READINGS  IN  EARLY  MORMON  HISTORY
(Newspapers of Utah)


Misc. Utah Newspapers
1850-1856 Articles


The First Two Editors of the Salt Lake City Deseret News:
Willard Richards (1850-54)   Albert Carrington (1854-62)


1850-1856   |   1857-1865   |   1866-1899   |   1900-1939




1850-1853
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1855-56
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DN Nov 19 '56



Articles Index   |   Salt Lake Tribune   |   LDS Newspapers

 

By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, June 15, 1850.                 Vol. I. No. 1.



 

We are informed that Oliver Cowdery, Esq., died at Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, on the 3d day of March last, of consumption.



THE  MORMONS.

                                          Washington City, Jan. 21, 1850.

MESSRS. EDITORS: Will you be good enough to give place in the Globe to the note of the Hon. Truman Smith, of the United States Senate, which you will herewith receive, and the accompanying extract of a letter from general Wilson, of Missouri,   Respectfully
                                          Yours,
                                        JOHN M. BERNHISEL.



                                          Washington City, Jan. 19, 1850.

DEAR SIR: In conformity with the wish expressed in your late note, I subjoin an extract from a letter I have recently received from General John Wilson, of Missouri, dated at the city of the Great Salt Lake, September 6, 1849, he being on his way to California, in the public service, if I mistake not, as Indian agent, or sub-agent. the extract you may use at your discretion. General Wilson is a gentleman of mature years and of the first respectability. Implicit reliance can therefore be placed in the accuracy of his statements. I will add that it gives me much satisfaction to afford you the means of repelling injurious statements recently put afloat, and also to learn, as I do, from a source so trustworthy, the good conduct, order, and happiness of your people in the Great Salt Lake country. And as they are in the interior of this continent, separated by vast deserts and mountains from the scenes of disorder and confusion in which they were so long involved in Missouri and Illinois, it is my desire that they should becomes a great, prosperous, and truly christian community.

With sentiments of true respect, I am faithfully yours,
                                                          TRUMAN SMITH.

For Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, Agent at Washington from the Salt Lake country.



Extract from the letter referred to in the above note:

"A nore orderly, earnest, industrious, and civil people I have never been amongst than these, (meaning the inhabitants of Great Salt Lake City,) and it is incredible how much they have done here in the wilderness in so short a time. In this city, which contains now, as I believe, about from four to five thousand inhabitants, I have not met in a citizen a single idler, or any person who looks like a loafer. Their prospects for crops are fair, and there is a spirit and energy in all that you see that cannot be equalled in any city of any size that I have ever been in, and, I will add, not even in "Old Connecticut."



We learn that two hundred and fifty more of the brethern arrived at St. Louis two or three weeks since, from Liverpool, Eng.



FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE. The Mormons in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake held a Convention on the 5th of March last, and formally organized a State Government, for which they propose to claim admittance into the Union at the approaching session of Congress. They give to their new dominions the name of "The State of Deseret," a mystical appellation derived from their religious doalect and signifying the land of the honey-bee or of industry and all kindred virtues; within its boundaries, as they have laid them down, is included the whole of California that lies east of the dividing ridge of the Sierra Nevada, a territory some six hundred miles wide by eight hundred long, only a speck of which is occupied by the 10,000 Mormons who compose its only civilized population. The Government is of course on the model generally followed in this country; a Governor, Lieut. Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, and Treasurer, compose the Executive; the Legislative consists of a Senate of 17 members and House of Representatives 35; the Judiciary is composed of a Supreme Court and such inferior tribunals as shall be established by the Legislature. The Declaration of Rights guarantees absolute religious liberty. Not a word is said about Slavery. The Constitution was adopted by a vote of the people, and the machinery of the Government put into operation. The Legislature met on July 2d, appointed a Delegate to Congress and adopted a memorial to that body setting forth the reasons for the new organization and asking that it be sanctioned, or, if that be impossible, a territorial government established. Their great reason for the recognition of the State is the ability of the people to pay the cost of administering their affairs, which will save the General treasury the cost of a territorial establishment. The objection to granting their request will be the smallness of their numbers, but as that deficiency is deisappearing every day, it will probably not be conclusive against them. They have, however, marked out a more extensive country for their own than they are sure of getting.

This movement affords a striking illustration of the practical, organizing instinct of the Anglo-Saxon race and of its inbred attachment to law and order.





PROSPECTUS.

D E S E R E T   N E W S.

MOTTO -- "TRUTH AND LIBERTY"

We propose to publish a small weekly sheet, as large as our local circumstances will permit, to be called "Deseret News," designed originally to record the passing events of our State, and in connexion, refer to the arts and sciences, embracing general education, medicine, law, divinity, domestic and political economy, and every thing that may tend to promote the best interest, welfare, pleasure and amusement of our fellow citizens.

We hold ourselves responsible to the highest Court of truth for our intentions, and the highest Court of equity for our execution. When we speak, we shall speak freely, without regard to men or party, and when, like other men, we err, let him who has his eyes open correct us in meekness, and he shall receive a disciple's reward.

We shall ever take pleasure in communicating foreign news as we have the opportunity; in receiving communications from our friends at home and abroad; and solicit ornaments for the "News" from our poets and poetesses.

The first number may be expected as early in June as subscriptions warrant -- waiting the action of 300 subscribers....


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, June 22, 1850.                 Vol. I. No. 2.


 

                           From the Guardian.
LETTER FROM JOHN TAYLOR --
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL FROM SALT LAKE, &c.

BR. ORSON HYDE: I take great pleasure in communicating to you for the Guardian some of the incidents of our travels, and the objects of our journey from the City of the Great Salt Lake, to your beautiful little village on the frontier.

The company principally left the Valley on the 16th October, with the exception of the mail, and a few who accompanied it, which left on the 22d. We arrived at Old Fort Kearney, on the 7th day of December, all in good health and spirits....

We found our journey to be very toilsome and unpleasant, at this inclement season of the year, and were it not for the missions of a public nature, in which many of us were engaged, we should have felt great reluctance at leaving our comfortable homes and fire-sides to combat the chilling winds and pitiless storms of the Rocky Mountains and the desert plains. Our journey, on the whole, considering the season, has been a pleasant one. We have scarcely encountered a storm on the way. The snows have fallen on our right and left, before and behind, but with the exception of a slight fall on the Sweet Water, and another on the day of our arrival at Fort Kearney, we have escaped unharmed.

Nothing very remarkable occurred on our journey out, except what is common in an indian country. Between the upper crossing of the Platte and Independence Rock, we met a company of four men; who were carrying a mail from Fort Laramie to Fort Hall.

The had been robbed the day before...


Note: Reprinted articles, credited to "The Guardian" are from Apostle Orson Hyde's Frontier Guardian, published by the LDS Church at Council Bluffs, Iowa, during the early 1850s.


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, July 6, 1850.                 Vol. I. No. 4.


 

                                               G. S. L. City, July 1, 1850.

MR. EDITOR, --

I ask a small space in your paper, to correct an error, which, to my surprise, I have been informed, exists on the eastern side of the mountains, with regard to the reception here of the party under my command. An impression, I find, has gone abroad, not only that we were received with coldness and suspicion, but that the survey of the Great Salt Lake, which was the subject of the expedition, had been forcibly opposed by the inhabitants of the Valley. How this rumor became prevalent, I am ignorant, as my official reports to the War Department, gave ground for no such impression. Let that be as it may, I take pleasure in declaring that nothing can be further from the truth. We were received by the President and Public Authorities with the greatest courtesy, both officially and personally, and will remember with gratitude the many tokens of kindness and regard we have received from them, and the citizens of the place.

Every facility has been studiously afforded us for the prosecution of our duties, instruments of science frankly and gratuitously loaned, and the able and faithful assistance obtained from their commencement here, of a gentleman, well known as a fearless advocate of your doctrines, and a prominent and influential member of your community

I have deemed it not improper to say thus much to counteract an erroneous impression against a people, already burthened with too much undeserved reproach.

                        Very respectfully,
                                    Your ob't servant,
    HOWARD STANSBURY,
Captain Corps Topographical Engineers, in charge of Survey of the Great Salt Lake.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, September 14, 1850.                 Vol. I. No. 14.


 

Nauvoo Bell. -- Our friends are aware that the Nauvoo Bell was cracked during the severe frost last winter, and will no be pleased to learn, as we are informed, that it is about being re-cast, and enlarged, and we hope to hear its cheering tones again in a few days. It is a heavy undertaking for our present means, but it is confidently believed, that the iron furnaces left by the gold diggers last season, when attached to the flue of the mint, can accomplish the object.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, February 8, 1851.                 Vol. I. No. 26.


 

We received by the brethren from California the New York Tribune, of Oct. 11th, together with the Boston Journal, of Sept. 11th, which brings us news of the appointment of Officers for the Territory of Utah. Their names are as follows: -- Brigham Young, of Utah, to be governor; Broughton Davis Harris, of Vermont, to be secretary; Joseph Buffington, of Pennsylvania, to be chief justice of the supreme court...; Perry E. Brocchus, of Alabama, to be associate Judge; Zerubbabl Snow, of Ohio, to be associate judge; Joseph L. Heywood, of Utah, to be marshall of the United States, for the Territory; Seth Blair, of Utah, to be attorney of the United States, in and for the Territory of Utah.

We give an extract from the Tribune, showing the feelings of the press on the appointment of Pres't. B. Young, as governor. It shows that the editor is sufficiently acquainted with Mormonism to know we are governed by our head, and that we believe in one faith, &c.,; hoping he will continue increasing in knowledge.

'The choice of Brigham Young, for governor of Utah, us the best that could be made. Brigham would have been the real governor any how, but his designation as official governor also, is an exceeding happy one.


Note: It should be recalled that Horace Greeley, Editor of the New York Tribune, consistently published articles and reports favorable to the Mormons, both in Utah and those located elsewhere. Not all eastern editors were as optimistic as Greeley was, over the destiny of Utah Territory. However, it is understandable that the Deseret News selected articles from the Tribune and the equally laudatory New York Herald, when it came time for the News to print the opinions expressed in the eastern press.


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, February 22, 1851.                 Vol. I. No. 27.


 

'DOCTOR BERNHISEL. -- Our readers will at once recognize the Mormon gentleman, who is at present in this city, attending Congress in behalf of Deseret, (White Dove,) the territory near the Great Salt Lake; to which those poor fellows, the Mormons, have fled from persecution. Dr. B. is advanced in years, though active and sprightly as a boy, and one of the most learned and accomplished gentlemen to be found in any city of America. He dresses genteelly, uses the language, manners, and politeness of the first class of our citizens -- nor is he less respectable in appearance. His height -- over six feet -- oval face, fair, and well featured, with a brilliant eye, and a great flow of spirits. It is very rare that you meet with these Old School gentlemen in these times.' (Washington paper.)


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, April 8, 1851.                 Vol. I. No. 30.



SPECIAL  MESSAGE.

To the General Assembly of the State of Deseret.

GENTLEMEN. -- Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an Act Sept. 9, 1850, and received the approval of the President to "establish a Territorial Government for Utah," and made appropriations for erecting public buildings for said Territory, &c., the appointments under said law also having been made, official announcement of which has not as yet been received, but are shortly expected; sufficient intelligence, however, has been received to justify us in preparing for the adoption and organization of the new Government under said Act.

I have therefore thought proper to suggest to you, previous to your final adjournment, the propriety of making such arrangements, as in wisdom you may consider necessary, in view of the aforesaid Act of Congress; that as little inconvenience as possible may arise in the change of government affairs, and in relation to the organization of the Territorial Government, for erecting public buildings for said Territory, &c.

And now, upon the dissolving of this Legislature, permit me to add, the industry and unanimity which have ever characterized your efforts, and contributed so much to the pre-eminent success of this Government, will, in all future time, be a source of gratifucation to all; and whatever may be the career and destiny of this young, but growing Republic, we can ever carry with us the proud satisfaction of having erected, established, and maintained apeaceful, quiet, yet energetic Government, under the benign auspices of which, unparalleled prosperity has showered her blessings upon every interest.

With sentiments of the highest esteem and gratitude to the Giver of all god for His kind blessings, I remain.
                                Respectfully yours,
                                            BRIGHAM YOUNG,
                                                            Governor.

G. S. L. City, Utah Territory,
      March 26, 1851.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


By W. Richards.                 G. S. L. City, Deseret, May 3, 1851.                 Vol. I. No. 32.



From the New York Herald.

IMPROVEMENT  AND  EDUCATION  IN  UTAH.

TO THE AUTHORS, EDITORS, AND PUBLISHERS OF THE UNITED STATES:


The inhabitants of the Territory of Utah, through their authorized agent, desire to address you on a subject wherein you have the power very greatly to assist them, and the importance of which, as an intelligent republican, they are assured you will at once acknowledge the extension of education throughout their Territory. Whatever the differences of religious opinion between us, or however extraordinary they may appear, we know that we take the same views of all essential points with our other Christian fellow citizens, and that we all agree that education is the birth-right of every American citizen, and the foundation on which his liberty must rest, if his country is to be protected from anarchy and disorder. The undersigned alludes to those differences, because it has been believed that not only our religious sentiments differed from our friends in the States, but that it was our intention to array ourselves against the government of the Union. We trust that the late mission of our people to Congress (by which they asked to have extended over them the laws and protection of their great country) has dissipated this illusion. As the people of a State, we look forward, and that at no distant day, to be received into the Union, enjoying all the privileges and performing all the duties of our happy and prosperous brethren.

But they would present themselves at that auspicious hour, as an enlightened and educated people, familiar with the labors and genius of their countrymen, and fitted by reading and reflection, to take their just share in the councils and defence of their great country. How shall this be without libraries end newspapers? How shall our children, situated also great a distance from their fellow citizens, who enjoy these unspeakable privileges, store their minds with the noble intellectual efforts of their countrymen?

Our soil is productive, our climate not ungenial to our habits of labor, and our people united and happy. We worship the great and omniscient God: many of our fellow citizens, whose ideas of duty or happiness have impelled them to seek their realization in California, have found in their perilous journey thither, that our convictions of Christian duty were derived from the same great source as manifested through the holy Scriptures, although we receive and acknowledge the divine command also from a later revelation. While we claim the privilege of ministering to the wants of the body of our wayfaring brother, we would confidently and earnestly entreat the means of refreshing our own and our children's minds from the great fountain of light, that will ever prove, "that though there are differences of administration, there is the same Lord." Through the press we have our chief access to this fountain; without it, neither the Christian nor the philosopher could hope to transmit his faith in God, and his manifestations in the discoveries of science, or to improve the condition of those who are living in the depths of superstition and bodily degradation.

The position of our Territory cuts us from the depositories of learning accessible to others, and we can only rely upon the distant periods of arrivals of our mails, to learn what is transpiring in our common country. A library for constant reference and mental culture, in the more abstract intellectual sciences, is more than desirable; it is vital to our existence and prosperity.

Congress, with enlightened sagacity that should always characterize the views of the true American in matters of education, has appropriated five thousand dollars for the commencement of a library for the citizens residing in the Territory of Utah, and the President of the United States has appointed the undersigned to procure it. He will remain in the city of New York a considerable portion of the winter for that purpose. -- Whilst thus appropriating his time, it has occurred to himself and his friends, that a most agreeable and profitable method of furthering this design, would be to acquaint authors and publishers of books and newspapers throughout the United States, with the wants of his constituents, and to assure them of the sincere gratitude with which donations from them will be received.

And such files of papers and copies of works can be forwarded by mail, addressed to the Hon. George Briggs, Member of Congress, New York city. The word Utah should be written on the outside of the envelope enclosing them, so that their destination may be more correctly distinguished from works intended for the honorable member himself. By this arrangement, they will be assured of their reaching their destination, and of their appropriation to their avowed object.

The autograph of the author or donor will increase the value of his gift, and convey to the reader of a succeeding generation a pleasing memento of the man to whom he may be indebted for his means of communicating with the mind of a preceding age. The volumes, firmly enveloped in thick wrappers, may be forwarded at your earliest convenience, as above requested.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                                       JOHN M. BERNHISEL.
    New York, Nov. 12, 1850.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., November 15, 1851.                   No. 1.



SIXTH  GENERAL  EPISTLE.

of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from Great Salt Lake valley, to the Saints scattered throughout the Earth, GREETING:

BELOVED BRETHREN: -- When the Savior was upon the earth, and his disciples questioned him concerning the sign of his coming, referring to the latter days, Jesus answered them on this wise; there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, saying, lo here! and lo there!! so that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect; go not after them neither believe them, for as the light of the morning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the son of Man be.

Many of the signs and wonders, and false Christs and false prophets referred to, have already been exhibited insomuch that many have declared the day when the son of Man would make his appearance, and many have believed on their testimony, and been disappointed, while those who have been filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, having repented of their sins, and received remission thereof by baptism in water, have been watching the gradual progress of the work of the Lord in this last dispensation, which has been like the light of the morning, as it first gilds the eastern horizon and continues to grow brighter and brighter and spread farther and farther, from the east even unto the west, and so will continue until the whole horizon is illuminated with the clear effulgence of the noon day sun: and the Son of Righteousness shall make his appearance in the midst of his people, according to his own declarations.

The first light of the morning, in this age and the time referred to by the Savior, was the angel who had the everlasting gospel, which was to be preached to all people, preaching and ministering to Joseph Smith, jr...

Elder Orson Hyde arrived in the valley on the 17th of August, direct from Kanesville, accompanied by Elder Carrington and a few others, all of whom were robbed and plundered by the Pawnee Indians. During the great amount of emigration from sea to sea, through the mountains, the Indians have received some insults and abuse which they are sure to resent, and the saints and others, who may have the occasion to pass through those tribes referred to, will do well to be prepared to act on the defensive.

Dr. John M. Bernhisel, and the Hon. A. W. Babbit, returned to this place on the 19th of July, accompanied by several officers of the United States Government, for the Territory of Utah, which was chartered last September: and the general government having now received this Territory into their fostering care, the citizens will be relieved of many burdens, hard to be borne by them, in a new country, to which they were compelled to immigrate while destitute of many of the comforts of life. Dr. Bernhisel was appointed by the President of the United States, Special Agent, to expend an appropriation of five thousand dollars, granted by the Congress, for the purchase of a Library for Utah, which appropriation the Dr. made by selecting works in the eastern cities, during the past winter, and the Library is now on the way to this place. Many gentlemen in the States, through the solicitation of the Dr., have donates books, magazines, pamphlets, maps, and papers, which will add greatly to the value and interest of the Utah Library and elicits our warmest thanks. Dr. Bernhisel was unanimously elected delegate to Congress, by the Territory on the 4th of August, and on the first of September, left in the mail coach for Washington City; the same day that a commencement was made to lay the foundation for a State House on Union Square in this city, towards the erection of which Congress has appropriated $20,000....

But if a man have all knowledge, and does not use it for good it will prove a curse instead of a blessing, as it did to Lucifer, the son of the morning. If a sinner is advised to repent, and be baptized for remission of his sins, and he does it not, it will prove to his condemnation instead of a blessing, and he cannot receive the laying on of the hands of the elders for the reception of the Holy Ghost. If a saint, who has received the Holy Ghost, is counselled to gather with the saints, to come home, and neglects to come, he has no further claim to the blessings promised unto the faithful, who obey all the commandments; his light becomes darkness; and remaining in this state where God is, he cannot come, for the ordinances in the House of the Lord, in Zion and her stakes, is as necessary for a full salvation, as baptism is for a partial salvation; and the voice of the Good Shepherd is to all the saints, even to the ends of the earth: Gather yourselves together; come home; and more especially to the saints in Pottawatomie, the United States, Canada, and the British Isles, Come home! Come home!!

O ye saints in the United States, will you listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd? Will you gather? Will you be obedient to the heavenly commandments? Many of you have been looking for, and expecting too much; you have been expecting the time would come when you could journey across the mountains in your fine carriages, your good wagons, and have all the comforts of life that heart could wish; but your expectations are vain, and if you wait for those things you will never come; you will leave your carcasses to rot in the midst of the Gentiles, and your faith and hope will depart from you. How long shall it be said in truth "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light?" Some of the children of the world have crossed the mountains and plains, from Missouri to California, with a pack on their back to worship their god, Gold. Some have performed the same journey with a wheel-barrow, some have accomplished it with a pack on a cow. Some of the saints now in our midst, came hither with wagons or carts made of wood, without a particle of iron, hooping their wheels with hickory, or rawhide, or ropes, and had as good and safe a journey as any in the camps, with their well wrought iron wagons; and can you not do the same? Yes, if you have the same desire, the same faith. Families may start from the Missouri river, with cows, handcarts, wheel-barrows, with little flour, and no unnecessaries, and come to this place quicker, and with less fatigue, than by following the heavy trains, with their cumbrous herds, which they are often obliged to drive miles to feed. -- Do you not like this method of travelling? Do you think salvation costs too much? If so, it is not worth having. Sisters 50 and 60 years old have driven ox teams to this Valley, and are alive and well yet; true they could have come easier by walking alone, than by driving a team, but by driving the oxen, they helped others here; and cannot you come the easier way? There is grain and provision enough in the valleys for you to come to; and you need not bring more than enough to sustain you 100 days, to insure you a supply for the future, and let those who are coming with teams, and have the means, bring nails, glass, prints, oil, wire no. 9, osage, orange and other choice seeds, and such articles as are most needed in a new country, to exchange with the brethren here, for bread; and start earlier than usual, even as soon as teams can possibly be supported on the prairie, so as to avoid the spring rains and floods, and be here to assist in harvest.

Dispense with all useless rubbish on the journey, and provide your stock, of the best quality, so far as you are able to bring any; and silver instead of gold, for change is scarce, and silver will be more useful. The funds for the emigration of the poor are continually increasing by the exertions of the saints in the Valley and it is the duty of the Saints in the States, and other places, to add to those fundsaccording to their ability. President Orson Hyde will return to Kanesville, this fall, and make preparations to remove his family to this place the ensuing season. Elders Ezra T. Benson and Jedediah M. Grant will repair to Kanesville, immediately after conference, to superintend the emigration the coming season. They are sent expressly to push the saints to this Valley....

BEIGHAM YOUNG,
HEBER C. KIMBALL,
WILLARD RICHARDS.
&mbsp;   G. S. L. City, Sept. 22, 1851.



Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, delegate from Utah, left this city on the first of September, and arrived at Independence on his way to Washington, as we learn by his letter of the 28th September, in good health...

Judges Bradelbury and Brocchus, Secretary Harris, and Capt. Day, Indian sub-agent, left for the States in the latter part of September, cause uncertain, supposed to be to report progress.


Note 1: The day before they wrote the "6th Epistle," the LDS leaders penned a special counsel to the Mormons still lingering behind in Iowa, instructing all of them to move to Utah as quickly as possible: An excerpt reads: "What are you waiting for? Have you any good excuse for not coming? No. You have all of you unitedly a far better chance than we had when we started as pioneers to find this place: you have better teams and more of them. You have as good food and more of it; you have as much natural strength... Therefore we wish you to evacuate Pottawatamie, and the States and next fall be with us all ye Saints of the Most High..." See Clark's Messages of the First Presidency, vol, II for the full text -- see also the Kanesville Frontier Guardian's final numbers, in 1852, as well as the LDS Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 29, for reiterations of this command. Mormons who did not heed this call to gathering, and who remained behind in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc., were generally considered apostates by the leaders in Utah. The list of non-compliant Mormons of this type included Apostles John E. Page, Lyman Wight and William Smith, as well as most of the extended Smith family, Bishop Miller, Alpheus Cutler, Charles B. Thompson, William Marks, Isaac Sheen, Ebenezer Robinson, Benjamin Winchester, G. J. Adams, James Arlington Bennet, etc.; not to mention those Mormons and former Mormons who continued to cluster around the likes of Sam Brannan in California, David Whitmer in Missouri, and Sidney Rigdon in New York.

Note 2: The editor's easy dismissal of the departed federal officers (Bradelbury, Brocchus, Harris, etc.) betrays some disingenuousness on the part of the Mormon leadership and their mouth-piece, the Deseret News. Brigham Young and his associates knew full well why the officials had departed so suddenly -- as well as the uncomplimentary nature of the "report" they were likely to make to the President and the public, once they reached "the States." Behind the flight of the officials and the theocracy's call for gathering stragglers to Utah, loomed the still secret specter of LDS polygamy. The effects and implications of this hidden practice cannot fully account for the alarmed reaction of the federal appointees, nor for the leadership's call to vacate LDS outposts in the east, but those episodes are part and parcel of a chain of events culminating in the 1852 LDS disclosure of "plural marriage," as a fundamental doctrine of the Mormon religion.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., November 29, 1851.                   No. 2.



CORRESPONDENCE.

Two Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States within and for the Territory of Utah, and the Secretary of the Territory, having left for the States, it becomes me to examine carefully the acts and doings of the Governor in relation to the getting up of the real or supposed Legislative Assembly which passed the act approved Oct. 4, 1851, requiring me to hold a court on the first Monday of Oct., 1851, before I attempt to discharge the duties required by that act....

On the 24th of July, 1847, when this entire basin was Mexican domain, subject to the military rule of the United States, which had, by conquest, been established, a few American citizens came here and established a settlement. I have not seen fit to inquire; but it is presumed it did not seriously, as the American army was stationed some several hundred miles distant.

This settlement continued to prosper until February 2d., 1848, when this military rule such as it was, was terminated by the Treaty of Guadalope Hidalgo; in which the entire basin was ceded to the United States. It is a rule of international law, that when one government cedes territory, to another, the laws in force in the ceded country, continue to be in force until changed by the new government....

By this treaty the Mexican yielded to the United States whatever supervisory right it had over the Indians and country; and the United States obtained the right of soil subject to the Indian titles...

The conclusion on to which I have arrived, is, that during the period between Feb. 2d,, 1848, and perhaps before that time, and Sept. 9, 1850, there was no civil law in force here, except such as been enacted by the inhabitants of this valley, and such limited supervisory rules of Congress as it had made in regard to the census and protecting its officers.... [then] the people of this Valley in 1849 formed a constitution, as the basis of their civil institutions, providing for an executive, legislative, and jusiciary. This being done, they sent a delegate to Congress, asking admission, as a State, into the Union. Pursuant to this constitution, the legislature convened and passed sundry laws, among which was one relating to the judiciary, and another regulating elections.

Both of these acts were in force here on the 9th day of September, 1850, the day the act of Congress took effect, establishing a Territorial Government for Utah.

By the 17th section of the act of Congress the constitution and laws of the United States were extended over this basin, which superseded the provisional laws, so far as their provisions were inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States. The provisional constitution and laws gave place to this act, and the constitution and laws of the United States. This act also provided for an executive, legislative, and judiciary. In the 11th section, it provided, that the President shall appoint , &c., certain of its officers, among which are the Governor, the Justices, the Secretary, Marshall, and District Attorney...

On September 28, 1850, the officers were appointed by the President. Any one of whom, might, the next day, had he been in a condition so to do, had taken the oath of office and entered on his duties.

