Show SECRET combinations mcburse Mc ourse delivered at the tabernacle tab er a cle sau salt lake city sunday march nth 1894 by esa RESIDENT DENT GEORGE Q CANNON REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER will read an extract from the book rf if ether which is one of the books of SI pie T book of mormon that which I 1 read is found in the ath chap of ether commencing at the irth verse the lord not in secret combinations neither doth he be will that man should dalhed pd blood but in all things hath forbidden it A rhe beginning of man and now 4 I 1 moroni do not write the manner js their ethear oaths and combinations for it hath faaea made known unto me that they are had malong all people and they are had bad among the aud and they have caused the destruction of this people pe of whom I 1 am now speaking and also isse e dt destruction ruction of the people of nephi v and nd whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations combination st to get power and pin gain until they the y shall spread over the nation behold fley shall be destroyed for the lord will not asser r that the blood of his saints which sh shall an tte file shed by them shall always cry unto him aram the ground for vengeance upon thern them d yet he avenge them not wherefore 0 ye gentiles it is wisdom in od that these things should be chewn unto yero that thereby ye may repent of your sins suffer not that these murderous bombina lions pu shall get above you which are built up to sait mt power and gain and the work yea even v rork ork of destruction come upon you ye yea a aftan en the sword of the justice of the ebern eternal al shall fall upon you to your overthrow and if icye ye shall suffer these things to be wherefore the lord com mandeth you when 3 JW jB AWI Aall see these things come among you that aw f sha awake to a sense of your awful situa L because of this secret combination which aiwase H be among you or wo be unto it because the blood of them who have been slain for t cry from the dust tor vengeance upon it ii afao i WO upon those who build it up 4 or it cometh to pass par is that choso whoso buil deth it adeleth to overthrow the freedom of all b nations and countries and it bri ngeth to po fiess the destruction of all people for it is built imar q by the devil who is the father of all lies was evea that same liar who beguiled our first arents fRen ts yea even that same liar who hath gedman man to COMM commit it murder from the be juwing jg wing who hath batt hardened the hearts 0 of f men tha uett they have murdered the prophets and boned them and cast them out from the be rian mg wherefore 1 I moroni am commanded to things that evil may be done away ja that the time may come that satan may uvie lave no power upon the hearts of the children of f aaen but that they kiy may be persuaded to do g continually that they may come unto the kmat ain of all righteousness and be saved the book from which I 1 have read this i iwas translated as we testify by the power of god we believe the book of mormon to be a divine record we believe it to contain the word of god we do not substitute it in the place of the bible but it is another witness of the truths contained in the bible in it there are very frequent references to secret combinations anat existed in olden times among the people on this continent it seems that combinations were formed for such purposes as are alluded to in the words that I 1 have read and the prophets who made this record were inspired of god to give warning unto us gentiles for we are classed as gentiles in this record that we in our day might understand the ane dreadful consequences which follow such secret organizations this book was published in the year 1829 the church of jesus christ of latter day saints was organized in 1830 at that time there were but few indications especially in our own nation of the growth of such combinations as are described in that which I 1 have read to a person who read the book then such a warning as is is given by this prophet to us would doubtless seem entirely uncalled for but in the lapse of sixty years a great change ha has s taken place in the affairs of the nations of the earth and now those familiar with current events can see the propriety yea the necessity of such a warning as this communism nihilism and f j anarchism have sprung into existence and gained tremendous influence among certain peoples until kings and emperors tremble on their thrones for fear of these secret forces which are at work threatening the overthrow of th their ea r dynasties and the destruction of their forms of government even in republican france where there is no kingly dignity held by any man and where the dignity people ople are the rulers the government is not safe its prominent men stand in continual danger and it is only recently that an attempt was made to destroy the president and others of their chamber of deputies every day that we take up the newspapers we find notices of the dreadful deeds which anarchists have resorted to in order to accomplish their wicked ends not only seeking to destroy rulers but in their recklessness and murderous feelings perfectly willing to destroy those who are not in any way responsible for the condition of things which exists well might the prophet speak in tones of warning unto the inhabitants of the earth well might he call upon them in this solemn manner to refrain from such organizations and to do nothing to foster them on account of these warnings with which we have been familiar since the organization of our church the latter day saints have as a rule kept free from all sorts of organ izat ions of a secret character the servants of god in these days have also felt impressed to caution the latter day saints on this point that they might not be carried away by that spirit it has been the continued counsel of the servants of god for the latter day saints to abstain from every association the ob objects j acts of which are secret we have known that these combinations would exist that they would increase in the midst of the people and that their tendency would be evil seeking to destroy government to overturn existing institutions and to array class against class community against community the revealed word of god has shown this to us and the spirit of god has impressed the truth and the importance of these matters upon us the church of jesus christ of latter day saints has been built up by the revelations of god for the purpose of correcting the evils that exist in society as well as to save the inhabitants of the earth from their sins not only to prepare them for the lite life to come but to qualify them to enjoy the life that now is its mission is to save the people spiritually and temporally in the beginning of our organization we were taught by the lord a number of things concerning the temporal safety that we should receive by keeping his commandments mand ments it was revealed to us that these were the last days the days of tribulation and of calamity of which the savior spoke and that this work which the lord had established by the sending of angelic visitors to the earth was preparatory I 1 to the second coming of our lord and the most remarkable influence attended the preaching of the gospel by the elders of this church wherever they went those who received their message became inspired with an almost uncontrollable dt desire to leave eave the lauds lands of their nativity to break off their old associations of kindred and friends and to emigrate to the place which the saints settled in the first place of settlement was kirtland ohio almost with that the settlement in jackson county missouri was formed afterwards through persecution se the people were driven out of jackson county and they settled in clay county and afterwards in caldwell county finally 1 under threat of extermination mi nation they 1 left efi missouri and moved into illinois from illinois they moved into this country