Show 7 DISCOURSE baeider By EIder elger john yohn tayler taylor bowery sunday afternoon aug an 30 1837 1817 h r i REPORTED BV byj 3 V LONG LOW e 1 I 1 did not expect to be called upon to address you yon jIlis afternoon but I 1 always feel ready to speak of the things pertaining to the afie kingdom 11 of god whenever I 1 am called jion upon upon I 1 I 1 Br Kimball said he would like to hear me say lay something about the RIGHTS of 1 SM the rights of mormonism are BO so varied and extensive that it would be very difficult to speak of therall th emall in one discourse we have the right to live that is 1 mormonism i 1 we ave leave lave the right ri 11 ht to eat and drink and an to pursue that course that we mav may may think proper S so long arwe as we do not interfere eiith with other persons nights rights hwe we owe have a right to live free and unmolested t and there is no law human or divine that rightfully has a night right if i you plase please to int interfere erfer e w with ith i us i julest biest blest the bread we have a right to think and we have a right JP ater jefter eter we have thought to express our thoughts and to write them and to publish them we possess as many rights and as much liberty in in i relation to this as any other persons and there is is no law human or divine that call can rightfully rob 4 us its of those liberties nor trample upon our rights we have a right to worship god gott according to fhe ibe dictates of our own conscience and no n 0 man fe If legally gally in this land has a aright right t to 0 interfere wis wit with th f us for so doing we have a ri right ht to believe in and arid practice as we please in relation to matrimony we have a right to choose whether cheth r we will have one wife or twenty and there is no law ew of the land that catu legally interfere with us neither is there a I 1 pan man xan that I 1 have met wit with that professed to be a man at all that can say that weare we are acting illegal y we have a right to secure the favor of god and we have rights as the citizens of fhe he kingdom doja doj a of 01 god we have rights upon earth and we have rights in heaven we have haye rights 11 that affect usand us ond our posterity and progenitors worlds without end 61 and they are rights that no man mail can interfere L with 1 1 we have a right to our own governor as br kimball Jim lim ball bali says we have a right to our own judges we d have a right to make our oali own laws and to re 1 eulate our own affairs these are some of the rights that belong to us but when you come to talk about rights they gey are so various complicated and extensive that it is difficult without reflection to enumerate them they exist with us here and all around us its and they are rights that affect us our progenitors and posterity worlds without end butiu butin re regard ard to some of the tha things wit with th which re we are more mor e intimately connected we have our individual our social and political rights so far to as existing here as a people is concerned concer neu neo I 1 do nat not know but that you will think that I 1 am for otic sticking king hing to my my text pretty well however I 1 will wll try as well as I 1 can cab an to do justice to it if it we look at the very foundation of govern ment we nye may inquire how were governments 1 formed who organized them and whence did they obtain their power it is a subject for deep thought and reflection and one ona that verv very very few have understood nor is it very easy to d define definitely the rights of man politically socially and nationally now I 1 will suppose there the was no government in tiie tha worm wory world but that we w were thrown right back into tha the primitive state and that we had to form a government to regulate ourselves what would be the position why the strong man would intrude upon the weak even oven aa as a strong animal intrudes upon a weaker taking from it its rights for that is a natural animal propensity that exists in all creatures as well as in man how was society organized 7 upon natural principles I 1 am not now speaking about god and his bis government but upon the aghta rights of man if there were a few bulles bullies ia in the land and w we had to organize a government anew the people would combine to protect themselves against C them tot tol to protect themselves against those who had bad injured them that would rob them of their I 1 labor of bf their cattle cattie of their grain or of auy anything th I 1 they mig might lit have llave what h at would be the result of this course it would be that thata a combination would exist that would organize to protect th tham relves that the weak might be protected ia in his rights that tiie tile feeble might not be trampled under foot this would be the natural construction and tion of society very veri well when society became large and extensive and could not convene ia in a genel genet general al assembly to represent themselves they would bend band their representatives who would combine to represent their interests by delegation or proxy who would those individuals represent they would represent the tiia parties of that neighborhood of that state of that county or district of country that sent them would they not and what would you think of those thosa men mem that were