The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-07-27

2 mobocratic rule. It is true, this
! when the Puritan Fathers cam
: here they brought themselves wit
= them. It IS also true that the,
brought with them many of the fal
. Iacies of the Old World, and Will
= they considered it very imprope
for others TO persecute them in thei
religious views, they were as jealous
as their prosecutors in banishinG
Roger Williams, in prosecuting tht
Quakers and the Baptists, in put
. ting to death witches, and, l am
sorry to have it to say, that some Of
their descendants have been equally
jealous in pillaging. robbing, driving
and disturbing The Latter-day
Saints for their religion, as evidenced
before US to-day.
Who, for instance, are these
aged, grey haired veterans that
I see before me. hear
ing the banners and insignia of
tZion's Camp" They are few of
the remnants of u company of brave
men, who, as you have heard, in
1884 left their families and homes in
the East to go to the State of Mis-
souri, to protect their bretgTen who
had been robbed, pillaged, driven
and spoiled by an inhuman mob,
and who could get no redress in
their adopted State.
Who are these Pioneers whom to-
day we have assembled to honor?
They were the vanguard of tens of
thousands Of their brethren who left
the State Of Illinois, poor, outrag-
ed, robbed and prosecuted people.
| Their leaders murdered while in the
shade of the ermine and of the mock:
cry of law, and under the strongest
guarantees of executive protection.
Those veterans led forth n people
thus despoiled, who have left
their houses, their gardens,
their fields, their possessions,
their homes and their beautiful
Temple, appealing in vain for re-
dress from State and national author
tiles. Robbed, piliaged, houseless
and homeless, they wandered forth
into the wilderness, with President
Young as their leader and God as
their only help, to seek that protec-
ton among the savages of the dos
ert, which was denied them wnnIn
the haunts Of so-called civilization.
These things are true. It is also true
that Congress, goaded by religious
zealots and political adven turers and
demagogues, have passed inimical
legislation against us, and that the
courts, under the same influences,
have been as partial and hostile in
their rulings. But there is also ano-
ther great truth that there are a
very great many honorable men in
these United States who are ashamed
of these puerile anti-republican acts,
who rally yet around the flag and
the constitution, and who are desir-
Gus to see administered equal protec-
ton, religious, political and social, to
all men. And Notwithstanding these
and many other defalcations, the
true American patriot, though sor-
rowing for these evils which it would
be disingenuOus to ignore, can
say with cOmmendable pride
that the nation has retained
thus far with these and a few
other exceptions, the great principles
of political and religious freedom of
which she is the acknowledged
champion, and stands after upwards
of a century the peer of any king
dom, empire or nation on tie elrth.
L very much question whether
there is any nation existing in the
world to-day where we could find
more protection than we can in this,
poor as it is, yet such is the fact,
and such is the weakness Of human
nature when dealing with one ano-
ther.
This nation, as | understand it,
was organized under the supervision
of the Almighty, although men did
not comprehend it; and that tree of
liberty that was planted has borne
an abundance of fruit, although
there has been some wild fruit and
also a great many sour grapes mixed
up with it. l very much question in
my own mind whether the same
things could have been accomplish
ed in any other country that has
been done here, and God compre-
| hended it. And the Constitution
that we revere and that ought to be
cherished and maintained by every
American citizen Of the United
States, the Prophet Joseph said was
written by the inspiration Of God.
In the organization Of our govern
ment, without making any religious
provision, or sanctioning or adopting
any particular form of worship, in
the first amendment to the Consti-
tuition, it is specifically provided
that Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of reli-
gion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof" Thus acknowledging the
right of conscience and prohibiting
interference Herewith, by any legal
enactment.
In a little more than half a century
after the organization Of this govern
ment, a new phase of religion made
its appearance, inaugurated by God
our Heavenly Father as part of his
great programme, and introduced
and sustained by Joseph Smith,
which, like many other political, so
cial, and religious innovations, pro-
duced a shock, among religionists,
equal to the political shock among
the nations produced by the estab-
lishment of this republic among the
monarchies of the old world, and
which has led to the anomalous posi-
ton that we occupy here to-day.
This change, we claim, although ap-
parently new, is not so in reality but
merely a return to old principles, and
is what we denominate "the ever
lasting gospel" New indeed to the
the professional world, but everlast.
ing in its principles, faith, doctrines,
ordinances, priesthood, origin and
perpetuity, and is simply one of those
changes which the Almighty in one
of those compensating cycles Of
time has inaugurated, for the bene
fit of humanity and the eXaltation
of fallen world.
I did want TO see one banner here
that l do not see. mention it be-
cause it has been omitted-I refer to
the motto, SIN God we Trust" II
we have any light; if we possess any
intelligence; if we know more religi-
Gus truth than other men, it is be
cause God has taught US; and if we
have been preserved and provided
for under the weight of prosecutions
that from time to time have been
crowded and forced upon US; it is
because God has been with Us, and
it is He who has preserved and pro-
tected US, we could not have done il
| o,,re,1x-oC