Show DISCOURSE 1 S C 0 TJ vw S li by BV eldey elder GEORGE Q CA I 1 in heuel me mew mem tabernacle c salt sal t lake olty city 1868 REPORTED HY BY DAV lavil W avans ivans I 1 I 1 I 1 there have been some exceedingly important vor bor tant questions presented before us fon for lor ron our consideration at this conference I 1 look upon them as of momentous im for tance because upon their correct solution d depends to aos aes a very great extent perpetua the perpetuity ui it y 0 of f bur homes goft and of the he institutions which god has given us vol cod has entrusted to this people his pis gospel behas he hab has placed in his hig ell cli chirch the Q oracles of the holy he has kas wis given iven unto us the labor lubor of ab ulla ing his zion on 04 the earth parth and djs 4 is for us if we expect to receive the reward that he ilas lias has promised to fulfill that trust faithfully let the consequences be what they may already the tho esta establishment of ts this work has cost the best blood of this generation era erat tion loh already a prophet I 1 a patriarch apostles and numerous nume ious lous sain saints ts have laid laid down their lives to establish the work with which we are connected it is for fon us to decide during this Con conference ferenc ferene e whether that blood has been shed in n vain whether the sufferings trials difficulties and hardships our out exodus from the lands which we formerly occupied and inhabited our pilgrimage to this bis his tou our sufferings sin ain since cewe we came here the labors we have expended in rearing this city and ad in extending civilization throughout ghou this territory I 1 say it is for us to decide d e today to day and during this conference whether wh ether or not all this kas has been in vain and whether we will loile up his kingdom according to his divine commandment or divide our strength and energy and the talents with which he has endowed us in building up a system or systems that are opposed to this work it is for us to decide whether we will submit to the jurisdiction ris diction of the holy priesthood or whether we will renounce that jurisdiction and our allegiance to god these are the questions which present themselves before us today to day they are im questions and should be decided carefully and understandingly I 1 look hook upon tue position which we occupy today to day as in in some respects a critical eri ori one not that I 1 anticipate any 41 danger apger or have any fears that we are going to be overthrown if the people will only be true to themselves and their god I 1 know as as I 1 know that I 1 live and wid iam am speak speaking ing to you today to day that this is the work of god I 1 know that he has promised that it shall stand for ever and that it shall break in pieces everything that is opposed to it but I 1 also know that in ha order for if it to accomplish com this great work and for us to share in all its benefit and blessings we f individually must be faithful to it for the blessings which are promised to us are made conditionally if we prove recreant to the trust that god has given to us others will be raised in our places to take ue the great grett work in their hands and carry arry c it forward to its full fuli consummation I 1 lap look upon the pre present sent time as I 1 I 1 have said as a critical one I 1 feel that if we do not listen to the counsels that are given to us god has a scourge lix in store for the latter day saints I 1 feel in every of my bod body y in overy every nerve ot of my system that this is a turning in paint point with the latter day saints M and that there is require required cl of us ug tod today to day t decision upon this 18 subject we ive have now for a long period done as we pleased we have havo gone here or there and done to a certain extent to suit ourselves regardless of god the counsels 0 0 his ser sen servants vanta or the interests of his hia kingdom and regardless of every thi thing n e save our own general interests the consequence ia is that there is growing row ro w up in our midst a power that inena menaces ug us with utter destruction and overthrow lwe we are told openly and without disguise that when the railroad J is comI completed eted there will besuch be buch guch a nood flood of so called civilization brought 1 1 in here that every vestige of us our 0 ur church and institutions shall be completely obliterated when we are arp told thus plainly and would it not be folly nay insanity for us to sit still fold our arms supinely and await the crash without making a single effort to ward it off A people who would be thus besotted would be unworthy the blessings bles bleg sings which god has bestowed upon us lis I 1 know there is a feeling of great confidence in the minds of our brethren and sisters they have hake ag President r es ident young has often wd said a great amount m gunt of faith they have so so great trust frus it in god as to go and sell cell their grain expecting that god will feed them whether the grain is in the bin or not some such confidence as this seems beems to pervade their minds respecting that which is inthe in the future and they fest oest toa to a certain extent carelessness and ana d iridill erene in IV regard to carr carrying yink out the counsels that are gisen given themi them thinking