Show AD ADDRESS 0 ressy BY PREST mm we to the sunday Childre children nj in the thearel mew new tabernacle salt lake city ju juey july IV 24 1 S 7 7 REPORTED BErOK TED BY GEO F GIBBS IF lip I 1 can eau have quiet and the strict attention of the congregation I 1 think all can hear me the children as well as those of older growth and manhood will please cease their talking one oue to another cease the rubbing of feet on the tho floor cease to make noise I 1 r have a few words for the children the larger portion of this congregation have been born in this territory they know nothing of the outside world they know but little in comparison i as to the cause of their birth and edv education atlon within the valleys of these moun mountains taini A short recital of the reasons why these children bei fore me were born here instead of belil being g born in the states I 1 can give to you and will endeavor to do so in a few words in 1830 forty seven years ago last march the book of mormon w was as printed tinted and bound joseph smith R had ad received revelation and plates on which were engraved characters from whick which chebook was translated before the book was printed before joseph had the privilege of testifying to tire the truth of the latter day work perse persecution was raised against him on the ath day of april of the same year the church of jesus christ was organized persecution increased and continued to increase efe he ere left the state of new york and went to the state of ohio the gospel was preached there and many received it A A settlement was formed but joseph had not the privilege of staying stay ing there long before they hunted him bim so determinedly was forced to leave kirtland and abd the state of bf ohio obid he then went to td missouri in the year 1838 in the month of march in company with ith a number of df brethren P myself included joseph arrived at far west ci caldwell adwell co county tinty missouri Misso url we vp had hot the privilege lege of ata staying ying there more than for a few months before the cry was raised against 1 joseph smith that he be was guilty of high treason this aroused the people and the the state and in ifa october thirty dive five la hundred undred of the militia of the state of missouri 4 were marched against a few of usan us ln far farist vest they succeeded in jn taking joseph and hyrum and sixty five others othera and p putting them in prison when joseph had his trial the great accusation against him was that he believed in the thefil ful fui figment of prophecy the prophecies that had bad been made by prophet prophets Fi of aldand contained in holy writ when judge king hing asked joseph if he believed the predict fong iona of daniel the prophet that in the lat at ter days the tha god of heaven would set up a kingdom which should succeed and finally rule and arid hold dominion over all other kingdoms joseph replied that he did believe this scripture as ad well dwell as the rest this thia was considered trea treason I 1 Jose josephs josepha ohla lawyer turned to judge king and said judge I 1 think you bad had better write it down that the bible Is high treason and this was all that was found against him but the mob continued until they drove the latter day saints out of the state of missouri we were told it we remained there the people wo would uld be upon us what we were guilty of we did not know only that we believed in the bible and the fulfill fulfil ment of prophecy or in other word words in the literal reading of the word of god they succeeded after killing billing many of the latter day saints men man women and children cruelly massacring them in driving us out of the state to the state of the people received us us with open arms especially the inhabitants of the city of quincy jor for or which kindness the hearts of our people who passed through these scenes have ever been lifted to god petitioning blessings upon them and they have been blessed we livedis ll vetTin in the state of illinois a few years but here as elsewhere persecution overtook us it came from Missouri centering itself upon joseph and fastened itself upon others we lived in illinois from 1839 to 1844 by which time they again succeed ed in kindling the spirit of persecution against joseph and the latter day saints treason treason treaso treason nl they cried calling us murderers thieves ciari adulterers the worst people on the earth and this was done by the priests those pious dispensers of the christian religion whose charity was supposed to be extended to all men christian and heathen they were joined by drunkards gamblers I 1 thieves liars in crying against the I 1 latter day saints they took f joseph and hyrum andas a guarantee for his hia safety gov thomas ford pledged the faith of the state of illinois they were imprisoned on the pretense of safekeeping safe keeping because the mob wasso was BO enraged and violent the governor left them in the handsol hand the mob who entered the prison and shot them dead elder taylor who is present with us to day was in the prison toland was also alao shot and was confined to his bed for several months afterwards 9 after the mob had commit ed these murders they came upon us and burned our houses and our grain when the brethren would go out to put out the fire the mob would