■of the Saints, in their journey

(Of the Church Auditing Committee.) ¶

My brethren and sisters, in the humility of my heart, I earnestly desire your sympathy and faith, that I may speak the truth. ¶

This is an historic spot, the "gates of Zion," where ¶

Zion stands with hills surrounded — Zion, kept by power divine; ¶

All her foes shall be confounded, Though the world in arms combine; ¶

Happy Zion, happy Zion, What a favored lot is thine! ¶

and we will feel the inspiration of that verse and thank God that our lot is cast here. ¶

No doctrine or article of faith do we teach our children more sacredly than that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this Country are inspired of God the eternal Father; and therefore they must of necessity square with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it might be well to examine into the truth of that statement for a moment. For example, the cornerstone upon which American liberty is built, the very rock in which the flag staff of equal privileges is planted, are these words : ¶

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ¶

Look at that for a moment carefully. "All men are created equal," say the fathers of the country, holding it out as self-evident to every thinking man, making a statement that all the world, if they desired to candidly judge the cause of America at that time, could see what was the truth. Well, is it true? Certainly, as God lives it is true, and the Kaiser will discover it is true, and the powers of the earth have felt the truth of it, and they have said, as John Jaques said: ¶

The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp, ¶

When with winds of stern justice he copes, ¶

But the pillar of truth will endure to the last, ¶

And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast, And the wreck of the fell tyrant's hopes. ¶

Let him or any other autocrat or despot, listen to that, for anent that stands the doctrine declared by autocracy that God gives to one man the special right to rule others. That is not true, that comes from another source, with which we have in the past had to deal. ¶

There have been other wars than this, and we have taken part in one of them, in the heavens, when there was presented to us the identical doctrine, not of German "kultur," but that we should be saved whether we would or no. And we said, "No, we reject the doctrine." Lucifer, the master of it, and the designer of it, with a third part or thereabouts of the hosts of heaven, were thrust out because of that autocratic feeling, that he wanted all the glory, and to save us whether we would or no. And we will thrust that doctrine out again, because we are free men ! ¶

Thank God for the declaration that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with these certain privileges. Oh, how magnificently that squares with the statement of the Prophet Joseph to Mr. Wentworth, when he asked for something that would express the faith of the Latter-day Saints. It begins this way: "We believe in God the Eternal Father." Yes, and the Declaration of Independence believes in the same truth and advocates it to the world ; and the framers of the Declaration, with a firm reliance upon divine Providence for the support of that truth, pledged their all, including their sacred honor in its maintenance. It will stand, no matter what the cost, because God the Father has brought forth the truth in this land that he prepared for the restoration of the law of human liberty, and the law of eternal liberty, the perfect law of liberty. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ must needs have such a government to come forward under, and for that reason, it was revealed and brought forth in this goodly land ; and, as has been said before, it can be said again, when the time comes in which the kingdom of God shall bear rule upon the earth, the flag of this country, the flag representing liberty and equal rights, will proudly float in the breeze, hoisted aloft by those who have the power and right to defend its sanctity. ¶

There is an inspiration in the sight of your faces. There is the belief that comes from my heart, that I feel you realize and have the testimony of this great truth, that it is unto God the Eternal Father we look for protection. It has been declared in the history of this country, as has already been made reference to by one of the speakers, that no king shall ever reign upon this land, save He whose right it is to reign — provided, however, that the people of this land will fear God and give glory to him and serve him. It is not necessary to go into the sacred history of this country, the Book of Mormon, to find that spirit — it has permeated the leaders of this land and the men that God has raised up for the preservation of human liberty ; and the great Commoner, Lincoln, standing on Gettysburg, dedicating the field there for the resting place of those who had given their last full measure— if you will remember the words, the inspiration of them will come to you, when he said that it was "for us, the living" — think of it, whoever reads that will be those who live — "for us, the living, to see to it that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom." He understood, he realized the necessity of fearing God and giving glory to him — and in the dedication of that field, and in the dedication of us to the purpose of the preservation of liberty in the earth, he bequeathed to us the privilege of living under God, in order that the "government of the people" might not perish from the earth. ¶

And the same inspiration comes down to this good day when the President of the United States said, "God helping, we can do none other than strive for the establishment of the principles that give us life." And in keeping with the same spirit, he said, "the purpose is to make the world safe for this principle of equal rights." ¶

Latter-day Saints, of all people, have a right to feel grateful to Almighty God, and should live so that the inspiration and freedom of their lives from sin will bear testimony to the fact that we do have in keeping these statements, these sacred revelations : for it is a wonderful thing for the Church to have the statement that Almighty God inspired the framers of the Constitution under which we live ; and we have that, it is contained in the 101st section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Wonderful ! Read it and get the fire of it. ¶

And oh, how thankful we should be: ¶

Thou hast led us here in safety, Where the mountain bulwark stands, ¶

As the guardian of the loved ones Thou hast brought from many lands: ¶

For the rock and for the river, The valley's fertile sod; ¶

For the strength of the hills we bless Thee, ¶

Our God, our fathers' God. ¶

Amen. ¶