Their Legislature enfranchised them—gave them the power absolute, not only to determine their own lives, but to hold the very destiny of Utah.
If it was Brigham Young who gave to them that unparalleled power, no matter what should be declared by the enemy as his motive, then has he done more for woman than any man living. But Mormon apostles and representatives executed this grand charter of woman's rights; and George Q. Cannon's noble declaration at the time—that the charter of female suffrage ought to be extended to the entire republic—is deserving the acclamations of the women of America.
New civilizations are the chiefest boons of humanity. Never was a new civilization more needed than now, for in the last century the world has rushed over the track-way of a thousand years. A train dashing forward at the rate of one hundred miles an hour would not be in more danger than will soon be society, unless a safety-valve—a new civilization—is opened.
This is the woman's age. The universal voice of society proclaims the fact. Woman must, therefore, lay the corner-stone of the new civilization. Her arm will be most potent in rearing the glorious structure of the future. Man cannot prevent it, for in it is a divine intending.
There is a providence in the very attitude of the Mormon women. The prophesy is distinctly pronounced in the whole history of their lives, that they shall be apostolic to the age.
A new apostleship is ever innovative. The Mormon women have established an astounding innovation in polygamy. It has been infinitely offensive. So much the better! For it has made a great noise in the world, and has shaken the old and rotten institutions of Christendom. That shaking was not only inevitable, but necessary, before a new civilization.
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We have seen the daughters of Zion, with her sons, establish their institutions upon the foundation of new revelation. We have seen them rearing temples to the august name of the God of Israel. We have seen their matchless faith, their devotion, their heroism.
We have seen them, because of their fidelity to their religion, driven from city to city and from State to State.
We have seen them in the awful hour of martyrdom.