[Brigham Young:] But the time has come when we must have law and order in our midst. There has been some feelings of late in the camp because some unruly boys [enagaging in "night ramblings" with two of Wilford Woodruff's new teenage wives] have been floged by the Marshall for there wickedness. But if this Camp is not willing to let law & order reign here & put a stop to such wickedness I wish you to let me know it & I will go away from you. For those that wish to sustain crime & corruption let them return & strike hands with the mob & carry out there principles & be dammed. But if you want to do right say so. This people have been driven here for there desires to do righteousness. And this wickedness shall be put a stop to that has been manifest in the camp by certain young people of late. Yes it will be stoped if God come out & smites it by Judgment.
The Marshall did not whip them hard enough. If He had they would not have spit out there revenge but it would have been whiped out of them. If I am drove to the necessity of whipping a person in such A case they will not spit out revenge afterwards for I will whip it out of them.
Shall we any longer sustain in our midst men that will carry out the principles [spiritual wifery] of John C Bennet and other corrupt scoundrils? No I will sware by the Eternal God of Heaven such Conduct shall be stoped & shall not be permitted in this camp. For if they continue it I will tell the Marshall what the law is & they shall be taken Care of in a manner that they will not whine. And I will whip any man that will sustain it. For those that will sustain it shall be whiped. And I prophecy in the name of God such a man whether old or young shall be bowed down with sorrow & morning even more than this people have.
Then stop before you further go & not sport upon the brink of sorrow & morning. This people have the Law of Liberty & the gospel & the more the light & liberty & greater the privileges the stricter the Law. We are going into the wilderness & shall we suffer such things? No. I swear by the Eternal God such things shall not be while Brigham lives.
Br Kimball gave a good shot when He said no man [would] run into his waggon & swore he would shot the Marshall if he come after him except he was guilty of crime. No man is afraid except he is guilty. No man need be afraid that does right. I defy the world to say I have taken any roans right. But after we have been driven into the wilderness we are still followed by men who sware they will steal what they have in our midst. I sware they shall not have it in our midst.
Some young Elders that never preached a sermon in their lives are afraid that I shall have more blessings than they, or more wives or sumthing or other. But let them go & preach the world over as I have done in poverty and distress with Blood in my Shoes & spent years & years at it & left my wife & Children who have also suffered much. Let them do as we have done & they will not be jealous of me about blessings. If the Lord should give me a thousand women is it any mans business? No. Let such go and spend as much time as I have And there will be many clinging on to there skirts to be saved.
The majority of the men of the gentile world will be damned and the women wish to be saved by going with good men. And a woman that has the spirit of God will go with a good man who has been faithful & spent much of his time in saveing mankind and has the priesthood. Such men if they continue faithful will be saved in eternal Glory & those that are with him. I am determined that my affections shall be with God. I will not allow them to be placed on things that perish. When plagues & diseases get hold of our bodies we become loathsome & beauty fades away but our affections should be placed upon things that are Noble exhalted lasting & glorious. I love an exhalted mind for it is eternal & cannot fade. I want all my affections to be subject to God and glory & eternal life. May God bless you. Amen.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
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