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Brigham Young, Second Prophet and President of the Mormon Church"I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the Children
of men, that they may not call scripture!" "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth,
uncomely, disagreeable, sad, low in their habits, wild, ad seemingly
without the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed
upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing
one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the
children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed,
and that would have put termination to that line of human beings.
This was not to be and the Lord put a mark on him, which is the
flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood,
and then other curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they
would be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that
curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the
least alter that decree." "In our first settlement in Missouri, it was said by our enemies that we intended to tamper with the slaves, not that we had any idea of the kind, for such a thing never entered our minds. We knew that the children of Ham were to be the "servant of servants," and no power under heaven could hinder it, so long as the Lord would permit them to welter under the curse and those were known to be our religious views concerning them." Journal of Discourses, Volume 2, page 172. "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race?
If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood
with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death
on the spot. This will always be so." Joseph Smith, First Prophet and President and Founder of the Mormon Church"Had I anything to do with the negro, I would confine them by strict
law to their own species and put them on a national equalization.''
Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church"Those who were less valiant in the pre-existence and who thereby
had certain spiritual restrictions imposed upon them during mortality
are known to us as the negroes. Such spirits are sent
to earth through the lineage of Cain, the mark put upon him for
his rebellion against Cod and his murder of Abel being a black skin....
Noah's son Ham married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain, thus preserving
the negro lineage through the flood....The negroes are not equal
with other races when the receipt of certain spiritual blessings
are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings
that flow therefrom, but this inequality is not of man's origin.
It is the Lord's doing, based on His eternal laws of justice, and
grows out of the lack of spiritual valiance of those concerned in
their first estate." "Racial degeneration, resulting In differences In appearance and
spiritual aptitude, has arisen since the fall. We know the circumstances
under which the posterity of Cain (and later of Ham) were cursed
with what we call negroid racial characteristics." "Though he was a rebel and an associate of Lucifer in the preexistence,
and though he was a liar from the beginning whose name was Perdition,
Cain managed to attain the privilege of mortal birth....As a
result of his rebellion, Cain was cursed with a dark skin; he became
the father of the negroes, and those spirits who are not worthy
to receive the priesthood are born through his lineage. He became
the first mortal to be cursed as a son of perdition." "Through Ham (a name meaning black) "the blood of the Canaanites
was preserved" through the flood, he having married Egyptus, a descendant
of Cain....Negroes are thus descendants of Ham, who himself also
was cursed apparently for marrying into the forbidden lineage."
"....in a broad general sense, caste systems have their root and
origin in the gospel itself, and when they operate according to
the divine decree, the resultant restrictions and segregation
are right and proper and have the approval of the Lord. To
illustrate: Cain Ham, and the whole negro race have _ cursed
with a black skin, the mark of Cain, so they can be identified
as a caste apart, a people with whom the other descendants of Adam
should not intermarry." Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church"Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God? And when He placed them there, He segregated them.... The Lord segregated the people both as to blood and place of residence. At least in the cases of the Lamanites and the negroes we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that He placed a dark skin upon them as a curse - as a punishment and as a sign to all others. He forbade intermarriage with them under threat of extension of the curse "....And He certainly segregated the descendants of Cain when He cursed the Negro as to the Priesthood, and drew an absolute line. You may even say He dropped an Iron curtain there. The Negro was cursed as to the Priesthood, and therefore, was cursed as to the blessings of the Priesthood. Certainly God made a segregation there. "Think of the Negro, cursed as to the Priesthood. Are we prejudiced against him? Unjustly, sometimes we are accused of having such a prejudice. But what does the mercy of God have for him? This Negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the earth in the lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa , if that Negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.... "If I were to marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would all be cursed as to the priesthood. Do I want my children cursed as to the priesthood? If there is one drop of negro blood in my children, as I have read to you, they receive the curse, There isn't any argument, therefore, as to intermarriage with the Negro, is there? There are 50 million Negroes in the United States. If they were to achieve complete absorption with the white race, think what that would do. With 50 million Negroes inter-married with us, where would the priesthood be? Who could hold it, in all America? Think what that would do to the work of the Church!.... "Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro
have the highest kind of education. I would be willing to let every
Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing
that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the
world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I
think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that
segregation?" Joseph Fielding Smith, Tenth Prophet and President of the Mormon Church"I would not want you to believe that we bear any animosity toward
the Negro. "Darkies" are wonderful people, and they have
their place in our church." "There is a reason why one man is born black and with
other disadvantages, while another is born white with great
advantage. The reason is that we once had an estate before we
came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were
given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received
greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received
less.... There were no neutrals in the war in heaven. All
took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his
agency there, and men receive rewards here based upon their actions
there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done
in the body. The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward
he merits." "President Brigham Young, answering a question put to him by Elder
Lorenzo D. Young in a meeting held December 25 , 1869, in Salt Lake
City, said that Joseph Smith had declared that the Negroes were
not neutral in heaven, for all the spirits took sides, but the posterity
of Cain are black because he (Cain) committed murder." "That negro race, for instance, have been placed under restrictions
because of their attitude in the world of spirits, few will doubt.
It cannot be looked upon as just that they should be deprived of
the power of the Priesthood without it being a punishment
for some act, or acts, performed before they were born." "Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness
he became the father of an inferior race. A curse placed upon him
and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do
so while time endures. Millions of souls
have come into this world cursed with a black skin and
have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fullness of
the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain.
Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have
been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning.... we
will also hope that blessings may eventually be given to our negro
brethren, for they are our brethren—children of God—not withstanding
their black covering emblematical of eternal darkness." "Ham, through Egyptus, continued the curse which was placed upon
the seed of Cain. Because of that curse this dark race was separated
and isolated from all the rest of Adam's posterity before the flood,
and since that time the same condition has continued, and they have
been 'despised among all people.' This doctrine did not originate
with President Brigham Young but was taught by the Prophet Joseph
Smith .... we all know it is due to his teachings that the negro
today is barred from the Priesthood." John Taylor, Third Prophet and President of the Mormon Church"... after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced
upon Cain was continued through Ham's wife, as he had married a
wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because
it was necessary that the devil should have a representation a upon
a the earth as well as God... . " "When he (Satan) destroyed the inhabitants of the antediluvian
worlds, he suffered a descendant of Cain to come through the flood
in order that he might be properly represented upon the earth."
Orson Pratt, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church" ... among the Saints (i.e., Mormons] is the most likely place
for these [pre-existent) spirits to take their tabernacles, through
a just and righteous parentage ... .The Lord has not kept them in
store for five or six thousand years past, and kept them waiting
for their bodies all this time to send them among the Hottentots,
the African Negroes, the idolatrous Hindoos, or any other of the
fallen nations of the earth. They are not kept in reserve in order
to come forth to receive such a degraded parentage upon the earth;
no, the Lord is not such a being." |
