| Show M EI 1 S 0 D crr cra SM U r relf reif ftp adge Q liroi hiroi I 1 I 1 1 1 s 1 1 I tl it i ll 11 jl lii the tie tle tabernacle proff prow sunday joo if nor nov 0 1884 DY BY JOHN joun IRVINE 1 11 IN attempting to address you this aate crifo ai my brethren and sisters I 1 trust trat ml ia bali bail efto tile the assistance of that 1 may be fledta leato upon that arera arela dwa your circumstances and wall wali 9 s a people are living ata at a tithe ihn we need the assistance and direction of the spirit of god to be taught by men and by mens wisdom in our oui p position would be of little or no avail to us f from roaf the fact that the conditions editions which surround us are different in many respects from those which surround evera other people we are a ret pet peculiar pecullar pe people we are not bound tos toi together ether by associations such as exist amo q other ather eddles we have not coati together because eclam hse use this land s suited u cited usand us and ann was desirably for us to 10 make a livi living in but we e have gathered fathered to 1 llin ilin his iana land through force of circum to a certain extent we vvo ri nal nai iq no nd control 01 we hate have come together impelled by motives sucu suell as do upon ordinary people and h having a 1 I objects to accomplish such a as s tuf are not thought t of nor labored for by others other people when they form settlements such guch as we have in these mountains are generally drawn together ther if th yare eyare new settlements by 9 the d ad advantages vintages of locality by the opportunities port unities for foil making a living or in iii creating in wealth or for some consideration side hatlon kation ot or reason of this character first place afterwards in succeeding uc ceding generations they stay there viero bec because duie buge it is their berthp birthplace lace Js ji ahe ithe home bome in which they reared but these considerations ti s liaw liaa 11 lirag rig rag WId not influenced us in our in these valleys alleys it is due to iodie QS these causes that we are organized in communities arwe as we are areto to d daj a lut tut U is due to causes that are lilmer and 10 diverse rofa rora those that operate upon other people where they apin bom settlements such suei as we have doii lobo hence this being our co condition adi i re wisdom it requires strength 1 it requires enlightenment f roin gad tor to enable us to maintain upon the principle that we came eia inthe beginning for and to the evils by which we vve ar are e threatened we believe belleve 1 eve that it was god who led asto this land thatis thab that it was oot god pod who ire lre prepared pared tins this land as an abode f for fon r agtha us that t it has hag been his halsal almighty power that has preserved us thus far an and 1 hd has ameliorated the condition of affairs that thit Is the abu and the thai climate and the water that has hag produced changes that have made this land desirable and ind a delightful home farus and that there has beena pur pose josean and in all this and that we have havo been the tho instruments in the hands od ot working out and ac ap 1 I design up to the presen lk biece there Is as I 1 nave naye s sala salm I 1 a we vye should receive 10 am th slanie source that has hit hitherto hert 11 ll 11 d continued guidance and conti continued lied instruction instruction so that we shall shail 41 ot stop hau haij wray in the work that we anve pavo pave blit bub by divine help be able to accomplish it there were isome pome reflections that passed through my mind as I 1 sat in your meeting thil morning concerning the which surround us thit thiv that it 1 I can canet et the spirit I 1 would woul d like to speak UPP upun upon in the farst first place it will not do to jud judge geor or measure us s bythe by the standards tan dards that obtain among oth other othar er people and by which ped leare measured in other places to form a correct courbet judgment of 11 d hy saints men must un muoi the motives which prompt the to th actton action bion blon the considerations and the objects inai vir nir to accomplish to forma of our character these all anut must be taken into consideration sider atlon but it is often the case tha 0 taro tare measured by standards totts totis IV which illch may vcra Is r fon for fo measuring other othe r of ig 0 communities ies les but no not t 1 one cone Quence ot of this we e are iraj misjudged and men W and ap eting us tault fault is constantly f foaud op wim wun a aby by our enemies bebau because se of these peculiarities faich they do understand anae estand or which if they do noo nou understand they pay no attention to X abor or instance it is f frequently said sald to ils iia that we ive are a disloyal people that weare fiot hiot friends to the government overn that we vye respect a po pov erand crand an ri ildur in our midst which wh icOve ve co consider n paramount to the authority of the government and because of the cir cu ep lation of this accusation and its ysido fe pread belief wpc are ref refused used rights to li vvs vve AVS are aro hie die fully entitled anich ung belong to us which should not bp 9 or denied to us it njg lr beryt ry remarkable wien alen we think gb ii D r numbers how few we are comparatively gaking speaking it 46 is is vergre that