George Q. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, George F. Gibbs, John Taylor

“ Had he not been successful as a preacher of righteousness, there would have been no disposition to take his life; but the fact that he had brought forty-one souls to baptism, through which they were made citizens of the Kingdom of God, created the malice that could only be satisfied or checked by the shedding of precious blood. It is not for us to mourn over things ordained as a witness that God is with us. The cords of Zion are being lengthened, her stakes are being strengthened, and the Kingdom of God is gaining day by day, and year by year in the midst of the world. ”

“ We do not depend upon tradition for our ideas respecting Joseph and Hyrum. They were known to us. Their actions are familiar, their efforts and all their labors we know and understand, and we know how innocent they were. We know that every pulsation of their hearts beat with love for humanity, and for the salvation of their race, as did the heart of this our beloved brother, John H. Gibbs, when it was living. Every pulsation was filled with love for God, and a desire for the salvation of God's children upon the earth. But towards such as these, the spirit of the evil one has no mercy. ”

“ That is a matter of duty alway to look after the living and after the dead, to look after the widow and fatherless, and to fulfill all the duties and responsibilities devolving upon us. God bless you and lead you in the paths of life ”

“ As for the dead all is well with them—that is, with the brethren who have sealed their testimony with their blood. You have heard what will be their glory, and to that testimony I will add mine. When we clearly understand, by the light of the Spirit of God, what martyrs for the truth will receive, death fails to create fear in our minds. It is at other times, when surrounded with the trials and temptations of life, when yielding to weaknesses and sin, that we become disqualified for that high glory about which President Cannon has been speaking. ”

“ And I say unto the widow of the deceased, God bless you, and God bless your children, and God bless all the honest in heart who are trying to fear God and work righteousness; and instead of feeling enmity in our hearts towards our persecutors and those who seek our lives, we will try to entertain the feeling that burned in the bosom of Jesus, who, when expiring upon the cross, cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But God will not forgive all these men who permit and perpetrate these wicked and atrocious acts. ”

“ A feeling has gone abroad, in consequence of the lies that the father of lies has propagated, which causes thousands of people to think that if the Latter-Saints, or Mormons, could be blotted out, it would be a most praiseworthy and justifiable act, and it is that spirit, engendered by that being, emanating from that source, which has caused the death of these our beloved brethren for whom we mourn to-day. That spirit of murderous hate, unmerciful, cruel, brutal, when it takes possession of the heart of man, leaves no room for a gleam of compassion to enter. ”

“ He was a murderer from the beginning, and he has sought by every means in his power, by the circulation of wicked, abominable falsehoods against the Latter-day Saints, to stir up men to bloodshed and to cause them to look upon us as a people whose death would be well merited and against whom acts of violence of the most terrible character could be committed and be entirely justifiable. ”

“ The coward has to meet his fate, and why should we shrink from it? A few days or a few weeks or months or years, at the most will only elapse until death will overtake all. Let us seek as a people to be prepared to meet death, to flinch not from the path of duty, from the path of honor, from the path that God has marked out for us to walk in; let us tread it unfalteringly, and trust to God to preserve and deliver us, or if it be His wisdom to permit our blood to be mingled with the blood of other martyrs in testimony of the truth, may we be prepared therefor. ”

“ They have entered upon a career of never ending glory, a career which will never terminate throughout the endless ages of eternity; for they have done all that mortal men could do, they have been willing to lay down their lives for the truth, and greater love no man can exhibit than this. ”

“ Our Elders have traveled through various nations of Europe, and though persecuted and treated with contumely at times, still blood has not been shed, No men have been destroyed among the nations of Europe who have gone forth bearing the message of life and salvation. ”

“ We should in all things be faithful to God, our heavenly Father. We should consecrate ourselves, our time, and all we have unto Him, holding ourselves ready to fulfill missions in every part of the habitable globe. If the world imagine that the killing of our brethren will have a tendency to stop the progress of the everlasting Gospel, they are much mistaken. They have tried that before. When Cain lifted up his hand and slew his brother, he thought, no doubt, that it would stop the progress of righteousness. And so with those who slew Joseph the Prophet ”

“ When the wickedness and corruptions of men shall have provoked the anger of the Almighty in these latter days as they did in the days before the flood, the Lord will come out of His hiding place to vex the nations of the earth, and then there will be a time of trouble, a time of sorrow such as has not been from the beginning of the world, and we are told, never shall be again. Men may think they can trample upon human rights and upon correct principles, and do things which are contrary to the law and order of God, and to the principles of truth, integrity, equity, justice, and righteousness ”

“ All things are not as they appear to us. God has certain inscrutable designs and purposes to bring to pass in the earth. He has set His hand to accomplish these things, and many of you that are here and now hear my voice, have become the honored instruments in the hands of the Lord, of proclaiming those principles which God has revealed in the interests of our common humanity in the world in which we live. Those principles though fraught with the truths of eternal intelligence, eternal life, and all the blessings associated therewith, are not comprehended by the human family. ”

