To Their Excellencies, the President and Vice President, and the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress Assembled:-

Having learned that counter influences are at work to prevent or thwart the action proposed by Congress to remedy evils existing in the Territory of Utah, and knowing that a claim to be "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" has been made by a large portion of the inhabitants of Utah Territory, and by other religious bodies than that which your memorialists represent, by whom doctrines are held and practiced which are at variance with the proper usages of civilized nations, and opposed to the law of our common country; and that these doctrines are claimed by those who practice them to be made binding

upon them, as Latter Day Saints, by the revelations governing said church, we, your memorialists, would respectfully call your attention to the following statement of facts:-

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized on the 6th day of April, 1830, and was subsequently represented by its ministry and by the establishment of churches in many of the States, the Canadas, and Europe, under the ecclesiastical presidency of Joseph Smith, until June 27, 1844, when he and his brother Hyrum were killed at Carthage, Illinois.

At the time of the organizing of the church, and at all subsequent time prior to the dispersion of its members from Nauvoo, the church was simply an ecclesiasticism; and, as such, could confer no privileges before the law not contained in the provisions of the law; nor authorize as a tenet that which was forbidden by the law of the State where the church might exist, or in contravention of the constitutional basis on which the church was built,-the word of God.

Under the presidency of Joseph Smith, the church became a corporate body, and adopted as a constitution or form of church government and discipline, the Scriptures, the Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Bible and Book of Mormon have ever been the foundation on which the church has rested its faith, and there has been added to them the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, first published in the year 1835, and republished in 1845; the former edition during the presidential term of Joseph Smith, the latter edition under the regime of Brigham Young, as "President of the Twelve." This book, the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," was, on the 17th day of August, 1835, presented to each and all the quorums of officers belonging to the church, separately, and acted upon by them; it was also presented to the church in General Assembly, and was adopted unanimously. It then became a part of the law of the church, and the church became bound by its provisions, equally as by those of the Bible and Book of Mormon. The doctrines and law of the church so established must ever remain the basis of its government; the indorsement [endorsement] of them an indorsement [endorsement] of the church, the departure from or denial of them a departure from or denial of the church.

We would respectfully urge our conviction that there can be no true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints excepting that which is based on the law of the church, and that the observance of the law is not only the contradistinctive feature of the church, but of every individual member thereof. That we may not present an unsupported statement on so important a point, we most respectfully call attention to the following quotations from the Book of Covenants, which we submit as evidence:-

Section 42, paragraph 5 (old edition sec. 18): "The elders, priests, and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel,

and they shall observe the covenants and church articles to do them, and these shall be their teachings."

Section 42, paragraph 21 (old edition sec. 13): "Every person who belongeth to this Church of Christ shall observe to keep all the commandments and covenants of the church."

Having, we trust, set forth sufficiently clearly the binding character of the church, state, and national law upon whoever may claim to be "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," your memorialists would beg permission to refer to the following items of church law found in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, touching matters in which there is a direct antagonism between the church your memoralists represent and the church in Utah with which the government is at issue, and presenting the actual law on those points which are in disputation; and more especially upon the duties and privileges of the marriage relation:-

BIBLE.

Malachi 2:14, 15: "Yet, ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth."

Matthew 19:4-6: "And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

First Corinthians 7:2: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and every woman have her own husband."

BOOK OF MORMON.

Jacob 2: 6: "Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord; for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none."

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS.

Section 42, paragraph 7 (old ed. sec. 13): "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else'; and he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her, shall deny the faith."

Section 49, paragraph 3 (old ed. see. 65): "And again, I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry, is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh."

Again, and to conclude our direct evidence upon this point from the church law, we submit the following extract from the article on marriage, in which the minister officiating is required first to ascertain if there be any legal objections, and on becoming satisfied that there are none, the law thus instructs: "He shall say, calling each by their names: 'You both mutually agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition: that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other and from all others during your lives.' And when they have answered 'Yes,' he shall pronounce

them husband and wife,' in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by virtue of the laws of the country and authority vested in him."

The claim put forth by the advocates of polygamy that a subsequent revelation authorizes the practice of polygamy, is rendered invalid by the law of the church in Book of Covenants, section 27, paragraph 4 (old ed. see. 51), which reads: "Neither shall anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants, for all things must be done in order and by common consent in the church."

That polygamy could not become a tenet of the church while the church existed in the several states of the union, is plainly indicated by a clause of the law governing the church from an early day, which reads: "Let no man break the laws of the land; for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land." Book of Covenants, section 58, paragraph 5 (old ed. sec. 18).

In a careful examination of the publications of the gospel church from its earliest existence to the present time, your memorialists have not found one single clause authorizing, justifying, or even permitting polygamy. The New Testament; the Book of Mormon; the Book of Covenants; the standard works of the Latter Day Saints' Church; the periodicals of the church, embracing the Evening and Morning Star, the Messenger and Advocate, the Gospel Reflector, the Nauvoo Neighbor, the Times and Seasons, published in America; and the Millennial Star, published in England, are all silent on the question of polygamy, except wherein they refer to it historically, or to condemn either impliedly or directly its practice. The scriptures are opposed to it, and the works published in the church of Latter Day Saints most unqualifiedly condemn it. Not even the body that now practices and teaches polygamy made any public profession of it till the year 1851, and not officially to the outside world before 1852.