Feb. 3d, 1851, the Governor took his oath of office. At any time after this, whether the other officers were in the line of duty or not, he could do any act required of him, which did not require the co-operation of the other officers... [such as conducting an election] ...

It has been alleged that aliens voted at the [recent] election, and were clerks and judges of the same; and for this reason it was void.

Now, whether the aliens voted or not, I do not know; or have I any official information whether any or all the clerks and judges of the election were aliens. These are questions of fact which require proof to be made to the proper branch of the government, so that the error, if any, may be corrected. But suppose it be true that aliens voted, does this render the election void? The answer is, it may and it may not...

It is also contended that officers not authorized by the act, to be elected, were voted for and elected; and for this reason, the election was void....

The Secretary, having left for the States, and having taken with him the funds of the Government, and having left his papers where they are not within my reach, I have no means of knowing [the contents, etc.]

I have now examined every objection urged against the proceedings of the Governor in relation to the getting up and calling together the Assembly, and find his proceedings to be strictly legal. Finding them legal, I believe it the right of the President , the right of the United States, and the inhabitants of this Territory to have me take my seat and hold my first court as required by the act of the Legislative Assembly of Utah; and believing so, I do not hesitate to enter upon my duties.       Z. SNOW.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., February 7, 1852.                   No. 7.



More Secession.

It appears that the Judges, Secretary, and Indian Agent appointed to Utah Territory, have been compelled to quit that part of the Union by the bad behavior of Gov. Brigham Young, and are returning to the East, leaving their offices vacant. This looks like an unwillingness on the part of the Governor and the Mormons to keep faithfully the compromises of the Constitution, and there seems to be reason for the inference that they intend to secede from our glorious confederacy and set up for themselves.

Of course it is impossible to tell what is the exact condition of things in Utah, until the returning officials have made a full statement of the case, and the Governor has been heard also. But we submit that enough is already known to demand the action of the Union Safety Committee, and we hope soon to announce that they have held a meeting to consider the matter, and save the Union from this new danger.

For our own part, if it should turn out that the Mormons in Utah don't want to be in the Union, and can find their advantage in sucession, we go for letting them take their own course, We own that we are rather hetrodox on the sucession question generally, and see no wisdom in forcing any State to stay in the Union against its wish, least of all the State of Deseret. Not that we have any objection to it on account of its peculiar religion, or have not a high admiration for the energy and wisdom with which the people are civilizing that remote wilderness, and rendering themselves industrially independent. But if they want to manage their own affairs without troubling Uncle Sam, why not let them do it and not make any fuss about giving them the privilege? -- N. Y. Tribune.



Signs of the Times.

We have had but a few moments to examine the eastern papers since the arrival of the mail, during which we have discovered but little of momentous consequence...

The most attractive thing we have noticed in the States, is the arrival of the honorable judges, secretary, and Indian sub-agent, who deserted their posts at an unreasonable hour, and without provocation. -- Their arrival is made manifest, (as appears by a copy of the St. Louis Times, of Nov. 21; from the St. Louis Gazette, in a letter purporting to have been written at Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Sept. 28, 1851, and signed "Utah,") The piece itself does not demand our attention, or the attention of those acquainted with the facts, scarce sufficently for a perusual, we had truth enough to think and write, without even [recurring] to such trash.

Any one who is acquainted with the character, habits, manner and style of the Honorable Judge, who is the principal character in the communication, will not be at a loss to know who was the author or dictator of said letter; and to those who are not thus acquainted, and wish to know the facts in the case, we refer them to Gov. Young's letters to the said Honorable Judge, written and read mostly before he left the Territory, but as yet remaining unanswered; which have doubtless appeared in eastern prints before this; and until those letters are answered, of which thousands know the statements therein to be correct, comment is unnecessary.... [under construction]


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., April 3, 1852.                   No. 11.



Mormons at Salt Lake.

It is surprising how unavailing are all human efforts, against the inflexible will of individuals, who adhere to their principles. The Mormons at Salt Lake may or may not have refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the United States Courts. It is, however, certain, that Judge Brocchus found an empty docket on his arrival there, and no disposition amongst the people to give him employment. They would not go to law, "any how he might fix it." so he resolved to throw up his sinecure and return eastward. This reluctance on the part of the Mormons to go to law, reminds us of the following antecdote. -- It shows what strong, and what many might think, erroneous prejudices are entertained by some men, and how difficult it is to eradicate them. The world oft times respects these prejudices.

It was proposed to form a regiment of Quakers in Virginia; they refused to enlist, muskets were given to them, the guns were tied to their persons, and they were ordered to guard the military trains, and fire on whomsoever should attempt to rob them. -- They replied that they would not fire upon the robbers; that they would expostulate with them, would preach to them, and if they persisted, would denounce them. They were thrown into prison; they remained there without a murmer; soldier's rations were offered to them; they refused them, saying, that as they did not serve as soldiers, they had no right to the rations. Their Quaker brethren made amends for their loss, and supplied the prisoners with an abundance of provisions. They were, at length, conducted with their guns, bound to them, before General Washington, who disapproved of the persecution to which they had been subject, sent them home, and blamed the conduct of their opponents. -- St. Louis Organ and Reveille.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., April 17, 1852.                   No. 12.



Utah,

As it would seem from newspapers and current reports, has attained to a very high standing in the estimation of the nation; insomuch that if it had not been for the visit of the noble Kossuth, we scarce know what the press, and the great in authority would have found to busy themselves about. It appears that the general officers who left this place last fall, made a report to the President, through the Secretary's office, concerning the state of affairs in Utah, a copy of which was furnished our delegate, Doct. Bernhisel. Soon after the report was called into the House of Representatives; when Dr. Bernhisel, discovering it to be different from the one of which he had a copy furnished him from the Secretary's office; and different from a report in the New York Herald, published about the same time and purporting to be official; the three reports differing in their allegations; informed the house of the various reports, stating that he should claim the one furnished him as the original, and, protesting the truth of the statements therein contained, requested an investigation of the whole matter, by a committee authorized to send for persons and papers, and a special agent to visit Utah and take depositions. The answer of the House to his protest and request, we have not learned.

One specification in the report was, that Governor Young did not take the census of Utah. This is a fair specimen of the general report, so far as truth is concerned, of which the citizens of the Territory canjudge for themselves. Sure they ought to know whether the census agent gave them a call. Mr. Kennedy, Superintendent of the Census Office reports, that the Report of the Census of Deseret is as good as has been received from any State or Territory in the Union, notwithstanding Governor Young had no blanks, or specific instructions, and had to do all by his own judgment, and perform all with the pen.

We have no disposition to continue to trace the falsity of a report, which is known personally to a great portion of our readers; all the great, leading circumstances to this wonderful document having transpired at a General Conference, and on the public stand, in our city, in the presence of insulted, indignant thousands; the remembrance of which will be fresh with them to their graves.

We regret that we should ever have occasion to darken our columns, by reference to such an infamous subject; and when the world knows more, they will be wiser, and there will be less occasion for such remarks. From all reports received, it would seem that very little has been seen, or heard, or thought of, concerning the matter, at Washington, except the officials' report. Dr. Bernhisel left a few days before them, and has to depend upon communications for testimony; and why Governor Young's correspondence with Judge Brocchus, before he left the Territory, has not appeared in print, we know not; as a copy of the same was forwarded to our Delegate in Congress, both by mail and private conveyance; and that correspondence, originally designed as private, is the best history of the origin of all the trouble at Washington about Utah, there is extant. But we leave the subject, probably till we hear morefrom the meanness of wicked men who want to be eternally stirring up strife, and from broken backs by the kicks of the lame ducks;   Amen.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                       G. S. L. City, U. T., May 1, 1852.                       No. 13.



The Mormon Question.

Correspondence of the N. Y. Tribune.

                                    Washington, Monday, Jan 12, 1852.

There is a problem to be solved in Utah. The Territorial Government for that State, which was one of the precious fruits of the adorable "Compromise," don't work; and "aggitation" will inevitably come out of it. The plan of Gen. Taylor's administration was to let the Mormons alone, to work out their own salvation. They had secluded themselves near two thousand miles away from civilization, endeavoring thus to cut themselves off from all association with our people, and were there hemmed in by vast deserts, flourishing in their own way, with laws and a government of their own, desiring nothing so much as to be unmolested. But this would not do for us, who must bring them under the broad canopy of a compromise, covering Christians, Mormons, niggers and all. We sent them money and sent them officers of State, as part of a grand scheme of "conciliation, concession, compromise." They had wit enough to take the money, but returned the officers, saying, they did not need any Gentile ornaments of that description. And now this part of the compromise having ripped out, it must be patched up or sewed over. Well gentlemen compromisers, go ahead and mend it.

Mr. Bernhisel, the delegate from that Territory, is a gentleman of fifty years and upward, a physician, apparently possessing excellent talents, of mild exterior, and highly prepossessing manners. He denies the truth of the statements of the returning officers, in regard to the disloyality of the people toward the Government, and demands a Committee of Investigation, to determine the truth or falsehood of the allegations. In respect to the murder committed upon a citizen of New York, which the officers represent as so flagrant an outrage, he states the fact to be, that the victim seduced the wife of a Mormon, in his absence. The Mormon, on his return, finding the unmistakable evidence of the fact in the increase of his family, became exasperated, pursued, and shot the seducer. An offence of this nature, thus avenged, is not an unknown occurrence, even among the Gentiles. It would seem also to indicate that the women are not such very common property, after all, in the Mormon dominions. We did not, however, propose to take up the cudgels in behalf of this peculiar people, either in respect to their lynching or their nuptial propensities; but we timidly venture to suggest that the Mormon question, like all other questions, probably has two sides to it.     J. S. P.



The Reports of the Mormon Judges --
Which is the Right One? -- Singular State of Affairs.

                                    Washington, Jan 13, 1852.

The House, to-day, was the scene of new surprise. The member from Utah, who seems to be a very modest man, and whom Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, tells me, is a very estimable man, made an ineffectual effort or motion to have a copy of the report of the Judges from Utah, furnished him by the State Department, read and printed. Mr. Carter objecting, it could not be entertained, this not being resolution day. It seems there are four reports from the same officers, all bearing the same date, but no two alike. The first published in the New York Herald, pronounced false and a forgery; the second in the Tribune, the day following that in the Herald; the third communicated to Congress, and published in the Globe; and a forth being a copy furnished to the member from Utah, by the State Department. How so many reports, all differing and unalike, all emanating from the same source, and all bearing the same paternity and date, is the wonder. It involves the Mormon faith in greater mystery; and while all doubt, and some here deny and denounce the Mormon faith, their practice is received with more favor; and judging from the state of society in New York, disclosed in the Forrest trial, I should suppose that the Mormon practice was generally adopted in New York. -- The judges who make the report, had no faith, it seems, and were cut off by an odious monopoly from any practice, either morally or jusicially. Their cause should be avenged, and a strong military force should be sent out there to cut up these monopolizing Mormons, root and branch. These judges, I am informed, are to be relied on, especially in case of a retreat, which is sait to be the safest fruit in the character of a general. They were clerks in the Solicitor's office in the Treasury Department, and of course, must have been well qualified for the high judicial places to which they were appointed. I am told that their recommendations were from the highest and lowest authority, and that their objects in going to Utah have been all frustrated by the monopolizing Mormons.

It will all be sifted, and these Mormons will have to answer for the flagrant crimes and misdemeanors of which it is asserted they are guilty. Why, these judges came near having their throats cut from ear to ear and within an ace of being torn in pieces by these terrible wild beasts and if Governor Young, as they say, had but pointed his finger at them, it would have been done, but he did not do it -- not he -- he knew better.
                                                AARON.



Mr. Holly and the Sentinel --
Extracts from the Guardian, in Response to the "Delicate Matters
at the Great Salt Lake Valley," alluded to by the Savannah Sentinel.

We have not been employed as an attorney in the case to prosecute or defend, and it becomes the profession to look a little after the fee, before we volunteer our services so far as to answer the plea of 'Guilty or not Guilty.' Our legal qualifications cost us some money, and we do not like to be too lavish with our opinions and pleas without respect to an adequate compensation.

Feeling that we are rather a privileged character, having the special grant to travel or live in any State of the Union, with all the wives we have in the world, without even the fear of fines or imprisonments, we think that we owe a lasting gratitude to the "powers that be," for directing the course of legislation to suit, so exactly, our circumstances and condition, Privileged thus as we are, we would ask brother Holly, a plain straightforward question; we do not wish the reading public to regard this as "solid matter," but liberally or in other words, that kind of gas that editors inhale and blow off at one another.

Who shows the lowest and most cowardly disposition; the man who, in the dark, secretly assassinates his neighbor, or he who, believing he has a justifiable cause, openly and in broad day light shoots him down in the street before the eyes of all? The former shows acknowledged guilt, perfidity, and cowardice. The latter may be mistaken, and may not be, in the cause or provocation; but he shows honor, sincerity, and a degree of highmindedness that commands, at least, a measure of respect, though he may or may not be justifiable in committing the deed. If the statements concerning Gov. Young's sixteen wives and fourteen young children be true, he walks he walks or rides in broad day light with them -- is not ashamed of them, but honors and respects them. Contrast this conduct with that of some other men -- even men in high places, who are looked up to as honorable men, seven statesmen and philosophers, (and some -- speak it lightly -- learned divines not excepted) who may have many women, and keep them in a secret and dishonorable way. In this we may be mistaken; for by what we have heard, it is considered rather honorable and gallant. The Indians are taught that it is no crime to steal; but if they are caught at it, they are criminal indeed; but 'white folks' who are honest, attach the same criminality to that offence whether the prepetrator be discovered or not. This latter principle is a fair illustration of the former. -- He that doeth good cometh to the light and walketh therein, but he that doeth evil perfers the dark, because he is a child of darkness.

Suppose, bro. Holly, that you take the place of your devil, (and you know that lawyers and editors sometimes act in that capacity) and in dipping up the ink, distributing it, and rolling it over the forms, you accidently and unknowingly get a little daubed upon your face. By-and-by you look into the mirror or glass, and see yourself just as you are; you feel a little ashamed of your appearance, and resolve to wash at once. Well now, how do you know but that Heaven has raised up Brigham Young as a great mirror to reflect the dark and secret characters and conduct of thousands who affect outwardly to despise such things, but secretly practice all, and more than they accuse him of?

If this be so, may not the cause of virtue and righteousness receive liberal contributions and heavy accessions by the alleged vices and corruption of Gov. Young, inducing many to look at themselves -- sense their own depraved condition, and resolve to reform? We cannot see why he may not be as successful a preacher of righteousness in this way, as Paul was in another, when he said: "If the truth of God abound through my lie unto his glory, why am I thought an evil doer?" But perhaps the gentleman does not believe that "all things work for good," and his taste may lead him to prefer the light of the picture without the shade to increase its beauty.

If the nerves of our brother editor were so shocked as to cause him to drop his pen and turn away in disgust when thinking about Gov. Young's sixteen wives and fourteen children, what must he do when thinking about better and wiser men having a thousand wives, perhaps, and children accordingly. -- Judging by the rule of proportion, we should suppose that he should not only drop his pen, but paper, hat and press, and fly from christianitywith that rapidity that would leave his shadow so far in the rear as to lose his track, and be found enquiring the way to its owner.

Why is it thought strange that we should be a Mormon? We are not the author of Mormonism. -- We have not borne the root, but the root us. In our early childhood, we were left an orphan. If we possess talent, energy and a well balanced mind, according to the complementary notice which bro. Holly has generously given us, Mormonism has bequeathed to us that legacy. It found us at the foot of the hill, and if we have ascended at all that is the car in which we have rode. If, therefore, Mormonism has taken us from nothing, and elevated us in the scale of intelligence to the height represented by the editor of the Sentinel, what would it dor for him if it should take him at the height to which he has already ascended? On the wings of faith he might soon find himself soaring above the fogs and mists of error -- above the clouds of doom and darkness, defying the mountain of ignorance of this world to cast their shadow athwart his celestial orbit, and proudly might he float on a sea of light to the heaven of immortality

If Abraham was guilty of polygamy, we are none the less anxious to be accounted his son -- that we may an heir according to the promise. If David, a man after God's own heart, had wives and concubines without number, we offer it as no apology for rejecting his Psalms, his root, or his offspring, or the bright and Morning Star. If Solomon followed in the footsteps of his father David, in this respect, we are not disposed to deride him, or reject his wisdom. The Queen of the South was attracted by his greatness, and his posterity was greatly honored, by being the channel through which a Savior was given, even Christ the Lord. The name and memory of this truly wise king of Israel will be cherished while there is a foundation to lay or a capstone to be brought forth.

If in Christ himself were fulfilled the words of Isaiah, "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands," the Christian world are not mistaken in their opinion. But how were they fulfilled? If, at the marriage of Cana, of Galilee, Jesus was the bridegroom and took unto him Mary, Martha, and the other Mary whom Jesus loved, it shocks our nerves, bro. Holly. If there was not a familiarity and an attachment between the Savior and these women, highly improper, only in the relation of husband and wife, then we have no sense of propriety, or of the characteristics of good and refined society. Wisely was it then concealed; but when the Savior poured out his soul unto death, when nailed to the cross, he saw his seed, or children; but who shall declare his generation? No one, if he had none to be declared. Notwithstanding this, which to many, is a new and strange feature in Christianity, we are not disposed to mock at all, neither to reject salvation through the Virgin's Son. "Oh foolish and slow of heart to believe all things that are written in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Christ!"

But again; if all we hear about some of our law-makers -- our wise statesmen and politicians about having many women, and living with them in corruption, and even in unbelief of the correctness of their doings, be true, we accept it as no apology for rejecting or disrespecting the Government and laws of the United States. We should [never?] dare to [lay?] to the charge of some great men what we have them charge one another with; and if Brigham Young has sixteen wives and fourteen infant children, we accept it as no apology for rejecting Mormonism.

We propose making a bargain with bro. Holly. -- Our propositions are these. If he will show us good reasons for rejecting Abraham. David and Solomon, and their writings, (saying nothing of Christ -- his being a case not so generally established or admitted) on account of their having more than one wife, without rejecting Christianity wholly; or if he will show one good reason why we should reject the Government and laws of the United States, because it is so often admitted, if not known, that some of our great statesmen are not the most scrupulous or conscientious in these matters, then we will reject Brigham Young and his writings, if he really has sixteen wives, or if he has more than one. But if he fails to produce to us these reasons, then he must come and be a Mormon along with us; but if he can do neither, then let him confess and acknowledge the corn; and say that Mormon folly and weakness are too potent for his wisdom and strength.


Note 1: Apostle Orson Hyde married his first wife in 1834, and his next two at Nauvoo in 1843 (one of whom he divorced in 1850). Although he is obliquely discussing and defending Mormon polygamy throughout his editorial article, he never admits to his own secrets in that regard. The closest he comes to admitting being currently married to two wives, is in his talking about Indians who regard stealing as allowable, but being caught in the the act as a kind of sin. The modern reader can only assume that Hyde is speaking about more than Brigham Young's marital circumstances, when he defends the lie told by apostles, which they assert adds to God's glory (and thus absolves them from being "evil doers").

Note 2: The "Delicate Matters" discussed by Editors Holly and Hyde are reiterations of the report, first made in a Dec., 1851 issue of the St. Joseph Gazette, saying: "The plurality wife system is in full vogue... [in Utah]. Governor Young is said to have as many as ninety wives. He drove along the streets, a few days since, with sixteen of them in a long carriage -- fourteen of them having each an infant at their bosoms." The report was subsequently republished, restated, and commented upon in newspapers from St. Louis to Savannah. The Mormon Church had long denied charges that any of its faithful members practiced polygamy, but from the late 1840s onward, the accusations in that regard continued to pour in, from numerous eye witnesses to the Mormon society then taking shape in Utah. The Savannah Sentinel picked up the polygamy story then going the rounds, printed a few articles on the subject, and then challenged Orson Hyde to offer an explanation, in the columns of his Frontier Guardian, as Hyde had already skirted this "delicate matter," in that paper's issues of June 13, Oct. 31, and Nov. 28. For the Sentinel's "Guilty, or not guilty?" challenge to Hyde, see Editor Holly's article, "What Orson Says," conveniently reprinted in the Jan. 10, 1852 issue of the Warsaw Signal. Apostle Hyde continued to pay unsubstantial attention to the "delicate matter," up until his departure for Utah -- see the Frontier Guardian issues for Dec. 12, and Dec. 26, 1851, as well as those for Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6, and Feb. 20, 1852.

Note 3: The publication of Hyde's article in the closely censored Deseret News marks the crossing of a watershed boundary for the tight-lipped Mormon hierarchy, in their implicit acknowledgement of church sponsored polygamy. Hyde's ostensible ignorance of the subject -- whether Brigham might have two or sixteen "plurals" -- is matched by his fellow apostle, Parley P. Pratt, in a broadside he had published in San Francisco on July 13, 1852 (ten weeks after the reprinting of Hyde's article). In that informative sheet, Apostle Pratt says: "In regard to Gov. Young's family matters, we never had the curiosity to inform ourselves, although we have been a near neighbor of his for many years... we presume the number of his family does not exceed the late estimates, which have been the rounds of the American Press." It seems highly extraordinary that neither Hyde nor Pratt, as late as 1852, knew whether or not Brigham Young was a polygamist. And, of course, they did know that he was. But, through their lies and half-truths, the "delicate matters" were long kept from the prying eyes of the Gentiles. As Orson Hyde would have put it, "Wisely was it then concealed."


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                       G. S. L. City, U. T., May 29, 1852.                       No. 15.



LIFE  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH.

Saturday morning, 14th [Nov., 1835]. Thus came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Verily thus saith the Lord unto my servant Joseph, concerning my servant Warren, behold his sins are forgiven him, because of his desires to do the works of righteousness. Therefore, inasmuch as he will continue to hearken unto my voice, he shall be blessed with wisdom, and with a sound mind, even above his fellows. Behold, it shall come to pass in his day, that he shall see great things show forth themselves unto my people; he shall see much of my ancient records, and shall know of hidden things, and shall be endowed with a knowledge of hidden languages; and if he desire and shall seek it at my hands, he shall be privileged with writing much of my word, as a scribe unto me for the benefit of my people; therefore this shall be his calling until I shall order it otherwise in my wisdom; and it shall be said of him in time to come, behold Warren, the Lord's scribe for the Lord's seer, whom He hath appointed in Israel. Therefore, if he will keep my commandments, he shall be lifted up at the last day; even so, amen."

This afternoon, Erastus Holmes, of Newbury, Ohio, called on me to inquire about the establishment of the church, and to be instructed in doctrine more perfectly. I gave him a brief relation of my experience while in my juvenile years, say from six years old up to the time I received the first visitation of angels, which was when I was about fourteen years old; also the revelations that I received afterwards concerning the Book of Mormon, and a short account of the rise and progress of the church up to this date. He listened very attentively, and seemed highly gratified, and intends to united with the church...


Note: The above account, reportedly given by Joseph Smith, Jr., to Erastus Holmes in 1835, appears to differ in one respect from some other versions of Smith's history -- that he "received the first visitation of angels" when he "was about fourteen years old." It seems a bit odd, that at so late a date as 1852, the Church's oficial organ, the Deseret News, would publish such an important recollection of Smith's initial theophanies, without insering some mention of his 1840s claims, to have encountered God the Father and God the Son in the year 1820, prior to any mentions of angelic ministrations. The Deseret News account does not seem to have been a misprint, for a year later (on July 2, 1853), the Church's official organ in England, the Latter Day Saints' Millennial Star, published the same text, without any significant alteration. Surely, if the account contained misprints of a major nature, they would have been discovered and corrected before the English paper ran the story.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., June 26, 1852.                   No. 17.



From the National Intelligencer.

Mormon Affairs.

In the Intelligencer of the 13th inst., there appears, under the head of "Mormon Affairs," a communication signed "Truth," which is but a "legal fiction," I take it, or, as the lawyers and Utah judges would say, 'a feigned issue.' or tissue. "Truth" commences his article by an attack upon Judge Smow, and, to prejudice the learned jusicial opinion which he has given, and which speaks for itself, he seeks to weaken and destroy the force and effect of that decision by an attack upon the Judge's religious faith.

The same cource was pursued in the several reports made by "Truth" and his two coadjutors (I will not say cinspirators) returning from Utah. -- Let Judge Snow's decision stand or fall upon an examination of its legal and judicial merits by any competent judge, either from Utah or elsewhere; but let not the retreating Secretary of the Treasury, with the territorial seal, undertake to set aside the judicial dictation of a United States Judge in Utah, on the ground of his religion. His religious opinions may be wrong, and his legal or judicial declarations entitled at least to the ordinary respect an examination of all legal questions involving the validity of elections and acts of an executive, legislative and judicial character.

After signing the report with the returning judges of Utah, did "Truth" endeavor to secure for himself the appointment of Governor of Utah, in the place of Brigham Young, to be removed on charges frivolous and ex parte, preferred by this same "Truth" and the two judges? Does not "Truth" know, and knowing should he not come out, and, instead of attacking the religious opinions (errors, if you please) of Judge Snow, disclose all the errors and exaggerations in the reports, and give the public a full history of the returning campaign, who planned it, and the attack, and if in the arrangements, when successful, he ("Truth") was not to be appointed, or at least supported and recommended for Governor of Utah, to succeed Brigham Young?
                                   FICTION.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 


DESERET NEWS, -- EXTRA.

GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, U. T., SEPTEMBER 14, 1852.



A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY ELDER ORSON PRATT,
IN THE TABERNACLE, GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, AUGUST 29, 1852.

It is quite unexpected to me, brethren and sisters, to be called upon to address you this forenoon; and still more so, to address you upon the principle which has been named, namely, a plurality of wives.

It is rather new ground for me; that is, I have not been in the habit of publicly speaking upon this subject; and it is rather new ground to the inhabitants of the United States, and not only to them, but to a portion of the inhabitants of Europe; a portion of them have not been in the habit of preaching a doctrine of this description; consequently, we shall have to break up new ground.

It is well known, however, to the congregation before me, that the Latter-day Saints have embraced the doctrine of a plurality of wives, as a part of their religious faith. It is not, as many have supposed, a doctrine embraced by them to gratify the carnal lusts and feelings of man; that is not the object of the doctrine.

We shall endeavour to set forth before this enlightened assembly some of the causes why the Almighty has revealed such a doctrine, and why it is considered a part and portion of our religious faith. And I believe that they will not, under our present form of government, (I mean the government of the United States,) try us for treason for believing and practising our religious notions and ideas. I think, if I am not mistaken, that the constitution gives the privilege to all the inhabitants of this country, of the free exercise of their religious notions, and the freedom of their faith, and the practice of it. Then, if it can be proven to a demonstration, that the Latter-day Saints have actually embraced, as a part and portion of their religion, the doctrine of a plurality of wives, it is constitutional. And should there ever be laws enacted by this government to restrict them from the free exercise of this part of their religion, such laws must be unconstitutional.

