John Henry Smith

“ They have struggled against nature itself; and why need we, who have had given to us the great plan of life and salvation, that which will bring us back into the presence of God, that which stamps upon our souls the prospect of eternal union with our wives and our children, and of mingling with our friends and relatives that have gone before—why need we fear the hand of our enemies. Who cannot stand a few weeks of imprisonment, a few months of torture, a few years of difficulty, that they may offer an offering in righteousness to that God that called them forth? ”

“ Have we plotted for the overthrow and destruction of the government in which we live because the hands of the servants of God have been laid upon our heads and they have bestowed upon us the Holy Ghost, the witness of the Spirit that shall guide us into all truth? No. Have you or I made a contract with our God to wage antagonism to the institutions of the country in which we live, or sign allegiance to any other government upon the earth? I have not. I have sworn allegiance to the government in which I live. My labors as a man are in the interests of humanity the freedom of man ”

“ IF there is any one thing in this world above another that I prize it is my liberty—liberty to speak, liberty to act, liberty to move among my fellows, discharging the duties and obligations of life without regard to the frowns or favors of anybody in the world. I rejoice in the fact that, so far as I am individually concerned, my faith in God and in His promise to us, His people, was never better than it is to-day. ”

“ I am inclined to believe that there are hundreds and thousands of people in Ireland who will receive the Gospel. My prejudices in regard to the Irish people have been wiped away in mingling among them. I find them among the purest of the stocks upon the earth. Virtue is held at a high premium among them. The statistics of Great Britain show this fact; that illegitimate births in Ireland constitute 3 per cent. In England six, in Scotland nine. I say this speaks volumes for Ireland, and I trust that the Gospel may spread in that land and that thousands may receive its truths. ”

“ When it is borne in mind that we believe in faith as the primary and fundamental principle of the Gospel: that we believe in working out our salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord, through keeping His commandments and observing the laws and ordinances which He has made known to us for our guidance, and which when carried out, produce the fruits of righteousness, it does seem singularly strange that men professing Christianity should be found among our most bitter opponents. ”

“ I recognize in it the home of a free man. There may be those who desire to pervert this freedom, who may seek to engender strife and drive us from the soil upon which we live; there may be those who seek to trample upon the rights and liberties of man; but I believe from the bottom of my heart that Deity has stamped it upon this soil, that He has written it throughout the universe, that in this land His work should prosper? that it should go forward and increase until its great destiny shall be accomplished ”

“ One of the most striking points of difference between the religion of the Latter-day Saints and that of other people is our belief in revelation. We not only believe that the Lord did in ancient days reveal Himself to man, but we accept the doctrine of revelation as necessary for the guidance of the Church today; that the same Lord who so signally blessed and sustained His people anciently can bestow similar blessings in our day; and our faith is just as firmly fixed in the goodness and power of the Almighty to move in our behalf as in that of any other people. ”

“ You accept of a system of government that is most perfect on the face of the earth. Who is wronged if we do? You have not changed it. It has not changed you. It has not wronged you; and that which we have accepted we have accepted of our own free will and choice, recognizing the fact that Deity has required it at our hands. Who is injured if my wife makes a sacrifice with me and takes into our home one of her sisters and makes her my wife. If she makes the sacrifice; if I shoulder the additional responsibility, and open the door that will save one of Eve's fair daughters, who is wronged? ”

“ To do away with revelation would be to refuse to recognize the Author of our faith as our guide and teacher. Who can find out the things of God except he is taught either of the Almighty Himself, or those who are taught of Him? It is a matter of utter impossibility for man through his own wisdom to either find out God, or to act in the things of God, without first having been taught and authorized so to do. ”

“ If there was anybody wronged it was the red man, and he has not been wronged but blessed; for we have tried to feed instead of fight him. The first principle of the Gospel is faith. Whom have we hurt if we have faith? Then there is the principle of repentance. Whom have we injured if we have repented? Is anybody hurt? Is the government hurt? Does repentance beget hostility to the government? If we make a covenant with God in the waters of baptism that we will be pure, is anybody wronged? ”

“ And although the dark cloud may hang over us, and the storm of opposition beat against us, I am as confident as I am that I stand before you that God will vindicate the righteousness of His Saints and bring them off conquerors in the end. ”

“ It is true that people do not come by hundreds and thousands to hear the good word of life and salvation; but the eyes of the world are directed to this our mountain home. They recognize the force of the utterance of Henry Ward Beecher, when he said: "Gentlemen, say what you will, but yonder in the Rocky Mountains is the phenomenon of the nineteenth century." It is a living fact that people in every land and clime are turning their eyes towards this region of country, and wondering what will be the upshot of the problem that is being worked out by the Latter-day Saints in their western home. ”

“ I have preached in many lands and to many peoples that the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands would cause a commotion in the earth, exciting the jealousy of the people, not only of our own land, but eventually of all lands; but that while this would be the case, we would be able at all times to give tangible reasons for the peculiar position we occupy, and for the hope and faith we have in the God of heaven, who has called us to it. ”

“ The brethren throughout the British Isles have been making efforts to introduce the Gospel in every corner and place where opportunity presented itself. I would say, however, that the England of a few years ago is not the England of to-day. While the same spirit of liberty—the love of the rights of man—may exist among the English people, still that spirit of hospitality that characterized them years and years ago, seems to be on the wane. ”

“ Thus, so far as the principle of faith is concerned, we do not differ from Christians generally, except in being more practical, believing, as we do, that faith without works is dead. There are no doubt many people who are as practical in their views as the Latter-day Saints, and cling to their views as tenaciously as we, and perhaps, so far as that goes are similarly treated, but their faith is centered in other matters than religion or spiritual things, as was the case with Morse. ”

“ I felt while in Switzerland, in December, that it would be impossible for me to return home without another effort being made to open up the Gospel to Austria, although the brethren had already suffered considerable in that land. The authorities there do not treat our Elders as they should; but I trust that by wisdom and prudence, the Gospel may be preached, and that the inhabitants thereof—a fine race of people—may sense their position and embrace the truth. We have also made an effort to establish ourselves in Turkey, and I trust that a work will be opened up there. ”

“ We may take such men as Luther, Calvin and Wesley, and others equally learned, who are recognized by all Christians as beacon lights, and yet notwithstanding their education and ability to act in the roles they so nobly played, not one of them nor any other orthodox Christian has been able to evolve a perfect system of Church government. Their productions are as a rope of sand, void of strength or spiritual force. The spiritual desires of men are not gratified to satiety, their souls are not fed ”

“ Deity is our friend, our guide, our protector. All we need do as a people is to keep our eye upon the mark of divine truth; move forward without fear, and ask no favors so far as mankind is concerned; only seek to do right by our fellow creatures. ”

“ Referring for one moment to the question of plural marriage, I will here say that it is my candid opinion, freely expressed, that if fifty million of the people of the United States believed in patriarchal marriage and only twenty in monogamic marriage, that the judges placed in power by the majority would decide in favor of the plural form of marriage, being religion. That prejudice and political influence affect to a great extent the judgment of men in deciding such questions, no person can deny. ”

“ I want my daughters married as I desired to marry myself; I want them honored wives, whether plural ones or otherwise, no matter who may seek to brand their offspring as infamous. I know—for God has given me the witness, He has stamped it upon this heart that they who come through that lineage are as much honored of God and approved of Him, as any that have ever walked His footstool from the day that this earth was peopled until the day in which we live. ”

“ If it were not for the fact that our heavenly Father has spoken and revealed to us certain fundamental truths, and that He does, through His servant, to the Church as a body, and through His spirit to the people individually, we would be as others are—without any living distinctive faith. ”

“ Everything that had ever been thought of everything that had ever been manufactured for partisan purposes in our own land was scattered broadcast throughout Europe, and the masses of the people were warned in every direction in regard to us. And not only were they warned through the newspapers, but lecturers began to take the field in every direction, and incite the people not to avoid our meetings, but on the contrary to follow us up and to mob us, giving us no chance to explain to them the principles of the Gospel, or represent ourselves as we should. ”

“ The experience of Morse has been the common lot of men who have been the means of introducing new truths into the world; and who is able to say, that history will not yet record the fact that the sons and daughters of our most bitter opponents have recognized the Latter-day Saints as benefactors to the human family.
The principle of faith has been the great motive power by which all reformers have been actuated ”

“ If we have built homes, if we pay taxes for the sustenance and government of the cities and towns that are to be found upon this once sterile spot, and which was once the great American desert, who is wronged? No one. Who has raised a standard against the government in which we live? ”

“ It is a singular thing to me that men and women can take their Bible and sit down with the Elders of our Church and compare the doctrines of the scriptures with those taught by our Elders, and fail to sense their truth. ”

“ Such is the case in regard to the work we have embraced. It is a living work. It is one of the active forces in nature. It is backed by the powers of heaven, and ye are its emissaries sent here at this time to aid in its advancement. The Gospel must be preached; the nations of the earth must be warned, and this nation, or any other nation, will fall beneath the judgment of an enraged God if they reject the message of glad tidings, which our Father has offered them for their exaltation in His kingdom. ”

“ We turn to the principle of repentance, that principle that prompts men to cease doing wrong and to mend their ways. In this we are in harmony with active Christians generally, although we may not place this principle in the same relative position in the category of tenets, as others do. We also accept and regard as essential, the ordinance of baptism, and could furnish ample testimony to show that this, as well as the other ordinances, principles and laws of the Gospel, as believed in and practiced by us are Scriptural ”

“ Need we be fearful in regard to these things? I think not. There is one that will recompense at the last day; and the man who denies the other his liberties, who binds him in chains, who ties him to the rack, is the man who should tremble when the reckoning of Deity is made with His sons and daughters. We might go through all the principles of the faith we have espoused and then ask who is wronged? We have made grass grow where it did not grow before. ”

“ There is no necessity for overt acts of any kind, or indulging the spirit of revenge; our course is one of peace and good will to man, blessing all with whom we come in contact. And as long as we observe strictly the principles of our religion, the way will open up before us, for God is our Father and friend. ”

“ There are some sections of the country that are Protestant, and I trust there may be a time come when the Gospel will spread among that people. But I regard Italy as in such a condition that there are but few chances at the present time for any opening to be made. The Italians are bound up in the religious faith that they have been reared in, or they are infidel almost entirely. ”