Show ua SM nr BY iii lill TYLOR DELIVERED in the assembly vali vail salt lake city sunday afternoon feb I 1 oth 1884 REPORTED BY JOHN wn WE meet together from time timeto 1 k time to speak to sing to tio pray and according to an institution which has been provided to partake of the sacrament of the lords supper and also to perform those various dulles dulies duties devolving upon us as servants of the livin living GOT god it is pleasant for the saints vo to meet together to commune with each other to fether listen is ten to the words of lif lileto eto reflect also upon their position position an and re relationship at ons p to god 0 1 to ills his church and kingdom kingdo as well weli we 1 I 1 as to exa examine ine lne into their own feelings in s and under the guidance of the lord and of ills his Hoi holy spirit try to find out what relationship they sustain to their heavenly father and whether they are performing the various duties devolving upon them and are seeking to carry out the word the will and the law of god we are certainly a very peculiar people gathered together in these valleys of tile tiie mountains we are assembled here from many nations it would be difficult to say at present how many but I 1 think on some public occasion a while ago there were twenty five or twenty six nationalities represented in this respect we present a very sin gular aspect and occupy oc cup y a very peculiar position in the hist history ory of the day and age wherein we live our rell reli religion gion wion diff differs ers very widely from that which exists in the world our ideas of god of futurity of heaven and of hell and of the future destiny of the human family not only of ourselves but of all nations differ very materially from that of others our social ideas too are very dissimilar from those entertained by others and again our political ideas are not in accord in many respects with those of others ana and and thus we find ourselves in a very verv anomalous s position gathered together here in these valleys of the mountains separated to a great extent from the rest of mankind we were a few years ago very ver y decidedly separated now this portion of the continent has become almost the highway of the nations I 1 frequently meet with persons from france england ireland scotland and wales from the various principalities of hr germany many from russia italy spain portugal from australia and the islands of the sea and from almost all the nations of the earth they pass by here and hearing that we are a strange sort of a people they are desirous to know something about us as they pass through it frequently becomes a question in the minds of many how and in what manner did these things originate and what is the object of our being 11 thus gathered together as a separate and ana distinct instinct people by bv what motives are we actuated the world of mankind manking mank mauk lna ing whether in this nation or in any other nation form very strange notions in regard to our reasons for thus gathering together although we have been i striving for a great many years to en cn lighten the world in in relation to this and other matters still they seem very much at sea in regard to the position which we occupy and to our moral social religious and political poU ical status so that that it becomes almost wt impossible for people at a distance from here notwithstanding we profess to live ia ili an age of light and intelligence in an ageos age of railroads telegraphs and telephones in an age when rapid communication can be had say from all parts of the earth in one am day in an age of professed knowledge 0 of science literature literature and art and of everything that is calculated or ought to be if properly conducted to promote the welfare of the human family I 1 say that notwithstanding all these things if there is one subject about which the human family today to day is grossly ignorant it is on the subject of the principles of the latter day saints A short time ago 11 a very distinguished european gentleman after eulogising eulogizing eulogi sing the appearance of our city the quiet and order that prevails etc said to me I 1 president taylor you can scarce scarcely y conceive concely how impossible it is outside of your territory to obtain correct information regarding re gardin you as a people and an editor of the e north morth american ke be cioto told me he came here from new york expressly for the purpose of getting me to write an article on our present status thus again exhibiting exhibit in the strange attitude which we occupy defore this nation and the world and demonstrating that in consequence of such a flood of falsehood tiou and abuse which is constantly circulated against us that it is almost impossible as before referred to to obtain any correct information concerning us some of the literary men who c ome come along here express to me the opinion that we have been maligned and a good deal I 1 tell them that in an age like this people ought to know better that they on ought to be better informed wormed that they ought to make themselves acquainted wit with Y facts within the reach of ever everybody y and that there is no excuse for ignorance in relation to these matters gorance still ill III this ignorance continues there