is taught by the latter-day
Apostles in their time. And the Apostles in our day have the same
authority or Priesthood, as it is called, that the Apostles had in
their time whom Jesus ordained; because those that held the keys of
that apostleship in the earth in former times have come down to the
earth, literally and truly, and ordained men to the same authority and
apostleship which they held while living in the flesh. That is how the
apostleship has been restored. That authority exists in this Church,
and it will never be taken away again. That which is called by the
Latter-day Saints the Priesthood, is the authority given of God to men
to act in His name, so that what they do by His authority and in the
way that He has appointed on the earth shall be acknowledged in
heaven—that which they seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven and
that which they loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It must be
done as God directs, according to the revelations of His will. But
this authority, this right, this power from God exists in this Church,
as it existed in the ancient Church, because it has been actually
restored by the very men who held the keys of it. And really, after
all, it is that that the world is fighting. All these plans and
schemes, all that legislation and these influences that are brought to
bear on this Church, upon this system called by the world "Mormonism,"
is brought to bear in consequence of the restoration of that power and
that authority. It is the authority of the kingdom. It is here to
stay. It is here to prevail. First it will preach the Gospel of the
kingdom as a witness to all nations; it will then gather together the
elect of God from the four quarters of the earth; it will build
temples to the name of the Most High God in which men can administer
in ordinances that pertain to the salvation of the living and the
redemption of the dead. It will accomplish all that has been predicted
by the prophets concerning the Latter-day Kingdom.
Now, this is the kind of work in which we are engaged. It has been introduced by the Almighty to bring about all those grand
events that we read about in the writings of the old prophets that
have not yet been fulfilled; there are a great many things contained
in the Old Testament that people pay little attention to nowadays.
They have an idea of things coming to pass in some spiritual fashion,
or some mythical, mystical kind of way; they don't know exactly how;
and it is the business of certain men who are hired to preach the
Gospel, to make mysterious explanations of passages of Scripture,
which they manage to cover up, and succeed in confusing the people
more than before the expounding was attempted. Nevertheless, all those
predictions that refer to events that are to take place in the earth
in the latter days will all come to pass as they are written, and this
work, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this thing
called "Mormonism" has been introduced by the Almighty for the express
purpose of bringing these things about; that is why it is universally
opposed. All these different sects of modern Christendom are like the
sects of heathendom, without communication from the eternal world.
They receive no revelation from God. Their ministers have no authority
except that which they obtain from their congregations. Many of them
do not pretend to have any other, when you press them closely. They
preach those tenets which the people believe and which are acceptable
to the people—each minister of each sect preaching that which the
members desire to hear. All these different sects contain many good
people who are trying to do right, trying to serve God, and a great
many others that are hypocrites. But as sects, as societies, as
churches, they are not authorized of God. You can trace them all to
their origin, and find that that origin is human in its nature. They
have not come from God, they have come from men, some of them good
men, perhaps. Men have met together and formulated creeds and
organized societies, and these societies have grown and spread abroad,
and after a while have become orthodox in the earth. At first they
were persecuted and opposed, but as they grew in wealth as well as in
numbers they made a name and a noise and became a power in the earth,
and are recognized and understood as orthodox sects. But there is not
one of them ordained of God. They are not set up by divine command,
and their ministers have not been divinely authorized to preach the
Gospel, nor to administer in the things of the Kingdom. There may be
and no doubt are men among them preaching that which they believe to
be true. But a man's belief is not authority. A man may believe a
thing to be right, but that does not give him authority to represent
God in that matter. A man may believe it is right to sprinkle a babe
and call that baptism. But even supposing it is right—though it is
not—the fact that he believes it is right would not give him the
authority to administer, because he does it "in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," and he has no right to take
these names upon his lips in vain, and he does take them upon his lips
in vain unless he has been authorized to use these names. No man has
any more right to use the name of Deity in the administration of an
ordinance, without authority, than a common citizen, without
authority, has the right to use the name and pretend to be the
representative of the Government of the United States, or of
Great Britain, or of Germany; not a bit. But men seem to think because
God does not interfere, that they have a right to do a great many
things that he never commanded, and do them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Now, as I said just now, the authority to administer in the things of
God's Church has been restored in the way that I have told you. That
is why we claim the right in this Church to administer these
ordinances, and that is why we lay down the broad assertion that
outside of this Church there is no authority in the world to
administer in the name of the Lord. If there is such authority, let
