IGNORANCE AND LOW CONDITION OF THE WORLD.--PAST EXPERIENCE, PRESENT POSITION, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE SAINTS.
A Discourse by Elder John Taylor delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 23, 1857.
In listening to the remarks made by President Kimball this morning, I felt myself very much edified, very much instructed, and very much blessed. In fact, where the Spirit of the Lord is, and the oracles of God dwell, there must of necessity be truth, intelligence, and certainty. Many of those things, as he justly remarked, that seem light and trivial, and of little importance to many, are pregnant with meaning, are full of interest, and are of the utmost importance to the Saints that dwell in these valleys, and to the world of mankind, if they would only pay attention to and be governed by them.
Mankind are, more or less, fond of paraphernalia, show, pomp, and parade; but the kingdom of God does not always come with "observation," as the Scripture says. The great and precious principles of eternal truth, like pearls and precious gems, are often hid from the view of the human family.
What is the reason that the world of mankind do not appreciate the principles that are so plain and so manifest to us? How is it that all of our friends, relatives, and associations, and the neighbourhoods where we have resided have not fallen in with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Why is it that all these things have not been received and appreciated by the millions of the human family who have had precisely the same opportunities that we have had? It is because they do not appreciate them--because they cannot see and understand. The light shone in darkness and it comprehended it not; but to those who received it, it was life and salvation.
Why is it that a swine cannot discern the value of pearls, and tramples them under its feet? Because it does not understand,--it has not the intelligence, and does not comprehend the difference between the filth that surrounds it and precious gems. You might cast a precious jewel at a hog, and it would turn and rend you; but throw that to a man of understanding and intelligence, and he would ask for more. That is the difference. God has so ordained that strait shall be the gate, and narrow the way that leads to life; and but few there are that find it."
If the men of the world, if the princes and potentates of the earth, if the statesmen and great men among the nations could comprehend things as we comprehend them, could understand the Gospel as it has been revealed to us,--if they could know anything of our high calling's glorious hope, and of the principles that animate our bosoms, they would, many of them, lay down their honors and their thrones, and come down and ask for admission into this kingdom. But they have got to receive the kingdom of God like a little child, just the same as you and I, or they cannot enter it; they have got to enter by the door into the sheepfold; and hence there is a test for every man to try him by; and hence the difference between us and them, and therefore a difference in regard to our views and position, which necessarily produce a difference in our feelings. They think differently, they speak differently, they look upon things in a different point of view to what we do. They look upon us as being enthusiastic, foolish, wild, and visionary, and among the rest as being polluted; and they would, forsooth, sympathize with us, some of them, and think we are in the most dreadful position of any people under the face of the heavens--that we are degraded and fallen. But they know not the spirit that animates our bosoms; they know not the hope that God has inspired in our hearts; they know not the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; they are as ignorant of them and of their own destiny as the brute beast which is "made to be taken and destroyed."
It was a very correct figure that the Apostle made use of formerly, when he spoke of men being as ignorant as brute beasts, which were made to be taken and destroyed. Man, holding a relationship with things that have been, with things that are, and with things that are to come, being an eternal being, having existed before, existing now, and destined to exist while endless ages shall endure,--when he understands his relationship to God, how he is associated with his progenitors, the position in which he stands to the Church and kingdom of God on the earth, the blessing he is able to seal on his posterity, worlds without end, and the great things he is destined to enjoy if faithful,--there is as much difference between his views and the world of mankind in general as there is between midnight darkness and the light of the sun in its meridian glory.
Men that are in darkness do not understand why it is that we think as we do, that we act as we do, that we endure as we do, that men can be united as we are, that people will leave their homes and traverse seas, oceans, deserts, mountains, plains, and sterile wastes, in order to meet with a people so much despised by a great majority of mankind. They do not know why it is, because they do not understand the counsels of God. How is it in relation to them? They have no revelation, no knowledge of God; and hence they are like the brute beasts, and know nothing but what they know naturally, as beasts obtain their knowledge, &c. They know nothing of their own position, or of their relationship to God; they know nothing about their progenitors, of their own destiny in the future, of what is within their reach while here on the earth, or how to secure blessings on their posterity; in fact, they are ignorant of all the great and vital principles which have a tendency to animate, enliven, and give vitality and power to all the acts of the sons of God; and hence they are like the brute beasts.
You can take an ox, or a hog, and put it into a stable, and feed it, and it will get fat there. What for? For the knife. If you could only give it a little revelation--if you could only make that ox or hog understand that it was being prepared to be killed and eaten, I wonder how fat you could make it? It is just so with the world; they are ignorant of their position, and they glory in their own shame, just as much as a hog does in wallowing in the mire; and they are just as ignorant of their destiny. This is the position of the world, and that is the reason why you see things as they are--why there is so much darkness; and I only wonder there is so much light among them as there is.
You wonder why men act so much like fools. I wonder they have as much intelligence as they have; and the only reason why they have so much is, that the Spirit of God is not entirely withdrawn from them.
In regard to principles of science, mechanism, &c., they possess a great deal of information; but they do not know that "every good and perfect gift' proceeds from God, and they won't acknowledge it or him; and hence the little light they enjoy relative to religious matters, in relation to eternity, to their present real position and destiny, and to the things which God has communicated to us.
Is it to be wondered at, then, that men acting in that way should feel strange and act strangely? You cannot expect the conduct of a gentleman to proceed from a brute beast; you cannot expect anything but a grunt from a hog: it is their nature; and it is the nature of the wicked to act as they have done and as they are doing; and if you see animosity, hatred, evil, strife, vicious feelings, bad practices, lasciviousness, corruption of every grade, and every kind of abomination prevailing, it is because of their nature. One of those little hymns composed by Watts for children describes it right:--
"Let dogs delight to bark and bite, for God
hath made them so:
Let bears and lions growl and fight; it is
their nature too."
Not desirous to retain God in their knowledge, they have given themselves up to every kind of evil, and are led captive by the Devil; and the Scriptures say, "His servants ye are whom ye list to obey."
Now, what is it that enlightens our minds? We were like them precisely. Is there any man here who knew anything about God until it was revealed to him? Is there a man or woman here who understood even the first principles of the Gospel of Christ until they were revealed to them?
I have travelled a great deal, and been in different nations, and I have never yet met with a man that did. To what are we indebted for that knowledge? To the administration of an angel, which made manifest the order of God to Joseph Smith, and he revealed it unto others to that we are indebted for the first principles of the Gospel.
Can you find anybody, anywhere, in any part of the earth, who professes to teach religion, that will tell the people to repent of their sins, be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of them, and receive the imposition of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? And who dare promise them that they shall receive it in its power, as the Apostles did formerly? I cannot. I have not met with such a people, nor have you.
I was well versed in the Scriptures myself when this Gospel came along, but I was as ignorant as a brute about these things, and so is everybody else. I have not come in contact with a man who understood correct principles in relation to the principles of the Gospel, or who knew the way to enter into the kingdom of God. Who could know it without God revealing it? And it is to that revelation that we are indebted for the intelligence we have received concerning these matters, and to the spirit of prophecy and revelation that has been communicated with it.
Brother Kimball said he did not profess to be a Prophet of God. I bear testimony that he is a Prophet of God; and why do I do that? Because I have known many things that I could relate here, that I heard him prophesy years ago, that have been fulfilled to the very letter. And I bear testimony of it on another ground: any man that has the testimony of Jesus has the spirit of prophecy; for "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy? so says the old Bible; and consequently, such a man is a prophet.
Concerning the first principles of the Gospel, at first they came by revelation; they were communicated to a young man who did not possess what is termed worldly wisdom, education, or intelligence; but he came and told it out just as God told it to him.
Was there anybody that could controvert it? No. It was not because it was in the Bible that he taught it, but because God had communicated it to him; and he went and told the things which he had received. Did you ever meet with a man anywhere that could controvert the principles Joseph Smith taught? Did you ever find a theologian, or priest, of any description, that could contradict these things successfully? Did I? I never did. I have never met with a man under the heavens that could successfully contradict one principle of it--never; NO, NEVER; and I do not expect ever to be able to.
Why is it that people cannot contradict it? Because it is the eternal truth of heaven, and emanated from the great Eloheim, and is one of those eternal principles of truth which God has communicated to the human family; and truth, like God, is unchangeable, and cannot be controverted. Darkness flees before it, and error hides its head wherever it appears.
It was so in regard to the first principles of the Gospel, and it has been so in regard to principles that have been revealed and communicated from time to time, both by Joseph Smith, by President Young, by brother Kimball, and by all the authorities of this Church who have been inspired by the Holy Ghost.
In relation to the position we now occupy, the things that were spoken this morning are as correct, as true, and as incontrovertible as anything that could be adduced by any man--I do not care where he comes from, nor what may be his intelligence,--I do not care whether he is king, president, potentate, or statesman, of any description, or what his intellectual qualifications: it matters not.
The principles that were spoken here are, in and of themselves, correct; and I want to speak a little in relation to some of these things, in order that men who have not examined them may understand them more minutely. You believe the principles because you heard them, of course; and so do I; so do we all; and every truth recommends itself to the minds of the human family; yet, at the same time, we are not all of us at all times prepared to judge of the correctness of all these matters.
The things we have heard this morning might sound to some croakers and ignoramuses, who have never examined the subject, and do not understand principle, like treason, as though we were in open rebellion against the United States and opposed to the Government we are associated with--as though we were going to trample down all law, rule, and order. No such thing. We are the only people in these United States, at the present time, who are sustaining them. I can prove this, and that it is others who are trampling them under foot, and not us. Whilst they are committing acts, themselves, that are treasonable in their nature, and pursuing a course opposed to the Constitution and the very genius of the institutions of the United States, they want to lay the sin at our doors that they themselves are guilty of.
Would I, as a citizen of the United States, come out in rebellion against the United States, and act contrary to my conscience? Verily no. Would brother Young? Verily no. Would brother Kimball, or brother Wells? Verily no.
Are they not true patriots--true Americans? Do they not feel the fire of '76 burning in their bosoms? Assuredly they do. Would they do a thing that is wrong? No; and they will also see that others do not do it. That is the feeling, the spirit, and principle that actuate them.
There are thousands of you who are Americans, who have been born in this land, whose fathers fought for the liberties we used to enjoy, but have not enjoyed for some years past. There are thousands of such men here who feel the same spirit that used to burn in their fathers' bosoms--the spirit of liberty and equal rights--the spirit of according to every man that which belongs to him, and of robbing no man of his rights.
Your fathers and grandfathers have met the tyrant when he sought to put a yoke on your necks; as men and true patriots, they came forward and fought for their rights and in defence of that liberty which we, their children, ought to enjoy. You feel the same spirit that inspired them; the same blood that coursed in their veins flows in yours; you feel true patriotism and a strong attachment to the Constitution and institutions bought by the blood of your fathers, and bequeathed to you by them as your richest patrimony.
There are others of you that have taken the oath of allegiance to the United States; and some of you, not understanding correct principles, may, perhaps, feel qualms of conscience, and think, probably, that if we undertake to resist the powers that are seeking to make aggression upon us, we are doing wrong. No such thing. You let your conscience sleep at ease; let it be quiet: it is not us who are doing wrong; it is others who are committing a wrong upon us.
What was the case in Missouri? Let me draw your attention briefly to some of the circumstances that have transpired in our history as a people. Whom did we interfere with in the State of Missouri? Did we rebel against the United States, or against the State in which we lived? Verily no; and I am at the defiance of that State and Congress, with all the world at their backs, to prove that we did rebel in one iota. Did they give unto us the protection of American citizens? They did not; and they perjured themselves in not doing it. They perjured themselves before God and all honest men.
Whom did we rebel against in Illinois?
Let me mention one circumstance in the State of Missouri. How much land did we purchase there from the United States, and pay for, which they promised to warrant and defend us in the possession of? Did they protect us in the right they guaranteed unto us? No; they allowed us to be robbed and plundered with impunity. And how many suffered death in consequence of their recklessness, carelessness, and barefaced iniquity? Thousands. I have seen their condition when many thousands were driven from their lands and homes, were persecuted harassed, and driven like felons without redress, robbed, plundered, imprisoned, and put to death; and thousands of men, women, and children wandered houseless and homeless exiles in their own land, and fugitives flying from the rage of a lawless rabble, infuriated banditti, and bloodthirsty miscreants and murderers. I saw then a whole people robbed and disfranchised, and this too in the middle of winter. Did the State authorities yield us any redress? No. They were foremost in the mob. Did the United States? No.
Many of my brethren around me also witnessed these things, and know the misery, destitution, and death caused by those bloodhounds, when they first fled to Nauvoo, resting where the mud was knee deep--the only position they could get--with three or four little sticks put up, and a counterpane thrown over them, and there left to die.
Brother Wells was in Nauvoo at the time. After the excitement was over, there was not enough of well folks to wait on the sick.
I was off on a mission to England at this time, and all my family were sick; and my son George, who has been away and returned with me, being quite a little boy, not able to draw water, and nobody in the house able to get it, had to go and wait at the well, with a little bucket, for somebody to come and draw him a little water to carry home to the sick, to quench the parching tongue and allay the raging fever occasioned by these Missouri demons.
Brother Brigham, brother Kimball, George A. Smith, and the Twelve here, and everybody, almost, was down sick; and in this condition, feeble, faint, and half dead, they started off on a mission, because we were commanded to go. We went to fulfil the word of the Lord. Did the United States step forward and yield us any redress? No; but they stood there, and were willing to see us imposed upon and robbed of our property and rights; and we have obtained no redress for it to the present day.
Who are the transgressors? Are we? Martin Van Buren, the then President of the United States, acknowledged the injustice done to us when he said, "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you." And we endured it.
We staid in Illinois, lived there as peaceable citizens, and had a city charter, and under its protection improved our city, and had in a short time, by our energy, industry, and enterprize, built one of the best cities in the western country, and had one of the most peaceable societies that existed anywhere, without exception.
The first thing they did to aggravate us was to rob us of our city charter; and this very Judge Douglas, of whom we have heard so much as being our friend, was one of the first movers for its repeal. The first time I ever met with him was in an hotel in Springfield, Illinois, the time they were trying Joseph Smith before Judge Pope. He told me then that they had a right to do it, and that the Judges had decided so. I said, I did not know anything about the Judges.
I did not know who he was at the time, and it would not have made much difference if I had. I told him, It is no matter to me what the judges decided about charters; the Legislature had given us our charter for perpetual succession; and for them to take away a charter with these provisions proved them either to be knaves or fools.
They were knaves if they did it knowingly, to give what they knew they had not power to do; and if they did not know it, they were fools for giving us a thing they had not power to give. Did they do it? Yes. And that State robbed us of the rights of freemen; and the only chance we had then, when they sent their scamps and rogues among us, was to have a whittling society and whittle them out. We could not get them out according to law, and we had to do it according to justice; and there was no law against whittling,--so we whittled the scoundrels out.
I remember that one of the legislators who had annulled our charter, named Dr. Charles, went to President Young, and says he, "Mr. Young, I am very much imposed upon by the people around here; there are a lot of boys following me with long knives, and they are whittling after me wherever I go; my life is in danger."