sent if they attempted to rule over tl boss thosa who sent them why you would say comeback come coma back s here you rascals and we will send others we sent you to represent us and now you are combining to put your feet upon our necks this has been the case ever since governments were organized and hence have arisen arisen governors langsand kin Lin gsand emperors they have generally contrived to get the rains reins of 0 power into their own hands minds and through the cunning dunning of priest craft and alid kio hin kimg craft they have generally generelly gener ally dlly managed tp taj bring tha the people under their feet and 0 fo o trampe ui up tl oa their rights i such has been the anse in the actions of europe andasia and ard asia asla it is in fact the history world 13 by what right havo hava any kings obtained their dommi has liay it been b disi arora bod 0 no o nas has 11 as it t been from ithe thIp people opi no how hg v dilthey did thuy they get at in 11 possess iou lou of their k kingdoms J oad ar s how was franci france organized orani zed how Eng england landl how germany audrow and were oher I 1 states and nations organized i they have lave been organized because men usurped ea power brought into subjection other oilier men trampled underfoot their and arid made slaves of them und and made thein cairy catry out their laws do their pleasure without any ady peculiar jil terest in the tile things that were wele done i AW ald those men instead of governing the tile people according to the principles of righteousness mid and truth have gene generally rilly made inada and put upon their necks and arid them into tile tiie dust so much so that in anally of tile tilo co countries uli uti tries of europe you cannot travel bui but but you yeu have a passport and arid every little has a right aright to examine it and to stop you if he li likes you yon have to aik aski 4 ligat to stop in ia cities and they tiley will dervent you wilen they please pleas and not only strange s but their own citizens and arid there are many euro european peau cities now where if if a was to receive his own son sou into his house if lie he hai had been absent without the geralls lon ion loa of the police lie would w be subject to a thavy fine it is the governors of tho the people that bring thel them a into subjection in the thi this I 1 s mauner manner until the people think that kings and priests have luie right und and ad they have no rg rights lits until they funk ahat presidents 3 gove nori nors norf arid arld kings are aie lle ile lie tile persons who wiio possess po sess cert certain airl dighe and olat thal no one las has a tight right righetto to interfere with ki kii gs ys presidents alid and priests combined govern men body and soul the first fetter them in their bodies and liberties arld and the latter in their minds and consciences and arid the human fau fan fauilla lily illy in it being free frt art e are literally and almost universally in ablate of vassalage ag at tile tiie tille time of 01 the tire reformation reform anlon aVion men mail began to break off their political fetter s and to claim their lights both politically and religiously many people talk of that event as a church chu ach concern alone it il was as much a political matter as us anything th i else the gre ire causes that prompted tel tei them to take the steps they did were both religious an and d the benefits accruing only very limited and jid ilar liar partial still it lihs lias was a resistance to tyranny and oppression oppre sion the kings 11 that sustained the reformers lid ild did fid so merely upon political grou groa grounds and not that they cared for their religion what mad mada people come from the hie old oid countries to this land ft it was wag because lacasa they voie wele vote opp oppressed ress ness in england in germany and in oilier alts and they fled from that power which sought bought to bind blad chains upon their necks ani and why were they determined to flee from that government into this country because the mother country tried to make them t to institutions and laws that they were unwilling to submit to and because she bunted to put yokes upon their necks then the mother country sent seat armed men over here and sought to enforce their armed minions millions upon the people but they would not submit to it for it was on that very account acco urit that they had fiod fled from their mother c country I 1 founty such were the feelings ilgis of yolar fathers and these were the thinas things they talked about a few years ago and on account of tile the of the parent government they took up the stoid d and declared that they would live or die free men what was that freedom for which wirich they contended just what I 1 said a few minutes ago it was the right to think the right to speak the right to act the right to legill legislate Ate arid and the right to worship god according to the dictates ot of their own consciences and arid the right to do their own business without being interfered with we have come coma here to this land as citizens of the united states and why why have we come because there were men who sought to rob us of and because there wassol was nol not sufficient purity arld arid j justice ustice in the government to protect prot ectus us