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Show 68 from above. These discourses were not to be construed as anti-American only anti-administration. It was the administration in Washington that was trampling the rights of free men, and the government was portrayed in the most contemptuous and derogatory terms. Many of these speeches were delivered with great force and power and had a tremendous cohesive effect among the Saints. The wicked designs of the army and the neseccity of each person to to do his part were common themes. "We must stand up to the line and maintain the kingdom of God, or we will all go to destruction together," declared Brigham Young. And he continued: "There is high treason in Washington; and if the law was carried out, it would hang up many of them.... And now, if they can send a force against this people, we have every constitutional and legal right to send them to hell, and we calculate to send them there." 9| Heber C. Kimball declared: "Send 2,500 troops here...to make a desolation of this peopleJ God Almighty helping me, I will fight until there is not a drop of blood in my veins."20 Obedience to the commandments and the counsel of church leaders became a primary theme of the speeches of the day. The Lord had revealed to Joseph Smith in 1833 that if Zion was to come off victorious it must harken to the commandments of God and the counsel of the Brethren.23f If obedience for victory was not the major theme of the "war" sermons, it was certainly one of the most widely heard. On August 30 Brigham Young exclaimed from the Bowery in Salt lake City: "And now I prophesy that, if this people will live their religion, the God of heaven will fight their battles, bring them off victorious, and 22 give to them the kingdom." This literal belief in the intervention of God to fight their battles seems almost without parallel in modern history. But they fully believed the miracles of the last days were upon them. It was felt that the day had come |
