_Fourth_. There is a harmony in things bad as well as in things that are good. As men do not work righteousness that evil may come; so they do not plan evil that good may come. Now, these young men who bear witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon spent the greater part of their lives--especially when actively promulgating the Book of Mormon and the principles it teaches--in bringing to pass righteousness. They were exhorting men to keep the commandments of God; to cease doing evil and to learn to do well. It is admitted on all sides of the controversy that the Book of Mormon is not a bad book in the sense that it approves evil deeds, canonizes the vicious, lauds immorality, or in any way gives countenance or sanction to sin. No; its bitterest enemies are forced to admit that it stands for righteousness absolutely, that everywhere, and in all men it condemns sin. What motive, then, prompted these Witnesses to enter into a wicked collusion to deceive mankind in a matter so grave? Did they become villains that they might preach righteousness? Did they wickedly conspire to deceive mankind in order that they might spend their lives in toil, and suffering; and invite the opposition of the world as expressed in ridicule, scorn, vituperation, to say nothing of actual violence through malicious prosecutions before courts, illegal imprisonment, repeated acts of mob violence, ending in house-burning, in drivings, in cruel whippings, in other brutal assaults, and often in outright murder--if not of the Witnesses themselves, then of their dearest friends and neighbors; and, of course, with reference to the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum (who must have been necessarily members of the conspiracy, if one existed), their persecutions ended in their martyrdom. [1] I refer to the well-known history of these men and to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for proof that the results just enumerated followed the testimony of the Three Witnesses; that they endured all these things in consequence of their testimony. I refer to the whole body of doctrine held by the Church, brought into existence, under God, by Joseph Smith and these Witnesses; to the Book of Mormon in particular; to the periodicals published by the Church, and to the letters and other writings of these men, in proof of the facts that their motives were pure, their purposes honest, their efforts praiseworthy, and having for their sole object the attainment of righteousness by themselves and by their fellowmen. Why, I ask again, should they become rogues and villains only to pursue a course that makes for righteousness, for a more exalted morality, for a higher spiritual life than at the time was known among men? It is incumbent upon those who insist that there was a collusion among these Witnesses to deceive mankind, to prove that the subsequent career of these men was in harmony with that theory; for men do not become rogues that they