April 1879
Cannon, George Q. "Influence of the Latter-Day Saints—Their Mission—The Marriage Relation—Capital and Labor—Religious Liberty." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 6, 1879: pg. 195-205.
Smith, Joseph F. "Duties of the Saints in Temporalities—Implicit Obedience Requisite—Church Interests Carefully Guarded—Gathering the Poor—Home Industries." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 8, 1879: pg. 341-347. Snow, Erastus. "Parable of the Fig Tree—The Rise of the Latter-Day Work—Organization of the Church—Its Subsequent Progress and Development—The Manner of Calling God's Servants—Duties of Church Officers—The Saving Power of Truth—The Disobedient and Idle Condemned—Liberality of the Gospel Plan." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 6, 1879: pg. 180-187. Snow, Lorenzo. "Blessings of the Gospel Only Obtained By Compliance With the Law." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 7, 1879: pg. 187-192. Taylor, John. "Opening of the Last Dispensation—Development of the Work of God—Sending Forth Missionaries—Usefulness of the Sisters—Improvement Associations—Education—Cooperation." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 8, 1879: pg. 174-180. Thatcher, Moses. "Manifest Blessings of God to the Saints—Proper Education of the Young—Infidelity the Result of Ignorance." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 8, 1879: pg. 192-195. The Deseret News. "General Conference." April 9, 1879: pg. 156. The Deseret News. "General Conference." April 16, 1879: pg. 172. Young, Brigham, Jr. "The Growth of Zion—Benefits of Seeking Counsel From the More Experienced." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. April 8, 1879: pg. 171-173. General Conference President John Taylor Elder Erastus Snow Parable of the Fig Tree—The Rise of the Latter-Day Work—Organization of the Church Elder Chas. C. Rich Sunday Afternoon. 2 o’clock p. m. Elder Geo. Q. Cannon Influence of the Latter-Day Saints—Their Mission—The Marriage Relation—Capital and Labor—Religious Liberty Monday, April 7th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m. Statistical Report Elder Franklin D. Richards Mission Calls Afternoon, 2 o’clock p.m. Sustaining of the General Authorities Elder Lorenzo Snow Blessings of the Gospel Only Obtained By Compliance With the Law Elder Albert Carrington Mission Calls Morning, 10 o’clock Mission Calls Elder Brigham Young, Jr. The Growth of Zion—Benefits of Seeking Counsel From the More Experienced Elder Joseph F. Smith Duties of the Saints in Temporalities—Implicit Obedience Requisite Afternoon, 2 p. m. Tithing Report Elder Moses Thatcher Manifest Blessings of God to the Saints—Proper Education of the Young—Infidelity the Result of Ignorance Motion to Build a House for the President of the Church President John Taylor Opening of the Last Dispensation—Development of the Work of God |
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General Conference
The Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the large Tabernacle on Sunday, April 6th, 1879, at 10 o’clock a.m., as per previous adjournment.
Present on the stand: Of the Apostles, President John Taylor presiding. Chas. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, and Albert Carrington.
Counselor to the Twelve Apostles, D. H. Wells.
Presiding Patriarch John Smith;
First Presidents of the Seventies, Joseph Young, A. P. Rockwood, H. S. Eldredge, and John Van Cott.
Of the Bishopric, Presiding Bishop Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and R. T. Burton, Counselors.
Conference was called to order by President Taylor.
Choir sang hymn on page 197, My soul is full of peace and love, I soon shall see Christ from above.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
The choir sang hymn on page 377: Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings To seeking minds and true.
The Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the large Tabernacle on Sunday, April 6th, 1879, at 10 o’clock a.m., as per previous adjournment.
Present on the stand: Of the Apostles, President John Taylor presiding. Chas. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, and Albert Carrington.
Counselor to the Twelve Apostles, D. H. Wells.
Presiding Patriarch John Smith;
First Presidents of the Seventies, Joseph Young, A. P. Rockwood, H. S. Eldredge, and John Van Cott.
Of the Bishopric, Presiding Bishop Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and R. T. Burton, Counselors.
Conference was called to order by President Taylor.
Choir sang hymn on page 197, My soul is full of peace and love, I soon shall see Christ from above.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
The choir sang hymn on page 377: Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings To seeking minds and true.
President John Taylor
said we have met together at this conference to transact such business as may be brought before us, that our hearts may be drawn out towards God our Heavenly father, and that things temporal and spiritual may be reflected upon as the Lord may see fit to impart unto us. He trusted that both speakers and hearers would be filled with the Holy Ghost that all might be edified and blessed together. He hoped the utmost quiet would prevail during the exercises, and that if children were restless, mothers would better quiet them or take them out. He then blest the vast congregation, and called on
said we have met together at this conference to transact such business as may be brought before us, that our hearts may be drawn out towards God our Heavenly father, and that things temporal and spiritual may be reflected upon as the Lord may see fit to impart unto us. He trusted that both speakers and hearers would be filled with the Holy Ghost that all might be edified and blessed together. He hoped the utmost quiet would prevail during the exercises, and that if children were restless, mothers would better quiet them or take them out. He then blest the vast congregation, and called on
Elder Erastus Snow,
who delivered an interesting discourse on the rise and progress of the work of God in these last days. Since the sacred record, the Book of Mormon, was revealed, which contains the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, (in September 1827) fifty-two years have passed away. He then referred to the 6th of April 1830, the day on which the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place, explaining that six members were necessary for its incorporation under the laws of the State, and traced the gradual growth of the Church since that time, pertaining to the order and classification of the two grand priesthoods, the Aaronic and Melchisedek, as the Lord revealed it to his servant, the Prophet Joseph Smith, giving him line upon line, and precept upon precept, until all the different orders and grades of the priesthood were organized as they now exist.
He then reviewed the various callings and authorities that attach to the several quorums of the Church, and the duties of the Saints towards these different authorities and towards God and each other.
who delivered an interesting discourse on the rise and progress of the work of God in these last days. Since the sacred record, the Book of Mormon, was revealed, which contains the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, (in September 1827) fifty-two years have passed away. He then referred to the 6th of April 1830, the day on which the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place, explaining that six members were necessary for its incorporation under the laws of the State, and traced the gradual growth of the Church since that time, pertaining to the order and classification of the two grand priesthoods, the Aaronic and Melchisedek, as the Lord revealed it to his servant, the Prophet Joseph Smith, giving him line upon line, and precept upon precept, until all the different orders and grades of the priesthood were organized as they now exist.
He then reviewed the various callings and authorities that attach to the several quorums of the Church, and the duties of the Saints towards these different authorities and towards God and each other.
Parable of the Fig Tree—The Rise of the Latter-Day Work—Organization of the Church—Its Subsequent Progress and Development—The Manner of Calling God's Servants—Duties of Church Officers—The Saving Power of Truth—The Disobedient and Idle Condemned—Liberality of the Gospel Plan
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Morning, April 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In the 24th chapter of Matthew our Savior uses a figure in speaking to his disciples, illustrating the signs of the times in which we live.
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
The rendering of this 24th chapter of Matthew is somewhat imperfect in King James' translation; the events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews seem to be intermingled with the events that were to precede and accompany the second advent of the Savior. In the new translation of this chapter by the Prophet Joseph Smith, which may be found in the Pearl of Great Price, the difference is made very plain, and the figure of the fig tree and the second coming of the Son of Man and the generation referred to therein is made applicable, not to the period of the destruction of Jerusalem, but to the time of the second coming of the Son of Man. And the new translation reads, in speaking of the putting forth of the fig tree and the signs that should precede the coming of the Son of Man, “Verily, I say unto you, this generation, in which these things shall be shown forth, shall not pass away until all I have told you shall be fulfilled.” From the reading of the new and correct rendering, it will be seen that, instead of the things spoken of being fulfilled in the generation in which the prophecy was made—which is the inference—the application is transferred at once from the generation in which the Savior was speaking to the generation who should witness the signs of the times therein set forth.
It is now more than 51 years since the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated were committed by the angel Moroni, to the hands of Joseph Smith, who was raised up to be a prophet, seer and revelator to the nineteenth century, and to lay the foundation of this church and kingdom upon the earth. And since that sacred record, which contains the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, was first revealed to him in the Hill Cumorah, nearly 56 years have passed away; it is 49 years since the organization of the Church was effected in conformity with the laws of God, and in accordance with the laws of New York; that is to say, the rule established by the laws of New York governing the organization of religious bodies and to comply with the statutes and to give it tangible form. The 6th day of April was selected by revelation as the day on which this church should be organized. The question is asked by some, were there only six believers who had received the testimony of the Prophet and been baptized for the remission of their sins on that day? I answer, there were many more. Why, then, was the number six made to figure in the organization? I answer in this respect: the same as under the statutes of Utah cooperative associations must have at least six to unite in the formation of any such association before it can incorporate. But any number not less than six might unite and organize themselves into a religious association to enjoy the rights and privileges of the law as such religious bodies. This number was selected, however, from among the believers on this occasion to conform to the requisitions of the statutes. This is, therefore, the anniversary of the day on which the organization took place, or commenced rather to develop itself. And from that time, as the body of the Church increased, the Priesthood in its various branches has developed itself into the organization as we now behold it in the earth. There were no twelve Apostles at that date; the material from which to draw them had not been gathered. There were no seventy Elders; the material from which to make them was not yet on hand. There were no High Councils, no Bishops' courts, nor quorums of High Priests, Elders, Priests, Teachers or Deacons. There was no classification of the organization of the priesthood as there is today. Neither is there any organization of the Stakes of Zion, for there was no material of which to make them. It was indeed but the shooting out of the earth, as it were, of the plant, like the mustard seed, which is a small plant at first, having but a single stalk; and as it rises and receives strength and sends down its roots and spreads forth its branches, from one branch another grows out and shoots forth. And so from day to day, and from month to month, and from year to year did the Lord reveal through the Prophet Joseph Smith, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, revealing to the people the order of the priesthood and the order of Zion and her government, her institutions and the classification of the priesthood under the two great heads—the Melchizedek and the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, with their various subdivisions and quorums. It was not till the year 1835, in the month of February, that the quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the quorums of the Seventies were organized in this Church. These were drawn principally from those tried men who composed Zion's camp. There was a revelation given in this same year showing how a High Council should be organized in Kirtland, and shortly after another was organized in Missouri; and it also defined the laws governing the High Council and Stake organizations. At first, when the Church was organized on the 6th day of April, the general duties of the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons were defined in that revelation, given in that day, known as the articles and covenants of the Church. Elder seemed to be a generic name embracing all the branches of the Melchizedek priesthood, from the Elder proper to the Apostle, namely the Elders, High Priests, (after the order of Melchizedek), including High Councilors, Seventies, Apostles and First Presidency. This also corresponds with the language of the Apostle Peter, in his exhortation contained in his first general epistle: “The elders who are among you I exhort, who am also an elder.” Still he was an Apostle and was ranked as the chief Apostle in his day, holding the keys and presidency to bind on the earth and loose in heaven; but he ranked himself among the Elders, for this term seemed to be a general appellation for all classes of the Melchizedek priesthood. In a similar manner also the term “priest” was used among the Jews under the operation of the law of Moses, and subsequently in the Christian church for those who officiated in the lesser or Levitical priesthood; and this term included the presiding priest or Bishop who was called under the Jewish dispensation the Chief or High Priest. But there were lesser organizations or subdivisions under the term of Priest, Levite, Nethenims, etc.
