| Show 1 18 C C U 6 S 0 BY PRESIDENT JOSEPH F DErAVI DELIVERED IRED IN THE assembly hait hadl salt sait lake city sunday afternoons afternoon oct aj 0 1852 BY dby joun jouk IRVINE greatness of the work inaugurated and accomplished complis hed bed by the prophet joseph smith sketch of the prophets Vs early life ilse refutation of the taisa ralsa charges ohara es made against hini bini and the latter day saints character charac aen ter of our Traduce traducers rs divine nature and value of the book of Y normon ormon brother woodruff fr in the course of his remarks made the assertion that joseph smith waa the greate greaten A prophet that has over ever lived of whom we have any knowledge have save and bund except jesus christ chiist himself Aim seif self the world would eay fay that he was an imposter impostor and the thes lord luord baid said that his namo should be had for good and for vil evil e among all ali the nations of the earth and thia this much at least so far as his hlis name or fame has become known has been fulfilled this prediction re was waa made through the prophet prophet joseph joeeph smith himself when he was an obscure youth when there was but little prospect of his name ever becoming known beyond the village where he ha lived it was at an early period of his life and at the beginning of the work that this prophecy or revelation was given and it has been truly verified today there is not another man perhaps who has haa figured in religion whose name is so widely known and the report of whom has gone so BO far and is so wide spread among the nations of the earth as that of joseph smith in with the work of which he was the instrument ment in the handa hands s of god of laying the found sound foundation atlon his name is spoken enot enof tot in nearly every civilized nation upon the globe today to day for good or for evil where it 16 is spoken of for good it is by thoss thosa who have had the privilege of hearing ht ar the gospel which has hab come to the earin earth through him and who have been sufficiently honest and humble to receive the Pa same bame methe they y speak of him with a knowledge which they have received by the inspiration of the holy spirit through obedience to the principles which he taught as a prophet and as an inspired man they speak to his hla praise praises to his honoreand ho honor norland and they hold hla his name in honorable remembrance they revere severe him and they love him as they love no other man because they know he was the the chosen instrument inthe lathe in the handset the almighty of restoring the gos pel of life and salvation unto them of opening their understanding of the future of lifting the veil of eternity as it were from before their eyes those who have received the principles which he promulgated know they pertain not only to their own salvat salvation lons ions happiness and peace and temporal but to the wel wei welfare farey farej happiness salvation and exaltation of their kindred who have died without a knowledge of the truth troth the work in which jose joseph h smith was engaged was not conan confined to this life alone but it pertains as well to the life to como eoma and to the life that has been in other words it relates to those that have lived upon the earth eaith to those that are living and to those that shall come after us it is not something which re relates latell to man only while he tabernacles in the tha flesh flash but to the whole human family from eternity to eternity consequently as I 1 have said jo joseph eph smith is heid heia irreverence his name is honored tens of thousands of people thank god in their heart and from the depths of their souls for the knowledge the lord haa has restored to the earth through him and therefore they speak well of dimand bear testimony of his worth eandi candi this Is in not confined to a village ii nor or to a state nor to a ex es tends to every d tongue and people where gospel nn to the resent loe boe been n P preached hed hod in america great britain t cinc zinc europe africa australia new zea zel zealand zeland land and and upon the islands of the sea and the book nook of mormon which joseph smith was the instrument in the hands of godif god of translating and bringing forth to 1 this thia generation has been translated into the german germano french danish swedish welsh and the hawal kawal hawaiian ian lan langua langus languages geay gesy and also into the hindo a danee pe spanish and dutch ian jan an guage 9 and this book will be translated branal ate d into other languages for according to tho the predictions it 1 contains and according to the promises of the lord through joseph smith it is to be sent unto ever nation and kindred and people under the whole heavens until all the bons and daughters of adam shall have the privilege of hearing the gospel as it has been restored to the earth in the dispensation of the ful nebs neba of times the world presume that we have not net received a knowledge of the truth those who are in ignorance in regard to the character life and labors of joseph smith who have never read his revelations or studied or investigated his claims to divine authority and are ignorant of his mission revile him sneer at his name and ridicule hia hla claims to prophetic inspiration and call him an