there should be such about u us s as there is pharaoh and aud the egyptians were avei more afraid ap apparently of the ewt grgat eat power otibe children children of israel ip in their than our fellow citizens aul ani and aud many anany of them too chat that are lu 4 hish places appear appear to be afraid of us they seem to cook ilpo a Us as aliens allens as 44 nilon allon aver mger treat us aee wee wun thoro is ilot tho tor dola oo 00 B now you yon remember doubtless pharaohs Phara treatment of the israelites lie he saw that they were increasing and he became alarmed why f 11 sa said id he if we e were a war these israel israelites are becoming s so 0 numerous numer nume rousi oui they may join our enemies and take away our kingdom from us we must stop their increase and he epode counseled with his people as to the best bast method to stop this increase he lie issued a decree that all male children that were barnof bom of the israelites should be destroyed and cast into the rivel niver nile but that the female children should bo be spared in this fayhe hoped to check the increase of the children af israelian Isra israel elin in egypt there Is noth nothing n in history that has come down to U us s to furnish grounds or justification i for this cruel action on the part of this king kins but this action was well adapted to force tile the children of israel into the feeling that the government under which they lived was a harsh a cruel and an unfriendly government and to create antipathy in their breasts against it in this way this tyrant as all ali tyrants have ever done iii in trying to accomplish the object fahad he had in view view i took the very means to lo bring upon himself and his bis nation the evils that he dreaded because if he had desired to make the israelites join the enemies of the nation and be traitors in the midst of the kingdom he could not have ave taken a more emner emmer effective tIve th method ethod than that which he did take and so it is with us if we had not had a profound attachment to the constitution ution of the united states and to the institutions of this government the course that is taken against us by those who haye have represented the government has been and is of a character to have driven Us into open and avowed enmity to the government years and years agg without that deep rooted attachment we should have lost all our respect for a government under which we have suf suffered feied such cruel wron wrongs 9 there could be no better evidence of the kind feeling and the 10 loyalty y althof of the latter day saints to the government of the united states than the fact that in our breasts and throughout these mountains there prevails an unquenchable love and respect for the constitution and the institutions that spring notwithstanding we vye chave have been denied our rights and been treated with the utmost cruelty there is scarcely an act of oppression that could be practiced that we have not had the time the church of which we are arc members was vas organized up to the present time behave we have been falsely accused of all kinds of crimes have been bettin mobbed and repeatedly driven f from rom our homes with the entire loss of our property have been outraged warred upon subjected to vio lence of almost every Oe description and murdered one by one our rights have a been assailed W we e have been stripped of them under forms of law we have nave lleen heen denied justice and treated with extreme vindictiveness our families if those who had the execution of the laws in their hands could have accomplished it would llave been rent ai under asunder wives would have been torn from froin kneir husbands children from their parents households would have been destroyed distrust dist rustand and enmity and hatred would have been engendered in the breasts of the they people eople one towards and another therl that is if the maa measures that have been framed against us coul dhave been successfully carried out as they were designed by those 1 who framed them just think of it think of the manner the women of this community have been tempted 0 to o turn traitors to their husbands and their friends every inducement possible has been offered to them to turn against and betray their hus kus husbands bands and the seeds of enmity have been sown or have endeavored to be sown in the breasts of families and of children against parents and against each other throughout the entire ti reland jand when you contemplate all these acts they equal in cruelty and perfidy and inhumanity any of the acts of which we read in the scriptures men are shocked when they read the story of the treatment of the israelites by pharaoh all the lir preachers eachers throughout the lind land when they read that comment more orles ories or less upon it to their con gregat ions and talk about the cruelty alt all of which that king was guilty and praise raise the israelites and praise aise alse moses for for jor that which they dia dla at t the same time they are guilty themselves of as great crimes they are guilty of in pitinga government against its citizens its peaceful eitl citi zeis and stirring g up the government to acts of harshness of cruelty cr nelty and even some of them go so far as to defend cheuse the use nse of the army by the government