lie ile concealed under fences and in the darkness of the night they would shoot them at last they succeeded in driving us from the state of illinois three congressmen came in the fall of 1845 and had a conference with the twelve and others they were desirous that we should leave the united states we told them we would do so we had staid long iong enough with them we agreed to leave leavo the state of illinois in consequence of that religious prejudice against us that we could not stay in peace any longer 0 these men said the people were prejudiced against us stephen A duglass dauglass one of the three bad had been acq aca acquainted faint with us he bald eaid 1 I know you I 1 know joseph smith he was a good man and this people was a good people but the prejudices of the priests and the u ungodly are au such ch that said he gentlemen you cannot stay here and live in peace y we agreed to leave we completed our temple far enough to give endowments dow ments to many we left nauvoo in february 1846 there remained behind a few of the very poor door the sick and the aged who suffered gain again from the violence of the mob they were whipped and beaten and had their houses bouses burned we travelled west 2 stopping in places building settlement A where we left thu the poor who could not not travel any further wath with the company exactly thirty years today to day myself with others came out of what we wo named zm emigration canon we crossed the BI big nig 9 and little lutle mountains and came down the valley about three quarters ora ofa of a mile south of this we located and we looked about and finally we came and camped between the two forks of city creek one of which ran south west and the other west here we planted our standard anthis temple block andi and i the one above it here we a pitched our campb campa and determined that here we would settle and stop still our brethren who tarried by the way were tolling toiling through poverty and distress at one time I 1 was told they would have perished from starvation had not the lord sent quails among them thear these birdy flew flaw against their wagons and they either killed or stunned themselves vos I 1 and the brethren and bisters sisters gathered them up which furnished them thein with food for days until they made their way in the wilderness Child children reni we are the pioneers of this country with one exception west of the mississippi river we established the first printing press I 1 in n every state from here to the pacific oceal ocean and we were the first to establish libraries and the first to establish good schools we were the first to plant out orchards and to I 1 improve in rove the desert country making it 1 dike rike like ilke the garden of eden I 1 will not prolong this recital but will ask the children if they can ban now understand why they were born here in this thia far oft off loftland land you yuu might just as well have been born in missouri or illinois if your parents had bad been treated as they should have been if let alone to enjoy the rights and liberties in common with our fellow men we would have beautified the land made it an eden and adorned it with everything desirable but we were n not ot allowed to stay there to possess the homes we bad made and consequently we are here and this has been your birthplace birth place and now that we wo are here we are followed by a set of men who are ready to reenact re enact the scenes that we have already passed through but weare we are now where we can keep and preserve ourselves in the possession of our homes and property they drove us to the fastnesses fast nesses of the bocky hocky mountains and it will be a it hard matter to dispossess us again it will prove a job if undertaken that they would be glad to let out before they get fairly into it but bat still they are after uk w and when you hear of this and that with regard to myself being guilty of this and that wrong I 1 would have you look at those who make these accusations look at certain characters we have and have had iu IR our midst midat who are called ministers of justice ministers of the law they are bosom companions of thieves liars and murderers but the honorable and upright they hate because their deeds are evil and they believe they have a in mission sion but it is a hard one to tb accomplish com you yon can now understand my children why you yon were born bom in utah and not in either missouri or illinois if they had bad let us alone we would have made those lands lauds an eden and we would have molested I 1 or hurt no one for there are no people that preserve the laws of our gote gove government m aj as well as the latter day saints now permit me to cast one reflection before closing this part of my address you bave have been reading of the great and al armine uprising of the mormons cormons Mor mons what a terrible time they are experiencing in etc wonderful I 1 wonderful r you have seen your fathers who are farmers go to their farms and those who are mechanics to their workshops and our merchants to their places of business without molesting any per what a terrible state of affairs this ibis Is you yon have read too in our oar late papers about the uprising of the railroad strikers kerb kere which has really taken place placer does it not seem singular