Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity. How shall we believe the Scriptures, if we do not believe them as we find them? We consider that we are more safe to follow the plain letter of the Word of God, than to venture so great a risk as to depend upon a private interpretation given by man who claims no inspiration from God and who altogether discards the idea that he gives immediate revelation now as anciently.

We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our elder brother. We believe that God is a person of tabernacle, possessing in an infinitely higher degree all the perfections and qualifications of his mortal children. We believe that he made Adam after his own image and likeness, as Moses testifies; and in this belief we differ from the professedly Christian world, who declare that "His center is everywhere, but his circumference is nowhere." Their God has no body nor parts; our God possesses a body and parts, and was heard by Adam and Eve "Walking in the garden in the cool of the day." They say that their God has no passions; our God loves his good children and is "Angry with the wicked every day," "And him that loveth violence his soul hateth;" and he reveals his will as familiarly to his servants in all ages as I reveal my thoughts to you this evening.

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and try to keep his sayings. He said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." One commandment to his disciples was to preach his Gospel in all the world, and baptize believers for the remission of sins, and then lay hands upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, that they might possess the gifts and graces promised in the Gospel to all believers.

We worship a God who can hear us when we call upon him, and who can answer our reasonable petitions, and who gives guidance and direction to the affairs of his kingdom which, he has established on the earth in our own day. We believe in making his statutes our delight, in observing his ordinances and keeping all his commandments. You may inquire whether all professed Latter-day Saints do these things. My answer is, They should do them. Are they all truly Saints who profess to be Saints? They should be. Are all this people, in the Scriptural sense, Christians? They should be. Do they all serve God with an undivided heart? They should. Many of them do, seeking daily to do his will. You do not find many of this class of Saints wandering idly over your camp ground, wanting and desiring this, that and the other from the passing stranger. Those who visit you in this way wish to see how you look, as you want to see how the "Mormons" look. The great mass of this people tarry at home, they are in their houses, their gardens, their fields and shops, paying attention to their own business, and not running after strangers for gain; and in attending to their own business many get rich. While some of our community wish to see how their former Christian brethren look, they, at the same time, wish to trade with you, and a stranger might suppose that they are first-class Latter-day Saints. Do not be deceived, for all first-class Latter-day Saints, both men and women, may be found minding their own business at their homes or where their business requires their presence. To know them and how they live is the only means by which you can form a true conception of the "Mormon" people.