God is the legitimate Ruler of the universe, and no government under
him is strictly legal, except it be duly authorized and commissioned
by him: and as evidence that he has ordained and established a
Government direct on the earth, the voice of an inspired Prophet is
most weighty in its counsels, and first and foremost in guiding its
administration. Indeed, the Prophet of God is the mouthpiece of the
Almighty to portray his will, that it may be done on earth as it is
done in heaven.
There never was a legitimate government on the earth standing in the
favor of Heaven without an inspired Prophet of God to direct its
policy; neither will there ever be.
There have been and still are many governments on the earth that share
the goodness of God to a certain extent; and he raiseth them up and
putteth them down by his wise pro vidences over them. But if a nation
be not raised up by an inspired Prophet of God, or Patriarch, as in
the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, it is bastard, and
not a legitimate son, and, consequently, not heir to the scepter,
neither can he be canonized as lawgiver in the house of God, though he
may be in the house of Hapsburgh or York. Ishmael was blessed in many
things, yet the covenant of God was with Isaac, who was not born
according to the flesh, but of promise, according to the spirit. He,
therefore, who was born after the flesh (Ishmael) persecuted him that
was born after the spirit (Isaac). Even so it has been since, and
still is. Governments that have been born or instituted pursuant to
the fleshly desires, vain glory, worldly pride, and ambition of fallen
man persecute those that are born of the spirit, or instituted and
established by the commandment of God, and sustained by the
promise of Jehovah. This principle was clearly manifest in the case of
Joseph sold into Egypt. God designed him to rule, and indicated the
same by singular dreams and visions to the lad. This excited the
jealousy of his brethren, and they began to persecute him: yet their
persecutions hurried him into the very place that God designed him to
fill. When men attempt to oppose the purposes and designs of God,
their very opposition is overruled to the furtherance thereof, and to
the disappointment and mortification of such characters.
Is there now a court or cabinet on earth among the acknowledged
nations at which a Prophet of God would be admitted and accredited as
minister from the court of heaven? I know of none: yet if these courts
and cabinets were truly legitimate, and standing in the light and
favor of God, not one would reject such a minister. "I know my sheep,
and am known of mine." "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth
me."
In view of this estranged, alienated, and illegitimate condition of
the nations of the earth, God foretold by Daniel the Prophet that he
would set up his kingdom at a certain time, which should break in
pieces all others, and stand forever. This will be the time to try
men's souls. To step forth to maintain the only legitimate sovereignty
on earth and in heaven, in the face of a jealous and persecuting
family of nations, rich and strong, requires bold hearts and valiant
spirits. The sword, the rifle, the cannon, the hemp rope, and prison
are arrayed before such as the reward of their patriotic devotions to
the "Prince of Life." When God does set up his kingdom, some men must
of necessity be placed in this critical position—not because of a
hostile spirit towards the kingdoms of this world, but because of
strict loyalty, supreme love, and devotion to God and to his
government. This will try the grit of men, and show who is willing to
lay down his life for Christ's sake, and who is not. To be tried and
executed for treason cannot be a pleasant ordeal to be subjected to;
yet it must needs be that offenses come, and that some men suffer the
penalty of treason against the powers of this world for Christ's sake,
that a precedent may be established to judge the nations by, who will
all prove themselves guilty of high treason against God and his
government. When the Saints judge the world (as Paul declares they
will), they will have a precedent to go by; and the illegitimate
nations of the earth will learn that out of their own mouth they will
be judged; and with the very same judgment with which they judge they
shall be judged, by those who had the power to bind and loose on
earth, to remit sins and to retain them.
May not the Latter-day Saints cherish the desire to live in such
interesting days? They may. They do live in these very days when God
is establishing his kingdom as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. We
have a great and responsible work laid upon us; yet, God being our
helper, we will accomplish it.
The king of Egypt sought to destroy, by an infernal order, many of the
Hebrew children, fearing that by their great and astonishing increase
they would endanger the Egyptians. But his fears and hellish
precaution did not save him or his army. His oppression of Israel and
his evil treatment towards them had provoked the Almighty to destroy
Pharaoh and his adherents; and, consequently, he hardened his heart,
and led him on to the snare in which he was taken. Had that haughty
prince remained at home with his army, he would have lost
Israel only; but, with hard heart and stubborn will, he pursued him
with a mighty host (even such as is now recommended to pursue the
"Mormons" ), to chastise and persecute him; and behold and lo! that
proud monarch, with all his soldiers, perished in the presence of all
Israel.
Here is a glass that reflects the position and fate of the United
States, if they persist in following the Saints with their forces. If
the serpent will cast out a flood of waters after the woman who has
fled into the wilderness from before his face, the earth may kindly
open her mouth in the form of an earthquake, and drink up the flood or
army. "This would be a mode of warfare upon which their tactics
furnish them no information."
Then the remnant of her seed, not yet gathered, may beware of the
dragon.
Herod slew the male children of Bethlehem under a certain age, with
the hope of catching the illustrious child whose birthplace was shown
to the wise by a peculiar star. This wicked and murderous plan did not
succeed. An angel flew to Joseph in a dream by night and defeated the
whole plan.
