I am thankful for the privilege of speaking to you a short time this afternoon. I am anxious to explain, whenever opportunity affords, the nature of our faith. And I presume that, on this occasion, I am justified in feeling that our friends who have kindly visited our meeting room have come for the purpose of learning something regarding that subject. In this free country, where we congratulate ourselves in enjoying and allowing the greatest freedom to everybody, I presume we will, all of us, speaker and congregation, exercise the privilege of explaining and reflecting upon the things that may be said; so that our friends, I trust, will leave us understanding a little more about the nature of our religion than when they came to the meeting. I can feel, in part, the interest that exists, even in the minds of our friends. They have, doubtless, heard about the Latter-day Saints. They have had the opinions of men who have spoken in the pulpits, and who have written books about the "Mormons," and they, very likely, have come here under certain impressions in regard to the "Mormon's" faith. I am sorry to say that experience has taught me that the public generally have been deceived. I am gratified sometimes in listening to acknowledgments of this kind from our friends who have heard for themselves, and have thus been able to judge intelligently as to whether the reports which they have heard from our enemies are correct or not. It seems strange, but it is nevertheless true, that many people who wish to know the faith of the Saints go to their enemies to learn of them. I do not know whether our kind {120} friends have thought of the inconsistency and injustice of such a course as this. If I wished to learn what the Roman Catholics believed in, I do not think, at present, that I would go to the Protestant Church to learn it; or, if I wished to learn what any denomination of professing Christians believe, I do not think it would be just for me to go to some other denomination to ascertain it. In the first place other churches might be led--perhaps unwittingly, perhaps intentionally--to misrepresent the faith of their neighbors, and I might be deceived through their misrepresentations. On the other hand, there is no need of my going to any one church to learn the faith of another people, because I can go just as easily to their own church to listen to their explanations, and thus be sure of getting information of their peculiar views, without trusting to the misrepresentations of their neighbors. Now I submit that such a course as this is right; it is just, and accords with our impressions of a fair and just hearing and consideration from the parties most interested, as to whether their faith be correct or not.