in our rights because magi magl magistrates Arate constables governors presides itil itis and officers of state e ither either directly or indirectly drove us or suffered u us s to be driven suffered us to be dispossessed dij possessed of that which legally belonged to us who are we ve we are men made in the tha image of god possessing the rights of other men we h have haye ave avo turned this desert into a flourishing field alid and the desert has blossomed as the rose and god has blesse blessel I 1 our jabors labors and aiho who have we interfered with have we gone over to the stites states and interfered with them have we gone over to california and interfered with them have we gone to oregon have hare we gone jonew to new mexico have we gone one to any state and interfered with their rights their then laws their immunities or their privileges 4 I 1 say we have not 4 well then what right has his anybody y tainter fore with us 0 because because they have got the power that ia is there is right tolt to it there is bisno no legal authority to it there is is no more right to it than there is in a bully and a blackguard insulting a little weak man because he bb has the power to do so tho they have just the same authority that a large ox has to goad a small smail one because be he has the power they dare not interfere with some nations as they are doing with us they dare not interfere with england or france for fear of the consequences sequences and it is it nothing but a principle of buty little meanness that would try to interfere with us arid and try to make male you believe that they are theloris the lords of creation great god ohp are art they poor pusillanimous curses that have hhie not manhood nor gentility enough about them lo 10 lobs ba gentlemen they have just j ast the same right r that the highwayman ima lna to put his hiss hah han hantis hantla d s into your pockets and ta take daout out y your crony ciany who iid led lid us here not the christians Chus lians of the united sates nor th their e ir gove go verLois mols legislators nor presidents who provided p for ug nid pid tho the government at of the united states verily mio nio no who built the he houses bouses in a chis this cl cit t y who made the tile improvements around lland iland through this territory did the inhabitant inhabitants sot 0 the united states N but they have done ill all that lay in their power alo lo 10 d discourage us in every possible way W who 10 have bave jed led you and clothed you youa your own right lands hands youn your own energy and industry by t the fhe I 1 1 e blesi biebl ug of tile tiie almighty aim alm gaty then by wha tight and by what in the tile name of god and arid in in tila the nume name of every principle of right honor and anal integrity have they a right to interfere with us 0 ok say they the land belongs to us all ah indeed and I 1 wonder where ou got it f 0 we a got it by right of treaty with mexico and whence tid lid llie the mexicans obtain it ita who treated with thoe indian D d they pay them for tor it no but they are good christians christian and tile the indians are poor savages cs and what right have savages to land where are thein their deeds and their right of pos session ses ion lon 9 will anybody tell me meo 10 0 we took it bt because cause we hid had h id the power and the united states took it from mexico because they had the power it is is just like a lot of boys pla pia playing ying together and one of them steals the others in arbles marbles because cause canse he lie has the power and arid then au deother ollier s steals teal s them and call them his because he lie is is a little more powerful than the 0 hei her or when one mail man meets another and robs him of what he ha has then tilen two more go and arid take from him what lie he has stolen from we tle first one the simple fact in it the case is they say yon you you yoa are left upon our land and therefore you y ou must be in subjection to 10 us and we must milt rule over you but even een on this tins principle they are at raull faul for we if there is is any glory in the tile conquest sent five hundred men and possess equal rights with themas them as american it in speak speaking hg upon this subject once before I 1 showed you that by the Constitution and the very cenius genius of our government that they had no light to interfere with nth us again on the common principle rin ciple of justice itice where did the they fet get get their rig rights ts to interfere with us uso ubo tiley d did not lot brin bring bushere us here bere nor cultivate our farms they did dot not not send us either schoolmasters ro or priests to tearh a us and arid we are not in indebted to them for anything an thins else I 1 woud like to know what right they bad to interfere with us i they have lave not a right upon religious grounds for they kicked us out because of our religion and C consequently on they have lave nothing m to do with wilh thau thai it is not because we have learned any morals of them for tor we got our morals from a superior source we have not learned either elther our religion or morality from them we have not dot had add them thein to cultivate our farms nor to build our houses they have not done anything for us in relation to the land I 1 will slip suppose pose |