The Object of Assembling together—The Sa-
crament—All people should have the privi-
lege of worshipping God according to the
dictates sf their own conscience—Why this
furore [furor] against the "Mormons"—Mr. Coy-
ner's statement before a Missionary Society
in Rochester—Delivery of the Gospel to Joseph Smith—Book of Mormon and the
Bible contain the same Gospel—It required
an angel from heaven to reetore the Gospel
—The first principles—Order of the Church
—Judgments—What the blood of the Mes-
siah has cost the Jews—The gospel given
to the Gentlies—Apostacy of the Gentiles—
—Polygamy—Calling of the Latter-day
Saints—This the Most Important of all
Dispensations—Increase of Wickedness—
Exhortation to be Faithful.
WE have assembled ourselves as
Latter-day Saints for the purpose of
worshipping God, of listening to in-
structions, and administering one of
the ordinances of the house of God—
the sacrament. I look upon the sa-
crament as an ordinance of great im-
portance to us; in fact, from the
days of Adam down to the days of
Jesus Christ there were sacrifices
offered; not only by Adam but by his
posterity, by Moses and the house of
Israel, and all the generations of peo-
ple who were led by the Lord—sa-
crifices were offered as a type of the
great sacrifice to be made by the
Messiah. They offered the blood of
bulls, rams and doves as a type of
the great and last sacrifice and
death of the Messiah, whose blood
was shed for the redemption of the
world. Prior to the death of the
Savior, the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was administered to His dis-
ciples, and they informed that
they were to partake of the bread as
an emblem of the broken body of
the Lord, and of the wine—or what-
ever is made use of as a substitute
—in token of the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I feel disposed here to make a re-
mark and say, that if I were the
emperor of the world and
had control of every human being
that breathes the breath of life on
earth I would give to every man,
woman and child the right to wor-
ship God according to the dictates
of their own conscience, and when
I say this I speak the sentiments of
Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the
Presidency of this Church, the
Twelve Apostles, and all the Elders
of Israel. This is the sentiment of
all the Latter-day Saints. What!
would you grant the Methodists
this privilege? Certainly. And the
Baptists? Yes, certainly. And the
Catholics, the Shakers, the Quakers?
Yes, and everybody else under
heaven. I would grant to all people
the right to enjoy their religion
without molestation. I would even
extend this privelege to the Latter-
day Saints; I would give them the
privilege of believing in the Bible
and the organization of the Church
according to the ancient pattern,
with Apostles and Prophets, Christ
Jesus being the chief corner stone.
Why would you do this? I would
do it because God himself does it.
The God of heaven grants to all his
children, every sect and party of
whatever name and denomination
under the whole heavens, their
agency and the right to worship
God according to the dictates of their
own conscience. The Lord forces
no man to heaven. He places before
him life and death, light and dark-
ness, truth and error, and having
before him all these principles he is
at liberty to worship God and believe
what he chooses. He alone is re-
sponsible to God for his actions.
Now, when I read the history of the
world in days that are past, when I
note the illiberal spirit that was
manifested and the blood that has
been shed upon the earth—for the
earth has been deluged with blood
under what is termed holy wars,
under the garb of holy religion—I
look upon it as the most ungodly
and unrighteous thing that was ever
committed upon the earth. I look
upon what is taking place to-day in
the same way. I marvel sometimes
when I see the spirit of our nation
and the feelings of the sects of to-day
toward Utah and the Latter-day
Saints. Have we ever stood in the
path of any man, sect or people with
regard to their religion? No, we have
not. We have been willing at all
times that men should preach their
doctrines and believe them unmo-
lested by us, and I would say, to ex-
press my own feelings, that if a
man believed he had to climb
a cottonwood tree three times a day
for salvation I would never hinder
him. No, this liberty, this freedom,
especially under the American Gov-
ernment of all nations under heaven,
ought to become universal. No man
or set of men should attempt to hin-
der their neighbors from enjoying
their religion. And while I say this,
and while we grant all men this
right and privilege, as we have done
here in this city, this Tabernacle and
various other buildings having been
opened to the clergymen of the day,
we have been perfectly willing, after
we have heard all they have had to
say, to accept any truth they might
have that we are not in possession
of. If thers is a man in this world
who has one truth that I have not
got, I am willing to exchange all the
errors I have got for that truth. But
we as a people claim the same right
we grant to others. We claim the
right to worship God unmolested by
our fellow men. The laws of God,
the decrees of God, the oracles of
God, as well as laws of our country
and the constitution of our govern-
ment grant this right to the human
family—yes, even to the "Mormons,"
as we are called, to the Latter-day
Saints as well as every other c[l]ass.