There is one feature through all the organizations of the Church of Christ and all the administrations of the people of God, and that is: “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” This declaration of the Apostle Paul is borne out by history both ancient and modern. And the same writer says in another place, speaking of those who are called to preach the Gospel and of the faith that is begotten in the hearts of the people through hearing the word of God: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” But in the new translation that passage reads: “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.” Another Scripture reads: “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” The idea I wish to convey is this: That all the various offices assigned to the servants of God in his Church and Kingdom are assigned to them and not in and of themselves and of their own choice, not at their own instance, but at the instance of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself through those who are appointed over them in the Lord, as Aaron was called to the priesthood, receiving his appointment by the manifestation of the will of God through Moses, his brother. There is another principle in connection with this, laid down in the revelations of God, namely: that all things shall be done by common consent. And therefore, where there is a regularly organized branch of the church, ordinations to the priesthood shall not be made without a vote of approval of said church. Now this must be understood in the spirit in which it was given, to apply not particularly and specially to every individual who may be admitted into a quorum of priests, teachers or deacons, so much as those who may be called to preside over the people in the capacity of a Presiding Elder; a bishop or a bishop's counselor, and also priests, teachers and deacons, whose labors and duties may be required in that particular branch of the Church, they must be sustained by the votes and prayers and confidence of the people as well as by the appointment of those who are over them in the Lord. And for the same reason those who officiate in the more extended spheres, such as presidents of Stakes, high councilors and all Stake authorities, are put before the people in their several Stakes in conference assembled, for their approval, their confidence and support; otherwise their appointment has not the same force and effect upon the people. In like manner those who may be selected by the working of the Holy Spirit through the proper authorities, to preside over quorums, are nominated for this calling and are submitted to the members for their sanction and confidence. And then come the general authorities, who preside over and minister in the affairs of the Church in all the earth. These general quorums are not local, are not limited to any particular Stake or quorum. Their business is to see that the Gospel is preached to the whole world; to impart counsel by the spirit of revelation according to the spirit of their apostleship and calling, as special witnesses and messengers to the world of mankind. These are the First Presidency, and the Twelve Apostles and the Seventies, whose calling and duty is to labor under the direction of the Twelve and bear the gospel to all nations and to regulate the affairs of the Church in all the world. These general authorities are therefore brought before the general conference assembled, for their approval and for them to uphold and sustain by their faith and prayers; and in like manner are they presented at the several Stake conferences so as to reach the masses of the people, to insure the confidence and prayers of the whole people, for whom they minister, and whose eyes are upon them, who are criticizing their teachings, their walk and conversation before God and man. For God proposes to deal with His Church as a whole, and as a whole to hold them responsible to work the works of righteousness and to defend the faith of the everlasting gospel committed to them, and to purify and sanctify the whole Church and see that evil is put away from our midst, whether it be in the family circle or private walks of life, or in its high officials and those who minister in public capacities; in like manner he requires of them to see that all our organizations and municipalities are in a wholesome condition, and are administered with integrity and uprightness before God and the people. And as mouthpieces of the Almighty and as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, God requires of us his servants, the Apostles, the Elders, the Presidents of Stakes, and the Bishops everywhere, not only to minister in their several callings in a church capacity, but also to instruct officers of every kind entrusted with the municipal affairs of life, that they may be found faithful in magnifying the law and discharging the trust reposed in them in secular affairs as well as ecclesiastical; for civil organizations and powers of civil government are also appointed and ordained of heaven for the welfare of mankind, for the protection of all flesh. And those children of men who may not accept the doctrines of Christ and the priesthood, its administrations, counsels and decisions in the secular affairs of life; yet if they are disposed to obey good, wholesome rules of society in their civil capacity, as such are entitled to protection. And it is more especially for the benefit of this class of mankind that civil governments are established among men and recognized in heaven. It was with this view that Paul, in his epistle to the ancient Saints, told them that they should respect and honor the civil law, and governors in their places, and judges and officers in their condition of life, whose duty it is to preserve order and maintain peace and protect the rights and privileges of all alike, religious or irreligious, believer or unbeliever, saint or sinner; for religion with all its accompaniments and everything pertaining to it is a matter of conscience between man and his Maker, and for the exercise of which he is held alone responsible to his God and unto his co-religionists, who place themselves under its guidance and control. But the civil power extends its protection to all alike. One of the great evils that has afflicted mankind has been the bigotry of religious priests, and the blind superstition of religious zealots, who seem to have lost sight of this principle, the government of our Heavenly Father over his children, that in his efforts to exalt his children he has never resorted to force or attempted in any wise to coerce the human mind. The light of truth, like the glorious light of the sun, shines unobstructed, free to all; and all are at liberty to draw a veil over their faces if they choose, or shut themselves up in a dungeon and lock out the rays of the sun, or they may walk out in the sunlight, open their windows and let it into their dwellings; so is the free light of heaven imparted to all the sons of men. The Lord has reserved to himself, however, the right to call unto judgment all his children for the manner in which they make use of the opportunities and privileges afforded them. “This is the condemnation,” says the Savior, “that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” So many people walk in darkness at noonday, when the light of heaven shines in its glory and effulgence they are surrounded in darkness. When the light comes to the righteous they will hail it gladly, and though it may be at first in the distance, they will mark it as they would the dawn of the morning star, or a light shining in a dark place, and they will give diligent heed to it as it approaches, until they enter into its effulgence and glory. Such is the experience of the Latter-day Saints; such is experience of those who love the light rather than darkness and who are waiting for the salvation of Israel; they received the testimony of Jesus when it was first sounded in their ears. Hundreds and thousands in different parts of the world have witnessed the dawn of this light, have heard the sound thereof in the distance, have gone in search of it, have captured the first ray that penetrated their minds and followed it until it has led them finally to the possession of eternal life. These are they whose deeds are good. Though they may have erred in many things because of false doctrine and the traditions of men and the fog that beclouded their minds and the minds of their fathers, yet since the truth made its way to their hearts they embraced it gladly, and they have loved and followed it still. While, on the other hand, those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, are fighting against the light and will shun it when it approaches, like the thief at the approach of the officer of the law, and conceals himself in darkness. So with those who love evil, who have abandoned themselves to wickedness, who have given themselves up to hypocrisy and to the lust of the flesh, and who sell themselves to the enemy of all righteousness to work wickedness for gain; darkness reigns in their hearts, and they become the children of disobedience, hating the light because their deeds are evil. Truth needs no constraint; it exercises its power and dominion over the children of men by virtue of its excellence, its beauties, its attractions, its loveliness, the good fruits that flow from its observance, the peace and happiness that attend it; the fruit of truth and righteousness is delicious above all other fruit. The strength and power of Jehovah are with the good and virtuous of all His children; His power and His love are made manifest through the truth; order and peace are the fruits of the laws and regulations that He prescribes, and which recommend themselves to the intelligent or thoughtful children of men, and the results thereof are only peace, union, fellowship and love. Even the penalties that are attached to the laws of heaven prescribed in the Gospel of the Son of God, are not instruments of vengeance, of wrath and indignation, with a view to the utter destruction of the children of men. But rather the instruments of restraint upon the evil deeds of the wicked and ungodly, to deter them from encroachment upon the righteous, in their evil course of self-destruction. Even the damnation of hell, threatened in the Scriptures upon those who continue in their unbelief and disobedience, is but the natural fruit of their unbelief, and neglect of the blessings that were held out and designed to be bestowed upon them. The same may be said of the indolent and the slothful of the children of men in a temporal point of view. When the Lord says to his people, here is a beautiful earth I have formed for you, and there are the elements within your reach—the grasses, the streams of water which flow pure as the breezes of heaven, free to all; here are the animals, I place them under your control; and here are the trees bearing fruit, and the grain and vegetables containing seed in themselves; go forth now and occupy the land, cultivate, improve, embellish, ornament and gratify your eye, your taste, and satisfy your wants, eat, drink, and be merry, plow the ground, cast in the seed, and I will send you the rains to water the earth, and make it fruitful to reward your toil; and this covenant I make with you, that so long as you see my bow in the heavens, seed time and harvest shall never fail you. “But,” says the sloth, “I will not do it, I wish to go and lay me down under the shade of the trees in the hope that some kind soul will bring me a little water to quench my thirst, and then bring me some fruit, and put it into my mouth, and then wag my jaws, or I lay me down and die.” Our Father says: “Then die like a fool; the penalty is your own, and the eternal mandate of heaven shall not be revoked to indulge your idleness.” And the same may be said of all those who disbelieve in Christ, and who reject the words of life when they are proclaimed in their ears without money and without price, and the ordinances of heaven made free to all. Those who disbelieve, they perish, and what is the condemnation they bring upon themselves? The condemnation of the sloth. He perishes in his idleness; they in their ignorance and their utter disregard of the means of grace, losing all the precious things that others enjoy who put forth their hands and partake of the tree of life. And when they die and go hence, they will wake up in the spirit world, finding themselves as dark as they were in the natural world. He who is filthy, then will be filthy still, and he who refused to be enlightened, will be found to be in darkness still, yea, in outer darkness, because he despised the light and fought against it, because his deeds were evil; he finds association with kindred spirits who like himself refused to obey, refused to put forth their hands and partake, and rejected the proffered gifts of heaven. Their punishment is that of ceaseless remorse, fully conscious of blessings cast off and rejected, which blessings others are permitted to enjoy, but which they are not, because of their sins and transgressions, and their own neglect of the means of grace. Their torment is the torment of the damned, and it is like the smoke that ascends up forever and ever; among them is found weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, to use the language of the Scripture. But for what? For blessings lost, for opportunities gone, for privileges ignored, for the means of grace, for glory and exaltation once within their reach, which they, in their pride, would not receive, for being deprived of the presence of God and the Lamb, and the holy angels and the sanctified ones, and of the keys of immortality and eternal life and everlasting increase vouchsafed to the obedient, while they are doomed to perpetual darkness, which they have chosen in lieu of the blessings of the faithful, and in which condition they will live to prey upon each other and to work out the same evil passions which they delighted to indulge in while in the flesh; the devil, who deluded them, will rejoice over their downfall, and will reign over them until, peradventure, the time shall come when the long-suffering and mercy of an indulgent Father shall cause him to send messengers from the terrestrial or celestial world, as the case may be, to see if there are any among them who, by their sad experience, have learned to appreciate the light, and are yearning for a better condition. And if they do, the offer of salvation may again be made to them, and they, through the means that our Savior has wrought out for them, and through the ordinances of the House of God, and the servants and handmaidens of God who may be called priests and priestesses, to administer for and in their behalf.
Such is the beauty and extent of the plan of salvation which God has revealed to his children on the earth. And truly it is as Paul has said of it—good news, glad tidings of great joy revealed to all people; joy to the righteous, and will be a joy to all people who appreciate it, henceforth and forever. And that we as a people may be worthy of it, walking in the light, and that our pathway may grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Morning, April 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In the 24th chapter of Matthew our Savior uses a figure in speaking to his disciples, illustrating the signs of the times in which we live.
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
The rendering of this 24th chapter of Matthew is somewhat imperfect in King James' translation; the events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews seem to be intermingled with the events that were to precede and accompany the second advent of the Savior. In the new translation of this chapter by the Prophet Joseph Smith, which may be found in the Pearl of Great Price, the difference is made very plain, and the figure of the fig tree and the second coming of the Son of Man and the generation referred to therein is made applicable, not to the period of the destruction of Jerusalem, but to the time of the second coming of the Son of Man. And the new translation reads, in speaking of the putting forth of the fig tree and the signs that should precede the coming of the Son of Man, “Verily, I say unto you, this generation, in which these things shall be shown forth, shall not pass away until all I have told you shall be fulfilled.” From the reading of the new and correct rendering, it will be seen that, instead of the things spoken of being fulfilled in the generation in which the prophecy was made—which is the inference—the application is transferred at once from the generation in which the Savior was speaking to the generation who should witness the signs of the times therein set forth.
