George A. Smith

“ It is very well known that some three hundred and eighteen thousand dollars were paid by Latter-day Saints for land in the State of Missouri, and that very few if any of them, ever got a dollar for that land, and it belongs to them to this day; and when the great and glorious day shall come that the Constitution of the United States shall become absolutely the supreme law of the land, guaranteeing to all men the right of life, liberty and property, the Saints can inherit this land and live and enjoy their faith there as well as anywhere else. ”

“ Yet it only took a few years for them to discover that this people were yet alive, and that they were living in the exercise of their faith, and making themselves felt, known, realized and understood in the world. ”

“ In every land freedom of thought and opinion and the liberty to preach and practice whatever religion you wish should be guaranteed and the only method of manifesting disapproval of the course of others in these respects should be to disfellowship them from their churches. All should have this privilege. It feels good for a man to believe as he pleases ”

“ The Holy Spirit and the light of eternal truth rest down upon them, and you will hear them, here and there, testify that they know of the doctrine, that they are acquainted with and understand it for themselves. ”

“ There are scores of ministers who have spoken in this stand, many of whom have declared to the public that they never spoke to so large an audience and never expected to speak in so large a house in their lives; but when a Latter-day Saint Elder has called upon them and asked for the privilege of preaching, their answer has been in effect, "Why, no; I have a right to preach in a heathen temple, but I cannot open my temple to a heathen!" Such men dare not trust their congregations to hear the truth, or peradventure, to hear error. ”

“ This weakness exists in the breasts of all human beings, more or less; all have their times of trial, and their days of temptation and suffering. We remember, in the days of our Prophet Joseph Smith, whom God sent us in these last days with the dispensation of the fullness of times, and the restoration of the Gospel and Priesthood, that many, who stood by him and professed to be his most warm and ardent friends, not only turned away at his death, but in many instances became bitter enemies. ”

“ Every man who receives the principles of the Gospel of peace and obeys the ordinances of initiation into the Church is under obligations to lead a straightforward, moral and upright life, to deal justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly in observance of the principles which he has received. ”

“ To neglect these things, to suffer ourselves to stray from them, to become forgetful of the principles and ordinances of the Gospel, under all circumstances, should be avoided. If we love each other, as we should do, we should never be found speaking evil of each other. In almost all communities, so far as my knowledge of history extends, one of the great banes of society is a disposition to tattle, to speak evil one of another ”

“ Now, inasmuch as God has thus blessed us and extended to us so many great privileges, it is very important that we should abide in the faith wherein Christ has made us free, and live in the exercise of that religion, and not by any means suffer ourselves to fall into snares, temptation, wickedness or evil. ”

“ You let a man among the Saints indulge in any habit prohibited in the Gospel, and the same result will follow if continued. If he allow himself to take the name of the Lord in vain, and continue in it, the Spirit of the Lord will withdraw from him. If he allow himself to be guilty of dishonesty, corruption, licentiousness or anything that is prohibited in the Gospel of peace, peradventure, his mind becomes darkened. ”

“ Our fathers Abraham and Jacob and many of the prophets took steps in this matter, which are now denounced by a large portion of Christendom as very wrong; and yet these very persons, in their prayers and preachings, claim that they are going to "Abraham's bosom." I can tell any man that wishes to murder, rob and plunder, and deprive of liberty a Latter-day Saint because he believes and practices plurality of wives, that he need never expect to dwell in "Abraham's bosom," for Father Abraham will not cast his wives out to receive such narrow-minded men. ”

“ If a faith will not bear to be investigated; if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak. Those who come into the Church of Latter-day Saints, if they are faithful, learn in a short time, and know for themselves. ”

“ It is very well understood that, by many of the people, the law of marriage is regarded as something instituted by God; and that men, in their laws and regulations on the subject, have undertaken to govern their fellows too much. ”

“ When we assemble for the purpose of partaking of this ordinance it is very important for us to realize and appreciate the position which we take, for we witness to our Father who is in heaven, by the partaking of the bread and of the water, that we do remember him; and while we take the bread from the same plate we should not hold within our hearts feelings or sentiments other than what are right. ”

“ And if they have anything better than we have we want it; and we think it is quite right for the younger portions of our community, who have not had the privilege of hearing the religions of the day preached in the world, to hear them here; and the more of it the better, if they desire it. But the elder portion of those who profess our faith have generally belonged to or been associated with different religious denominations; for as our Elders have preached abroad they have gathered from every bundle and of every kind ”

“ It is said that the men who slew the Savior believed they did God service, and it is probable that the ministers, professors of religion and others, who, with blackened faces, surrounded Carthage jail and murdered, in cold blood, the Prophet and Patriarch of the Church, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, thought they also were doing God service, although they were guilty of the most brutal and disgraceful murders ever perpetrated on the earth. ”

“ It may as well be said, and no doubt often is, How can it hurt a man to chew tobacco or to drink tea? It injures, because it creates a disturbance in the human organization, and that disturbance, if continued, creates an appetite to which its possessor becomes a slave, and it shortens his days ”

“ The charges on which they were driven were specified, published and signed by a large number of distinguished individuals, and these were that they (the Mormons) "differ from us in religion" and that they also "anoint the sick with holy oil," and "They openly blaspheme the most high God, and cast contempt on his holy religion by pretending to receive revelations direct from heaven, by pretending to speak unknown tongues, by direct inspiration, and by diverse pretences derogatory of God and religion and to the utter subversion of human reason;" "that the 'Mormons' tampered with the slaves," &c. ”

“ This weakness exists, and there are reasons why it exists in the human heart. For instance, God requires his children to pray; but through labor, business and care they frequently fail to fulfill the requirement either in their families or in secret, and in a little while their minds become darkened ”

“ Unless they can acknowledge these twelve sons as lawful and legitimate sons, in accordance with the law of God, they will have to stay outside, and "without are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, idolators," and everybody that loves and makes a lie. ”

“ I notice, in looking over the history of New England, that our Puritan fathers lacked an understanding of the power of principle. If a man preached a sermon that did not please them he must leave the colony ”

“ It required faith and energy to settle in such a country. For the first three years after the settlement commenced hardly any person dared to eat as much food as his appetite craved; so scarce were provisions that it was necessary to economize and eke out every little supply to its greatest possible extent. A great many became discouraged and disheartened, having the idea that the country could never be reclaimed ”

“ For my own part, however, I believe that mankind generally are getting wiser on this subject. Our Puritan fathers never succeeded in forcing their peculiar views on others, and in time, even among themselves, everybody could say about what he pleased ”