Gen. Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania, after four years' experience with the Mormons, declared: "I have not heard a single charge made against them as a community, against their habitual purity of life, their willing integrity, their toleration of religious difference of opinion, their regard for the laws, their devotion to the constitutional government under which we live, that I do not from my own observation or upon the testimony of others know to be unfounded."
Chief Justice White, sent to Utah by the United States government, testified: "Industry, frugality, temperance, honesty are with them the common practices of life. This land they have redeemed from sterility and occupied its once barren solitudes with cities, villages, cultivated fields and farm houses, and made it the habitation of a numerous people, where a beggar is never seen and almshouses are neither needed nor known."
The late Hon. Bayard Taylor, United States minister to Germany, remarked: "We must admit that Salt Lake City is one of the most quiet, orderly and moral places in the world. The Mormons as a people are the most temperate of Americans. They are chaste, laborious and generally cheerful, and what they have accomplished in so short a time under every circumstance of discouragement, will always form one of the most remarkable chapters in our history."
Notwithstanding the facts set forth in the foregoing, the Congress of the United States was moved upon for several years by anti-Mormon preachers of different sects, and by petitions from good, pious, but deceived "Christian" people, also by adventurers who desired to profit by inroads upon the Mormons, to enact stringent and oppressive measures looking to the suppression of what they called "Mormonism." It was thought by the enemies of the Saints that they could be driven again from their possessions, as they had been driven by mob violence from the states of Missouri and Illinois, where their property became a prey to their so-called Christian persecutors, and where many of their number were brutally murdered in cold blood, their Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, being among that number. For some time these efforts gave great promise of success. Much suffering was endured by the Saints, but they possessed their souls in patience, having faith in the promises of God made to them through their prophets and apostles, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The day of their deliverance from this injustice, sorrow, and tribulation has come. Their true character has been measurably recognized, and Utah has been admitted into the Union as a free and sovereign state, on an equal footing with the other states in the federal compact.
There yet remains in the world great ignorance concerning the Latter-day Saints, their purposes and works, their doctrines and teachings, and the spirit and power of their faith. To these they invite the investigation of every rational mind. They urge comparison of their principles, their Church and the ordinances, gifts, and spirit thereof with those set forth in the New Testament, in contrast with the contending and discordant religions of modern Christendom. They know that they have received the truth, and that God has revealed it in the present age. They have obtained a divine witness, every one for himself. They are building up Zion in the West. They are sending forth the gospel into all the world as a witness to the nations before the end shall come.
This is a day of warning. It will be followed by a time of judgments. The Lord is about to shake terribly the kingdoms of this world. War, pestilence, famine, earthquake, whirlwind, and the devouring fire, with signs in the heavens and on the earth, will immediately precede the great consummation which is close at hand. These are the last days. All that has been foretold by the holy prophets concerning them is about to be literally fulfilled. The everlasting gospel has been restored to the earth as one of the signs of the latter days. Israel is being gathered. The elect of God are assembling from the four quarters of the earth. The way is opening for the redemption of Judah. Soon all things will be in commotion: "men's hearts failing them for fear and looking for the things that are coming on the earth." The places of refuge appointed are in Zion and in Jerusalem. The Lord, even Jesus the Messiah, will come to his Holy Temple. He will be glorified in his Saints, but will "take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel." He will break in pieces the nations as a potter's vessel. He will sweep the earth as with a besom of destruction. He will establish righteousness upon it and give dominion to his people. "The meek shall inherit the earth and the wicked be cut off forever." Therefore, repent and turn unto him, all ye nations, and obey him, all ye people, for these words are true and faithful and are given by his Spirit! Salvation has come unto you; reject it not lest ye fall and perish. The time is at hand!
Transcriber's Note
This version uses Arabic numerals for scripture chapter numbers (e.g. Mark 3) while the original uses Roman numerals (e.g. Mark III).