Brother Young replied, "I am very sorry you are imposed upon by the people: we used to have laws here, but you have taken them away from us: we have no law to protect you. "YOUR CAUSE IS JUST, BUT WE CAN DO NOTHING FOR YOU." Boys, don't frighten him, <don't.>"
They deprived us of the rights of law to protect ourselves, and in doing it, they deprived us of the power of protecting them; and we could not help them when they wanted help.
[Voice: "We still have whittling societies."]
Yes, we still have whittling societies, as brother Kimball says.
Why did we leave Nauvoo? Had we killed anybody? Had we broken any law? Had we trampled upon the rights of any people? Had we done anything that the laws of the United States or of that State could interfere with us for? If we had, they would pretty soon have dragged us up.
The people wanted us to leave; and because the people were dissatisfied--because there were a lot of religious enthusiasts, political aspirants, blacklegs, and scoundrels, who wanted to possess our property, all bound together to rob us of our rights, we must go away, of course.
Judge Douglas, General Harding, Major Warren, and some of the prominent men from Springfield met together in my house in Nauvoo, and these men could go to work and talk deliberately (and there was no less than two United States' Senators among them at the time,) about removing thousands of people, and letting them be disfranchised and despoiled, as coolly as they would cut up a leg of mutton.
[Voice: "And you told them of it."]
Yes, I did.
Now, then, whom did we injure? What law did we break? Whose rights did we trample upon? Did we dispossess anybody of his land, rob anybody, interfere with anybody's rights? Did we transgress any estate's law, national law, or any other law? We did not; and they never have been able to prove one item against us, and we stand clear. We maintained the law and tried to make it honourable.
What must we go away for? Why, they had murdered our Prophet and Patriarch under the sacred pledge of the Governor of the State and of his officers, all combined, and we could obtain no redress; and because they had done one injury, they must heap a thousand on the back of it.
That is the only reason I know of. They were murderers, and sanctioned the practice, and those men have got to atone for these wrongs yet. [Voices: "Amen."] The debt has got to be paid.
[Voice: "Douglas is not a bit better than the rest of them."]
Not a particle.
What is our position at the present time? Why are we here, gentlemen and ladies? Answer me, ye sons of the ancient patriots--ye sons of those fathers who fought for the rights and liberties this nation boasts so much of. Answer me--Why are you here? Because you could not go anywhere else--because you could not be protected in those rights that your fathers bled and died for. That is the reason you are here, gentlemen.
We are here, because we are exiled and disfranchised, because we are robbed of our rights, because we could not possess equal rights with other American citizens--rights that the Constitution guaranteed to every citizen of the Union.
We had to fly from the face of civilization, and found a refuge among the red men of the forest; we had to seek that mercy from the hands of the savage that Christian civilization denied us.
We are talking now about rights, laying aside religion. If we come to talk about the kingdom of God, that is another matter. We are talking now about our rights as American citizens, or rather our wrongs,--the rights we have been robbed of.
We are here, then, under these circumstances. Have we broken any law here? No. I defied the whole Eastern country, when I was there, to prove that we have broken any law, and have not found a man that dare take up the gauntlet--not one, because they could not do it. Why could they not? Because we have done no wrong.
What did we do on the road here? Right in the midst of difficulties, in the midst of exile, when we were journeying to this place, this Government called upon us for 500 soldiers to go and fight their battles, when they were literally allowing us to be driven from our homes and to be robbed of millions of property without redress.
Did we send the soldiers? We did. Was it our duty to comply with such a requisition at such a time, and under such circumstances? I don't know. I think it was one of those works of supererogation which the Roman Catholics talk about. I do not think any law of God or man would have required it at our hands; but we did it; and I suppose it was wisdom and prudent, under the circumstances, that we should take that course, because our enemies were seeking to entangle and destroy us from the earth. They laid that as a trap, thinking to catch us in it; but it did not stick.
What did we do when we came here? We framed a Constitution and a Provisional Government, and reported our doings to the United States again, right on the back of all the insults, robbery, and fraud which we had endured. We still went constitutionally to work.
Afterwards, we petitioned for a Territorial Government. Did they give it to us? They did. Is there any step that we have taken that is contrary to law? There is not? They have appointed our Governor, our Secretaries, our Judges, our Marshals; they have done to us the same in this matter as they have done with other Territories.
I do not believe in their right constitutionally to appoint our officers. Still they have done it, and we have submitted to it. And they have sent some of the most cursed scoundrels here that ever existed on the earth. Instead of being fathers, they have tried every influence they could bring to bear in order to destroy us.
Such have been our protectors. These have been the men who have been sworn to fulfil their public duties; but they have foresworn themselves in the face of high heaven.
What law have we transgressed? None. They trump up every kind of story that it is possible to conceive of, but have always been and are now unable to substantiate any of their barefaced assertions; and I declare it before you and the world, that this people are the most peaceable, law-abiding, and patriotic people that can be found in the United States.
What have they been doing in Kansas, in California, in Oregon? What in Cuba, in Nicaragua, and at present in New York, if you please? They have been filibustering in Cuba and in Nicaragua; and officers of every grade and condition, both civil and military, have winked at it and suffered those things to go on, right under their noses.
The position of affairs in Kansas has been anything but flattering; it has been North against South, and South against North, and Kansas has been the battle-ground.
The people there are not, perhaps, much worse than the rest of the people; they are principally emigrants from the North and South, who are arrayed against each other, whilst Kansas is the greatest Sebastopol, where the battle is fought. The inhabitants there are the representatives of Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern civilization and Christianity, all combined.
Are they traitors? O, no! They are only a little excited. We must try and get a Governor who will try and compromise matters between the parties, and we will get things straightened out by-and-by. They send one Governor--he fails; and another, and he fails; and they have sent another; but whether he will fail or not, time must determine.
What are they doing in New York? The Legislature of New York passed laws interfering with the city of New York, and the city is in rebellion against the State of New York, and it was raging at the time I left. The State says, "I won't submit," and the city says, "I won't submit." And they had two different classes of officers there to regulate matters in the emporium of the United States: it is the mercantile emporium at least.
They are very peaceable; they are good citizens; there is no harm in that; it is only a little family trouble that we have to settle; and in doing so, we must use any pacific measure we can.
What is the matter with us? Have we broken any law? James Gordon Bennett, a man who is quarrelling with everybody, comes out at last, and says, "The Mormons" have the advantage of us, and they know it." And out of all he could hatch up and scrape together against the "Mormons," there is only one thing that seems even in his eyes to supply any pretext for hostilities against them, and that is, the charge of burning some 900 volumes of United States' laws; and this charge is also false. Bennett is one of the most rabid "Mormon" eaters you can find, with the exception of Greeley.
What are they sending an army here for? I had thought things were a little different until I got here; but I have found, in conversing with President Young, that he knows more about things as they exist in the Eastern country than I did, who had just come from there. I had read all the newspapers, examined the spirit of the times, and tried to get at all the information I could; and I find, from the information I have received since them, that he understood things more correctly than I did.
I thought it was a kind of a pacific course which the Administration was taking, in order to pacify the Republicans, that they might have a reasonable pretext to have fulfilled their duties; for I do know that they were apprised of the unreliable character of some of their informants. When I heard that the troops now on their way here had sealed orders, were coming with cannon, and had stopped the mail, it argued that there was the Devil behind somewhere.
I will give you my opinion about their present course. The Republicans were determined to make the "Mormon" question tell in their favour. At the time they were trying to elect Fremont, they put two questions into their platform--viz., opposition to the domestic institutions of the South and to polygamy. The Democrats have professed to be our friends, and they go to work to sustain the domestic institutions of the South and the rights of the people; but when they do that, the Republicans throw polygamy at them, and are determined to make them swallow that with the other. This makes the Democrats gag, and they have felt a strong desire to get rid of the "Mormon" question.
Some of them, I know, for some time past, have been concocting plans to divide up Utah among the several Territories around; and I believe a bill, having this object in view, was prepared once or twice, and came pretty near being presented to Congress; but that was not done.
Now, they go to work and send out an army with sealed orders, and, if necessary, are prepared to commit anything that the Devil may suggest to them; for they are under his influence. They wish now to steal the Republicans' thunder, to take the wind out of their sails, and to out-Herod Herod.
Say they, "We, who profess to be the friends of the Mormons,' and support free institutions, squatter sovereignty, and equal rights, will do more to the 'Mormons than you dare do; and we will procure offices by that means, and save our parties;" and, as Pilate and Herod could be made friends over the death of Jesus, so they go to work and plan our sacrifice and destruction, and make up friends on the back of it. They would crucify Jesus Christ, if he were here, as quick as the Scribes and Pharisees did in his day, and the priests would help them.
President Young says they shall not come here and destroy us; and I say, Amen. [The congregation shouted, "Amen."]
I have not quoted a great deal of Scripture to-day, but I will quote some. It says there was the opening of the "first seal;" so we will open this seal for them. We will declare their orders--a thing they have not manhood to do. they are too sneaking and underhanded, and have not manliness enough to declare their mind to a handful of people--the poor, pusillanimous curses. We dare do it; and, I thank God, that I live among a people that dare; for I do despise this sneaking, miserable, cowardly tribe, that are obliged to act under-handed in all their ways. Why? For fear of something to come. We dare declare our intentions, and risk the consequences.
Now, I want to touch upon a principle which I spoke about awhile ago. We have submitted to their sending officers here; that is all right enough, if we have a mind to. We are citizens of the United States, and profess to support the Constitution of the United States; and wherein that binds us, we are bound; wherein it does not, we are not bound.
They have sent Judge after Judge, and many times we have been without them: their loss, however, was not felt. They have sent their officers, and we have treated them well; and for the good treatment we have received curses, bitterness, wrath, lying, and destruction in return. They have sought to destroy our reputation--to rob us of our rights. They have sought to injure us in every possible way that men could be injured, as patriots, Christians, and moral men. They have lied about us in every conceivable way.
We have borne it and borne it over and over again. Are we bound to bear it for ever? That is the question that necessarily arises. Are we bound to suffer their abuse and oppression continually? And if we are, upon what principle? If there is any man in this congregation, or anywhere else, that will show me one principle or one piece of instruction or authority in the Constitution of the United States that authorises the President of the United States to send out Governors and Judges to this Territory, I would like to see it.
I cannot find such authority. I will admit that a usage of that kind has obtained--that it is quite customary for the President of the United States, by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint Governors, Judges, Marshals, Secretaries of State, and all of those officers that you have had here. But it is a thing that is not authorized by the Constitution,--much less to force them upon us by an armed soldiery. There is no such authority existing.
I wish to quote to you one little thing. If I had the Constitution here, I would read it to you. It is to the effect, "That the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
No matter, therefore, whether the people live in States or Territories, they possess constitutional privileges alike. The most that is said in regard to Territories and the authority of the President and Congress is, that "The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States." That is speaking of it as land; and some of the most prominent statesmen of the United States have so construed it. It is property as land--territory as land they have a right to interfere with, not territory as regards the people.
I published this in the <"Mormon"> long ago, and said the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional. By-and-by, the United States' Judges gave the same decision. I gave mine, however, before they gave theirs.
It is a true principle, they have not the authority. If they have it at all, it is in the people ceding it to them, and not what they possess by the Constitution of the United States. They have sent scoundrels amongst us from time to time. If they had sent decent men, would we have opposed them? No: we would have respected them. But will we submit to such infernal scoundrels? Never; no, never!!
So far as right is concerned, then, they have no right to appoint officers for this or any other Territory; and I will defy any man to prove that there is any such right in the Constitution.
I conversed with a Judge Black, who was coming up to Nebraska Territory on a steam-boat,--an intelligent man, a Democrat, of course. When talking about these principles to him, which he acceded to, I put my hand on his shoulder, and said, "Judge, what are you doing here?" "I am here," said he, "according to the usage that has obtained; but if the people do not want me, all they have to do is to express it, and I will go away again." I wish we had only half such decent men as that sent here.
He tried to take another tack, which is this: He pointed out in the Constitution where the Supreme Court of the United States was made one of the branches of the Government, and the President has the appointment of its Judges. That is true--he possesses the power to appoint the greater, but not the less. How do you make that appear? Simply because one is mentioned in the Constitution, and the other is not. The United States' Supreme Court is a co-ordinate branch of the Government, and there is provision made by the Constitution for the election and appointment of its officers.
This is not the case in regard to the officers of a Territory. Out of courtesy we, as citizens of the United States, may say, "Mr. President, if you have a mind to appoint discreet persons to fill those offices, all well and good; but if you don't, you had better take them back; for we won't have them: we stand on our reserved rights as citizens of the United States."
We are not lacking for men in the United States, at the present time, who want to make it appear that the United States have a right to lord it over the Territories, the same as the British Government used to do over their colonies.
Thousands of you before me were citizens of the United States, where you came from. You had the right of franchise--had a right to say who should be your Governor, and who should be your Municipal and State officers. You came out here by thousands or by tens of thousands. By what right or upon what principle are you disfranchised? Can anybody tell me? Say some, "You need not have come out here unless you had a mind to." Of course not. But we had a mind to; we were American citizens before we came out, and we have transgressed no law in coming; and by what rule are we deprived of our citizenship? If we had a right then to vote for anything, we have a right now; and nobody has a right to cram this or that man upon us without our consent,--much less have they a right to dragoon us into servility to their unconstitutional exactions.
What was the great cause of complaint at the time the Constitution was framed? In the declaration of Independence, it was stated that the people had rulers placed over them, and they had no voice in their election. Read that instrument. It describes our wrongs as plainly as it did the wrongs the people then laboured under and discarded.
Our Government are doing the very things against us that our fathers complained of. "They send armed mercenaries among us, to subjugate us," &c. What is our Government doing? The same thing.
As American citizens and patriots, and as sons of those venerable sires, can we, without disgracing ourselves, our fathers, and our nation, submit to these insults, and tamely bow to such tyranny? We cannot do it, and we will not do it. We will rally round the Constitution, and declare our rights as American citizens; and we will sustain them in the face of High Heaven and the world.
No man need have any qualms of conscience that he is doing wrong. You are patriots, standing by your rights and opposing the wrong which affects all lovers of freedom as well as you; for those acts of aggression have a withering, deadly effect, and are gnawing, like a canker-worm, at the very vitals of religious and civil liberty. You are standing by the Declaration of Independence, and sustaining the the [sic] Constitution which was given by the inspiration of God; and you are the only people in the United States this time that are doing it--that have the manhood to do it. You dare do it, and you feel right about the matter as the <vox populi.>
According to the genius and spirit of the Constitution of the United States, we are pursuing the course that would be approved of by all high-minded, honourable men; and no man but a poor, miserable sneak would have any other feeling.
I lay these things before you for your information, that you may feel and act understandingly. I have carefully criticized these matters, and examined the views of many of those who are said to be our greatest statesmen on this subject; for I have desired to comprehend the powers of the Government and the rights of the people; and I have watched with no little anxiety the encroachments of Government and the manifest desire to trample upon your rights. It is for you, however, to maintain them; and if those men that are traitors to the spirit and genius of the Constitution of the United States have a mind to trample underfoot those principles that ought to guarantee protection to every American citizen, we will rally around the standard, and bid them defiance in the name of the Lord God of Israel.