to destroy a peaceful people eople from the jace face of the earth now as I 1 have said no people in the world kate lave nate nave given ven yen greater proofs of attachment tach ment to their the irown fown lown government and iud of devotion to those sacred principles of liberty that we have inherited than the latter day saints have done in these mountains but as I 1 have said the cry is still that we are disloyal that we vye unite church and state that we have an authority ili in our oun midst that we respect and obey while we disregard ard the civil authority of the land these things are a frequent cause of complaint against us and dearede we are denied our ur rights wp we today to day should be a state this territory of utah bo be one of tho the united states we should have tile tiie right to elect our own governor to elect our own judges to elect ev erv elv in fact that executes tho the laws lavis or has any anything thin to do IV with ith tho administration of of the tho government thour olyn land lyp lyo hayo bayo been 1 dow dew harts hares ard dialog u yearb years of ota that time we haye baye been an organized territorial government longer than gny gry other community on the continent except New MexIcO t iced atthe at the same sump time other territories tories h have ave sprung sp r un 4 up and had hid speedy as states and are now numbered as members of the union bears years after ivd ve settled this thu co country I 1 there is no good nood reason why ty we nyc should net have had this sam right granted unto us no good whatever we have shown our capability for good government for maintain ing good government our territory today to day Is s an example for maintaining to 41 nil all 1 the territories and to many states so 0 far as goad government is concerned and freedom from debt andi andl e everything re in fact that makes life enjoyable an and d aas easy y forthe or the citizen wearily we are lightly 1 y taxed and we have maintained 0 ourselves u without aid from the general C government mentor or frani any other community while other communities that thit have ba had nothing like the difficulties to contend with that we have had hava hala been be beg gars ars either atthe door of the national ton Uon congress gress or of their neighboring neighbor ng states and their fellow citizen citizens so when other places were visited by grasshoppers the whole land resolind re sounded ed with appeals for aid but thou though ganve we for five nive years in succession in some of our settlements had crops destroyed by thie same cause yet no wall went up from utah asking the nation for help hell we have been Z so independent land rand nd so disposed to sustain ourselves and to fight obrown our own battles with the difficulties that eny environed ironed us that we have managed to get along without having recourse to this method of obtaining assistance and in this respect our course has been unexampled now as I 1 say there is no good reason s on wa why we should not have been admitted as ustate in the union except far the reason and that has no ho foundation in truth that we vye are not to be trusted that wu are in such a condition that if we were to get et a state government thern there would be danger leslil resulting tin from that grant of power tinto unto us OF of course all of you oil oti my brethren and sisters know low kow how untrue this is how utterly without foundation such such accusations accusation are but nevertheless they are arc listened to and believed I 1 efforts have been made among us to change this condition of affairs there have been and still are perhaps some who call themselves latter day saints who wha are almost ready to ien fen lend themselves to any scheme that has for its obtaining of a slate state or for utah 91 such tich persons look upon upon this as so great a blessing and so great a boon that they are arc almost willing to foreso their religious belief and to pander to those who have got po power wenand and to make some sort of a concession to them in order to achieve this what they consider very desirable end there has been some a agitation ita in years past respecting plural piral marriage and some people calling themselves latter nay oay saints have been almost ready to go into the open market and bid for fora a state stave f t ate government at the price of conceding this principle princie el e of our religion for the brivil privilege e of 01 becoming emin I 1 a state of the union fanos troge who are ready to do this are arc ready also to cast onn obedience to the priesthood goodof of the son of god and to say we do not believe that men who hold an ofte office in the church should have any apy voice in the affairs of the state they are ready to sell out their belief as latter day Saint sand their venera veneration tion and reverence for that power which god has restored for the sake of obtaining a little reco of their rights as citizens on the part of those in power it does doey not require much familiarity mili arity with the spirit of god or with the principles of our holy irell religion to understand exactly the position that such persons as the these theve se to whon whom ji horn I 1 allude occupy among us when naman a man is ready to barter any principle of salvation for worldly advantage that man |
