It is always a pleasure to meet with the Saints, and I always find
substantial pleasure in bearing that portion of the labor of the
ministry which devolves upon me. Of course there are times when human
nature is physically incapacitated from labors. Nevertheless I rejoice
exceedingly in the contemplation of the work that we are engaged in.
Certainly the review of our immense subject, our great calling, our
vast labor, and the wonderful results that follow them—when they are
reviewed as they were this morning, and called up before our minds,
must awaken deeply interesting and I should hope broadly expanded
views and reflections in the minds of the Saints.
We are, as a people, and also our labors as well as the results of
them, a great outstanding witness to the world of the divine character
of the work we are performing—the high order of our calling to perform
that work, as well as pointing significantly to the grand and glorious
results which must inevitably follow the labor and toil that are now
upon the Latter-day Saints. Any person whose bosom is warmed and whose
intellect is lit up by the Holy Spirit must rejoice greatly in the
contemplation of the great last dispensation which is now fairly
before the world, fairly upon the Saints, like the harness that is
upon those that are appointed to labor, to pull, to lift, and to toil.
Where is there any people upon the face of the earth, except the
Latter-day Saints, who have from their religious convictions—or from
any system of ethics or morals that they possess, gone forth upon the
face of the earth, and, from honest, conscientious convictions, and,
from their most heartfelt appeals, taken hold of the honest in heart,
or of the vicious in heart; anywhere upon the face of the earth, and
gathered together a people comprising twenty to thirty
different languages and nations, and brought them together to any
place, located them, and established a system of government that has
been for their improvement, for their benefit, for the increase of
their influence, their peace, or their happiness in any sense, either
spiritual or temporal?
You can look abroad upon the earth in vain to find any other example
that has any kind of relationship, or bears any kind of analogy or
appearance like unto the work that is being performed by the
Latter-day Saints in the days in which we live.
Who is it that is doing this work? What is the character of this
people? Are they those that have been through the schools and been
educated to appear in the most plausible and convincing manner in all
classes of society? Are they those that have been brought up in
affluence and comfort; that can present everything that is pleasing
and engaging to the eyes, the ears and the minds of those they
address? Not at all. Not many learned or noble. It is often the
inexperienced boys that are picked up from the plow, from the
workshop, to the humblest of laboring men, toiling, struggling, and
many a time when they have not been able, from persecution and
oppressive circumstances in which they have been placed, to make a
comfortable livelihood, yet they have left the bosoms of their
families and gone forth in faith carrying the principles of eternal
truth and administering them, with an honest heart and clean hands and
by the authority of the Holy Priesthood from heaven to the children of
men. And what have they done? What has this simple, humble plan
accomplished? Without money in their pockets, without letters of
recommendation even to the people, without means oft times to make
them comfortable, abnegating themselves, deficient in the comforts and
necessities of life, they have gone forth with their hearts full of
love and blessing to the human family to find other bosoms kindred to
their own, though strangers in appearance, ready to receive the glad
testimony of these servants of God. It is not the learned and the
noble, nor the wealthy of the earth that have brought their hundreds,
their thousands and their tens of thousands to this country.
It has been the potency of those principles that have been taught by
the simple and many times silent testimony of the Holy Ghost, by the
still small voice, that has carried conviction to the honest, the
humble, laboring poor, and has brought them home here to Zion—they
that want to know more of God, they that come from the crowded cities
and other portions of the earth—find here a piece of a new world; they
take hold and make to themselves homes, all in the name of Israel's
God, and by the calling of the voice of the Good Shepherd. Oh, how
beneficent and how munificent has the Lord our God been unto us!
Behold! as I look abroad this afternoon in this house, I contemplate
the great mass of this congregation that are partakers of the Holy
Priesthood. It is not a few that are partakers of the holy calling,
the authority to administer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the echo of that saying that is written in the Scriptures where the
Lord has said that He would take of Israel and make of them a nation
of kings and priests unto Himself. Behold ye, my brethren and sisters,
here they are.