In doing this, we neither forget our duties as citizens of the United States, nor as subjects of the kingdom and cause of God; but, as the Lord has said, if we will keep His commandments, we need not transgress the laws of the land. We have no done it; we have maintained them all the time.
When we talk about the Constitution of the United States, we are sometimes apt to quote--<"Vox populi, vox Dei;"> that is, The voice of the people is the voice of God. But in some places they ought to say, VOX POPULI, VOX DIABOLI; that is, the voice of the people is the voice of the devil.
We are moved by a higher law. They talk sometimes about a higher law in the States. Greeley is a great man to talk about a higher law, which means, with him, stealing niggers. We do not care anything about that. We want to do something better--something higher and more noble. That is rather too low for us; consequently they need not be afraid of our stealing their niggers: we will let them have all the benefits of them as one of the grand institutions of Christians, together with the amalgamating process as another of the institutions of Christianity. And another grand institution they have among them is prostitution.
Well, thank God, we do not know anything about such things. A very respectable gentleman in Philadelphia said to me a while go [sic], in talking over some of these matters--"Suppose a Mahommedan should come into the city of Philadelphia"--that is one of the puritanical cities, where they profess to be so good, the city of brotherly love--and walk through our streets in the evening, and see a number of ladies walking alone, being informed that it was usual for respectable ladies to be protected, he would necessarily enquire what was the meaning of this. Being informed that these were prostitutes, he would necessarily enquire what was the meaning of this. Being informed that these were prostitutes, he would very naturally say, "Then I suppose this is one of the institutions of Christianity?" This is the conclusion he would come to at once. Well, so it is; and this niggerism in the South is about the same kind of thing, only a change of colour.
These are all moral, all legal, all truly Christian. Men east may have one or a dozen misses, keep part of their children;, and turn the other out as paupers. In the South, they buy them body and soul, prostitute them at pleasure, and sell their own children. Yet these men talk of our morals, and send out armies to chastise us for our corruptions, when God knows, and they know, that they are a thousand times more corrupt than we are.
We are not taking any steps contrary to the laws and the Constitution of the United States, but in every thing we are upholding and sustaining them. Gentlemen, hands off: we are free men; we possess equal rights with other men; and if you send your sealed orders here, we may break the seal, and it shall be the opening of the first seal.
In relation to the kingdom of God, that is another matter. You before me understand about it--its laws, priesthood, principles, and influences, and the things that are about to transpire. God has set his hand to accomplish His purposes, to roll on His great designs, and bring to pass the things spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the world began, that should take place in the latter days, to establish His kingdom on the earth, that shall become mighty and prevail over all other kingdoms. You know all about this.
We are established here, and have the oracles of God in our midst, and the principles of truth revealed. This is the kingdom of God. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands has got to roll forth and become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth.
Satan has held dominion, and rule, and power, over the human family, for generations and generations; and God is gathering together a little nucleus here--a band of brethren clothed upon with the Holy Priesthood and the Spirit of God, by which they will be able to roll back the cloud of darkness that has overwhelmed the inhabitants of the earth, and plant the principles of truth, and establish the kingdom of God. That is what we are engaged in, and what we mean to accomplish by the help of the Lord; and in regard to any little thing that may be transpiring around us, in regard to their little armies they are sending here, great conscience! It is comparatively nothing; there will be thunder and lightning and the bellowing of earthquakes, in comparison with that, before we get through. Thrones will be cast down, and desolation, war, and bloodshed will spread abroad in the earth, and desolate nations and empires, and God will turn and overturn until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and he will reign for ever; and we are going to have part in it, and our children and our children's children.
It is for us to act as the sons of the living God, magnify our calling, honour our God and His Priesthood, and live as men and as God's true children on the earth, accomplish His purposes here, and then join with the redeemed that have gone before to help to roll on weightier matters in the upper world.
I do not know but I have been talking long enough. I feel well. I am happy. All is right; and if it thunders, let it thunder; let the lightnings flash and the earthquakes bellow; let them rage: there is a God in heaven that can hold the children of men, and He will do it, and His work will spread, His kingdom increase, and His power be made manifest among us and among all nations, and Zion will spread and go forth, and every creature in the heavens, and on the earth, and under the earth will be heard to say, "Blessing and power, might and majesty be ascribed to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever."
Brethren, God bless you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
CORRECTION--APPOINTMENT OF GOVERNOR--"OUR OWN NAME"--THE COMING TEST, ETC.
Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, August 30, 1857.
You must expect, when you see brother Heber stand before you to speak, that you will hear what is called the rough etchel [sic] to this generation. I am pretty well satisfied, brethren, that there are only four or five persons in this congregation that dislike to hear me talk; and when you take out those four or five, I know that this people would rather hear me speak than any other man who speaks from this stand, except brother Brigham. It is not that those four or five have anything particular against me, but it is because I do at many times give vent to my feelings, and, by so doing, I hit them a crack where they deserve it. Well, this is all right.
I wonder if there is a manor woman here that really wants to be a Saint--I mean those that want to live their religion--but what desire in their hearts and seek in their prayers to the Father that they may be corrected when they are wrong--that they may be admonished? Is there a person in this congregation but what has that desire and that feeling? If there is, I am greatly mistaken; for I hear them when I go into meetings and when I go into family circles; they will say, if I have a wrong thing about me, I want to be corrected. Have you not heard it so this morning? Every man that speaks before this community has those feelings. Have not I those feelings? Brethren, if I have a fault, or have anything about me which is not right, I want to get rid of that; and so do you, if you are Saints.
Well, there is not a mother in this congregation but feels in that way; else, when they see one of their children in fault, why do they correct those children? Why do you correct them, when you are not willing to be corrected yourselves? Neither a father nor a mother, from this time forth, should correct a child, except they are willing to be corrected in their faults.
Do you see it? You will see mothers who will correct their children when they get angry, and that is almost the only time they will correct a child. Am I angry to-day? Just look at me, and see if you think I am angry. I tell you I am just as good-nature as I can be, according to the nature of the case that I am now dwelling upon. Well, this is for you to reflect upon.
Is this a good people? You may take the Elders of Israel throughout these valleys, and those at the stations, between here and the United States, and those that we have sent to the nations of the earth, and then thousands, who never were here, and there never was a more amenable set of men upon the earth, with the experience that we have got; and there never was that day that this people were one as they are one to-day; no, never.
Well, I feel to praise the Elders of Israel for their faithfulness. Is there a chance for improvement, brethren, ye Elders of Israel? If you think there is a chance for improvement, notwithstanding all of my praising you, just raise your right hands. [A forest of hands was raised.] Those that think there cannot be any improvement, but that you are stereotyped, raise your hands. I cannot see any hands raised upon that side.
When I went to chop, I was always taught to pull off my coat, and spit on my hands. I pull off my coat because I am too warm. If I don't talk here more than twenty minutes, I want my coat off.
May I tell you some of my feelings, and not have any of you angry with me? [Voices: "Yes."] I hate to have the ladies angry with me, above all things; and I will tell you one thing, and that is, all you that are ladies will not find fault; but the woman that finds fault with me, I can analyze her, and show you she is not a lady. I am a physician. Well, you can hardly mention a thing that is good but what I am.
I want to tell some of my feelings here to-day, in a few words, relative to brother Brigham. I call him brother, because he says if I call him President, he shall call me President; and just as sure as he does, I am as flat as a pancake. I shall only call him President before the Saints, in his calling--I was going to say before our enemies; but, damn them, they shall never come here. Excuse me, I never use rough words, only when I come in contact with rough things; and I use smooth words when I talk upon smooth subjects, and so on, according to the nature of the case that comes before me.
You all acknowledge brother Brigham as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints; then you acknowledge him as our Leader, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator; and then you acknowledge him in every capacity that pertains to his calling, both in Church and State, do you not? [Voices: "Yes."] Well, he is our Governor. What is Governor? One who presides or governs. Well, now, we have declared, in a legislative capacity, that we will not have poor, rotten-hearted curses come and rule over us, such as some they have been accustomed to send. We drafted a memorial, and the Council and the House of Representatives signed it, and we sent to them the names of men of our own choice--as many as from five to eight men for each office--men from our own midst, out of whom to appoint officers for this Territory. We sent that number for the President of the United States to make a selection from, and asked him to give us men of our own choice, in accordance with the rights constitutionally guaranteed to all American citizens. We just told them right up and down, that if they sent any more such miserable curses as some they had sent were, we would send them home; and that is one reason why an army, or rather a mob, is on the way here, as reported. You did not know the reason before, did you?
Well, we did that in a legislative capacity; we did it as members of the Legislature--as your representatives; and now you have got to back us up. You sent us, just as we sent brother Bernhisel to seek for our rights and to stand in our defence at Washington.
Well, here is brother Brigham: he is the man of our own choice; he is our Governor, in the capacity of a Territory, and also as Saints of the Most High.
Well, it is reported that they have another Governor on the way now, three Judges, a District Attorney, Marshal, a Postmaster, and Secretary, and that they are coming here with twenty-five hundred men. The United States design to force those officers upon us by the point of the bayonet.
Is not that a funny thing? You may think that I am cross, but I am laughing at their calamity, and I will "mock when their fear cometh."
Now, gentlemen and ladies, you look at these things, and then right in this book, the Bible. It says, our nobles shall be of ourselves; that is, our Lords, our Judges, our Governors, our Marshals, and our everything shall be of ourselves. Won't you read the 30th chapter of Jeremiah?
18. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
19. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all them that oppress them.
21. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord.
22. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.
Well, the day has come when our Governor has come out of our midst, and he is in the tops of the mountains, just where the Prophets said these things should come to pass; and now the United States are reported to be trying to force a Governor upon us, when the Lord has raised one up right out of our midst.
Now, I am going to talk about these things, and I feel as though I had a perfect right to do so, because I am one of the people.
It this people should consent to dispossess brother Brigham Young as our Governor, they are just as sure to go to hell as they live, and I know it; for God would forsake them and leave them to themselves, and they would be in worse bondage than the children of Israel ever were.
Supposing this thing all blows over, and they don't come up here, but they begin to flatter us and be friendly, what will be the result? They may flatter as long as the earth stands, but I never will be subject to one of their damned pusillanimous curses. They may court and flatter as much as they please, but I never will be subject to them again,--no, never. Do you hear it? [Voices: "Yes."] Do you think we will submit to them? No, never. They have cut the thread themselves.
You are the people who have the privilege to acknowledge brother Brigham as our Governor and continue him in his office; and you also have the privilege, through your agency, to reject him if you please; but it will be to your condemnation if you do, because he has got the keys of the kingdom; and the very moment you reject him, you cut yourselves off from the right of the Priesthood.
I will now bring up a comparison. I live in the City of Great Salt Lake. I am a father, a husband, a benefactor to between sixty and seventy subjects: I feed them; I clothe them; and they do not have a pin, a drink of tea, nor anything but what I provide: I provide them houses to live in and beds to sleep on. But suppose that, by-and-by, some stranger comes along, and my family say to him, "We will have you to preside over us," and they reject me, when at the same time they say, "Brother Heber is a good man," but the other man comes with a smiling face, and my family take him and reject me--what have they done? If they reject me, they reject their head; and, by so doing, they destroy their heirship to the head or limb to which they are lawfully connected. Is not that so?
Suppose you acknowledge the man reported to be coming, what do you do? You reject your head, and if so, where is the body, and what will become of it? I will compare it to my body. Supposing the head is cast away, the body will die, won't it? Yes; and you will die just as quick as that, if you reject brother Brigham, your head.
We are the people of Deseret. She shall be Deseret; she shall be no more Utah: we will have our own name. Do you hear it?
Brethren and sisters, these ideas are comforting to all of you: they are most gloriously comforting to me. I tell you, the feelings within me are glorious.
We are the people of Deseret, and it is for us to say whether we will have brother Brigham for our Governor, or those poor, miserable devils they are reported to be trying to bring here. You must know they are miserable devils to have to come here under arms; but they shall not rule over us nor come into this Territory. What do you say about it? Are you willing, as a people, that they should come in here? You that say they shall not, raise your right hands. [All hands raised.]
Mr. Gentile, won't you tell of this to your co-workers for the Devil's kingdom?
The reason that I talk as I do is because I don't hold any office in the United States; but this people, some time ago, appointed me Chief-Justice of the State of Deseret, and brother John Taylor and Bishop N. K. Whitney as my associates. You also appointed me Lieutenant-Governor; I always told you I was going to be Lieutenant-Governor. This is a stump speech!
We are going to have our own Governor from henceforth. Brigham Young was then our Governor, Heber C. Kimball was Chief-Justice and Lieutenant-Governor. I was a big man then; I felt as big as brother Morley does in the Legislature. The fact is, he does not understand their gabble: if he does, he understands more than I do.
It is for us to say, according to our rights under the Constitution, whether we will have those cursed Gentiles to rule over us, or not.
I want you to publish this, Mr. Editor.
I am giving you a little of my feelings; for I want you to know that you are under no more obligation to receive those men than brother Brigham's family is to receive another man and to reject him as their husband, their father, their friend, and benefactor.
I know that what I have said has informed many of your minds, and I choose to present my ideas by comparison. I have a right to say the Gentiles shall never rule over me, although this people might admit of their coming here. I have a right to say, also, that we shall never be ruled over by them from this day forth, while grass grows or water runs; never, no, never.
[Voices: "Amen."]
Well, we have got to sustain these amens, and we have got to sustain these vows. You ladies, too, will certainly have to do your part, or back out. I told you last Sunday to arm yourselves; and if you cannot do it any other way, sell some of your fine bonnets, fine dresses, and buy yourselves a good dirk, a pistol, or some other instrument of war. Arm your boys and arm yourselves universally, and that, too, with the weapons of war; for we may be brought to the test, to see if we will stand up to the line. I never knew it to fail, when men made covenants, but they were brought to the test, to see if they would live up to them.
This people have made covenants, they have made vows, and they have been instructed by brother Brigham; and he has told them that those covenants and penalties are true and faithful; and I say they are as true as the Lord God liveth; and the day will come that you will have to fulfil those vows and covenants that you have made; and not one word shall fail.
I have told you of it, and I have backed it up when others have said it. Now, mark it; for God will drive us to it. These instructions, given to us from time to time, will have to be carried out and fulfilled; for I just know that you have got to reap that which is sown. If you sow to the spirit, you will reap life everlasting; but if you sow to the flesh, we shall reap corruption; and the bed that we make, we have got to lie in. Now, I will tell you another thing that bears heavily on my mind, as much so as any other thing, and that is, for this people to live their religion, and do as they are told.
I will ask you this question, gentlemen and ladies--Can you live your religion, except you do as you are told? I have said, again and again, that if we live our religion, and do as we are told, those men will never come over those mountains; for we shall slay the poor devils before they get there.
I do not know of any religion, except doing as I am told; and if you do, you have learned something that I have never learned. You have a Governor here to dictate you and to tell you what to do; and if we will live our religion, we are always safe, are we not?
There are a great many that will not live their religion, for they think they belong to the aristocracy; but understand, gentlemen and ladies, that I withdraw from that society. I told you last Sunday, that of all the corrupt beings upon the face of the earth, the present aristocracy are the worst.