But, says the objector, we cannot see how this doctrine can be embraced as a matter of religion and faith; we can hardly conceive how it can be embraced only as a kind of domestic concern, something that pertains to domestic pleasures, in no way connected with religion. In reply we will show you that it is incorporated as a part of our religion, and necessary for our exaltation to the fulness of the Lord's glory in the eternal world. Would you like to know the reasons? Before we get through, we will endeavour to tell you why we consider it an essential doctrine to glory and exaltation, to our fulness of happiness in the world to come.

We will first make a few preliminary remarks in regard to the existence of man, to his first existence in his first estate; and then say something in relation to his present state, and the bearing which it has upon his next or future state.

The "Mormons " have a peculiar doctrine in regard to our pre-existence, different from the views of the Christian world, so called, who do not believe that man had a pre-existence. It is believed, by the religious world, that man, both body and spirit, begins to live about the time that he is born into this world, or a little before; that then is the beginning of life. They believe, that the Lord, by a direct act of creation, formed, in the first place, man out of the dust of the ground; and they believe that man is possessed of both body and spirit, by the union of which he became a living creature. Suppose we admit this doctrine concerning the formation of the body from the dust; then how was the spirit formed? Why, says one, we suppose it was made by a direct act of creation, by the Almighty Himself; that He moulded the spirit of man, formed and finished it in a proper likeness to inhabit the tabernacle He had made out of the dust.

Have you any account of this in the Bible? Do the Scriptures declare that the spirit was formed at the time the tabernacle was made? No. All the tabernacles of the children of men that were ever formed, from remote generations, from the days of Adam to this time, have been formed out of the earth. We are of the earth earthy. The tabernacle has been organized according to certain principles, and laws of organization, with bones, and flesh, and sinews, and skin. Now, where do you suppose all these tabernacles got their spirits? Does the Lord make a new spirit every time a tabernacle is made? if so, the work of creation, according to the belief of Christendom, did not cease on the seventh day. If we admit their views, the Lord must be continually making spirits to inhabit all the tabernacles of the children of men; he must make something like one thousand millions of spirits every century; he must be working at it every day, for there are many hundreds of individuals being born into the world every day. Does the Lord create a new spirit every time a new tabernacle comes into the world? That does not look reasonable, nor God-like.

But how is it, you inquire? Why the fact is, that being that animates this body, that gives life and energy, and power to move, to act, and to think: that being that dwells within this tabernacle is much older than what the tabernacle is. That spirit that now dwells within each man, and each woman, of this vast assembly of people, is more than a thousand years old, and I would venture to say, that it is more than five thousand years old.

But how was it made? when was it made? and by whom was it made? If our spirits existed thousands of years ago--if they began to exist--if there were a beginning to their organization, by what process was this organization carried on? Through what medium, and by what system of laws? Was it by a direct creation of the Almighty? Or were we framed according to a certain system of laws, in the same manner as our tabernacles? If we were to reason from analogy--if we admit analogical reasoning in the question, what would we say? We should say, that our spirits were formed by generation, the same as the body or tabernacle of flesh and bones. But what says revelation upon the subject? We will see whether revelation and analogy will agree.

We read of a certain time when the corner stones of the earth were laid, and the foundations thereof were made sure--of a certain time when the Lord began to erect this beautiful and glorious habitation, the earth; then they had a time of joy. I do not know whether they had instruments of music, or whether they were engaged in the dance; but one thing is certain, they had great joy, and the heavens resounded with their shouts; yea, the Lord told Job, that all the sons of God shouted for joy, and the morning stars sang together, when the foundations of this globe were laid.

The SONS of God, recollect, shouted for joy, because there was a beautiful habitation being built, so that they could get tabernacles, and dwell thereon; they expected the time--they looked forward to the period; and it was joyful to them to reflect, that the creation was about being formed, the corner stone of it was laid, on which they might, in their times, and in their seasons, and in their generations, go forth and receive tabernacles for their spirits to dwell in. Do you bring it home to yourselves, brethren and sisters? Do you realize that you and I were there? Can you bring it to your minds that you and I were among that happy number that shouted for joy when this creation was made? Says one, I don't recollect it. No wonder! for your recollection is taken from you, because you are in a tabernacle that is earthly; and all this is right and necessary. The same is written of Jesus Christ himself, who had to descend below all things. Though he had wisdom to assist in the organization of this world; though it was through him, as the great leader of all these sons of God, the earth was framed, and framed too, by the assistance of all his younger brethren--yet we find, with all that great and mighty power he possessed, and the great and superior wisdom that was in his bosom, that after all, his judgment had to be taken away; in his humiliation, his reason, his intelligence, his knowledge, and the power that he was formerly in possession of, vanished from him as he entered into the infant tabernacle. He was obliged to begin down at the lowest principles of knowledge, and ascend upward by degrees, receiving grace for grace, truth for truth, knowledge for knowledge, until he was filled with all the fulness of the Father, and was capable of ruling, governing, and controlling all things, having ascended above all things. Just so with us; we that once lifted up our united voices as sons and daughters of God, and shouted for joy at the laying of the foundation of this earth, have come here and taken tabernacles, after the pattern of our elder brother; and in our humiliation--for it is humiliation to be deprived of knowledge we once had, and the power we once enjoyed--in our humiliation, just like our elder brother, our judgment is taken away. Do we not read also in the bible, that God is the Father of our spirits?

We have ascertained that we have had a previous existence. We find that Solomon, that wise man, says that when the body returned to the dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it. Now all of this congregation very well know, that if we never existed there, we could not return there. I could not return to California. Why? Because I have never been there. If you never were with the Father, the same as Jesus was before the foundation of the world, you never could return there, any more than I could to the West Indies, where I have never been. But if we have once been there, then we can see the force of the saying of the wise man, that the spirit returns to God who gave it--it goes back where it once was.

Much more evidence might be derived in relation to this subject, even from the English translation of the Bible; but I do not feel disposed to dwell too long upon any particular testimony; suffice it to say, that the Prophet Joseph Smith's translation of the fore part of the book of Genesis is in print, and is exceedingly plain upon this matter. In this inspired translation we find the pre-existence of man clearly laid down, and that the spirits of all men, male and female, did have an existence, before man was formed out of the dust of the ground. But who was their Father? I have already quoted a saying that God is the Father of our spirits.

In one sense of the word, there are more Gods than one; and in another sense there is but one God. The Scriptures speak of more Gods than one. Moses was called a God to Aaron, in plain terms; and our Saviour, when speaking upon this subject, says, "If the Scriptures called them Gods unto whom the word of God came, why is it that you should seek to persecute me, and kill me, because I testify that I am the Son of God?" This in substance was the word of our Saviour; those to whom the word of God came, are called Gods, according to his testimony. All these beings of course are one, the same as the Father and the Son are one. The Son is called God, and so is the Father, and in some places the Holy Ghost is called God. They are one in power, in wisdom, in knowledge, and in the inheritance of celestial glory; they are one in their works; they possess all things, and all things are subject to them; they act in unison; and if one has power to become the Father of spirits, so has another; if one God can propagate his species, and raise up spirits after his own image and likeness, and call them his sons and daughters, so can all other Gods that become like him, do the same thing; consequently, there will be many Fathers, and there will be many families, and many sons and daughters; and they will be the children of those glorified, celestial beings that are counted worthy to be Gods.

Here let me bring for the satisfaction of the Saints, the testimony of the vision given to our Prophet and Revelator Joseph Smith, and Sidney Rigdon, on the 16th day of February, 1832. They were engaged in translating the New Testament, by inspiration; and while engaged in this great work, they came to the 29th verse of the 5th chapter of John, which was given to them in these words--"they who have done good, in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust." This being given in different words from the English translation, caused them to marvel and wonder; and they lifted up their hearts in prayer to God, that He would show them why it was that this should be given to them in different manner; and behold, the visions of heaven opened before them. They gazed up on the eternal worlds, and saw things before this world was made. They saw the spiritual creation who were to come forth and take upon themselves bodies; and they saw things as they are to be in the future; and they saw celestial, terrestrial, and telestial worlds, as well as the sufferings of the ungodly; all passed before them in this great and glorious vision. And while they were yet gazing upon things as they were before the world was made, they were commanded to write, saying, "this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; for we saw him, even on the right hand of God: and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father; that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created; and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God." Notice this last expression, "the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God," (meaning the different worlds that have been created and made.) Notice, this does not say, that God, whom we serve and worship, was actually the Father Himself, in His own person, of all these sons and daughters of the different worlds; but they "are begotten sons and daughters unto God;" that is, begotten by those who are made like Him, after His image, and in His likeness; they begat sons and daughters, and begat them unto God, to inhabit these different worlds we have been speaking of. But more of this, if we have time, before we get through.

We now come to the second division of our subject, or the entrance of these spirits upon their second estate, or their birth and existence in mortal tabernacles. We are told that among this great family of spirits, some were more noble and great than others, having more intelligence.

Where do you read that? says one. Out of the Book of Abraham, translated from the Egyptian papyrus by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Among the great and numerous family of spirits--"the begotten sons and daughters of God"--there are some more intelligent than others; and the Lord showed unto Abraham "the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones." And God said to Abraham, "thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born." Abraham was chosen before he was born. Here then, is knowledge, if we had time to notice it, upon the doctrine of election. However, I may just remark, it does not mean unconditional election to eternal life of a certain class, and the rest doomed to eternal damnation. Suffice it to say, that Abraham and many others of the great and noble ones in the family of spirits, were chosen before they were born, for certain purposes, to bring about certain works, to have the privilege of coming upon the stage of action, among the host of men, in favorable circumstances. Some came through good and holy parentages, to fulfil certain things the Lord decreed should come to pass, from before the foundations of the world.

The Lord has ordained that these spirits should come here and take tabernacles by a certain law, through a certain channel; and that law is the law of marriage. There are a great many things that I will pass by; I perceive that if I were to touch upon all these principles, the time allotted for this discourse would be too short, therefore I am under the necessity of passing by many things in relation to these spirits in their first estate, and the laws that governed them there, and come to their second estate.

The Lord ordained marriage between male and female as a law through which spirits should come here and take tabernacles, and enter into the second state of existence. The Lord Himself solemnized the first marriage pertaining to this globe, and pertaining to flesh and bones here upon this earth. I do not say pertaining to mortality; for when the first marriage was celebrated, no mortality was there. The first marriage that we have any account of, was between two immortal beings--old father Adam and old mother Eve; they were immortal beings; death had no dominion, no power over them; they were capable of enduring for ever and ever, in their organization. Had they fulfilled the law, and kept within certain conditions and bounds, their tabernacles would never have been seized by death; death entered entirely by sin, and sin alone. This marriage was celebrated between two immortal beings. For how long? Until death? No. That was entirely out of the question; there could have been no such thing in the ceremony.

What would you consider, my hearers, if a marriage was to be celebrated between two beings not subject to death? Would you consider them joined together for a certain number of years, and that then all their covenants were to cease for ever, and the marriage contract be dissolved? Would it look reasonable and consistent? No. Every heart would say that the work of God is perfect in and of itself, and inasmuch as sin had not brought imperfection upon the globe, what God joined together could not be dissolved, and destroyed, and torn asunder by any power beneath the celestial world, consequently it was eternal; the ordinance of union was eternal; the sealing of the great Jehovah upon Adam and Eve was eternal in its nature, and was never instituted for the purpose of being overthrown and brought to an end. It is known that the "Mormons" are a peculiar people about marriage; we believe in marrying, not only for time, but for all eternity. This is a curious idea, says one, to be married for all eternity. It is not curious at all; for when we come to examine the Scriptures, we find that the very first example set for the whole human family, as a pattern instituted for us to follow, was not instituted until death, for death had no dominion at that time; but it was an eternal blessing pronounced upon our first parents. I have not time to explain further the marriage of Adam and Eve, but will pass on to their posterity.

It is true, that they became fallen, but there is a redemption. But some may consider that the redemption only redeemed us in part, that is, merely from some of the effects of the fall. But this is not the case; every man and woman must see at once that a redemption must include a complete restoration of all privileges lost by the fall.

Suppose, then, that the fall was of such a nature as to dissolve the marriage covenant, by death--which is not necessary to admit, for the covenant was sealed previous to the fall, and we have no account that it was dissolved--but suppose this was the case, would not the redemption be equally as broad as the fall, to restore the posterity of Adam back to that which they lost? And if Adam and Eve were married for all eternity, the ceremony was an everlasting ordinance, that they twain should be one flesh for ever. If you and I should ever be accounted worthy to be restored back from our fallen and degraded condition to the privileges enjoyed before the fall, should we not have an everlasting marriage seal, as it was with our first progenitors? If we had no other reasons in all the Bible, this would be sufficient to settle the case at once in the mind of every reflecting man and woman, that inasmuch as the fall of man has taken away any privileges in regard to the union of male and female, these privileges must be restored in the redemption of man, or else it is not complete.

What is the object of this union? is the next question. We are told the object of it; it is clearly expressed; for, says the Lord unto the male and female, I command you to multiply and replenish the earth. And, inasmuch as we have proved that the marriage ordinance was eternal in its nature, previous to the fall, if we are restored back to what was lost by the fall, we are restored for the purpose of carrying out the commandment given before the fall, namely, to multiply and replenish the earth. Does it say, continue to multiply for a few years, and then the marriage contract must cease, and there shall be no further opportunity of carrying out this command, but it shall have an end? No, there is nothing specified of this kind; but the fall has brought in disunion through death; it is not a part of the original plan; consequently, when male and female are restored from the fall, by virtue of the everlasting and eternal covenant of marriage, they will continue to increase and multiply to all ages of eternity, to raise up beings after their own order, and in their own likeness and image, germs of intelligence, that are destined, in their times and seasons, to become not only sons of God, but Gods themselves.

This accounts for the many worlds we heard Elder Grant speaking about yesterday afternoon. The peopling of worlds, or an endless increase, even of one family, would require an endless increase of worlds; and if one family were to be united in the eternal covenant of marriage, to fulfil that great commandment, to multiply his species, and propagate them, and if there be no end to the increase of his posterity, it would call for an endless increase of new worlds. And if one family calls for this, what would innumerable millions of families call for? They would call for as many worlds as have already been discovered by the telescope; yea, the number must be multiplied to infinity in order that there may be room for the inheritance of the sons and daughters of the Gods.

Do you begin to understand how these worlds get their inhabitants? Have you learned that the sons and daughters of God before me this day, are His offspring--made after His own image; that they are to multiply their species until they become innumerable?

Let us say a few words, before we leave this part of the subject, on the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The promises were, Lift up your eyes, and behold the stars; so thy seed shall be, as numberless as the stars. What else did He promise? Go to the sea-shore, and look at the ocean of sand, and behold the smallness of the particles thereof, and then realize that your seed shall be as numberless as the sands. Now let us take this into consideration. How large a bulk of sand would it take to make as many inhabitants as there are now upon the earth? In about one cubic foot of sand, reckoning the grains of a certain size, there would be a thousand million particles. Now that is about the estimated population of our globe. If our earth were to continue 8,000 years, or eighty centuries, with an average population of one thousand millions per century, then three cubic yards of sand would contain a greater number of particles than the whole population of the globe, from the beginning, until the measure of the inhabitants of this creation is complete. If men then cease to multiply, where is the promise made to Abraham? Is it fulfilled? No. If that is the end of his increase, behold, the Lord's promise is not fulfilled. For the amount of sand representing his seed, might all be drawn in a one-horse cart; and yet the Lord said to Abraham, thy seed shall be as numerous as the sand upon the sea-shore; that is, to carry out the idea in full, it was to be endless; and therefore, there must be an infinity of worlds for their residence. We cannot comprehend infinity. But suffice it to say, if all the sands on the sea-shore were numbered, says the Prophet Enoch, and then all the particles of the earth besides, and then the particles of millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to all thy creations; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and thy curtains are stretched out still. This gives plenty of room for the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham, and enough to spare for the fulfilment of similar promises to all his seed.

We read that those who do the works of Abraham, are to be blessed with the blessing of Abraham. Have you not, in the ordinances of this last dispensation, had the blessings of Abraham pronounced upon your heads? O yes, you say, I well recollect, since God has restored the everlasting Priesthood, that by a certain ordinance these blessings were placed upon our heads--the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why, says one, I never thought of it in this light before. Why did you not think of it? Why not look upon Abraham's blessings as your own, for the Lord blessed him with a promise of seed as numerous as the sand upon the sea-shore; so will you be blessed, or else you will not inherit the blessings of Abraham.

How did Abraham manage to get a foundation laid for this mighty kingdom? Was he to accomplish it all through one wife? No. Sarah gave a certain woman to him whose name was Hagar, and by her a seed was to be raised up unto him. Is this all? No. We read of his wife Keturah, and also of a plurality of wives and concubines, which he had, from whom he raised up many sons. Here then, was a foundation laid for the fulfilment of the great and grand promise concerning the multiplicity of his seed. It would have been rather a slow process, if Abraham had been confined to one wife, like some of those narrow, contracted nations of modern Christianity.

I think there is only about one-fifth of the population of the globe, that believe in the one-wife system; the other four-fifths believe in the doctrine of a plurality of wives. They have had it handed down from time immemorial, and are not half so narrow and contracted in their minds as some of the nations of Europe and America, who have done away with the promises, and deprived themselves of the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The nations do not know anything about the blessings of Abraham; and even those who have only one wife, cannot get rid of their covetousness, and get their little hearts large enough to share their property with a numerous family; they are so penurious, and so narrow and contracted in their feelings, that they take every possible care not to have their families large; they do not know what is in the future, nor what blessings they are depriving themselves of, because of the traditions of their fathers; they do not know what a man's posterity, in the eternal worlds, are to constitute his glory, his kingdom, and dominion.

Here, then, we perceive, just from this one principle, reasoning from the blessings of Abraham alone, the necessity--if we would partake of the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--of doing their works; and he that will not do the works of Abraham, and walk in his footsteps, will be deprived of his blessings.

Again, let us look at Sarah's peculiar position in regard to Abraham. She understood the whole matter; she knew that, unless seed was raised up to Abraham, he would come short of his glory; and she understood the promise of the Lord, and longed for Abraham to have seed. And when she saw that she was old, and fearing that she should not have the privilege of raising up seed, she gave to Abraham, Hagar. Would Gentile Christendom do such things now-a-days? O no; they would consider it enough to send a man to an endless hell of fire and brimstone. Why? Because tradition has instilled this in their minds as a dreadful, awful thing.

It matters not to them how corrupt they are in female prostitution, if they are lawfully married to only one wife; but it would be considered an awful thing by them to raise up a posterity from more than one wife; this would be wrong indeed; but to go into a brothel, and there debauch themselves in the lowest haunts of degradation all the days of their lives, they consider only a trifling thing; nay, they can even license such institutions in Christian nations, and it all passes off very well.

That is tradition; and their posterity have been fostered and brought up in the footsteps of wickedness. This is death, as it stalks abroad among the great and popular cities of Europe and America.

Do you find such haunts of prostitution, degradation, and misery here, in the cities of the mountains? No. Were such things in our midst, we should feel indignant enough to see that such persons be blotted out of the page of existence. These would be the feelings of this community.

Look upon those who committed such iniquity in Israel, in ancient days; every man and woman who committed adultery were put to death. I do not say that this people are going to do this; but I will tell you what we believe--we believe it ought to be done.

Whoredom, adultery, and fornication, have cursed the nations of the earth for many generations, and are increasing fearfully upon the community; but they must be entirely done away from those who call themselves the people of God; if they are not, woe! woe! be unto them, also; for "thus saith the Lord God Almighty," in the Book of Mormon, "Woe unto them that commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell!" There is no getting away from it. Such things will not be allowed in this community; and such characters will find, that the time will come, that God, whose eyes are upon all the children of men, and who discerneth the things that are done in secret, will bring their acts to light; and they will be made an example before the people; and shame and infamy will cleave to their posterity after them, unto the third and fourth generation of them that repent not.

How is this to be prevented? for we have got a fallen nature to grapple with. It is to be prevented in the way the Lord devised in ancient times; that is, by giving to His faithful servants a plurality of wives, by which a numerous and faithful posterity can be raised up, and taught in the principles of righteousness and truth: and then, after they fully understand those principles that were given to the ancient Patriarchs, if they keep not the law of God, but commit adultery, and transgressions of this kind, let their names be blotted out from under heaven, that they may have no place among the people of God.

But again, there is another reason why this plurality should exist among the Latter-day Saints. I have already given you one reason, and that is, that you might inherit the blessings and promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and receive a continuation of your posterity, that they may become as numerous as the sand upon the sea-shore. There is another reason, and a good one, too. What do you suppose it is? I will tell you; and it will appear reasonable to every man and woman of a reflecting mind. Do we not believe, as the Scriptures have told us, that the wicked nations of the earth are doomed to destruction? Yes, we believe it. Do we not also believe, as the Prophets have foretold, concerning the last days, as well as what the new revelations have said upon the subject, that darkness prevails upon the earth, and gross darkness upon the minds of the people; and not only this, but that all flesh has corrupted its way upon the face of the earth; that is, that all nations, speaking of them as nations, have corrupted themselves before the Most High God, by their wickedness, whoredoms, idolatries, abominations, adulteries, and all other kinds of wickedness? And we furthermore believe, that according to the Jewish Prophets, as well as the Book of Mormon, and modern revelations given in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that the sword of the vengeance of the Almighty is already unsheathed, and stretched out, and will no more be put back into the scabbard until it falls upon the head of the nations until they are destroyed, except they repent. What else do we believe? We believe that God is gathering out from among these nations those who will hearken to His voice, and receive the proclamation of the Gospel, to establish them as a people alone by themselves, where they can be instructed in the right way, and brought to the knowledge of the truth. Very well; if this be the case, that the righteous are gathering out, and are still being gathered from among the nations, and being planted by themselves, one thing is certain--that that people are better calculated to bring up children in the right way, than any other under the whole heavens. O yes, says one, if that is the case--if you are the people the ancient Prophets have spoken of, if you are the people that are guided by the Lord, if you are under the influence, power, and guidance of the Almighty, you must be the best people under heaven, to dictate the young mind: but what has that to do with the plurality of wives? I will tell you. I have already told you that the spirits of men and women, all had a previous existence, thousands of years ago, in the heavens, in the presence of God; and I have already told you that among them are many spirits that are more noble, more intelligent than others, that were called the great and mighty ones, reserved until the dispensation of the fulness of times, to come forth upon the face of the earth, through a noble parentage that shall train their young and tender minds in the truths of eternity, that they may grow up in the Lord, and be strong in the power of His might, be clothed upon with His glory, be filled with exceeding great faith; that the visions of eternity may be opened to their minds; that they may be Prophets, Priests, and Kings to the Most High God. Do you believe, says one, that they are reserved until the last dispensation, for such a noble purpose? Yes; and among the Saints is the most likely place for these spirits to take their tabernacles, through a just and righteous parentage. They are to be sent to that people that are the most righteous of any other people upon the earth; there to be trained up properly, according to their nobility and intelligence, and according to the laws which the Lord ordained before they were born. This is the reason why the Lord is sending them here, brethren and sisters; they are appointed to come and take their bodies here, that in their generations they may be raised up among the righteous. The Lord has not kept them in store for five or six thousand years past, and kept them waiting for their bodies all this time to send them among the Hottentots, the African negroes, the idolatrous Hindoos, or any other of the fallen nations that dwell upon the face of this earth. They are not kept in reserve in order to come forth to receive such a degraded parentage upon the earth; no, the Lord is not such a being; His justice, goodness, and mercy will be magnified towards those who were chosen before they were born; and they long to come, and they will come among the Saints of the living God; this would be their highest pleasure and joy, to know that they could have the privilege of being born of such noble parentage.

Then is it not reasonable, and consistent that the Lord should say unto His faithful and chosen servants, that had proved themselves before Him all the day long; that had been ready and willing to do whatsoever His will required them to perform--take unto yourselves more wives, like unto the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of old--like those who lived in ancient times, who walked in my footsteps, and kept my commands? Why should they not do this? Suppose the Lord should answer this question, would He not say, I have here in reserve, noble spirits, that have been waiting for thousands of years, to come forth in the fulness of times, and which I designed should come forth through these my faithful and chosen servants, for I know they will do my will, and they will teach their children after them to do it. Would not this be the substance of the language, if the Lord should give us an answer upon this subject?

But then another question will arise; how are these things to be conducted? Are they to be left at random? Is every servant of God at liberty to run here and there, seeking out the daughters of men as wives unto themselves without any restriction, law, or condition? No. We find these things were restricted in ancient times. Do you not recollect the circumstance of the Prophet Nathan's coming to David? He came to reprove him for certain disobedience, and told him about the wives he had lost through it; that the Lord would give them to another; and he told him, if he had been faithful, that the Lord would have given him still more, if he had only asked for them. Nathan the Prophet, in relation to David, was the man that held the keys concerning this matter in ancient days; and it was governed by the strictest laws.

So in these days; let me announce to this congregation, that there is but one man in all the world, at the same time, who can hold the keys of this matter; but one man has power to turn the key to inquire of the Lord, and to say whether I, or these my brethren, or any of the rest of this congregation, or the Saints upon the face of the whole earth, may have this blessing of Abraham conferred upon them; he holds the keys of these matters now, the same as Nathan, in his day.

But, says one, how have you obtained this information? By new revelation. When was it given, and to whom? It was given to our Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, Joseph Smith, on the 12th day of July, 1843; only about eleven months before he was martyred for the testimony of Jesus.

He held the keys of these matters; he had the right to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord has set bounds and restrictions to these things; He has told us in that revelation, that only one man can hold these keys upon the earth at the same time; and they belong to that man who stands at the head to preside over all the affairs of the Church and kingdom of God in the last days. They are the sealing keys of power, or in other words, of Elijah, having been committed and restored to the earth by Elijah, the Prophet, who held many keys, among which were the keys of sealing, to bind the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers; together with all the other sealing keys and powers, pertaining to the last dispensation. They were committed by that Angel who administered in the Kirtland Temple, and spoke unto Joseph the Prophet, at the time of the endowments in that house.

Now, let us enquire, what will become of those individuals who have this law taught unto them in plainness, if they reject it? [A voice in the stand, "they will be damned."] I will tell you: they will be damned, saith the Lord God Almighty, in the revelation He has given. Why? Because where much is given, much is required; where there is great knowledge unfolded for the exaltation, glory, and happiness of the sons and daughters of God, if they close up their hearts, if they reject the testimony of His word, and will not give heed to the principles He has ordained for their good, they are worthy of damnation, and the Lord has said they shall be damned. This was the word of the Lord to His servant Joseph the Prophet himself. With all the knowledge and light he had, he must com ply with it, or, says the Lord unto him, you shall be damned; and the same is true in regard to all those who reject these things.

