The latter-day saints of 1849 chose patriotism and loyalty as the theme for their celebration on July 24, 1849 – 2 years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley and 5 years after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. They chose that theme because they believed in the legitimacy of government. The young men carried the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, the young women carried the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

Neither mobs nor armies could turn the saints aside from their support of the Constitution.

It is my purpose to show that in troubled times the Lord has always prepared a safe way ahead. . . If we are to be safe individually, as families, and secure as a church, it will be through “obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

Why they chose to celebrate liberty and the Constitution is that they saw the principles of liberty enshrined in the Constitution and could hold fast to the ideal that it espoused despite the fact that it had been blatantly trampled in their experience. They hoped for better for they knew that the seed was good.

On that day Elder Phineas Richards said, “Brethren and friends, we who have lived to three-score years, have beheld the government of the United States in its glory, and know that the outrageous cruelties we have suffered proceeded from a corrupted and degenerate administration, while the pure principles of our boasted Constitution remain unchanged.”

the key to what a Latter-day Saint is. . . they were anchored to revelation. Their course was set by the teachings still found today in the Old and the New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

Neither mobbings nor the army could turn the Saints aside from what they knew to be true.

We are guided by the same revelations and led by a prophet.

we will stay on course. We will anchor ourselves as families and as a church to these principles and ordinances. Whatever tests lie ahead, and they will be many, we must remain faithful and true.

Instruction:

• Make sure to be anchored to revelation.
• . . . anchor ourselves as families to the principles of revelation and the living prophet and to the ordinances of salvation to which he holds the keys.