It is now more than 51 years since the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated were committed by the angel Moroni, to the hands of Joseph Smith, who was raised up to be a prophet, seer and revelator to the nineteenth century, and to lay the foundation of this church and kingdom upon the earth. And since that sacred record, which contains the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, was first revealed to him in the Hill Cumorah, nearly 56 years have passed away; it is 49 years since the organization of the Church was effected in conformity with the laws of God, and in accordance with the laws of New York; that is to say, the rule established by the laws of New York governing the organization of religious bodies and to comply with the statutes and to give it tangible form. The 6th day of April was selected by revelation as the day on which this church should be organized. The question is asked by some, were there only six believers who had received the testimony of the Prophet and been baptized for the remission of their sins on that day? I answer, there were many more. Why, then, was the number six made to figure in the organization? I answer in this respect: the same as under the statutes of Utah cooperative associations must have at least six to unite in the formation of any such association before it can incorporate. But any number not less than six might unite and organize themselves into a religious association to enjoy the rights and privileges of the law as such religious bodies. This number was selected, however, from among the believers on this occasion to conform to the requisitions of the statutes. This is, therefore, the anniversary of the day on which the organization took place, or commenced rather to develop itself. And from that time, as the body of the Church increased, the Priesthood in its various branches has developed itself into the organization as we now behold it in the earth. There were no twelve Apostles at that date; the material from which to draw them had not been gathered. There were no seventy Elders; the material from which to make them was not yet on hand. There were no High Councils, no Bishops' courts, nor quorums of High Priests, Elders, Priests, Teachers or Deacons. There was no classification of the organization of the priesthood as there is today. Neither is there any organization of the Stakes of Zion, for there was no material of which to make them. It was indeed but the shooting out of the earth, as it were, of the plant, like the mustard seed, which is a small plant at first, having but a single stalk; and as it rises and receives strength and sends down its roots and spreads forth its branches, from one branch another grows out and shoots forth. And so from day to day, and from month to month, and from year to year did the Lord reveal through the Prophet Joseph Smith, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, revealing to the people the order of the priesthood and the order of Zion and her government, her institutions and the classification of the priesthood under the two great heads—the Melchizedek and the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, with their various subdivisions and quorums. It was not till the year 1835, in the month of February, that the quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the quorums of the Seventies were organized in this Church. These were drawn principally from those tried men who composed Zion's camp. There was a revelation given in this same year showing how a High Council should be organized in Kirtland, and shortly after another was organized in Missouri; and it also defined the laws governing the High Council and Stake organizations. At first, when the Church was organized on the 6th day of April, the general duties of the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons were defined in that revelation, given in that day, known as the articles and covenants of the Church. Elder seemed to be a generic name embracing all the branches of the Melchizedek priesthood, from the Elder proper to the Apostle, namely the Elders, High Priests, (after the order of Melchizedek), including High Councilors, Seventies, Apostles and First Presidency. This also corresponds with the language of the Apostle Peter, in his exhortation contained in his first general epistle: “The elders who are among you I exhort, who am also an elder.” Still he was an Apostle and was ranked as the chief Apostle in his day, holding the keys and presidency to bind on the earth and loose in heaven; but he ranked himself among the Elders, for this term seemed to be a general appellation for all classes of the Melchizedek priesthood. In a similar manner also the term “priest” was used among the Jews under the operation of the law of Moses, and subsequently in the Christian church for those who officiated in the lesser or Levitical priesthood; and this term included the presiding priest or Bishop who was called under the Jewish dispensation the Chief or High Priest. But there were lesser organizations or subdivisions under the term of Priest, Levite, Nethenims, etc.
There is one feature through all the organizations of the Church of Christ and all the administrations of the people of God, and that is: “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” This declaration of the Apostle Paul is borne out by history both ancient and modern. And the same writer says in another place, speaking of those who are called to preach the Gospel and of the faith that is begotten in the hearts of the people through hearing the word of God: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” But in the new translation that passage reads: “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.” Another Scripture reads: “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” The idea I wish to convey is this: That all the various offices assigned to the servants of God in his Church and Kingdom are assigned to them and not in and of themselves and of their own choice, not at their own instance, but at the instance of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself through those who are appointed over them in the Lord, as Aaron was called to the priesthood, receiving his appointment by the manifestation of the will of God through Moses, his brother. There is another principle in connection with this, laid down in the revelations of God, namely: that all things shall be done by common consent. And therefore, where there is a regularly organized branch of the church, ordinations to the priesthood shall not be made without a vote of approval of said church. Now this must be understood in the spirit in which it was given, to apply not particularly and specially to every individual who may be admitted into a quorum of priests, teachers or deacons, so much as those who may be called to preside over the people in the capacity of a Presiding Elder; a bishop or a bishop's counselor, and also priests, teachers and deacons, whose labors and duties may be required in that particular branch of the Church, they must be sustained by the votes and prayers and confidence of the people as well as by the appointment of those who are over them in the Lord. And for the same reason those who officiate in the more extended spheres, such as presidents of Stakes, high councilors and all Stake authorities, are put before the people in their several Stakes in conference assembled, for their approval, their confidence and support; otherwise their appointment has not the same force and effect upon the people. In like manner those who may be selected by the working of the Holy Spirit through the proper authorities, to preside over quorums, are nominated for this calling and are submitted to the members for their sanction and confidence. And then come the general authorities, who preside over and minister in the affairs of the Church in all the earth. These general quorums are not local, are not limited to any particular Stake or quorum. Their business is to see that the Gospel is preached to the whole world; to impart counsel by the spirit of revelation according to the spirit of their apostleship and calling, as special witnesses and messengers to the world of mankind. These are the First Presidency, and the Twelve Apostles and the Seventies, whose calling and duty is to labor under the direction of the Twelve and bear the gospel to all nations and to regulate the affairs of the Church in all the world. These general authorities are therefore brought before the general conference assembled, for their approval and for them to uphold and sustain by their faith and prayers; and in like manner are they presented at the several Stake conferences so as to reach the masses of the people, to insure the confidence and prayers of the whole people, for whom they minister, and whose eyes are upon them, who are criticizing their teachings, their walk and conversation before God and man. For God proposes to deal with His Church as a whole, and as a whole to hold them responsible to work the works of righteousness and to defend the faith of the everlasting gospel committed to them, and to purify and sanctify the whole Church and see that evil is put away from our midst, whether it be in the family circle or private walks of life, or in its high officials and those who minister in public capacities; in like manner he requires of them to see that all our organizations and municipalities are in a wholesome condition, and are administered with integrity and uprightness before God and the people. And as mouthpieces of the Almighty and as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, God requires of us his servants, the Apostles, the Elders, the Presidents of Stakes, and the Bishops everywhere, not only to minister in their several callings in a church capacity, but also to instruct officers of every kind entrusted with the municipal affairs of life, that they may be found faithful in magnifying the law and discharging the trust reposed in them in secular affairs as well as ecclesiastical; for civil organizations and powers of civil government are also appointed and ordained of heaven for the welfare of mankind, for the protection of all flesh. And those children of men who may not accept the doctrines of Christ and the priesthood, its administrations, counsels and decisions in the secular affairs of life; yet if they are disposed to obey good, wholesome rules of society in their civil capacity, as such are entitled to protection. And it is more especially for the benefit of this class of mankind that civil governments are established among men and recognized in heaven. It was with this view that Paul, in his epistle to the ancient Saints, told them that they should respect and honor the civil law, and governors in their places, and judges and officers in their condition of life, whose duty it is to preserve order and maintain peace and protect the rights and privileges of all alike, religious or irreligious, believer or unbeliever, saint or sinner; for religion with all its accompaniments and everything pertaining to it is a matter of conscience between man and his Maker, and for the exercise of which he is held alone responsible to his God and unto his co-religionists, who place themselves under its guidance and control. But the civil power extends its protection to all alike. One of the great evils that has afflicted mankind has been the bigotry of religious priests, and the blind superstition of religious zealots, who seem to have lost sight of this principle, the government of our Heavenly Father over his children, that in his efforts to exalt his children he has never resorted to force or attempted in any wise to coerce the human mind. The light of truth, like the glorious light of the sun, shines unobstructed, free to all; and all are at liberty to draw a veil over their faces if they choose, or shut themselves up in a dungeon and lock out the rays of the sun, or they may walk out in the sunlight, open their windows and let it into their dwellings; so is the free light of heaven imparted to all the sons of men. The Lord has reserved to himself, however, the right to call unto judgment all his children for the manner in which they make use of the opportunities and privileges afforded them. “This is the condemnation,” says the Savior, “that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” So many people walk in darkness at noonday, when the light of heaven shines in its glory and effulgence they are surrounded in darkness. When the light comes to the righteous they will hail it gladly, and though it may be at first in the distance, they will mark it as they would the dawn of the morning star, or a light shining in a dark place, and they will give diligent heed to it as it approaches, until they enter into its effulgence and glory. Such is the experience of the Latter-day Saints; such is experience of those who love the light rather than darkness and who are waiting for the salvation of Israel; they received the testimony of Jesus when it was first sounded in their ears. Hundreds and thousands in different parts of the world have witnessed the dawn of this light, have heard the sound thereof in the distance, have gone in search of it, have captured the first ray that penetrated their minds and followed it until it has led them finally to the possession of eternal life. These are they whose deeds are good. Though they may have erred in many things because of false doctrine and the traditions of men and the fog that beclouded their minds and the minds of their fathers, yet since the truth made its way to their hearts they embraced it gladly, and they have loved and followed it still. While, on the other hand, those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, are fighting against the light and will shun it when it approaches, like the thief at the approach of the officer of the law, and conceals himself in darkness. So with those who love evil, who have abandoned themselves to wickedness, who have given themselves up to hypocrisy and to the lust of the flesh, and who sell themselves to the enemy of all righteousness to work wickedness for gain; darkness reigns in their hearts, and they become the children of disobedience, hating the light because their deeds are evil. Truth needs no constraint; it exercises its power and dominion over the children of men by virtue of its excellence, its beauties, its attractions, its loveliness, the good fruits that flow from its observance, the peace and happiness that attend it; the fruit of truth and righteousness is delicious above all other fruit. The strength and power of Jehovah are with the good and virtuous of all His children; His power and His love are made manifest through the truth; order and peace are the fruits of the laws and regulations that He prescribes, and which recommend themselves to the intelligent or thoughtful children of men, and the results thereof are only peace, union, fellowship and love. Even the penalties that are attached to the laws of heaven prescribed in the Gospel of the Son of God, are not instruments of vengeance, of wrath and indignation, with a view to the utter destruction of the children of men. But rather the instruments of restraint upon the evil deeds of the wicked and ungodly, to deter them from encroachment upon the righteous, in their evil course of self-destruction. Even the damnation of hell, threatened in the Scriptures upon those who continue in their unbelief and disobedience, is but the natural fruit of their unbelief, and neglect of the blessings that were held out and designed to be bestowed upon them. The same may be said of the indolent and the slothful of the children of men in a temporal point of view. When the Lord says to his people, here is a beautiful earth I have formed for you, and there are the elements within your reach—the grasses, the streams of water which flow pure as the breezes of heaven, free to all; here are the animals, I place them under your control; and here are the trees bearing fruit, and the grain and vegetables containing seed in themselves; go forth now and occupy the land, cultivate, improve, embellish, ornament and gratify your eye, your taste, and satisfy your wants, eat, drink, and be merry, plow the ground, cast in the seed, and I will send you the rains to water the earth, and make it fruitful to reward your toil; and this covenant I make with you, that so long as you see my bow in the heavens, seed time and harvest shall never fail you. “But,” says the sloth, “I will not do it, I wish to go and lay me down under the shade of the trees in the hope that some kind soul will bring me a little water to quench my thirst, and then bring me some fruit, and put it into my mouth, and then wag my jaws, or I lay me down and die.” Our Father says: “Then die like a fool; the penalty is your own, and the eternal mandate of heaven shall not be revoked to indulge your idleness.” And the same may be said of all those who disbelieve in Christ, and who reject the words of life when they are proclaimed in their ears without money and without price, and the ordinances of heaven made free to all. Those who disbelieve, they perish, and what is the condemnation they bring upon themselves? The condemnation of the sloth. He perishes in his idleness; they in their ignorance and their utter disregard of the means of grace, losing all the precious things that others enjoy who put forth their hands and partake of the tree of life. And when they die and go hence, they will wake up in the spirit world, finding themselves as dark as they were in the natural world. He who is filthy, then will be filthy still, and he who refused to be enlightened, will be found to be in darkness still, yea, in outer darkness, because he despised the light and fought against it, because his deeds were evil; he finds association with kindred spirits who like himself refused to obey, refused to put forth their hands and partake, and rejected the proffered gifts of heaven. Their punishment is that of ceaseless remorse, fully conscious of blessings cast off and rejected, which blessings others are permitted to enjoy, but which they are not, because of their sins and transgressions, and their own neglect of the means of grace. Their torment is the torment of the damned, and it is like the smoke that ascends up forever and ever; among them is found weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, to use the language of the Scripture. But for what? For blessings lost, for opportunities gone, for privileges ignored, for the means of grace, for glory and exaltation once within their reach, which they, in their pride, would not receive, for being deprived of the presence of God and the Lamb, and the holy angels and the sanctified ones, and of the keys of immortality and eternal life and everlasting increase vouchsafed to the obedient, while they are doomed to perpetual darkness, which they have chosen in lieu of the blessings of the faithful, and in which condition they will live to prey upon each other and to work out the same evil passions which they delighted to indulge in while in the flesh; the devil, who deluded them, will rejoice over their downfall, and will reign over them until, peradventure, the time shall come when the long-suffering and mercy of an indulgent Father shall cause him to send messengers from the terrestrial or celestial world, as the case may be, to see if there are any among them who, by their sad experience, have learned to appreciate the light, and are yearning for a better condition. And if they do, the offer of salvation may again be made to them, and they, through the means that our Savior has wrought out for them, and through the ordinances of the House of God, and the servants and handmaidens of God who may be called priests and priestesses, to administer for and in their behalf.