What else have we heard from our President? He has related to us that there are some damnations that are eternal in their nature; while others are but for a certain period, they will have an end, they will not receive a restoration to their former privileges, but a deliverance from certain punishments; and instead of being restored to all the privileges pertaining to man previous to the fall, they will only be permitted to enjoy a certain grade of happiness, not a full restoration. Let us inquire after those who are to be damned, admitting they will be redeemed, which they will be, unless they have sinned against the Holy Ghost. They will be redeemed, but what will it be to? Will it be to exaltation, and to a fulness of glory? Will it be to become the sons of God, or Gods to reign upon thrones, and multiply their posterity, and reign over them as kings? No, it will not. They have lost that exalted privilege for ever; though they have after having been punished for long periods, escape by the skin of their teeth; but no kingdom will be conferred up on them. What will be their condition? I will tell you what revelation says, not only concerning them that reject these things, but concerning those that through their carelessness, or want of faith, or something else, have failed to have their marriages sealed for time and for all eternity; those that do not do these things, so as to have the same ordinances sealed upon their heads by divine authority, as was upon the head of old Father Adam--if they fail to do it through wickedness, through their ungodliness, behold, they also will never have the privilege of possessing that which is possessed by the Gods that hold the keys of power, of coming up to the thrones of their exaltation, and receiving their kingdoms. Why? Because, said the Lord, all oaths, all covenants, and all agreements, &c., that have been made by man, and not by me, and by the authority I have established, shall cease when death shall separate the parties; that is the end; that is the cessation; they go no further; and such a person cannot come up in the morning of the resurrection, and say, Behold, I claim you as my wife; you are mine; I married you in the other world before death; therefore you are mine: he cannot say this. Why? Because he never married that person for eternity.

Suppose they should enter into covenant and agreement, and conclude between themselves to live together to all eternity, and never have it sealed by the Lord's sealing power, by the Holy Priesthood, would they have any claim on each other in the morning of the resurrection? No; it would not be valid nor legal, and the Lord would say, It was not by me; your covenants were not sealed on the earth, and therefore they are not sealed in the heavens; they are not recorded on my book; they are not to be found in the records that are in the archives of eternity; therefore the blessings you might have had, are not for you to enjoy. What will be their condition? The Lord has told us. He says these are angels; because they keep not this law, they shall be ministering servants unto those who are worthy of obtaining a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; wherefore, saith the Lord, they shall remain singly and separately in their saved condition, and shall not have power to enlarge themselves, and thus shall they remain forever and ever.

Here, then, you can read their history; they are not Gods, but they are angels or servants to the Gods. There is a difference between the two classes; the God are exalted; they hold keys of power; are made Kings and Priests; and this power is conferred upon them in time, by the everlasting Priesthood, to hold a kingdom in eternity that shall never be taken from them worlds without end; and they will propagate their species. They are not servants; for one God is not to be a servant to another God; they are not angels; and this is the reason why Paul said, Know ye not, brethren, that we shall judge angels? Angels are inferior to the Saints who are exalted as Kings. These angels who are to be judged, and to become servants to the Gods, did not keep the law, therefore, though they are saved, they are to be servants to those who are in a higher condition.

What does the Lord intend to do with this people? He intends to make them a kingdom of Kings and Priests, a kingdom unto Himself, or in other words, a kingdom of Gods, if they will hearken to His law. There will be many who will not hearken; there will be the foolish among the wise, who will not receive the new and everlasting covenant in its fulness; and they never will attain to their exaltation; they never will be counted worthy to hold the sceptre of power over a numerous progeny, that shall multiply themselves without end, like the sand upon the sea shore.

We can only touch here and there upon this great subject, we can only offer a few words with regard to this great, sublime, beautiful, and glorious doctrine, which has been revealed by the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, Joseph Smith, who sealed his testimony with his blood, and thus revealed to the nations, things that were in ancient times, as well as things that are to come.

But while I talk, the vision of my mind is opened; the subject spreads forth and branches out like the branches of a thrifty tree; and as for the glory of God, how great it is! I feel to say, Hallelujah to His great and holy name; for He reigns in the heavens, and He will exalt His people to sit with Him upon thrones of power, to reign for ever and ever.



REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG...

While the sacrament is passing, I will take the liberty of making a few remarks.

Some truth has been referred to here, from the stand, with regard to the congregation. These, my brethren and sisters, are in the habit of being here one part of the Sabbath, to hear and understand for themselves...

In the commencement of the career of brother Joseph Smith, he had all the influence and talent of the sectarian world that were acquainted with his doings to cope with; he had them to contend with day and night. He laboured faithfully, though in his youth, and at must entirely destitute of literary knowledge, with not many advantages of an earthly nature; yet the truth he revealed triumphed; the principles he put forth actually circumscribed the religious knowledge of all the Christian world. Almost every principle and every idea taught in the Gospel, that the world had preached and written so much about, he proved they were ignorant of. He taught the people how to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He also taught them how to repent. This was new to the world -- to be informed that they did not know even how to repent. He taught them how to embrace the Gospel of salvation, what it was, and that these doctrines are essentially necessary for the salvation of the children of men....

Brother Joseph introduced a great many new doctrines. It was perfectly new to this generation, but in truth an old doctrine, to be baptised for the remission of sins -- that it was absolutely necessary; and then receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and many other doctrines, though in reality they are old, yet true, and new to this benighted generation....

When brother Joseph revealed the great mystery of being baptised for the dead, did not a great many of the Elders of Israel think then €€ "' Mormonism' cannot endure; it will be overcome." Every item of doctrine brother Joseph has brought forth had to meet with opposition from the world. We all know that it comes in contact with sectarian influence and every other influence that is not direct from God....

You heard brother Pratt state, this morning, that a revelation would be read this afternoon, which was given previous to Joseph's death. It contains a doctrine a small portion of the world is opposed to; but I can deliver a prophecy upon it. Though that doctrine has not been practised by the Elders, this people have believed in it for years.

The original copy of this revelation was burned up. William Clayton was the man who wrote it from the mouth of the Prophet. In the meantime, it was in Bishop Whitney's possession. He wished the privilege to copy it, which brother Joseph granted. Sister Emma burnt the original. The reason I mention this is because that the people who did know of the revelation suppose it is not now in existence.

The revelation will be read to you. The principle spoken upon by brother Pratt, this morning, we believe in. And I tell you -- for I know it -- it will sail over and ride triumphantly above all the prejudice and priestcraft of the day: it will be fostered and believed in by the more intelligent portion of the world as one of the best doctrines ever proclaimed to any people. Your hearts need not beat; you need not think that a mob is coming here to tread upon the sacred liberty which the Constitution of our country guarantees unto to us, for it will not be. The world have known, long ago, even in brother Joseph's days, that he had more wives than one. One of the Senators in Congress knew it very well. Did he oppose it? No: but he has been our friend all the day long, especially upon that subject. He said pointedly to his friends, "If the United States do not adopt that very method -- let them continue as they now are -- pursue the precise course they are now pursuing, and it will come to this -- that their generations will not live until they are 30 years old. They are going to destruction; disease is spreading so fast among the inhabitants of the United States, that they are born rotten with it, and in a few years they are gone." Said he, "Joseph has introduced the best plan for restoring and establishing strength and long life among men, of any man on the earth; and the Mormons are very good and virtuous people."

Many others are of the same mind: they are not ignorant of what we are doing in our social capacity. They have cried out, "Proclaim it." But it would not do, a few years ago: everything must come in its time, as there is a time to all things. I am now ready to proclaim it.

This revelation has been in my possession many years; and who has known it? None but those who should know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk, and there does not anything leak out that should not.

It pleases me a little to think how anxious this people are for new revelation... I leave these remarks with you, and we will now have the revelation read....


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., September 18, 1852.                   No. 23.



MINUTES  OF  CONFERENCE.

A Special Conference of the Elders...
August 28th, 1852...

President Kimball presented the business of the conference in the following speech:

We have come together to-day, according to previous appontment, to hold a special conference to transact business , a month earlier than usual, inasmuch as there are Elders to be selected to go to the nations of the earth; and they want an earlier start than formerly. There will probably be Elders chosen to go to the four quarters of the globe to transact business, preach the Gospel, &c....

It is a pleasure to preach the truth... I was raised up as it were with the Prophet; I lived with him to the day of his death. As to our present Prophets and Elders, brother Brigham Young I have lived with, with him I have travelled, and with him I have suffered. I have eat and slept with him, and been by his side almost my whole life. I could say with propriety, and I can say it with truth, that Joseph Smith was Prophet of God, a Seer, a Revelator, an Apostle of Jesus, and was ordained directly under the hands of Peter, James, and John; and he died a Prophet, and Hyrum died a Patriarch of Jesus -- a father in Israel.

Brother Brigham Young is the successor of Joseph Smith; and a better man never lived upon the earth, nor ever sought the interest of this people more fervently from morning until night, and vice versa, than he has done. Did he not travel in the days of Joseph? He did, from the time he came into the Church until the death of Joseph; and so did I. Did we ever hesitate for one moment? No, not for a moment.

Jesus sought to do the will of his Father in heaven; so it was our duty to do the will of Joseph; and now it is the duty of us all to do the will of brother Brigham... You understand that.  Amen.



                  Sunday, Aug. 29, 1852, 10. a. m.

Conference convened and opened as usual.

Elder Orson Pratt preached on the subject of marriage. The house was exceedingly crowded through the day; and in the afternoon, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was adminisrered by the bishops, led by bishop Lorenzo D. Young; during which President B. Young addressed the assembly concerning the opening up of the last gospel dispensation, doctrine and ordinances of the gospel, modern revelation, &c., which was followed by the reading of the great "Revelation, given to Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12, 1843," on Marriage; and Conference adjourned to Oct. 6, 10 a. m. We have not room for the minutes of Conference, in full.



==> DESERET NEWS, EXTRA.-- Just issued from the press, in Pamphlet Form, 48 pages, solid material, sufficient for a book of 200 pages in popular style; including in full the minutes of the late Special Conference, Business, Speeches, Sermons and Addresses on Matrimony; the great "Revelation, given to Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12, 1843," concerning Marriage for Time and Eternity; President Young's Sermons of August 8 and 15, and other important items, which will not soon be found again embodied in one work; for sale at the News Office, prive 50 cents, cash; and those who do not apply soon, will apply in vain: they are fast going.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 2.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., October 16, 1852.                   No. 25.



From the New York Herald.

Judge Brocchus to Governor Young,
Requesting to be Carried to Church.


(see original articles in the Herald)

 


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., November 27, 1852.                   No. 1.



From the New York Herald.

The Mormons -- The Mahometans of the Nineteenth Century

(see original full article in the Herald)

Philosophers tell us that the grand law of human progression does not hold good in respect of moral and metaphyical science....

whether Joseph Smith did or did not deal in imposture, sect established on such principles... counts its votaries by hundreds of thousands, is entitled to something more than sarcastic and contemptuous sneers. These but add fuel to the zeal of the acolytes; persecution braces their energies; and strengthens their convictions. While we look on with indifference, thousands in Europe and America are silently enrolling themselves under the banner of Mormonism. Where is this to end? ...

How singular, how teaming with food for speculation, the contrast between Mahomet and Joseph Smith. Bith were men of indomitable energy, vivid imagination, and extraordinary power over the masses. Both believed a great portion of what they taught, but did not scruple to varnish their tale with flights of fancy. Both date their mission from a vision from heaven -- the command was given to both by a messenger from God. Neither attempted to uproot or destroy, but to renovate. Pristine simplicity was the avowed aim of both; Islamism was an attempt to restore the days of Moses and Elias; Mormonism looks to the early ages of the church as a model. Both Mahomet and Smith sacrifice the social happiness of the female sex to the interest of the State, by tolerating polygamy. The machinery of both religions requires the intervention of supernatural beings -- genii in the one, angels and seers in the other. Both appeal as well to the senses as to the moral perceptions -- the pleasures of conviviality and wholesome ablutions are inculcated by both creeds. The Koran and the Book of Mormon acknowledge alike, one God, supreme, infinite and from the name of the deity, that of his prophet is inseparable...


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., January 8, 1853.                   No. 4.



CAPT. STANSBURY'S  REPORT.

Mr. Editor. -- Having given Capt. H. Stansbury's report of surveys and explorations in this valley, a hasty perusual... His account of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints... [mostly illegible -- need better copy for transcription]


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., April 30, 1853.                   No. 12.



Mormonism in Washington.

It is a peculiarity of our people that every sect must have its organ... behold Mormonism -- the doctrine of Latter Day Saints -- that strange medley of material philosophy and transcendental fanaticism incented by Joe Smith, and since propagated with astonishing success by his followers -- claims its particular organ, & is determined to assert its excellence & spread afar its tenets by the established agency of a Newspaper. Elder Orson Pratt -- obe of the shining lights of the Latter Day Saints -- an individual whose name has been constantly mingled with the accounts of the singular doings of the brethren at Utah, is the editor of a new sheet, which is published at Washington, and bears the appropriate title of the "Seer." It seems that brother Pratt has not undertaken this enterprise upon his exclusive responsibility, for according to the Republic, he brings with him a duly accredited letter of appointment, signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, certifying that Professor Orson Pratt, one of the Apostles of the Church of Latter Day Saints, has been appointed by them, with the sanction of a special conferenceconvened in Salt Lake City, on the 28th of August last, to preside over the affairs of the church throughout the United States and British Provinces in North America...

Our readers may fancy that in announcing the plurality of wives as an essential ingredient of the Mormon faith, we are sporting with their credulity, or giving circulation to a hackneyed libel. Far be it from us to calumniate such a monstrous delusion as that of Mormonism. The dogmas of the new church have weight enough of aim and wickedness to answer for, without being subjected to the opprobrium of unmerited slander. Polygamy is a practice affirmed and vindicated in the first number of the very paper to which we allude. It contains a chapter on "Celestial Marriage, a revelation on the Patriarchal Order of Matrimony, or Plurality of Wives," perporting to have been given to Joseph Smith, the Seer in Nauvoo, on the 12th July, 1843, followed by an argument in favor of polygamy, in which the practice is attempted to be justified by Scripture, and the power of Congress, or even State or Territory to prohibit it, is denied.

... contemptuous disregard is perhaps the most efficient means of rendering it innocuous. Persecution might give it respectability. Neglect will speedily sink it into oblivion. --  New Orleans Bee.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., May 28, 1853.                   No. 14.



SCATTERING SHOTS.

The Inhabitants of Kanesville, Iowa, decided to call their town hereafter, "Council Bluffs City," with the memorial that the name of the Post Office be changed to correspond with the city. (Right, the place is no longer worthy of the nameit has borne.)



Josiah Quincy, junior lectured before the Lyceum, at Newton Corner, Mass. November 17th on "Joe Smith, the Mormon," the result of "Lecturer's own observations."



The Weekly Argus, Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, dated Feb. 23, 1853, has the account of arrival of elders Wm. McBride, Ephraim Green, Nathan Tanner, Thomas Kazran, James Lawson, B. F. Johnson, R. A. Alred, R. N. Alred and E. Snyder.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., June 18, 1853.                   No. 15.



AUSTRALIA.

The news from Australia is cheering. We give the following as a specimen of Bro. Wandall's proceedings.

THE  MORMONS

To the Editor of the Voice in the Wilderness.

Sir, -- As you have commenced using the columns of your paper against the people called Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, and in your last two numbers have violently attacked them, either with your own pen, or by adopting the wicked and malacious writings of others, perhaps your sense of justice and honest regard for fair play, will induce you to admit this also. I confess that it is humiliating to ask even justice at the hands of one who seems determined to be our foe, but our press which we have ordered from Europe has not yet arrived, and we are compelled to apply for the use of your columns, which, under existing circumstances, we think you cannot either honorably or righteously deny us....

The first part of your adopted article published in the previous number, contains a strange comingling of all sorts of speculations, after that you confess our superior mechanical skill and untiring industry; then to exhibit the gross absurdity of our theology, you say that the Latter Day Saints believe that God, "is a material, intelligent personage, possessing both body and parts." Here, then at last, we find you stumbling on a point, in what you are pleased to term Mormonism -- and a very important point it is too; for all religions, whether true or false, are founded on either true or false notions of Deity. But why did you not dwell on that point and prove it false, and by that means put an end to "Mormonism" in Australia? Why do you merely touch it and then fly off in a tangent as if you had burned your fingers? Why did you leave it without note or comment, and turn directly for refuge to that long ago exploded falsehood of the "Spaulding Forgery?" Do you not know that the Book of Mormon was received as a divinely inspired record by hundreds in the city of Pittsburgh long after the Spaulding fable was trumpeted from both press and pulpit? Do you not know that Sidney Rigdon was appointed by Joseph Smith, in 1844, to take charge of the congregation of Latter Day Saints in that city, and that he did so both before and after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and that he is still residing near there? If you do not, Sir, I do. I know that one of the largest congregations that we ever had in America was in the city of Pittsburgh, and when Sidney Rigdon went there in 1844, he went in the character of a Mormon preacher, and an advocate of the Book of Mormon, as a record of eternal truth; and there, or near there, he remains, I presume, to this day. Why did not the preachers of the different religious societies located in that city, (who were losing more or less of their members by the preaching of our Elders,) go to that Mr. Patterson and his workmen, referred to in the Spaulding fable, (who, it is said, were well acquainted with the "notorious fact," that said Rigdon had copied a reverend gentleman's romance and converted it into the Book of Mormon,) and obtain from them a statement to that effect, and confront Mr. Rigdon, there and then, face to face? When you have answered that question, we will ask a few more. Until then, we refer you to our communication to the Empire of the 6th of March.

The latter part of your adopted article is made up mostly of the vilest slanders against the character of Joseph Smith -- slanders which have been printed years ago; and copies have been multiplied by thousands, both in America and Europe; yet the Latter Day Saints have flourished amidst it all, and now number their hundreds of thousands. It is certainly singular, that more than twenty-two years, bitter experience, has not convinced the religious world, that in every attempt to blacken the character of Joseph Smith or his friends, they have invariably missed their object and blackened their own instead, and, that calumny and abuse has uniformly been ineffective weapons in opposing the progress of "Mormonism," and the sure and certain result, is, that they revert back, and like a mighty, avalanche, they fall upon the heads of their prepetrators...

And, finally -- Being called of God, we solemnly call upon you, sir, and all who may read this letter, to believe, repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, that you may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and be saved in the kingdom of God.
                                  I am Sir,
                                           Yours respectfully,
                                                    C. W. WANDELL.


Note 1: Elder Charles Wesley Wandell (1819-1875), was sent, along with Elder John Murdock, to promote the Mormon Church in Australia, in 1851. Wandell served as the President of the LDS Australian Mission, until mid-1853, when he left Sydney for California and Utah. In his journey through southern Utah he passed through the scene of the recent emigrant massacre at Mountain Meadows. In 1873 Wandell joined the RLDS and, along with Claud Rodger, was sent to head up the Reorganized LDS missionary efforts in Australia. Along the way Wandell and Rodger visited Tahiti, where they reinvigorated the local Latter Day Saint congregations, making many RLDS converts. The elders arrived in Sydney at the beginning of 1874 -- a year later Wandell died there. See an interesting mention of his suspected death, as reprinted in the Salt Lake Tribune of May 25, 1877.

Note 2: Elder Wandell's argument against the Spalding claims -- that the Mormons built up a large congregation in Pittsburgh, etc. -- is not a strong one. At least one Baptist minister did "go to that Mr. Patterson... and obtain... a statement." Rigdon evidently never showed up for the projected 1844 public discussion of the Spalding claims in Pittsburgh, and when he did return, he and his introverted Mormon splinter group were not in the habit of debating doctrinal matters in public. By 1853 Rigdon was living in western New York and the few remaining Mormons in Pittsburgh were in no way "one of the largest congregations" of that peculiar people.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., November 12, 1853.                   No. 21.



Indian Difficulties.

On the 31st of October, ult., at 6 o'clock, P. M., an express arrived from Fillmore City, forwarded by President Call, bearing dispatches for Washington City, from the Pacific Rail Road Party, now in this Territory, and a letter from Brevet Captain R. M. Morris, to Gov. Young, briefly detailing the unexpected, and lamentable Indian massacre of Capt. John W. Gunnison, and seven of his party, near the swamps of the Sevier river, and as near as we can learn, about 20 miles north of the Sevier lake.

This event happened about 6 o'clock a.m., of the 26th ult., as the party were sitting down to breakfast. Only four escaped, leaving instruments, notes, animals, and all the baggage, in possession of the Indians.

LIST OF THE KILLED.

Capt. J. W. Gunnison, Corps Topg'l Eng., U.S.A.
Mr. R. H. Kern, Topographer of the party.
Mr. Creatzfeldt, Botanist of the party.
Mr. Wm. Potter, Guide of the party.
Private Liptrott,
Private Caulfield, Company A M'nt'd Riflemen.
Private Merhteens,
John Bellows, Employee.

Immediately upon the receipt of the above intelligence, Governor Young began active preparations for the recovery of the lost property, and the proper disposal of the dead bodies, in the sanguine hope of being able to obtain the body of Captain Gunnison, with the design to forward it to his family.

By half past one o'clock, on the morning of the I st inst., D. B. Huntington, interpreter, with a sufficient party, a quantity of Indian presents, a letter of instructions, and a letter to Brevet Captain Morris, was on his way to the main camp of the party, reported to be near Fillmore City, with instructions from Governor Young to proceed with all possible speed and diligence, using the necessary relays, and report himself ready to aid in carrying out the wishes of Captain Morris.

Mr. Huntington was instructed to hire Ka-no-she, and other friendly Pauvans to go with him to the Pauvans on the Sevier, and try all possible methods to recover the lost property, and particularly the instruments and notes. This was deemed a far better policy to accomplish the object in view, than to furnish additional troops to pursue an enemy they would probably never find.

Since the departure of Mr. Huntington, Brevet Captain Morris and all the party have arrived in the city. We learn they met Mr. Huntington at Nephi, 93 miles south of this city, on the 2nd inst., and that he proceeded on from there accompanied by one of the Government party as a guide. We have also learned from Captain Morris that he reached the camp ground, where the massacre occured, early on the following morning and returned to the main camp, leaving all the dead bodies on the top of the ground. The wolves had begun to devour the bodies before Captain Morris reached the main scene of disaster.

We feel to commisserate deeply with the friends of those who have been so suddenly and unexpectedly cut off, but more especially with the wife and children of Captain Gunnison, who was endeared to us by a formed and fondly cherished acquaintanceship in 1849-'50, while he was engaged with Captain Howard Stansbury in the survey of the Great Salt and Utah Lakes. And we take this occasion to bear tribute to the memory of Captain Gunnison, as a gentleman of high and fine toned feeling, as particularly urbane in his deportment to all, and as an officer having few equals in the service, in the strict, accurate, energetic, speedy, intelligent, persevering performance of duty under any and all circumstances.


Note: Although the LDS leadership felt "to commisserate deeply with the friends... the wife and children of Captain Gunnison," that expression of concern did not halt Gentile speculation upon probable Mormon involvement in Gunnison's Utah murder. The LDS leadership took considerable pains to avow its non-involvement with the Gunnison massacre, publishing in the Deseret News the kind of reports generally censored out of the Utah Saints' local reading matter. See for example, the article reprinted in the News of Mar. 30, 1854 on the Gunnison incident -- also Orson Pratt's polemical Washington paper, The Seer for May, 1854, (where news reports of this type were a rarity).


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 3.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., December 1, 1853.                   No. 23.


 

        To the Editor of the News:

Sir, -- Believing for some years that a good road to California could be made in a westerly direction from Great Salt Lake City, cutting short about 250 miles [off] the old route, I was determined to explore the country 60 miles south of Hasting's cut off. Consequently on the 31st of October, I left Grantsville, 40 miles west of Salt Lake City, taking with me four Ute Indians, travelling in a south-west direction, about 30 miles to the summit of Cedar Mountain, where I found water and grass. I then bore a little south of south-west. and after travelling a descent of about seven miles even ground, I found a spring and some grass near sand ridges at the edge of the desert. I then travelled west south-west eight miles and found a spring and plenty of grass on the desert. Still continuing in the same direction about nine miles, I came to a granite rock in the midst of the desert, standing as a sentinel over the vast plain which surrounds it. It is about two miles one way and one and a half miles another, towering about 150 feet. In this rock I found a kanyon, which I travelled up about a mile, where I found a large spring and some grass. Here I found some Indians camped, who informed me that the Pah-Utahs were preparing to attack the settlements in Toole and Cedar Valley. I thought it best to return and inform the inhabitants.

The Indians also informed me that about 18 miles further west, there was a large stream having cottton woods on the banks, and containing fish of a good size. They said that the stream flowed west, and that it was six day's travel down it to the emigrant road , near the sink of Carson River.

As far as I have travelled, I have found it a first-rate good wagon road (with the exception of about 150 yards on the Cedar Mountain, where it was a little [sidling?], but not half as bad as I have travelled over the Goose Creek route). The desert on this route is not like the one on Hasting's, as it is mostly hard gravelly ground.

I wish to say that I found a valley about nine miles south-west of Grantsville, and at the south end of Lone Rock Valley, about the size of Toole. It has the greatest amount of pine and cedar timber that I have seen in these mountains.

It is my intention to start on the 29th inst. and make a thorough search, and explore the route to the Mormon station in Carson Valley, which I confidently believe is not over 450 miles. -- Respectfully, your obedient servant,
                  JACKSON REDDING.


Note 1: Although this communication is undated, it follows a report of Nov. 11th in the News and probably dates to mid-November. In his account of his explorations among the Indians southwest of Salt Lake City, Elder Redding is a little vague about the location of the spot he came to, after descending the western slopes of Cedar Mountain. Presumably he reached Granite Peak, in what is now the Dugway Proving Grounds -- though the location of a similar lone summit north of Granite Peak, called Wildcat Mountain, fits his recorded distance to the "granite rock in the midst of the desert" a little better.

Note 2: Elder Redding neglects to inform his readers where he was on Oct. 26, 1853, when the Pahvant Ute Chief Moshoquop, along with forty Ute tribesman, attacked and killed Captain Gunnison's expedition at Cedar Springs. According to his published alibi, the notorious gunman and his own Utes were some distance to the north, on their way to warn the Mormon settlers in Toole and Cedar Valley of impending Indian attacks. It may not be entirely unreasonable to guess that further research into Redding's movements during October, 1853 might document his having "explored" somewhat closer to the scene of Gunnison's murder than his unique letter to the Deseret News seems to indicate.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., February 16, 1854.                   No. 7.



From the Daily Alta California.

MORMONISM.

About a hundred years since, philosophers congratulated themselves that they had finally "illuminated" civilized nations, and that thereafter the success of religious impostors, pretending to prophetic character by direct communication from heaven, would have to be confined to the barbarous nations. And the congratulation was not entirely unwarranted: one by one old superstitions, beginning with the belief in ghosts, sharnk back into their native night. Year after year saw new light thrown upon science, history and religion.

