Show IMPORTANT SERMON words of pres cannon at the general conference REGARDING THE MANIFESTO xv verbatim report of what was then sud touching the situation ad tice to the saints on tho of january 1841 the lord g ivo his servant joseph smith a reve aion the paragraph of which I 1 vi ill read verily verily I 1 say unto you that alen I 1 gaye to any of the sons of men ro do a work unto my n those sons of men go with all lic might and with all they have to perform eliat work and cease their dil irence and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing eliat work behold it behovets beho veth me to require that work no more at the lianda of those sons of men but to accept of their offerings alie lord says other things connected tt etli aliis which I 1 do not think it necessary to read hut the whole revelation and can be read by those H ho desire to do so it is on this basis that president woodruff has felt himself justified in is biding aliis manifesto I 1 suppose it would not be justice to tins conference not to say something upon aliis subject and yet everyone kicos icovy delicate a subject it is and how didi cult it is to approach it without baying something that may offend some body so far as I 1 am concerned I 1 can acay that of the men in this church who endeavored to maintain this principle of plural marriane marri ape 1 am one in public and in private I 1 liace avowed my belief in it I 1 have defended it everywhere and under all circumstances and when it have said that I 1 considered alie command was bind ing and imperative upon me bat a change has taken place we have in ilie first place endeavored to shiow that the law which affected this feature of our religion was dional we believe for years that the law of july was in direct con with the first amendment to the constitution which says that congress make colaw an establish of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof we rested upon ali at and for years continued the practice of plural marriage believing alie law against it to be an unconstitutional one and that we had the right under alm constitution to carry out this principle practically in our lives so confident was I 1 in relation to this view aliat in conversation with president grant and with his attorney general ex williams of oregon I 1 said tu bliem eliat if my case were not barred by alie statute of limitations I 1 would bo willing to have it made a test case in order that alie la might be tested wo were sustained in this view not only by our own of the amendment to the constitution but also by some of the best legal minds in alie country who took exactly the same view that vio did that this law was an interference with religious rights and that so long as our practices did not interfere with the happiness and peace of Eccie ty or of others we had the right to carry out this principle in fact it is w itlen six or ciglio months that in conversation with the two united states senators each conversation being separate from the other both of them ex themselves though not in the tame language to aliis effect mr cannon it tins feature that you practice had not been associated with reli gion it might have been tolerated but you have associated it with religion and it has aroused the religious sentiments of the nation and that sentiment cannot be resisted so far as the practice itself is concerned if you had not made it a part of your faith and an institution sanctioned by religion it might have gone along unnoticed I 1 do not give the exact language but these are the ideas that they conveyed cony eyed to me kow we were very confident that this law was an unconstitutional one president daniel H wella v ill remember how he and I 1 tried to get a case to teat the liona lity of the law during the lifetime of president brigham young we wanted to get brother erastus snow it is the last thing we should have thought of to put a man like he was in alie gap if we had not been firmly con vinced that the law was unconstitutional and would be declared BO by the united states supreme court we telegraphed to brother erastus in the south thinking that hig case would not be barred by the statute of limitations he replied to us concerning it and we lound that it was barred brother A M proposed himself if I 1 remember aright to be a test case but there was a defect in his case ve wanted this case whenever it was presented to bo presented fairly that should bo no evasion about it but that it should be a case eliat could be tested fairly before the coulta of the country finally brother george ken olds wap selected I 1 said to myself when I 1 learned th e result it is the last lime that I 1 will ever have anything to do with a test case again which will involve the liberty of anybody I 1 waa promised when lie was by one high in authority and who had the right to make the promise eliat he should be released when the circumstances were told to him for they were laid fairly before him and ho was told eliat the evidence biad been furnished by brother reynolds himself and that everything had been done to make it a test case alie government had been aided in the fcc curing of witnesses and no difficulty thrown in the way afterwards on the second trial I 1 believe brother reynolds lawyers got frightened and there was something occurred then that gave it a diu erent appearance but when the dicta were related as 1 stated to one luigu in authority he promised me that george reynold should be pardoned there ft ere those however in this city alio were determined that he should not escape imprisonment and alie prosecuting attorney wrote a letter which changed the mind of this high official as he afterward told me and he declined to carry out that I 1 had received as a promise but even then there were circumstances connected eiith this decision that made us reluctant to accept it hince that time the history of proceed ings is before you and before the world wo have felt as this command of god was of such importance to us involving so many serious consequences that we should do all in our power to have alie world the know position we occupied there may be men among us who believed they would bo damieu if they did not obey this accepting it as a direct command from god therefore you can understand how tenaciously we have protested aad how vigorously we have endeavored as far as we could to make public the views upon this subject I 1 suppose there are two classes hero today to day in this congregation one who feel sorrow to the bottom of their hearts because of the necessity of this action that we have now taken another clabea who will eay did I 1 not tell you sol did I 1 not tell you it would did I 1 not say to yon that you ought to take advantage of and comply with this years ago instead of enduring that which you have suffered aiace that ame there may be seen here today to day those who pride themselves on their foresight and who take credit to themselves because they foresaw as they allege that which we have done today to day and would lead others to believe that if their council had been adopted if tha views that they presented bad been accepted by the people it might hava saved very serious consequences to us all and left us in a better than that which we occupy to day but I 1 for one differ entirely with this view I 1 believe that it was necessary that we should wit ness unto god the eternal father unto the heavens and unto the earth this principle was dear to us dearer it might be said in some respects than life itself we could not have done this bad we submitted at the time that those of whom I 1 speak suggested submission we could not have left our own nation without excuse it might have said had wo known all that you tell us now concerning this we should haye had very different views about this feature of your religion than we did have but now after the occurrences of alio past six years have been witnessed by this entire nation and by the world and