Four months before the death of Joseph Smith, and seven months after polygamists date the receiving of a revelation which they assert came through him, authorizing polygamy, this same Joseph Smith published in the Times and Seasons a notice of the excommunication of a man for "preaching polygamy and other false and corrupt doctrines in the county of Lapeer, State of Michigan," in the following terse language: "This is to notify him and the church in general that he has been out cut from the church for his iniquity, and he is further notified to appear at the special conference on the 6th of April next to answer to these charges." (Signed) Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Presidents of said Church. This expulsion, we submit, could not have taken place had polygamy been made a church tenet seven months previously.

In addition to this, Mr. John Taylor, now one of the apostles of the polygamic doctrine, in a public discussion held in Boulogne, France, July 11, 1850, impliedly denied the doctrine of polygamy and condemned it in the following language: "We are accused here of polygamy, and actions the most  indelicate, obscene, and disgusting, such that none but a corrupt and depraved heart could have contrived." (Taylor's Discussion, p. 8.)

We, your memorialists, would therefore submit for the consideration of Congress in its action on the Utah question, and in its legislation on the question of the right of Congress to interfere with polygamy as being a part of the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:-

1. That the law of the church found in the Bible, the Book of Mormon,

and the Book of Covenants, books accepted by the polygamists themselves, expressly forbids to one man more than one living wife.

2. That the law contained in those books is the constitution of the church; that no law can obtain in the church in contravention thereof, and that therefore the pretended revelation on polygamy is illegal and of no force.

3. That in the "Remonstrance" presented to Congress from the polygamists of Utah, dated March 31, 1870, the non-publication of this pretended revelation till the year 1852 is admitted in the following language: "Eighteen years ago, and ten years before the passage of the anti-polygamy act of 1862, one of our leading men, Elder Orson Pratt, was expressly deputed and sent to Washington to publish and lecture on the principles of plural marriage as practiced by us. . . . For ten years before the passage of the act of 1862, the principle was widely preached throughout the union and the world, and was universally known and recognized as the principle of our holy faith."

4. That the plea of polygamy not being at variance with the law of the land because not expressly in violation of any law on the statute book of the Territory of Utah, is not admissible, for this reason, the polygamic revelation claims to have been given in 1843, when the church as a body was in Illinois, in which State bigamy, or polygamy, was then, as now, a crime.

5. That polygamy, being a crime against the law of the State of Illinois, could not have been authorized by revelation from Him whom polygamists themselves affirm gave the revelation found in Book of Covenants, section 58, paragraph 5 (old edition see. 18), which declares, "Let no man break the law of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land; wherefore be subject to the powers that be."

6. That the pretended revelation on polygamy was not published till 1852, is strong presumptive evidence that it was not in existence; but even if it were, it would still be of no force in the church, as it contravenes revelations previously given to and accepted by the church, and is therefore precluded from becoming a church tenet by that clause of the church law before quoted, which declares, "Neither shall any thing be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants."

It is known throughout the nation, and in many parts of the old world, that there is an influential and rapidly growing organization of Latter Day Saints, separate and distinct from, and in this matter of polygamy, in church polity, and in the relations of the church to the government, entirely dissimilar and opposed to that which the Cullom Bill requires Congress to legislate upon.

This organization, known as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," is now being represented in conference at Plano, Illinois, by delegates and visitors from many of the Eastern, Southern, and Western States, from the Pacific States, the Territories, Including Utah, and Great Britain. Your memorialists are a committee appointed by this conference, and as such, would respectfully present to their Excellencies, the President and Vice President of the United States, and to each of the honorable members of the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, our views on the questions herein set forth, and accompany them with an abstract of the faith of the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in relation to governments and laws in general as published in 1835 and in 1845, and affirmed by the

Reorganized Church at as early a date as 1853 and again In 1864; which faith, as so affirmed, is based upon the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants:-

FAITH OF THE CHURCH ON GOVERNMENTS AND LAWS IN GENERAL

We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man, and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or administering them, for the good and safety of society.

We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.

We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same, and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people, (if a republic,) or the will of the sovereign.

We believe that religion is instituted of God, and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul.

We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments, and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest, at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.

We believe that every man should be honored in his station; rulers and magistrates, as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man, and divine laws, given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker.

We believe that rulers, states, and governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief; but we do not believe that they have a right, in justice, to deprive citizens of this privilege, or proscribe them in their opinions, so long as a regard and reverence is shown to the laws-such religious opinions do not justify sedition nor conspiracy.

We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed; and for the

public peace and tranquility [tranquillity], all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders, against good laws, to punishment.

We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in it spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens denied.

We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct according to the rules and regulation of such societies, provided that such dealings be for fellowship and good standing; but we do not believe that any religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life, to take from them this world's goods, or put them in jeopardy of either life or limb, neither to inflict any physical punishment upon them-they can only excommunicate them from their society and withdraw from their fellowship.

