We wish the Saints to distinctly understand that the remarks just made
by brother Hyde do not pertain to doctrine, are not commandments, and
have nothing to do with the ordinances of the house of God. He has
given us some of his views and reflections. Suppose them to be true,
and what of them? Suppose they are not true, and what of it? They have
nothing to do with the doctrines and faith of this people. Whether
they are true or not is about as immaterial as to know whether it is
going to rain tomorrow or next week. If it rains, all we can do is to
say, Let it rain; if it does not rain, all we have to do is to prepare
to do the best we can with the dust: that is all there is of it. It is
no matter whether those views and reflections are true or false.
According to the Scriptures, as they have come to us, we most
assuredly believe that the measure we receive at the hands of our
enemies will be measured to them again. But whether the wicked seek to
corrupt the Church of God or not, the Saints will inherit every good
thing. This is not saying that we are Saints. I have not yet come to
that, though I firmly believe that we are trying to be Saints. Those
that overcome and sit down with Jesus in his Father's kingdom will
possess all things: no good thing will be withheld from them.
Man is the lord of this earth, not woman. It is frequently told you
that all the creatures of God, except man, will abide and honor the
law under which they are placed. The vegetable, mineral, and animal
kingdoms, except man, will abide the law by which they were made, and
will be prepared to dwell on the new earth, in the midst of the new
heavens that will be reorganized—the earth that we now inhabit. Man
is the transgressor. Eve was the first to partake of the forbidden
fruit, and the man was disposed to follow her, and did follow her;
consequently, sin is in the world, and when redemption comes it must
come by man. When we speak of law and the transgression of law, we
refer to the law of God to man.
I doubt whether it can be found, from the revelations that are given
and the facts as they exist, that there is a female in all the regions
of hell. We are complained of for having more wives than one. I don't
begin to have as many as I shall have by and by, nor you either, if
you are faithful. I am not the one that will dispose of them, but the
Almighty to whom they belong; and it is His right to dispose of us and
of all his creatures and creations.
I assuredly believe that all brother Hyde has said in regard to the
restoration of the Saints to their inheritances, &c., will come to
pass. And I believe, furthermore, if the men who have driven us—the
counties, States, and the General Government of the United States,
proffer to take me back to the land of my inheritance, I shall
refuse to go by their hands. I think I shall say, You can go to hell:
I came here without any of your assistance, and I shall return again
on the bounty of God, asking no assistance from you. That is my
belief. I also believe that the gold and the silver belong to the
faithful, and not to those who oppose the work of God. The horses and
the chariots belong to the faithful, and not to the wicked. I believe
they will be hungry, naked, and barefooted, while we are well fed,
well clad, and ride in our carriages. I do not intend to be brought
under obligations to or any alliances with the wicked, nor to have any
affinity with them in heaven or on earth, nor to go to hell to have
any with them there. I expect to individually own enough horses,
wagons, carriages, oxen, cows, sheep, and everything this people will
need in going back to Jackson County, Missouri, and ask no assistance
of those who have driven and persecuted us. They may think that I have
a poor opinion of them; but I cannot be as contemptible in their
opinion as they are in mine, for the reason that they do not know
enough. They, like us, were formed in the image of Him who has created
us sons and daughters of the Almighty; but they have disgraced their
being and violated every blessing that pertains to their organization.
They remain for the wrath of God to rest upon them, and it will rest
upon them. I have no particular allusions to those who have been here,
though you may stir them up together (those who have been here and
those who have not), and with few exceptions, they will all appear of
the same color. With few exceptions, they are all alike, for those
who are not for us are against us.
Every intelligent person under the heavens that does not, when
informed, acknowledge that Joseph Smith, Jun., is a Prophet of God, is
in darkness, and is opposed to us and to Jesus and his kingdom on the
earth. What do you suppose I think of them? They cannot conceive their
own degradation. If they could, they would turn away from their
wickedness. I know them, but they do not know me. We live in an
atmosphere they do not approach; they have not ability to see the path
we walk in. Would I treat them as badly as they would treat us? No.
They would murder us in a moment, if they had the power, unless we
would renounce our religion. But they are trifling with their own
existence, when they measure arms with the Almighty. All the day long
we have extended to our enemies the hand of mercy and charity. We
would offer to them life and salvation. What would they offer to us?
Death and damnation, if they had the power; but they have not the
power, and never will have.
From the day that Joseph brought forth the records of the Book of
Mormon, which he translated by the power of God, until the day of his
death, they said that he was seeking to bring down the wrath of the
Lamanites upon the whites. They have driven us among the Lamanites,
whom they were continually trying to keep us from mingling with. Why
did they do this? God had decreed that they should, and they could not
help it; and they will keep teasing and worrying and contending and
fighting with one another, until the prophecy be fulfilled concerning
the sons of Jacob, who will rise up and go through among the Gentiles
like a lion through the forest. And who can stand before them? No one.
Jew and Gentile, hear it; you are bringing upon your heads the very
things you are trying to avoid, like the Government of the United
States, which is striving with all its might, and calling to its aid
the best wisdom of the nation to preserve its existence.
Everything they do divides them until they will be split asunder and
shivered to pieces. So they would do with this work.
They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his work. He was
a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon. He said the Bible
was right in the main, but, through the translators and others, many
precious portions were suppressed, and several other portions were
wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for he has
sealed it with his blood. As I have frequently told them, no man in
this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without the
approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun. Who has made this so?
Have I? Have this people? Have the world? No; but the Lord Jehovah has
decreed it. If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the
consent of the Prophet Joseph. If you ever pass through the gates into
the Holy City, you will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy
to pass. Can you pass without his inspection? No; neither can any
person in this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the fulness
of times. In this generation, and in all the generations that are to
come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.
They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come with their
hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them,
unless they repent? They can come in a certain way and find favor,
but will they? No. We paid for lands in Missouri that the wicked now
possess. The United States could rise up and say, "You Mormons, come
back, and we will defend you in your rights." But will they do this?
No, but they will spend their millions to deprive us of our just
rights. They might do a great many good things: they might forsake
their meanness, if they had a mind to.
If this people will do right and keep the law of the Lord, he will
bring them back to the lands of their inheritances. The question might
be asked, "Have you lands to return to?" Yes, I have lands in
Missouri—lands in a number of places—farms that I am the rightful
owner of. I am the rightful owner of lands in Illinois. Did I occupy
them? No. Why? Did I observe the laws? Yes: I lived so entirely above
them, that to me they were comparatively beneath my feet. "Why could
you not live in Missouri or Illinois?" I believed that Joseph Smith,
Jun., was and is a Prophet, and that Jesus Christ is coming to cleanse
the earth from pollution and gather the Saints from the four quarters
of the world. Because I believed in God the Father, and in Jesus
Christ as the Savior of the world, and in the doctrine he taught, and
because I practiced that doctrine; and if you say that you believe
this doctrine and do not practice it, you can be a good Christian.
The administrators of the Government of the United States violated
every principle of the Constitution in the very act of making a war
upon their own subjects; and if the laws of Congress were carried out,
they would be treated as traitors to the Government. I was in Missouri
through the troubles. Did this people transgress the law of that State
or of the United States? Did they do anything to justly bring the
wrath of that State or of the Government upon them? No. This people
observed the laws of Missouri and the law of God more strictly than
any other class, and yet the State authorities could issue their
orders to exterminate the "Mormons" —to drive or destroy
them—every
man, woman, and child of them. Suppose the Constitution of
that State had been carried out to the letter, every man that had
anything to do with that mobbing—at least those in authority, with the
Governor at their head, would have been hung.
Every man that used his influence to send an army here, if the
Constitution is carried out (and the day will come, as the Lord
lives, when we shall be able to carry it out), will be at the disposal
of the hemp, if we say so. The day will come, as sure as the sun now
shines and the Lord Almighty leads us through, as he has spoken from
the heavens, when this people will return to the land of their
inheritance. Perhaps these parents will not return, but their children
will return and inherit the land promised to their fathers, and all
the powers of hell and earth cannot prevent it. If we live our
religion, we will enjoy this blessing, either in this life or in the
next. That is the consolation the Saints have. If we lay down these
tabernacles to rest in the grave, by-and-by we will take them up
again, purified from all inbred corruption and made whole from every
power of Satan in our flesh.
