History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 339
prophecy, revelation, and visions. In the scriptures
is found the law of tithing, which law is now revived,
and the keeping of it made one of the first duties of
the saints. The ten commandments, and all other
commandments, ordinances, promulgations, and possibilities,
are in force now as at the time they were
given. Marriage is a sacred and an eternal covenant.
Plural marriage, sanctioned under the old dispensa-
tion and revived under the new, is open to all, and is,
in some instances, commanded, when it becomes a
sacred obligation.
Seldom does a good Mormon appear in a court of
law arrayed against a brother Mormon. And this is
why, as the saints allege, the twenty-five or fifty lawyers
in Utah who are compelled to derive their living
almost entirely from the gentiles, are so bitter against
the saints. When two Mormons disagree, they present
themselves before the president of the stake, who
with twelve councillors, six facing six, their selection
having been agreed to by the litigants, is ready to try
the case without delay. Plaintiff and defendant, each
with his witnesses, take their places before the president,
and between the rows of councillors. Prayer
is then offered, almighty aid being asked in bringing
the affair to a righteous and amicable conclusion.
The litigants state the case, each from his own standpoint;
the witnesses are heard; the councillors decide.
Prayer is again offered. The adversaries shake
hands; there is nothing to pay. Until the gentiles
came, there were in Utah no police or police courts;
no houses of drinking, or of gambling, or of prostitution.
Of the administration of justice among the
saints I shall speak more at length in a later chapter.
and the blessing interpreted by another wife; the latter, however, cautioned
her not to repeat what had occurred, for 'Brother Brigham does not like to
hear of these things. ' Englishwoman in Utah, 29. Tullidge mentions the namea
of many women who were distinguished as possessing this gift, and relates an
instance of a party whose wagon was surrounded by Indians, escaping uith
their lives and property; the captors being induced to abandon their prize by
Jane Grover, a girl of seventeen, who addressed them in their own language.
Women of Mormondom, 474-8.