Such is the beauty and extent of the plan of salvation which God has revealed to his children on the earth. And truly it is as Paul has said of it—good news, glad tidings of great joy revealed to all people; joy to the righteous, and will be a joy to all people who appreciate it, henceforth and forever. And that we as a people may be worthy of it, walking in the light, and that our pathway may grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Chas. C. Rich
said we have come together to learn correct principles pertaining to life and exaltation; we want to know, not guess, what the mind and will of the Lord is concerning us, and the more we learn in principle, and carry out in practice, the greater will be our happiness here and hereafter. This is a great privilege to meet together in Conference, and be instructed in the way of life and salvation. When we leave this world, we cannot take with us anything pertaining to this earth, but we can take everything that we have learned in relation to the things of God. We live in a dispensation of gathering; we also live in a time when the salvation of the dead is a portion of the responsibilities resting upon the servants of God. But we must put away from us everything of an evil character, or our negligence and sin will mar our peace and rob us of our happiness and salvation. He then spoke of the testimony which the Saints of God obtained in every nation wherever they received and obeyed the first principles of the gospel, and that testimony was the cause of the Saints leaving their native country and gathering together in these valleys of the mountains. The promises that God has made to his children are all based on certain conditions, and so long as we observe these on our parts, he will certainly fulfil his promises to us.
Conference was adjourned till 2 o’clock.
The choir sang an anthem—Praise the Lord.
Benediction by Elder Daniel H. Wells.
said we have come together to learn correct principles pertaining to life and exaltation; we want to know, not guess, what the mind and will of the Lord is concerning us, and the more we learn in principle, and carry out in practice, the greater will be our happiness here and hereafter. This is a great privilege to meet together in Conference, and be instructed in the way of life and salvation. When we leave this world, we cannot take with us anything pertaining to this earth, but we can take everything that we have learned in relation to the things of God. We live in a dispensation of gathering; we also live in a time when the salvation of the dead is a portion of the responsibilities resting upon the servants of God. But we must put away from us everything of an evil character, or our negligence and sin will mar our peace and rob us of our happiness and salvation. He then spoke of the testimony which the Saints of God obtained in every nation wherever they received and obeyed the first principles of the gospel, and that testimony was the cause of the Saints leaving their native country and gathering together in these valleys of the mountains. The promises that God has made to his children are all based on certain conditions, and so long as we observe these on our parts, he will certainly fulfil his promises to us.
Conference was adjourned till 2 o’clock.
The choir sang an anthem—Praise the Lord.
Benediction by Elder Daniel H. Wells.
Sunday Afternoon. 2 o’clock p. m.
The Large Tabernacle was densely crowded, and many hundreds were unable to gain admittance.
The choir sang hymn on page 124—With all my powers of heart and tongue I’ll praise my Maker in my song.
Prayer by Elder Brigham Young [Jr.].
The choir sang hymn on page 399—Again we meet around the board Of Jesus, our redeeming Lord.
While the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was being administered,
The Large Tabernacle was densely crowded, and many hundreds were unable to gain admittance.
The choir sang hymn on page 124—With all my powers of heart and tongue I’ll praise my Maker in my song.
Prayer by Elder Brigham Young [Jr.].
The choir sang hymn on page 399—Again we meet around the board Of Jesus, our redeeming Lord.
While the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was being administered,
Elder Geo. Q. Cannon
addressed the congregation. Spoke of the peaceful and reflective spirit that pervades the minds while listening to the remarks of the servants of God, and looking upon such a vast assembly of worshipers. This people have bright and glorious prospects before them. Their influence is being more widely felt in the world at large than at any previous time. We have not labored in vain, we have not preached in vain, we have not lived lives of sobriety, of industry, of temperance and perseverance in vain.
The zeal and earnestness of any person or community cannot move for the good of any great cause without being exposed to the charge of fanaticism. It was truly refreshing to contemplate the heroic deeds and sacrifices of either an individual or a community, who, for the good of others, has been willing to undergo the scoffings and drivings, and endure the hardships that thousands of these Latter-day Saints have experienced. The future of such was bright and glorious and their mission was of the most important character. He then spoke of the importance of educating the youth of Zion, not only in the sciences of the world, but also in theology. Is there an evil in the world or a false principle existing, or oppression or misgovernment, the duty of correcting these things devolves upon the Latter-day Saints. The first thing, however, is for us to correct evils in our own midst, and the work of educating a community in these matters is necessarily a slow process, but the work has got to be accomplished.
He then traced the baneful consequences of false traditions in relation to monogamy, and made reasonable comparisons with a law that permits plural marriage, taking up the subject not as a “Mormon” or a Congressman, but as a member of the great family of mankind. He denounced the corruptions of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their abominable and lustful practices, and alluded to the fearful spread of prostitution that has resulted from the laws that has emanated from those people. He believed that God would, in his own wisdom, bring about a correction of these fearful evils that exist between the sexes. It devolves upon us to defend constitutional principles, against the corruptions and fraud that so unblushingly exists in high places and through all the ramifications of political parties.
He then touched on the improper uses that wealth is often prostituted to. He strongly advocated the constitutional right of all people being protected in their religious creed, for, so long as their acts do not infringe upon the happiness and peace of others, they ought to have the fullest freedom and protection afforded them, and he was determined to lift up his voice, and as far as his influence extended, he would contend for this constitutional right, and would also instruct and educate his children to defend that principle of universal right.
After expounding upon the broad and liberal principles of civil and religious liberty, contained in the constitution of our country, he called upon the Latter-day Saints to throw aside all narrow-minded notions and traditions, and accord to all people from whatever country they may come or whatever faith they may hold, the same protection and liberty that they claim for themselves.
addressed the congregation. Spoke of the peaceful and reflective spirit that pervades the minds while listening to the remarks of the servants of God, and looking upon such a vast assembly of worshipers. This people have bright and glorious prospects before them. Their influence is being more widely felt in the world at large than at any previous time. We have not labored in vain, we have not preached in vain, we have not lived lives of sobriety, of industry, of temperance and perseverance in vain.
The zeal and earnestness of any person or community cannot move for the good of any great cause without being exposed to the charge of fanaticism. It was truly refreshing to contemplate the heroic deeds and sacrifices of either an individual or a community, who, for the good of others, has been willing to undergo the scoffings and drivings, and endure the hardships that thousands of these Latter-day Saints have experienced. The future of such was bright and glorious and their mission was of the most important character. He then spoke of the importance of educating the youth of Zion, not only in the sciences of the world, but also in theology. Is there an evil in the world or a false principle existing, or oppression or misgovernment, the duty of correcting these things devolves upon the Latter-day Saints. The first thing, however, is for us to correct evils in our own midst, and the work of educating a community in these matters is necessarily a slow process, but the work has got to be accomplished.
He then traced the baneful consequences of false traditions in relation to monogamy, and made reasonable comparisons with a law that permits plural marriage, taking up the subject not as a “Mormon” or a Congressman, but as a member of the great family of mankind. He denounced the corruptions of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their abominable and lustful practices, and alluded to the fearful spread of prostitution that has resulted from the laws that has emanated from those people. He believed that God would, in his own wisdom, bring about a correction of these fearful evils that exist between the sexes. It devolves upon us to defend constitutional principles, against the corruptions and fraud that so unblushingly exists in high places and through all the ramifications of political parties.
He then touched on the improper uses that wealth is often prostituted to. He strongly advocated the constitutional right of all people being protected in their religious creed, for, so long as their acts do not infringe upon the happiness and peace of others, they ought to have the fullest freedom and protection afforded them, and he was determined to lift up his voice, and as far as his influence extended, he would contend for this constitutional right, and would also instruct and educate his children to defend that principle of universal right.
After expounding upon the broad and liberal principles of civil and religious liberty, contained in the constitution of our country, he called upon the Latter-day Saints to throw aside all narrow-minded notions and traditions, and accord to all people from whatever country they may come or whatever faith they may hold, the same protection and liberty that they claim for themselves.