I am a pretty rugged fellow, and valiant for the truth; and may the Lord make everybody like me, that we may stand against our enemies; for the corruptest devils on the earth are the present aristocracy.
Let us go to work and lay up our grain, lay up wheat, and everything that will and can be preserved; and in so doing, we will save ourselves from sorrow, pain, and anguish; and the Lord will give us a law and a word for us to abide, and he will cut off our enemies; and if every man and woman will go to work, lay up their grain, and do as they are told, the Lord will hold off our enemies from us, until we can lay up sufficient store for ourselves. This is a part of our religion--to lay up stores and provide for ourselves and for the surrounding country; for the day is near when they will come by thousands and by millions, with their fineries, to get a little bread. That time is right by our door.
Brother Stewart says he has discovered that this work is five years a-head of what he had supposed. Let me tell you that this people are more than ten years a-head of what they supposed. They were all asleep; but the Lord has waked them up, to prepare them for a time of trial and famine. If you do not see it, and feel it, and taste it, and smell it, it will be because God will have mercy upon you; and he will, if you will do as you are told from this time forth.
Do I feel comfortable? Gentlemen and ladies, I never saw the day that I felt any better. I become weary with toil, but I feel well in regard to this work. But there is a spirit of calmness, of peace, that I am jealous of.
I never have seen the day for twenty-five years, but before there was a storm there was always a calm. In Kirtland, before the trouble commenced, there was this calm. Joseph and Hyrum were men that would stand the test, but finally they had to flee from Kirtland to Missouri. Well, previous to that, we had received our endowments, and a more calm, heavenly, and prosperous time I never saw.
Was it so in Missouri? Yes, it was: after they became settled, they became composed; and the year of the trouble we never had such crops in the world as we had then.
Was it not so in Nauvoo? Yes; and the spirit of composure rested upon the people; and it is more or less so now; and such crops as we have this year never were produced.
What does this mean? And the spirit of composure seems to be upon the people more than ever. And what does this mean? I am rather inclined to be jealous of it. Say I, wake up, ye Saints of Zion, while it is called to-day, lest trouble and sorrow come upon you, as a thief in the night.
Suppose it is not coming, will it hurt you to lay up the products of the earth for seven years? Will it hurt you, if you have your guns, swords, and spears in good condition, according to the law of the United States? Some of the States give a man his clearance at forty years of age; others, at forty-five: they call men to train when they are eighteen years of age; but we call upon all from six to six hundred years old: we do not except any; and I want the world to know that we are ready for anything that comes along. If it is good, we are ready for that; and if it is evil, we are ready to stand against it.
We are calculating to sow our wheat early this fall, in case of emergency. I throw out these things for you to think upon; and if they are not right, they will not hurt anybody.
But wake up, ye Saints of the Most High, and prepare for any emergency that the Lord our God may have pleasure in bringing forth. We never shall leave these valleys--till we get ready: no, never; no, never. We will live here till we go back to Jackson County Missouri. I prophesy that, in the name of Israel's God.
[The congregation shouted "Amen," and President B. Young said, "It is true."]
If our enemies force us to destroy our orchards and our property, to destroy and lay waste our houses, fields, and everything else, we shall never build and plant again, till we do it in Jackson County. But our enemies are not here yet, and we have not yet thrown down our houses. Let me tell you, if God designs that Israel should now become free, they will come and strike the blow; and if he does not, they will not come. That is as true as that book (pointing to the Bible).
Go to work, and lay up your grain, and do not lay it out for fine clothes, nor any other kind of fine thing, but make homespun trowsers and petticoats. What would please me more than for my family, instead of wanting me to go to the store for petticoats and short gowns, to see them go to work and make some good homespun? What would be prettier that some of the English striped linsey, and a bonnet made of our own straw? Those are the women I would choose for wives. If you want virtue, go into the farming country, for there it is homespun. Farming dictricts [sic] contain the essence and the virtue of old England.
I do not know that you know what homespun is; but it is that which is spun at home; and it is for your welfare, both men, women, and children, to make your own clothing. It is also for your salvation to equip yourselves according to law.
Now, I will tell you, I have about a hundred shots on hand all the time,--three or four fifteen-shooters, and three or four revolvers, right in the room where I sleep; and the Devil does not like to sleep there, for he is afraid they will go off half-cocked.
If you will lay a bowie knife or a loaded revolver under your pillow every night, you will not have many unpleasant dreams, nor be troubled with the nightmare; for there is nothing that the Devil is so much afraid of as a weapon of death.
You may take this as some of Heber's wild visions, if you please. I have acknowledged myself as one of the people; and now I say, we will take our own name, and we will not be false-named any more. We are the Kingdom of God; we are STATE OF DESERET; and we will have you, brother Brigham, as our Governor just so long as you live. We will not have any other Governor.
I mean just what I say, and this people say they will not have any other Governor, and especially any one that has to come here under arms; for we consider that any man is a poor, damned curse that has to come here under arms to rule over us. These are my feelings; and if anybody votes against it, they are not of us: but there are but four or five but what vote for us; and they are apostates, and will go overboard. There is not a child but what goes with us in these things.
When we reject brother Brigham Young, we reject the head; but we will not do it, for the body shall dwell together, and we are members of that body, and he shall be our Governor just as long as God Almighty will have him to be. Those who are in favour of it, raise your hands.
[The vote was unanimous.]
You may try it just as long as you like, and it will be just so every time, except those four or five, and they never will vote. Can I point them out? Yes, I can. I have had my eye on them ever since they came into the congregation.
Let us do our duty, be humble, prayerful, honest, virtuous, and punctual in all our engagements. Let us have no lying, no deception; but let us be honest, and let the labouring men that labour on the public works be honest, and let them be punctual to their work.
Why do I speak to the public hands? Because they are on the most important work there is in the world. And how would a man feel to go into that house (pointing to the endowment house), that had stolen the nails out of the carpenter's shop or out of the machine shop, or the boards out of the lumber yard?
Let us be faithful, and the Lord will be on our side, and I doubt whether we shall be under the necessity of shedding much blood ourselves; but let us be ready, guns cocked; none of your half-cocked.
This is my exhortation to Israel; and may the Lord God bless the righteous, the humble, those that tell the truth, and those that are honest and punctual.
Can I bless any that are not humble and amenable to their superiors? Can I bless those that are always finding fault? I wish to God I could; but blessings would not stick to them; but if you will do as you are told, you shall be blessed in everything that you put your hands to, from this time forth and for ever. You shall have health and strength, and you shall multiply and increase in everything you undertake to do: and that is not all: you will have faith, that, when a man or a woman that is sick sends for you to bless them, you will say, "Be thou made whole;" and that will be the case from this time henceforth and for ever.
There is one man whom we saw up north when we went to eat watermelons, who had thought of having an artesian well bored. He said, "If I knew that we were going to stop here three years, I would have one very soon." Says I to that gentleman--You put out peach trees, apple trees, apricots, and currants; and if we have to go into the mountains, we shall cut off the trees, and the roots will be there still; but we shall not go into the mountains.
We were told that we were going into the woods before we came here; and then, when we got here, there were no woods. But you need not be afraid; you go and graft and innoculate [sic] your trees, and build houses, that you may know how to build when you get to Jackson County.
All that we built in Kirtland, in Far West, in Missouri, in Nauvoo, and in Winter Quarters--for every one of those places, gentlemen, we are to have our pay. Who are to pay us? Those that took our property away from us, we will make servants of them: the day will come that we will have them for our vine-dressers, and we will set them to digging holes to put the rest of the damned scoundrels in who have rebelled against God and His servants. Amen.
TRADITION--DUTY OF THE SAINTS TO LIVE THEIR RELIGION--SAFETY OF ZION--PREPARATION FOR THE FUTURE, ETC.
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 30, 1857.
I can truly say that I am happy for the privilege of meeting with the Saints.
When I am alone, and look by the vision of the Spirit upon this people, my heart says within me, God bless the people, God bless the people; and I bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus. I feel to bless the people continually, from day to day. Their interest is my interest; their welfare is my welfare; their hope is mine. We are of one faith; and to see the people drawing near unto the Lord and becoming more of one heart and of one mind is the most cheering thought and reflection that can pass upon my mind: there is nothing else that compares with it. As for the riches of the world or the good things of the world--as far gold or silver, houses and lands, they are nothing in comparison to the purity of the faith of the people.
This people are increasing in their faith, they are increasing in their good works, and they are really becoming the Saints of the Most High. Any person possessing the Spirit of the holy Gospel, and who has been acquainted with this people during years that are past, can readily discover that they are merging to the period when they will become the disciples of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we think that we are perfectly so now; but it is not the case--we are engaged in a preparatory work.
When the Gospel came to us, it found us in the depths of ignorance; it found us in darkness; it found us possessed of all the prejudices, feelings, and views that now exist in the world. There is no man--there is no woman, but what was more or less clothed upon with the traditions of their fathers. There cannot a person be found at the present day--one who has arrived at the years to think, to act, and to judge for himself, but what is more or less clothed and enveloped in the traditions of their fathers.
On the other hand, there is no person possessing the Spirit of revelation but what can very readily discern that the ways of the Lord are not like the ways of man, and that the children of men have gone out of the way. Take all nations--all people--by communities, by societies, by families, and by individuals,--take the whole mass of the inhabitants of the earth, and they have each taken to their own way, as any person possessing the Spirit of revelation can discern to be the case in the whole world. At the same time, they imagine that they are right--that they have light--that they have intelligence--that they are possessed of true knowledge pertaining to God and the things of eternity.
Take the inhabitants of Japan--islands situated between here and China,--and if you are acquainted with the people, with their feelings and true sentiments, you know that they actually believe that they are the only people that are enlightened, and that all the rest of mankind are heathen. Go to China, which is called by its inhabitants the celestial empire because of their supposed purity, and they actually believe that they are the only nation under heaven that has the true knowledge of eternity.
Turn to the Christian nations on the eastern and western continents--take enlightened Christendom as the whole--and they believe that they are the only people who have the knowledge of God. It is true that they far exceed all other nations in many of the arts and sciences, and they also believe that they are the only people who understand the true religion of heaven.
They are sending their missionaries to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, and they are penetrating every nook and corner, to enlighten what they call the heathen nations. Is not that the case? That arises from the traditions of their fathers which are handed down to the children, and they are enveloped in them.
When we look at this people, could we expect them to become prepared to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus in one, in five, in ten, in twenty, or in thirty years? No. And it will be just as much as we can do to be worthy to be the brothers and sisters of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when he makes his appearance. Let us strive with all our might, be as watchful as it is possible for us to be, apply ourselves by faith and diligence to the keeping of his commandments, and continue so doing until Jesus sets his feet upon this continent, and we will then find that we are only just prepared to receive him. This is the preparatory work, and it will prepare the people, if they will live for it.
How can we live our religion, except we do as we are told? I will reverse the question and enquire, How can this people do as they are told, except they live their religion? They cannot. Every family--every neighborhood is taught to glorify God. They are instructed from day to day, they are taught the way of life and salvation, they are counselled continually to seek unto the Lord their God, to obtain the faith of the ancients, to obtain the light of the heavens, to walk in the light of His countenance day by day; but how can you do these things, except you do as you are told? You cannot. Neither can you live your religion, except you do as you are told; for the people are taught to live their religion,--they are taught to cease from every evil thought and every evil action, to cease having a murmuring spirit, to cease having a doubtful feeling; and they are taught to cease being neglectful in regard to any known duty We are taught to double our diligence where we have been slack, to seek unto the Lord day by day, that we may have the light of his countenance upon us.
Brother Heber has been prophesying. You know that I call him my Prophet, and he prophesies for me. And now I prophesy that, if this people will live their religion, the God of heaven will fight their battles, bring them off victorious over all their enemies, and give to them the kingdom. That is my prophecy. I said amen to all that brother Heber prophesied, for it is true; and he may say amen to all that I prophesy, for it is also true.
I have no fears in regard to the kingdom of God upon the earth; but I have fears lest this people be not prepared to receive glory, immortality, and eternal lives, when those principles are presented to them. This is all the fear that I have--that we will not walk up to our privileges and be prepared for them.
I thank my Father in heaven,--yes, my soul says, Glory, hallelujah, praise the name of Israel's God, for the blessings I enjoy at the present time One year ago this very day, and previous to that time, my soul was pained within me. No tongue could tell--it could not be portrayed before the people, the feelings that I had: I could not tell them; and I did not know but that, if I should come out in the presence of the people and try to speak my feelings, they would call me crazy. However, I tried to make the people understand my feelings, but no tongue could tell them; and I actually believe that I would have lived but a little time in this existence, had not God waked up the people. I wanted to take up my valise and go throughout the Territory crying, Is there a man in this Territory for God?
If you want to know how I felt, I cannot tell you better than by describing my feelings in the way that I am now doing. One day, I told a number of the brethren how I felt, as well as I could; and brother Jedediah M. Grant partook of the Spirit that was in me and walked out like a man, like a giant, and like an angel, and he scattered the fire of the Almighty among the people. But what was the result so far as he was concerned? He went beyond his strength, and it cost him his life.
There is now scarcely a man but wants to do as God would have him do among those who claim to be Latter-day Saints, except those four or five that brother Heber speaks of; hence we hold a very large majority of that class of men and women who desire to do precisely as God would have them, and my heart says, God bless the people. God bless you, brethren and sisters. I bless you all the time. You are near my heart, and it is all my business to look after the welfare of the Saints. Remember that it will be just as much as you and I can do to prepare to meet the Saviour when he comes, no matter whether we previously go into the grave or not.
There has been a great deal said in the lower world about this little handful of people; for you terrify the whole world! Not alone in the United States, but in England, in France, in Italy, in Germany, and in every State upon the eastern continent, the people are looking to see the result of the present movements of our Government towards this people. They are looking at the Gospel we preach, the course that we take, the influence we are gaining, and the numbers we are gathering to us; and they look at the subject not only in a religious point of view, but also in a national capacity.
Brother Heber said to you, if the time has come, designed by the Lord Almighty, for the thread to be cut between this people and the residue of the world, then the Lord will suffer our enemies to clip the thread; and I am with him in that sentiment But if the time is not come, the Lord will not suffer them to come. If He designs that traffic should continue between us and them, that we shall have the privilege of bringing our immigration, of preaching the Gospel and saving the people, let me tell you that they will not come; God will stop them.
As for myself, I would just as soon this was the time as any other. If it is the time for the thread, in a national capacity, to be severed, let it be severed. Amen to it. But I will tell you what I have concluded: when we talk of gold, of silver, of riches, of the comforts of this world, with me it is the kingdom of God, or nothing; with us it must be the kingdom of God, or nothing. I shall not go in for anything half-way. We must have the kingdom of God, or nothing. We are not to be overthrown.
Cannot this kingdom be overthrown? No. They might as well try to obliterate the sun. And I should suppose that an experience of twenty-six years would have proven to the wicked that it could not be overthrown; but it only wakes them up to anger and stirs them up to be more diligent in their opposition to the righteous. They have been trying to break up this people and destroy their organization, ever since we became a church; and every time they try, their oppression forces us into greater note; they increase our numbers and strengthen us in faith and in the knowledge and power of God. And how long must they live before they can learn that such has been and invariably will be the result? They will learn it when they get into hell, and never before,--never till they get into the spirit world; and then they will see that they have all the time been fighting against God; and never till then will they learn it. You cannot teach them anything.
