Show UPHOLDING THE LAWS IN AUGUST 1831 the prophet joseph smith received the revelation in missouri commanding ebe latter day saints to obey the wa of the land in august 1833 be b received the revelation in KIT land ohio repeating the tion and adding the words t pd that law of the land which Is constitutional supporting that of freedom in maintaining rights tod and privileges belongs to all man ba and is justifiable before me A writer who is engaged in the tee daily task of misstating and misconstruing toe the creed of the lat ter day saints in reference to human and divine laws wants to why it was necessary for the rd to change his mind and mod fy Y his command he also tes that I 1 the head of the church tod those who should succeed bace were to be the only judges of aaa at laws were or were not conati tationa tot lonal efte answer is there is no evl evi in the later revelation that f the tee lord did change his mind in ard to the former they are per ay iy harmonious with each other the h latter is fuller than the former N 4 the blossom to is fuller than the t but is no conflict between teem ew and it is a carping critic that teat finds fault with a requirement bey all constitutional laws law 1 ae statement that certain indi duala were to be the only judges of what laws lag yere were or were not constitutional tut ional 11 is made out of the same aerial from which the author of it 1 other falsehoods there here la is nothing in either revelation kioh justifies such an assertion the feet that in au all the great ft overs iee that have occurred ben the latter day saints and persecutors the supreme court ot the tee united states has been ap 10 peeled to for final is f positive that no such idea is by the chuch sesame writer finds a big buga bop in the words I 1 that principle of oni in maintaining rights and te geB belongs to all mankind fad od te Is justifiable before me in this he misquotes mis quotes the words twice diee them aya giving differently ach case and both being dif at hom from the text and then says e laU language guage to is turgid 21 2 1 this is 14 tel tn fla his perversions of mor imor raft sw doctrine he never states tk te position fairly and rarely makes tha Ift rotation tation correctly but passing y what Is there in the foregoing 0 ids da from t bom the doctrine and cove its that ls is really objectionable WY upholds such law or prin 1 as maintains rights and says it belongs to au all mankind ad that teat it is justifiable why he atys ye that opens the door to any 8 toe the JUA first presidency of the b aton church may declare to a 1 ftc ells we vie do not believe there can boid und another writer on this 4 son OR eath who would at tempt to draw such an inference in print just compare the language of the premise and of the conclusion and judge of the kind of logic that made the deduction A command to uphold constitutional law which maintains rights and privileges opens the door to anything that certain persons may declare to be revelation I 1 such reasoning is beyond reply because it is beyond comprehension there is another paragraph quoted 6 from the later revelation as follows and as pertaining to the law of man whatsoever is more or less than these c cometh of evil this he says was an obscure way of telling the saints that they were not under the slightest obligation to obey mere man made laws when an unprincipled opponent starts out to garble and misinterpret of course he can find fault with anything no matter how right and i true and commendable it may be we believe that any person of fear fair mind and common understanding der standing who reads the words quoted from the revelation will obtain the very opposite Im impression from that sought to be conveyed in the comment has it not been demonstrated not only in the experience peri ence of the saints but in that of this whole nation that any law which is not constitutional and does not maintain that freedom which belongs to all mankind cometh of levil evil the history of the church and the history of the united furnish numerous instances in proof of this and establish its truth beyond rational dispute instead of telling the saints that they were not under the slightest obligation to obey mere man made laws it placed them under the most sacred obligations to obey and support all laws of man that are constitutional what more in this direction could be desired there is nothing obscure in the language of the command the obscurity is all in the mind and the misstatements of the writer who endeavors to pervert its meaning for the purpose of invoking force and compulsion to bring the most law abiding people on this continent into his way ivay of mind and purpose this manner of attack on the principles and order of the wor mormon church serves to aid in more firmly convincing its members that its doctrines are divine error may be met and overcome with truth but truth cannot be successfully opposed by truth and so falsehood to is brought to the front to those who have eyes to see it serves to make the truth more clear and beautiful while for the pervert per vertera ers and malig ners they are filled with sentiments either of pity or of contempt |