Then, why this tremendous furor
among the sects of the day with re-
gard to these "Mormons" and their
religion? The trouble is the world
do not know anything about our re-
ligion, they do not know what we
believe in, and if anybody forms an
idea from what they hear abroad
they hear anything but the truth.
I have been amused sometimes—I
have of late—in reading the speech-
es delivered by gentleman—clergy-
men at that—who profess to have
lived in Utah and to understand this
people. One gentleman who pro-
fesses to be acquainted here deliver-
ed a speech in Rochester, before a
missionary society, in which he stat-
ed that "there were in Utah 620,486
young persons in the Mormon dis-
trict, and it was the youthful ele-
ment that missionaries were work-
ing on." Well, now, how does this
gentleman make out 620,486 young
people out of 140,000? I do not know
by what process of mathematics, or
by what rule he arrives at this ques-
tion. That gentleman knew just as
well when he made that assertion
that it was false as I know. Our pop-
ulation is only about 140 000. Mr.
Conyer, who had lived here some
six years, stated "that there were
40,000 scholars in the mission, and
he wanted assistance to furnish his
enlarged s[c]hool." Well, now you
take 40,000 scholars out of the
total populationof 140,000, and I do
not think you will leave many for
the Mormons. But all this is as
near true as anything you get abroad,
and I really wish that gentlemen,
clergymen and everybody else who
attempts to report Utah would tell
the truth. That is all we ask of any
persons who visit us. But it seems
impossible for anybody to speak of
Utah and the Latter-day Saints—
"Mormons" as they are termed—
with any degree of truth; but I wish
they would, it would be better for
them, better for us, and they would
be under less condemnation.
Now what are the principles in
which the Latter-day Saints believe?
What is the dreadful crime that we
have been guilty of for the last fifty
years? Why, the Lord has raised up
a Prophet—Joseph Smith. He sent
an angel from heaven in f[u]lfilment
of the revelations of St. John. [Revelation 14:6]
And that angel delivered
the gospel to Joseph Smith,
delivered unto him power and
knowledge to obtain the Book of
Mormon, a record containing the
history of the ancient inhabitants of
this continent who dwelt here hun-
dreds and thousands of years ago.
He translated it into the English
language. Does the Book of Mor-
mon contain a different gospel to
that contained in the Bible? It does
not. It gives a history of the people
who dwelt upon this continent
anciently, tells where they came
from and how they came here, tells
of the dealings of God with them,
and the establishment of the Church
of Christ among them. They were
visited by Jesus after His ressurrec-
tion. Hence He said "Other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring and they
shall hear my voice; and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd." [John 10:16] He
also told the Nephites when He
established His church among them
that He had other sheep. They
were the ten tribes of Israel.
The Book of Mormon is a history of
the dealings of God with that people;
the Bible is a history of the dealings of
God with Judah and with the Jews
and the twelve tribes of Israel: it
contains in fact a short outline of the
dealings of God with the Jaradites
and Nephites from the building of
the Tower of Babel down to the
days of the Savior and after His
resurrection. The Bible is the Stick
of Judah in the hands of Judah,
and the Book of Mormon the Stick
of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim. [Ezekiel 37:16-20]
Both books contain the same gospel.
There was never but one gospel and
there never will be any other reveal-
ed to the human family. Hence Paul says: "Though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gos-
pel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed." [Galatians 1:8] Now,
if Joseph Smith had establish-
ed any other gospel on the earth
than the gospel that Paul taught,
that Christ and His Apostles taught,
and that was taught to Abraham, Noah and the antediluvian world,
why we would have the curse of God
resting upon us. The great trouble
with the so-called Christian world
is that they have spiritualized the
scriptures until there is not a sem-
blance of the gospel left. I never
could find it. I never could hear a
gospel sermon in my life, and I sat
under Dr. Porter and Dr. Hawes and
other great divines of the day. I
never could hear a gospel sermon ac-
cording to the ancient pattern as
was taught by Joseph Smith. Of
course all sects have had some
truth. All sects have professed to
believe in the blood of Jesus Christ,
more or less; all sects and parties
have their various roads to heaven
and to hell, but none of them teach
the gospel according to the pattern
laid down in the New Testament.
It required an angel from heaven
"to fly in the midst of heaven, hav-
ing the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and people," to prepare
them for the great judgments of our
God before the winding up scene. [Revelation 14:6]
That angel has come: that gospel
has been delivered. It was delivered
to Joseph Smith. He did not re-
ceive his power from man, but from
the revelations of Jesus Christ.