that has BO so signally preserved chemin them in times past will still continue to protect them it is ii an excellent thing for us to have faith but we wp should not have faith alone our faith should be associated with works and the latter should correspond with the former when our faith and ands works are united becan we can call cupon rqn god forbell for fon heip belp help to enable us to ac ae complis h that which lie he requires at our hands fiands iw when I 1 refie reflect vt my brethren and sisters on past scenes ans nas I 1 have been doing while lis ils listening listening to the remarks of the brethren during durine this conference when wada J X reflect on the condition we wie nvere were in when driven from Nauvoo and on our journey from the mississippi ito to this valley the sufferings of the wp men meu and children and hud of t the h e aged among us when I 1 reflect u an the hundreds we buried in n winte winter r quarters barters uart ers and the privations the people e endured while there on the hardships the people were co compelled to endure after i their ar tivai rival here and remember tha that t all this was caused by the red hand of persecution by and the violence 0 t wicked men who envied ns Vs th the pos session bession of our heaven given rights when I 1 reflect upon all this and also upon our circumstances now I 1 feel thankful for what god has done for us Vs and my prayer ott oft repeated has been 0 O god never let iet this thia people again become ayrey a prey to never neven let us fall fai fal again into the hands of our enemies but if we do wrong do thou chasten u us and save us from the hands of those who have persecuted us this has been my feeling but when I 1 look at our circumstances now I 1 feel as though the people had for forgotten otten that which they have passed pissed through and were not averse to having a repetition of those scenes for years after we came into these valleys we felt as though we never wanted to see the face of an enemy again and if we could only have hare bread and water and peace we could be bd con tent we felt a as bro pratt expressed himself yesterday that if we had only wolf and deer skins shins to clothe ourselves with we would be satisfied if we could only have peace it was wag peace we came hereto here to enjoy it was for peace that we fled from our former homes and made the long and wearisome journey to these valleys but how is it today to day what are the circumstances which surround us nowa now why here in the head city of zion in the centre city where the foundations of the temple are laid and where the house of the lord has hag been reared in which endowments and sacred ordinances are given what do we find we find a power growing browin up in our midst that threatens us in tie the the most plain and undisguised manner with utter destruction st Is this so it is and has been so for years and this power has been fostered by us as a people it has grown flourish flourished ed and fattened upon us and the means memis we have produced Is it not necessary then that something should be done TO my mind it is clear cleaf that some effort such as has hm been proposed should be mad made e to concentrate the saints and alid to set before thea them the tha principles of salvation in ach sch a manner ner that they will understand the course counse they ought to take while the tho brethren cren were talking yesterday and while we were south I 1 af pf often had brought to my mind a circumstance that occurred in nauvoo it was wag on the loth of df june sune 1844 1 I had 06 occasion I 1 to go to the city council counell bf nau N mob ob with some proof sheet sto sto the editor of ot the tho nauvoo 7 eider elder dohn john taylor I 1 was a boy at the time the printers devil 11 as it is technically called while baere there the subject under discussion was wa the declaring of the nauvoo a nuisance doubtless many of you recollect that paper one number of which was issued by the he laws and other apost apostates ates atee you w who 0 do not recollect the paper may recollect reading about it there was vas some excitement cit ement at the time in the council they had parsed an ordinance declaring it a nuisance and empowering the cit city y marshal john P green to abate it joseph and hyrum were in conversation at oneff one of the windows of the room hyrum remarked to joseph Be before forer I 1 will wiil ill consent content to have that paper continued to defame our wives sisters and daughter daught erti erli sas r it has deneu ruy rny body bode on I 1 the the ahe walls of 0 f the building 1 1 the sentiment as he e uttered it ran through me I 1 felt as he did yet wey wet we for years have had in our city a paper paper which publishes if possible more abominable lies about us and our people than were published by for fon the abate abatement mint of chich which ayr hyrum m amith sald said he nag nai was willing to die we have not mot noticed it we have bave suffered it togo to go on undisturbed B but ut the time lias hax come for ug us td edke this matter into consi consideration me atlon brother brothel pratt said sald yesterday yeam yeat erday j that our papers scarcely ever alluded to it we have alluded to it behave deemed it unworthy of df allusion if it is bo 60 kit tit utterly bie r contemptible