Influence of the Latter-Day Saints—Their Mission—The Marriage Relation—Capital and Labor—Religious Liberty
Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Afternoon, April 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In some respects I would prefer to sit and listen to my brethren speak, and to partake in quietude of the spirit of this Conference, than I would to speak myself. But there is a duty devolving upon me I presume, the same as upon my brethren and I desire to the best of my ability to discharge that duty. The sight of so many people, the singing, the speaking of our brethren this morning and the spirit that I felt when I entered this building today almost overpowered me. There is an influence, there is a power, there is a spirit connected with the assembling together of a large body of people, such as we witness today, that must affect those who are sensitive to impressions, and especially when one has been absent among strangers, to feel that he is home among his friends, among a people who are his brethren and sisters, whose faith is his faith, and who are laboring and struggling to accomplish the same objects that he himself has in his heart. I rejoice exceedingly, my brethren and sisters, this day in your midst, and I am thankful for the delightful circumstances by which you are surrounded. I am thankful that the prospects before you are so promising, so full of hope and so delightful to contemplate. It is true we have had sickness, we have had many deaths, this has been a cause of regret. But death is unavoidable, and with it all we are in much better circumstances and more favorably situated than the generality of the children of men. The Latter-day Saints are rapidly becoming a great and important people. The influence that attends us is being more widely felt; our power for good is increasing, our strength, our union and the other qualities that we possess, and which we have manifested through our career, are being more recognized every day. It has always been a favorite idea of mine, that no single human being who chooses to exert an influence for good among his fellow men, ever spoke or ever acted in vain—without making his influence, his example, his words, have an effect upon those with whom he has been brought in contact. If this be true concerning an individual, how much more truth is there in it when applied to an assemblage of individuals, and to a community, to hundreds of communities, to a great people stretching through these mountains and filling these valleys? We have not lived in vain. We have not sought to exhibit lives of temperance, of industry, of frugality, of self-denial, lives of righteousness with the fear of God before our eyes, nor have we lived these lives during the last 49 years, without the effect being felt, not only upon those by whom we are surrounded, but by the world at large. There is something connected with the example of such a people that elevates men and women from the slime, from the mire, and from the abject ruin into which, in too many instances, they are plunged, to contemplate humanity in its better aspects, humanity in its noble appearances, with its Godlike attributes, with its powers for good, its capability of accomplishing great results. There is something in the very fact of a people believing in God in these days of atheism and utter infidelity that brings men to serious contemplation. They say very frequently that it is fanaticism, but there is something about fanaticism that is healthy, refreshing, invigorating in its example, for no man ever accomplished anything on this earth, without exposing himself by his actions, his earnestness and enthusiasm and zeal, to the charge of fanaticism. I am willing we should be called fanatics. I have a right to be a fanatic if I wish to be, as long as my fanaticism does not interfere with the rights of my fellow man. That is a barrier beyond which my fanaticism should not be allowed to go.
It is refreshing to see a people who not only believe in God, but who are willing to show their belief by suffering for his cause—to leave their friends, to leave their homes, to suffer exile, persecution, privations, hardships, and even death for the sake of God, for the sake of religion, for the sake of principle. What would life be if it were not for such people and for such characters? Why, their peculiar lives illume the somber darkness of ages; they are bright spots in history. When we look back and recall the men who have suffered and died for principle, even if they died wrongfully, we find something about their heroic lives that is glorious to contemplate. And when a whole people can be found, such as are in these mountains, who are capable of making the sacrifices which they have made, there is something, as I have said, in their example and in their lives that influences men, that impresses them, and that causes them, whatever their feelings may be respecting the belief of these people, to feel a profound and heartfelt respect for them; for no man or woman properly constituted ever failed to respect devotion to principle, moral courage and the qualities that are exhibited in the lives of the Saints; I therefore say, we have not lived in vain; we have not preached in vain; we have not suffered in vain; we have not protested in vain. The fruits of these labors of ours which apparently have been so long in coming, will be reaped in the great harvest yet to be reaped upon the earth.
I feel to speak these words of encouragement to my brethren and sisters, many of whom feel probably that their obscure lives and struggles, their contest with poverty, their humble and eventful histories are sometimes of so little value that they are comparatively worthless in the earth. I say to the humble struggler, to the man or woman who may be content with poverty, whose life may be uneventful in his own estimation, who may be hidden from the popular sight and may not figure on the world's stage, I say to every such person, as a Latter-day Saint, you have a great and important mission to perform, and if you perform the duties devolving upon you properly, your influence will be felt; and in the days to come, in that great day of God Almighty, your worth will be fully recognized, and you will shine as a jewel in the kingdom of our Redeemer.
There is one thing that every parent can do. He can endeavor to make his sons and daughters better qualified, better equipped for the great struggle of life and better able to perform their part in this glorious work that God has established than himself; that is one thing the parents of the rising generation of these mountains can do. I have never felt as I do today, and as I have recently, of the great importance of our training and educating our children to the greatest and best advantage, that nothing shall be left undone on our part to prepare them for the great work which they have to perform. This is a labor that we can accomplish. It does not depend so much upon the knowledge of books; a great many people imagine that only books are necessary for education; but the man is best educated, in my opinion, who has thought the most, and that correctly. So far as theology is concerned, we have been able, by the blessing of God, the light of the Holy Ghost, and the power of truth, to go forth unlearned, illiterate, and unprepared, so far as worldly education is concerned, and by virtue of the knowledge that comes down from above, the elders of this Church have gone forth and met the world of Christendom. I do not speak in vanity, nor in the spirit of boasting when I say they have never been vanquished. The learned, the educated, the professed theologians when they have met the elders of this Church with the Bible in their hands, have been compelled to retreat before the power of truth proclaimed by uneducated but inspired men. Is our mission accomplished by having done this? I feel that we as a people are only on the threshold of the great work that lies before us. We have an immense field of labor stretched out before us. When you look ahead and try to see its limits, the field of usefulness, which stretches out before this people called Latter-day Saints, is beyond the reach of human vision; it is illimitable, stretching out in the far distant future. Is there a wrong upon the earth to be righted? If so, it is our bounden duty to attempt its correction. Is there a false principle extant? It is our bounden duty to seek its eradication. Is there tyranny in the world, tyranny of the body, tyranny of the mind, physical or mental tyranny? It devolves upon us as Latter-day Saints to overthrow it. Are there social problems to be solved? Who shall solve them? Who can do so? Remove the Latter-day Saints from the field, and who can solve these problems which are pressing themselves upon the attention of all thinking people? The whole earth is full of violence, wrong, oppression, misgovernment, and a thousand other evils which I cannot now enumerate. It devolves upon us, as fast as we can reach these things, to correct them, to remove them. In the first place, we have got to correct and remove them from our own midst. It is a slow labor to train a people, brought as we are from every nation, educated in every creed, speaking almost every language and heirs of every tradition. There is, false or true, wedded to us old customs and the evils of ages, which have been transmitted from generation to generation until they have formed a strong part of our very being. It is a slow work, I say, educating a people such as we are. We have been at it now 49 years, and we can scarcely perceive, that is, in comparison with that which lies before us, the growth and the development which have been made. But we have grown, our minds have been enlarged, we have become emancipated from many old follies, and freedom of thought has taken place in our midst; but the great labor that devolves upon us is to educate ourselves, and then we can soon educate the rest of mankind, for as I have said, our example is felt; the influence of it goes forth and bears its fruit among other people. But it is a most difficult thing to get these Latter-day Saints to understand the principles that are as plain as the noonday sun—that they should receive readily, and why? Because, as I have said, they are heirs of the traditions of centuries that have come down through the dark ages. It is a wonderful thing to do what we have done respecting woman. Look at what monogamy has done. Look at its effects; trace its influence from the death of the Apostles, or soon afterwards, down to this the nineteenth century, and what do we behold? Why, in every generation a large percentage of our sisters has been consigned either to that nameless condition of which it is a shame to speak, or have died without ever knowing the joys of maternity. When I think of it, when I read the history of the boasted civilization of the Greeks and the Romans, and think of the boasted civilization of our day, inherited from these nations, and witness its effects, I wonder how man, standing up in the face of heaven, dare look at woman and talk about being her protector. Read the history of the sex and of the frightful evils which have been brought upon our sisters through man's accursed traditions and evils. If it were to be told to another people differently situated to us, with different traditions to us, they could not believe that intelligent man would entertain for one moment, or that women themselves, in view of what their sex has suffered, would cherish and cling to the wretched traditions that have prevailed in Christendom and to a certain extent yet prevail in our midst.
I know I am touching now upon what many people consider a tender spot. Say they, “The decision of the Supreme Court has arranged all this.” Yes, but it will not stay arranged. Let me tell you, that wrong may prevail and right may apparently be crushed; but right must at last prevail and claim its own in spite of laws, of decisions, of mandates, and everything that man can utter. I am talking now not respecting law; I am not talking respecting tradition; I am not talking about “Mormon” plural marriage or patriarchal marriage; I am talking about men and women, brethren and sisters as such. Come let us reason together; let us talk together, not as religionists, not as “Mormons,” not as monogamists, not as polygamists, not as citizens of Christendom, but as men and women, the children of God, as brethren and sisters of the one family. Let us talk together face to face, in plainness, in simplicity, without allowing tradition to have weight with us, to blind our understandings. It is in this spirit that I wish to talk upon this subject.
Here is a family, a family composed of men and women, and we will say this tabernacle contains this entire family of God upon the earth, for the sake of illustrating the point. Here are men and women in equal numbers and equal proportions, one sex not outnumbering the other—a man for a woman and a woman for a man, no surplus of women, no surplus of men. If they were to marry, each would have a partner, each man would have a wife and each woman would have a husband; each would be perfect, for the man is not perfect without the woman, nor the woman without the man. We turn in and make a law, such as prevailed at one time in Rome that every man shall marry a wife. Such a law was made at Rome at one time; it was aimed at celibacy. It was aimed at a certain class as the law of 1862 was aimed at us. One was enacted to prevent marriage, the other to compel marriage, that no class of men should grow up in the community without wives, and that no woman should be allowed to forsake man and become a nun. We have such a law, say in this tabernacle. That answers very well. Every woman is provided with a husband, and every man with a wife. But after a while somebody comes along and says, “I do not like this law, it is oppressive; I know, for instance, where it works very badly; I know men who do not want to have wives.” They prefer a single life, and they succeed after a while in repealing the law, as they did in Rome. The law is repealed and men are at liberty to marry or not as they please. On the top of this another law is enacted, in effect that every man shall have but one wife, and shall not be permitted to take two or more wives. The women, of course, have to do just as the men say, they cannot compel the men to marry them, but must wait until they are invited to marry. This law suits a great many individuals. Many men say, “I prefer not to have a wife and especially if you will only make a law confining the men to marry but one wife each. I like that very well, because I will not then be under the necessity of keeping a wife. If I want a partner, an associate, I can have one without being at the trouble or expense of keeping her as such. Because if you confine marriage to one man and one woman there will necessarily be a share of the women who cannot be married; that is, if the sexes are equal in numbers. Then I can do as I please. I know the confiding nature of woman; I know how she loves, how she clings to the object of her love. This will be my opportunity.” But what shall be said respecting the women. The men so far as they are concerned, have the right to marry or not as they please. But here is a large percentage of the women who by this law are to a certain extent deprived from marrying, even supposing the sexes to be equal. A civil commotion arises. Men go to war, they go to sea, they engage in commercial pursuits, they leave their homes, they engage in hazardous occupations. The result is that though in the beginning the men and women were equal in numbers, by the effects of war, and of engaging in hazardous pursuits which women do not follow, the men die and are killed, and the women survive and outnumber the males. The operation of a law then, such as I have described, increases the hardship, increases the percentage of those who are not married and who have no opportunity of marrying. Here comes along a man after witnessing the evils that have grown up among his brothers and sisters, and says, “I have a plan to suggest which I believe will cure the evils that exist among us. I see that a dreadful vice called prostitution has crept into our midst, and arising from it are dreadful diseases, diseases that I cannot describe, so appalling are they that the very thought of them makes the heart recoil with horror; they have appeared in our family circle and they are destroying our young men and women. And now then, the plan that I have to propose to our family is this, that every man shall marry until all the women are married, until every woman that wants a husband shall have one, so that the men who will not marry shall not have a class of unmarried women to prey upon, to commit violence with, or to prostitute. “Now,” says he, “if you let all these men and women marry, there will be some women who will not want to marry, but that proportion will be very small; and by this means you will arrest this dreadful evil that is growing in our midst.”