What did that gospel teach? Why,
faith in Jesus Christ. "Yes, oh
yes," say the Methodist, "we believe
in Jesus Christ." All right. Then
the next principle was repentance of
our sins. "But," say the sectarian
"world, "we also believe in repent-
ance." Well, what is next? The
revivalists who visited this city
(Messrs. Sankey & Moody) believed
in Jesus Christ, and they said that if
a person only came to Christ, he did
not require to be a Methodist, Bap-
tist, Mormon, or anything else. Pro-
phets and Apostles were not requir-
ed; all that was required was to
come to Christ. But we say there is
something more required besides be-
lieving. [Every] man has to be baptized
for the remission of his sins in order
to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
That law of baptism has never been
altered. Many believe in baptism
even by immersion, but not par-
ticularly for remission of sins.
What next? Having repented of
our sins and been baptized for a re-
mission of them, we must have
hands laid upon for the reception of
the Holy Ghost, and when we have
received the Holy Ghost it will be
unto us a principle of revelation, a
testimony of the Father and of the
Son.
Well, what kind of a church are
you going to have? Paul, in speak-
ing of the Corinthians, goes on to
represent the Church of Christ to
the body of a man. He shows that
every part of the body must act in
unison; the head, the eyes, the ears,
the mouth, the feet must all work
together in order that the body may
be perfect and that there be no
schism. We are also told that God
set in the Church Apostles, Pro-
phets, Evangelists, Pastors and
Teachers for the perfecting of the
Saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of
Chr[i]st. Now, we have had indepen-
dence of mind enough to believe
this doctrine. This is "Mormon-
ism." It is faith in Christ, repen-
tence of our sins, baptism for the
remission of our sins, and the re-
ception of the Holy Ghost by the
laying on of hands. These are the
principles which we as Latter-day
Saints believe in. We do not believe
that God ever had a church on the
earth without Apostles and Pro-
phets in it, without inspiration in it.
To do away with any of the princi-
ples of the gospel would cause a
schism in the Church of Christ.
When you cut the head off a man
he will die. He may live if he loses
an arm or a leg, but if you cut the
head off he will die. Precisely so
with the Church of Christ. We
believe in the Bible; we believe in
all the prophecies; we believe God
meant just what He said and said
just what he meant; we believe that
the prophecies of the scriptures are
of no private interpretation; we be-
lieve in the second coming of Christ;
we believe that the judgments of
Almighty God will be poured out
upon this generation. All the un-
belief of the world will not stay the
fulfilment of the decrees of the Al-
mighty. The unbelief of the in-
habitants of the antedeluvian world
in the days of Noah did not stay
the deluge. The unbelief of the
inhabitants of Sodom Gomorrah did
not avert the destruction of
th[e]se cities. The unbelief
of the Jews did not avert
the destruction of Jerusalem.
We look for a literal fulfilment of
the decrees of God. We know as a
people that He has set His hand to
establish His Church. He has set
His hand to warn all nations. The
Holy Priesthood has been restored,
not by the power of man, but by
the power of Almighty God.
As I have said, we believe in the
[B]ook of Mormon as containing a re-
cord of the ancient inhabitants of
this continent, and a clue to the
ruins which have been discovered
in various parts of the land and for
which the world can find no origin.
The whole history of these things,
however, is pointed out in the Book
of Mormon, and if the world would
only take the trouble to read that
book they would understand these
things perfectly. The American
Indians are a remnant of the an-
cient inhabitants of this continent.
Their forefathers were an enlight-
ened people. They had the gospel
among them and the power of God
was manifested in their midst; but
when they became wicked and turn-
ed away from God, the judgments
of the Almighty fell upon them and
they were overthrown and destroy-
ed by warfares. The Lamanites,
now a downtrodden people, are a
remnant of the house of Israel. The
curse of God has followed them as it
has done the Jews, though the Jews
have not been darkened in their
skin as have the Lamanites. The
fate of the Jews in this respect is a
standing monument to all infidel-
ity. The prediction of Jesus with
regard to them has been literaliy
fulfilled. He predicted that they
should be led away captive unto all
nations, and that Jerusalem should
be trodden down of the Gentiles, un-
til the times of the Gentiles be ful-
filled. When Pilate was ready to
release Jesus because he found no
fault in him, the Pharisees and High
Priests, being filled with prejudice,
would not have it. They cried out
"Crucify him, crucify him, and let
his blood be upon us and our chil-
dren." [Luke 23:21] [Matthew 27:25] The prediction of Jesus has
been verified, and its fulfilment is
before the world to-day. The Jews
have been trampled under the feet
of the Gentiles for 1800 years, and
they are to-day being persecuted in
European nations. Why? Because
that curse of God rests upon them
and will rest upon them until
Shiloh comes, until they are
re-gathered to Jerusalem and rebuild
the city in unbelief. You cannot
convert a Jew. They will never be-
lieve in Jesus Christ until He comes
to them in Jerusalem, until these
fleeing Jews take back their gold
and silver to Jerusalem and rebuild
their city and temple, and they will
do this as the Lord lives. Then the
gentiles will say, "Come let us go
up to Jerusalem; let us go up and
spoil her. The Jews have taken our
gold and silver from the nations of
the earth—come let us go up and
fight against Jerusalem." Then will
the prophecies that are before you be
fulfilled. The gospel was preached
first to the Jews and then to the gen-
tiles. The Jews rejected the mes-
sage: the gentiles received it, and
unto them was given all the gifs and
blessings of the gospel. But Paul
told them to take heed lest they fell
through the same example of unbe-
lief. [1 Corinthians 10:12] Yet in time, we gentiles, de-
parted from the kingdom of God,
and the church went into the wil-
derness. There has not been an or-
ganization of the church of Christ
on the earth from the days of the
ancient Apostles, until the days of
Joseph Smith, who came forth in
this great and last dispensation, and
who by inspiration and power from
on high again restored the gospel.
