# The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 46

* THE MORMON THEOCRACY.
* All Earthly Government is Rebellion
* The Kingdom of God in Utah
* The Gentiles to be Destroyed
* Why the Mormons pray for the Overthrow of the Republic
* Believers to deed all their Property to Brigham Young, "the Lord's" Representative on Earth
* The Families of the Saints to be Adopted by the Apostles
* Brigham's Word equal to that of God
* Orson Hyde illustrates the Kingdoms of the "Gods."
Everywhere among the Saints "the Kingdom" is a household word. It figures in every sermon, is read of in every epistle, and in every business of life it has some bearing. In adversity and in success, in poverty and in wealth, in every position and sphere of action, "the Kingdom" is credited with something. When refractory members of the Church are threatening to "take their own way," the Saints are taught obedience to "the Kingdom" as the highest duty, and are instructed that to secure salvation it must be "the Kingdom of God or nothing."
A coöperative dry-goods and grocery stock-holders' meeting could not well be held in Utah without some mention being made of "the Kingdom." Even in the opening prayer preceding a dance, "the Kingdom" is delicately remembered. Breaking ground for a canal or railroad is an exceedingly appropriate occasion to descant upon its expansion. The arrival of an emigrant train was, in former years, an important time for unfurling its banner. An agricultural fair is considered particularly suitable for holding up "the Kingdom" for admiration; and Brigham's travels through the settlements are truly Pentecostal showers of joy and rejoicing for the processional youngsters who are yet to "carry off the Kingdom."
The visitor in Utah may have difficulty in discovering any ​special characteristics of "the Kingdom of Heaven" in the streets of Salt Lake City, or in the other cities and settlements of the Territory of Utah, but the Saints none the less honestly believe that "the Kingdom" spoken of by all the prophets since the world began is there and nowhere else. In this prevailing sentiment is to be found the explanation of their contempt for all earthly governments—"theirs is the Kingdom."
The apostle Orson Pratt is on this point very lucid and forcible, and expresses clearly the faith of the Mormons. He says:
   "The Kingdom of God is an order of government established by divine authority. It is the only legal government that can exist in any part of the universe. All other governments are illegal and are unauthorized. . . . . Any people attempting to govern themselves by laws of their own making, and by officers of their own appointment, are in direct rebellion against the Kingdom of God. . . . . For seventeen hundred years the nations upon the Western Hemisphere have been entirely destitute of 'the Kingdom of God '—entirely destitute of a true and legal government, entirely destitute of officers legally authorized to rule and govern. All the emperors, kings, princes, and presidents, lords, nobles, and rulers, during that long night of darkness have acted without authority. . . . . Their authority is all assumed—it originated in man. Their laws are not from the Great Lawgiver, but the productions of their own false governments; their very foundations were laid in rebellion, and the whole superstructure, from first to last, is a heterogeneous mass of discordant elements in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God, which is the only true Government which should be recognized in earth or in heaven."
Forty pages are devoted by elder Pratt to this subject, setting forth everything about "the Kingdom" that he could group together under that designation. After establishing to his own satisfaction that "the Kingdom" had been given to the Saints, he concludes his argument with the important announcement:
   "The Almighty has decreed to rend and break in pieces all earthly governments, to cast down thrones, to turn and overturn, and break up the nations, to send forth his messengers and make a way for the establishment of the everlasting Kingdom, to which all others must yield, or be prostrated—never more to rise. Awake! then, oh, ye nations, for with the Lord hath a controversy! His Kingdom is now for the last time organized upon the earth. All nations are invited to become citizens—it ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/531 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/532 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/533 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/534 ​been the unceasing call of the priesthood, and "the Lord" has blessed the labours of the faithful till Utah is swarming with the lambs of the flock in every settlement, from Bear Lake in the north to the sunny regions of the Colorado in the south. But all this preaching and marrying were but the preliminaries, the stepping-stones that all the world could see and comprehend. Beyond these were found greater supports to "the Kingdom" in "consecration" and "adoption."
   The Saints are taught that "the Lord" requires of them a tithing of all they possess in this world, and after that an annual tenth of their increase. But that is only preliminary to greater blessings that "the Lord" has in store for them, for when they have increased in faith "the Lord" will afford them the opportunity of "consecrating" to Him all that they possess. Their houses and lands, their chairs and tables, their horses and pigs, their hammers and saws, their buggies and wagons, and all and everything that they own or hope to own, to be deeded over to "the Lord's" Trustee in Trust—Brigham Young; and thereafter the bishops will sit in judgment to assign to Jones one talent, to Smith five, to Young ten, and so on, according to their necessities, and their several abilities to use and increase that over which "the Lord" has made them stewards. All this is for "the Kingdom's sake."
   Illustrative of the systematic manner in which "the Lord" manages earthly affairs, the following bona fide consecration document is valuable.
   "BE IT KNOWN BY THESE PRESENTS that I, JESSE W. FOX, of Great Salt Lake City, in the County of Great Salt Lake, and Territory of Utah, for and in consideration of the sum of One Hundred ($100) Dollars, and the good will which I have to the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, give and convey unto BRIGHAM YOUNG, Trustee in trust for said Church, his successor in office, and assigns, all my claim to and ownership of the following described property, to wit: