does it all prove? Why, sir, one act of obedience to God is better
than the most rigid conformity to all the precepts of men. The more
devoted and sincere people are in error, so much more agreeable to the
prince of darkness. What a meagre atonement does a demure countenance,
and sanctimonious sighs and groans, and self-loathings make, for
transgressing the law of God, and changing an ordinance. Take, for
instance, the ordinance of laying on of hands for healing the sick. Had
this ordinance been perpetuated in the Church, millions upon millions
of the human family might have been saved from premature death. Through
this ordinance, Jesus Christ has said, "_they shall recover_." Through
the sceptical abandonment of this ordinance countless millions have not
lived out half of their days. How much compensation does it afford to
the countless victims of disobedience, for men to assume a grave long
face, and strive to elongate the name of God by gracious sounds, as
though the name of God was too short without being stretched for such
holy lips.
Take another ordinance, viz., the gift of the Holy Ghost, by laying
on hands. What a flimsy and miserable equivalent for the absence of
the Comforter, and spirit of prophecy and revelation, are seminaries
of learning, and a multitude of oblations, and prayers, and frequent
fasting! It is too much, sir, like the drunken boy, who, having broken
his master's bottle, boastingly claimed credit for saving the cork!
Neglect of the weighty matters of laws and ordinances are to be
atoned for, by pious breathings in private journals for posthumous
publication; and by elaborate sermons and comments, they make plain
things profoundly obscure; and every year increases the necessity of
additional learning, in order to disentangle the profound knottiness of
theological disquisitions and exegetical comments. The very religious
opposers of Jesus Christ, whose hands were accessory to his death, had
a most fervent and devout spirit, and were eminently pious; but the
doctrine of new revelations, and the gifts of healing, tongues, and
prophecyings, disturbed the equanimity of their devout hearts, and
their rage rose to the pitch of desperation and blood-guiltiness.
No matter how much men confess, and pray, and sacrifice,--no matter how
sincere and conscientious they are in error, if their religion does not
lead them to keep the commands and ordinances of the true and living
God, their worship is vain and their faith is vain. Except they hearken
to the law of God and the testimony of God, there is no light in them.
Sincerity is nothing without obedience; both wicked men and devils are
sincere in many things which God abhors. A man coming to the forks of
four roads might pray months and years to be guided in choice of the
right road, but if he would not believe the testimony of the Lord's
servant who should tell him the only true road, he would still remain
in doubt and fear.
Well, says a very strenuous objector, now to end all controversy, just
show us one real genuine miracle, and I will thereupon believe, and
be baptized, and for ever after hold my peace. Aye, indeed! a very
common sentiment, but a strange one coming from the lips of a professed
believer in the Bible. He that is no hypocrite, but a true believer in
the Bible, has the explicit promise of God's own word, that miraculous
signs _shall_ follow them that _believe_. Now, if they do not follow
believers, then God is a liar, and no longer worthy of confidence; but
if God is true, and the signs do not follow, then your faith is vain,
and will not save from damnation. But, says the objector, miracles were
anciently wrought to prove the divine mission of the servants of God.
Now prove to me that you are a servant of God, by the attestation of
an indisputable miracle, for in apostolic days, even wicked men said,
a notable miracle hath been done, and we cannot deny it. Yes, very
true, and other wicked men have testified to the same in these days,
and sometimes they would deny it, and alternately confess it, according
to the spirit that was upon them. Saul, the king, could tell the truth
about David at one time, and at another deny it--at one time worship
the youthful supplanter, and at another thirst for his blood. Miracles
may sometimes have been the occasion of leading persons to believe the
word of God, but their prominent design was never in any age of the
world to introduce new revelation.
Moses was a believer before God spoke to him in the burning bush.
John the Baptist, who introduced the christian dispensation, and was
the harbinger of Christ, probably never saw any miracle, except at
the descent of the dove, at the baptism of Jesus. "John wrought no
miracle." Joseph Smith was a believer before the angel which John and
the other prophets spoke of, ever visited him. Miracles may confirm the
faith of such believers as have the Holy Ghost confirmed upon them,
whereby they are able to distinguish between true and false miracles.
To others they often prove a snare and a trap.
While miracles confirmed the Hebrews in the faith of God, miracles
also confirmed the Egyptians in the faith of satan. Many who witnessed
the miracles of Jesus were as keen for mobocracy and murder as the
bloodiest. This parade about miracles, being designed to introduce
christianity, and confirm and attest all genuine revelation, is a
humbug that has always been started whenever a new revelation was given
to man. The pious Jews insisted constantly that the disciples should
prove their authority by miracles. It was about the first and last
thing that they ever said to Jesus: WORK A MIRACLE! come down from the
cross and we will believe. He told them, in language of the keenest
rebuke, that they should not be seeking after "signs." He told them
that it indicated a wicked and adulterous spirit to ask him to give
them miraculous signs. The devil and devout Jews fairly made game of
Christ and his disciples, because when they were asked to do miracles
they refused. But still the devil, and many ministers and churches,
continued to demand signs and miracles, and stormed and raged greatly
because these men would never work miracles in a way to satisfy them.
These sagacious and pious adversaries of Jesus were always able to
detect some flaw--some cunning artifice or trick of the devil--in
whatever Christ or the apostles did (as they said). Now modern divines
and churches, taking up this old cudgel against the saints, have even
asked Latter-day Saints to drink a cup of poison. Drink it, says
one--now drink it, or we will not believe you are sent of God. Aye, now
we know you are not sent of God to preach! Forgetting that the first
sign-seeker once said, if you are the Son of God, "cast thyself down
from this pinnacle, for it is written, that he shall give his angels
charge concerning thee."
Now, sir, if irony were admissible on a subject of this nature, I would
tauntingly add--how satan did trap this impostor! He drove him into an
extremity for pretending to work miracles; didn't he? But I forbear;
let him that hath ears to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the
sign-seekers!
It may seem marvellous to some if I should say that satan can work
signs and wonders far surpassing the greatest knowledge of men. The
power of satan has probably never been fully exhibited to men on the
earth. The grand adversary of heaven and earth has not warred against
even the throne of the Eternal God, without acquiring some acquaintance
with those powers and keys of knowledge with which he has been baffled
by the Almighty from the beginning. If believers had to contend _only_
with flesh and blood, or mere men in mortal flesh, they might rejoice
in the hope of a far more speedy victory; but, on the other hand, they
have to contend against principalities and powers of a supernatural
order. Spirits as much superior in power and cunning to the worst men
in the flesh, as the full grown man is to the slender child. Men have
acquired some knowledge of the laws that govern fire, air, and water;
and some imperfect knowledge of the laws that govern minds, or the
spirits of men; but the knowledge of fallen angels and outcast spirits,
is sufficient to astonish and confound the wisest of men that are
not inspired with the wisdom of God. The satanic powers have always
excited the greatest wonders contemporaneous with the wonders wrought
by the servants of God. In the days of Moses, and also of Jesus Christ,
men were inspired by satan with more than mere human powers; and in
this last dispensation, wicked men that yield themselves to become
the willing instruments of unrighteousness to the devil, will again
acquire skill in cunning and deceivable arts, whereby they will bring
down fire from heaven, and confound all those who know not the laws
and powers of spirits, and the extensive influence that the prince of
the power of the air has over the natural elements. Men who do not
need power from God to cast out devils, will find themselves made fast
in his chains, beyond the power of extricating themselves. But while
the saints have not power of themselves to detect the lying wonders of
satan, and withstand them--yet, through faith, and the keys and gifts
of revelation from God, they will be able to stand and overcome; and
the power of God will be greater than the cunning of the devil. But
sign-seekers and the enemy of new revelations will be arraigned under
the banner of the father of lies, and believe a lie that they may be
damned. Jesus found foul spirits and devils so thick, in his days,
that he had occasion frequently to cast them out of persons, and also
to empower others to cast out devils. Some instances are recorded
where many of these fallen spirits took possession of a single person
at one and the same time. No less than seven occupied one female. Now
modern christianity must be highly favoured, if they are so much better
than primitive saints, that they can escape the annoyance of these
multiplied and troublesome spirits.
How is it, sir, that devils do not trouble modern churches, as they did
the primitive saints? Are _they_ done away too? Miracles and devils
done away! The canon of the scriptures closed! miracles and devils
ceased! Happy christianity; thy warfare has ceased,--thy troubles are
ended! Blessed rest! Joyful reign of righteousness! As many ways to
heaven now, as there are eyelets in a seive! Oh, brother, blush for
thy theology, and for the doleful conclusions to which thy creeds have
brought thee!
The reign of Satan, for near eighteen hundred years, has almost effaced
every relic of Bible truth from the earth. Every thing that is valuable
and powerful in the ancient system of prophets is done away, and the
devil himself is supposed, by many, to be merely the evil passions of
men. But, sir, the devil is not dead nor done away. But the gospel of
apostles will rouse him up again; and knowing that his time is short,
he will show his spite again on those bodies from which he shall be
expelled by the apostolic priesthood, in choking, tearing, and casting
them down to the ground. And who shall be able to stand, when deceptive
miracles, and lying wonders far greater than have ever been known since
the foundation of the world, shall be practised, and deceive many?