Here is Israel gathering together, being taught of the Lord, to learn
of His ways and walk in His paths, that they may receive the blessing
and be clothed upon with power, as the Prophet said: "Awake, awake;
put, on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O
Jerusalem." What are these beautiful garments? These beautiful
garments are the clothing upon with the authority and power of the
Holy Priesthood. It is that which makes people beautiful; it is that
which makes people useful; it is that which causes the Saints to sing:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth." It is that excellence of the knowledge of God that makes
men and women beautiful, and makes their acts delightful when they are
performed in righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
rejoice when I look around and contemplate this precious
privilege—that there is scarcely an individual that has come to years
of judgment and understanding but is a partaker of some measure of the
Priesthood, if no more than the office of a Deacon that can administer
blessing by attending to the door, wait upon the tables, and also by
attending to other temporal duties from time to time as they may
occur.
Here let me say, that every officer in the Church, from the Deacon up
to the Apostle, should realize that it is his duty to endeavor to
administer blessings by the virtue of the calling of God which is upon
him; he ought to feel thus, and every sister that is the wife of such
an husband should feel, if she has received with him her blessings in
the house of the Lord, that it is her privilege and duty to administer
blessings, comfort and happiness to her husband, to her children, to
her family and household. Every one in all the Church should be filled
with a spirit of blessing. The authority of the Priesthood should
cause a gushing forth from the fountain of the heart, a bubbling forth
of streams of blessing, of consolation, of comfort and of rejoicing,
each should try to help and benefit the other in every possible way.
Contemplate the immense army, I may say of Seventies and Elders we
have among us; and what a work are they doing in the nations, and what
a work are they doing and ought they to do at home in preaching the
Gospel to each other, in encouraging and strengthening those whose
hands sometimes hang down, and whose knees tremble; speaking
comforting words to the Saints, saying, "Dear brother, thy God
reigneth, trust in him." Notwithstanding all that we see on the right
hand and on the left, and all that we hear, the Lord God has not
forgotten His people, nor has He forgotten to educate and instruct
them, in all that He knows is for their greatest good, so that by and
by He may come and find a nation of kings and priests who shall reign
with Him on the earth a thousand years. We ought never to forget that
we are in a school of experience. Every brother and every sister
should feel that they exert an influence that will tend for good or
for evil.
We ought to feel concerned for our little ones. How precious they are!
Sometimes I hear the brethren testify how much good is being done by
the Relief Society and the Associations. I want to hear them talk about the Primaries, and tell us how the little children are
getting along. It seems hard to get it into the heads of some of the
parents as well as some of the Bishops to realize the importance of
teaching and instructing these youngsters, some seem to consider it
the sole duty of the Primary Associations, while others think it the
duty of the parents only to see after them. Now, I think we miss it in
trying to thus shirk the responsibility. I think we should all try to
understand more perfectly the worth of souls. Oh, if the sisters and
brethren that have the charge of these little Primary Associations
could only realize that every little child is a gem that they are
called upon to polish, to cut, to refine, to shapen, to burnish, to
fit and prepare to stand in the diadem of its father's crown. This is
the way in which we ought to look at these small but precious jewels.
We should assist the little ones to grow up to be mighty men of Zion,
that shall come up to teach Senators wisdom, rebuke strong nations,
though they may be far off and become a wholesome terror to the
ungodly.
As Apostles, as Bishops, as High Priests, as Elders, as well as
fathers and mothers, we need to get more of the spirit of this great
work in all its different branches, and keep it with us; always have a
blessing to dispense; everywhere a word of comfort and consolation to
bestow. We should seek for the Spirit of God and get that measure of
it that will bear us up, that they will make us feel the cares of life
are trivial; that will sustain us under every circumstance. We can
bear wonderful trials; we can live though and outgrow them and look
back on them and wonder how we passed through them, realizing that we
never could have done so but for the help of God that sustained us in
it. Then give Him the glory.
Every officer, then, in the Church should be full of blessing to his
fellow man. Only think how many patriarchs there are. They should feel
to bless all around. No doubt they do, sealing upon those to whom they
administer the blessing of eternal life in perpetuity.
The school that we are being educated in is a strange one. You cannot
pick up the Bible and find anything that is like it. In ancient days,
when there was a warfare, it was a warfare of carnal weapons, many
times. Not so, in our days; and as if the Lord were determined to put
carnal weapons far away from us, He even permitted the Gubernatorial
order preventing us carrying firearms with which to celebrate the 4th
of July, and then, on the top of that, He has given us the abundant
testimony of peace all around, even with the hostile natives. Is not
this an overwhelming testimony that the Lord wants us to work with the
other class of weapons—the sword of His Holy Spirit, the power of
eternal truth—the ammunition that wants to be kept alive, active and
burning in our hearts.
When we come to contemplate this matter, our warfare is entirely in
another direction, it has to be carried on and accomplished by the
power of faith. We have to contend for our liberties and the rights of
the people before the courts, wherein we strive to maintain the
Constitutional rights to which we are entitled, both civilly and
politically. We have not gone to the authorities that are over us in
the nation and supplicated them saying: "Will you please give us some
extraordinary liberties or privileges—we contend for the
rights of every American citizen, which are our rights." We have not
cut ourselves off from the rights of citizenship. Our fathers fought
to help obtain and bled to help establish the blessings and
privileges, the liberties and powers of this glorious government to
all its loyal citizens; and when this Church was established, it went
on for more than thirty-two years—no law of the Church conflicted with
the laws of the land, until it became necessary in the opinion of some
politicians that the Saints should be made offenders in the eyes of
the nation and of the world. Then it was that Congress passed a
law—the law of 1862—prohibiting plurality of wives, polygamy, or
bigamy, as they choose to call it. Now, then, we have not risen up
against the laws of the land; it is the laws of the land and the men
of the land that have risen up against the people of God, and have
brought their offensive warfare in this matter, and we are thereby
placed on the defensive. The nation have been pleased to say that we
shall not worship God according to the dictates of our consciences, as
required by some of the laws and ordinances of His Church; and have
made laws to prevent us from so doing, if possible. Hence it is that,
while we go before the courts we do not go as suppliants for something
extraordinary, or for something that other people have not got. We ask
to be preserved our rights, the rights that belong to every American
citizen. It is for this that we go through the courts, appealing from
the District Court to the Supreme Court of the Territory, and then to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
Now, is not this a great and an important lesson of experience and
instruction, and yet there is occasion, for all this is required in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord has said through the
Prophet Joseph to us, that we must importune at the feet of the
judges—do you remember it?—and at the feet of Governors—do you
recollect that—and at the feet of the President, and then, says He, if
your importuning does not prevail, and you do not obtain all things
which you have a right to, He will come out of His hiding place and
take the matter into His own hands. So you see we have some
importuning to do before, or at the feet of Judges, Governors, and
Presidents, in order to maintain the liberties guaranteed by the
Constitution of our country.
Right here I want to say a word or two especially in regard to the way
we have to do our importuning. I refer to a discourse by President
Young, in which he said he wished he had five hundred young lawyers
full of the spirit of the Gospel who would rise up and help to
maintain and defend our rights before the courts of our country. The
discourse was published in the Deseret News and republished in the
Journal of Discourses. It is public matter for anybody to read that
wishes to. But a few days ago, however, a Bishop remarked that it
looked very singular for one of the Apostles to raise up a lawyer, and
thought there must be a screw loose somewhere. It happens, however,
once in a while that some Bishop wants my son or someone else's son
to help defend them before the courts. (Laughter.) I wonder if there
is any screw loose there. Excuse me, brethren, for this reference; but
I wish we could have a goodly number of substantial young men growing
up in our midst who would become skilled and mighty in the
law, and who could go into any of the courts and set forth the true
principles of justice and equity in all cases. We need more of such
men. We do not want men to become lawyers, turn infidels, and live for
nothing but the little money they can make. We want to raise up a
corps of young men armed with the Spirit of the Gospel, clothed with
the Holy Priesthood, who can tell the judges in high places what the
law is, and what equity is, and can plead for the cause of Zion, and
help maintain the rights of God's people. Hence you see we have got to
carry on these matters. Our rights are infringed, and we have got to
defend ourselves as best we can. We are told that we must plead with
the dignitaries of the earth; plead with them until their position on
our question is known; they have got to declare themselves.