impostor jesus was also called an impostor in his day except by a few that hearkened to his instruction and believed his testimony the great majority of mankind then living who knew of christ deemed him an impostor and considered him worthy to be ba put to death precisely the bame same feeling existed towards joseph smith the disciples of jesus christ auci anci antly were regarded in the same light as their master the savior no GO it is not at all surprising that the people of tho the world today to day who know not the truth should pronounce joseph smith an impostor and try to ridicule the doctrines which he taught but in so eo doin doln doing they make themselves ridiculous for they know little or nothing of about them indeed in ninety nine cases out of a hundred where the doctrines of the latter day saints which are no other than the doctrines which were taught by the savior himself or contained in the bible are ridiculed and pronounced false and evil they are so pronounced by a class of people who being ignorant of or wilfully perverting the truth build aerial casties castles in order that they may tear them down or make a man of straw to shoot at so that they can create a great noise and excitement about the mormons cormons Mor mons and thus we are often charged by those who ho abuse us and write and preach against us with believing and practicing the most absurd and ridiculous things things which no la latter ater da day saint ever dreamt of believing I 1 or accepting as a principle of h his is faith As I 1 have said in ninety nine cases out of a hundred the lat ter day saints are accused by their enemies ene rales of believing doctrines which they do not believe and which are not the doctrines of the latter day saints at all they accuse us of every abominable thing thins they call us murderers they say eny we are immoral ignorant superstitious they call us dupes they say we are deceived that we are enslaved by the priesthood that we are fettered and in bondage now Is it true that the butter lutter day tay cay saints are ignorant if no BO then I 1 am sorry for the great majority of mankind for millions of them are in a far worse condition than we are in this respect reaped I 1 will eay here and not without nood good and sufficient proof to back it that the latter eatter day sainta saints will corm comm compare pare favorably with an y ather people upon the bacs of the e arih anih for good mund bound common sense and every other good thing hence to say bay that the lat ter day saints are an ignorant people is saying baying only what may truthfully be said of the whole world taking the best dest evidence that we have to prove the facts tho statistics of the schools as compared with the statistics of the schools in the valous states and territories and of european countries it appears that the people of utah stand in the front ranks in relation to education and are in advance of many of their neighbors and stand equal with many who have far greater advantages than they ha have Wet we do not boast of being veny very virly intelligent and only claim the credit which belongs to us that we stand on a par with our neighbors and with our fellow citizens throughout the united states and for that matter will compare favorably with a any ny people on the face of the globe but we are called an ammo immoral ral rai people wells well Is the world so very veny ve ry moral are our accusers so very pure and holy and so extremely t ca a at they should accuse raap f being e 11 immoral oral orai consistency Consi y would won I 1 d demand that he that Is with 06 t gualt the first stone bat it iea lea 1 fa fact c aw I 1 hat that in our case our bitterest bitt grest irest accusers and this has been well demonstrated hundreds and perhaps thousands of times are themselves ree nee reeking king with corruption generally those who are the most immoral them selves are the ent first to make the charge of immorality against the lat ter day saintel but I 1 deny the charge in toto and I 1 assert without fear of successful contradiction that there ignot is not an equal number ot of people upon the face of the globe today to day who present to the world as much pure and simple morality and virtue as do the people called latter day stints saints in other words there is not a more moral people upon the face of the earth to today day than the latter day saints taking them all in all not but what there are some black sheep among them but who can fathom the depths of crime and corruption which exist in all the great cities of the world you may go to the rural districts throughout the united state and gather the most virtuous of our country to the number that are gathered together as latter day saints and I 1 awill will wiil venture to say say that there are half as an many children murdered among them annually either before or after their birth by their own mothers or fathers as are born to the latter day saints in the same period the latter day saints are proverbial for NOT murdering their chi children en they have hosts of them and they t ey do not try to destroy them neither before nor after birth but endeavor to rear them to manhood and womanhood that they may teach them the principles of the gospel of christphe christ the highest code of morals known that they may be