is an under current that men generally re not acquainted with that operates n the minds of men and produces these results of which I 1 speak at the present time to the latter day i ats there Is nothing very mysterious about th this is we have passed through this state of things in embryo years tears and years ago blany many of you thought when you lear tear heard I 1 the gospel and baur hearts had been made glad bl by obedience thereunto that all you would have to do would be to tell your particular friends and relations of these things and that it would cause their hearts to rejoice as it did yours you felt interested in their welfare and had a desire to promote their happiness that they might rejoice with you in the blessin blessings s which tou you u experienced through obedience to ir the gospel but lo 10 and behold I 1 the moment you opened your mouth on this subject jou you were set down as I 1 impostors you were probably before this a decent man or a decent woman but now you became ostracized and cut off in many instances from association even with members of your own family was it because you sou had become corrupt no was I 1 it tru because ec ause you had become unsocial no was it because you possessed s principles that were at variance vari ence with the principles of truth virtue honor and the word of god no and ana if you had asked them what the reason was f for or their coolness and the f feeling aclin of ostracism that they manifested the they y could not tell only that you were a mormon lormon 11 you have all ail allot of you experienced perien ced this if this is the case then with your most intimate friends with your relations with your our fathers and mothers sons and daughters uncles and aunts with whom you had been on the most friendly terms heretofore how can you expect the world to look at things in any different manner I 1 reflect sometimes upon the position occupied by the ancient Christ christians lans ians and upon the character position and standing of jesus the son of god we all profess to reverence him all christendom bows in reverence at the antion mention of his name they feel there is something hallowed about it they look upon ulm him as being the son of god and they look upon his apostles as men of unblemished reputation of pure plire lives holy virtuous and upright you x 0 u cannot travel anywhere in christendom but you find churches erected to tio st paul st peter to st john to st matthew to 0 st yuke luke and to all the different saints as the they y are now called by the people but now how was it with these saints arien they lived here upon the earth They were called dis aurbers of the peace it was said of them that they were stirrers up of sedition that they were impure ungodly men the idea of their being persecuted as we read of for their religion would woula have been altogether af altogether together 11 preposterous in that day they would tell you they were prosecuted for their crimes and their iniquities they were brought before rulers kings and judges and they had to depend upon the lord and his holy spirit to sustain them under those circumstances jesus emphatically told them to expect these things if the world hate you said he I 1 pa ye know that it hated me before it hated you if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you pou por li tiley urley 10 lo do aliese in a green tree what shall be done in the d dry 11 it I 1 is singular jet det yet it is a fact that these things di did exist while the crowds were ready sometimes to cover his path with olive branches and with their garments ir ments and to shout hosanna blessed messed is he that cometh in the name of the lord yet with the very next breath they were ready to cry crucify crucify cruelty him crucify him I 1 it is not fit that ile he should live and when ile he was hounded and hunted persecuted and proscribed at the very last even when a roman judge said what evil hath he done 11 and washed his hands of the blood of this just person they still continued to cry let him be crucified 11 and Ba rabbas a noted thief and a murderer was released in preference to jesus feis this was the kind abid of feeling manifested toward the savior were they au an 1 ignorant ignorant people that thus treated 1 him in no they were what were called the elite of the day the educated men of position the high priests the scribes the pharisees Pharis ees the doctors the la lawyers ers the leading men of the nation 21 all ali of them engaged in this thing and all of them partook of the same spirit what was the cause of this it was because he was not of the world if ye were of the world said the savior to ills his disciples ites lies the world would love his own iut int but because because yo to are not of tho world I 1 but I 1 have chosen you out of therefore the world habeth you I 1 thai thal that is the cause the world loveth its own and the world is to today day was then and always will be until it shall be regenerated opposed to god opposed to righteousness and opposed to the principles of truth paul makes the following statement for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is at enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can be thero there is nothing new therefore in any of these matters that we hear