Here are men who have been with us for six or seven years, and if they had any good, common philosophical power, they would know that ours is something different from any other authority and organization in the world. The union and peace that are here are in no other place on the face of the earth. Here are power and influence that are nowhere else on earth. Among this people there is an intelligence that is nowhere else to be found. Can darkness discover light? No; and even when it reflects itself, they turn it away as a trifling affair, and that light which was in them becomes darkness; and then greater is their darkness in the second instance than in the first.
Some of this people apostatize. But do you think that any would apostatize from the kingdom of God, if they knew that it was the kingdom of God? No. Why do they apostatize? Because, through disobedience, that little light they were in possession of is taken away, and they are left to believe a lie that they may be damned. That is the reason why they go away.
I say to this people, Do as you are told; and if you live by every righteous principle that you can learn and forsake every evil principle and act through your whole lives as becometh Saints of the Most High, all will be well. Can men live so that they can have the serene, blessed, calm, soft, soothing Spirit of the Lord always to abide with them? Yes, they can. And if they are tempted, they can resist temptation. Can women? They can. If they have temptation they can resist it, and it will flee from them, and they will gain a victory.
So live, day by day, that your lives will be like an even spun thread. Let there be no lying, no backbiting, no evil; but let the whole life of every man and woman tend to good. Then, when they have their failings, they will forgive each other, and will find the words of the Saviour to be true, that his Spirit will be in them as a well of living water springing up into everlasting life. Will they become prophets? Yes, and prophetesses. Let them honour their religion until they pass the ordeal, and they will reach the time when the Lord will never suffer them to fall. There will be a time when the fountain of life is within them; then they are prophets and prophetesses, and tell the truth all the time. They walk no more in darkness, but in the light; and that is the privilege of every man and woman.
Thank heaven that bickerings and contentions are lessening every year among this people. Suppose that we all most strictly lived our religion, would there be a hard word in this community? There would not. Do you understand that? Never accuse a man or a woman of evil, until you find out the cause. Never judge by the outward appearance, but judge righteous judgment. And if persons who are striving to do good should happen to commit an overt act, and are ready to restore to the uttermost, then that would be the occasion of a feeling of kindness and affection towards them. There is no reason for the people to do wrong, but there is everything to encourage them to do right.
The brethren have had a good deal said to them this morning, but I feel to bless the people; and I wish you to live nearer and nearer to the Lord. Seek unto the Lord our God continually; seek to possess more of his Spirit; throw off the power of erroneous traditions and of the evil influences that were around us in our youthful days and before we came to a knowledge of the truth. Learn the things of God, and you will find that they are very different from the things of the world; you will find all the plans and schemes of the world to be so different that you would hardly suppose that they ever knew anything about the plan of salvation.
Also remember to lay up your grain. Brother Heber has been preaching to you about that; therefore remember to lay up sufficient for your families. Sow your grain early this fall. Many wish to know whether I think we shall reap. I do not care whether we do or not. I intend to sow early this fall, so that it will ripen next season. How bad we should feel, if we did not sow, and all should be peace and safety next season, to know that we could have harvested if we had sown. I reckon that I should feel bad, if I were placed in such a condition; but I will prepare for the people to live so long as they dwell upon the earth.
What more will I prepare for? I will prepare for a fight, I will prepare for peace, and I will also prepare for everything that comes along; then I am ready for anything. Build? Yes, build, and make your homes as comfortable as you can.
If I knew that I was going to burn all my buildings next season, it would not hinder me for one hour from making improvements. The more I do, the more I shall be prepared to do. And I am determined to prepare to lay up the walls of Zion and to learn all I can, so that, if I should happen to be one of the men to engage in that work, I shall know how to commence and dictate the foundation of the walls of Zion and those of the Temple.
A great many think that we have been extravagant in laying so broad and deep a foundation for this Temple; but I would rather have that foundation, though it should lay as it is till the Millennium, than to have the most splendid superstructure built upon a sandy foundation. What do you say, you men and women of judgment? [Voices, "You are correct."] Is there not more honour in that foundation, though it lay there till we go back to Jackson County, than there would be in such a building as I have named?
About two weeks ago, Elder Hyde began to say, "There is no knowing where;" and I took the words from his mouth and continued, "The Latter-day Saints will land in Jackson County, Missouri."
The Lord has suffered the wicked to drive us about, that we might accomplish his designs the sooner. Some of you sisters are afraid of cousin Lemuel; and some say that our enemies are bringing presents to bribe cousin Lemuel. Let them bring and let them bribe, and then, if the time has come, when they have got through bribing, cousin Lemuel will turn round and take the rest.
God is at the helm. This is the mighty ship Zion. You stick to the ship, and honour it, and see that you are in favour with the ship Zion, and you need not worry about anything else. God has the hearts of the children of men in his hands; he puts hooks in their jaws and turns them about at His pleasure. God is here; the Holy Ghost is here and rests upon this people, and I am a witness to it. I know that the Holy Ghost dwells in the hearts of this people; and the world are afraid of the union that exists upon this people. They were afraid of that in the days of Joseph, and it has been their fear all the time. You might take a democrat, a Republican, a ranting Methodist, and old, stiff-necked, ranting Presbyterian; and when they came to consider Joseph Smith and the Saints, they saw that they were one in faith, and it scared them all. They would say, "We are Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, but we are of different politics; in our churches may be found all kinds of politics, but you, Joseph Smith, alter men's politics; you change them and make them all one.
Brethren and sisters, do not be angry with them, for they are in the hands of God. Instead of feeling a spirit to punish them, or anything like wrath, you live your religion; and you will see the day when you will pray God to turn away from your eyes the sight of their afflictions.
There are thousands and millions in the United States, and in the world, whose hearts are like an aspen leaf because of this little handful of people in Utah. Pity them; for they know not whom they are fighting against; they know not their destiny.
This army that is reported to be coming to this place know no more about you and me than you know about the interior of China: they go because they are sent. If they knew our real character, the soldiers themselves would turn round and tell their officers to go to hell; they would take a stampede, and if their officers urged them to come and fight this people, they would turn round upon them or tell them to do it themselves.
Now, do not feel angry. Are not they to be pitied? Yes. Are you to be pitied? Yes, if you forsake God, or your religion. The Saints need to be pitied for nothing but for forsaking their religion. Be careful that you do not get darkness into your minds.
May God bless you. Amen.
FAITH IN THE PRIESTHOOD--FRUITS OF FAITH--LAYING UP GRAIN--GLEANING--THE HOLY GHOST--TREE OF LIFE, ETC.
A Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, August 23, 1857.
I feel very much pleased at the arrival of our brethren that take missions. I know how to sympathise with them. There are a great many young Elders that are taking missions now. Twenty years ago, I was labouring in England; I baptized brother G. D. Watt, twenty years ago last month, (July,) in 1837. That was the first foreign mission that was taken by the Elders of this Church.
At that time it was almost impossible to realize what we now see and understand. I went over to England at the time the Church was broken up in Kirtland. There were very few persons then who could stand by "Mormonism" faithfully and uphold our Prophet Joseph Smith: where one would stand valiantly and uphold him, there were twenty who did not.
That day was a day wherein the Saints were tested; their integrity was proved; they were put to the test whether they would stand by "Mormonism" and by the Prophet, or not.
Many people now pretend that they stand by what they call ancient "Mormonism," or "Mormonism" in their own way, but in brother Brigham they do not believe particularly.
No man can believe in "Mormonism," except he believes in the man that leads the Church of God--in the man that holds the keys of life and salvation pertaining to this people.
How is it possible for a limb to be attached to a tree, and at the same time manifest its disapprobation of the tree? That limb will die and wither away, except it manifests its approbation, faith, and favour to the tree to which it is connected.
So it is impossible that a man or a woman who disbelieves that brother Brigham is a Prophet--that he is God's representative and holds the keys of his kingdom pertaining to this people, can retain the Holy Ghost and partake of the life and sap of the true vine. Such persons have no faith of the genuine bearing kind, and consequently there are no works to correspond.
Will good works produce faith? Yes; there is very little faith without works; and then again, there never was but very little works without faith.
How can my body exist when my spirit leaves it? It cannot. Can my spirit exist without this tabernacle? It can; but the body cannot exist without the spirit, because the spirit that dwells in my body is the life of my body, and there is no life without it.
Some say the earth exists without spirit; I do not believe any such thing; it has a spirit as much as any body has a spirit. How can anything live, except it has a living spirit? How can the earth produce vegetation, fruits, trees, and every kind of production, if there is no life in it? It could not, any more than a woman could produce children when she is dead: she must be alive to produce life, to manifest it, and show it to the world. It is so with "Mormonism." We must manifest our faith by our works.
I speak these things because they come to my mind. When I arise to speak, I have never a premeditated subject; I let God, by the Holy Ghost, dictate me and control me, just as a musician would his violin. It is the player on the instrument that plays the tune; the instrument does not dictate the player. So I should be in the hands of God, to be dictated by him; for we are told that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, will teach us all things past, present, and to come.
The Holy Ghost knows the minds of this people, and what is necessary to deal out to every man and every woman in due season--their portion. If I am not dictated by the Holy Ghost, I cannot communicate to you that which is necessary.
Supposing you are all pure, except a very few,--say there are twenty or thirty men in the assembly that are impure, and then there are a dozen or fifty women that do not keep the commandments of God,--when I am speaking to the disobedient, the Spirit in me alludes to those persons only.
Why do men or women condemn me when the Word of God is sharp, and say I am harsh and hard? It is because they are not right; and that is the way I prove them. You never would complain of the sharpness of the word of God, if you were not under transgression.
You say I allude to you: so I do; or, it is the Spirit of God alludes to you through me. You are the persons who are under censure--you are the birds that flutter, because it hits you. Why should a person find fault who is not under condemnation? That proves they are.
How shall we manifest our faith by our works? I will speak of that a little further; and I cannot speak the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, without I censure many of you. I will ask those who have been here for four, seven, and eight years past, and from the day that we came into these valleys, if they have proved by their works their faith in the words of the Prophet Brigham?
Here are brother Amasa Lyman, brother Woodruff, and other brethren, who recollect Brigham testifying most strenuously in the Bowery--then occupied by the pioneers, when we first entered the Valley--of the propriety of this people laying up grain and other stores for seven years,--because, said he, "The time has come when the words of the Prophets should be fulfilled, that the earth should rest every seventh year."
He said it was our duty to lay up grain for seven years, because he foresaw what would be; he foresaw what we came here for,--viz., to be the saviours of men. I have spoken also of these things constantly. How oft have you heard these things proclaimed for four years past? And, after all we have said, who is there that has laid up grain to last them one year, much less two, previous to, the late scarcity we have passed through?
Those that did lay up a little had to feed that out, or be called scoundrels constantly. Some of the people considered a man a scoundrel that would not hand out the last kernel he had, or the last load of wood he had at his door.
Brother Brigham, myself, and Jedediah have blazed away on this matter for the last four years; and how many have manifested their faith by their works? Have one of you got wheat laid up to last you seven years? No; not one of you have got enough laid up to last three years.
Uncle Sam--I won't call him uncle--he is likely man, but his children have degenerated most awfully; and one of his sons who sits in the chair of state, Mr. Buchanan, is most awfully adulterated and sunk in degradation, that he would permit an army of 2,500 or 3,000 men to come here to enforce officers upon us contrary to the Constitution, and to enforce a Governor upon us, when we have got one of our own choosing.
The Prophet said that our Governor should rise up among ourselves. That you will find in the 30th chapter of Jeremiah:--"And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them, and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me, for who who [sic] this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord."
Now that day has come, as true as you live; our nobles will proceed from ourselves, and our Governor, and our judges, and all of our officials shall come out of ourselves, from this day forth. [Voices: "Amen."]
Now mark it, gentlemen and ladies; the day has come for this people to take care of themselves. The President of the United States has taken a course,--that is, the Lord has let him do it, knowing that no man can do anything against the truth, but for it; He has organized His work in that way. The Lord has permitted him to pursue a course that has brought you to your senses, to know whether or not it is necessary that you should lay up wheat, because you did not believe what brother Brigham said; and if you had believed what he said, you would believe what brothers Heber, Jedediah, and Daniel said, and the Twelve.
You have never believed me, nor brother Brigham, nor one of the Prophets, ancient or modern. You say you did believe it, but you did not think it was so near to us. You should always be the judges, should you not?
Have I any fears about them coming here? No. If the day has come for there to be a collision between us and the United States and the world, they will come, you may depend upon it, because God will stir them up; but if the time has not come, they do not come here; so you may set your hearts at rest.
You now see there is a time coming for every man to go to with his might, and lay up his wheat and his oats, his barley, his peas, and his beans, and dry your fruit, and lay it up; and then, when you have done it this year, do it next year, and then prize it as the most precious thing upon the earth.
The Bible says a man will give all he has got for his life. If you had a million of dollars in gold or in silver, you would give the whole of it for food to save your life. Well, then, why do you not take a course to lay up that very thing that will save your lives and the lives of others, as Joseph did the lives of the people of Egypt and his father's house?
Joseph warned the people of a famine that was coming on the land, and laid up corn; so Brigham and Heber have taught you that we are going to see a day similar to that, but more terrible--more awful.
How strange it is, brethren, that you are so dilatory in these things that pertain to your salvation and the salvation of millions besides us? Am I taking that course? I am. And before I built my store-house, I saw these things, and I went to work and set an example that was worthy of imitation, although it was small; and the Deseret Agricultual [sic] and Manufacturing Society gave me a diploma, but did not give me any money, although I had done the best, in their thoughts, of the kind. And I am going to continue.
I have got somewhere between eleven and twelve hundred bushels of old wheat now in my store-house, and it will stay there until Brigham says, "I want it." And I have room for another twelve hundred--yes, for twelve times twelve; and when that is filled, I will fill another one, and so I will keep it going. The Lord will put means in my hands that I will continue to do so, and he will bless every man and woman that will take that course and continue it; they will increase in their stores, while those who take the opposite course will decrease and they will wither away.
Do you not see that the man who will store up knowledge, virtue, wisdom, and understanding, will increase in those principles? It will be just so with the fruits of the earth.
I shall continue to teach you these things and arouse your minds.
I have referred to you ladies. I told you, a week or two ago, to take some of your fine clothes and buy wheat. Let me bring up a circumstance of a certain woman that came to me and wanted an every-day dress. She said she had seven dresses too good for every day. I said, "Why do you not make an every-day dress of some of them; for one of them will out-wear three dresses made of twenty-five cent calico?
I would advise you to take everything that is unnecessary, and buy wheat and barley, and such things as you need with it, and lay up your stores for the time that is to come, that you can feed your own kindred and friends, who will actually come to you. Lots of my kindred will come to me, and brother Brigham's will come to him, as Joseph's father, and mother, and brethren came to him in Egypt. As that is true, this is, as the Lord liveth.
The Lord says that saviours shall come upon Mount Zion in the latter days. Mount Zion is here in the tops of the mountains; and has not our Governor come out of us? He has come out of this Church--out of a branch of the house of Israel; yes, our Governor and our Lieutenant-Governor, and our Judges and Marshals, &c.