clinging together as a united body every convert as I 1 have said was filled with an almost uncontrollable troll able desire to gather with the people with whom he had cast his I 1 lot at hence it is that the latter day saints are found dwelling in these mountain valleys they have not gathered from the various various nations of the earth because man has induced them to do so but be cause of the spirit which they themselves received this is one of the most extraordinary movements that has ever been witnessed in some respects it is more phenomenal than the exodus of the israelites from egypt they were one people of one family and the tradition of their family was that that they would leave egypt and go back to canaan but there had been no such tradition connected with us we had no ideas from our fathers that this was necessary on our part but it has been so to speak a spontaneous action it has been the power of god that has caused this today there are people struggling with hardship in our barren wastes remote from the conveniences not to say luxuries of life seeking to eke out a scanty livelihood for themselves and their children when all around them to the west and the east are lands that are inviting because of their richness on which they could make themselves comfortable if not wealthy yet they remain true to their convictions they have come here because they believed it to be gods will that they should come they become wedded to the soil and are willing to endure all these hardships because they believe that god has called them to this mission the object that the lord has set forth in the revelations that he has given for his people to gather ather is to escape the judgments ans and calamities which he has told us and all who believe in the bible are nigh at hand afflictions of various kinds and troubles of a most terrible character are about to come upon the inhabitants of the earth and we already see se esome some of these in the works of anarchism anarchism and in these combinations bi to which I 1 have referred which seek the overthrow and destruct tion of government in our own republic they are are making their appearance we have disturbances of various various kinds today and they are multiplying I 1 would not class every secret combination as having for its object the destruction of this government but there are many of them that do have in view the overthrow of existing institutions we have been warned against these things as a people we have been told that we are gathered out from the nations of the earth purposely to escape these the lord has given us an organization magnificent in every branchy branahl there is nothing to be compared to it it has created fear in the minds of some because they have seen the strength and magnificence ot of it and have feared that if it were put to a bad use it would result in terrible evils but our organization is from god its strength consists in its purity if it were to be devoted to bad purposes its strength would depart from it it would cease to be a power in the earth if it were used for anything but righteous ends therefore so far as our nation is concerned it has nothing to fear from us but it is a strong organization strong for good strong to accomplish it grand rand results as it already has done it has borne fruits that ought to commend it to every man whether he believes that it is divine or not the fruits that have attended it in these mountains are ot of such a character as ought to extort the praise of men previous to the organization of this church the lord revealed that our form of government was of divine ori origin gill that is he inspired the fathers of our republic to do the work that they did he inspired the leaders of the armies of the colonies in their war with the mother country and he crowned their armies with victory he had a purpose in this it was to establish a form of government upon this blest land under which religious freedom could be enjoyed to the fullest possible extent consistent with the rights of humanity we have been taught this this sentiment has been im bedded in our very natures there is is no latter day saint who does not believe with all his heart that this republic has been raised up by the lord that on this continent he laid the foundations of liberty not only for the continent itself but as an example to other nations who could conceive of a more glorious form of government overn ment than that which we live under if carried out in the spirit in which it was founded liberty for all freedom for all the utmost room for the exercise of mants mans highest qualities without check or restraint every opportunity for human beings to develop themselves or to be developed and to attain the greatest possible altitude it might be said of grandeur we cannot conceive a better form of earthly government than ours this is the feeling that behave we have we want this government preserved we want its liberties maintained we know that if they are we will have everything that we can ask tor for therefore as a people we are utterly opposed to all forms of organization that contemplate even in secret places anything that will effect unfavorably the government of the united states we are opposed to all factions that look to disorganization or to the impairing in any manner of the form of government and the liberties that we enjoy under it as citizens of the republic our constant effort is to keep our people from joining these organizations we are opposed to organizations of capital against labor we are opposed to organizations of labor against capital everything of this character that will interfere with the rights of humanity that will array class against class and that will embitter the feelings of one towards another we are opposed to we know that such leads to evil aud may result in very serious evil especially to the latter day saints As members of the church we can have every right under this form of government that any of these societies can give I 1 have heard it said that there were benevolent societies that did so much good for their members this whole church is a benevolent society our mission is to perform works of benevolence for our people and not only for those who are members of our clinch but for the whole world as fast as we can extend these works of benevolence our labor is to save the children of men from every evil with which they are threatened not only spiritual evils but evils of a temporal character it is is true we have not reached all that we desire to do we are poor human beings even though we bear the holy name of saint and are very fallible and weak we have all the weaknesses of human nature to contend with they have come down to us as a legacy it may be said from our ancestors we have been born in the world the traditions the influences and the literature of the world have all affected us more or less though we belong to the church of christ it is hard to separate ourselves entirely from these influences but we are struggling to conform to the standard which god has revealed we have a long road to travel apparently however before we reach the goal of erf our desire but the people generally are pressing forward with what zeal and earne earnestness siness they can to accomplish this the lord has revealed to this church a plan that will comprehend everything that human beings can desire we read many things about what these different organizations contemplate all of them in their public announcements seem to have some great end to achieve in connection with the human family upwards ot of sixty years ago the lord revealed through joseph smith a plan by bv which union could be effected of such a character as would remedy the evils that exist now in society that plan was revealed with great plainness and various attempts have been made to carry it out we had here among us a few years what is called the united order the object of that was to correct the evils that exist in |