Now let me put this to you; let us reason upon this, face to face, as I have said. Which will be the better plan? According to my judgment, speaking as one of this family, not as a member of Congress, not as a “Mormon” but as one of the family I have described. The latter law is far superior to the other. I would say, as a father, if I had a family of that kind, by all means let my daughters marry, let every woman have a husband that wants one. Then if every man marries a wife, they will only have a wife apiece; but if there should be any of the boys that do not want wives, the girls would not necessarily go without husbands.
I consider our false tradition upon this subject one of the greatest evils at the present time that exists upon the earth. It has come down to us from the Greeks and Romans, than whom a more abominable lot of people never lived upon the earth. To read their books is enough to make a man with the least feeling of modesty blush and be ashamed of his race. Yet they are introduced into our literature. Whoever reads Horace, Sallust, and numbers of those authors, well knows how full of corruption they are. Not only crimes, but crimes against nature were justified by some of the best and most noted of Greek philosophers, and were practiced by Sophocles, Socrates, and others; and yet this is the philosophy that has come down to us. They had a class of women in their midst who were regularly compensated and sustained as courtesans; they were maintained in order that the purity of the domestic circle might be unpolluted. And this has come down to us in Christendom, in Europe and America to the present time. The fairest of Earth's daughters fall yearly sacrifices to the abominable lusts of men. How is the domestic circle preserved in monogamous countries today? It is only preserved at the expense of this class to which I have referred, by these priestesses of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people, living short lives and carrying with them the effects of man's abominable lust.
Now I do not want to talk today about law; I do not want to talk today about its effects in relation to this subject—the subject of “Mormon” patriarchal marriage; I do not want to talk about the law of 1862, nor the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States affecting it; but I want to deal with the facts that stare us in the face. Shall we correct these evils? “O,” says one, “they always existed.” Out upon such doctrine; we do not believe it. I cannot believe that the Great Creator, he who formed the universe, who placed the sun in the center of our solar system and caused those planets to revolve around it; that that being who created these things, and produced order out of chaos who said, “Let there be light and there was light;” who called forth out of chaos the elements from which our earth is formed and created it as a glorious habitation for man; that He possessing, as we know he does, infinite wisdom, has placed men and women, his sons and daughters, upon the earth in the midst of evils such as I have briefly alluded to, and provided no remedy therefore. I could no more believe it than I could believe this light to be darkness. But I do believe that in the bosom of the Father there is wisdom to create all, to carry out all, and to make this earth a heaven, where peace, love, joy and happiness shall prevail, and where there shall be no sin, no sorrow, no heartrending or pain, where man and woman will dwell together in perfect peace, love and harmony, and children grow up in purity with every heavenly surrounding.
I have said, probably, enough on this subject. I merely wish to point out and to show that certain evils exist and that they need correction. How shall they be corrected? Who shall point out the remedy? I believe God has done it, and he will continue to do it; he will bring to pass in his own way and in his own due time all the corrections necessary to change all this. This subject of itself, affecting as it does the happiness, welfare and prosperity of the human family, is one of almost overshadowing importance. But there are other evils under which mankind groan. There are evils in regard to wealth and the management of property, the organization of capital and the organization of labor, the relations, that labor shall bear to capital, and capital to labor. There are questions of this kind that press themselves upon the attention of statesmen, and upon the attention of every man of thought and reflection, and he sees there is room for the exercise of the most profound wisdom, and the greatest talent in order that these things may be corrected. It devolves upon us, Latter-day Saints, to help to accomplish this work. It devolves upon us, and will devolve upon us more particularly in the near future, to maintain upon this continent and through this broad land pure republican institutions, constitutional liberty in its broadest sense. For the day is not far distant when the power such as is growing up in the mountains will be needed. Conflict of parties, an increase of party feeling, an increased disposition to take possession of power by any means, no matter what it might be, are becoming general in the United States. This is so self-evident that no man, unless completely wedded to the idea that this nation will exist in perpetuity, can fail to see for himself that there is a crisis approaching in the affairs of our nation. Already the feeling prevails that in order to accomplish certain things fraud is justifiable. Money is used to an extent in the accomplishing of certain results in government affairs, and in politics that you, as a people who live in these mountains, have scarcely any conception of. And this is increasing. What the end will be is not difficult to foretell. Republicanism ceases to be republicanism whenever fraud enters into the decision of questions and the will of the people cannot be properly ascertained.
So far as religious liberty is concerned, we have fought that battle thus far with tolerable success; but we have yet to contend still more for greater liberty, not for ourselves alone, but for every human being that dwells upon this land, from the east to the west and from the north to the south. The principle must be maintained, the principle, that actuated the founders of our government, when they laid the foundation stone thereof, that in matters of religious concernment no man has a right to step between his fellow man and his God. I may worship idols; I may burn incense to idols; I may worship the sun and pay adoration to him, the great luminary of day; I may do other things which may seem equally improper, but have I not the right to do these things under our constitution? Was it not the intention of the framers of our form of government that every man should have this right? Certainly it was; and it can be clearly proved that this was their intention, that this was the spirit that actuated and prompted them.
In Salt Lake City, if the “Mormons” had supreme control—I say “Mormons,” I ought to say Latter-day Saints—if they had Supreme control from our northern boundary in Idaho, to the southern boundary, Arizona, and from our eastern boundary, Colorado, to our western boundary, Nevada; if we had supreme control and undisputed possession of this land, without the right of dominion over us being questioned, we would have no authority under the constitution under which we live to say to any human being within these confines how he should worship, what he should or should not do in order to please the Creator. If the Chinaman should come here and build a Joss house and burn incense to Joss, if he prostrate himself in adoration before the images that he thinks represents his deity, we have no right in the world to interfere with him. If an Ingersoll should come here and say that he did not believe in any God at all, and he could carry his feelings into practice, we would have no right to interfere with him. Under the circumstances I have described, he would have a perfect right to believe in God or not. We would have no right to interfere with a man who, believing his priest has power to remit his sins, would enter the confessional chamber for the purpose of having them forgiven; or with the Episcopalian who may choose to sprinkle his infant, or the Jew because he believed in circumcising his infant child, or with the Baptist because he believed in baptism by immersion. But supposing that a man should come along that believes it his right and in accordance with his religious convictions to marry more than one wife, and he takes care of his wives and provides for them properly according to his religion, believing that in the eternity to come he will dwell with them. Some of us may think that his ideas of heaven are very materialistic; we may think him a very foolish man for having such a belief, and especially for going to the expense of keeping three or four wives; these may be the popular ideas about him, but if he carries out his belief from a religious standpoint, he has a perfect right to do it in the face of God and even under the constitution of our land. The Parsee and fire-worshipper and men of kindred belief may yet come to this land of liberty; and I tell you if the spirit of the Constitution be maintained, as the Latter-day Saints will yet maintain it, they will have a perfect right to worship their God according to the dictates of their own consciences without any to molest or make afraid. The only time that these men can be interfered with will be when their religious acts interfere with the rights and liberties of their fellow men. Hear it, ye Latter-day Saints! When John Chinaman comes in your midst, teach your children to respect him. When any other man of any other creed, race or color takes his abode among you, teach your children to respect his form of worship. And if they go to the church of the Catholics or that of the Presbyterians or of any other sect, teach them to behave themselves and treat everybody with civility and kindness, and that it is none of their business how these sects worship, teach that they violate good order and good law when they in any way make light of religious exercises. I would whip a boy for it quicker than for anything else. That is the freedom I believe in; that is the freedom I mean to teach to my children and to all men so far as my voice and influence extend; that is the freedom I mean to contend for and, as I have said hundreds of times to leading men of this nation, I will, if necessary, take my sons and make them swear that they will stand by and maintain this liberty as long as they live and contend for it and teach their children after them to contend for it also. I believe in the fullest liberty upon these points. We have been accused of exclusiveness. Our hearts have many times warmed towards “Gentiles,” as they are called. We have extended the arms of kindness thousands and thousands of times to them, as our history has proved. We have been full of that disposition. But how have our advances been met? Let those in this tabernacle and those who are familiar with such matters read the newspapers. I have had people visit me at my house where every attention and courtesy would be shown them, and they would leave and perhaps through reading newspaper articles consisting of abominable lies, would go away and betray those who had received and treated them kindly and hospitably and so often has this been the case that I have almost sworn I will never do it again. It is not because we have unkind feelings. The time will come when we will have power; at present we are in the minority, and it pays for scribblers to write about us and hold us up to ridicule. But suppose the Latter-day Saints had control; suppose their ideas were fulfilled, that is, that we, as it is destined we shall be, were the people who uphold Constitutional government upon this continent, who restored the government to its primitive condition when all the political parties shall have fallen into chaos; would we feel at liberty to say that none but the Latter-day Saints should be elected to offices of trust and responsibility? No. Joseph Smith set the pattern; he taught the brethren who were with him better ideas; you well-informed Latter-day Saints know that there are two powers which God has restored in these the last days. One is the Church of God, the other the Kingdom of God. A man may belong to the Kingdom of God and yet not be a member of the Church of God. In the Kingdom of God, using it in a political sense, there may be heathens and Pagans and Mahommedans and Latter-day Saints and Presbyterians and Episcopalians and Catholics and men of every creed. Will they legislate for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alone? Will the laws that they enact protect us alone and not protect others? No. Why? Because God is the Father of the Latter-day Saints as well as of every human being; God is the father of all, is the father of the Chinaman, the Hindoo, the African, the European, the American; is the Father of all the races of men and of every creed and nationality. When he establishes his kingdom, it will protect all in their equal rights; I as a Latter-day Saint, will not have power to trample on my fellow man who may not be orthodox in my opinion, because I am a Latter-day Saint; nor will my fellow man to whom I am heterodox, have the power to trample upon me. Does not that look right? That is the kind of kingdom we have to contend for; that is the kind of kingdom we have to establish, and it is already provided for in the Constitution given unto us by God, and through the glorious labors of the fathers who laid the foundation of this government, who were inspired and raised by our Almighty Father for this express purpose. There is no liberty that a human being can desire, neither is there a right that can be exercised properly, that we do not have under the Constitution of our land. It needs no amendment about it; it is broad enough, if interpreted in its true spirit, to cover the individual, the continent, and the entire globe and furnish freedom for all.
Now, Latter-day Saints, if you have had narrow views I will tell you to put them aside. I do not mean by this you must take everybody into your houses. There is the difference. I have seen President Young scores of times acting upon the spirit to which I have alluded. He has invited strangers to our social parties and houses and extended courtesies to them because it was wisdom to do so. But a great many of the Latter-day Saints are so ignorant upon these points that they do not know when to stop. There are some so ignorant that they would, in the spirit of kindness, let a man come into their homes and become so familiar that he would try to lead astray some member of their family. Can you not see that these are acts of folly, that we are not required, because of the liberality we should cherish and cultivate, to throw down every barrier and allow vice to stalk through our cities and enter into our family circles to pollute the purity that should prevail there? Can you not see, Latter-day Saints, however young, however uninformed you may be, can you not see that to allow this liberty would be wrong? Therefore we ought to discriminate. Nowhere in good society has a man the entree without proper introduction. If a stranger were to come to me bearing lines of introduction from a friend of mine, I would, if necessary, go with him to the bank and endorse a note for him, because I would be perfectly secure in doing so. But supposing a stranger were to come to me for the same favor, without an introduction, I would not be under the slightest obligation to do as he wished, though I might do so as an act of charity, but of course under such circumstances I should not be expected to do more than this. And if I were to go among strangers I would not think of attempting to push myself among the people without proper introduction. I have gone in their midst many times, but have never been a sharer of their kindness and confidence only as such confidence was established by acquaintance. So in our midst; a man can come properly recommended, he is at home. He can have time enough to establish his name and to show to the people what kind of man he is. Then he will be received as he should be, having that respect shown to him that is due.