Now, sisters, I am going to bring before you a circumstance of one man: he is our barber down here--brother Squires. Although he is shaving to good advantage, if he had subjects enough, he could make ten dollars a day,--that is, if he could get enough for it. He went down here close to a piece of land I am keeping, and he worked four or five days; he took his wife and two children with him, and he averaged two-and-a-half bushels every day at gleaning the heads of wheat that were scattered.
Now, supposing those that have got no wheat would take the same course. Is the wheat there? I presume there could be fifty bushels gleaned from ten acres with all the ease in the world. Go to brother Brigham's ten acres, and fifty bushels could be gleaned there; a man would make his bushel a day. I am telling you how to get your wheat.
Would it not be better for you to leave your mechanic shops, every one of you, and spend a week in the wheat-field, and see what you could do? Will we discharge you? Yes; go in peace, and God Almighty bless you, and make you glean double all the time. Do we want that wheat saved? We do.
Hundreds of this people have not raised a kernel, and brother Squires can go with his wife and two children and glean two-and-a-half bushels a day. It is a pretty good example, ladies. How much better are you than they,--that is, if they do right and keep the commandments of God? I want to know why one person is better than another, without they surpass another by their good works?
Says one, "I used to belong to the aristocracy in the States, and I belonged to that class in the old country." But, gentlemen and ladies, I belong to the aristocracy, and that is all the difference there is between you and me.
Supposing you have been brought up in "high life," what made you well off? Because, in the providence of God, you had a rich father or a rich uncle, and they made you comfortable; but I had the misfortune to be a poor boy, and had to go from house to house to beg my bread.
I want to know if I am any the worse for that? Joseph of old was a shepherd, and was considered one of the most inferior boys in his father's house; but God made him a king and a Prophet, and a saviour of his father's house and millions of the human family; and so He will you, and so He will me, so sure as I am faithful, honour my calling, and be obedient to my superiors, and honour the Priesthood, and God will honour me; but He will not honour me except I honour myself.
If I had time, I would go into the wheat-field myself, and esteem it a privilege, in preference of doing what I have to do here.
Need you take the straw and stubble and bring it to your homes? No. Be like the honey bee; she carries away the honey and leaves the rest; she goes and gathers the bee bread, and leaves the flowers behind her, and of this she makes pots or bins to store away the honey: that is all the bee bread is for. We use it for many purposes. Brother Squires, instead of taking the straw, broke off the heads of wheat, and put them in a bag; he took the wheat and left the straw.
Are these things interesting to you? There is not one of you has got an article of clothing on your back, but what has been obtained through the industry of men and women.
We talk about smart women: we have the smartest women on the earth, and the smartest men and smartest boys; and we have also got some of the meanest men and women there is on God Almighty's footstool; they are the taglocks, and will be sheared off.
The farmer never takes a sheep into the water to wash him until the taglocks are first cut off, because they have taglocks so quickly again, they besmear the wool. They did that where I lived; still there were a great many things done where I lived that was not done where you lived.
I merely speak of brother Squires to show you what advantages there are to be gained by gleaning. Then I will go the field where men and women have been and gathered up a few scattering straws, and make a better sweep of it than they, and then another will follow me up, and gather a good pile. What is the cause of this? They cannot see much--only now and then a few stalks.
I will be bound to say, in this county of Salt Lake, that if people will go to work, they may gather four thousand bushels of wheat from the gleaning; and I am not straining it one particle; and it is the best of the wheat that falls to the ground.
Just so with the Saints: the best Saints lay at the fee of Jesus, serving him and doing the will of God. These things are not only for you who are present to-day, but they will go to every city and place throughout the mountains, to arouse the people, and they will think more of them than you do that are continually under the droppings of the sanctuary.
The world and many of the Saints abroad and at home are asleep, and that day will overtake them as a thief in the night, and it will come upon them like a whirlwind; and so it will you, if you do not wake up and listen to our words.
How many times I have heard it--"We believe what brother Brigham says, and we believe this, and we believe that; but here is brother Heber,--he is a kind of wild, kind of enthusiastic; he is full of visions and wild notions." Tell me one notion I have had that is not correct. Say you, "Some things you have prophesied have come to pass, but we do not know whether the rest will or not."
I do not profess to be a Prophet. I never called myself so; but I actually believe I am, because people are all the time telling me that I am. I do not boast of that. I say that every man and woman who will live their religion, be humble, and be dictated by the Holy Ghost, the spirit of prophecy will be upon them.
Some of you, ladies, that go abroad from house to house, blessing the sick, having your little circles of women come together, why are you troubling yourselves to bless and lay your hands on women, and prophesy on them, if you do not believe the principle? You make yourselves fools to say that that same power should not be on the man that has got the Priesthood, and with sisters that have not got any, only what they hold in connection with their husbands.
We can tell what will come to pass; and one of you can talk in tongues and pour out your souls to God, and then one interpret; that is the course you take, and it is all right: go ahead, and God bless you and multiply blessings on you; but do not go round tattling about your husbands and talking against the Priesthood you are connected to. I do not say many of you do it; but you that do it are poor, miserable skunks.
Brethren and sisters, let us go to work now, every man and woman, where you have it in your power, and lay up our grain--lay up our oats, barley, and everything else that will keep, and go to work and raise flax, and make clothing.
Now, you said you did not believe a word I said here a few Sundays ago, that if we would go to work and raise flax, and cultivate it, and pray for it, and keep the commandments of God, it should have a coat on it fourfold more. I said that, ladies and gentlemen. You go to, and do as I told you, and see if it does not come to pass.
Did not the Lord rain down the honey-dew upon the trees and upon the vegetation in Utah? Yes. I can go down on Cottonwood here, and show it to you, lots of it. If he can do that here, what will he not do, if we keep the commandments of God? And, gentlemen and ladies, if you will do just as you are told, without any deviation, you need never trouble yourselves about mobs--never, no, never.
The Lord said to Joseph, If you will do my will, and listen to my counsel and the counsel of my servants, it is my business in the last days to fight your battles and provide for my Saints.
I have no more fears, nor never shall have, if you will do just as you are told, every one of you, and stop your contentions, your lying, your deceptions, and your dishonesty; and let every man do right--let him do justice, and we will never be troubled with troops, and we will have one, two, three just as good years of peace as we ever had since we were born, beginning now; and I know it. Gentlemen, it depends on your doing right.
Could the Lord stir you up, through the testimony of brother Brigham or his brethren, to believe it was necessary to lay up your stores, until the Devil kicked up a fuss to show you that death and destruction would come on this people? That is true. Do not tell me that you listen to his counsel, when you do not practise his words.
And, ladies, do not tell me that you take his counsel, when I do not see you here with bonnets manufactured out of the elements of this valley. It is a lie before God when you say you listen to his counsel, and come here before him and sit under his eyes in open disobedience to it.
Where did you get your bonnets? Were they made here? No; they were made in the States; they came by succoring those poor curses who would send us all to destruction, by nourishing these Gentile merchants here. The best of them would sell this whole people for ten dollars, and permit my life and Brigham's life to be taken in a minute. I know this.
What do they care for us? There is not one of them that is in any degree friendly towards us, and feels to believe and sustain "Mormonism." There is not one of them but what would be perfectly willing that the troops should come here and massacre this whole people, for the sake of a few dollars.
Have we any confidence in them? Yes, as far as deal is concerned; but when it comes to "Mormonism," I have not a particle. I never saw that man that had not an inclination in his heart to embrace "Mormonism" that I ever had one particle of confidence in.
Many of you have sustained Judge Douglas as being a true friend to this people; and he is just as big a damned rascal as ever walked, and always has been. He has taken a course to get into the chair of State, and that is what he is after: he will try to accomplish that, if he goes to hell the next day; but he will not go into the chair of State, he will go to hell.
Now, do not be scared; I am going to talk what I feel, and I ask no odds of anybody, except my leader: I will be subject to him. I will be amenable to any branch belonging to the true vine of Jesus Christ, and I will nourish it, and cherish it; but those poor curses, I have not one particle of confidence in them.
I never knew an instance in the days of Joseph, when he confided in those poor devils, but what they turned traitor to him, and were the very men that took his life, aided by the apostates that left this Church; and I know it, and so do you.
How many times have I been through the mill? Lots of times; and I expect to go through it again, and then through the bolt, and the screen, &c.
Joseph never trusted in one of them but what they betrayed him; and I wish to God I had taken some of their lives when I had a chance: they were blacklegs, whoremongers, murderers, liars, sorcerers, and rascals; and you may take many of the leading men of the United States Government, and they are not one whit better.
These merchants here have collected their millions of dollars from us. Are they your friends, ladies? There are not many of them, if they dared do it, but what would seduce you in a minute, if you would yield to them.
In Kirtland, when we were broken up, which was a serious time, and in Far West, in Missouri, and Illinois, the priests of the day, the bigger portion of them, and those they call the best men, were combined against us.
But let me tell you that the best men in the United States are not among the rulers; they do not scramble and gamble for office. They have got the meanest curses for politicians, and the poorest curses for priests.
What did they say in Missouri, in Kirtland, in Illinois,--the Methodist priest, the Baptist priest, the lawyer, the judge, and the governor, with all their religion? They positively considered it no crime to seduce a "Mormon" sister, nor do they now; and that is what they are after.
Sisters, let us take a course that you may not be brought into these straits--that you may not have to take your children, and your budgets under your arms, and flee to the mountains. But if you do not listen to counsel, and begin to-day, you will have to do that; but if you obey counsel, you never will have to go into these mountains--no, never, while the earth stands.
We will stand on our own dunghill and crow, and the hens will crow, and the chickens will crow, and they will all crow long and loud, and you will not be able to tell the difference between a hen and a rooster, nor between a rooster and a hen, for they will all crow the same tune. We will stand on our own dunghill and crow, and say what we please from this day, and they never will prevail against us--no, never; and I will prophecy it in the name of Israel's God. [Voices: "Amen."]
Do as you are told, and Brigham Young never will leave the Governorship of this Territory from this time henceforth and for ever--no, never; and there shall no wicked judge with his whore ever sit in our courts again; for all who are against Israel are an abomination to me and to our God.
When you look upon it, you shall know that Heber told the truth, as wild as he is; but there is no wildness in this boy.
Will we go into these mountains? Will these troops come here? No, no, no, not yet. We do not want them to come till we are brought to the test and have not anything to help ourselves with: then we want them to come and bring the honey and the good things; then we will show them how it is done. We do not want armies of men to go out of here; we have got boys here, ten thousand of them, enough to take everything they have got.
The Lord said there should be no time in the last days; the time is only measured to the ungodly, but to the Saints there shall be no more time; it is all time. Go ahead, and we do not care if you let your beard grow sixteen feet long.
You need not ever trouble yourselves, gentlemen and ladies, about the army coming here to this land, whether you have your endowments or not: those that have not got their endowments are just as safe as those who have, and they will live just as long. Do not trouble yourselves at all; let these things sleep and you be awake, and watch, and pray, and be humble, and serve your God, and go and glean wheat.
Bless your soul!--if the daughters of Israel go and glean wheat, they may be like the woman anciently, increase all around: she had been a barren woman formerly, but gleaning wheat put her in the notion of getting--I can't say it.
The Spirit that is on me this morning is the Spirit of the Lord; it is the Holy Ghost, although some of you may not think that the Holy Ghost is ever cheerful. Well, let me tell you, the Holy Ghost is a man; he is one of the sons of our Father and our God; and he is that man that stood next to Jesus Christ, just as I stand by brother Brigham. If brother Brigham goes ahead, and I stand by him, and Daniel stands by me, and the Twelve by us, we never shall be separated--never, no, never.
Men that are engaged in this work and kingdom, if they are one, they will be tied together, that they never will be separated, no more than two drops of water.
There is a great curiosity here. Some say they are of Judah, some say they are of Jacob, some of John, and some of Peter. When we are restored back to our Father, we shall find that every one of us is in the tree of life: and what is the difference, as long as we are all in one tree.
You say there are twelve limbs in the tree of life, and we have all got to be connected to those twelve limbs or branches. Go and read the Bible, and see what is said about the tree of life, and those that partake of the fruit of it. It is all on natural principles. We are all one family: God the Father is the tree of life; he is the root of it, and we spring out of it, or else we spring into it by grafting, by inoculating, and by doing the things of the kingdom of heaven.
Now, there have several left since we proclaimed last Sunday: they have put right out; some went that very day. Am I not glad? If they had been here, and waited till to-day, and heard what I have said, they would not have gone. We wanted them to go; so they could not hear what has been said to-day. They think troops are coming here, and that we are going to fight. What the devil can we fight, when there is nothing to fight?
I want you to go and get your butcher-knives, your bowie-knives, and jack-knives, and sharpen them. There is nothing to fight, and there will not be this year; we shall have a year of peace. They may try to come here, and then they will not come here. If they do not undertake to come here, then there will not be any trouble; but they never will force a Governor on us again--no, never,--nor their poor, rotten-hearted judges and marshals, &c., if you will do right.
If these words fail, it is on your backs. I am pretty careful there, and not careful either. I am going to let it out, and let God speak and tell you words of consolation, if you will receive them.
Let me tell you, gentlemen and ladies, Brigham's words, and Heber's words, and Jedediah's words, and Daniel's words have been to many of you like the sound of a bell: it is a pretty sound in your ears, but as soon as the sound is gone, it has lost its charms.
You have come here and heard the sound, and you know no more about the sound when you have gone away, than though you had never heard it, as good as the people are.
If you would have listened, there would have been this day millions and millions of bushels of wheat in store. Instead of that, we have not any, with a very few exceptions, except that which has come in this year.
We are more choice of it than we would be of gold or of silver. I would part with money quickly for it. I mean to part with every rag of clothes that I have to spare for wheat; and if you have got it, I will sell everything I have got, except a change, and you shall have it forthwith. I will set you and example.
Will the United States send troops here? Yes. And when they have done, the other inhabitants of the earth will send them. But, remember, the Prophets have said that the riches of the Gentile world shall be consecrated to God and to his people. I think we will have a little of it along occasionally.
Do not be sad; our God rules in the heavens and in the earth beneath, and he has almighty power.
Will you go to work now, and lay up your grain? There are a great many boxes making at the Public Works that will hold from fifteen to twenty bushels each; but the boxes cost more than the wheat. That I do not like; still we are willing to make them for you. Some of our Bishops have been to me, and wanted to know if the design is to cache the wheat now. No, sir, not till we get it; I am not going to cache anything I have not got.
Go and build your store-houses, and get your wheat together, and when the time to cache the wheat comes, we will cache it.
Bless your souls, Uncle Sam is not coming here yet awhile; we shall not let them. And when they do come, we shall take their cabbage, stock, and all.
I have told you the truth, every word I have spoken. You think our Father and our God is not a lively, sociable, and cheerful man. He is one of the most lively men that ever lived; and when we have that sociability and cheerfulness, it is the Spirit of the Lord.
God delights in a glad heart and cheerful countenance. Some people carry faces as long as my leg, and that is about three feet long; and they are just the biggest hypocrites we have got in this city.