The world do not believe this. We
cannot help that. The unbelief of
the world does not make the work of
the Lord of non-effect. The Lord
has set his hand to establish his
church and kingdom, and the warn-
ing voice is to all men. He has call-
ed his servants to bear record of this
to all nations. This is what the
Lord is doing with these dispised
Mormons. And already the mem-
bers of nearly every sect under
heaven have embraced this work,
though our numbers are small com-
pared with the christian world. We
expect this. As it was in the days
of Noah and Lot, so shall it be at
the coming of the Son of Man.
These principles are true. The world
does not know what awaits them no
more than they did in the days of
Noah, or in the days of the Jews.
But, why this furore against the
Latter-day Saints? Do you know?
"Oh, yes, we do. You are Poly-
gamists. That is what is the mat-
ter." Well, indeed! Now, let me
as you a question. Were we Poly-
gamists when we were driven
from Jackson and Clay Counties?
Why, the worst persecution we have
ever had, was before Polygamy was
revealed to us, or before we received
it. What cause, then, had the Mis-
sourians and others to drive us in
the beginning? "Oh, you believe in
revelation, you believe in prophets;
we cannot bear these things,
they are all done away with.
These things were only given
in the dark ages of the world,
but to-day, living as we are in the
blaze of the glorious gospel, we do
not need them; but if you will be-
lieve as we do and scatter yourselves
abroad among the Methodists, etc.,
and do as they do, it will be all
right." Now, gentlemen. it is not
polygamy. What do you care about
polygamy? What does our nation
care about polygamy? What do the
sectarians care about polygamy?
Bless your souls, nothing. But nine
per cent. of these Mormons may be
polygamists. Dreadful! Why, have
you no evils in New York? Have
you no evils in Boston? Have you
no evils anywhere? Are you all
perfect? If so, you are pretty well
off; you are certainly prepared for
salvation. But no, my friends, I
will tell you: If we were to give up
polygamy to-day—if we were to say
to our government, "Oh, yes, we
will give up polygamy"—why the
next thing they would say would be,
But look here; you have got to give
up something more than that."
They would tell us, as the Missou-
ians did, that we must quit believ-
in prophets, apostles and revelation.
The same feeling exists to-day as
existed then.
We Latter-day Saints are called
out of the world. We have received
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Lord Almighty has raised up pro-
phets and apostles in this our day,
and has set His hand to establish
the kingdom that Daniel saw in ful-
filment of revelation and prophecy. [Daniel 2:26-47]
We have been gathered out from
the nations of the earth to these
valleys of the mountains. Zion is
growing and increasing. This has
bean the ca[s]e from the beginning.
There has never been an hour from
the organization of this Church but
what our course has been onward
and upward, Even in the midst of
mud and water, on the banks of the Missouri River, where, by an edict
of Governor Boggs, some 10,000 were
driven—no matter under what cir-
cumstances we have been placed,
the hand of God has been over us.
The Almighty has set His hand to
gather in the meek of the earth.
And after our testimony, will come
the testimony of thunderings and
lightnings. Read the revelations of
St. John; see the signs of the
times, and prepare yourselves for
that which is to come. We trust
in God. We cannot afford to deny
the Lord, we cannot deny his reve-
lations. We have a code of revela-
tions called the Doctrine and Cove-
nants. That code, given through
the mouth of Joseph Smith, con-
tains the most sublime revela-
tions concerning this genera-
tion that were ever given to the
world. Many of these revelations
have had their fulfilment so far as
time has permitted. Joseph Smith
was a true prophet of God. I tra-
velled thousands of miles with him;
in fact the revelation he gave con-
cerning the war that would break
out between the North and South, I
wrote that revelation myself as it
was given by the Prophet 20 years
before it was fulfilled. That revela-
tion was published to the world
broadcast, and I merely refer to it
because it is a thing that is clear to
the minds of all men. All the reve-
lations in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, the Bible, and the Book
of Mormon will have their fulfil-
ment in the earth.