Now, sir, before I close this appeal, suffer me to allude to the
intolerant and cruel persecution of the Saints, in Illinois. The
nineteenth century, and the great republic of the United States of
North America, must have the pages of its history blackened with the
record of a persecution that classes with the bloody acts of Nero and
Caligula. From fifteen to twenty thousand citizens of the United States
were forced in an illegal, violent, and inhuman manner to forsake
their homes and possessions in the state of Illinois, the greater
part of them during the inclemency of the winter of 1846. A large and
populous city of eleven thousand and thirty-five souls of men, women,
and children, has been compulsorily evacuated, under the dread of
inevitable massacre if they persisted to occupy their firesides and
homes.
Continued acts of house-burning and mid-day assassinations, and
midnight murder, and large gatherings of armed and lawless forces, with
heavy pieces of artillery necessitated this numerous people to leave
their flourishing city, merchandise, and farms, in the most inclement
period of the year, for the purpose of self preservation.
This glaring act of expatriation, robbery, arson, and assassination,
was not done in a corner. It did not occur among the barbarous and half
civilized portions of the globe. It did not transpire in the dominions
of the Ottoman, where the Coran and Islamism must father such inhuman
deeds. It was not done in the jungles of Africa, where kidnapping and
inhuman enslavement of men have called forth the repudiating censure of
all nations. It was not done by clannish wandering Arabs, whose hands
are proverbially against every man as a profession. Neither was it done
in Papal dominions, or under the despotic sway of the sublime Porte or
the autocrat of Russia.
Neither did the red men of the wilderness spring from their thicket
with a warwhoop, and tomahook, and scalping knife, to perpetrate this
bloody outrage! But hold still, modern christianity! The inquisitor of
blood is in pursuit of thee, even to the gates of thy stronghold. Thou
canst not cover thy hiding place with the screen of papacy, for she was
not there. Thou canst not say that the autocrat of the Greek religion,
with iron despotism cast these men into prison for teaching the Bible.
Neither was it the sword of the Mussulman propogating his religion.
There was no Mahometanism in Illinois. Neither canst thou charge it
upon the Monarchical Institutions of Europe or established Episcopacy.
"Thou art the man." Free Republican Christianity; you did it! In thy
youthful beauty, the rising pride and envy of nations; thou didst it!
Thy priests and laymen rose from their devout knees, and lighted the
fagot and torch of the incendiary.--The sick man and (gravis) mother
begged for God's sake, and for humanity's sake, you would spare their
humble cottages which their brawny hands had reared in the midst of
loneliness, want, and insalubrity of climate. Yet their cries were
unheeded. Thev had but one alternative, either to be thrust out upon
miasmatic ground, or remain and burn with their habitations. The man
that persisted to watch his stack of grain against the incendiary, was
shot dead in the act. Durfee's blood crimsons the skirts of republican
christianity in Illinois. Where were the rulers and governors? Did they
hear of it? Oh! it's nobody but Mormons! Where was the legislature
of Illinois when the Smiths were shot in prison, in the sight of all
Carthage, by hundreds in a painted gang? The governor threatening to
destroy the city in person if they did not keep the peace, and deliver
the Smiths for trial? What did the supreme legislature, delegates from
more than four hundred thousand people of Illinois, in fresh review
of these scenes of assassination, do? They repealed the city charter
of Nauvoo. The mob made one gap in the law by assassination, and the
state government following the example, threw down the whole enclosure
that guarded the rights and privileges of thousands by repealing the
charter. Where were the Illinois priests of modern christianity at
that time? A distinguished clergyman of the city of Quincy, in their
defence, said to the writer, we (the clergy) had nothing to do with
those scenes in Hancock. Aye, indeed! neither had the pharisaic priests
any thing to do with the robbed and wounded man, but the good Samaritan
picked him up and carried him to an inn, and paid his bill. But Jesus
Christ had to do with making an eternal record of the difference
between the conduct of the good Samaritan, and the hypocrite of high
priestly profession. Even a priest commanded the mob force in the final
attack upon the city that expelled the remnant of Saints that were too
poor to get away sooner. This remnant were left shelterless and sick,
famishing upon the west bank of the Mississippi, where the quails of
heaven actually fed them as they lay upon their couches, and in their
wagons, in the sight of both friends and foes. Hear it! thou stronghold
of modern christianity! Say not what great things you would do if you
were not trammelled by the despotic shackles of monarchical government!
A puritan christianity planted the tree of liberty on the solitary soil
of America, from choice seed of her own selection. After being long
nursed and watered by her numerous and learned priesthood. These are
the full grown fruits of it; kidnapping, robbery, rapine, arson, and
murder.--Systematic efforts were made, more than once, to prevent the
influx of provisions into Nauvoo, in order that famine in a land of
plenty, might coerce the inhabitants to flee their city, in building
which they had sweat and toiled, and many had died. Time and again,
steam boats were hailed and searched, in order to stop barrels of flour
from going to Nauvoo, that had been purchased by our citizens in a
time of scarcity at St. Louis. And provisions and other necessaries,
had actually to be freighted for Madison and other river towns, in
order to escape detection. Teams loaded with pork from inland counties
were arrested, and turned to other markets, as though it were an
acknowledged siege for the purpose of causing starvation. I know these
things to be true, and my blood warms with mingled pity and indignation
at the recollection of scenes of which I have been an eye witness.