Confidence in them? Yes, I have confidence to believe they are the meanest hypocrites that ever walked. You may go to their houses, or wherever they are, and speak about Brigham, Heber, and Daniel, and they are ready to give them a dab and hoe them down. How do you suppose I feel about them? Such persons feel about me as they do about my brethren, all the time. I will not speak a blessing for them, for they are damned.
What!--speak against the man who holds the keys of life and salvation for you, and the Priesthood of God that has been handed down directly from him? You poor, miserable creatures--you are not fit to live. There are not many such characters; but they are those poor, miserable, sanctimonious ones you find around.
"Oh, Brigham, don't! Don't, Heber! don't, for God's sake! All the world will be on us!" Damn the world. Now, that is just as they feel. I wish there was a magazine in you, and we could touch you off. You are not fit to live in hell, nor anywhere else; and you ought to be touched off before you get anywhere.
Now, I do not mean any of you good folks.
Brethren, be honest; and when you are to work for the Public Works, work; and when you are to work for me, work; when you are to work for brother Hyde, work, and earn your wages, and not carry it all off when you go home at night, in your bags, as some do at the Public Works. You have quit it now yourselves; but some of you have set your children at it. Stop it! You have no business to touch a nail, nor a pin, nor a block two inches long, for they are not your property. What is it but stealing?
When people come to visit the works, you sit down and spend your time with an acquaintance. That time is not yours. If I was brother Mabin, I would not let a man go about those works without he had permission, and then not to hinder the men from their labours.
I have no fault to find with good men.
You men that come from England, were you idle there? You never were permitted to be idle in your own land. They have to go to work at such a time, and work until the time to stop, and go to dinner, and so on. This is the way the people work in the old country, except those who belong to the aristocracy. There are not many of them here.
I belong to the humble and meek, and they will inherit the earth. I am an heir to it with them. God help me to be faithful, good, kind, and benevolent; that is my prayer.
Let us remember that we will not be rewarded for that we do not do; but you will be rewarded for that you do, and nothing more.
There are a great many things I might talk about. God bless you, brethren and sisters. I bless the pure and good; and I bless that man and woman that will go to and do as they are told; and you shall be blessed, with your children after you, for ever; and those that do not do it shall go the other way. Amen.
THE RIGHTS OF MORMONISM.
A Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 30, 1857.
I did not expect to be called upon to address you this afternoon; but I always feel ready to speak of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, whenever I am called upon.
Brother Kimball said he would like to hear me say something about the RIGHTS of "Mormonism." The rights of "Mormonism" are so varied and extensive, that it would be very difficult to speak of them all in one discourse. We have the right to live. That is "Mormonism." We have the right to eat and drink, and to pursue that course that we may think proper, so long as we do not interfere with other persons' rights. We have a right to live free and unmolested; and there is no law, human or divine, that rightfully has a right, if you please, to interfere with us. We have a right to think, and we have a right, after we have thought, to express our thoughts, and to write them, and to publish them. We possess as many rights and as much liberty in relation to this as any other persons; and there is no law, human or divine, that can rightfuly [sic] rob us of those liberties or trample upon our rights. We have a right to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; and no man, legally, in this land, has a right to interfere with us for so doing. We have a right to believe in and practise as we please in relation to matrimony. We have a right to choose whether we will have one wife or twenty; and there is no law of the land that can legally interfere with us; neither is there a man that I have met with, that professed to be a man at all, that can say that we are acting illegally. We have a right to secure the favour of God, and we have rights as the citizens of the kingdom of God. We have rights upon earth, and we have rights in heaven; we have rights that affect us and our posterity and progenitors, worlds without end; and they are rights that no man can interfere with. We have a right to our own Governor, as brother Kimball says; we have a right to our own Judges; we have a right to make our own laws and to regulate our own affairs.
These are some of the rights that belong to us; but when you come to talk about rights, they are so various, complicated, and extensive, that it is difficult, without reflection, to enumerate them. They exist with us here and all around us, and they are rights that affect us, our progenitors, and posterity, worlds without end. But in regard to some of the things with which we are more intimately connected, we have our individual, our social, and political rights, so far as existing here as a people is concerned. I do not know but that you will think that I am for sticking to my text pretty well: however, I will try, as well as I can, to do justice to it.
If we look at the very foundation of government, we may enquire, How were governments formed? Who organized them? and whence did they obtain their power? It is a subject for deep thought and reflection, and one that very few have understood; nor is it very easy to define, definitely, the rights of man politically, socially, and nationally.
Now, I will suppose there was no government in the world, but that we were thrown right back into the primitive state, and that we had to form a government to regulate ourselves; what would be the position? Why, the strong man would intrude upon the weak, even as a strong animal intrudes upon a weaker, taking from it its rights; for that is a natural animal propensity that exists in all the creatures, as well as in man.
How was society organized? Upon natural principles. I am not now speaking about God and his government, but upon the rights of man. If there were a few bullies in the land, and we had to organize the government anew, the people would combine to protect themselves against them--to protect themselves against those who had injured them, that would rob them of their labour, of their cattle, of their grain, or of anything they might have.
What would be the result of this course? It would be that a combination would exist that would organize to protect themselves, that the weak might be protected in his rights, that the feeble might not be trampled under foot. This would be the natural construction and organization of society.
Very well; when society became large and extensive, and could not convene in a general assembly to represent themselves, they would send their representatives, who would combine to represent their interests by delegation, or proxy.
Who would those individuals represent? They would represent the parties of that neighbourhood, of that state, of that country or district of country that sent them, would they not? And what would you think of those men that were sent, if they attempted to rule over those who sent them? Why, you would say, "Come back here, you rascals, and we will send others; we sent you to represent us, and now you are combining to put your feet upon our necks.
This has been the case ever since governments were organized; and hence have arisen governors, kings, and emperors. They have generally contrived to get the reins of power into their own hands; and, through the cunning of priestcraft and kingcraft, they have generally managed to bring the people under their feet and to trample upon their rights. Such has been the case in the nations of Europe and Asia. It is, in fact, the history of the world.
By what right have any kings obtained their dominions? Has it been from God? No. Has it been from the people? No. How did they get in possession of their kingdoms? How was France organized? How England? How Germany? And how were other states and nations organized? They have been organized because men usurped power, brought into subjection other men, trampled under foot their rights, and made slaves of them, and made them carry out their laws, and do their pleasure without any peculiar interest in the things that were done. And those men, instead of governing the people according to the principles of righteousness and truth, have generally made yokes and put them on their necks, and trampled them in the dust--so much so, that in many of the countries of Europe you cannot travel but you must have a passport; and every little upstart has a right to examine it and to stop you, if he likes.
You have to ask a right to stop in cities, and they will prevent you when they please, and not only strangers, but their own citizens; and there are many European cities now, where, if a father was to receive his own son into his house, if he had been absent without the permission of the police, he would be subject to a heavy fine.
It is the governors of the people that bring them into subjection in this manner, until the people think that kings and priests have rights--and they have no rights--until they think that presidents, governors, and kings are the persons who possess certain inalienable rights, and that no one has a right to interfere with them.
Kings, presidents, and priests combined govern men, body and soul. The first fetter them in their bodies and liberties, and the latter in their minds and consciences; and the human family, instead of being free, are literally and almost universally in a state of vassalage.
At the time of the Reformation, men began to break off their political fetters and to claim their rights, both politically and religiously. Many people talk of that event as a church concern alone: it was as much a political matter as anything else. The causes that prompted them to take the steps they did were both religious and political, the benefits accruing only very limited and partial; still it was a resistance to tyranny and oppression. The kings that sustained the Reformers did so merely upon political grounds, and not that they cared for their religion.
What made people come from the old countries to this land? It was because they were oppressed in England, in Germany, and in other states, and they fled from that power which sought to bind chains upon their necks. And why were they determined to flee from that government into this country? Because the mother country tried to make them subject to institutions and laws that they were unwilling to submit to, and because we wanted to put yokes upon their necks. Then the mother country sent armed men over here, and sought to enforce their armed minions upon the people; but they would not submit to it; for it was on that very account that they had fled from their mother country.
Such were the feelings of your fathers, and these were the things they talked about, a few years ago; and on account of the encroachments of the parent government, they took up the sword, and declared that they would live or die free men.
What was that freedom for which they contended? Just what I said a few minutes ago; it was the right to think, the right to speak, the right to act, the right to legislate, and the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and the right to do their own business without being interfered with.
We have come here to this land as citizens of the United States; and why have we come? Because there were men who sought to rob of us our rights, and because there was not sufficient purity and justice in the Government to protect us in our rights--because magistrates, constables, judges, governors, presidents, and officers of state, either directly or indirectly drove us, or suffered us to be driven--suffered us to be dispossessed of that which legally belonged to us.
Who are we? We are men made in the image of God, possessing the rights of other men. We have turned this desert into a flourishing field, and the desert has blossomed as the rose, and God has blessed our labours. And whom have we interfered with? Have we gone over to the Sates and interfered with them? Have we gone over to California and interfered with them? Have we gone to Oregon? Have we gone to New Mexico? Have we gone to any State and interfered with their rights, their laws, their immunities, or their privileges? I say we have not.
Well, then, what right has anybody to interfere with us? Oh, because they have got the power! That is, there is no right to it; there is no legal authority to it; there is no more right to it than there is in a bully and a blackguard insulting a little, weak man, because he has the power to do so. They have just the same authority that a large ox has to goad a small one, because he has the power.
They dare not interfere with some nations as they are doing with us: they dare not interfere with England or France, for fear of the consequences; and it is nothing but a principle of nasty little meanness that would try to interfere with us, and try to make you believe that they are the lords of creation. Great God! who are they? Poor, pusillanimous curses, that have not manhood nor gentility enough about them to be gentlemen. They have just the same right that the highwayman has to put his hands into your pockets and take out your money.
Who led us here? Not the Christians of the United States, nor their governors, legislators, nor presidents. Who provided for us? Did the Government of the United Sates? Verily, no. Who built the houses in this city? Who made the improvements around it and through this Territory? Did the inhabitants of the United States? No. But they have done all that lay in their power to discourage us in every possible way. Who have fed you and clothed you? Your own right hands--your own energy and industry, by the blessing of the Almighty.
Then by what right, and by what authority, in the name of God, and in the name of Every principle of right, honour, and integrity have they a right to interfere with us?
"Oh," say they, "the land belongs to us." Ah! indeed; and I wonder where you got it from? "Oh, we got it by right of treaty with Mexico." And whence did the Mexicans obtain it? Who treated with those Indians? Did they pay them for it? No: but they are good Christians, and the Indians are poor savages; and what right have savages to land?" Where are their deeds and their right of possession? Will anybody tell me? "Oh, we took it because we had the power, and the United States took it from Mexico, because they had power."
It is just like a lot of boys playing together, and one of them steals the other's marbles because he has the power; and then another steals them, and calls them his, because he is a little more powerful than the other: or, when one man meets another and robs him of what he has, then two more go and take from him what he has stolen from the first one.
The simple fact in the case is, they say, "You are left upon our land, and therefore you must be in subjection to us, and we must rule over you. But even on this principle they are at fault; for we, if there is any glory in the conquest, sent five hundred men, and possess equal rights with them as American citizens.
In speaking upon this subject once before, I showed you that, by the Constitution and the very genius of our Government, they had no right to interfere with us.
Again, on the common principle of justice, where did they get their rights to interfere with us? They did not bring us here, nor cultivate our farms; they did not send us either schoolmasters or priests to teach us; and we are not indebted to them for anything else. I would like to know what right they had to interfere with us? They have not a right upon religious grounds; for they kicked us out because of our religion; and, consequently, they have nothing to do with that. It is not because we have learned any morals of them; for we got our morals from a superior source. We have not learned either our religion or morality from them. We have not had them to cultivate our farms nor to build our houses. They have not done anything for us.
In relation to the land, I will suppose they did steal it, which they did. They obtained it because they had the power, and Mexico obtained it upon the same principle: the United States made a quarrel with the latter nation, because they knew they could bring them into subjection, and they intended to capitulate for California before they began the quarrel, and they took it upon those grounds. But that is righteousness--that is purity, truth and holiness, in the eyes of a corrupt and mighty nation.
We have got a little place that nobody else would live upon; and I will warrant that if any other people had been here, half of them would have died, the last two years, of starvation. But they cannot let us alone. This is their greatness--this their magnanimity, and this is the compassion manifested by the fathers of our great country. Of course we must feel patriotic; we cannot but feel strongly attached to such a kind, such a benevolent, such a merciful Government as we have got! How can we feel otherwise? They would take from us the right to live, and then it would be in their hearts to sweep us from the face of the earth; but they cannot do it.
There is no right associated with this matter; there is no justice about it. There are old rights and privileges the people used to have, and we have our rights. In the first place, we have a God that lives, and He will help us to take care of them, to maintain and preserve them. Then look at this in whichever light you please, you cannot change it: we are citizens of the United STates, and have a right to the soil, if they did steal it.
I am ashamed of being associated with such things, but we cannot help ourselves; we are a part of the people, and we had to partake of their evil deeds.
When we came here, we came as American citizens; and we had just as much right to be here as any other American citizens in the United States.
They have made a religious pretext to rob us of the right of pre-emption,--that is because we have more wives than one. This is the course they have pursued towards us.
Have they a right to force upon us judges and send officers under a military escort? The very act says they are afraid of something. Have they a right to send those men to rule over us, without our having a voice in the matter? I say they have not, according to the laws which exist among men; they have not according to the principles of justice and truth; they have not according to the principles upon which this Government is established: but they want to rule over us contrary to the principles of the Government; and, as you have expressed it, you have a right to withstand it.
God be thanked, there are not as many sneaks here as there are in the old country: men here dare think and speak.
Well, these are our feelings and some of our rights; but I will speak to you of other rights; for we have greater rights, that I have not yet touched upon.
[Blessed the sacramental cup.]
I speak of those other things because they are inalienable rights that belong to men--to us as American citizens--to us as citizens of the world; but there are other rights, other grounds upon which we claim these rights.
The Lord God has spoken in these last days; he has revealed the fulness of the everlasting Gospel; he has restored that Gospel in all its fulness, blessings, richness, power, and glory; he has put us in possession of the principles of eternal life; and he has established his kingdom upon the earth, and we are the legitimate heirs and inheritors of this kingdom. He has established his Priesthood, revealed his authority, his government, and his laws; and the grand reason why there is union and power here, and nowhere else, is because it emanated from God.
When we talk over those other things, we are under a lesser law, that we can any of us keep and that we have kept. We are not rebelling against the United States, neither are we resisting the Constitution of the United States; but it is wicked and corrupt usurpers that are oppressing us and that would take our rights from us.
To speak of our rights as citizens of the kingdom of God, we then speak of another law, we then move in a more exalted sphere; and it is of these things we have a right to speak.
God has established his kingdom; he has rolled back that cloud that has overspread the moral horizon of the world; he has opened the heavens, revealed the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, organized his kingdom according to the pattern that exists in the heavens; and he has placed certain keys powers, and oracles in our midst; and we are the people of God; we are his government. The Priesthood upon the earth is the legitimate government of God, whether in the heavens or on the earth.
Some people ask, "What is Priesthood?" I answer, "It is the legitimate rule of God, whether in the heavens or on the earth;" and it is the only legitimate power that has a right to rule upon the earth; and when the will of God is done on earth as it is in the heavens, no other power will bear rule.
