Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the church over which I preside to have them do likewise.

. . . .Which is the wisest course for the Latter-Day Saints to pursue--to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the temples, and the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead, and the imprisonment of the first presidency and twelve and the heads of families in the church, and the confiscation of personal property of the people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice), or, after doing and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle, to cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the prophets, apostles, and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people and attend to the duties of the church, and also leave the temples in the bands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the gospel, both for the living and the dead?

The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it you would have had no use. . . .for any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the Land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice.