The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-04-07

/ nave al Occu Wa0LOuly NlOltlcQ III buC
effort to punish the Latter-day Saints
for their Integrity TO God and His laws.
Instead of seeking to establish justice
and insure domestic tranquility, they
have sought to array neighbor against
neighbOr, friend against friend, brother
against brother, wife against husband
and children against parents, and TO
loosen and destroy all the bonds which
bind man to his fellow-man. Their
mission has not been TO build up and
cement society, but to tear down and
/ in their efforts to SOW dIssension and
strife, to tempt wives to betray their
husbands and to induce husbands, by
threats Of severe punishment
II they refused to comply
with their wishes, TO disown
and forsake their wives, and 70 discard
and bastardize their offspring, 4 nd TO
turn loose, as forlorn outcasts, those
whom they had solemnly coyenanted
to provide for and protect. When
these officials commenced their attack
upon US and our religion they found
our homes filed witRlove and affec-
tion-husbands aud fathers devoted to
their wives and children, and doing all
in their power to make them comfor-
table and happy; wives and mothers
contented and at peace, honoring their
husbands and proud of their relation
ship to them; and children whose re-
spect and obedience testified TO the
reverence and esteem in which they
held their parents. Husbands aud
wives aud children dwelt together
without compulsion or coercion. No
where on all this broad earth, where
matrimonial ties are held to have bind
ing effect, did such complete liberty
exist as among the Latter-day Saints.
II is true, wives were sealed to hus-
bands by the eternal Priesthood of the
Almighty, for time aud all eternity;
but this union n the first place was
only made possible by love, and by love
the tie is perpetuated. Women knew
their rights, and they knew that they
could not be compelled TO live with IN
unworthy man. Happiness reigned in
our homes, because freedom reigned
there, and all had their full agency. No
better proof of this need be adduced
than the fact that in the midst Of all
this persecution, and the many induce
ments there are offered to women and
men to Dissolve their family relation
ships, but few men have accepted the
proffered terms and discarded their
wives; and TO the honor of our sisters
be IL said, not one woman that we
know Of up to the present writing has
broken her marriage VOW and dissolved
her relations with her husband and
children.
Yet It is to the destruction of these
happy homes that all the efforts of
these officials have been directed. In
the sacred name of law, and under the
guise of a pretended desire TO enforce
IL, they would convert this condition
of society, so peaceful and so admir-
able, into q pandemonium. They have
worked TO this end with such malignant
cunning, such heartless persistence
and such INSCRIPTIONS disregard of
the principles of justice as have no
parallel in American history; and that
they have not accomplished this result
has not been for the want of effort on
their part, but because. God has been
with His people and His Spirit has been
poured out upon them to strengthen
and sustain them.
No man-made system or organization
could have withstood the concentrated
hate and violent assaults which have
been directed against the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Division add weakness would have
shown themselves, fatal breaches
would have been made in the frame
work of the system, and the imprison-
leading men would have been followed
by decay of faith and the dis.ntegra-
ton of the organization. But the
Lord, in establishing His Church, pro-
vided against such contingencies as
these. He promised-and all have
been urged TO claim the fulhlmcnt of
the promise-that He would give to
those who entered sincerely into coven
ant with Him, a testimony of the
truth for themselves, and to bestow
His Holy Spirit upon all. 1t is this
promise and its fulfilment that to-day
constitutes the strength of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day
Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was once
asked by a visitor TO the city of Nauvoo,
the good order and prosperity of which |
struck him with suBprise, how IL was
that ne governed the people - as TO !
produce such admirable results. The !
memorable reply OF the Prophet |
of God was: al teach them |
correct principles and they govern
themselves This was the secret of /
the good government at Nauvoo, and |
IL is still the secret of the good order /
and freedom from strife and other evils |
Saints in Utah and throughout all this |
mountain region where they have con-
troll. In what other community In the /
world could a governor, judges and
other appointees act as these officials
have done In Utah, without producing
anarchy and the complete overthrow of
all barriers which are erected for the
of society and the rights of
men? Our enemies are loud in their de-
of the Priesthood and its
influence upon the Latter-day Saints;
but that violence and confusion do not
reign in this fair Territory to-day is
due to the teachings of that Priest
hood and their influence upon the peo-
pie who give heed to them. The people
have been taught correct principles,
and they govern themselves.
Do we overstate the truth when we
say that every good, peaceaoly inclined
citizen of Utah-Jew, Gentle and
Mormon-would enjoy zmore peace
more prosperity, more kindly FEELINGS
towards each ether to-day II we had no
Federal officials at all of the class of /
many who are now among us? When
4 governor introduces himself to the II
world and TO the people he is sent to
govern, in all his public utterances