I have talked a great deal more than I intended. I hope what I have said may be blessed to your profit. If I have said any unwise thing, forget it. If I have said any improper thing, I hope it will pass from your minds, and that which is good, cling to you. Cleave to virtue, to purity, to everything that is good, that will elevate you and make you a better people. Above all, let me say to you, let us get rid of old traditions as fast as we can, and learn from the Lord, and be taught by his holy spirit. That God may grant this is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sung the anthem, “Inflamatus.”
Conference was adjourned till tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by President Joseph Young.
Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Afternoon, April 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In some respects I would prefer to sit and listen to my brethren speak, and to partake in quietude of the spirit of this Conference, than I would to speak myself. But there is a duty devolving upon me I presume, the same as upon my brethren and I desire to the best of my ability to discharge that duty. The sight of so many people, the singing, the speaking of our brethren this morning and the spirit that I felt when I entered this building today almost overpowered me. There is an influence, there is a power, there is a spirit connected with the assembling together of a large body of people, such as we witness today, that must affect those who are sensitive to impressions, and especially when one has been absent among strangers, to feel that he is home among his friends, among a people who are his brethren and sisters, whose faith is his faith, and who are laboring and struggling to accomplish the same objects that he himself has in his heart. I rejoice exceedingly, my brethren and sisters, this day in your midst, and I am thankful for the delightful circumstances by which you are surrounded. I am thankful that the prospects before you are so promising, so full of hope and so delightful to contemplate. It is true we have had sickness, we have had many deaths, this has been a cause of regret. But death is unavoidable, and with it all we are in much better circumstances and more favorably situated than the generality of the children of men. The Latter-day Saints are rapidly becoming a great and important people. The influence that attends us is being more widely felt; our power for good is increasing, our strength, our union and the other qualities that we possess, and which we have manifested through our career, are being more recognized every day. It has always been a favorite idea of mine, that no single human being who chooses to exert an influence for good among his fellow men, ever spoke or ever acted in vain—without making his influence, his example, his words, have an effect upon those with whom he has been brought in contact. If this be true concerning an individual, how much more truth is there in it when applied to an assemblage of individuals, and to a community, to hundreds of communities, to a great people stretching through these mountains and filling these valleys? We have not lived in vain. We have not sought to exhibit lives of temperance, of industry, of frugality, of self-denial, lives of righteousness with the fear of God before our eyes, nor have we lived these lives during the last 49 years, without the effect being felt, not only upon those by whom we are surrounded, but by the world at large. There is something connected with the example of such a people that elevates men and women from the slime, from the mire, and from the abject ruin into which, in too many instances, they are plunged, to contemplate humanity in its better aspects, humanity in its noble appearances, with its Godlike attributes, with its powers for good, its capability of accomplishing great results. There is something in the very fact of a people believing in God in these days of atheism and utter infidelity that brings men to serious contemplation. They say very frequently that it is fanaticism, but there is something about fanaticism that is healthy, refreshing, invigorating in its example, for no man ever accomplished anything on this earth, without exposing himself by his actions, his earnestness and enthusiasm and zeal, to the charge of fanaticism. I am willing we should be called fanatics. I have a right to be a fanatic if I wish to be, as long as my fanaticism does not interfere with the rights of my fellow man. That is a barrier beyond which my fanaticism should not be allowed to go.
It is refreshing to see a people who not only believe in God, but who are willing to show their belief by suffering for his cause—to leave their friends, to leave their homes, to suffer exile, persecution, privations, hardships, and even death for the sake of God, for the sake of religion, for the sake of principle. What would life be if it were not for such people and for such characters? Why, their peculiar lives illume the somber darkness of ages; they are bright spots in history. When we look back and recall the men who have suffered and died for principle, even if they died wrongfully, we find something about their heroic lives that is glorious to contemplate. And when a whole people can be found, such as are in these mountains, who are capable of making the sacrifices which they have made, there is something, as I have said, in their example and in their lives that influences men, that impresses them, and that causes them, whatever their feelings may be respecting the belief of these people, to feel a profound and heartfelt respect for them; for no man or woman properly constituted ever failed to respect devotion to principle, moral courage and the qualities that are exhibited in the lives of the Saints; I therefore say, we have not lived in vain; we have not preached in vain; we have not suffered in vain; we have not protested in vain. The fruits of these labors of ours which apparently have been so long in coming, will be reaped in the great harvest yet to be reaped upon the earth.
I feel to speak these words of encouragement to my brethren and sisters, many of whom feel probably that their obscure lives and struggles, their contest with poverty, their humble and eventful histories are sometimes of so little value that they are comparatively worthless in the earth. I say to the humble struggler, to the man or woman who may be content with poverty, whose life may be uneventful in his own estimation, who may be hidden from the popular sight and may not figure on the world's stage, I say to every such person, as a Latter-day Saint, you have a great and important mission to perform, and if you perform the duties devolving upon you properly, your influence will be felt; and in the days to come, in that great day of God Almighty, your worth will be fully recognized, and you will shine as a jewel in the kingdom of our Redeemer.
There is one thing that every parent can do. He can endeavor to make his sons and daughters better qualified, better equipped for the great struggle of life and better able to perform their part in this glorious work that God has established than himself; that is one thing the parents of the rising generation of these mountains can do. I have never felt as I do today, and as I have recently, of the great importance of our training and educating our children to the greatest and best advantage, that nothing shall be left undone on our part to prepare them for the great work which they have to perform. This is a labor that we can accomplish. It does not depend so much upon the knowledge of books; a great many people imagine that only books are necessary for education; but the man is best educated, in my opinion, who has thought the most, and that correctly. So far as theology is concerned, we have been able, by the blessing of God, the light of the Holy Ghost, and the power of truth, to go forth unlearned, illiterate, and unprepared, so far as worldly education is concerned, and by virtue of the knowledge that comes down from above, the elders of this Church have gone forth and met the world of Christendom. I do not speak in vanity, nor in the spirit of boasting when I say they have never been vanquished. The learned, the educated, the professed theologians when they have met the elders of this Church with the Bible in their hands, have been compelled to retreat before the power of truth proclaimed by uneducated but inspired men. Is our mission accomplished by having done this? I feel that we as a people are only on the threshold of the great work that lies before us. We have an immense field of labor stretched out before us. When you look ahead and try to see its limits, the field of usefulness, which stretches out before this people called Latter-day Saints, is beyond the reach of human vision; it is illimitable, stretching out in the far distant future. Is there a wrong upon the earth to be righted? If so, it is our bounden duty to attempt its correction. Is there a false principle extant? It is our bounden duty to seek its eradication. Is there tyranny in the world, tyranny of the body, tyranny of the mind, physical or mental tyranny? It devolves upon us as Latter-day Saints to overthrow it. Are there social problems to be solved? Who shall solve them? Who can do so? Remove the Latter-day Saints from the field, and who can solve these problems which are pressing themselves upon the attention of all thinking people? The whole earth is full of violence, wrong, oppression, misgovernment, and a thousand other evils which I cannot now enumerate. It devolves upon us, as fast as we can reach these things, to correct them, to remove them. In the first place, we have got to correct and remove them from our own midst. It is a slow labor to train a people, brought as we are from every nation, educated in every creed, speaking almost every language and heirs of every tradition. There is, false or true, wedded to us old customs and the evils of ages, which have been transmitted from generation to generation until they have formed a strong part of our very being. It is a slow work, I say, educating a people such as we are. We have been at it now 49 years, and we can scarcely perceive, that is, in comparison with that which lies before us, the growth and the development which have been made. But we have grown, our minds have been enlarged, we have become emancipated from many old follies, and freedom of thought has taken place in our midst; but the great labor that devolves upon us is to educate ourselves, and then we can soon educate the rest of mankind, for as I have said, our example is felt; the influence of it goes forth and bears its fruit among other people. But it is a most difficult thing to get these Latter-day Saints to understand the principles that are as plain as the noonday sun—that they should receive readily, and why? Because, as I have said, they are heirs of the traditions of centuries that have come down through the dark ages. It is a wonderful thing to do what we have done respecting woman. Look at what monogamy has done. Look at its effects; trace its influence from the death of the Apostles, or soon afterwards, down to this the nineteenth century, and what do we behold? Why, in every generation a large percentage of our sisters has been consigned either to that nameless condition of which it is a shame to speak, or have died without ever knowing the joys of maternity. When I think of it, when I read the history of the boasted civilization of the Greeks and the Romans, and think of the boasted civilization of our day, inherited from these nations, and witness its effects, I wonder how man, standing up in the face of heaven, dare look at woman and talk about being her protector. Read the history of the sex and of the frightful evils which have been brought upon our sisters through man's accursed traditions and evils. If it were to be told to another people differently situated to us, with different traditions to us, they could not believe that intelligent man would entertain for one moment, or that women themselves, in view of what their sex has suffered, would cherish and cling to the wretched traditions that have prevailed in Christendom and to a certain extent yet prevail in our midst.
I know I am touching now upon what many people consider a tender spot. Say they, “The decision of the Supreme Court has arranged all this.” Yes, but it will not stay arranged. Let me tell you, that wrong may prevail and right may apparently be crushed; but right must at last prevail and claim its own in spite of laws, of decisions, of mandates, and everything that man can utter. I am talking now not respecting law; I am not talking respecting tradition; I am not talking about “Mormon” plural marriage or patriarchal marriage; I am talking about men and women, brethren and sisters as such. Come let us reason together; let us talk together, not as religionists, not as “Mormons,” not as monogamists, not as polygamists, not as citizens of Christendom, but as men and women, the children of God, as brethren and sisters of the one family. Let us talk together face to face, in plainness, in simplicity, without allowing tradition to have weight with us, to blind our understandings. It is in this spirit that I wish to talk upon this subject.
Here is a family, a family composed of men and women, and we will say this tabernacle contains this entire family of God upon the earth, for the sake of illustrating the point. Here are men and women in equal numbers and equal proportions, one sex not outnumbering the other—a man for a woman and a woman for a man, no surplus of women, no surplus of men. If they were to marry, each would have a partner, each man would have a wife and each woman would have a husband; each would be perfect, for the man is not perfect without the woman, nor the woman without the man. We turn in and make a law, such as prevailed at one time in Rome that every man shall marry a wife. Such a law was made at Rome at one time; it was aimed at celibacy. It was aimed at a certain class as the law of 1862 was aimed at us. One was enacted to prevent marriage, the other to compel marriage, that no class of men should grow up in the community without wives, and that no woman should be allowed to forsake man and become a nun. We have such a law, say in this tabernacle. That answers very well. Every woman is provided with a husband, and every man with a wife. But after a while somebody comes along and says, “I do not like this law, it is oppressive; I know, for instance, where it works very badly; I know men who do not want to have wives.” They prefer a single life, and they succeed after a while in repealing the law, as they did in Rome. The law is repealed and men are at liberty to marry or not as they please. On the top of this another law is enacted, in effect that every man shall have but one wife, and shall not be permitted to take two or more wives. The women, of course, have to do just as the men say, they cannot compel the men to marry them, but must wait until they are invited to marry. This law suits a great many individuals. Many men say, “I prefer not to have a wife and especially if you will only make a law confining the men to marry but one wife each. I like that very well, because I will not then be under the necessity of keeping a wife. If I want a partner, an associate, I can have one without being at the trouble or expense of keeping her as such. Because if you confine marriage to one man and one woman there will necessarily be a share of the women who cannot be married; that is, if the sexes are equal in numbers. Then I can do as I please. I know the confiding nature of woman; I know how she loves, how she clings to the object of her love. This will be my opportunity.” But what shall be said respecting the women. The men so far as they are concerned, have the right to marry or not as they please. But here is a large percentage of the women who by this law are to a certain extent deprived from marrying, even supposing the sexes to be equal. A civil commotion arises. Men go to war, they go to sea, they engage in commercial pursuits, they leave their homes, they engage in hazardous occupations. The result is that though in the beginning the men and women were equal in numbers, by the effects of war, and of engaging in hazardous pursuits which women do not follow, the men die and are killed, and the women survive and outnumber the males. The operation of a law then, such as I have described, increases the hardship, increases the percentage of those who are not married and who have no opportunity of marrying. Here comes along a man after witnessing the evils that have grown up among his brothers and sisters, and says, “I have a plan to suggest which I believe will cure the evils that exist among us. I see that a dreadful vice called prostitution has crept into our midst, and arising from it are dreadful diseases, diseases that I cannot describe, so appalling are they that the very thought of them makes the heart recoil with horror; they have appeared in our family circle and they are destroying our young men and women. And now then, the plan that I have to propose to our family is this, that every man shall marry until all the women are married, until every woman that wants a husband shall have one, so that the men who will not marry shall not have a class of unmarried women to prey upon, to commit violence with, or to prostitute. “Now,” says he, “if you let all these men and women marry, there will be some women who will not want to marry, but that proportion will be very small; and by this means you will arrest this dreadful evil that is growing in our midst.”