“ It is, as Brother Gibbs has remarked, an honor to be engaged in a work of this kind; and despite the powers of darkness, despite the enmity of man, despite the schemes of oppression that are set on foot by men who ought to know better, despite the various evils that exist in the world, we still possess the same sentiment that was enunciated by Jesus, and would like to proclaim it to all nations, "Peace on earth and good will to men." ”

“ But men can only obtain permanent peace by following after righteousness, by being governed by the principles of truth, by associating themselves with God our Heavenly Father, by acknowledging His hand, and by submitting to His law, to His rule, to His dominion, and to His authority. Hence Jesus taught His disciples to pray—"Thy kingdom come." ”

“ My brethren and sisters, I pray God to make this an example for all of us. I say to the young men of Israel—Here before you is an example worthy of your imitation. What is death? Shall it be feared? Death comes to all, the coward as well as the brave man. ”

“ Even the jewels of the earth, and the riches thereof—the minerals, the gold and silver for which men thirst, and for which they have been willing to sacrifice life—are brought forth out of what seems to us the agonies of nature. ”

“ Pitiless as the grave is that spirit, the spirit of the evil one, when it takes possession of man, transforming those who naturally might be compassionate, who naturally might have hearts open to the appeals of mercy—transforming them into demons of hate, filled with an unquenchable desire for the blood of their fellow men. ”

“ I remember distinctly the impressions that were made upon the minds of some of our people when they first learned of the organization of certain secret societies in the east, organized with the intention, no doubt, of taking life; and it is my strong belief and my firm opinion that the body which lies before us to-day, lifeless, is the result of the operations of the secret societies which, we have been forewarned, would be organized in the latter times. It may be that others will be called to wear the crowns of martyrs. ”

“ The credit of our preservation from blood—that is, from war and consequent bloodshed—is due to our Great Creator; for if the adversary, who is the great antagonist of our God and of His work, could have had his way, our peaceful valleys would have been drenched in the blood of innocence. He who opposes this work does not hesitate at any means to stop its progress. ”

“ The Lord in His mercy of late years has moved upon His servants to send the messengers of life and salvation to our own nation, and they have gone according to God's command, to warn the people of the impending judgments and calamities that are about to be poured out upon this nation in common with other nations. The Elders have labored with great zeal, and in many instances with great success, and have been the means of carrying the glad tidings of salvation to very many souls, and this success has seemed to arouse the powers of darkness. ”

“ We cannot become reconciled to these things sufficiently, fortify ourselves as we may, to escape feeling upon occasions of this character that we are all liable at any time to be called to lay down our lives for the truth’s sake. Whenever our brethren are thus called as sacrifices for the truth, it requires the comforting influence and strength which God alone can give to reconcile us, so that we can bear these blows with equanimity and with the resignation which should characterize people of our profession. ”

“ He never at any time led those who received the Gospel to anticipate that their fate would be any better than his, for every man and woman was taught that if the principles were what we believed them to be, that which he testified they were, it was worthy of their lives, and of every other sacrifice they might be called to make. Men, therefore, in espousing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days, espouse it, as a general rule, with a full knowledge of the consequences involved therein. ”

“ It has always been the tactics of the adversary of righteousness, he has always sought to destroy life; but instead of this having a tendency to retard the progress of righteousness and truth, as the wicked expect, according to the testimony of those who labor at home and abroad, it has a contrary effect. ”

“ But he, under the inspiration of the Almighty, and filled with the light and intelligence of heaven, could gaze upon the position of things in, the eternal worlds, and saw the souls of those who had been slain for the testimony of Jesus, and the word of God, etc. They were told that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. God is manipulating things in His own way. ”

“ But we have assembled together to-day, to pay our last tribute of respect and honor to the martyred dead, and it is meet and proper that we should control our feelings and endeavor to say something that shall be consolatory to the living, and that shall have the effect to make this lesson an impressive one to all of us, and especially to the young men and young women, the rising generation of this people. ”

“ They have also fallen victims of the hellish hate of the adversaries of truth, both of them being shot and killed, and I feel that their names should be had in honorable remembrance in Zion, as well as the name of their mother and of their family, for their kindness and their bravery, in the cause of truth, and their names should not perish nor be forgotten; and in days to come, when opportunity offers, services should be rendered for them, that they cannot render for themselves ”

“ It makes me feel sorrowful to see a gathering similar to that which we now witness, and to know that good men's lives are not safe from the attacks of religious bigots and men who are governed by wrong influence. ”

“ But many of them give way to other influences and yield obedience to the powers of darkness, as you have heard stated, and when men give themselves up to these influences, and quench that better feeling which God has planted in the bosom of all men, they by and by become prepared for any and every spirit that may present itself to their minds ”

“ It is not due to Satan, it is not due to his mercy nor his forbearance, that we have thus escaped, but it is due to the mercy and the overruling providence and the fatherly care of our Great Creator, that we who are here to-day with the rest of our brethren and sisters who are assembled in the various places of worship at this present time—that we have been and still are preserved. ”

“ When the Gospel was revealed from heaven in these latter times, it was told to those who received it—not only to Joseph the Seer, but to others who received it from him—that the espousal and advocacy of these principles might cost them their lives, and there is a plain intimation in one of the early revelations to Joseph, that his life might be required. During his lifetime he lived under perpetual attacks from his enemies ”