but I 1 now lay it before f you ahat shat we are doing on oly the tho pres ent Is it home to doun dour oun our minds minda that we may see 1366 and under d stand the nature odthe that 1 is growing in our musi must v ip w we foster tand land land sustain I 1 r I 1 glanced over a few of df these papers that now being published here al fand da there are two from which I 1 will read you a few extracts BO yoi yol imay seo beo ee the i spirit which animates dur appo 1 bents ne ants I 1 in an editorial of the lith oft August we find the in regard to an extract taken from onil of our paper the hankering for seclusion and r sion nion slon pion lon ion and the foul spirit of the to secure them stick lautin nut but in overy every word wora of the above extrac i it is as full fuli of tho this fell feil spirit that has always actuated the crew whose spokesman this tim E editor is in this jils in stance as the sting of the adder is of venom but IC it is the vain and weak boast of df a throttled bully the day has gone by when hired bands of cut throats destroying angels angol sill can ply their heinous avocation and drive from the territory or murder all 0 whom brigham young and his crew do not want anit in it this fello fellow r who at the biddi bidding in 9 of hi his 9 whom he se Be vilely and profanely bows as his god insults the eitl titi citizens zens of the united states oy by telling them that no one but those who bow as as himself to brigham shall havo have leave to stay in this territory ignores the fact that the salt lako lake basin isa is a rich oasis in which nature has lavishly congregated all that is needed at tho the halfway half way point on the great national highway tho pacific railroad and that it all belongs belong the citizens of tha united states and not to brigham and his crew we speak advisedly when we say brigham and his crew for by reference to tho the doings of the latte latter day dayl it wai wal i be eia seen that hey have attempted alve give give i brigham and his hia set very great quantities of le the richest part of this valley including mill privileges civile es fee kee fec c M hitherto tin r to th this i territory has only be been of interest to tho the people of of the united states because of tho the infamous establishment sought to bo be set up in it in the sacred name of religion and t the motor of ahe the warfare i against the tho gross outrage has been alone the tho moral sense of the country but now for the reasons just named a comme commercial rwal roal inter est ii added and the two together will as surely as truth is truth and hight right ig ht is hight right crush out the vile tiling thing and rid the country of the foul blot biot peaceably if possible but bat with a besom of dat dal destruction ruction if that ia inevitable mark these words HOW much they sound like the language of the manifesto of the mob in jackson county missouri I 1 this editor in his shallow boasting forgets or purposely keep out of sight the truth that this mormonism which is sacrilegiously called a religion is a heathenish heterodoxy and gud that ther therefore eforo the orthodox churches of tho the oe land I 1 0 number millions will mill throw against the tho spurious monster ougah with au their force this tos force only awaits anahit the opportunity that the will g alvo p U t in that day it willbo will do yow you swo to buy a pitiful Con congressman fessman ressman and lie he must b be e a pitiful ohe oho t indeed ho t 1 6 in another article 1 which appeared 1 on the ah 0 or awo find te fhe fol lowing 1 I 1 it 1 I th there erl arl wre are numbers of ib rol roi ners aers iu lit this territory ahn who have bare never their allegiance toche ruler from who soi sol dominions they emigrated and who hatel hayed year aate after year voted toted ron for or local ocal oc officer and a delegate to congens congees Con gees there where are others who deceived by blib representations rep rap res eltag on i s of 6 f the probate jud judges juda A elthor elther NrIl wilfully fully or diz ignorantly nor antly nt 1 made it that at they had no power to naturalize e have havo taken out their papery papers from the probate courts in many instances pa paying ing a larger tee toe than the elerk clerk elerk of tho district court would woma be c entitled to charge charged these foreign ers cra all occupy and hold more or less land in this expect to avail themselves af pf f the pro pre emp tion law law to the exclusion of 0 actual citizens who wito are afe ready teady and asi aws 1 as of occue occupying the land the laws laig of tho the united stales gives them ti a righetto night right to do many Y of these foreigners either holding no papers at all or br those spurious ones issued by probate courts have since the passage of the act of 1862 1662 prohibiting polygamy in the territories of the united states openly and persistently violated its provisions provision i i and have nave beek been loud ia in the expressions ex 0 n s of disloyalty towards the government of the unite I 1 states hlf elf H if we were e alvin living w g inthe days byh au and I 1 hadjie ard th I 1 should have thought they were from the warsaw signal but these execrable sentiments were not published in warsaw they were not published at the sweetwater at austin or virginia in montana |