those who claim to have it, show their credentials and prove where
they obtained their authority from. Now, in this Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints not only is this authority restored, and
those same doctrines, principles and ordinances which were had in the
early Christian Church also restored, but accompanying these are the
same spirit and gifts and manifestations and power that existed in the
ancient Church. And here is one of the great proofs of the truth of
that which I have advanced to you: Wherever the servants of God
connected with this Church and holding this authority go into the
world—and they go out without purse or scrip and administer: there are
no salaried preachers in this Church—wherever they go and proclaim
this Gospel they tell the people that if they will believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and repent of their sins, and be baptized for the
remission of sins, they shall receive the Holy Ghost, through the
laying on of hands; and that this Holy Ghost that shall be given to
them is the same spirit exactly in its manifesta tions, in its power,
that the Apostles conferred upon the people by the laying on of hands
in the early Christian Church, and that rested down upon the old
prophets by which they wrote the things called scripture: the same
spirit that Jesus Christ had without measure; that spirit that He gave
to His Apostles when He breathed upon them and said: "Peace be unto
you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you * * Receive ye the
Holy Ghost:" that same spirit that was upon them on the day of
Pentecost; that spirit which manifested itself to the Church in
Corinth by the gift of tongues, interpretations, visions, dreams,
healings and miracles, and all those signs which Jesus Christ promised
to them that believed. These are manifest in the midst of the
Latter-day Saints; this spirit, this power, is revealed to them and
communicated to them. Not merely to the Presidency and the Twelve
Apostles, and other leading Elders, but to each individual, to every
person who believes and repents and is baptized, and upon whom the
hands are laid of those having authority from God to administer in His
name. Now, these men might claim this authority and be impostors; for
the world has been full of impostors, and there are plenty of them
nowadays—religious impostors; these men might claim to have this
authority, but they could not communicate this power, the Holy Ghost.
But wherever people receive this doctrine, and obey it in the spirit
of it, their testimony is, in every land, in every corner of the
earth, wherever the servants of God have penetrated, that they have
received for themselves by revelation, by the Holy Ghost from on high,
a testimony that this work is the work of God, and that these
men are His servants. That is why they are here. That is why they are
gathered in these valleys of the mountains. They are here because they
have received the truth, and a knowledge of it, because they have
received the ordinances of the Church and obtained the power that
accompanies them; because God has witnessed to them individually, that
He has spoken from the heavens, that He has reestablished His Church,
and that the time has come for the building up of the latter-day
Kingdom and the establishment of God's dominion in all the earth, and
they are called to help in the work; not only the Apostles and
Priesthood, but all the members of the Church are called to take a
part in the work. And here we are, in these mountain valleys, bound
together as a band of brethren—not by the power of man, not by the
coercion of man, not by oppression, not by arbitrary rules, but by the
spirit and power of the Eternal God, sent down from on high, which has
been shed abroad universally upon the members of the Church. This is
our testimony to the world.
We know that God lives. We know that there are "special providences"
of God. We know that this work will prevail. We know that all these
adverse plans and schemes of men, either from individuals or from
nations, will only tend to roll on this work, and bring about the
purposes of the Almighty in the midst of the children of men. That is
why we have so much confidence. It is not because we think so much of
ourselves. We do not profess to be a great people, except in our
unity—in that we are great—except in our industry, temperance and
sobriety, for we are a temperate, sober and thrifty people. Of course
there are exceptions to this. There are men and women among us, like
there are in all denominations, who will not hearken to good advice
and do right. Notwithstanding the promise made by every man and woman
that comes into this Church to be holy and righteous, true and
faithful, and to avoid sin, there are some who will not be bound by
their solemn obligations, nor abide their covenants with one another.
And those who will break promises with each other are very likely to
break promises made with God Almighty. But as a body we are a united,
thrifty, temperate and sober people, and we try to do that which we
consider to be right. We may make mistakes like other people: but as a
body of people we are on the straight and narrow way, the one path to
the celestial city, and we desire to turn neither to the right hand
nor to the left. Those who walked in that path in ancient times were
told by Jesus Christ that they would be opposed by the world, that the
world would hate them. "If ye were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." We have been called
out of the world in the same way. We are called with a special
calling, and we have a special mission to perform. There is not a soul
in this Church but has a mission. We are called out of the world to be
the people of the Lord, to be Saints of the Most High, to consecrate
and dedicate ourselves body and soul, with all that we have—the fruits
of the labors of our hands, the fruits of the efforts of our minds—to
the work in which we are engaged, the work of the Great God in the
earth, He using us as instruments. This is the kind of people
we are. This is the kind of people the world are opposed to.