The people of the United tates were supposed to be possessed of all the enlightenment of the time, and nevertheless some twenty years ago, Joe Smith did set up for a prophet in the United States, and found such success as few of those acknowledged to have been worthy of being considered prophets encountered. As has happened to prophets in all ages, Joseph found but little favor in his own country, and finally sealed with a martyr's blood the faith which he taught, truly or falsely. A close investigation would perhaps show that no founder of a religious belief has met with such success, if all the cirsumstances be considered. Smith had nothing to commence with save his talent. He had no education, no wealth, no external aid, no propitious circumstances. Not even a reputation. He was looked upon as an idle, worthless fellow. He commenced to teach a new doctrine, not against a weak. poetical mythology, or a degraded idol worship, in dark ages among ignorant and credulous people, but against a multitude of zealius Christian sects, among a people strongly inclined to be incredulous.

And yet withing twenty years Mormonism has grown to be considered one of the most important phases of existing religious belief, numbers more than a hundred thousand believers among civilized nations, and is spreading more rapidly, in proportion to its numbers, than any other faith.

To account for this success is difficult. The best reason that can be given is, that Smith's talent was equal to the task. The Mormon prophets whould have us believe that the faith prospered because the Lord looked upon it with favor; but such reasoning would incline us to believe that the Lord has favored many different and inconsistent doctrines. The martyrdom of Smith, for such the execution deserves to be called, could not have had much influence. There was nothing in the Smith blood, or any other human blood, which could lend wisdom or success to the plans formed long before.

Mormonism was successful before Smith died, The true religious fervor had already taken possession of the majority of believers and apostles of the new faith. How little ground for the faith it boots us not to inquire: the faith was sincere and the persecution could not compel its surrender. By what magic power, by what kind of political management, by what kind of church government Smith gained and preserved his absolute power, it will be the duty of the future historian to explain; for as yet we have no book worthy of the subject. Smith is said by all men who knew him, to have been a man of wonderful talent. He was sociable, and even familiar with all, even the rudest of his followers; plain, straightforward and unostentatious in his manners, exceeding bold in his plans, ready in his wit and conversation, a very able talker, and an orator, but an unsurpassable debater, speaking invariably to the point, and with convincing clearness; and sure to make himself master, the favor of every person upon whom he exerted his powers.

Though many dounts might be entertained of Smith's talents, upon the testimony of those who knew him personally, there is little room for doubt, after considering the harmony and success of his system, when left to the care of others, long after his death. It is, besides, clear that no ordinary man could have commanded implicit obedience from such men as Brigham Young, Sydney Rigdon, Orson Hyde and Parley Pratt.

When these men acknowledged their faith, the prospect of worldly gain was but dim, and it was so distant that a keen eye was required to see its success, and since then, the path of the Mormon leaders has not been over a bed of roses. The supposition that Smith and his apostles were conscience of being impostora, is not without its difficulties, Imposture is something which does not thrive under dangers and difficulties. It seldom happens that a man will seal a lie for his own sake with his blood; and yet Smith did it. He was in constant danger of losing his life from the time he arrived in Missouri until he was shot in Illinois; yet he never swerved. He might easily have modified his doctrines, and by bending a little before the storm, have adapted himself to the circumstances, so that the Mormons would have lived in peace, and himself become, by the natural influence of votes, a man of high political importance...



From the Daily Alta California.

The Mormons of San Bernardino.

(under construction)




Note: The Editor of the Daily Alta California does not appear to grasp the cause for Smith's social motivation, methods and activities -- his boundless, self-centered ambition, his total lack of conscience, and his inability to admit his own iniquity. Nor does the Editor factor in to his estimation of Smith and his deeds the early and very substantial assistance given the man from such as accomplices as Rigdon and Cowdery. As a desperado who "was in constant danger of losing his life from the time he arrived in Missouri until he was shot in Illinois," Joseph Smith, Jr. would have been most unlikely to have so changed his private character and personal life, "that the Mormons would have lived in peace" with their neighbors. Had Smith not been shot by the Gentiles in 1844, he would have sooner or later (probably sooner) been executed by one of his own disillusioned followers. The seeds to Smith's inevitable end were sown over many years and that unfortunate demise was only briefly postponed in a continual round of secret sins, criminal cover-ups, and dangerous dodges, carried out by the most consummate deceiver of the 19th century.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., March 30, 1854.                   No. 10.



A  GRAVE  CHARGE.

We insert the article from the Missouri Democrat in reference to the murder of Gunnison's party, as a matter of moment, not to express any opinion of our own on the subject. We have no knowledge of the Mormon character, as it has shown itself in the renewed condition of that people, to warrant the inference, that they, and not the Indians, massacred Captain Gunnison and his party. Nor are we sufficently acquainted with the circumstances which led to their expulsion from Illinois and Missouri, to decide upon the justice of the popular judgment under which they suffered. -- It is due them, as well as to the Indian tribes around them, with which they are at war, that the most severe investigation should be prosecuted, to ascertain, if possible, the individuals who perpetrated the murder of the surveying party; inasmuch as doubts are expressed in a very intelligent quarter, and on suggestions from mountain men, who understand well the Indian character, and may know something of what their antagonists, the new comers in the Salt Lake country, as to the quarter from whence the attack came. It is not possible that the Government will allow such a crime to go unpunished, if the criminals can be detected; and justice requires, even if the general supposition be true, that Indians were guilty of the massacre, that it should be ascertained whether it was the act of the tribes, or of a banditti violating its wishes. If the intimation is to be indulged, that the enemies of the Indians contrived a plot to bring the vengeance of the Government of the United States upon them, it may be that close inquiry would elicit circumstances leading to a knowledge of the party employed in its execution. -- (Washington Globe).


Who Were The Murderers of Captain Gunnison
and His Party?

"The attention of the country has been most painfully aroused by the recent account of the death of Captain Gunnison, and a portion of the men under his command, while engaged upon the survey of one of the routes for the contemplated railroad to the Pacific. All the accounts concur in stating that the murder was committed by Walker's band of Utahs.

"Our present object is to call public attention to certain facts connected with the murder of Captain Gunnison and his party, which indicate that it was not the work of the Indians, as we were at first led to believe. We have conversed upon the subject with several old mountaineers, men who have spent a large portion of their lives in the Rocky Mountains, and who are familiar with the Indians of that region; and they have informed us that the facts and circumstances, as stated in the published accounts of the affair, indicate most strongly that it was not the work of the Indians. In the first place, the murder could not have been committed by the Pauvants, the tribe inhabiting the region of country in which it occurred, because Kern, and others of the party, were killed with firearms; and those Indians have no guns, and do not understand their use. The Utahs live remote from the spot where the tragedy was performed, and, besides, they are at peace with all white men, except the Mormons. Beale and Heap passed through the country of the Utahs without molestation of any kind. On the contrary, they were kindly received; game was killed for them; and the Indians informed them that they made war only upon the Mormons who had taken away their lands. Gunnison, also, had passed through the country of the Utahs, and they made no attack upon him. There are others, and still stronger circumstances, which, in the minds of those acquainted with Indian usage, are conclusive of the fact that the murder was not committed by them. Prominent among these, is the fact that the slain were not scalped. -- The scalp is the Indian's trophy. To the Indian warrior it is more valuable than booty. It is the proof of his valor, and confers upon him rank and distinction in his tribe. The accounts say that the bodies were mutilated; that both of Gunnison's arms were cut off; and one of Kern's. This proves that the authors of the deed were not so much hurried to have scalped their victims, if they had chosen to do so; for an arm is more difficult to remove than a scalp. Another circumstance is that notes, surveys, and other papers of the party were carried away. -- Papers are valueless to an Indian. He never takes them away, and usually scatters them upon the ground as useless.

"By whom, then, was this bloody and atrocious crime committed? Captain Gunnison's party were in the midst of the Mormon settlements, and we think there is more ground for suspecting the Mormons of the murder than there is for supposing it to be the work of Indians. Their acts in this State and Illinois show them to be utterly depraved; their morals are infinitely worse than any Indian tribe. We know of no Indians who tolerate adultery and promiscuous intercourse between the sexes. The Mormons not only tolerate these things, but make them a part of their religion. When the morals of a people are thus polluted at the fountain head, there is no depth of depravity into which that people may not sink.

"These people, moreover, have shown their determination to isolate themselves, and erect a government of their own, in the basin and valley of the Great Salt Lake. It will be recollected that they expelled all the United States officers who were not of the Mormon faith, and set at naught the judicial system of the United States, declaring the "church" was the paramount authority with them. They have driven out of the country all those whose religion differed from their own, and who had formed a purpose of settling there. They drove Bridger, an old mountaineer, who had lived in that country for thirty years, from his fort, and confiscated his property. They plundered and murdered a man who had kept a ferry on the Oregon road, outside of the Utah Territory, and, in fine, they have manifested a determination to stop at nothing in order to keep possession of their lands, to the exclusion of all other people, there to indulge in their detestable practices, abhorrent alike to all men, civilized or savage. With such views, it is no part of the policy of these people to permit an exploration of their country, for the purpose of finding a route for a railroad, which is to be the highway of nations, and if made, would bring them again under the observation of the civilized world. Indeed, it was the last thing they desired, and the very thing from which they were thinking to escape.

"This may account for the fact that the murderers carried away or destroyed the notes and surveys which it was the object of Gunnison's expedition to make, and which no Indians could have taken or thought worthy of destruction. It proves very little that the survivors of Gunnison's party should have thought that the attack was made by Indians. It was easy for the Mormons, supposing them to have been the perpetrators of the deed, to have assumed the garb of Indians. Nothing, in fact, could be more natural, and it is evident enough that the fugitives did not take time to scrutinize their assailants very closely. There was a strong motive for throwing the odium of it upon the Indians, for the Mormons, being at war with them, might justly hope that the United States would inflict a severe chastisement upon the guilty party, which would be, in effect, to fight the battles of the Mormons.

"We have shown, we think, that the motives which led to this foul and most atrocious murder were such as may well be supposed to influence a Mormon, while they could hardly operate upon the Indians. The Mormons have learned, by sad experience, that they cannot live in the midst of civilized society, and in subjection to the laws of a civilized community. Their known disregard of the rights of property, the laxity of their notions respecting the sanctity of oaths, the whole tenor, indeed, of their lives, are such as to render them outlaws of the human race. They cannot but clearly perceive that, if once a great highway is opened through their country the laws of the United States will be extended over it; the lands will be surveyed and sold to the highest bidder; and the Government will eventually fall into the hands of other faiths and other practices than those of the Mormons. They will again, as on former occasions, be driven forth to seek some asylum where they may fester in iniquity, without disturbing the repose of civilized society."



Grave Charges against the Mormons.

                                    Washington City, January 6, '54.

To the Editor of the Globe. --

Sir -- The Globe of this morning, contains an article which you have copied from the Missouri Democrat, by which the guilt of the murder of Captain Gunnison and his party is attempted to be fixed on the Mormons of Utah Territory. -- The charge is one of revolting cruelty, from which every Mormon would shrink with horror; but the mere accusation, by a species of reasoning only, may serve to incense the public against a community, in whose entire history no circumstance can be found to give even the color of a charge of bloodthirstiness; and hence an investigation by the War Department is imperiously called for -- not only to satisfy the public mind, but in justice to the Mormons themselves.

Sir, pained as I was in reading the published article, I nevertheless felt deeply grateful for your remark, that you had no knowledge of the Mormon character to warrant the inference that they and not the Indians, massacred Captain Gunnison and his party. The Mormons are not so isolated from the world as the writer of the article in question represents. They have among them many persons, who are engaged in commercial and other pursuits who adhere to the religion taught to them in their native States in the eastern part of this Confederacy.

The Mormons tolerate all creeds and desire to proscribe none; and being thus a mixed community, what escape could they expect from discovery if disposed to stain themselves with blood? -- The whole accusation is unsupported by a particle of testimony against the Mormons; whereas the accusing writer manifests a strong prejudice against them; and the communications from the survivors clearly fix the guilt on the Indians.

Another fact permit me to mention: -- Captain Gunnison did not visit Utah Territory now for the first time. He spent almost a year with Captain Stansbury, of the Topographical Corps, in Great Salt Lake Valley, about four years ago, while prosecuting their survey in that region of country. Much of the time was spent in Salt Lake City, when the season was too inclemental for field operations; and Captain Gunnison, I know, intended to spend part of the present winter in that city. His relations with the Mormons were very pleasant, and with him, in the service of Captain Stansbury, several Mormons were employed, one of whom accompanied them to this city to assist in the completion of their report. -- Besides, one of the murdered party was himself a Mormon

I have thus hastily addressed you. lest the published statement should obtain credence because it was not uncontradicted. The Mormons have no motive to commit such deeds; their lives afford no evidence that they are disposed to commit them; and I confidently relyon their entire exculpation, as soon as a proper examination can be made into all the circumstances of the lamentable catastrophe.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                    JOHN M. BERNHISEL,
                                           Delegate from Utah.


Note 1: The first published mention of Captain Gunnison's murder was in the News of Nov. 12, 1853. From there the story spread to various eatern newspapers, where it inevitably took on the flavor of having been a Mormon-engineered atrocity on the western frontier. Gunnison's widow accepted the probability of Mormon involvement and inserted allegations made by Judge W. W. Drummond to that effect into the 1860 edition of her husband's 1852 book, The Mormons. Part of what Judge Drummond has to say is evidently true, but Drummond may not be a fully trustworthy reporter of matters in Utah. Whether or not the LDS leadership played any role in arranging or facilitating Gunnison's murder remains debatable. Robert Kent Fielding has extensively researched the entire incident but his reporting stops short of placing the full blame with the Mormon leaders.

Note 2: The second mention of Captain Gunnison's murder was in the Los Angeles Star of Nov. 12, 1853. For some near contemporary remarks on the Gunnison incident, see also the 1856 edition of Benjamin G. Ferris' book, Utah and the Mormons. Ferris, while not charging the Mormon leaders directly in the Gunnison incident, feels that their vehemence towards the "Americans" at the very least encouraged Utah Indians to commit depredations upon Gentile interlopers, like Gunnison and his party of surveyors. He says, "There is a well-grounded belief that Captain Gunnison and their party owe their deaths to their persevering efforts in this direction."


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., June 8, 1854.                   No. 15.



D I S C O U R S E

By Jedediah M. Grant, in the Tabernacle,
Feb. 19, 1854, p. m.

I have been pleased with the remarks of Elder Hyde this afternoon... I say, from perusing these revelations, I have always been specially impressed with the doctrine relating to the power of Satan, as well as with the doctrines relating to the power of God....

If you read the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, you read about the power of Satan upon the earth -- the manifestation of wicked spirits. When was this special power of Satan more particularly made manifest? It has always been when the power of the holy Priesthood and the kingdom of God were upon the earth... For instance, there were spirit mediums in Kirtland, when the Church was first organized there by brother Parley P. Pratt and others; but when Joseph went with the Priesthood, the devil had to leave, for he had learned the power of Lucifer; and Joseph organized the Church, established the Priesthood, and set every thing right....

When Joseph Smith was alive, his declaration to me was as the voice of Almighty God. Why? Because he had the Priesthood of God on the earth; the Priesthood that is without father, without mother, without beginning of days or end of years, which is God's authority, the eternal power and right of the government of God upon the earth. I was subject to that government in the days of Joseph. Men used to talk on this wise -- "But would you believe in the Prophet if he should demand all your property?" Lucifer would suggest this idea to them. "No." says another, "I would not." "Suppose he should come to you, and tell you, you must sell your farm in the east, and go to Kirtland, and consecrate your property to the Lord, would you do it?" "No, answers his neighbor, "the Lord has no use for my property, I would not do it." "Well," says one, "do you think Joseph is right to dictate in temporal matters?" "No," There were quite a majority, I believe, in the days of Joseph, who believed he had no right to dictate in temporal matters, in farms, houses, merchandize, gold, silver, &c.; and they were tried on various points.

When the family organization was revealed from heaven -- the patriarchal order of God, and Joseph began, on the right and on the left, to add to his family, what a quaking there was in Israel. Says one brother to another, "Joseph says all covenants are done away, and none are binding but the new covenants; now suppose Joseph should come and say he wanted your wife, what would you say to that?"...

If Joseph had a right to dictate me in relation to salvation, in relation to a hereafter, he had a right to dictate me in relation to all my earthly affairs... What would a man of God say, who felt aright, when Joseph asked him for his money? He would say, "Yes, and I wish I had more to help to build up the kingdom of God." Or if he came and said, I want your wife?" "O yes," he would say, "here she is; there are plenty more."

... Did the Prophet Joseph want every man's wife he asked for? He did not, but in that thing was the grand thread of the Priesthood developed. The grand object in view was to try the people of God, to see what was in them...

Now Lucifer has philosophy enough and religion enough to suffer his agents to run along with the truth hand in hand, and make himself appear like an angel of light, and teach hundreds of true principles, if he can only thereby get you to swallow one item of false doctrine. But the grand story is, the devil may rage as long as he pleases, and use all the cunning and craft that he may, yet he never can overreach those who hold the keys of the Priesthood, nor succeed in deceiving them. This Joseph taught the people...

May God bless you with the truth as it is in Himself, and save you in His kingdom, through Jesus Christ. Amen.


Note: How Elder Grant was able to precisely distinguish between "Lucifer" teaching "hundreds of true principles," and "those who hold the keys of the Priesthood," he does not say. Presumably "Lucifer" never asked Grant to give up his wife for promiscuous intercourse with any "angel of light." On the other hand, "when Joseph Smith was alive," his demands along these same lines were clearly distinguishable (to Elder Grant, at least) "as the voice of Almighty God." One can only hope that Jedediah M. Grant always made the proper choices, when faced with such extraordinary circumstances in his early life as a Mormon.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., September 7, 1854.                   No. 26.



United States Troops.

Colonel E. J. Steptoe arrived in our city with his command, en route for California, on the 31st. ult. The officers under Colnel Steptoe are Major Reynolds, Captain R. Ingalls, quartermaster and commissary, Lieutenants Tyler, Mawry, Livingston, Chandler and Allston, H. R. Watt, surgeon.

There are about 175 soldiers, being two companies of artillery, and one of infantry, and about 150 employees or quartermaster's men, 100 wagons and carriages, and about 1,000 head of horses and mules.

It is understood that Col. Steptoe proposes hiring winter quarters in this city for his officers and troops, and locating the employees and animals in Rush Valley, about ten miles south of Tooele City. Rush Valley is an excellent place for wintering stock, and the animals will doubtless be in fine condition for the next spring journey.

We are indebted to the politeness of Mr. Perry, of the firm of C. A. and E. H. Perry for the above information.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                         G. S. L. City, U. T., October 19, 1854.                         No. 32.



LECTURE.

By Elder Orson Hyde, Tabernacle, Oct. 6, 1854, 6 p. m.

Beloved Friends and Brethren: --

It appears to have fallen to my lot to be your speaker at this time, and to call your attention to a subject that was proposed in the former part of the day.

At the time I gave out the appointment for this evening's meeting, my eye was fixed upon another person to deliver the lecture. I shall try to do the subject as good justice as my abilities, aided by the faith of the Saints and the Spirit of God, may enable me to do, I desire not only your candid and undivided attention, but I trust I shall also have your prayers, that the Lord may inspire me with those arguments and reasons that are well pleasing in His sight, that I may acquit myself before Him, if it may not be my good fortune to acquit myself so amply before you as my heart would desire.

While reflecting upon the subject of this evening's lecture, those words occurred to my mind, which our Savior spake to the Jews, who considered themselves righteous, and looked upon others with distrust and disdain -- in short, who looked upon others as sinners; to reprove them, he said, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

I do not know that I shall confine myself to this text particularly. Altho' I have repeated these words for the text, yet the text is not a guide at all times for the servant of God. It is the letter that killeth, we read, but; it is the Spirit that giveth life. The Spirit of the Almighty is the agent by which His servants should ever be led.

The words contained in this Bible are merely a history of what is gone by; it was never given to guide the servant of God in the course he should pursue, any more than the words and commandments of God, given to a generation under one set of circumstances, would serve for another generation under another set of circumstances. There must be something to suggest or to draw forth the command to answer the circumstance under which we are placed at the time.

It is so with the servants of God. There is a Spirit that is ever ready, and points out, under varied and conflicting circumstances, the very course which the servants of God should pursue. The Bible is not a sufficient guide; it is only the history of the people who lived 1800 years ago. -- The history of our Church in this day, presents the scenes and transactions of this people -- the revelations and words of God to them; but if an individual living an hundred, or eighteen hundred, years hence, under different circumstances, were to adopt the history of this people for his guide in all things, he would not find it sufficient to answer the circumstances surrounding him.

Hence, it is the letter that killeth, and the Spirit giveth life. In the light of that celestial agent I ever hope to walk. I hope that it may be not only my helm and guide, but yours also, through all the labyrinths and windings of this mortal life -- until we attain a standing upon ground celestial.

I have heard it remarked sometimes, by individuals who were not identified or connected with our church, that if they could only be convinced that polygamy was true, they would become Mormons at once.

Do you believe the Bible? "Certainly I do," says the inquirer. Did father Abraham and the ancient patriarchs live in this relation, and practise this doctrine? You say they did. Then if what they practised is true, you are bound to become a Mormon, upon your own hypothesis and reasons. But, gentlemen, if I knew that that was the all-convincing argument, and if that was the principal doctrine that alone influenced you to become a Mormon, I should at once say, let me never baptize such a person, let me never be the agent to bring such a person into the Church and kingdom of God.

God despises every character who would enter his church for no other purpose than to criminally indulge his natural propensities. Then, gentlemen, do not indulge the expectation, if you should be convinced by the arguments. I may adduce in favor of the doctrine of polygamy, as it is called, that that will prove a sufficient groundwork for your faith. But where is the ground upon which to base your faith? Where shall you go to find out Mormonism from the foundation to the top-stone, from the root to the uttermost branch in the tree? Begin at the beginning. If men wish to accomplish any work, they must begin at the beginning of that work, not in the middle of it, or at the end. I must begin at the beginning, and if I know that the first stone is laid upon a permanent foundation, I can then with safety add another to that already laid; but if I cannot lay the first stone upon ground that is solid -- if I cannot lay it upon a rock, I may despair of ever rearing a fabric or superstructure that will resist the rain and winds that may be hurled against it by the power of nature. We must begin at the beginning, and not content ourselves by grasping at that which may be beautiful in illustration and enlist our attention, and begin to build upon it as a foundation. In such a case we may have branches, but we do not bear the root.

I know that this doctrine is made the subject of a great deal of ridicule. I know that the world at large who profess to be pious, or, if not pious, morally upright, look upon it as a damning sin, as a stain upon the bright escutcheon of their country, here in the very heart of the United States territory, surrounded by tall mountains; they consider it a dark spot in the country's history. Many of the great politicians of the day view it in this point of light. Religionists are still more scrupulous -- they regard it as a heinous and damning sin.

I always consider it my duty, under proper circumstances, to give a reason of the hope that is in me, with meekness and fear; and if I have imbibed a principle, and am unable to defend it upon the principles of truth, justice, equity, and true philosophy, I should consider I was walking in the dark.

Whenever truth is manifested by revelation to the servants of God, it never comes without a reason for it. When the light of revelation bursts upon the mind, it not only unfolds one principle, but many. For instance, to illustrate this idea, suppose this room were in total darkness, and we were seated as we now are, if a brilliant light were introduced in the midst of the room, it would enable us to see not only one person, but the whole multitude.

So it is with the light of revelation. When it bursts into the human mind, it not only reveals one principle, but casts a halo of light upon all connected with it. An individual thus favored, walks in the light of Jehovah's countenance. I have a desire that in this light we may walk; and he whose eye is single, says the Savior, his whole body shall be full of light, and there is no darkness in him, nor occasion of stumbling.

What is the condition of the world at large, both religious and political, who regard us as being in the depths of sin, iniquity, and transgression? What are their customs? Go, if you please, to the large cities of every nation and clime. I have visited many of them in the four quarters of the earth, and in the islands of the sea. I have had some little experience in relation to these things, so far as common observation could give it to me, and I pretty well understand the manner of life of the world at large.

A man, for instance, who has the most riches -- the man who can command the most wealth -- I do not not say this is the case with all, but it is the case with the majority -- they not only have their wives and families with whom they publicly live and associate, but they also have in secret places their mistresses, whom they maintain not honorably, but under a cloak as it were. When by their illegitimate connections they are likely to increase their race, what means do they resort to, to save their credit, to keep their honor unsullied in the eyes of the multitude, to cover up their iniquity, hide their crimes, and smother their shame? A skilful practitioner is employed to destroy the embryo offspring. This is murder.

Nor is this the only means used to hide their shame, and save themselves from reproach. They may be successful in hiding their iniquity from the eye of man, but they cannot hide it from the eye of the Omnipotent Jehovah. Is there not a day coming when these acts will be searched out, and proclaimed abroad, and that, too, by a mind that penetrates the secret thoughts and intents of the hearts of the children of men? "What! is there indeed such a day approaching?" Yes. It may be hid for a little season from the view of the wicked, but it is steadily approaching, and will come as a thief in the night; and those very persons, both male and female, who often throw out their anathemas against the Mormons, against their course, and manner of life, will be overwhelmed with it.

Then how will apply the words of our text -- "Ye are they that justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is well pleasing in the sight of men, is an abomination to God." What is well pleasing in the eyes of worldly men -- men devoid of principle, and destitute of the righteousness of God? It is pleasing to them to hide and smother up anything that would tend to cast reproach and infamy upon their name. The blackness of their character they seek to conceal from the public gaze, and appear good Christians, and honorable men in society, men of principle, virtue, and integrity. If they can hide their shame, no matter what the expense or suffering caused in destroying the embryo coming into being. They care not to risk the life of her who would become a mother. All this is well pleasing in the eyes of unprincipled men, and that their iniquity should not come to light.

But that that is well pleasing in the sight of men, is an abomination in the sight of God. I will venture to say, that you may go into the most populous cities of the world, and you will find a considerable part of those who give tone to Christianity as it is in the world, standing in these miserable relations, under cover, and in secret. These things are true, and it is enough to pain the heart of the philanthropist, and wound the feelings of any man who is the friend of suffering humanity, to read their history, and observe their course. I would not follow them in all their filthy windings, were I able. Had I the discerning eye of an angel, or of a God, I would not wish to follow them up, and disclose to you the corruptions that are practised in the world, and all under the cloak of popularity, shrouded by high standing, and worldly authority; and thus they are protected in their unlawful relations.

I am not disposed to charge home upon the lawgivers of our country things of this kind; I will not presume to do it; yet at the same time, if I can credit their own statements in relation to the acts of one another touching these matters, it is enough to make the nations blush and hide their heads in shame, from such miserable, MISERABLE, corrupt proceedings.

But we do not wish to sustain our own position upon the corruptions of others -- our own position, as it is in the mind and revelations of God. God forbid that our faith should be founded upon the corruptions of the world. Our faith is founded upon the purity of the word of life, and there let it be grounded.

Well, now, friends and brethren, will you listen to me for a short time, and let me conduct you as far as I shall be able this evening, through the volume of inspiration that is universally acknowledged by all Christendom to be the word of God, the truth of heaven? Will you listen to some of the sayings contained in that book? And then say whether we possess the same spirit now that inspired the breasts of the ancients, whose history is penned upon these pages. Judge for yourselves whether it be so or not.

