the wrath of man to praise me." As the Saints grew in prosperity and importance, avarice and prejudice seized political demagogues, adventurers and religious bigots, to stir the nation to a systematic effort to crush out "Mormonism." Special legislation was enacted and enforced beyond the severity of its own provisions. About eight hundred men went to prison; a few women were incarcerated because they would not testify against their husbands; heavy fines were paid and hundreds went into exile rather than prove untrue to the solemn covenants and obligations they had entered into under their religious convictions. Finally confiscation of Church property took place, but most of it was afterwards restored. In 1890 President Woodruff issued his manifesto regarding plural marriage, feeling that the courts of the country had abused justice in denying the Saints the liberty of religious worship granted by the American Constitution. In this form of opposition to the Church, a prophecy of Joseph Smith is fulfilled, in which he said, in substance, that persecution against the Saints would extend from township to county, from county to state, and from state to nation. His words have been literally fulfilled. The Saints, in enduring persecution, did so with patience and forbearance. They have no spirit of revenge. They understand that much of the popular sentiment against them is based upon misunderstanding, rounded in the falsehood of wicked and designing men. The spirit of the Gospel teaches them that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong, and that patience and charity are as necessary as a testimony of the truth; for without the approval of the Lord they could not endure the trials and temptations which beset them.