to 0 you why these characters who are eo so afraid of trouble do not go east and end lend their aid and moral influence to quell the riot you can understand that if we had been let alone we would have done justice and preserved the laws who pay their taxes as well as do the latter day saints no people who honor so well the laws of our government no other othen people this la Is the speech that brother george Q cannon was expected to have made ile he wanted me to make it and I 1 have to make the two spee speeches chesin in one now a few words of counsel to the children do you feel children that you can remain patient and endure my talk a little longer I 1 think you can A few words of counsel to you yon to you yom that understand de der what I 1 am baying saying I 1 hope yon will observe what I 1 say and remember 14 it and carry cairy it out in your lives the first Is to love the lord your god with all jauk your hearts and the next Is to honor your paren parents ts that your days mayhe maybe long iong in the land which the lord our god has given giver us ins observe children and nd hearken you are taught to worship the tho lord so are the children of the christian world they have their sunday schools and churches and meeting houses and their min ministers aisters and teachers who iho kho instruct the children you go to them and ask them if they know anything about that holy being whom they worship and whom they call god not that the comprehension pf af children Is equal to that thit of the aged philosopher but still you have some understanding derstad d ing children when yon you ask the tho ministers of christendom whom they worship they will win tell you ah we worship godl 11 who is that god can you tell us where he lives the answer Is no fracter Ir can you jon tell us anything about his character acter he Is a personage e without ithon t anybody any body at all he has neither body dy nor par part partake she tahe bhe has haa no head he has no ears he has no eyes to see he has BO no nose to finiel no mouth to speak no arms to handle anything nor a bady to which these arms arm scan can be attached lie has no legs he therefore cannot and finally they gay bay to sum him up to our entire satisfaction he Is a body parts or passions now 11 little ule children can you conr cour conceive eive eite what kind of a being this Is you sav ear its nothing aft all that lemast Is just what it j Is it la Is a myth it Is nothing to look at nothing to adore nothing to worship nothing thing to admire nothing to appeal to for help heip ile he has no arms to either handle us or our enemies he has no legs he can neither walk nor to us he hig hag no I 1 eyes to behold their follies or ours and this is the god that the christian worl world ld worship and teach their children to worship now children remember this we teach you that our father in heaven is a personage of tabernacle just as much as I 1 am who stand before you yoa today to day and he has all the parts and passions of a perfect man and his bis body is composed of flesh and ind bones bonee but bat not of blood he therefore has eyes to see and his bis eyes are upon all the works of his bis hands he has ears which are open to hear bear the prayers of little child ren and he loves you and knows you are all his offspring and his knowledge of you is so minute that to use the language of the anc ancients lents not a hair of your heads beads falls to the ground unnoticed this is the kind of god goa we worship children call upon him in your childhood and youth for from guch euch as you he has said he will not turn away ask the father to protect you always ask him in the name of jesus for his spirit the youth the child those who are partially grown as well as the a aged ed cease not to call upon god with an your hearts remember this thia obey your parents honor them and seek to do them good and parents seek to honor your children child ren bring them up ia la the nurture ture and admonition of the lord teach them truth and not error teach them to love and gerve serve god teach them to believe in jesus christ the son of god and the saviour of the is a personage of tabernacle he was to all appearance pea pe arance ranee like other men and be he was are age t the express image of the father if he were here today to day as he appeared at jerusalem he would pass through this congregation and no one would suppose but what he was an ordinary stranger visiting us children believe in this character he is the saviour of the world and the father has appointed him to act in his exalted position it is not my business nor nory yours oura onra to question the father why he appointed this jesus to be the saviour of the world if you do not now f fully ally comprehend this the time will come when you will remember too the great principle of improvement pro pm learn I 1 dearal learn I 1 continue to learn to study by observation and from good books I 1 listen to the in st ruction of your parents and of your brethren who hold the holy priesthood and they will teach you yon the wa ways wava va of happiness and of life eternal if any of you are BO so unfortunate as to have parents who wander inte inta by and forbidden paths and who do things that are wrong follow not after them but honor them and be kind to them and teach them by |