In the first place, then, we will look unto Abraham our father, and to Sarah who bore us, for if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Let any story be told of my father whereby dishonor is laid to his charge, or let any reproach be cast upon my mother, and if the feelings of the loyalty of a son towards his parents dwell in my bosom I will resist all such reproach. No matter how sinful they might have been, their sins must not be portrayed before me. I look then unto Abraham as nay father, and unto Sarah as my mother who bore me. How was it, then, with Abraham? He is said to be the father of the faithful, and the great head of the Church in the days of the Patriarchs, and the head of those who have been adopted into the covenant of Jehovah through the blood of His only begotten; for if we are Christ's then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. If, by the virtue of the Savior's blood, our sins are washed away, we are the children of Abraham; we hail him as our father, and Sarah as our mother; he is the father of the faithful, he is the father of many nations. How was it with Abraham? Did he please God, walk before Him uprightly, and obtain this testimony that he pleased God, and obtain promises that no other man has obtained since the days of Abraham, the Son of God excepted? Jehovah promised that in him and in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, as a pattern of piety, and as the great head of the Church. Because of his faithfulness in keeping the commandments of Jehovah on earth, he drew from on high this great promise. Who has lived since that time who has been thus blessed? I will venture to say not one. Then if we are his children, will we not do the works of faithful Abraham? So said the Savior, who ever spoke the truth, who ever declared the mind and will of his Father in heaven. Are we Abraham's seed, or are we bastards and not sons? That is the question.

Let us see what Abraham's works were. Abraham obtained promises. What promise have you obtained? What promise has the Christian world obtained ? "Why," says one, "the Bible is all full of promises made to the people of God long ago." But what have the promises to the people of God long ago to do with us? Have we obtained promises to ourselves? There is the point. If our fathers obtained promises that they should be fed, and were fed, their eating and drinking does not satisfy my appetite. It satisfied them, but that has nothing to do with me, I want the same kind of substantial food myself. If Abraham obtained promises, I want to obtain promises also. "What! A man that has more than one wife obtain promises from God?" I tell you there were but few in olden times who ever did obtain promises from God, that had not more than one wife, if the Bible be true. There was David, and there was Solomon; there were the whole line of the kings of Israel. Says one, "That Old Bible was for the Jews, and has nothing to do with us; that is the Old Testament; and having more wives was according to their law, and according to their custom, but it does not apply to us; the Savior of the world is our great pattern, he is our great lawgiver."

And how is it with him? Let us enquire. Did the Savior of the world consider it to be his duty to fulfil all righteousness? You, answer, yes. Even the simple ordinance of baptism he would not pass by, for the Lord commanded it, and therefore it was righteousness to obey what the Lord had commanded, and he would fulfil all righteousness. Upon this hypothesis! will go back to the beginning, and notice the commandment that was given to our first parents in the garden of Eden. The Lord said unto them, "Multiply and replenish the earth." I will digress here for a moment from the thread of the subject, and bring an idea that may perhaps have a bearing upon it.

The earth, you remember, was void and empty, until our first parents began at the garden of Eden. What does the term replenish mean? This word is derived from the Latin; "re" and "plenus;" "re" denotes repetition, iteration; and "plenus" signifies full, complete; then the meaning of the word replenish is, to refill, recomplete. If I were to go into a merchant's store, and find he had got a new stock of goods, I should say you have replenished your stock, that is, filled up your establishment, for it looks as it did before. Now go forth, says the Lord, "and replenish the earth; for it was covered with gloomy clouds of darkness, excluded from the light of heaven, and darkness brooded. upon the face of the deep. The world was peopled before the days of Adam, as much so as it was before the days of Noah. It was said that Noah became the father of a new world, but it was the same old world still, and will continue to be, though it may pass through many changes.

When God said, go forth and replenish the earth; it was to replenish the inhabitants of the human species, and make it as it was before. Our first parents, then, were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth; and if the Savior found it his duty to be baptized to fulfil all righteousness, a command of far less importance than that of multiplying his race, (if indeed there is any difference in the commandments of Jehovah, for they are all important, and all essential,) would he not find it his duty to join in with the rest of the faithful ones in replenishing the earth? "Mr. Hyde, do you really wish to imply that the immaculate Savior begat children? It is a blasphemous assertion against the purity of the Savior's life, to say the least of it. The holy aspirations that ever ascended from him to his Father would never allow him to have any such fleshly and carnal connexions, never, no never." This is the general idea; but the Savior never thought it beneath him to obey the mandate of his Father; he never thought this stooping beneath his dignity; he never despised what God had made; for they are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; kindred spirits, that once basked in rays of immortality and eternal life. When he found them clothed upon and surrounded with the weaknesses of mortal flesh, would he despise them? No. It is this, I have seen men who became poor and miserable all at once, and then those who were their friends in the days of their prosperity turn from them, and scarcely deign to bestow them a look, it being too humiliating to associate with them in their poverty. But it was not so with the Savior; he associated with them in other spheres, and when they came here descending below all things, he did not despise to associate with these same kindred spirits. "Then you really mean to hold to the doctrine that the Savior of the world was married; do you mean to be understood so? And if so, do you mean to be understood that he had more than one wife?"

The christian world by their prejudices have driven us away from the Old Bible, so we must now appeal to the New Testament, for that seems to suit the prejudice of the people though to me it is all alike, both the Old and New Testaments; for the scribe that is well instructed, brings out of his treasury things both new and old. This is my treasury, or rather, it is one of my treasuries, and what I cannot find there, I trust will come down from on high, and lodge in my heart. The gift of God is also my treasury, even the Holy Spirit.

Now suppose I should set out myself, and travel through the cities of the nation as a celebrated reformer, preaching revelations and sentiments as lofty as the skies, and rolling out ideas strange and new, to which the multitude were entirely unaccustomed; and wherever I went, suppose I had with me three or four women; one combing my head, another washing my feet, and another shedding tears upon them, and wiping them with the hair of her head. Suppose I should lean upon them, and they upon me, would it not appear monstrous in the eyes of the world? Would they ride me into Jerusalem upon our ass's colt, and cast branches of the palm tree beneath my feet, shouting, "Hosannah, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, hosannah in the highest?" I guess they would give me a coat of tar and feathers, and ride me on a rail; and it is my opinion they would serve the Savior the same, did he go about now as he did eighteen hundred years ago.

There is an old prophecy of Isaiah, which I cannot stop to read, but you will find it in the 53rd chapter of his prophecies; read the whole of the chapter. This particular prophecy speaks of Christ all the way through. It is there said, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." What constitutes the soul? The spirit and body of man united; for you know it is said in one place that so many souls were slain in the night by the angel of God. The immortal part was not slain, but a disunion of the mortal and immortal parts took place. When they shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. If he has no seed, how could he see them? When they make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." By and bye the prophet goes on to say, and who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken from the earth. If he had no generation, who could declare it. I told you there was an agent who would bring out every subject in bold relief, which is the Holy Ghost, who searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, and until that celestial agent should fire some man's heart to declare his generation, it could never be made known. "Who shall declare it?" He could not, for he was cut off from the earth. I have noticed the prophecy of Isaiah, that portion of it which was fulfilled in the person of the Savior, for the Lord divided him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Upon him was laid the iniquity of us all; he was numbered with thieves, and in his expiring moments he said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Now if one portion of this prophecy has been fulfilled, the other portion has, or will be.

How was it with Mary and Martha, and other women that followed him? In old times, and it is common in this day, the women, even as Sarah, called their husbands Lord; the word Lord is tantamount to husband in some languages, master, lord, husband, are about synonymous. In England we frequently hear the wife say, "where is my master?" She does not mean a tyrant, but as Sarah called her husband Lord, she designates hers by the word master. When Mary of old came to the sepulchre on the first day of the week, instead of finding Jesus she saw two angels in white, "And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord," or husband, "and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekeat thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." Is there not here manifested the affections of a wife. These words speak the kindred ties and sympathies that are common to that relation of husband and wife. Where will you find a family so nearly allied by the ties of common religion? "Well," you say, "that appears rather plausible, but I want a little more evidence, I want you to find where it says the Savior was actually married."

Have you ever read your Bibles? I must confess I have not read it for some time, but looked more to him who rules on high, and to those who hold the words of life in the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; I look to them more frequently than to it. I have once memorized the Bible, and when any one quoted one verse, I could quote the next. I have memorized it in English, German, and Hebrew, still I do not profess to be very familiar with it now, yet the sentiments and spirit of it are in my heart, and will be as long as I live, and still remain when I am gone to another sphere. When does it say the Savior was married? I believe I will read it for your accommodation, or you might not believe my words were I to say that there is indeed such a scripture.

We will turn over to the account of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Yes, and somebody else too. You will and it in the 2d chapter of John's Gospel -- remember it and read it when you go home. -- "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast, And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him" -- that is, the ruler of the feast saith unto the bridegroom, "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now."

Gentlemen, that is as plain as the translators, or different councils over this Scripture, dare allow it to go to the world, but the thing is there; it is told; Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, and he told them what to do.

Now there was actually a marriage; and if Jesus was not the bridegroom on that occasion, please tell who was. If any man can show this, and prove that it was not the Savior of the world, then I will acknowledge I am in error. We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into the relation whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified. "Has he indeed passed by the nature of angels, and taken upon himself the seed of Abraham, to die without leaving a seed to bear his name on the earth?" No. But when the secret is fully out, the seed of the blessed shall be gathered in, in the last days; and he who has not the blood of Abraham flowing in his veins, who has not one particle of the Savior's in him, I am afraid is a stereotyped Gentile, who will be left out and not be gathered in the last days; for I tell you it is the chosen of God, the seed of the blessed, that shall be gathered. I do not despise to be called a son of Abraham, if he had a dozen wives; or to be called a brother, a son, a child of the Savior, if he had Mary, and Martha, and several others, as wives; and though he did cast seven devils out of one of them, it is all the same to me.

Well, then, he shall see his seed, and who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off from the earth? I shall say here, that before the Savior died, he looked upon his own natural children, as we look upon ours; he saw his seed, and immediately afterwards he was cut off from the earth; but who shall declare his generation? They had no father to hold them in honorable remembrance; they passed into the shades of obscurity, never to be exposed to mortal eye as the seed of the blessed one. For no doubt had they been exposed to the eye of the world, those infants might have share the same fate as the children in Jerusalem in the days of Herod, when all the children were ordered to be slain under such an age, with the hopes of slaying the infant Savior. They might have suffered by the hand of the assassin, as the sons of many kings have done who were heirs apparent to the thrones of their fathers.

History is replete with circumstances of neck-or-nothing politicians dyeing their hands in the blood of those who stood in their way to the throne or to power.

That seed has had its influence upon the chosen of God in the last days. The same spirit inspires them that inspires their father, who bled and died upon the cross after the manner of the flesh.

"Well, but," says one, "there was certainly an injunction laid upon the Bishops in New Testament times, that they should have but one wife. This is brought up as a great argument against the position the Latter Day Saints have taken. In olden times they might have passed through the same circumstances as some of the Latter Day Saints had to in Illinois. What would it have done for us, if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in Illinois? They would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did. They may break us up, and rout us from place to another, but by and bye we shall come to a point where we shall have all the women, and they will have none. You may think I am joking about this, but I can bring you the truth of God to demonstrate it to you I have not advanced anything I have not got an abundance of backing for. There is more truth than poetry in this as sure as you live.

The Bishops anciently, in their office and callings, had a great deal to do with temporal matters -- serving tables, attending to the poor, &c. And inasmuch as so much trust was reposed in them of a temporal character, they were required to have a fair reputation, and must not stand in any relation that would in the least prejudice their reputation with the world of mankind.

In certain countries, plurality of wives is legal. Christendom think they are about everybody, and the "rest of mankind" are few and far between. I have travelled among nations and countries where this doctrine was tolerated by law, and I will venture to say, if we ware to take a walk through the world to-night and find out those who are in favor of, or against, this doctrine, the majority would be in its favor. Could the whole world be assembled here before me, and a vote taken upon this subject, they would give us the right of conscience in this matter.

Has not the Mahomedan a right to be in favor of it? Did not God make him? And is not his right as dear to him as ours? Why should we set ourselves up as a little family of nations in Christendom, and say to the rest of the great family of the world, "You shall not do so and so, and you shall do this or that?" Why should we be restricted in this matter, while the great majority of the world decide in its favor?

Take this question up upon political principles, and what do the majority of the world say about it? They establish our right. Then take it upon the principles of natural philosophy, and the truth of our position is made still more apparent. Had I language to portray to the most delicate ear the principles of our existence, and the laws of our nature, the most stubborn sceptic would be obliged to yield to the power of truth. I might take up the subject in this point of light, but I will forbear, I will spare you. If I had a congregation of men, I would not spare them one whit.

The Bishop is to be the husband of one wife. And as for old Paul, everybody says he lived and died a bachelor; but he said all things were lawful for him, and that he had power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other Apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas. Paul did not make known all things, for all things were not lawful to tell. He said himself, he knew a man that was caught up to the third heavens, and heard things unlawful to utter. If he did not take a wife, and multiply, and replenish the earth, he did not fulfil the first great fundamental law of nature.

There are many living now who are bachelors. I do not complain of the very old men, for they cannot help themselves at all times, but I am going to complain of the old bachelors; and I tell you what it is, if you do not step forward and marry, and try to carry on the great work of Jehovah, it will be left for a better man to do than you. (Voice in the stand "There is but one old bachelor in the Territory, and he has gone to the States.") O! I beg your pardon; President Young says he does not know of but one old bachelor in all the Territory of Utah, and he has gone to the States; therefore I have nothing more to say on this particular point. Look abroad, upon the world at large, and how many are there who are too niggardly to take a wife, and support her and her offspring honorably, and rear up a family that will reflect honor upon them in their old age! No -- they cannot afford to do this, but they go where they can gratify their fleshly desires, leaving the consequences altogether with the confiding females whom they dishonor, and who in that state despair of ever being reinstated in society with a good character, give themselves to prostitution, and in rottenness go down to a premature grave with ten thousand curses on the heads of their deceivers.

Do you suppose these things are going to escape the all-seeing eye of the Great Jehovah? And. will He not visit the guilty sensualist with a dreadful punishment? He will. Why not in honorable wedlock raise up offspring to glorify God? Why this niggardly disposition? No wonder the Lord Almighty sends the pestilence to lay them waste, and reduce nations and cities to ruins.

Brethren and sisters, it is for us to have the light of truth shining in our eyes, and honor that truth in all our intercourse with one another.

The Bishop shall have but one wife. If you were in a country where only one wife is allowed by law, then you would be obliged to have but one. What shall I say? A Bishop in England, where he knew polygamy to be contrary to law, must have but one wife; if you want another, and the law will not allow it, you must go where it is allowed by law. It was the case with the Bishops in olden times. We must submit to the laws of man until he shall reign whose right it is to reign.

This is the cord that shall revolutionize the whole world, and it will make the United States tremble from the very head to the foot; it is like leaven hid in three measures of meal until the whole is leavened. There is such a tide of irresistible arguments that, like the grand Mississippi, it bears on its bold current everything that dares to oppose its course.

Says one, "Why is it that men in your society may have more than one wife? What is the policy of it?" The men of God who hold the priesthood of heaven, and imbibe the light of the Holy Ghost, have the privilege and right. Now let me illustrate one thing, and let me bring it home to you. There may be some under the sound of my voice that the case will fit. Some man will perhaps marry a wife of his youth. She dies -- he loved her as he loves himself, and her memory ever lingers about his heart. He marries another, and she dies, and he loved her equally as well. He marries a third, and so on, and he loved them all. By and bye he dies, and he dies with devoted affection and love to them all.

Now in the resurrection, which of those wives will he claim? There is no difference in his love to any of them, and they have all perhaps borne children to him. He loves the children of one mother as well as the children of another. What say you? Which shall he have in the resurrection? Why, let him have the whole of them. To whom are they nearer allied?

There is a case opposite to this, where a woman married a husband, and he died, and so on, until she was married to seven husbands, and then she died. The question was asked the Savior, "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection!" for they all had her. The Savior gave a curious answer. Says he, "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God." Now tell me how the angels are in heaven, and then we shall have the secret.

It is said, "In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall see visions, and your men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophecy." You are praying every day, "Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You never can know how it is done in heaven, unless you can see it by vision; or the kingdom, when it does come, unless it is revealed to you by the spirit of prophecy, or in dreams and visions; then you know it.

This is the benefit of dreams and visions, although this power is lightly spoken of, and repudiated in the Christian world. The revelation of the Almighty from God to a man who holds the Priesthood, and is enlightened by the Holy Ghost, whom God designs to make a ruler and a governor in His eternal kingdom is, that he may have many wives, that when he goes yonder to another sphere he may still continue to perpetuate his species, and of the increase of his kingdom and government there shall be no end, says Daniel. How does the kingdom of God increase, but by the increase of its subjects? Everything increases, everything multiplies. As brother Benson said this morning, even the musquitoes of Nebraska increase and multiply. If they do, why not high orders of the creation have a better right? These musquitoes and insects are the result of a fallen world, but by and bye there will be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.

These men of God who are married here by the authority of heaven are sealed on earth and in heaven. The good old book says, that which is sealed on earth is sealed in heaven; and whosoever sins ye remit on earth shall be remitted in heaven, and whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. That priesthood that has not this power is no better than a rope of sand. The true priesthood alone possesses it. The priesthood that has not this power is a meek priesthood, and not the priesthood of the Almighty. Little did the world know when they treated the Savior as they did, that he held their destiny in his hands; the world knew him not; he came to his own and they received him not; but the time will come that they will know him, and the power of his priesthood.

When the servants of God and their wives go to heaven there is an eternal union, and they will multiply and replenish the world to which they are going.

It is not every man in the United States that can be the president, or that can be a governor, or a judge, but all are within the pale of the government of the United States, though they do not all bear rule; many are called, and few are chosen. But in yonder world those who bear the priesthood, and by their faith and obedience obtain the sanction of the Almighty, they are sealed on earth and in heaven, and will be exalted to rule and govern for ever; while those who would not listen to the holy commandments, and died without having a wife sealed to them, are angels; they are lower spirits, and servants to them that rule. Therefore, this family of old, which the Savior spoke of, saying, "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage," are not Gods, but angels, who neither marry nor are given in marriage, while the men that magnify their callings are they that bear rule, and hold dominion, and receive their crown, and are one with the Savior, as he is one with the Father. Hence, he that is faithful over a few things shall he made ruler over many things.

I have a few words more to say, and a great deal more can be said; for I have only just dipped into the subject a little. I want to say a few things more, and perhaps this is the most fitting occasion on which they could be said. You never see a Mormon man who bears the priesthood, unless it is some characters that only bear it in form, who are devoid of principle, who have transgressed, and have escaped being dealt with. I say you never see a true-hearted Mormon man running after a lewd woman; but there are women among the Latter Day Saints who are loose in their conduct, notwithstanding they have embraced the Gospel. We only wish to apply this where it belongs; do not any of you have your feelings hurt, for God knows I would hold the virtuous and good as sacred as I would my own life. At the same time I am bound to speak in plainness, and I feel that the Spirit is on me now, I am warmed with it, and it presses me to speak on this subject, and to speak it out. There are families in this town that have bowed externally to the yoke of Christ, but they are as corrupt as hell, and I can point where they are, in what direction they dwell. When I approach their habitations, I feel that they are an abomination in my sight. "Have you any tangible evidence of this?" Yes, I have, and more than I want, which I shall keep to myself, but the day will come when it will all come out. Do you see Mormon men running there? No. Wherever you find a house among the Latter-day Saints where no Mormon men go, you may know it is not all sound in Denmark. I will tell you whom you see there in particular -- men who fear not God nor regard man. What have I got to say concerning women that will come into the Church and kingdom of God, and bring dishonor upon themselves, and endeavour to bring it upon the whole Church, by cohabiting with those cursed scape-races who are passing through here to California, who make their boast of what they did in Great Salt Lake City? I know their secret talk in their chambers, for the Spirit of God searcheth all things. It may not be with me to the same extent all the time, but sometimes the whole vision of my mind is lit up, and I see and understand it all.

I am going to say something upon those who dishonor the Church and kingdom of God in this way. I will tell you what shall happen to those men and women who commit lewdness, and go and boast of it, and laugh in the face of heaven. The day shall come when their flesh shall rot upon their bones, and as they are walking it shall drop, and become a nauseous stink upon the highway. Now go and boast that you can get all you want for a dress pattern, or a yard of ribbon; go and boast of it, and the Lord Almighty shall curse you all the day long. (Voice in the stand, "Amen.") And when you step, chunks of your flesh shall drop off your bones, and; stink enough to sicken a dog.

I speak this to both men and women that practise this iniquity in the midst of this people; and if you do not refrain from such intercourse, this prediction shall begin to take effect, and by this you shall know whether I have spoken in the name of the Lord, or in the name of Orson Hyde. For such abominable practices to come in our midst under the robes of sanctity, because there are liberal, holy, and righteous principles practised by the Saints, I say, curse their habitation and their persons; and if this is your mind, let all Israel say amen. (The whole of the congregation at the top of their voices said, "Amen!") And let these contemptible wretches feel the Mormon spirit, not by Mormon hands, but by the power of God on high.

I feel charged with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and it burns in my heart like a flame, and this is the testimony I bear. If I do mingle in the streets with the crowd to engage in business as any other man, I am not always asleep, and insensible to what is passing around me. I do not profess to know a great deal, but some things I do know, and some things I do not know.

I have endeavored to illustrate this subject for the benefit of the honest inquirer, I have only just touched it, endeavoring to throw out a few hints for your consideration, that you may know we are not without some reason for our faith and practice touching the subject of polygamy. I wish you to mind the admonition I have given. I have given it to you in faith; I have given it to you regardless of consequences, for I ask no odds of any body, except of my Father in heaven, and of my brethren whose hearts I know to be pure; and I want to be identified with them in time and in all eternity, and with my sisters too; and wish to be exalted with them, and they with me, where the Saints may join hands after passing through much tribulation, and gaining crowns, to rejoice together for ever and ever.

I feel as though I had borne a faithful testimony, and I now say, in the presence of God and angels, that I have given the guilty persons warning, and my garments are clean from your blood. Take warning, and never do a thing that will throw dishonor upon the saints of the Most High.

May God add his blessing, and preserve us to His heavenly kingdom, which may he grant, amen.

After Elder Hyde sat down, President Brigham Young made afew remarks on the same subject, and as we are obliged to omit his remarks until another number, it will be well to preserve this, that you may have before you all at once all that was said on the subject that evening.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                         G. S. L. City, U. T., October 26, 1854.                         No. 33.



REMARKS.

By President Brigham Young, after Elder Orson Hyde had
Lectured on the Marriage Relations, Oct. 6, 1854.

I do not wish to eradicate any items from the lecture Elder Hyde has given us this evening, but simply to give you my views, in a few words, on the portion touching Bishops and Deacons.

In Paul's first epistle to Timothy, third chapter, he writes as follows: --

"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil: Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be preyed; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well."

I have read this that your minds may be refreshed, and that you may know how it does read.

Instead of my believing for a moment that Paul wished to signify to Timothy that he must select a man to fill the office of a bishop that would have but one wife, I believe directly the reverse; but his advice to Timothy amounts simply to this: It would not be wise for you to ordain a man to the office of a Bishop unless he has a wife; you must not ordain a single or unmarried man to that calling.

If you will read this chapter carefully, you will learn the qualifications necessary for deacons and bishops, and also for their wives.

I will simply give my views with regard to this matter, and then leave it.

I have no testimony from the Bible, neither have I from any history that I have any knowledge of, that a man was ever prohibited in the Church in the days of Paul from taking more than one wife. If any historian has knowledge to the contrary, let him make it known at a suitable time; but if such was the case it has not come to my knowledge.

I will now give you my reasons why it is necessary that a bishop should have a wife, not but that he may have more than one wife. In the first place he is (or should be) like a father to his ward, or to the people over whom he presides, and a good portion of his time is occupied among them. Still he does not wish to be bound up, or flooded with cares of this world, so but that he can officiate in his office, and magnify it to acceptance.

The office of a bishop is in his ward; and when he finds a man who is doing a good business as a farmer or a tradesman, and who has plenty around him, and is faithfully paying his tithing, he has no business there only to receive the tithing that man has to pay for the benefit of the kingdom of God; his business is more particularly in the houses of widows orphans, and he is called to administer to them in righteousness, like a father.

Paul, knowing by observation and his own experience the temptations that were continually thrown before the elders, gave instructions paramount to thisÑBefore you ordain a person to be a bishop, to take the charge of a Branch in any one district or place, see that he has a wife to begin with; he did not say, "but one wife ;" it does not read so; but he must have one to begin with, in order that he may not be continually drawn into temptation while he is in the line of his duty, visiting the houses of widows and orphans, the poor, the afflicted, and the sick in his ward. He is to converse with families, sometimes upon family matters, and care for them, but if he has no wife, he is not so capable of taking care of a family as he otherwise would be, and perhaps he is not capable of taking care of himself. Now select a young man who has preserved himself in purity and holiness, one who has carried himself circumspectly before the people, and before God: it would not do to ordain him to the office of a bishop, for he may be drawn into temptation, and he lacks experience in family matters; but take a man who has one wife at least, a man of experience, like thousands of our elders, men of strength of mind, who have determination in them to preserve themselves pure under all circumstances, at all times, and in all places in their wards. Now, Timothy, select such a man to be a bishop.

A bishop in his calling and duty is with the church all the time; he is not called to travel abroad to preach, but is at home; he is not abroad in the world, but is with the Saints.

When you have got your bishop, he needs assistants, and he ordains counselors, priests, teachers, and deacons, and calls them to help him; and he wishes men of his own heart and hand to do this. Says he, "I dare not even call a man to be a deacon, to assist me in my calling, unless he has a family." It is not the business of an ignorant young man, of no experience in family matters, to inquire into the circumstances of families, and know the wants of every person. Some may want medicine and nourishment, and to be looked after, and it is not the business of boys to do this; but select a man who has got a family to be a Deacon, whose wife can go with him, and assist him in administering to the needy in the ward.

These are simply my views in a few words on this subject, and always have been since I have reflected upon the doctrine that the fathers teach us in the Holy Scriptures. I will venture to say the view I take of the matter is not to be disputed or disproved by Scripture or reason.

I have no reasonable grounds upon which to say it was not the custom in ancient times for a man to have more than one wife, but every reason to believe that it was the custom among the Jews, from the days of Abraham to the days of the Apostles, for they were lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of whom taught and practised the doctrine of plurality of wives, and were revered by the whole Jewish nation, and it is but natural that they should have respected and followed their teachings and example.

So much I wished to say to my brethren and sisters. We have had a splendid address from brother Hyde, for which I am grateful. I feel in my heart to bless the people all the time, and can say amen to brother Hyde's last remarks. I know just as much about those matters as I want to know, and if I do not know more, it is because there is no more of it in the city. It is a hard matter for a man to hide himself from me in this Territory; the birds of the air, they say, carry news, and if they do not, I have plenty of sources for information.

I say to the congregation, treasure up in your hearts what you have heard to-night, and at other times. You will hear more with regard to the doctrine, that is, our 'Marriage Relations.' Elder Hyde says he has only just dipped into it, but, if it will not be displeasing to him, I will say he has not dipped into it yet; he has only run round the edge of the field. He has done so beautifully, and it will have its desired effect. But the whole subject of the marriage relation is not in my reach, nor in any other man's reach on this earth. It is without beginning of days or end of years; it is a hard matter to reach. We can tell some things with regard to it; it lays the foundation for worlds, for angels, and for the Gods; for intelligent beings to be crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. In fact, it is the thread which runs from the beginning to the end of the holy Gospel of salvation -- of the gospel of the Son of God; it is from eternity to eternity. When the vision of the mind is opened, you can see a great portion of it, but you see it comparatively as a speaker sees the faces of a congregation. To took at, and talk to each individual separately, and thinking to become fully acquainted with them, only to spend five minutes with each would consume too much time, it could not easily be done. So it is with the visions of eternity; we can see and understand, but it is difficult to tell. May God bless you; amen.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. 4.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., November 9, 1854.                   No. 35.



INCIDENTS
In the History of Joseph Smith.

                                                        G. S. L. City, U. T., Nov. 1st, 1854.

Mr. Editor, Sir, --

Sometime during our stay in Liberty Jail, an attempt was made to destroy us by poison. I suppose it was administered in either tea or coffee, but as I did not use either, I escaped unhurt, while all who did were sorely afflicted, some being blind two or three days, and it was by much faith and prayer that the effect was overcome.

We never suffered ourselves to go into any important measure with [sic, without?] asking bro. Joseph to enquire of the Lord in relation to it. Such was our confidence in him as a prophet, that when he said, 'Thus saith the Lord,' we were confident it would be as he said; and the more we tried it, the more confidence we had, for we never found his word fail in a single instance.

A short time before we were to go to Davis county for trial, word came to us that either General Atchison or Doniphan, would raise a military force and go with us to protect us from the wrath of that people. The matter was discussed by the brethren (except bro. Joseph), and they naturally enough concluded it would be best; and although I had nothing to say, I concurred with them in my feelings. Bro. Hyrum asked bro. Joseph what he thought of it. Bro. Joseph hung his head a few moments, and seemed in a deep study, and then raised up and said, 'Bro. Hyrum, it will not do; we must trust in the Lord; if we take a guard with us we shall be destroyed'

This was very unexpected to us, but bro. Hyrum remarked, 'If you say it in the name of the Lord, we will rely on it.' Said bro. Joseph, 'In the name of the Lord, if we take a guard with us we will be destroyed, but if we put our trust in the Lord, we shall be safe and no harm shall befall us, and we shall be better treated than we ever have been since we have been prisoners.'

This settled the question and all seemed satisfied, and it was decided that we should have no extra guard, and they had only such a guard as they chose for our safe keeping. When we arrived at the place where the court was held, I began to think he was mistaken for once, for the people rushed upon us en masse, caying 'Kill them; G-d d--n them, kill them.' I could see no chance for escape, unless we could fight our way through, and we had a thing to do it with. At this, bro. Joseph, at whom all seemed to rush, rose up and said, 'We are in your hands; if we are guilty, we refuse not to be punished by the law;' hearing these words, two of the most bitter mobocrats in the country -- one by the name of William Peniston, and the other Kinny, or McKinney, I do not remember which -- got up on benches and began to speak to the people, saying, 'Yes, gentlemen, these men are in our hands; let us not use violence, but let the law have its course; the law will condemn them and they will be punished by it; we do not want the disgrace of taking the law into our own hands. &c.'

In a very few minutes they were quieted, and they seemed now as friendly, as they had a few minutes before enraged. Liquor was procured, and we all had to drink in token of friendship. This took place in the court room (a small log cabin, about 12 feet square), during the adjournment of the court; and from that time until we got away, they could not put a guard over us who would not become so friendly that they dare not trust them, and the guard was very frequently changed. We were seated at the first table with the judge, lawyers, &c., and had the best the country afforded, with feather beds to sleep on -- a privilege we had not before enjoyed in all our imprisonment.

On one occasion, while we were there, the above-named Peniston, partly in a joke and partly in earnest, threw out a rather hard insinuation against some of the brethren. This touched Joseph's feelings and he retorted a good deal in the same way, only with such power that the earth seemed to tremble under his feet, and said, 'Your heart is as black as your whiskers,' which were as black as any crow. He seemed to quake under it, and left the room.

The guard, who had become friendly, were alarmed for our safety, and exclaimed, 'Oh, Mr. Smith, do not talk so; you will bring trouble upon yourself and companions.' Bro. Joseph replied, 'Do not be alarmed, I know what I am about.' He always took up for the brethren, when their characters were assailed, sooner than [for] himself; no matter how unpopular it was to speak in their favor. -- Yours, as ever.
                                        ALEXANDER MCRAY.


Note: It need not be supposed that the feather beds and decent treatment the Mormon prisoners received at Gallatin, came only out of the goodheartedness of the Gentiles living there. This was the same county seat the Mormon raiders had sacked and burned only a few weeks before. Since Atchison and Doniphan acted as Smith's attorneys, it is reasonable to assume that they put some financial resources (not spent on hiring extra guards), to use among a few of the residents of Gallatin, in order to secure proper accomodations and decorous handling for the Mormon prisoners.


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. IV.                   G. S. L. City, U. T., Thursday, March 1, 1855.                   No. 51.



DISCOURSE.

By President Brigham Young, Tabernacle, February 18, 1855.

... In my conversation, I shall talk and act as I please. Still I am always aware, when speaking in public, that there are those present who are disposed to find fault with this people, and to try to raise a prejudice against them; and they will pick up isolated words and sentences, and put them together to suit themselves, and send forth a garbled version to prejudice the world against us. Such a course I never care anything about; for I have frequently said, spoken words are but wind, and when they are spoken are gone; consequently I take liberties in speaking which I do not allow when I commit my sentiments to writing....

Before the Book of Mormon was printed, and immediately after Joseph Smith obtained the plates, and the revelations he received concerning this record being the record of the Nephites, and of the Lamanites, who are the fathers of the present aborigines of our country, and in which the Lord told him that He was about to set to His hand the second time to gather Israel, the war commenced against him; this was long before the book was printed.... It was priests who first persecuted Joseph Smith. I will here relate a few of the circumstances which I personally knew concerning the coming forth of the plates, from a part of which the Book of Mormon was translated. This fact may be new to several, but I had a personal knowledge with regard to many of those circumstances.

I well knew a man who, to get the plates, rode over sixty miles three times the same season they were obtained by Joseph Smith. About the time of their being delivered to Joseph by the angel, the friends of this man sent for him, and informed him that they were going to lose that treasure, though they did not know what it was. The man I refer to was a fortune-teller, a necromancer, an astrologer, a soothsayer, and possessed as much talent as any man that walked on the American soil, and was one of the wickedest men I ever saw. The last time he went to obtain the treasure he knew where it was, and told where it was, but did not know its value. Allow me to tell you that a Baptist deacon and others of Joseph's neighbors were the very men who sent for this necromancer the last time he went for the treasure. I never heard a man who could swear like that astrologer; he swore scientifically, by rule, by note. To those who love swearing, it was musical to hear him, but not so to me, for I would leave his presence. He would call Joseph everything that was bad, and say, "I believe he will get the treasure after all." He did get it, and the war commenced directly.

When Joseph obtained the treasure, the priests, the deacons, and religionists of every grade, went hand in hand with the fortune teller, and with every wicked person, to get it out of his hands, and, to accomplish this, a part of them came out and persecuted him....

Brethren and sisters, our friends wish to know our feelings towards the Government. I answer, they are first rate and we will prove it too, as you shall see if you only live long enough, for that we shall live to prove it is certain; and when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the "Mormon" Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it....

Corrupt men cannot walk these streets with impunity, and if that is alienism to the Government, amen to it. The Constitution of the United States we sustain all the day long, and it will sustain and shield us, while the men who say we are aliens, and cry out "Mormon disturbance," will go to hell. There have been officers here who were not fit to live in our midst, and they ran home, and raised the cry, "Mormon disturbances," "Mormon rebellion," "Mormon war," and, "Treasoners" but their day is over.

When a man professes to be my friend, and the friend of this people, he will take my counsel, instead of stirring up strife, and practising iniquity. I dislike the wilfully corrupt, and by and bye I will come out thunder-like, as I have done upon others when practising iniquity; and as I did upon a certain individual when he made his glorious speech, and insulted this people, from the highest to the lowest. I chastised him, and he ran off and reported as my sayings those which I did not say. It was told him, while he was on the plains, that President Zachary Taylor was dead and damned, and it has gone through the States, from side to side, that I said so. It was first given out that the "Mormons" said so, and then that Brigham said so ; well, I backed it up, because I knew it was true. I have just as good a right to say that President Taylor is in hell, as to say that any other miserable sinner is there. Was he any more than flesh and blood? I have as good a right to canvass him in a religious point of view, as I have to canvass the peasant upon the dunghill. He has gone there, and so have many others; and the Lord Almighty is removing the bitter branches, as foretold in the Book of Mormon.

The newspapers are teeming with statements that I said, "President Pierce and all hell could not remove me from office." I will tell you what I did say, and what I now say; the Lord reigns and rules in the armies of the heavens, and does His pleasure among the inhabitants of the earth. He sets up a kingdom here, and pulls down another there, at His pleasure. He walks in the midst of the people, and they know it not. He makes Kings, Presidents, and Governors at His pleasure; hence I conclude that I shall be Governor of Utah Territory, just as long as He wants me to be; and for that time, neither the President of the United States, nor any other power, can prevent it. Then, brethren and sisters, be not worried about my being dismissed from office...

But to proceed; the principal evil is in the rulers, or those who profess to be rulers, and in the dispensers of the law, and not the Constitution, it is pure. Even those who have evil in their hearts, when they contemplate the powers that be, as now exhibited before their eyes, when they think of them upon their beds, and in their most sober reflections, are beginning to realize that God is visiting the earth, that the Latter-day Saints are not as bad a people as they are represented to be by their enemies, that they are not disposed to be hostile to the Government, and that they are good people....

What happened when I chastised a runaway officer? I did not say one rash word to him, nor chastise him half as much as he deserved; but I told him what he was; and how he looked to me; what he was sent here for, and what he should be, if he magnified his office. Before the meeting was out the word was, "O! we are agoing to be driven; here is a mob coming." Said I, "Get out of my way, or I will kick you out; what are you afraid of?" "O! of the Government of the United States?" I replied, "Let me die and go to my Father in heaven, before I stoop to that abominable wickedness; I never will stoop to it, so help me God." What was the result of the course I then took? He was chastened, and our Chief Justice who is now here told him in Washington that he was chastened for his own iniquity, and said to him, "I expect they did not chastise you half enough." Do you suppose that I am agoing to crouch down and suffer this people to bow down continually to the rod of corruption? No. Come on with your knives, your swords, and your faggots of fire, and destroy the whole of us, rather than we will forsake our religion. Whether it is true or false is none of your business; whether the doctrine of plurality of wives is true or false is none of your business.... If you let "Mormonism" alone, I will promise that every honest man and woman in the United states will be in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and be governed by the law of God.

Let them take the counsel of the late Captain Gunnison, who was massacred by the Indians; he was convinced that it would not do to persecute the "Mormons;" for every time we were driven, we have succeeded beyond our most sanguine anticipations. ...


Note: The "fortune-teller" Young mentions is evidently Dr. Luman Walter, , who lived at Pultneyville (25 miles from the Smith farm), New York when Joseph Smith, jr. was growing up in that state. See also Young's discourse of July 19, 1857, where he speaks of the same "fortune-teller" atempting to obtain Smith's golden plates. Also, in a speech Young gave on Apr. 6, 1850 at Great Salt Lake City, he said: "I remember once at the commencement of the church, a necromancer embraced it, but he could not be satisfied; he came and said he had fingered and handled the perverted priesthood so much, the course I have taken is downwards, the devil has too fast hold of me, I cannot go with you" (Millennial Star, Sept. 15, 1850)


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. V.                         G. S. L. City, U. T., Wednesday, April 25, 1855.                         No. 7.



DISCOURSE
By President Brigham Young, Tabernacle, April 6, 1855.

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(REPORTED BY G. D. WATT.)

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Twenty-five years ago to-day this Church was organized with six members. More had been baptized by br. Joseph, but he having received a revelation to organize the Church, and only six members being present, they were all that were then incorporated. Many of the faithful brethren and sisters, who embraced the gospel of salvation in the early days of the history of this work, have no doubt often looked over the ground this Church has traversed, and have been enabled to discern the invisible hand of the Lord in the preservation of this people in the various scenes they have passed through....

This Church has lived twenty-five years and is not dead yet, although a great many of its members have gone behind the vail. Those who were first baptized into the Church have almost entirely left this stage of action. I presume there is not a single person in this congregation who embraced the Book of Mormon in the fall of 1829, or in the fore part of the year 1830. The Prophet, his father, and his brothers, except one, are gone behind the vail. I suppose that Martin Harris and Joseph's mother are living, but Oliver Cowdery has gone to his long home, and most of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon have died; and I know of but very few in these valleys who embraced the faith of the gospel in the early days of the rise of this Church...

I recollect many times when bro. Joseph, reflecting upon how many would come into the Kingdom of God and go out again, would say, "Brethren, I have not apostatized yet, and don't feel like doing so." Many of you, no doubt, can call to mind his words. Joseph had to pray all the time, exercise faith, live his religion, and magnify his calling, to obtain the manifestations of the Lord, and to keep him steadfast in the faith.

Do you not know others who had manifestations almost equal to those Joseph had, but who have gone by the board? Martin Harris declared, before God and angels, that he had seen angels. Did he apostatize? Yes, though he says that the Book of Mormon is true. Oliver Cowdery also left the Church, though he never denied the Book of Mormon, not even in the wickedest days he ever saw, and came back into the Church before he died. A gentleman in Michigan said to him, when he was pleading law, "Mr. Cowdery, I see your name attached to this book; if you believe it to be true, why are you in Michigan?" The gentleman read over the names of the witnesses, and said, "Mr. Cowdery, do you believe this book?" "No, sir," replied Oliver Cowdery. "That is very well, but your name is attached to it, and you say here that you saw an angel, and the plates from which this book is said to be translated, and now you say that you do not believe it. Which time was you right?" Mr. Cowdery replied, "There is my name attached to that book, and what I have there said that I saw, I know that I saw, and belief has nothing to do with it, for knowledge has swallowed up the belief that I had in the work, since I know it is true." He gave this testimony when he was pleading law in Michigan. After he had left the Church he still believed Mormonism; and so it is with hundreds and thousands of others, and yet they do not live it....


Note 1: The probable source for President Young's 1855 "Mr. Cowdery... why are you in Michigan?" account must be Phineas H. Young, his brother and the brother-in-law of Oliver Cowdery. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that Seymour B. Young subsequently reported something similar, having himself interacted with Oliver in Phineas' home: "An opportunity for baptism again did not present itself until I was eleven years of age... Just near by the bank of the creek where the baptism occurred lived my uncle, Phineas H. Young. I returned to his home after baptism, and there I met with a man somewhat famous in the history of the Church, namely Oliver Cowdery... He had left the Church some years after and had engaged in the practice of law. On one occasion an opposing counsel said: 'How can you listen to a man who has proclaimed that he is a follower of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet?...' Oliver Cowdery, after the gentleman had exhausted his tirade of ridicule, arose to his feet and said: 'May it please your honor, I was once a member of the Mormon Church. I was associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith, but through my own weakness I have been disfellowshiped by that people, and I am sorry that this ever occurred." And with tears streaming down his face, he declared that if the opportunity ever presented itself, he would again ally himself with the 'Mormon' Church." (April 1921 "LDS Conference Report).

Note 2: Since Seymour B. Young made no mention of Oliver Cowdery having resided in Michigan, while "engaged in the practice of law," it is quite possible that in 1855 Brigham Young mistakenly inserted that state's name, rather than the more logical "Wisconsin" or "Ohio," (both states in which Oliver Cowdery is known to have been "engaged in the practice of law"). Oliver Cowdery did reside in Michigan briefly, in the latter part of 1837, when he was vice president of the Monroe Bank, however he was not yet a lawyer at that stage of his life. Oliver may have developed some connections with people living in Michigan near the end of his life and he may have even visited that state -- none of which justifies the editorial remarks inserted into a transcript of Charles M. Nielsen's Feb. 20, 1910, by Deseret News editor Charles W. Penrose: "Oliver Cowdery studied law, practising in Ohio, Wisconsin and then Michigan, where he was elected prosecuting attorney."

Note 3: The most probable occasion for Oliver Cowdery to have been confronted over his name being "attached" to the Book of Mormon, would have been in Tiffin, Ohio, in about 1840, before he ever developed any ties with the local Methodist congregation. George Q. Cannon, in a discourse given in Salt Lake City on Sept. 18, 1881, said: "I heard it stated concerning Oliver Cowdery, that after he left the Church he practiced law, and upon one occasion, in a court in Ohio, the opposing counsel thought he would say something that would overwhelm Oliver Cowdery... but instead of being affected by it in this manner, he arose in the court, and in his reply stated that, whatever his faults and weaknesses might be, the testimony which he had written, and which he had given to the world, was literally true."


 



"Truth and Liberty."

Vol. V.                           G. S. L. City, U. T., September 5, 1855.                           No. 26.



CHURCH  HISTORY.
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Historian's Office, G. S. L. City, }          
Aug. 9, 1855.   }          
Editor of the News --

Sir: -- The enclosed correspondence not having appeared in the "People's Journal," I thought proper to present you with the rough manuscript, which you are at liberty to publish in your columns, if you think proper.
Yours respectfully,          
GEO. A. SMITH.      


Great Salt Lake City, }          
20th March, 1855.   }          
Editor of People's Journal:

By the request of President Brigham Young, I have answered your letter to him, bearing date Sept. 18, 1854, of which the following is a copy: --

Dear Sir: -- We are publishing a history of all the religious denominations now extant, their rise, founder, articles of faith, statistics, &c.

We have published several from the most able pens in the country, and our object in writing this, is to solicit your aid in this matter.

To be brief, will you write us a history of your church, or, 'the Latter Day Saints,' and oblige,   Your servants,
TONSLY & COWIN."      

which was long delayed in consequence of the irregularity of the mails, not one fourth of the mail matter due in this city having arrived for the last few months, which is owing to some neglect or derangement, we suppose, of the Post office department.

I have taken considerable pains to answer (from the best authorities at hand) as briefly as so extensive a subject could well be considered. I wish you to publish the History entire. If you do not choose to publish it entire and unaltered, please return it to me, as the Editor of the News has already requested me to furnish a copy, which I refused, as I intended it for yourselves.

Be pleased to furnish a couple of copies of the number in which it is published, one to Gov. Young, and one directed to the Historian's Office, and oblige,
Very respectfully yours,      
GEO. A. SMITH.     
Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.    



Joseph Smith, jun., was born in Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, 23d December, 1805; moved with his father to Ontario county, New York, and in the year1819 settled in Manchester; he was by occupation a farmer, and his advantages of education were limited.

At the age of 15 he began to reflect seriously on the necessity of being prepared for a future state of existence. He went among the different denominations that existed in that state and his mind became perplexed with the clashing and contention which existed among those who professed the name of Christ.

Disgusted with the confusion which his researches disclosed, and encouraged by the promise of Saint James: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him," he retired to a grove, and in earnest prayer besought the Lord to reveal the way of salvation; and while thus engaged he beheld two glorious Beings wrapped in a brilliant and glorious light, who informed him that all the religious sects of the present age had departed from the ancient gospel of Jesus Christ and his apostles, with gifts and priesthood, which should be made known to him in due season: many glorious things were shown to him in this vision.

On the 21st September, 1823, while engaged in prayer and striving to exercise faith, the room was filled with light surpassing that of noon day, in the midst of which was a person whose countenance was as lightning, and yet so full of innocence and goodness, and of such a glorious appearance as to banish all apprehension: he was an angel commissioned of God to inform him that the covenants with ancient Israel touching their posterity should soon be fulfilled, and that the great work to prepare for the second coming of Christ should now commence; the fulness of the gospel be made known to all nations; that the native inhabitants of America were a remnant of Israel, who had anciently enjoyed the ministry of inspired men; that records containing their history had been preserved to the period of their national degeneracy, and that those records had been concealed in the earth, and the Lord promised they should soon be revealed.

On the following day the angel returned and shewed him the spot where the sacred record was deposited. A small rock, projecting a little above the earth's surface, covered a stone box; he opened it and beheld the plates.

The angel said, you cannot at this time obtain them, and when they are obtained it must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord; they are not deposited here for the sake of accumulating gain or wealth, or for the glory of this world; they are of no worth to the children of men, only for the knowledge they contain, which is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it was given to the ancient people of this land. The stature of this personage was a little above the common size of men in this age; his garments were perfectly white, and they appeared to be without seams.

Much instruction was given by the angel to Mr. Smith during a period of four years, and on the 23rd of December, 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into his hands; they were engraved on plates which had the appearance of gold, each plate was not far from 7 inches by 8 in width and length, and not quite as thick as common tin, beautifully engraved on both sides in reformed Egyptian characters, bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, fastened at the edge with three rings running through the book: with the records was found a curious instrument called by the ancients the Urim and Thummim. By the gift and power of God, though its means he translated the record, which is the Book of Mormon. The first edition of 5000 copies was published by Joseph Smith, at Palmyra, New York.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized in Manchester, New York, on the 6th April, 1830, and was then composed of six members, who were baptized by immersion under the hands of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, who received the apostleship by commandment from God and the administration of heavenly messengers, and were the first elders of the church.

The Book of Mormon being printed, the church began to attract the attention of newspaper editors, who immediately opened their artillery against Joseph Smith, and the handful who had received his testimony. The tocsin of persecution was immediately sounded, and continued to increase with scarcely any cessation, during his whole life.

Through the labors of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery and other Elders, who had been ordained, branches were established in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, the British provinces and New England States.

A large branch of the church was established in Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio; and the spirit of persecution pursuing all the branches to a very great extent, the Saints commenced gathering to Kirtland; and soon after Joseph Smith, with several of the elders, visited Jackson county, Missouri, and commenced settlements of the Saints: Upper Missouri being at that time but thinly inhabited.

In June, 1831. a conference was held at Kirtland; a number of the elders were ordained high priests by Joseph Smith, he being president of the high priesthood and of the whole church, being called of the Lord, like unto Moses, a Seer, Revelator, Translator, and Prophet; and it was his privilege to have two counselors, to act as assistant Presidents, which form the First Presidency of the Church.

In June, 1832, W. W. Phelps & Co. commenced printing a monthly periodical at Independence, Missouri, devoted expressly to the spreading of the principles of the Gospel, and publishing the revelations of God to the Church.

A Mercantile house was established by the firm of A. S. Gilbert & Co., and several hundreds of farms were opened, and mills and many extensive improvements commenced.

The elders continued to preach with unabated zeal, notwithstanding they were constantly subjected to abuse.

On March 25, 1832, Joseph Smith and Elder Sidney Rigdon were dragged from their beds at midnight, in the town of Hiram, Portage county, Ohio, daubed with tar and feathers, and severely injured. Aqua fortis was poured into President Joseph Smith's mouth, and he was held by the throat until left for dead. One of his children was sick with the measles, and being in bed with him at the time of the outrage, was thereby exposed to the night air, and died almost immediately. She may, therefore, be called the first martyr of this dispensation.

In June, 1833, a commencement was made for the building of a Temple in Kirtland.

On the 22nd [sic -20th?] July, 1833, the printing office of W. W. Phelps, at Independence, Missouri, was surrounded by a mob of about five hundred men; the press was destroyed, the type pied, and the house, a two story brick building, pulled down. Loss of property, $6,700. This mob violence continued from day to day.

Edward Partridge, the presiding bishop of the Church, was publicly stripped, and tarred and feathered on the public square, in the presence of several hundred spectators.

Mr. Charles Allen, a member of the church, received the same compliment; the tar was mixed with some corrosive substance.

The store of Gilbert and Whitney was broken open, their goods promiscuously scattered in the streets -- lives threatened,individuals whipped, and a great number of houses unroofed by parties visiting the different settlements: upwards of two hundred houses were destroyed by fire, and 1500 persons driven from their homes and scattered into the adjoining counties, principally into Clay, without any means of subsistence, a great number having perished from wounds, bruises and exposure.

As the Saints were scattered along the banks of the Missouri River, a plot was laid by a party of the mob to murder all who should be left on the Jackson side. On the morning of the 13th of October [sic - November?], very early, they beheld the wonderful meteoric phenomenon of the stars falling from heaven, which caused the hearts of the Saints to rejoice, and the mob to abandon their purpose; some of the mobbers were so affected by the sight that they wept, believing the day of judgment at hand. I am sorry to say that clergymen of various denominations sanctified these deeds of cruelty by their presence and participation.

In the fall of 1833 a printing press was established in Kirtland, Ohio, where Oliver Cowdery commenced the republication of the Evening and Morning Star.

In 1834, Joseph Smith, accompanied by 205 men, visited Clay County, Missouri, and attempted to bring about a reconciliation with the people of Jackson. His Excellency Daniel Dunklin, then Governor of Missouri, notified the Legislature in his annual message, that the means of enforcing the laws, both civil and military, were so insufficient that the Mormons could not be protected in the state. He had previously written to Col. J. Thornton, under date of 6th June 1834, as follows: "I am fully persuaded that the eccentricity of the religious opinions and practices of the Mormons, is at the bottom of the outrages committed against them."

By industry, ecconomy and prudence, the Saints in Clay and the adjoining counties had begun to acquire wealth and to enjoy prosperity, and were enabled to purchase considerable tracts of land; this aided the Jackson county mob to raise an excitement in Clay county. Public meetings were held, and the Saints notified by their official resolutions, that they must cease to make improvements in Clay county, or to purchase other lands; and required them to leave the county of Clay. A location was accordingly made in a new, uninhabited, naked prairie country, destitute of timber, by the unanimous consent of the mob, who said it was fit for nothing else but the Mormons. The Saints of Clay county purchased the lands of the government, and moved immediately into Caldwell.

In 1834, Joseph Smith, senior, was set apart as Patriarch over the whole Church to bless the fatherless.

On the 14th February, 1835, Joseph Smith, by a commandment of God, selected and ordained Twelve Apostles, to be special witnesses in all the world of the fulness of the gospel, and to preside over the church in all cases when the Presidency was absent; and during the year 1835 they visited the States east of Ohio, and also the British Provinces, comforting the scattered branches, preaching the gospel, and building up new branches. Many hundreds were baptized during the season. About the same time, he also ordained a quorum of seventy elders for the same purpose, many of whom devoted the most of their time to traveling and preaching, going forth "without purse or scrip."