Now, in regard to that feature of our faith that they make so much
fuss about—a right we claim under the Constitution of the United
States, and against which laws have been passed in Congress, framed to
prevent our carrying out the commandments of God in regard to our
family relations—that feature seems to upset the equilibrium of our
"Christian" friends. What is the matter? "Why, you believe in men
having more wives than one." Yes, some men, good men. We don't believe
that a bad man should have a wife at all. None but the good deserve
the fair. And we believe that righteous men, virtuous men, men that
would not improperly use any power or faculty of their nature, ought
to be permitted to have wives and raise up a holy posterity and train
their children in the ways of virtue, honesty and uprightness. We do
not believe it is right for men to give way to their animal passions.
We do not believe it is right to do so either in plural or single
marriage or outside of it. We believe marriage to be an holy estate,
ordained of God, with which Congress has not the right to interfere.
It is a religious matter with us. It is a holy ordinance established
by the Eternal Father. We claim that the women of the Church are the
daughters of God, and God has some right as to their disposition. We
do not believe it is right for a man to pick and choose where he
likes, and do as he pleases independent of God Almighty. We read in
the Old Testament that, "When man began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the
daughter's of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose." And it is stated that the iniquity of man was
great, and God brought a flood on the earth. Now, to understand that
correctly we have to know what kind of position those persons were in,
and why they were called the "sons of God." Those men were in the same
position as the Latter-day Saints. They were heirs to the Priesthood.
They were the sons of God. They had obeyed the holy covenants. They
had received the word of the Lord. They were consecrated to the
Almighty. But they went outside of their covenants and their
engagement with the Lord, and took wives of the daughters of men that
were not in the covenant, and thus transgressed the law of God. The
law of God in relation to this has been the same in all ages, and has
been given to this people—that the sons of Israel shall wed the
daughters of Israel, and shall not go out to wed with the stranger.
These men did that, and God was displeased, as He is today with
Latter-day Saints, who are called out of the world to be His servants,
to be holy unto the Lord, to be clean because they bear the vessels of
the Lord, when they go outside and wed with the stranger. The law is
that they shall not do this, but shall wed under the everlasting
covenant and have their wives given them of the Lord and sealed to
them by an holy ordinance revealed from heaven, in a holy place
prepared for the purpose—sealed for time and all eternity, so that
death shall not be able to break the bond of union; that though death
may separate them for a little season when they come up in the
resurrection, there will be no need to marry or give in marriage,
because they were married on the earth by authority of God Almighty
for time and all eternity, just like Adam and Eve were, for God gave
Eve to Adam before death came into the world. We believe that
good men, who have demonstrated their fitness for the responsibilities
of holy wedlock, may, under the direction of the Lord, obtain more
wives than one, may have them sealed to them by the same covenant and
by the same bond, to be their wives in the eternal world; and they
expect when they depart hence to go where Abraham is—to that place
that is called Abraham's bosom. There they will be in congenial
company. They will verify the words of Jesus, who said, "Many shall
come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the
south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom
of God;" while others who supposed themselves to be "the children of
the Kingdom" will be "thrust out." And I am afraid that a great many
of our good Christian friends who are so terribly shocked about this
feature of our faith, when they get to the door and look in and see
Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Keturah, and those concubines given of
the Lord to Abraham—when they see them in the eternal kingdom they
will want to turn away and go to more congenial company, which they
are at perfect liberty to do. If Abraham was on the earth today,
these same good people would put him in the penitentiary, and yet they
call Abraham "the father of the faithful, the friend of God," and want
to go to his bosom when they die! If Jacob were here with his four
wives, through whom he "did build the house of Israel," the names of
whose twelve sons are to be inscribed upon the gates of the holy city,
the New Jerusalem, that is to come down from God out of heaven like a
bride adorned for her husband—I say if Jacob were on the earth today,
they would put him in jail! Well, this is the consistency of some
people who profess to believe in the Bible. Men come here to try and
sell the Latter-day Saints the Bible. Why, bless your souls, there are
no people on the earth who believe as much in the Bible as the
"Mormons." We believe in the Old and New Testament, King James'
translation. It was through our belief in that record that most of us
became Latter-day Saints; for, being familiar with the Bible, when the
servants of God came with the Gospel we found it was the same as laid
down in that sacred record, and that induced us to embrace the faith
that is commonly called "Mormonism."