We are living in an important day.
We are living in the most important
dispensation God ever gave to man.
There is a great change awaiting us;
there is a great change awaiting
Zion, our Government, and the
DISCOURSE
BY
ELDER WILFORD WOODRUFF,
DELIVERED
In the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday Afternoon, .
The Object of Assembling together—The Sacrament—All people should have the privilege of worshipping God according to the
dictates sf their own conscience—Why this
furor against the "Mormons"—Mr. Coyner's statement before a Missionary Society
in Rochester—Delivery of the Gospel to
Joseph Smith—Book of Mormon and the
Bible contain the same Gospel—It required
an angel from heaven to reetore the Gospel
—The first principles—Order of the Church
—Judgments—What the blood of the Messiah has cost the Jews—The gospel given
to the Gentlies—Apostacy of the Gentiles—
Polygamy—Calling of the Latter-day
Saints—This the Most Important of all
Dispensations—Increase of Wickedness—
Exhortation to be Faithful.
WE have assembled ourselves as
Latter-day Saints for the purpose of
worshipping God, of listening to instructions, and administering one of
the ordinances of the house of God—
the sacrament. I look upon the sacrament as an ordinance of great importance to us; in fact, from the
days of Adam down to the days of
Jesus Christ there were sacrifices
offered; not only by Adam but by his
posterity, by Moses and the house of
Israel, and all the generations of people who were led by the Lord—sacrifices were offered as a type of the
great sacrifice to be made by the
Messiah. They offered the blood of
bulls, rams and doves as a type of
the great and last sacrifice and
death of the Messiah, whose blood
was shed for the redemption of the
world. Prior to the death of the
Savior, the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was administered to His disciples, and they informed that
they were to partake of the bread as
an emblem of the broken body of
the Lord, and of the wine—or whatever is made use of as a substitute
—in token of the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I feel disposed here to make a remark and say, that if I were the
emperor of the world and
had control of every human being
that breathes the breath of life on
earth I would give to every man,
woman and child the right to worship God according to the dictates
of their own conscience, and when
I say this I speak the sentiments of
Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the
Presidency of this Church, the
Twelve Apostles, and all the Elders
of Israel. This is the sentiment of
all the Latter-day Saints. What!
would you grant the Methodists
this privilege? Certainly. And the
Baptists? Yes, certainly. And the
Catholics, the Shakers, the Quakers?
Yes, and everybody else under
heaven. I would grant to all people
the right to enjoy their religion
without molestation. I would even
extend this privelege to the Latterday Saints; I would give them the
privilege of believing in the Bible
and the organization of the Church
according to the ancient pattern,
with Apostles and Prophets, Christ
Jesus being the chief corner stone.
Why would you do this? I would
do it because God himself does it.
The God of heaven grants to all his
children, every sect and party of
whatever name and denomination
under the whole heavens, their
agency and the right to worship
God according to the dictates of their
own conscience. The Lord forces
no man to heaven. He places before
him life and death, light and darkness, truth and error, and having
before him all these principles he is
at liberty to worship God and believe
what he chooses. He alone is responsible to God for his actions.
Now, when I read the history of the
world in days that are past, when I
note the illiberal spirit that was
manifested and the blood that has
been shed upon the earth—for the
earth has been deluged with blood
under what is termed holy wars,
under the garb of holy religion—I
look upon it as the most ungodly
and unrighteous thing that was ever
committed upon the earth. I look
upon what is taking place to-day in
the same way. I marvel sometimes
when I see the spirit of our nation
and the feelings of the sects of to-day
toward Utah and the Latter-day
Saints. Have we ever stood in the
path of any man, sect or people with
regard to their religion? No, we have
not. We have been willing at all
times that men should preach their
doctrines and believe them unmolested by us, and I would say, to express my own feelings, that if a
man believed he had to climb
a cottonwood tree three times a day
for salvation I would never hinder
him. No, this liberty, this freedom,
especially under the American Government of all nations under heaven,
ought to become universal. No man
or set of men should attempt to hinder their neighbors from enjoying
their religion. And while I say this,
and while we grant all men this
right and privilege, as we have done
here in this city, this Tabernacle and
various other buildings having been
opened to the clergymen of the day,
we have been perfectly willing, after
we have heard all they have had to
say, to accept any truth they might
have that we are not in possession
of. If thers is a man in this world
who has one truth that I have not
got, I am willing to exchange all the
errors I have got for that truth. But
we as a people claim the same right
we grant to others. We claim the
right to worship God unmolested by
our fellow men. The laws of God,
the decrees of God, the oracles of
God, as well as laws of our country
and the constitution of our government grant this right to the human
family—yes, even to the "Mormons,"
as we are called, to the Latter-day
Saints as well as every other class.