There are different branches of the government, which are considered
coordinate. For instance—there is the legislative branch, namely,
Congress. Then there is the President, who represents the executive
branch. Then there is the army and navy, which is the arm of power to
carry out and maintain physical defenses. And then there is the
Supreme Court, the legal tribunal that stands at the very head, if you
please, and pronounces upon the constitutionality of the acts which
Congress passes. Hence we see our case has not only to be brought
before and had cognizance of in the Congress of the United States to
ascertain if they will make laws to oppress us, but these laws can be
taken to higher courts, to see whether they will maintain the rights
of God's people in the land. And does it seem a terrible thing that
one or two should get cast into prison? As President Cannon
contemplated this morning, half a dozen would cover all such cases
within the last twenty-two years, and the persons connected with the
most notable cases have come in and furnished the evidence for their
own crimination, under the promise that punishment would not be
inflicted. But like the Governor of Illinois, who pledged his honor
and the honor of the state to protect our Prophet and Patriarch, all
such promises were broken. Nevertheless, in this manner we have got to
test the purity or impurity, the integrity or otherwise, of the
different branches of the government under which we live.
God is going to make His people a great people. He has designed them
to be the means not only of revealing among themselves, what they are,
and what they are here for, but of making them a standing testimony of
the truth before the whole world. The great knowledge of which we have
become possessed cannot be hid under a bushel, cannot be hid up in a
dark place. Here we are in the heights of the continent, calling
Israel home, ready to impart the light that is within us, to all of
Adam's children who will receive it. Let us seek to be wise. The Lord
has told us of certain classes of defense which are better even than
the employment of weapons of war. And what is it? It is the gift of
wisdom. "Wisdom is better than strength or weapons of war," said the
ancient man, who tested the matter and found it out. Now, let us
understand that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" and
a good understanding have all they who keep His commandments.
My brethren and sisters: let us not be discouraged in the least.
Remember that no great revolution was ever achieved without
some fighting. Some battles have had to be fought, some victories had
to be achieved. It is while the war is going on that some get wounded,
and other contingencies arise, and some things necessarily happen that
are unpleasant. But after the war is over, and the new government is
instituted, the grand improvement is then felt, as it has been felt in
this nation ever since the thirteen colonies fought and maintained
their independence from the mother country. It is true we have been
oppressed a little. But our enemies do not make very much at it. We
live and thrive notwithstanding, do we not? How singularly the Lord
works with men. The people of the Southern States through the war and
since, have been limited or deprived of some of their rights. And some
few men—Senator Brown for one—are not afraid to rise up from their
seat and defend the right whether in behalf of Mormon or non-Mormon,
and expose the doings of self-righteous men in New England, exposing
the fruits of their monogamous marriage relations as compared with our
marriage institution. The Lord has raised up men sometimes to maintain
the rights of His people. He will allow us to be pinched from time to
time as it may be necessary to unite us together, to make a wife love
her husband a little better, to make a husband love his wives and
children a little better, and to strengthen the bond of union in every
heart. For my part I rejoice in this work, and seek continually to
gather knowledge. I rejoice that I have lived to see the work of God
established on the earth. Let me tell you, my brethren and sisters,
the greatest affliction some of us have: it is some great fearful
apprehension that something is going to happen. We naturally borrow
trouble. We should not do that. Just consider that the work is the
Lord's. Be certain you do your duty every day. And when you lay down
at night do so with a clear conscience, and enjoy slumber and be
refreshed, and rise up in the morning, in the likeness of the
resurrection, prepared to renew the contest of life. Thus we should go
on step by step, adding faith to faith, keeping the commandments of
God, and purifying ourselves all we can. The Lord will bless us in
proportion to the degree that we endeavor to purify ourselves, and
keep His commandments. That is the great secret of our full acceptance
with God. We must purify ourselves as He is pure.
I do not consider it proper for me to occupy more of your time this
afternoon. I feel to say I rejoice in this work. And I say unto every
brother and sister that keeps the commandments of God, be joyful and
rejoice in Him. He has called us to the work in which we are engaged,
and He is educating us, as I said before, in order that by and by He
may have a nation of kings and priests, judges and rulers to help Him
bear government and rule over this earth in righteousness, when the
curse shall be taken from it, and when truth shall prevail from one
end of the earth to the other. May it be our happy lot to be there and
rejoice with father Abraham and all his family, is my humble prayer,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
- Franklin D. Richards