able to bear oss off the kingdom of god upon the earth and to regenerate the world this is the object for which the latter day saints are rais mis ng children that god may have a pure and a righteous people how much the latter day sainte bainte neglect their opportunities or privileges leges or fall short of their duties in regard to training their child renand instructing them in the principles of morality virtue purity and uprightness is difficult to say but of this I 1 feel sure that while they are the best beat people that I 1 know of there is great room for improvement in this direction but it is said the immorality of the latter day saints consists in their marrying more wives that onel one we are not charged with the crime of frequenting honses of ill III fame of fostering illicit intercourse of infidelity to our wives of child murder of drunkenness profanity dishonesty cruelty or indolence or if we are the tiie charge is utterly false but bur great offense offence is in marrying our wives and protecting them and our children as all honorable men should god forbid that I 1 should undertake to compare the honorable marriage of the latter day saints with the debauchery and sexual crimes of our accusers if our actions and our faith falth in regard to marriage are called wicked and immoral by them in the name of god and kad humania humanity v what will you call the crimes of those that accuse us there la Is no adequate term in the dictionary cr cf the english language with which to make a comparison hence mormon plural marri agie ssie cannot be degraded to the level of a comparison with the sexual crimes and iniquities of the world there is no similitude between them one Is the antipode of the other one is virtuous virtu ous oum pure and honorable and the other is corrupt treacherous and debasing to the utmost degree our system of marriage promotes life purity innocence vitality health increase and langev longevity ty 3 s while the other engenders disease disappointment misery and premature death that is the difference hence there is no resemblance for they are not allied to ech each other at all the people of utah are charged with having committed terrible murders and robberies danicea Da danl Dani nitea teall or destroying angels are talked about by sensational write writt writers its irs and believed by the un Informed Now what is the fact utah stands head and should irs its above every other territory othe faithe united states so far as the crime of murder is concerned you cannot find a western territory or state within the united where there has not been a hundred per pen percent cent more murders lynch ing and lawlessness than can be found in the annals of utah take the they r state of california the state of nevada nevadas and all the siar surn rounding bounding territories and it will be found that there has been less leas violation of law fewer murders and le less fj lynching lunching lyn ching in utah than in ani one of these from the there theres Is no man that knows snows all ali any tabi thing g about the history of the western states a and aud territories for the years but knows lie lle absolutely the fat at because AW Q a few horse thieves and murderers have perchance been summarily dealt with by officers 0 of f the law in w who were the appointees of the united states and acting under the authority of the parent government and the laws of the territory the whole people of utah are accused of being murderers I 1 attended a methodist revival meeting held in a big tent in this city a few years ago by some bome itinerant preachers who had spent but a few days in utah and were totally ignorant of her history and it fairly made ones oneo blood run cold to hear them relate their pious suspicions of the horrible murders that nad had been committed in utah they though tor pretended to believe that it if the rocks of these mountain gorges could only speak that nearly every rock could some somme terrible terri ble bie tale unfold of horrible secret murder and rapine the most damnable nonsense none enbe enee that was ever uttered by man but this is the sort of preaching that Is generally done against the latter day saints by this class of men and as I 1 have said those who denounce the doctrines of this people as heresies her esies and as abominable in ninety nine cabes canes out of a hundred know no thing whatever of the facts if the latter day saints had not been latter day saints if it had not been for their religion and their faith in god and in his omnipotence to deliver them from the power of their enemies or if the territory of U utah ulah tah tab had been inhabited by the same number of people composed of the various sects and denominations denomination bof bot of christianity so BO called and the one anath part of the infamies amies that have been perpetrated upon this people had been perpetrated upon them many of the perpetrators of these infamies amies would have been long ago summoned to their final abode by judge lynch but the patience of the latter day saints and their willingness to leave their cause in the hands of god has spared them from shedding the blood of their enemies and preserved them from violence or harm Mentha mensha have not deserved to live and aud would not have been suffered to live in any other |
