I hope with all my soul that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be loyal in their very hearts and souls, to the principles of the Constitution of our country. From them we have derived the liberty that we enjoy. They have been the means of guaranteeing to the foreigner that has come within our gates, and to the native born, and to all the citizens of this country, the freedom and liberty that we possess. We cannot go back upon such principles as these. We may go back upon those who fail to execute the law as they should. We may be dissatisfied with the decision of judges, and may desire to have them removed out of their places. But the law provides ways and means for all these things to be done under the Constitution of our country, and it is better for us to abide the evils that we have than to fly to greater evils that we know not what the results will be. . . .

These principles that I propose to read to you are the foundation and basic principles of the Constitution of our country, and are eternal, enduring forevermore, and cannot be changed or ignored with impunity:

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” . . .

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image of any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.” . . .

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” . . .

“Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work.” . . .

“Honor thy father and thy mother.” . . .

“Thou shalt not kill.” . . .

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” . . .

“Thou shalt not steal.”

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neightbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s” [Ex 20:1–6].

Now, these are the commandments of God, the principles contained in these commandments of the great Eternal are the principles that underlie the Constitution of our country and all just laws.