bruited bruised around from place to place from the east cast to the west from the north to the south and spreading abroad among the nations of the earth nothing new nothing strange nothing n very remark remarkable abl abi e in any of f these t things ings the carnal mind knows no nor the things of godana Go dand is not subject to the law of god neither can it be they form all kinds of opinions even with regard to our gathering why dont you xou stop at home hora as other folks to do some bome say that it is an emigration scheme gotten up to make money and that missionaries are sent our out by us to deceive the weak and the thel 6 irant and to gather them together I 1 that they may be made merchandise dise disc of that is one idea you all know how far that is true and how far it is false others say that we arega are gathered there d here for licentious purposes to carry out ideas to corrupt demoralize and trample under foot the women that come and associate with us and to destroy their virtue whereas you know there is not a place in the world where women are better protected and their virtue more sacredly guarded than in utah they compare plural marriage to their whored whore doms om seductions their social evils and it the c man many y kinds of iniquity corruption and rottenness ro t that prevail among themselves reasoning from their breir own standpoint they consider that we are a very wicked corrupt and licentious people but according to the statistics that we have pertaining to these matters our immorality is twenty to fort forty y times less than theirs here in our midst without going go ing any further the crimes iniquities aw and corruptions corrupt ions committed by the small minority of outsiders in our midst very far exceed perhaps by twenty to thirty times the crimes or of the latter day saints this excess of crime on the part of outsiders is what might night be reasonably expected for we profess to be a better people and we ought to be a better people than those who make no to be guided by divine rever revelation altion examine there the records of our city jail of the tiago biary of the county prisons which ha have been een p published ablis hed and are being published and you will find a full statement in relation to these matters and the per percent cent of crime that exists between one and the other mr nir barclay a member of the british parla who lately visited us writes in the tre nineteenth ventury a monthly review published in london in the winter of 1881 a census was taken of the prisons in utah with the following results in the city prison were twenty nine convicts and in the county prison six convicts all non mor mons in the penitentiary out of fifty one prisoners only five were mormons cormons Mor mons two of whom were there for polygamy of the population of salt lake city about 75 percent per cent is mormon and 25 per cent non mor mon he further says The these figures conclusively prove that the mor A I 1 or mons are a sober law abiding people and singularly free from the grosser forms ovice of vice whatever maybe may be alleged by ignorant or prejudiced enemies of the two hundred saloons billiard bowling alley and pool table keepers nota dozen even profess prof ess mormonism dior Alor monism 1 and since these figures were we republished published others in relation to 1882 nave have been made public one gentleman who has spent a considerable length of time investigating vesti gating these matters writes the statistics at hand for 1882 cover a wide field taking in all the populous districts of tle tie the territory the total number of all arrests for crimes and misdemeanors in these localities calit cali ties les during 1882 was 2198 of which the 78 per cent of the mormon population furnished and the 22 per cent of the non mormons cormons 1898 so abat the cormons mormons comprising 78 per cent of the population of the territory contributed one eight of the arrests made during 1889 1882 and the non mor dior mons having only 22 per cent contributed seven eighths the num berof brothels throughout the territory was 1211 12 all ali ke kept nynon wynon by non mormons cormons 11 regarding egar I 1 ing salt fake lake city where he resided for some time he states the criminal record of salt lake city for 1882 shows that in a population of about divided between mormons cormons and non mormons cormons as 19 to 6 the total num number berof of arrests was 1561 of which ch were mormons cormons and 1373 non mor mons of the 60 66 houses where beer and liquor w ere retailed by the glass 60 were kept by non mormons cormons and the remaining remaining remain luf 6 nominally mormons cormons Mor mons were not le entitled ted led to participate in the sacraments of the church by reason of their calling the 15 billard rooms and bowling alleys and the 7 gambling gamblin houses were all ali kept by non mormons cormons the 6 brothels had non mormon proprietors prie tors and they were filled by 31 non mormon inmates there is nothing in this to be proud of for it would be e a pity if we could not live better than they do we have gathered here not for speculative purposes as is sometimes charged but to worship shi god to keep ills his commandments antto and to be instructed in the laws of life there is no cause for |