Our bodies are now mortal. In the resurrection there will be a reunion
of the spirits and bodies, and they will walk, talk, eat, drink, and
enjoy. Those who have passed these ordeals are society for angels—for
the Gods, and are the ones who will come into the Temple of the Lord
that is to be built in the latter days, when saviors shall come up
upon Mount Zion, and will say, "Here, my children, I want this and
this done. Here are the names of such and such ones, of our fathers,
and mothers—our ancestors; we will bring them up. Go forth, you who
have not passed the ordeals of death and the resurrection—you who live
in the flesh, and attend to the ordinances for those who have died
without the law." Those who are resurrected will thus dictate in the
Temple. When the Saints pass through death, they cannot officiate in
this sinful world, but they will dictate those who are here. "Go, now,
and be baptized for the honorable—for those who would have received
the law of God and the true religion, if they had lived; be baptized
for the heathen—for all who were honest; officiate for them, and save
them, and bring them up. Be baptized for them, anointed for them,
washed and sealed for them, and fulfil all the ordinances which cannot
be dispensed with." They will all be performed for the living and the
dead upon Mount Zion.
We can receive the truth, live in it, and enjoy its benefits, or we
can reject it: that we have power to do. This generation have power to
reject the Gospel, and they are very fervent in so doing. They are as
perfectly enthusiastic in that course as any people that ever lived.
Nation after nation has had the Gospel offered to them, the fulness of
the Gospel has been preached to them, and they have studiously
rejected it. This was the first nation blessed with the Gospel in our
day, and have they not been fervent to reject it by towns, cities,
counties, states, and the nation? They are as determined to reject the
Gospel as they are to live and overcome the kingdom of God. Will they
overcome that kingdom? No. Every time they persecute and try to
overcome this people, they elevate us, weaken their own hands, and
strengthen the hands and the arms of this people. And every time they
undertake to lessen our number, they increase it. And when they try to
destroy the faith and virtue of this people, the Lord strengthens the
feeble knees, and confirms the wavering in faith and power in God, in
light, and intelligence. Righteousness and power with God
increase in this people in proportion as the Devil struggles to
destroy it.
We cannot help being Saints; we cannot prevent the rolling forth of
the work of God: in and of ourselves we have no power to control our
own minds and passions; but the grace of God is sufficient to give us
perfect victory. The power of the Lord our God helps us, and the Devil
and his emissaries help us—the one on the one hand, the other on the
other hand. We have power to receive the truth or reject it, and we
have power to reject the evil or receive it.
This is the kingdom of God, and the people have not been preserved by
my wisdom, but by the wisdom and power and knowledge of God. He knows
how to weaken the armies of the Philistines. They may come here by
tens of thousands, and multiply that number by ten and make it
hundreds of thousands, and He can make them destroy themselves, until
they melt away like the snow upon the mountains in summer. He can also
strengthen this people or weaken them at his pleasure. And if they are
faithful to the covenants they have entered into with their God, they
will multiply and wax strong, until not a dog in all the mountains of
Ephraim, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from Hudson's Bay to
Cape Horn, dare open his mouth or raise his voice against the anointed
of the Lord. Don't you pity our nation? I do. They have not enough
knowledge to act according to their own laws. The officers they send
here do not know enough to act according to the laws they were sent to
magnify. The nation is becoming imbecile and weak; they are unstable
as water; they do not seem to have the wisdom of a child; and every
move they make they manifest their weakness before the world, and put
themselves to shame before each other. I have said enough about this
matter, though I have only dropped a few hints.
I began with brother Hyde's remarks, and I will end with them. He has
not been teaching you doctrine. Whether those things he has been
speaking about are true or not, who cares? Who cares who takes us back
to the land of our inheritance? I have told you my feelings on the
subject. If they want to take us back today, I say, No; I came here
without their aid, and I ask no assistance from them. All I ask of
them, or ever have, is, when any of them leave this Territory, to pay
their honest debts and not steal. Some few come to me, when they are
about to leave, and say—"I am going to this or that place; anything I
can do for you, Governor Young, I am at your service." My reply is, I
have one thing to ask of you and of all creation—namely, When you
speak of this people, speak the truth, and do not lie about them. Will
they do that? Some will, and some will not; some will publish a lie
from east to west, from north to south. If you would give a dollar a
line for publishing the truth, as a general thing you cannot get
editors to publish it. Now, lie and be d——d, the whole of you; I ask
no favors of you.
God bless the humble in heart, and those who promote truth and
righteousness upon the earth; and let the wrath of the Almighty be
upon the wicked and ungodly. Amen.