Then, why this tremendous furor
among the sects of the day with regard to these "Mormons" and their
religion? The trouble is the world
do not know anything about our religion, they do not know what we
believe in, and if anybody forms an
idea from what they hear abroad
they hear anything but the truth.
I have been amused sometimes—I
have of late—in reading the speeches delivered by gentleman—clergymen at that—who profess to have
lived in Utah and to understand this
people. One gentleman who professes to be acquainted here delivered a speech in Rochester, before a
missionary society, in which he stated that "there were in Utah 620,486
young persons in the Mormon district, and it was the youthful element that missionaries were working on." Well, now, how does this
gentleman make out 620,486 young
people out of 140,000? I do not know
by what process of mathematics, or
by what rule he arrives at this question. That gentleman knew just as
well when he made that assertion
that it was false as I know. Our population is only about 140 000. Mr.
Conyer, who had lived here some
six years, stated "that there were
40,000 scholars in the mission, and
he wanted assistance to furnish his
enlarged school." Well, now you
take 40,000 scholars out of the
total populationof 140,000, and I do
not think you will leave many for
the Mormons. But all this is as
near true as anything you get abroad,
and I really wish that gentlemen,
clergymen and everybody else who
attempts to report Utah would tell
the truth. That is all we ask of any
persons who visit us. But it seems
impossible for anybody to speak of
Utah and the Latter-day Saints—
"Mormons" as they are termed—
with any degree of truth; but I wish
they would, it would be better for
them, better for us, and they would
be under less condemnation.
Now what are the principles in
which the Latter-day Saints believe?
What is the dreadful crime that we
have been guilty of for the last fifty
years? Why, the Lord has raised up
a Prophet—Joseph Smith. He sent
an angel from heaven in fulfilment
of the revelations of St. John.
And that angel delivered
the gospel to Joseph Smith,
delivered unto him power and
knowledge to obtain the Book of
Mormon, a record containing the
history of the ancient inhabitants of
this continent who dwelt here hundreds and thousands of years ago.
He translated it into the English
language. Does the Book of Mormon contain a different gospel to
that contained in the Bible? It does
not. It gives a history of the people
who dwelt upon this continent
anciently, tells where they came
from and how they came here, tells
of the dealings of God with them,
and the establishment of the Church
of Christ among them. They were
visited by Jesus after His ressurrection. Hence He said "Other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring and they
shall hear my voice; and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd." He
also told the Nephites when He
established His church among them
that He had other sheep. They
were the ten tribes of Israel.
The Book of Mormon is a history of
the dealings of God with that people;
the Bible is a history of the dealings of
God with Judah and with the Jews
and the twelve tribes of Israel: it
contains in fact a short outline of the
dealings of God with the Jaradites
and Nephites from the building of
the Tower of Babel down to the
days of the Savior and after His
resurrection. The Bible is the Stick
of Judah in the hands of Judah,
and the Book of Mormon the Stick
of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim.
Both books contain the same gospel.
There was never but one gospel and
there never will be any other revealed to the human family. Hence
Paul says: "Though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed." Now,
if Joseph Smith had established any other gospel on the earth
than the gospel that Paul taught,
that Christ and His Apostles taught,
and that was taught to Abraham,
Noah and the antediluvian world,
why we would have the curse of God
resting upon us. The great trouble
with the so-called Christian world
is that they have spiritualized the
scriptures until there is not a semblance of the gospel left. I never
could find it. I never could hear a
gospel sermon in my life, and I sat
under Dr. Porter and Dr. Hawes and
other great divines of the day. I
never could hear a gospel sermon according to the ancient pattern as
was taught by Joseph Smith. Of
course all sects have had some
truth. All sects have professed to
believe in the blood of Jesus Christ,
more or less; all sects and parties
have their various roads to heaven
and to hell, but none of them teach
the gospel according to the pattern
laid down in the New Testament.
It required an angel from heaven
"to fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue and people," to prepare
them for the great judgments of our
God before the winding up scene.
That angel has come: that gospel
has been delivered. It was delivered
to Joseph Smith. He did not receive his power from man, but from
the revelations of Jesus Christ.
