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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. Petersen 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." |