God will defend his cause and protect the righteous! The work of God
brings a fear and a terror upon the ungodly. It smites them with
confusion and consternation, as did the handwriting upon the wall of the
Babylonish monarch. There is a spirit attending what is called
"Mormonism" that carries conviction of its truth to many in high
places as well as low. Conviction generally begets faith, and causes
repentance in low places—in high ones, often rage and desperation.
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." By this spirit
people are moved upon, confused, maddened, and infuriated, even like
the waters, when the breath of heaven sweeps over their surface.
The press is frantic with fear. It magnifies the molehill into a
mountain, and the still, small voice of truth into the terrific roar
of all the artillery of the allied powers before the walls of
Sebastopol. Inasmuch as the press has, in most cases, made lies its
refuge, and by that means raised a storm of fury against us, by giving
publicity to the most foolish, extravagant, and wicked things that men
could invent, and as the Government, in its haste and rashness, has
been greatly influenced by these publications to send a military force
upon us, may the God of armies magnify us in reality and truth more
than the press knows, or can even think.
The clergy show their lack of faith to guard the destinies of man, and
to guide his actions in a manner to bring about the purposes of the
Creator. Their dogmas, creeds, and isms, together with their salaries
and selfishness, must be sustained, if Heaven's truth has to be nailed
to the cross. "O fools, and slow of heart to believe!" Have you not
long opposed one another? And yet, have you not prayed for the
watchmen to see eye to eye? The principles having now been revealed
upon which the true and faithful watchmen of Zion may and will see eye
to eye, reveal also another thing with equal certainty—that is, who
the wolves are in sheep's clothing. Though clad like sheep, they howl
against the kingdom of God, its institutions, and laws, like wolves,
and with equally as much sense and intelligence—not even omitting the
implied sound of blood!
The press, the clergy, and the tiger-footed politicians have doubled
teams upon the Executive to draw him into a snare, that he may be
punished, as was Ahab by the lying prophets. An army is raised in the
very floodtide of excitement, and hurried away into the field to
operate against the "Mormons." Rash and inconsiderate move ment! The avowed object is to vindicate the nation's authority and
honor: but, alas! It will turn more to its shame and mortification
than any step it ever took.
The kingdom that Daniel prophesied of is represented under the figure
of a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, rolling forth,
before which the mighty image fell. They find a rolling kingdom here.
Our Savior speaks of the very same stone in this
language—"Whomsoever falleth upon this stone shall be broken." The
United States have sent their army to fall upon this stone in the
mountains; and for this hasty and ill-advised act, and because of the
blood of the Prophets that cries from the ground in the ears of
Jehovah that has never been avenged, they will be broken.
One thing is certain—The Latter-day Saints will never forget their
persecutors who repent not. Though they bear up under their losses and
misfortunes with a degree of fortitude and cheerfulness, yet the fire
of indignation burning in their breasts towards their enemies who have
robbed, despoiled, and driven them will never be quenched until they
are punished, and justice satisfied, even if it should require time
and all eternity to accomplish it.
We have asked the Government repeatedly and most respectfully to
redress our wrongs; but they told us it was not their place to do it.
"Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you," was the sentiment
of the Executive of the nation. If the General Government could not
lawfully interfere to punish our persecutors and murderers, they could
at least have made us an appropriation to relieve our immediate wants,
when they saw that we were houseless, homeless, distressed, and
wandering. They were asked to do it. But they never gave us a dime to
enable us to say of them, When I was hungry, you gave me meat; naked,
and you clothed me, &c. But we were told by our leaders to be of good
cheer—that it was wisdom in God that the nation should be applied to
by us to redress our grievances; and if it had undertaken, with
sincere intention and vigorous hand, to wash from its skirts the blood
of our Prophets, as it should have done, Divine Justice would have
been appeased with far less, under such circumstances, than it now
will. We have reason to thank our God that our sufferings have been
but slightly mitigated by the sympathies of this world: hence, the
more abundant sympathies of Heaven in its time.
After patiently waiting many years, we have unanimously adopted this
opinion—that God now requires us to redress our own wrongs; or, in
other words, to take a stand that will enable him to do it for us; and
his late promises to us are to this effect.
It sometimes falls out, when justice is denied to the weak by the
strong, whose duty it is to administer it, that an overruling
Providence confers power on the weak and oppressed to take their own
part, and even to punish the great and the strong for not doing their
duty. This is an honor sometimes conferred upon the downtrodden, to
console and comfort them, and to bring dishonor, shame, and
humiliation upon the great, who were clothed with power, but declined
using it in an unpopular, though just cause. All is going on right.
"It must needs be that offenses come."
United States Judges have often required posses and guards in this
Territory for various service at great expense; and, after assuring
that the Federal Government would pay the expenses, they have, in some
cases, reported adversely to those claims being allowed when their own
requisition caused them; and the Government has declined paying them, repudiated the acts of its own officers, and saddled upon Utah
the entire responsibility. This also displeased the "Mormons;" and we
say that we will have no more such servants or two-faced scamps among
us; and if the Government itself repudiate the acts of its own
officers, it is sufficient reason that we also should do the same,
even if there were no other reason for doing it. Why, then, send an
armed force upon us to compel us to honor officers whose official
acts you repudiate?