At this time, and in this day of revivals, where were the ten thousands
of priests that officiate at the altar? Where were the innumerable
converts to modern christianity? What part did they all take towards
regulating public opinion and preventing human slaughter? The sons and
daughters of the puritans were there in affliction for the gospel's
sake; and no less than two venerable pensioners, Hatch and Hinsdale,
that fought in the revolutionary struggle for American Independence,
were there, and were driven from their country for maintaining the
right of conscience.
Now, who ever heard in all America of a priest pleading publically
against these outrages, and importuning the throne of God in behalf of
these suffering sons and daughters of God? Modern American christianity
must redouble her gracious sanctimonious looks, in order to cover up
this horrid indifference to lawless violence and suffering humanity.
The statesman that fears not God, nor regards man, may have some
semblance of apology for his indifference; but American churches have
none. But, where were the statesmen that make high professions of
patriotism, and sensitive regard for the national honor of the United
States? Could no disgrace accrue to the nation, when twenty thousand
peaceable industrious citizens were violently robbed of millions of
property without a shadow of requital? What security can foreign
emigrants have for colonizing on the western lands, if whole cities
and towns may be depopulated at a single blast of the popular caprice
with impunity? What regard can American statesmen be supposed to
entertain for the sacred and inalienable rights of the people, while no
man ever opened his mouth either in the halls of Congress or of state
legislatures against the most palpable and gross infractions of the
constitution that ever transpired since the existence of the United
States government.
The constitution guarantees to every man the right to worship God
according to the dictates of conscience, and without molestation.
It promises the right of property and the defence and protection of
peaceable and unoffending citizens; but millions of property have been
illegally plundered, and thousands of patriotic and worthy citizens
have been deprived of the liberty of common citizens, and forced into
the wilds of the mountains in the most inhuman manner. Had any foreign
nation committed a small part of this damage upon their commercial
interests, would not the national executive have demanded redress for
spoliations, even at the mouth of the canon?
But I would not have you think, sir, by these remarks, that I entertain
any acrimonious feelings towards my country. No; far from it. I love
my native land, though cruelly exiled from it, because it is in that
land that liberty is destined to flourish above all lands. That land
has been set apart in the councils of eternity, and dedicated as the
nursery of virtue and religious liberty. That is emphatically a land of
promise. Its very soil is hallowed above all others, for the literal
production of truth. There the blessings promised to Joseph are to be
first displayed and enjoyed. There the ensign is to be first lifted
up to all nations; and all nations, or the upright of all nations,
are to flow together there. Every description of product and variety
of climate is there. Notwithstanding the degeneracy and corruption of
the civilized portions of that land, there is more toleration in the
government and constitution, and more facilities for the introduction
and spread of gospel truth in that land, than any other under the
whole heaven. It is the very place, and probably the only place on
this planet, where the true and eternal kingdom of God could get a
footing, and survive the blasts of persecution, and the rage of fallen
and apostate spirits of men and devils. Hitherto the Saints of God have
been slaughtered, or compelled, like the city of Enoch, to forsake the
earth.
But the Book of Mormon, and the angelic message to the young man
Joseph, have dug the grave of apostacy, and laid the axe at the
root of false religions. The earth is destined to enjoy a reign of
righteousness, and a happy period of rest. Truth must and will prevail,
and the kingdom of our God will be established in the mountains of
Israel, just where all the prophets that have spoken of it, have seen
it rise and flourish, never more to be thrown down.
When thousands that now compose the Church, and who have proved before
the American people that the cords of their union cannot be sundered
by the hottest thunderbolts of persecution, are assembled in the
remote, extensive, and fertile valley of the almost unknown mountain,
they will be for ever invincible. With their peaceable and inoffensive
habits, which have characterised their movements from the beginning,
no people will ever be likely to assail them again, till their numbers
and strength will be too forbidding. The accessions to this people
have never been so great as during the last six months. The certainty
that this people will survive all opposition, and triumph over every
obstacle, was never so palpably manifest as at this very moment. Famine
and war, pestilence, bankruptcy, treachery, and distrust, are causing
panic and fear among the nations. Those who love peace and retirement,
and abhor contention, crime, and revolution, must seek an asylum among
the Saints, for it cannot be found elsewhere on the earth. The Lord God
himself will stir up the nations to anger and strife, and thrash them
as with a flail, and sift them as with a sieve. And the honest in heart
will flee to the Lord's hiding place, in ships and in companies, even
as clouds and as doves to their windows.