We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted, or the right of property or character infringed, where such laws exist as will protect the same; but we believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons, in times of exigencies where immediate appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded.

We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn the righteous to save themselves from the corruption of the world; but we do not believe it right to interfere with bond-servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize them, contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor to meddle with, or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men; such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude.

We, your memoralists, regret that a necessity exists for the faith of the Reorganized Church being presented in contradistinction to that of other churches claiming the same name that we bear; but there is so manifest a tendency to confound the Reorganized Church with the polygamic factions, that we deem it but just that we be placed aright upon the record, theologically, socially, and morally, as well as politically. We therefore respectfully submit the following epitome of the faith and doctrines of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:-

We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression. We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all men may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We believe that these ordinances are: 1. Faith in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Repentance. 3. Baptism by immersion, for the remission of sins. 4. Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 5. We believe in the resurrection of the body; that the dead in Christ will rise first, and the rest of the dead will not live again until the thousand years shall have expired. 6. We believe in the doctrine of eternal judgment, which provides that men shall be judged, rewarded, or punished according to the degree of good or evil they shall have done. We believe that a man must be called of God, and ordained by the laying on of hands of those who are in authority, to entitle him to preach the gospel, and administer in

the ordinances thereof. We believe in the same kind of organization that existed in the primitive church; viz.: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, helps, and governments. We believe that in the Bible is contained the word of God, so far as it is translated correctly. We believe that the canon of scripture is not full, but that God, by his Spirit, will continue to reveal his word to man until the end of time. We believe in the powers and gifts of the everlasting gospel; viz.: the gift of faith, discerning of spirits, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, wisdom, charity, brotherly love, and all other Christian graces. We believe that marriage is ordained of God; and that the law of God provides for but one companion in wedlock, for either man or woman, except in cases where the contract of marriage is broken by death or transgression. We believe that the doctrines of a plurality and a community of wives are heresies, and are opposed to the law of God. We believe that to all men there should be accorded the right to worship Almighty God in such a manner as the conscience of each may approve, provided that such worship does not enjoin a disregard of wholesome laws, or lead to an infringement of the rights of others.

In some States of the Union, the church has not been without representatives for the past forty years, or nearly, and in these churches neither the theory nor practice of polygamy has ever obtained. The body which your memorialists represent is mostly composed of churches and members scattered throughout the land from Maine to California and from Florida to Minnesota-all subscribing to the constitution of the church-all opposed to polygamy.

In view of the foregoing facts, we, your memorialists would urge the validity of the claim of the Reorganized Church to be the Church of Latter Day Saints, and in urging this claim, declare unqualifiedly the faith of the body your memorialists represent that, according to the law of the church given under the presidency of Joseph Smith, no body of people can be properly considered "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" but that body which recognizes the constitutional provisions of the law under which the church obtained an existence; and as loyalty to the government and a monogamic institution of marriage are absolutely and imperatively demanded by the law of the church, as necessary to govern it in its political and social relations, we do most fully, freely, and unreservedly affirm that there is nothing required by the law or polity of the church that can render its members violators of the laws of the land in any of their legal provisions.

We, your memorialists, would therefore petition that in the consideration of the questions of polygamy and disloyalty, as affecting a body calling themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in

the Territory of Utah, the crimes of polygamy and disloyalty may not be made to stain the mantle of the pure faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by such official sanction and legislation of your honorable bodies as shall, in order to legalize the crimes of a few hundreds of polygamists in Utah, (many of whom we trust will yet abandon their folly,) enstamp with infamy and disloyalty the faith of many thousands throughout the United States, whose bold stand in the hour of the nation's trials, whose integrity of purpose and life, whose loyalty is unquestioned, and whose faith is that of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And for the peace, prosperity, and perpetuity of the government your memorialists will ever pray.

JOSEPH SMITH, }

ALEX. H. SMITH, }

MARK H. FORSCUTT, } Committee on Memorial

W. W. BLAIR. }

JOSIAH ELLS, }

Presented and read before the Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, held at Plano, Illinois, on the 11th day of April, 1870, and adopted by said conference.

JOSEPH SMITH, President.

HENRY STEBBINS, }

WILLIAM H. GARRETT, }Clerks.

-The Saints' Herald, vol. 17, pp. 321-327

2 In the Book of Covenants there are several revelations which are given to the church as examples for their guidance. These revelations are professedly the commandments given to Enoch, and the names which are there given, with few exceptions, are evidently the names of men living in Enoch's time. Orson Pratt, and perhaps some others in teaching these revelations, in order more fully to illustrate the principles, used the names as types, which was perhaps permissible. A difficulty has grown out of it, which has resulted in embarrassing the brethren in certain localities when defending the faith. This difficulty is, that the rumor that there was a secret organization in the church to which these names answered, has color from the interpretations. What we wish to state, then, is this, that when the order which is contemplated in those revelations is fully established, the persons holding the various positions therein provided will fill the types given in those names; not that they shall of necessity be called by those names, but simply to correspond with the example.