Well, now, this feature of our faith to which I have alluded—I have
not the time to comment upon it in all its bearings, and a great many
people would not understand it if I did—is a divine institution. Let
me bear my testimony to this congregation, as I would like to bear it
to all the world, that it is a pure and holy institution; not to bring
women into bondage, but to place them in that position for which they
were created—to give them the opportunity to become honored wives and
mothers, so that there might be "no margin left for lust to prey
upon," no field for the tricks of the seducer and the adulterer, the
corrupt and the ungodly. God Almighty has established this system. It
is a religious ordinance established by authority from God, by
revelation from on high and administered by religious ceremonies. It
belongs to this Priesthood and to none other. We are not seeking to
extend it to the world nor to introduce it to other people. It is
confined to the Priesthood. It is "a law unto my Holy Priesthood,"
saith the Lord, and there are bounds, limitations and
regulations over which we cannot pass. And it is not for the wicked.
Now, then, in this sense, looking upon this as a religious
institution, as a sacrament, as an ordinance of our faith, as a part
of our creed, as an establishment of our religion, we claim the right
to the free exercise thereof before God and before man. If anybody can
prove to us that it is wrong, that it is impure, that its effects are
bad for this world or the world to come, that would be another thing
altogether, and would have its effect with us, because as members of
this Church we are in for truth, for salvation, for the glory of our
God. We want to attain to the celestial kingdom. We want to fit
ourselves for the society of the holy ones, the society of the best
that ever lived upon the face of the earth, and for that we are
Latter-day Saints. If men could prove to us that we are wrong, then
they might have some chance of converting us. But when they trample
upon our inalienable rights, upon our constitutional privileges, upon
our religious liberty, why, then, we feel like resisting. But we are
not going to fight. We naturally repel the assaults against us, but it
is in the way of defense. Our motto, like that of the volunteers in
London, is, "Defense, not Defiance." We defend our rights and
privileges against all attacks, and in doing so we are standing up for
the rights of all the people of this great country. For if you tear
away the underpinning from the structure the fathers established, the
whole institution may come down with a crash. I tell you we have got
to watch for these things, and this is part of our mission. We must
preach the Gospel and build up the Kingdom of God, and contend for our
constitutional rights, because they are given of the Lord. The
Constitution of our country was revealed of God. God has made known to
us that He inspired the framers of the Constitution, and caused that
instrument to be brought forth, so that all people might be protected
in their rights. We claim the same rights as other folks, and no more.
We have received this principle of our faith in connection with many
more, and we claim that if we do not infringe upon the rights of
others we should have liberty in the exercise thereof. If a man was
permitted to force some woman to be his wife, or to interfere with his
neighbor's wife, or infringe upon the rights of another man, then the
secular law might step in and interfere. But while the woman is
free—no woman among us is coerced, no woman is placed in bondage,
every woman is at liberty to marry or not marry—while that is the case
we do not think that the law has any right to interfere; and we intend
to contend for our rights inch by inch, lawfully, respectfully; but in
this we are as firm as these everlasting mountains that are not moved
by the blasts of winter or the heat of summer. This is the work of
God, and woe! be unto us if we do not preach the Gospel! Woe! be unto
us if we relinquish or attempt to sell or barter or compromise one of
the eternal principles that have been sent down from the heavens and
which we have to carry to the ends of the earth! But if we are
faithful to our mission and calling, if we stand firm and true, and
regard God rather than man, God shall fight our battles. Everything
that seems to be against us will be turned for our good. The clouds
that overshadow us from time to time will part and roll away, and the
glorious sun of prosperity will shine upon us. If we are true
and faithful God Almighty will overrule all things for our good, and
bring us off more than conquerors. And every nation and people and
institution and society that fight against Zion shall become like the
dream of a night vision—it will pass away; and those men that fight
against this work will be, as the prophet said, "Even as when a hungry
man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is
empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh;
but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite."
So it will be with all who fight against this work and try to
overthrow it. Not because we are mightier than anybody else, not
because we are so numerous, not because we are learned, not because we
are wealthy, but because God Almighty has established this work, and
He will cause it to prevail. I bear my testimony that I know this to
be true.
May God bless the Latter-day Saints and unite their hearts that they
may be one. May they be able to keep those precious things in earthen
vessels that God Almighty has committed to them. If they have found
the Pearl of Great Price may they value it above all earthly things,
and endure every opposition and every influence brought to bear
against them and come off triumphant; and may God bless those who have
gathered with us this afternoon, and give them a knowledge of the
truth of this work, that they may enjoy its blessings with us and be
saved in the Kingdom of God, for Christ's sake. Amen.
- Charles W. Penrose