Then, if we look at it in this point of view, we are standing in a peculiar position; we are standing here as the representatives of God, and the only true representatives he has upon the earth; for there is not another power or government upon the earth that acknowledges God for their ruler, or head, but this: there is not another.
Why did we come here? We came here because the people drove us, and because the Lord would have us come here; for it was necessary we should come into our secret places, and hide ourselves till the indignation of the Lord be overpast--until the Lord has shaken our enemies by the nape of the neck, as it were, until nations and empires are overthrown. We came to serve our God to a place where we could more fully keep his commandments--where we could fulfil his behests upon the earth. This is the reason why we came here.
Well, then, if we are the only people that God acknowledges as a nation, have not we a right to the privileges which we enjoy? Who owns the gold, the silver, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? God. Who, then, has a right to appoint rulers? None but him, or the man that he appoints.
Who has ruled the earth? Who has borne sway? Man, who, by the power of the sword, has got possession of thrones, powers, and dominions, and has waded through seas of blood.
You read history, and what is it? A history of the depopulation of the nations, brought on by the overthrow of empires, and through the tyranny and ambition of wicked men, who have waded through seas of blood in order to possess themselves of that power which they now enjoy.
If we go to the United States and enquire into their rights, we may ask, have they a right to drive back the Indians, from time to time, and dispossess them of their rights? So long as they purchased of them it was well enough; but when they forced them into a swap, just as the Indians did with some of the traders back here, and made them trade on their own terms, that is something which they have no right to do; and, to use the language of one of the Indian Chiefs, "They have not left room for us to spread our blanket." Have they purchased this Territory of them? No,--nor made any arrangements to do so; but they have taken possession of it.
What authority has the President of the United States, or the Representatives of the several States? They have no authority but what the people give them, according to the institutions of the United States.
What authority had England over this land before they came here and took possession? None.
By what right, then, do nations and governments rule generally? Do they rule by the grace of God? I will tell you. They rule by the power of the sword.
Read the history of England, France, Germany Spain, Portugal, and other nations, and you will find they obtain their authority by their swords; and then, when they have obtained, they go to work and sanctify it; they appoint and anoint kings by the grace of God and through the agency of their priests. That is the way they get their authority, and that is all the authority they have.
When the Pope was going to put the crown upon the head of Napoleon, he said, "Here, let me put that on; I won it myself." But they generally want the priests to put it on.
You may go into any court in the world and say, "Thus saith the Lord," and they will kick you out. Try it and see.
[Voices: "You have tried it."]
No man can go and say, "Thus saith the Lord' amongst them; for they would put a strait jacket on him, if he was a respectable man; if he was not, they would kick him out. Such is the feeling of the people and the condition of the world, and yet they profess to worship God that rules on high.
Where does God rule on earth? Is he listened to in any nation? Is there any that will acknowledge him and his authority? I will tell you the nearest that I ever saw of it. It was Nicholas of Russia: he was an autocrat, you know. Some years ago, when they had the cholera very bad there, a feeling prevailed among the inhabitants that the wells had been poisoned: a mob arose, and they were going to kill many; but Nicholas went in amongst them and said, "My children, this is not so; this is the hand of God. Let us fall on our knees, and acknowledge our sins, and ask him to forgive us."
That is the nearest to acknowledging God that I have heard of among the nations; but as to their authority, it is not there. Their emperors and rulers have been the most beastly in their conduct and oppressive in their acts of any other nations that rule under heaven.
Now where can you find a nation that acknowledges God? They are very religious. Why, the Queen of England is said to be "Defender of the Faith." Then it is not the faith of the Church of America--it is not the faith of the Church of France, nor of Germany, nor anywhere else, except the Church of England. Where did she get her right from? She is the descendant of a line of kings.
Henry the Eighth, some time since, wrote a book against the Protestants, and the Pope gave him the title of "Defender of the Faith," which faith he afterwards sought to destroy, rebelled against the Pope, and started the Reformation, because the Pope would not allow him to divorce his wife. Hence the Protestant kings and queens of England have stolen the Roman Catholic title, to rule or defend the faith of the Protestants by kings and queens, whom they now anoint.
How do they anoint them? They anoint them by their Bishops, who declare them to be kings and queens by the grace of God. Go back, however, to their origin, and you will find that their kingdoms were first obtained by the sword; they stole their kingdoms and power, and then got priests to sanctify the theft.
Go back in England to the time of William the Conqueror, and you will find that he was a usurper; he was a Norman and a wholesale robber; and then, when he had subdued the Anglo-Saxons, the priests turned round and anointed him king by the grace of God. That is a fair example of the other European nations, and is all the authority that any of them had.
What is the Government of the United States? It does not profess any religion. There is no religion nor priesthood connected with it nationally, only they allow, or profess to allow, everybody to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences; but nationally they are a nation of infidels. They have no national creed, no national religious institutions; and hence the absurdity of interfering with us, when forsooth they have none themselves, and they do not want that we should have any.
Do they seek to acknowledge God in their acts? Or, is there any other nation that profess to acknowledge God? There are the Mahomedans, they had a Prophet, and professed to be governed by him. There is some talk about his being a false one: he might have been, or he might have been a true one, for aught I know; I leave them in the hands of God.
The Mahomedans have a certain faith or profession, which is spoken of in the Koran, or Alkoran. They, however, like the rest, obtained their nationality by the sword. We cannot find a nation upon the earth that has obtained its dominion or power to rule from God. If there is any people, except this people, I know them not.
The Lord has said, "If ye observe my law, ye have no need to break the law of the land." We have not broken the law of the land, and we do not mean to, although he has revealed to us his will and given us certain privileges and immunities that he never gave to any other people. Still, we have not broken the law, and there is not another people who maintain the laws of the United STates as faithfully as this people do.
Why, they are in storm and trouble every way in the United States, and here is the most perfect peace and the best morality that can be found in the world by a thousand-fold: yes, it is a thousand-fold better than I have seen in any part of the earth where I have been. There is not a place that can compare with it; and nothing but the very Devil himself could inspire the hearts of the children of men to make war against such a people as this.
What are we engaged in? We are engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and many of you have been ordained by the revelations of the Almighty to hold the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood. Besides this, you have been ordained kings and queens, and priests and priestesses to your Lord; you have been put in possession of principles that all the kings, potentates, and powers upon the earth are entirely ignorant of: they do not understand it; but you have received this from the hands of God.
The Mahomedans have a certain faith or profession, which is spoken of in the Koran, or Alkoran. They, however, like the rest, obtained their nationality by the sword. We cannot find a nation upon the earth that has obtained its dominion or power to rule from God. If there is any people, except this people, I know them not.
The Lord has said, "If ye observe my law, ye have no need to break the law of the land." We have not broken the law of the land, and we do not mean to, although he has revealed to us his will and given us certain privileges and immunities that he never gave to any other people. Still, we have not broken the law, and there is not another people who maintain the laws of the United States as faithfully as this people do.
Why, they are in storm and trouble every way in the United States, and here is the most perfect peace and the best morality that can be found in the world by a thousand-fold: yes, it is a thousand-fold better than I have seen in any part of the earth where I have been. There is not a place that can compare with it; and nothing but the very devil himself could inspire the hearts of the children of men to make war against such a people as this.
What are we engaged in? We are engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and many of you have been ordained by the revelations of the Almighty to hold the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood. Besides this, you have been ordained kings and queens, and priests and priestesses to your Lord; you have been put in possession of principles that all the kings, potentates, and powers upon the earth are entirely ignorant of: they do not understand it; but you have received this from the hands of God.
The kingdom is put upon the shoulders of President Young and this people to carry it out, and by whom? By the Lord God--by him who holds dominion throughout the universe; by him who created all by the word of his power; by him who said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" by him who spake, and the worlds rolled into existence. By him you received rights that are not of this world--rights that flow from the great Eloheim.
What are we going to do, then? We are going to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth. This is our privilege--our right, if you please. But I consider it a high privilege--the greatest boon that can be bestowed upon mortals on the earth, to be the representatives of God. Let me say another thing. The people of the earth, their legislators, their princes, their kings, and their emperors, if they ever get salvation, have got to have it through us: if they obtain a celestial kingdom, they have got to go through the door that God has appointed, and there is no other way for it.
What are we doing here? We are here to stand up in defence of our individual rights--to stand up for our farms, our families, and our property, if it be necessary. Property! Why great conscience! it is just like the chaff and straw; and I was glad to see when the vote was taken, that if it was necessary to burn every house and all our property, every hand went right up for it. I was glad to see you appreciate these things.
Would we fight for these things? Just so far as I am concerned, they might take what I have got, and go to Gibraltar with it, or to Halifax; and I would say, You poor, miserable, corrupt creatures, take it.
But this is not all. The Lord has put us into a place where we cannot dodge, if we wish. We have asked for the blessing of his kingdom, and he has poured out blessings upon us, and there is no backing out. God has rolled his kingdom upon our shoulders; and now I ask, as a poet did some years ago,
"Shall we, for fear of feeble man,
The Spirit's course in us restrain?"
Shall we, for fear of those miserable curses, barter away eternal lives? Shall we set at naught those principles that God has imparted to us? Shall we exchange the pearl of great price, the riches of eternity, for the dirt and filth that the Gentiles wallow in? I know we do not feel like it.
Brother Kimball says we have to stand up to what we say, and the Lord will bring us to it; and I will tell you what I heard Joseph say years ago. He said, if God had known any other way that he could have tried Abraham better than he did, he would have put it upon him. And he will try us to see whether we will be faithful to the great and high calling that he has put upon us.
What are we doing? God has seen proper to establish his kingdom upon the earth, and here is that kingdom--that stone which has been cut out of the mountain without hands, and it is rolling forth to fill the whole earth.
A great charge is committed to us as a people: it is for us to walk up to the rack, resist the powers of darkness, and bear off the kingdom of God, that the powers of darkness may be rolled back with all their forces.
We are placed in this position to see if we will let the kingdom of God be trampled under foot of men. It is not a little thing, but it is one that is associated with our progenitors and posterity, as eternal beings, having to do with the past, the present, and the future.
The little stone was to smite the image on the toes; and I would not be surprised if there was to be a monstrous kicking--particularly, as brother Kimball says, if there should be any corns on the toes.
It is not whether we can stop here, and eat and drink, and say, poor pussy, and put off the evil day. It is not an evil day; it is a day of rejoicing--a day of bursting off the fetters from us; it is a day when every son and daughter of God ought to sing, Hosannah to the God of Israel! We know we used to sing sometimes,
"We'll burst off all our fetters, and break
the Gentile yoke, For long it has beset us, but now it shall
be broke: No more shall Jacob bow his neck; henceforth
he shall be free,
In Upper California: O! that's the land for me," &c.
We used to sing that years ago, and we can sing it now; but we have got to do it. Yes, it is "Yankee doodle do it."
Well, what are we doing? We are laying the foundation for salvation for ourselves, for our progenitors, for our children, and our posterity after us, from generation to generation. The foundation of liberty, whereby the bond that has been on the neck of the nations, shall be burst asunder; for it is here that liberty shall spring from.
Here is a nucleus--a band of brethren inspired from on high, having the oracles of God in their midst,--the only people that are taught by the revelations of God. Here is the place where the standard is to be erected to all nations.
We were talking, some time ago, about our rights: these are our duties; we have got through with our rights. There is an old motto that they have got very conspicuously in England; it is this--"England expects every man to do his duty."
What is a man's duty here? It is obedience to the oracles of God that are in our midst; and so long as we keep the commandments of God, we need not fear any evil; for the Lord will be with us in time and in eternity.
"But," says one, "I have got a son, who has gone out upon the Plains, and perhaps the soldiers will kill him." Let them kill him. [President Kimball, "There can be more made."] I suppose there can.
Did you ever know your sons were in possession of eternal life, and that this is only a probation or a space between time and eternity? We existed before, in eternity that was, and we shall exist in eternity that is to come; and the question only is, whether it is better to die with the harness on, or to be found a poor, miserable coward.
All that I said to my son Joseph, after blessing him, before he went out, was, "Joseph, do not be found with a hole in your back." I do not want any cowardice--any tremblings or feelings of that kind.
What of our friends that have gone behind the vail--are they dead? No; they live, and they move, in a more exalted sphere. Did they fight for the kingdom of God when here? Yes, they did. Are they battling for it now? Yes; and the time is approaching when the wicked nations have to be destroyed; and the time is near when every creature is to be heard saying, "Honour, and power, and might, and majesty, and dominion be ascribed to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever."
We have got to bring this about, whether we do it in this world or that which is to come. I have seen the time I could have died as easily as to have turned my hand over; but I did not feel like it.
[President H. C. Kimball: "You did not have time."]
Supposing I live, I have got a work to do; and if I die, I shall still be engaged in the cause of Zion. Why, great conscience! what difference does it make? They can only kill the body. And do not we know that we have an interest beyond the grave?--that we have drunk of that fountain which springs up into eternal lives? Then what difference does it make?
These are my feelings. If it is for life, let it be for life; and if it is for death, let it be for death, that the spirit may move in a more exalted sphere; and then all is well with us. If we live, we live to God; and if we die, we die to God; and we are God's any way.
We have friends gone behind the vail. There are Joseph, Hyrum, Willard, Jedediah, and many of our friends that are there, and they have been moving and acting there for years; and if any of us are called to go, it is all right: there is a Priesthood there to regulate things, as well as here; and if we have to go there, we might as well go by a ball as by a fever, or any other distressing disease. I want to go with the harness on; and if others go a little before us, does it make any difference? Do not you know the old Apostle said, "They without us cannot be made perfect?" Could they attend to these ordinances that are being attended to here on earth while they are there? No, they cannot. Can you do what they are doing? No, you cannot; but when you get there you can.
When in the old country you were striving to get here, many of you had friends here; and when you came, they would say, "I am glad to see you, brother William, and sister Jane, or Mary, or Elizabeth." Now, when a person dies, you say, "I am glad to see you go, but still I am sorry that you are going."
I remember saying so to uncle John Smith. When I went to see him, I felt that his time was come, and I said. "I am glad you are going, but still I am sorry to part with you;" and said, "I hope you will carry my respects to our friends behind the vail." He said, "I will."
We have angels that are ministers of salvation; we have Joseph, Hyrum, Willard, Jedediah, and lots of others that are engaged in rolling on the work of the lord in the upper worlds. What if they want any of us? Why, let us go, old men or young men. What if we are called by a ball, or die by a fever, what difference does it make?
What! are we all going to die together? God has designed and said he would establish his kingdom upon the earth, and that the Devil shall not reign for ever; but he whose right it is shall come and take the kingdom, and possess it for ever and ever.
Now, brother Brigham has said all is right, and he is the representative of the Almighty upon the earth, and it is for us to stand by him and obey him; and he says, "Rejoice, and live your religion, and all shall be well." Is not that the voice of God? It is. Shall we not listen to it? Yes; and we will maintain our rights as citizens of the United States.
I pray that God may bless you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
REMINISCENCES AND TESTIMONY OF PARLEY P. PRATT.
A Discourse by Elder Parley P. Pratt, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday, September 7, 1856.