Orson Hyde

“ The Almighty never did, neither will He ever display His power in behalf of His people until they are brought into tried and straightened places; and what if some of us should lay down our lives for Christ's sake? We all have to die at some time; and if we are but in the faithful discharge of our duty, it should matter not to us when or by what means we go. Our enemies may say, for righteousness sake we kill thee not, but for thine own wickedness and perverseness.
What persecutors of the followers of Jesus ever acknowledged that they martyred or killed the Saints for righteousness sake? ”

“ I will venture to say that if Jesus Christ were now to pass through the most pious countries in Christendom with a train of women, such as used to follow him, fondling about him, combing his hair, anointing him with precious ointment, washing his feet with tears, and wiping them with the hair of their heads and unmarried, or even married, he would be mobbed, tarred, and feathered, and rode, not on an ass, but on a rail. ”

“ Remember, also, that we are the favoured and chosen people to whom that kingdom is come, and it will continue with us, provided our energies, coupled with the wisdom and power of God, be directed to that object—an object for which all Christendom is praying to be accomplished; and one, too, against which their skill, learning, and power will be arrayed. Even the devils in hell will burst forth from their fiery cells to unite with the fallen sons of earth, to oppose the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God. ”

“ Is persevering industry a faithful index to all the crime, debauchery, and wickedness with which we are charged? Men of reputation and sense, consider! Can such a mass of corrupt beings as we are represented, hang together, be united and submit to rigid rule and discipline so long—encounter every hardship and privation that we have, and still be cheerful and buoyant with hope? ”

“ The professed purity of this generation will not allow the institutions of Utah to exist undisturbed, if they can devise any scheme to disturb them. It is true that the people of Utah believe in and practise polygamy. Not because our natural desires lead us into that condition and state of life, but because our God hath commanded it, and wishing to comply with that as well as with all others of His commands, we are as we are. We also wish to be counted Abraham's children, to whom the promises were made, and also with whom the covenants were established ”

“ Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, with as many wives as David and Solomon, (leaving out the concubines) are men after God's own heart; inspired from on high to bring forth the last dispensation of mercy to man—to remove the vail of the covering cast over all people, and light up a flame that will eventually consume the ungodly, and fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of our God ”

“ When the ungodly or those not of their seed should be cut off from the earth, and no family remaining on earth except their own seed. Then in Abraham and in Christ, all the families and kindreds of the earth will be blessed—Satan bound, and the millenium fully come. Then the meek will inherit the earth, and God's elect reign undisturbed, at least, for one thousand years.
Is there no way provided for those to come into this covenant relation who may not possess, in their veins, any of the blood of Abraham or of Christ? ”

“ I will here venture the assertion, that no man can be exalted to a celestial glory in the kingdom of God whose wife rules over him; and as the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord, it follows as a matter of course, that the woman who rules over her husband, thereby deprives herself of a celestial glory. ”

“ Ye juries of nations consider well—weigh the subject impartially—remember that life and death are involved in the issue! Should there be an existing doubt in your minds, you are bound to give the accused the benefit of that doubt; and though it may not accord with popular practice for an attorney to be a witness in behalf of his client, yet knowing his innocence and the justice of his cause —the rectitude of his intention, the purity of his purpose and the general benevolence aimed at as the crowning climax of his exertions and hopes, I cannot refrain from adding my testimony in his behalf. ”

“ If thou wilt believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and repent of thy sins, and put them all away, and forsake them for ever, and turn unto the Lord our God, and serve Him with all thy might, mind, and strength, the Holy Ghost will change thy vile body, quicken and renew thy spirit and natural system, so that thou shalt lay off or overcome that fallen nature which is in the body with its sins, and be created anew in Christ Jesus, with a new heart and a new spirit, even the Holy Ghost ”

“ Although our faith and practice are such as we declare unto you, yet no people on earth look with greater abhorence and indignation upon a violation of the principles that govern us than we do. No man or woman among us, not of our faith, that behaves himself, and violates not our laws and regulations, has any occasion to fear molestation. ”

“ The hypocritical respect lavished upon females by the etiquette of the world in pushing them forward, and in exciting their vanity by making them most conspicuous in all the novels and romances which, like so much trash, have flooded society and cursed the land, is only to make them a more easy prey to the unbridled sensuality and the ungodly lusts of their benighted authors. Flattery is food for the silly and shallow brained, but a wise heart and pure hand will never administer it. ”

“ But however charitable and benevolent the designs of that society may be, so far as Utah is concerned, they have sent us the wrong book if they wish to reclaim us from the belief in and practice of Polygamy: for instead of its reclaiming us, it confirms us in our belief and practice, and no where condemns it; and, hence, we are conscientious in our manner of life, having the word of God which you bring us for our standard. ”

“ Are there no family disturbances among other people? I have often read of the husband murdering the wife, and the wife the husband, among those who consider it a high crime to have more than one wife. ”

“ By this effort I have solely for my object your edification in the wide field of truth, which has been opened by the "key of knowledge" to our mind's eye, and we are bade to enter and regale ourselves among the undying beauties that flourish spontaneously in this heavenly soil. We wish to be made wiser by a knowledge of true principles ”

“ In the most pious and well-regulated families on earth, there are sometimes occurrences take place of which no member of that family would be proud to speak openly; and which none but a foolish and silly member would speak. ”

“ The order of heaven places man in the front rank; hence he is first to be addressed. Woman follows under the protection of his counsels, and the superior strength of his arm. Her desire should be unto her husband, and he should rule over her. ”

“ We have been unmercifully forced to come to Utah; but we force no one else to come; yet if they do come, we want them to behave themselves, and attend to their own business. We do not consider an officer of the government to have any more right to commit wickedness than any one else ”

“ By doing the works of Abraham and of Christ in the faith of Abraham and of Christ; not in unbelief and unrighteousness, like the wicked world who have damned themselves in their own corruption and unbelief. ”

“ I would say to our friends, that I have no hesitancy in recommending the Bibles of Mr. Van Emman. They are most unquestionably, a well got up book, and afforded much cheaper than they can usually be bought in this place. You who want the Bible, I would advise to avail yourselves of this favourable opportunity.
Are the "Mormons" an industrious people? Every body says they are, I say we are, and for the rest, our works may speak. ”

“ Object not, therefore too strongly against the marriage of Christ, but remember that in the last days, secret and hidden things must come to light, and that your life also (which is the blood) is hid with Christ in God. ”

“ If this gentleman had ever ascended the Nile, he would have learned that the native men who tow and propel boats up that stream in which travelers are conveyed, are mostly in a state of perfect nudity. ”

“ There the heat is raised to a degree that causes the pure to melt and sink beneath, out of sight of the casual observer, while the dross, slag, or scoria meets every eye, and forms the principal subjects for our letter writers and numerous Editors to display their talents upon, while the pure metal is consolidated beneath, unobserved and unnoticed ”

“ So also some of our good and industrious wives, who are not above doing whatever is necessary to be done in their sphere, often condescend (however humiliating the service) to wash up a stranger's linen, that he may appear in "Mormon society" without being particularly obnoxious. Industry is our element. ”

“ They do not wish to be encumbered with clothing. European gentlemen, travelling with their families up the Nile, often purchase them entire suits, not out of any particular regard they have for the natives, but out of special regard for the modesty and delicacy of their families. ”

“ We have had, and still have among us, men who write back to the States glaring accounts of our character and conduct, and bitter compla [i] nts of our treatment toward them; but it would be hard for them to detail the awful treatment they pretend to represent. We do not often act without a cause ”