What did that gospel teach? Why,
faith in Jesus Christ. "Yes, oh
yes," say the Methodist, "we believe
in Jesus Christ." All right. Then
the next principle was repentance of
our sins. "But," say the sectarian
"world, "we also believe in repentance." Well, what is next? The
revivalists who visited this city
(Messrs. Sankey & Moody) believed
in Jesus Christ, and they said that if
a person only came to Christ, he did
not require to be a Methodist, Baptist, Mormon, or anything else. Prophets and Apostles were not required; all that was required was to
come to Christ. But we say there is
something more required besides believing. Every man has to be baptized
for the remission of his sins in order
to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
That law of baptism has never been
altered. Many believe in baptism
even by immersion, but not particularly for remission of sins.
What next? Having repented of
our sins and been baptized for a remission of them, we must have
hands laid upon for the reception of
the Holy Ghost, and when we have
received the Holy Ghost it will be
unto us a principle of revelation, a
testimony of the Father and of the
Son.
Well, what kind of a church are
you going to have? Paul, in speaking of the Corinthians, goes on to
represent the Church of Christ to
the body of a man. He shows that
every part of the body must act in
unison; the head, the eyes, the ears,
the mouth, the feet must all work
together in order that the body may
be perfect and that there be no
schism. We are also told that God
set in the Church Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and
Teachers for the perfecting of the
Saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of
Christ. Now, we have had independence of mind enough to believe
this doctrine. This is "Mormonism." It is faith in Christ, repentence of our sins, baptism for the
remission of our sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the
laying on of hands. These are the
principles which we as Latter-day
Saints believe in. We do not believe
that God ever had a church on the
earth without Apostles and Prophets in it, without inspiration in it.
To do away with any of the principles of the gospel would cause a
schism in the Church of Christ.
When you cut the head off a man
he will die. He may live if he loses
an arm or a leg, but if you cut the
head off he will die. Precisely so
with the Church of Christ. We
believe in the Bible; we believe in
all the prophecies; we believe God
meant just what He said and said
just what he meant; we believe that
the prophecies of the scriptures are
of no private interpretation; we believe in the second coming of Christ;
we believe that the judgments of
Almighty God will be poured out
upon this generation. All the unbelief of the world will not stay the
fulfilment of the decrees of the Almighty. The unbelief of the inhabitants of the antedeluvian world
in the days of Noah did not stay
the deluge. The unbelief of the
inhabitants of Sodom Gomorrah did
not avert the destruction of
these cities. The unbelief
of the Jews did not avert
the destruction of Jerusalem.
We look for a literal fulfilment of
the decrees of God. We know as a
people that He has set His hand to
establish His Church. He has set
His hand to warn all nations. The
Holy Priesthood has been restored,
not by the power of man, but by
the power of Almighty God.
As I have said, we believe in the
Book of Mormon as containing a record of the ancient inhabitants of
this continent, and a clue to the
ruins which have been discovered
in various parts of the land and for
which the world can find no origin.
The whole history of these things,
however, is pointed out in the Book
of Mormon, and if the world would
only take the trouble to read that
book they would understand these
things perfectly. The American
Indians are a remnant of the ancient inhabitants of this continent.
Their forefathers were an enlightened people. They had the gospel
among them and the power of God
was manifested in their midst; but
when they became wicked and turned away from God, the jugdments
of the Almighty fell upon them and
they were overthrown and destroyed by warfares. The Lamanites,
now a downtrodden people, are a
remnant of the house of Israel. The
curse of God has followed them as it
has done the Jews, though the Jews
have not been darkened in their
skin as have the Lamanites. The
fate of the Jews in this respect is a
standing monument to all infidelity. The prediction of Jesus with
regard to them has been literaliy
fulfilled. He predicted that they
should be led away captive unto all
nations, and that Jerusalem should
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. When Pilate was ready to
release Jesus because he found no
fault in him, the Pharisees and High
Priests, being filled with prejudice,
would not have it. They cried out
"Crucify him, crucify him, and let
his blood be upon us and our children." The prediction of Jesus has
been verified, and its fulfilment is
before the world to-day. The Jews
have been trampled under the feet
of the Gentiles for 1800 years, and
they are to-day being persecuted in
European nations. Why? Because
that curse of God rests upon them
and will rest upon them until
Shiloh comes, until they are
re-gathered to Jerusalem and rebuild
the city in unbelief. You cannot
convert a Jew. They will never believe in Jesus Christ until He comes
to them in Jerusalem, until these
fleeing Jews take back their gold
and silver to Jerusalem and rebuild
their city and temple, and they will
do this as the Lord lives. Then the
gentiles will say, "Come let us go
up to Jerusalem; let us go up and
spoil her. The Jews have taken our
gold and silver from the nations of
the earth—come let us go up and
fight against Jerusalem." Then will
the prophecies that are before you be
fulfilled. The gospel was preached
first to the Jews and then to the gentiles. The Jews rejected the message: the gentiles received it, and
unto them was given all the gifs and
blessings of the gospel. But Paul
told them to take heed lest they fell
through the same example of unbelief. Yet in time, we gentiles, departed from the kingdom of God,
and the church went into the wilderness. There has not been an organization of the church of Christ
on the earth from the days of the
ancient Apostles, until the days of
Joseph Smith, who came forth in
this great and last dispensation, and
who by inspiration and power from
on high again restored the gospel.