The Temple in Kirtland was so far completed as to be dedicated on March 27, 1836, 416 elders being present in a general council on the evening of the dedication. This Temple is a stone building, 80 feet by 60, the walls 50 feet high, and the tower 110 feet high. There are two main halls, 55 feet by 65 in the inner court, four vestries in the front, and five school rooms in the attic. The whole building was well finished, and a fine specimen of architecture.

In June, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding started from Kirtland on a mission to the British Islands. They arrived in England on the 20th of July, without a farthiLg in their pockets, and on the 23rd commenced preaching in Preston. At Christmas the church had extended from Preston to Penwortham, Longton, Southport, Eccleston, Whittle and Hunter's Hill, the number of members amounting to about one thousand.

In 1837 the greater portion of the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, moved to Missouri, and settled in Caldwell, Daviess, Clinton, Carroll and Ray counties. The county of Caldwell had been organized, and the city of Far West established.

In December the printing office in Kirtland was destroyed by fire, the work of an incendiary.

In the spring of 1838, the emigration to Missouri continued, most of the Saints leaving Kirtland. The foundation of a town was laid on Grand River, in Daviess county, called Adam-ondi-ahman. Several hundred thousand acres of land had been entered at the land office, and some two thousand large and flourishing farms opened thereon. A village was also commenced in Carroll county, on the Missouri river, called De Witt.

Caldwell County in three years, from a naked prairie, had become one of the most flourishing counties in the State. A foundation was laid for a Temple at Far West, 110 feet long by 80 wide, a printing office established, and a monthly paper called the 'Elders Journal' published. In August 1838 at an election held in Galatin, Daviess county, a barrel of whiskey was rolled out, and the crowd invited to drink heartily and prevent the Mormons from voting. A riot ensued, which ended in knocking down three Mormons -- (eight only being present) -- and in 23 of the mob being carried off in a degree of helplessness. One of the Mormons was stabbed. Immediately the tocsin of Mobocracy was again sounded, and several hundred men assembled at Millport, swearing extermination against the Saints. They were soon dispersed by the interferencc of Gen. Doniphan, but it was only to shift their quarters. They removed to De Witt, in Carroll County, and drove out its inhabitants, robbing them, of their property. Many of the Saints perished from want and suffering, and the remnant escaped into Caldwell.

The mob again renewed their operations in the county of Daviess, filling the country with false reports; but finding their undertaking likely to fail, Lilburn W. Boggs, then the Executive of Missouri, issued an order for the extermination of the Mormons from the free Republic of Missouri; and ordered Major General Clark, with 13,000 men to proceed immediately to Far West, and put the cruel decree into execution. This force immediately proceeded to the settlements of the Mormons; who being but few in number comparatively, and finding themselves opposed by the executive order of the State, and consequently by the form of legal proceedings, made no resistance to this military force, although they would have fought the whole of them had they continued in their true colors as a mob. -- Under pledges of peace and protection, men, women and children were indiscriminately massacred, women ravished, houses plundered, horses stolen, cattle and hogs shot in their pens for sport, corn fields robbed, thousands of acres of grain destroyed by turning horses into the fields, and fences burnt up. Several hundred persons were driven in a defenceless condition into a hollow square of armed fiends, and compelled to sign away their property to the Republic of Missouri, to defray the expenses which had been incurred in committing these crimes. -- About seventy of the brethren were selected for the purpose of execution; public notice was given that they would be put to death, and the residue permitted to go home, take their families, and leave the State immediately on pain of death.

On the 1st of Nov. 1838, Joseph Smith and his comrades were tried by Court Martial, without their being present, or allowed to make any defence, and sentenced to be shot. The order for their execution was given by Major General Lucas as follows: --
"Brigadier General Doniphan: -- Sir, you will take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square of Far West, and Shoot them at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning.
Doniphan possessing a knowledge of law, and having a good share of humanity, replied, -- "It is cool blooded murder! I will not obey your order; my Brigade shall march for Liberty to-morrow morning at 8 o'clock. And if you execute those men, I'll hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God."

Thus the lives of the prisoners wore saved. -- The scene that followed beggars description; language is inadequate to describe it. Imagine fifteen thousand people, embracing all ages, sexes and conditions, driven in midwinter from everything they possessed; destitute, hungry, naked, homeless and friendless, across trackless prairies; scattered two and three hundred'miles from their homes, which they had erected on lands purchased from the Government of the United States, and under the protection of the American flag, driven across the Mississippi River, hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- perished during the winter, spring and summer, because of this exposure. The men, in consequence of their over exertion and anxiety, failed first, leaving widows and orphan children still to suffer.

Notwithstanding the violent feelings of the people of Missouri against the Mormons, they suffered Joseph Smith, and other Elders who had been in prison for six months (and a part of the time fed upon human flesh) to leave the State as soon as the Mormons had all left.

President Smith immediately went to Washington, and made applications to the President of the United States, and to Congress, for redress, and the most favorable reply was that of Mr. Van Buren, then President of the United States: 'Your cause just, but Government can do nothing for you.' Senator Clay coldly remarked, 'You had better go to Oregon.' Senator Calhoun said, 'It involves a nice question, the question of States rights; it will not do to agitate it;' and the Senate committee of Congress reported it was none of their business.

The scattered remnant, not disheartened tho' persecuted, clustered round President Smith, and commenced building the City of Nauvoo, in Hancock county, Illinois, a point so sickly that two unsuccessful attempts had been made to settle it, only a few families living there; yet their burying yard contained such a number of graves as might frighten a new settler from the State of New York, even if there had been three thousand inhabitants.

On 14 Sep. 1840, the Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sen., worn out with exposure and toil, died at Nauvoo, and Hyrum Smith, his eldest son, who had previously received ordination and blessing under his Father's hands, was acknowledged Patriarch over the whole Church.

The bluffs around were put into cultivation, the swamps drained, and in a few years it became as healthy in Nauvoo as any part of Illinois.

Missouri, however, not content with her wholesale system of robbery and extermination against the Saints, commenced a series of vexatious lawsuits against them as soon as they became satisfied that they would not all die on the Mississippi.

In 1841, Joseph Smith was demanded, from the Governor of Illinois, and a writ issued by him for his apprehension; a writ of habeas corpus at was issued, the case was investigated at Monmuouth, before Judge Stephen A. Douglass, and the arrest declared illegal.

This proceeding, including the expense of counsel, fees of attendants as witnesses, &c., cost, upwards of three thousand dollars; no inconsiderable sum for a person who had just been robbed of his all.

Dissatisfied with the result of legal proceedings, Missouri commenced a system of kidnapping, by which means a number of individuals were carried forcibly without form of law, into that State, whipped, imprisoned, some of them hung by the neck and otherwjse tortured.

The sum of $200,000 was appropriated by the Legislature of Missouri to defray, the expenses of the Mormon massacres, the plundered property not being considered sufficient to pay the robbers.

In 1842, a new demand was made by the Governor of Missouri. Joseph Smith was again arrested, and an attempt made to kidnap him into that State. A writ of habeas corpus was obtained from the U. S. District Court for the State of Illinois. Judge Pope heard the case in Springfield, and decided the proceedings illegal, and Missouri had no claim on him, and ordered it entered on the docket that he should be troubled no more in the matter; this proceeding altogether cost $12,000.

A foundation had been laid for a Temple in the city of Nauvoo. A charter had been obtained for the city, conferring liberal powers upon the City Council. A University, and Manufacturing Association incorporated. A Legion also chartered. The University was organized and put in operation in several departments. The Manufacturers Association commenced the erection of large buildings for the manufacture of pottery. Thousands of people flocked in from every part of the United States and the British Isles. Streets were opened, hundreds of fine buildings erected, and a company incorporated for the purpose of building an extensive hotel, with a capital of $200,000. A considerable amount of stock was sold, and the basement story of the building, with 240 feet front was finished. An extensive printing establishment, stereotype foundry, and book bindery, put in operation, two Masonic Lodges established, a large and commodious Masonic Temple was built. Several flourishing villages of the Saints were established in different parts of Hancock and neighboring counties, as well as in Iowa. Joseph Duncan, an aspiring party leader, anxious to become Governor of Illinois, took the stump at Edwardsville, and from that visited different parts of the State, rousing all the vile passions and religious prejudices that could exist against the Sainta, promising that if he could be elected Governor of Illinois, he would exterminate the Mormons; this formed an extensive anti-Mormon party, who although unsuccessful in the election which elevated Thomas Ford to the executive chair, continued its operations.

In June 1843, Joseph Smith was arrested at Inlet Grove, Lee county, Illinois, by officers Reynolds and Wilson, by virtue of a writ from Gov. Ford...
(under construction)


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 17.                    Great Salt Lake City, Wed., July 2, 1856.                    Vol. VI.



CORRESPONDENCE.
_______

CAPTAIN A. O. SMOOT'S COMPANY.

                                  10 Miles west Fort Kearney,
                                             May 29, 1856.

Editor Deseret News:

Since leaving Laramie we have made fair progress, and the camp has enjoyed the best of health.

At the crossing of the South Fork we met the first California emigration, and since then we have passed trains almost hourly. Yesterday we met about 2000 head of cattle, and every company has a large herd. We have also passed several government trains freighted with corn for General Horney's command.

We have seen no buffalos on the road, and have killed but very little game of any kind. From appearances the emigration on the north side of the Platte far exceeds that on the south.

We have not seen any Indians since we left the vicinity of Fort Laramie.

May 30. -- We have found the road to-day literally filled with emigrant trains, so much so as to crowd us much of the time out of the track. The rumor is that the Mormon emigration is tremendous; 5000 are said to be fitting up at Omaha city, and as mant more at other points.     GEO. A. SMITH.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 18.                    Great Salt Lake City, Wed., July 9, 1856.                    Vol. VI.



HISTORY  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH.
_______

APRIL, 1843.

Sunday, 2. -- Wind N. E. Snow fell several inches, but melted more or less.

At 10 a. m. went to meeting: heard Elder O. Hyde preach, -- comparing the sectarian preachers to crows living on carrion, as they were more fond of lies about the Saints than the truth. Alluding to the coming of the Savior, he said, -- "when he shall appear we shall be like him, &c.; he will appear on a white horse as a warrior, and maybe we shall have some of the same spirit; our God is a warrior. John 14 ch., 2 and 3 v. It is our privilege to have the Father and Son dwelling in our hearts, &c."

We dined with my sister Sophronia McCleary; when I told Elder Hyde that I was going to offer some corrections to his sermon this morning; he replied, "they shall be thankfully received."

When the Savior shall appear, we shall see him as he is; we shall see that he is a man like ourselves, and that the same sociality which exists among us here, will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy. 14 John 2, 3 v. The appearing of the Father and the Son in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart, is an old sectarian notion, and is false.

In answer to the question, "Is not the reckoning of God's time, angel's time, prophet's time, and man's time according to the planet on which they reside?" I answer, yes; but there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong, or have belonged to it. The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth, but they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future; and are continually before the Lord. The place where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim. This earth in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be Christ's. Then the white stone mentioned in Revelations ch. 2, v. 17, will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one, whereby things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms, even all kingdoms, will be made known; and a white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth, save he that receiveth it. The new name is the key word.

I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man, will be in South Carolina (it probably may arise through the Slave question); this voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject: December 25th, 1832.

I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: "Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man, therefore let this suffice and trouble me no more on this matter." I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium, or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face. I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than thattime.

At 1 p. m., attended meeting, I read the fifth chapter of Revelations, referring particularly to the sixth verse, showing from that, the actual existence of beasts in heaven: probably those were beasts which had lived on another planet, and not ours. God never made use of the figure of a beast to represent the kingdom of heaven: when it is made use of, it is to represent an apostate church. This is the first time I have ever taken a text in Revelations, and if the young elders would let such things alone it, would be far better.

Then corrected Elder Hyde's remarks, the same as I had done to him privately.

At the close of the meeting, we expected to start for Carthage, but the bad weather prevented; so I called another meeting in the evening.

Between meetings I read in Revelations with Elder Hyde, and expounded the same, during which time several persons came in and expressed their fears that I had come in contact with the old scriptures.

At 7 o'clock meeting, I resumed the subject of the beast, -- shewed very plainly that John's vision was very different from Daniel's prophecy -- one referring to things actually existing in heaven, the other being a figure of things which are on earth.

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection; and if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life, through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit: were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us. A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him.

What is the meaning of the scripture; he that is faithful over a few things shall be made ruler over many, and he that is faithful over many, shall be made ruler over many more? What is the meaning of the parable of the ten talents? Also, the conversation with Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and of the spirit? -- were questions put to me which I shall not answer at present.

I closed by flagellating the audience for their fears, and called upon Elder Hyde to get up and fulfill his covenant to preach three quarters of an hour, otherwise I would give him a good whipping.

Elder Hyde arose and said, "Brothers and sisters, I feel as though all had been said that can be said, I can say nothing but bless you."

At the close of the meeting, we returned to B. F. Johnson's, where we slept; and I remarked that the hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, are the priests who should be anointed to administer in the daily sacrifice.

D. B. Huntington returned, having had a very cold and severe journey. The ice in Chicago Harbor was three feet thick -- brought me a letter from Mr. Justin Butterfield.

Monday, 3. -- Miller's day of judgment has arrived, but it is too pleasant for false prophets....


Note: The words: "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man, will be in South Carolina (it probably may arise through the Slave question); this voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject: December 25th, 1832" appear to be an 1856 editorial expansion of William Clayton's Nauvoo Journal entry for April 2, 1843: "Once when prest. Joseph was praying ernestly to know concerning the wars which are to preceed the coming of the son of man, he heard a voice proclaim that the first outbreak of general bloodshed would commence at South Carolina -- see Revelation."


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 21.                    Great Salt Lake City, Wed., July 30, 1856.                    Vol. VI.


 

CARSON. -- Elder Hyde writes from Wassah Valley, Carson co., July 2, that the people were generally well, and most of the new settlers had arrived. Flour was selling at from 15 to 20 cents a pound, and the present crop would be rather below par, on account of drouth. Elder Hyde was very busily engaged in erecting a saw-mill.


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 22.                    Great Salt Lake City, Wed., August 6, 1856.                    Vol. VI.


 

HON. GEORGE A. SMITH, delegate to Washington, writes at St. Louis, June 17, that himself and the missionaries in Captain Smoot's company arrived in that city on the 12th June, after a prosperous journey and a pleasant trip down the Missouri. Our State Constitution had been published in many papers, and was generally well spoken of...

Elder Smith's gealth had materially improved, and all in that company were enjoying good health and excellent spirits. He arrived in Washington on the 21st of June, in company with Elders E. T. Benson and O. Pratt, who expected to sail for Liverpool on the following Wednesday... Marshal Heywood and Elder A. Grow reached Washington June 23d.



TWO NEW STATES COMING INTO THE UNION. -- Kansas and Deseret both appear to be preparing to knock at the doors of Congress for admission. But how differently do they present themselves as suppliants. Kansas comes forward with bowie knives, rifles and land jabbers, with hands stained with blood, murder and arson, and fresh from the conflicts between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. On the other hand, Deseret, which is peopled by the Mormons, who for their religious opinion, were driven out of Missouri, banished from Illinois, and driven beyond the Rocky Mountains, has gradually and quietly, without trouble or conflict, and by the efforts of its own energy and industry alone, grown into an important community; and after peaceably adopting a new constitution, its delegates are now on their way to Washinhton to claim its admission into the Union. And yet Deseret, although presenting such an example of industry, sobriety and piety, will no doubt be set down by the present Congress as an immoral, dangerous and wicked community, while Kansas will be fought for, quarrelled about, and probably admitted to a [c---------] with the rest of the States. -- (N. Y. Herald, June 1.)

The Chicago Weekly Democratic Press of the 17th inst. on this subject says:

"Leaving out of view the social peculiarities of [Mormonism], it is very [p-----] that the people of Utah [should ------] admission to the Union. In the first place, we [p-----------] that the Territory...[remainder illegible]


Notes: (forthcoming)


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 26.                    Great Salt Lake City, Wed., September 3, 1856.                    Vol. VI.



HISTORY  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH.

MAY, 1843.

... Monday, May, 1 .-- I rode out with Lucien Woodworth, and paid him £20 for the Nauvoo House, which I borrowed of William Allen.

I insert fac-similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. R. Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton and were covered on both sides with ancient characters.





Notes: (forthcoming)


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 27.         Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Wednesday, September 10, 1856.          Vol. VI.



HISTORY  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH.

MAY, 1843.

I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth.

I quote the following editorial from the Times and Seasons:--

When the Book of Mormon first made its appearance among men, it was looked upon by many as a wild speculation, and that it was dangerous to the interest and happiness of the religious world; but when it was found to teach virtue, honesty, integrity, and pure religion, this objection was laid aside as being untenable.

We were then told that the inhabitants of this continent were and always had been a rude, barbarous race, uncouth, unlettered, and without civilization. But when they were told of the various relics that have been found indicative of civilization, intelligence, and learning, when they were told of the wealth, architecture, and splendor of ancient Mexico; when recent developments proved beyond a doubt that there are ancient ruins in Central America, which, in point of magnificence, beauty, strength, and architectural design, vie with any of the most splendid ruins on the Asiatic Continent; when they could trace the finedelineations of the sculptor's chisel on the beautiful statue, the mysterious hieroglyphic, and the unknown character, they began to believe that a wise, powerful, intelligent, and scientific race had inhabited this continent; but still it was improbable, nay almost impossible, notwithstanding the testimony of history to the contrary, that anything like plates could have been used anciently, particularly among this people.

The following letter and certificate will perhaps have a tendency to convince the skeptical that such things have been used and that even the obnoxious Book of Mormon may be true; and as the people in Columbus' day were obliged to believe that there was such a place as America, so will the people in this day be obliged to believe, however reluctantly, that there may have been such plates as those from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

[Times & Seasons paragraph deleted in Deseret News reprint -- see note 1, below]

It will be seen by the annexed statement of the Quincy Whig, that there are more dreamers and money diggers than Joseph Smith in the world; and the worthy editor is obliged to acknowledge that this circumstance will go a good way to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. He further states that 'if Joseph Smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates, he will do more towards throwing light on the early history of this continent than any man living.' We think that he has done that already in translating and publishing the Book of Mormon, and would advise the gentleman and all interested to read for themselves and understand...


Note 1: The following paragraph from the Deseret News' quotation of the 1843 Times & Seasons article was deleted in 1856: "Mr. Smith has had those plates, what his opinion concerning them is, we have not yet ascertained. The gentleman that owns them has taken them away, or we should have given a fac-simile of the plates and characters in this number. We are informed however, that he purposes returning with them for translation, if so, we may be able yet to furnish our readers with it." The Nauvoo Neighbor subsequently obtained the fac-simile of the Kinderhook plates and published a reproduction of them in 1843. It is supposed that Joseph Smith, Jr. used this published reproduction as his source text, when he "translated" a portion of "the history" of the "descendant of Ham" mentioned at the beginning of the Deseret News article. This explanation accounts for why the 1843 reference to Smith not yet having expressed "his opinion concerning them" was dropped from the 1856 reprint.

Note 2: While high level LDS and RLDS leaders and scholars continued to accept the historicity of the Kinderhook plates well into the 20th century, they are today almost universally considered as hoax. The paragraph in which Smith says, "I have translated a portion of them...," was first published in this issue of the Deseret News. How well it represents Joseph Smith's 1843 assertions remains debatable. Probably Smith did makes oral claims about his "translating" the Kinderhook plates, but, if so, he was prudent enough not to provide any English text for "the history of the person with whom they were found."

Note 3: The sourve for the 1856 Smith paragraph was evidently an entry recorded in William Clayton's Journal, on May 1, 1843: "I have seen 6 brass plates which were found in Adams county, covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found and he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth." Compare the substance of the journal entry with a May 7, 1843 letter by Apostle Pratt: "Six plates having the appearance of Brass have lately been dug out of a mound by a gentleman in Pike Co. Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredites back to Ham the son of Noah" (The Ensign, Aug. 11, 1981, p 73).


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 31.         Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Wednesday, October 8, 1856.          Vol. VI.



REMARKS

By Heber C. Kimball; Bowery, afternoon of September 28, 1856.
_____

(REPORTED BY G. D. WATT.)
_____

I feel very thankful to my Father and my God in regard to the two handcart companies that have just come in, led by brothers Ellsworth and McArthur.

I went out with brother Brigham to meet those companies, and when within a mile and a half of the foot of the Little Mountain we left the company that was with us, and drove on until we met Captain Ellsworth's company. I did not shed any tears, though I could have done so, but they would have been t ears of joy; my heart was so full that it was impossible for a tear to pass it; that is the way I felt. Why did I have those feelings? Was it because the company were on foot, dusty, and pulling handcarts? No, for I was aware that they had come into these valleys easier than most, if not all, other companies. Their task was light in comparison with that of the pioneers in 1847, for they had to build bridges, cross deep and wide rivers upon rafts, and make hundreds of miles of road, digging up and throwing out stones and cutting down trees and thick brush.

Brother Mills mentioned in his song, that crossing the Plains with handcarts was one of the greatest events that ever transpired in this Church. I will admit that it is an important event, successfully testing another method for gathering Israel, but its importance is small in comparison with the visitation of the angel of God to the Prophet Joseph, and with the reception of the sacred records from the hand of Moroni at the hill Cumorah.

How does it compare with the vision that Joseph and others had, when they went into a cave in the hill Cumorah, and saw more records than ten men could carry? There were books piled up on tables, book upon book. Those records this people will yet have, if they accept of the Book of Mormon and observe its precepts, and keep the commandments.

Again, how does it contrast with Joseph's being sent forth with his brethren to search out a location in Jackson County, where the New Jerusalem will be built, where our Father and our God planted the first garden on this earth, and where the New Jerusalem will come to when it comes down from heaven?

I mention these few things by way of contrast with the handcart operation; they are events that I have heard Joseph speak of, time and time again....


Note 1: President Kimball's reference to the purported "cave in the hill Cumorah" appears to be the first LDS publication of this information. Compare Kimball's very short mention of the cave to the longer description given by Brigham Young in the Deseret News of Aug. 15, 1877.

Note 2: The first known newspaper publication roughly matching Kimball's description of a cave in a Manchester hill appeared in an early December, 1841 issue of the New York Journal of Commerce, in which the writer said: "The delusion got up by Joe Smith, is one of the most remarkable, as well as one of the most successful of the age.... we see a miserable creature like Smith, all at once putting on the garb of sanctity, and guided by pretended inspiration, digging into the side of a hill, and there secluding himself for months, and then coming forth with the pretense that he has found a new revelation..." The problem that arises from this version of the hillside cavity, is that it is an excavation made by Smith himself -- and a secret spot in which he evidently fabricates his "new revelation" of the destroyed Nephites. These elements of the story are obviously incompatible with Kimball's account.


 



TRUTH  AND  LIBERTY.

No. 37.         Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Wednesday, November 19, 1856.          Vol. VI.



REMARKS

By President Brigham Young, Tabernacle, Nov. 9, 1856.
_____

(REPORTED BY G. D. WATT.)
_____

I rise to explain one principle to Elders who are in the habit of preaching the Gospel to the world. Not but what their views coincide with mine, not but what they fully comprehend the matter, but all have not the power and faculty to develop what is in them; some are at a loss to explain that which they understand....

We have in our community the worst creatures that the world can produce; the Gospel net must gather them of necessity, or the saying of Jesus, and what he knew of the kingdom in the last day would not come to pass. There are as bad men and women within the pales of this Church as there are upon this earth, and the Gospel being preached to them prepares them to become devils. As you have frequently been told, that is the only way men can become devils; they must have the knowledge to sin against the Holy Ghost, or yet the day of redemption awaits them, one or the other.

Suppose I was preaching in the world, and they should allege that some of the people in Utah swore, stole, and were wicked in many ways, I would acknowledge it to be the case. They might then inquire, "Why do you say that you have got the Gospel of salvation? And why do you come to us to preach, seeing that your own people do wickedly?" I would reply that the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that gathers fish of all kinds, therefore we must have the good and the bad in Utah, or else it cannot be the kingdom of heaven....

There are many of the men and women now before me who have looked for a pure people, and have supposed that that was a proof of the truth of our doctrines, but they will never find such a people until Satan is bound, and Jesus comes to reign with his Saints. The doctrine we preach is the doctrine of salvation, and it is that which the Elders of this Church take to the world, and not the people of Utah.

Some of the Elders seem to be tripped up in a moment, if the wicked can find any fault with the members of this Church; but bless your souls, I would not yet have this people faultless, for the day of separation has not yet arrived. I have many a time, in this stand, dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can; we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves, and any other shade of character that you can mention.

We can pick out elders in Israel right here who can beat the world at gambling, who can handle the cards, cut and shuffle them with the smartest rogue on the face of God's footstool. I can produce elders here who can shave their smartest shavers, and take their money from them. We can beat the world at any game. We can beat them, because we have men here that live in the light of the Lord, that have the holy priesthood, and hold the keys of the kingdom of God. But you may go through all the sectarian world, and you cannot find a man capable of opening the door of the kingdom of God to admit others in. We can do that. We can pray the best, preach the best, and sing the best. We are the best looking and finest set of people on the face of the earth, and they may begin any game they please, and we are on hand, and can beat them at anything they have a mind to begin. They may make sharp their two-edged swords, and I will turn out the elders of Israel with greased feathers, and whip them to death. We are not to be beat. We expect to be a stumbling block to the whole world, and a rock of offense to them.

I never preached to the world but what the cry was, "That damned old Joe Smith has done thus and so." I would tell the people that they did not know him, and I did, and that I knew him to be a good man; and that when they spoke against him, they spoke against as good a man as ever lived.

I recollect a conversation I had with a priest who was an old friend of ours, before I was personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph. I clipped every argument he advanced, until at last he came out and began to rail against "Joe Smith,” saying, "that he was a mean man, a liar, money digger, gambler, and a whoremaster;" and he charged him with everything bad, that he could find language to utter. I said, hold on, brother Gillmore, here is the doctrine, here is the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the revelations that have come through Joseph Smith the Prophet. I have never seen him, and do not know his private character. The doctrine he teaches is all I know about the matter, bring anything against that if you can. As to anything else I do not care. If he acts like a devil, he has brought forth a doctrine that will save us, if we will abide it. He may get drunk every day of his life, sleep with his neighbor's wife every night, run horses and gamble, I do not care anything about that, for I never embrace any man in my faith. But the doctrine he has produced will save you and me, and the whole world; and if you can find fault with that, find it..."


Note: If there were ever a pronouncement published by Brigham Young, in which the selective quotation of his words might make the Mormons of Utah look bad, this is perhaps the best example. The Montpelier Vermont Warchman of March 20, 1857 noticed the "shave their smartest shavers" remarks and took it to be a denunciation of Brigham's "carnal minded... brethren," evidently overlooking the part about those same brethren still being blessed with "the holy priesthood." Years later, in its issue for March 23, 1884, the editor of the Salt Lake Daily Tribune quoted this same segment of Brigham's 1856 discourse, as one example of the "unsavory morsels" of past LDS rhetoric.


 
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