by god the eternal father and the heavenly hosts so one can plead as an excuse chat they have been ignorant of our belief and the dearneal of this principle to us upwards of thirteen hundred men have been incarcerated in prison going there for various terms from one or three months rp to years they have gone there willingly as martyrs to this principle making a protest that the heareas and the earth should bear record of that they were conscientious in espousing this principle and that it was not for sensual indulgence because it sensual indulgence had been the object we could have obtained it without lucli sacrifices as were involved iu obedience to this law without going to prison without sustaining wives and children without the obloquy that has been heaped upon us because of this action of ours if licentious motives had prompted us we could have secured the results in a cheaper way and in a way more in consonance with universal custom through out our own land and all christendom but the sacrifices that we have made in this respect bear testimony to the heaved and to the earth that we have beens sincere and conscientious in all that we have done and that we have not been prompted by a desire to use women for lustful purposes but to save them to make them honorable and to leave no margin of women in our society to become the prey to luat so that every woman in our land should have the opportunity port unity of becoming a virtuous wife and honored mother loved and respected by her offspring and by all her associates if no other result has attended what may be termed our obstinacy chesere are at least upon record and they laver can be blotted out the imprisonment of these men the sufferings the untold unwritten yea the unmentionable it may be said sufferings of wives and children they are recorded in heaven and are known to earth and they form a chapter that will never be blotted out latter day saints there has been nothing lost in the five years that have just passed we have lost no credit there has been no honor sacrificed we can look god in the face that is if we were permitted to do so so far as this is concerned we can we can look the holy angels in the face we can look mankind in the face without a blush or without feeling that we have done any thing unworthy of our manhood or of our professions and the faith that god has given unto us this all of us can do and if no other result has followed what may he called our obstinacy then these which I 1 now describe they are grand enough to pay us for for all that we have gone through but the time has come when in the provinces of god it seemed necessary that something should be done to meet the requirements of the country to meet the demands that have been made upon us and to saye the people president woodruff and others of us have been appealed to hundreds of times I 1 might say I 1 can pay fu myself that I 1 have been appealed to many scores of times to pet out something and to announce something some of our leading brethren haye said inasmuch as we have ceased to give permission for plural marriages to bo solemnized why cannot we ibave the benefit of that why cannot we tell the world it so as to haye the benefit of it our enemies are alleging constantly that we still practice this in secret and that we are dishonest and cuilty of evasion now if we have really put a stop to granting permissions to men to take moie wives than one why should not alie world know it and we have alie advantage of it these remarks have been made to ua repeatedly but at no time has the spirit seemed to indicate that this should be done we have waited for the lord to move in alie mat ter and on the of september pres dent woodruff made up his mind that he would write something and he had alie spirit of it he had prayed about it and had besought god repeatedly to show him what to do at time the spirit came upon him and the document that has been read in your hearing was the result I 1 know that it was right much as it has gone against alie grain with me in many respects because many of you know the contest e nave had upon this point bat when god speaks and when god makes known his mind and will I 1 hope that I 1 and all latter day saints will bow in submission to it when that document was prepared it was submitted but as is said in this motion that has been made president woodruff is the only man upon the earth who holds the key of the sealing power these apostles all around me have all the same that he hag we are all ordained with the same ordination we lave had the same keys and the same powers bestowed upon us ent there is an order in the church of god and that order is that there is only one man at a time on the earth who holds the keys of sealing and that man is tho president of the church or wilford woodruff therefore he signed that document himself some have wondered and said why his counselors sign why others sign well I 1 give you the reason because he is the only man on earth that las thia and he evcei cased it and he did this with alie approval of all of us to whom the matter was submitted after he had made up his mind and sustained it for we had made it a subject of prayer also that god would direct us never was haime in aliis church when I 1 believe the leading men of thib church has endeavored to live nearer to god because chev have seen the path in which we walked environed difficulties beset with all manner of snares and we have had the responsibility resting upon us of your salvation to a certain extent god baa chosen us not we ourselves to be the shep herds of his flock we have not bought this responsibility you know wilford woodruff too well 10 believe eliat lie would seek such an office as ho now fills I 1 trust you know the rest of us sufficiently to believe the same concerning us I 1 have shrunk from the apostleship I 1 have shrunk from being a member of the first presidency I 1 have felt that if I 1 could get my salvation in any other way I 1 prayed god that he would give it to me after he revealed to me that I 1 would be an apostle when I 1 was comparatively a child and I 1 have had that feeling ever since these apostles all of them feel the responsibility which rests them as leaders of the people god having made us in his providence your shepherds we feel that alie alock ay iy in our charge and if any aarm befall thia flock through us e will have to answer for it in the ay of tho lord jesus we shah nave to stand and render n account of that which has beem entrusted to lawe are faithless and careless and do i not live so as to have the word of god continually with us and know his mind and will then our condemnation will be sure and certain and we cannot escape it but you are our witnesses as to whether god is with us or not as well as the holy ghost you have received and it is your privilege to receive the testimony of jesus christ as to whether these men who stand at the head are the servants of god whom god has chosen and through whom god gives instructions to his people you know it because the testimony of the spirit is with you and the spirit of god burns in your bosoms when you hear the word of god declared by these servants and there is a testimony living in your hearts concerning it now realizing the full responsibility of this this action has been taken will it try many of the saints perhaps it will try those who will have not obeyed this law as much as any others in the church but all that we can aay to you is that which we repeatedly say to you go unto god yourselves if you are tried over this and cannot see its purpose go to our secret chambers and ask god and aleal with him in the name of jesus to give you a testimony as he has given it to us and I 1 promise you that you will not come away empty nur dissatisfied you will have a testimony and light will be poured out upon you and you will see things that you perhaps cannot see and understand at the present time I 1 pray god to bless all of |