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Source: Church History Vol. 4 Chapter 23 Page: 414 (~1883)

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414 and remember he is strongest and wisest who is actuated by the kindest spirit

The following ministers who were present reported: W. W. Blair, Z. H. Gurley, J. H. Lake, J. R. Lambert, A. H. Smith, T. W. Smith, Charles Derry, C. G. Lanphear, J. S. Patterson, G. T. Griffiths, Heman C. Smith, J. F. McDowell, Columbus Scott, E. C. Brand, B. V. Springer, F. P. Scarcliff, R. M. Elvin, J. H. Merriam, H. Robinson, G. E. Deuel, W. H. Kelley, E. C. Briggs, D. S. Mills, W. T. Bozarth, M. T. Short, George Hicklin, J. P. Knox, Josiah Ells, and W. B. Smith. The following ministers not present reported: R. J. Anthony, Glaud Rodger, J. C. Foss, J. T. Davies, J. F. Mintun, G. S. Hyde, Joseph Luff, H. N. Hansen, J. D. Bennett, A. J. Cato, James A. McIntosh, J. F. Burton, C. H. Caton, James Caffall, F. C. Warnky, and Thomas Taylor, of England.

The committee to wait upon the Secretary of State reported its labors, embodying in the report the document presented to Secretary F. T. Frelinghuysen. It is as follows:

TO THE HONORABLE F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN,

Secretary of State of the United States,

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia.

As a committee appointed by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to which we belong, we beg leave to present the following to you, on behalf of said church.

1. The Reorganized Church is the proper representative successor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized by Joseph Smith and others, April 6, 1830, then numbering about thirty souls, and now numbering in the United States and Territories, Great Britain, the Canadas, Australia and the Society Islands about twenty thousand members.

2. The members of the Reorganized Church are loyal to the governments of which they are citizens; and neither teach, nor practice any religious tenet that is subversive of those governments, or destructive to good citizenship, as witness the position of said church in defining her relation to governments and laws, viz: "We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of men, and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or administering them, for the good and safety of society. We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments, and that sedition and rebellion

(page 414)

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