If God does not help us, we may be killed and destroyed; but we can
never feel right towards the United States till they hang the
murderers of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, punish the miserable incendiaries
that burned our houses, grain, and fence—that drove us from county to
county, and from State to State, and, last of all, drove us into this
wilderness to perish (what they did not kill or cause to perish in our
persecutions); and, fearing now, if we are let alone, that we shall
grow into strength sufficient to chastise our enemies ourselves, a
military force is sent against us to crush us out; and fear, inspired
by guilt, is the very cause of this demonstration now being made
against us.
The "Mormons" will carry the remembrance of their wrongs to the grave;
and in the resurrection, at the bar of God, they will say—"When I was
weak and defenseless, you persecuted me; when I was in prison, you
mocked and derided me—you threatened my life, and took it; when I was
sick, you carried me out of my house, and burned it—also my grain, and
killed my husband; when I had no house, home, or friends that could
assist me, with a feeble infant in my arms, you forced me across the
Mississippi River at the point of the bayonet—where I had perished,
had not God, in mercy and compassion, sent thousands of quails into
our camp, and I and my children caught scores of them with our hands,
which we ate, and thanked the giver. When I enlisted in your army to
fight your battles, you killed my aged father and my brother that were
left behind at Nauvoo. When we purchased lands of you and paid you our
money, you covenanted that you would warrant and defend them to us.
You broke your covenant, by allowing us to be forcibly and illegally
removed, and our possessions occupied by others, without our consent,
and without compensation."
This is the way we shall talk; and who, under such circumstances,
could talk otherwise? Our enemies can go on just as far as the Lord
will allow them, and make their damnation doubly sure. Time is the
only witness in this case that the nation will listen to; and when
they fully get this evidence, it will be too late for them to profit
by it. The antediluvians would not listen to the testimony of Noah.
Time alone could convince them of the truth of what that venerable
father taught them. The convincing argument, however, at length came
on the wings of time; but, alas! It was too late! The Lord had closed
the door of the ark, and disappointed outsiders lived only to see the
vengeance of an angry God hurled at them in the watery element. "This
was a mode of warfare upon which their tactics furnished them no
information."
The Government, no doubt, think they can soon use up the "Mormons" so
effectually that they will not be troubled with us anymore. This
might be, if they had none but the "Mormons" to fight. They will,
however, find this saying verily true—"They that are for us are more
than all those that are against us." "Behold, how great a fire a
little matter kindleth." But the Government will always be troubled
with the "Mormons" in this world and the world to come; but
the "Mormons" will not always be troubled with the Government. The
more they meddle with "Mormon" affairs, the more difficult and awkward
they will find them. They will be a stone of stumbling and ROCK of
offense, even a stone cut out of the Rocky Mountains without hands,
awkward and unseemly. The God of Jacob preserve the righteous, "if it
must needs be that the wicked be destroyed by fire from heaven," in
the name of Jesus Christ!
Our enemies need neither fear nor hope that our trust is in the
Indians. Yet they do fear that the Indians will rally to our aid; and
yet they hope that we have no more reliable source for help than they.
Their fears may come upon them, but their hopes will utterly perish.
What the world calls "Mormonism" will rule every nation. Joseph Smith
and Brigham Young will be the head. God has decreed it, and his own
right arm will accomplish it. This will make the heathen rage, and the
people imagine a vain thing. Yet upon the words of these men the
eternal destiny of the generation in which they lived hangs.
Whosesoever sins they remit will be remitted, and whosesoever sins
they retain will be retained.
O ye Saints of latter days, be humble, be faithful, be watchful, and
very prayerful! Murmur not against Brigham, nor against God. Trouble
not yourselves about what you shall eat, drink, or wear; but be
patient in afflictions, and remember that the great Captain of our
salvation was made perfect through sufferings, and we are called to
walk in his steps. Do as your leaders direct you. Be prudent and
careful with what you have. Remember that we are called to be
saviors. Therefore, save everything that you can save that will save
you. Boast not, only in God, that you are worthy to suffer shame and
condemnation for his sake; and two things you shall behold—One, the
fulfillment of the prophetic words of Colonel Johnston—"The American
army never goes back!" Two, a germ shall spring out of "Mormonism,"
whose branches shall leap over the wall, and whose foliage shall
exhale welcome odor in every nation!
Be not, therefore, too anxious or forward, to persecute and destroy
the men in whose hands Heaven has placed your destiny, lest, when the
day of their power cometh, they may remember all your acts, and reward
you according to your deeds. These men are bound to overcome; and he
that overcometh shall have power over the nations, and shall rule them
with a rod of iron. "Be wise, therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye
judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in him."
This is my testimony, and the testimony of the living God through his
Apostle to all connected in the name of Jesus Christ; and the Spirit
beareth record. Amen.