The world do not believe this. We
cannot help that. The unbelief of
the world does not make the work of
the Lord of non-effect. The Lord
has set his hand to establish his
church and kingdom, and the warning voice is to all men. He has called his servants to bear record of this
to all nations. This is what the
Lord is doing with these dispised
Mormons. And already the members of nearly every sect under
heaven have embraced this work,
though our numbers are small compared with the christian world. We
expect this. As it was in the days
of Noah and Lot, so shall it be at
the coming of the Son of Man.
These principles are true. The world
does not know what awaits them no
more than they did in the days of
Noah, or in the days of the Jews.
But, why this furore against the
Latter-day Saints? Do you know?
"Oh, yes, we do. You are Polygamists. That is what is the matter." Well, indeed! Now, let me
as you a question. Were we Polygamists when we were driven
from Jackson and Clay Counties?
Why, the worst persecution we have
ever had, was before Polygamy was
revealed to us, or before we received
it. What cause, then, had the Missourians and others to drive us in
the beginning? "Oh, you believe in
revelation, you believe in prophets;
we cannot bear these things,
they are all done away with.
These things were only given
in the dark ages of the world,
but to-day, living as we are in the
blaze of the glorious gospel, we do
not need them; but if you will believe as we do and scatter yourselves
abroad among the Methodists, etc.,
and do as they do, it will be all
right." Now, gentlemen. it is not
polygamy. What do you care about
polygamy? What does our nation
care about polygamy? What do the
sectarians care about polygamy?
Bless your souls, nothing. But nine
per cent. of these Mormons may be
polygamists. Dreadful! Why, have
you no evils in New York? Have
you no evils in Boston? Have you
no evils anywhere? Are you all
perfect? If so, you are pretty well
off; you are certainly prepared for
salvation. But no, my friends, I
will tell you: If we were to give up
polygamy to-day—if we were to say
to our government, "Oh, yes, we
will give up polygamy"—why the
next thing they would say would be,
But look here; you have got to give
up something more than that."
They would tell us, as the Missouians did, that we must quit believin prophets, apostles and revelation.
The same feeling exists to-day as
existed then.
We Latter-day Saints are called
out of the world. We have received
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Lord Almighty has raised up prophets and apostles in this our day,
and has set His hand to establish
the kingdom that Daniel saw in fulfilment of revelation and prophecy.
We have been gathered out from
the nations of the earth to these
valleys of the mountains. Zion is
growing and increasing. This has
bean the case from the beginning.
There has never been an hour from
the organization of this Church but
what our course has been onward
and upward, Even in the midst of
mud and water, on the banks of the
Missouri River, where, by an edict
of Governor Boggs, some 10,000 were
driven—no matter under what circumstances we have been placed,
the hand of God has been over us.
The Almighty has set His hand to
gather in the meek of the earth.
And after our testimony, will come
the testimony of thunderings and
lightnings. Read the revelations of
St. John; see the signs of the
times, and prepare yourselves for
that which is to come. We trust
in God. We cannot afford to deny
the Lord, we cannot deny his revelations. We have a code of revelations called the Doctrine and Covenants. That code, given through
the mouth of Joseph Smith, contains the most sublime revelations concerning this generation that were ever given to the
world. Many of these revelations
have had their fulfilment so far as
time has permitted. Joseph Smith
was a true prophet of God. I travelled thousands of miles with him;
in fact the revelation he gave concerning the war that would break
out between the North and South, I
wrote that revelation myself as it
was given by the Prophet 20 years
before it was fulfilled. That revelation was published to the world
broadcast, and I merely refer to it
because it is a thing that is clear to
the minds of all men. All the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, the Bible, and the Book
of Mormon will have their fulfilment in the earth.
We are living in an important day.
We are living in the most important
dispensation God ever gave to man.
There is a great change awaiting us;
there is a great change awaiting Zion,
our Government, and the