Now let me put this to you; let us reason upon this, face to face, as I have said. Which will be the better plan? According to my judgment, speaking as one of this family, not as a member of Congress, not as a “Mormon” but as one of the family I have described. The latter law is far superior to the other. I would say, as a father, if I had a family of that kind, by all means let my daughters marry, let every woman have a husband that wants one. Then if every man marries a wife, they will only have a wife apiece; but if there should be any of the boys that do not want wives, the girls would not necessarily go without husbands.
I consider our false tradition upon this subject one of the greatest evils at the present time that exists upon the earth. It has come down to us from the Greeks and Romans, than whom a more abominable lot of people never lived upon the earth. To read their books is enough to make a man with the least feeling of modesty blush and be ashamed of his race. Yet they are introduced into our literature. Whoever reads Horace, Sallust, and numbers of those authors, well knows how full of corruption they are. Not only crimes, but crimes against nature were justified by some of the best and most noted of Greek philosophers, and were practiced by Sophocles, Socrates, and others; and yet this is the philosophy that has come down to us. They had a class of women in their midst who were regularly compensated and sustained as courtesans; they were maintained in order that the purity of the domestic circle might be unpolluted. And this has come down to us in Christendom, in Europe and America to the present time. The fairest of Earth's daughters fall yearly sacrifices to the abominable lusts of men. How is the domestic circle preserved in monogamous countries today? It is only preserved at the expense of this class to which I have referred, by these priestesses of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people, living short lives and carrying with them the effects of man's abominable lust.
Now I do not want to talk today about law; I do not want to talk today about its effects in relation to this subject—the subject of “Mormon” patriarchal marriage; I do not want to talk about the law of 1862, nor the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States affecting it; but I want to deal with the facts that stare us in the face. Shall we correct these evils? “O,” says one, “they always existed.” Out upon such doctrine; we do not believe it. I cannot believe that the Great Creator, he who formed the universe, who placed the sun in the center of our solar system and caused those planets to revolve around it; that that being who created these things, and produced order out of chaos who said, “Let there be light and there was light;” who called forth out of chaos the elements from which our earth is formed and created it as a glorious habitation for man; that He possessing, as we know he does, infinite wisdom, has placed men and women, his sons and daughters, upon the earth in the midst of evils such as I have briefly alluded to, and provided no remedy therefore. I could no more believe it than I could believe this light to be darkness. But I do believe that in the bosom of the Father there is wisdom to create all, to carry out all, and to make this earth a heaven, where peace, love, joy and happiness shall prevail, and where there shall be no sin, no sorrow, no heartrending or pain, where man and woman will dwell together in perfect peace, love and harmony, and children grow up in purity with every heavenly surrounding.
I have said, probably, enough on this subject. I merely wish to point out and to show that certain evils exist and that they need correction. How shall they be corrected? Who shall point out the remedy? I believe God has done it, and he will continue to do it; he will bring to pass in his own way and in his own due time all the corrections necessary to change all this. This subject of itself, affecting as it does the happiness, welfare and prosperity of the human family, is one of almost overshadowing importance. But there are other evils under which mankind groan. There are evils in regard to wealth and the management of property, the organization of capital and the organization of labor, the relations, that labor shall bear to capital, and capital to labor. There are questions of this kind that press themselves upon the attention of statesmen, and upon the attention of every man of thought and reflection, and he sees there is room for the exercise of the most profound wisdom, and the greatest talent in order that these things may be corrected. It devolves upon us, Latter-day Saints, to help to accomplish this work. It devolves upon us, and will devolve upon us more particularly in the near future, to maintain upon this continent and through this broad land pure republican institutions, constitutional liberty in its broadest sense. For the day is not far distant when the power such as is growing up in the mountains will be needed. Conflict of parties, an increase of party feeling, an increased disposition to take possession of power by any means, no matter what it might be, are becoming general in the United States. This is so self-evident that no man, unless completely wedded to the idea that this nation will exist in perpetuity, can fail to see for himself that there is a crisis approaching in the affairs of our nation. Already the feeling prevails that in order to accomplish certain things fraud is justifiable. Money is used to an extent in the accomplishing of certain results in government affairs, and in politics that you, as a people who live in these mountains, have scarcely any conception of. And this is increasing. What the end will be is not difficult to foretell. Republicanism ceases to be republicanism whenever fraud enters into the decision of questions and the will of the people cannot be properly ascertained.
So far as religious liberty is concerned, we have fought that battle thus far with tolerable success; but we have yet to contend still more for greater liberty, not for ourselves alone, but for every human being that dwells upon this land, from the east to the west and from the north to the south. The principle must be maintained, the principle, that actuated the founders of our government, when they laid the foundation stone thereof, that in matters of religious concernment no man has a right to step between his fellow man and his God. I may worship idols; I may burn incense to idols; I may worship the sun and pay adoration to him, the great luminary of day; I may do other things which may seem equally improper, but have I not the right to do these things under our constitution? Was it not the intention of the framers of our form of government that every man should have this right? Certainly it was; and it can be clearly proved that this was their intention, that this was the spirit that actuated and prompted them.
In Salt Lake City, if the “Mormons” had supreme control—I say “Mormons,” I ought to say Latter-day Saints—if they had Supreme control from our northern boundary in Idaho, to the southern boundary, Arizona, and from our eastern boundary, Colorado, to our western boundary, Nevada; if we had supreme control and undisputed possession of this land, without the right of dominion over us being questioned, we would have no authority under the constitution under which we live to say to any human being within these confines how he should worship, what he should or should not do in order to please the Creator. If the Chinaman should come here and build a Joss house and burn incense to Joss, if he prostrate himself in adoration before the images that he thinks represents his deity, we have no right in the world to interfere with him. If an Ingersoll should come here and say that he did not believe in any God at all, and he could carry his feelings into practice, we would have no right to interfere with him. Under the circumstances I have described, he would have a perfect right to believe in God or not. We would have no right to interfere with a man who, believing his priest has power to remit his sins, would enter the confessional chamber for the purpose of having them forgiven; or with the Episcopalian who may choose to sprinkle his infant, or the Jew because he believed in circumcising his infant child, or with the Baptist because he believed in baptism by immersion. But supposing that a man should come along that believes it his right and in accordance with his religious convictions to marry more than one wife, and he takes care of his wives and provides for them properly according to his religion, believing that in the eternity to come he will dwell with them. Some of us may think that his ideas of heaven are very materialistic; we may think him a very foolish man for having such a belief, and especially for going to the expense of keeping three or four wives; these may be the popular ideas about him, but if he carries out his belief from a religious standpoint, he has a perfect right to do it in the face of God and even under the constitution of our land. The Parsee and fire-worshipper and men of kindred belief may yet come to this land of liberty; and I tell you if the spirit of the Constitution be maintained, as the Latter-day Saints will yet maintain it, they will have a perfect right to worship their God according to the dictates of their own consciences without any to molest or make afraid. The only time that these men can be interfered with will be when their religious acts interfere with the rights and liberties of their fellow men. Hear it, ye Latter-day Saints! When John Chinaman comes in your midst, teach your children to respect him. When any other man of any other creed, race or color takes his abode among you, teach your children to respect his form of worship. And if they go to the church of the Catholics or that of the Presbyterians or of any other sect, teach them to behave themselves and treat everybody with civility and kindness, and that it is none of their business how these sects worship, teach that they violate good order and good law when they in any way make light of religious exercises. I would whip a boy for it quicker than for anything else. That is the freedom I believe in; that is the freedom I mean to teach to my children and to all men so far as my voice and influence extend; that is the freedom I mean to contend for and, as I have said hundreds of times to leading men of this nation, I will, if necessary, take my sons and make them swear that they will stand by and maintain this liberty as long as they live and contend for it and teach their children after them to contend for it also. I believe in the fullest liberty upon these points. We have been accused of exclusiveness. Our hearts have many times warmed towards “Gentiles,” as they are called. We have extended the arms of kindness thousands and thousands of times to them, as our history has proved. We have been full of that disposition. But how have our advances been met? Let those in this tabernacle and those who are familiar with such matters read the newspapers. I have had people visit me at my house where every attention and courtesy would be shown them, and they would leave and perhaps through reading newspaper articles consisting of abominable lies, would go away and betray those who had received and treated them kindly and hospitably and so often has this been the case that I have almost sworn I will never do it again. It is not because we have unkind feelings. The time will come when we will have power; at present we are in the minority, and it pays for scribblers to write about us and hold us up to ridicule. But suppose the Latter-day Saints had control; suppose their ideas were fulfilled, that is, that we, as it is destined we shall be, were the people who uphold Constitutional government upon this continent, who restored the government to its primitive condition when all the political parties shall have fallen into chaos; would we feel at liberty to say that none but the Latter-day Saints should be elected to offices of trust and responsibility? No. Joseph Smith set the pattern; he taught the brethren who were with him better ideas; you well-informed Latter-day Saints know that there are two powers which God has restored in these the last days. One is the Church of God, the other the Kingdom of God. A man may belong to the Kingdom of God and yet not be a member of the Church of God. In the Kingdom of God, using it in a political sense, there may be heathens and Pagans and Mahommedans and Latter-day Saints and Presbyterians and Episcopalians and Catholics and men of every creed. Will they legislate for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alone? Will the laws that they enact protect us alone and not protect others? No. Why? Because God is the Father of the Latter-day Saints as well as of every human being; God is the father of all, is the father of the Chinaman, the Hindoo, the African, the European, the American; is the Father of all the races of men and of every creed and nationality. When he establishes his kingdom, it will protect all in their equal rights; I as a Latter-day Saint, will not have power to trample on my fellow man who may not be orthodox in my opinion, because I am a Latter-day Saint; nor will my fellow man to whom I am heterodox, have the power to trample upon me. Does not that look right? That is the kind of kingdom we have to contend for; that is the kind of kingdom we have to establish, and it is already provided for in the Constitution given unto us by God, and through the glorious labors of the fathers who laid the foundation of this government, who were inspired and raised by our Almighty Father for this express purpose. There is no liberty that a human being can desire, neither is there a right that can be exercised properly, that we do not have under the Constitution of our land. It needs no amendment about it; it is broad enough, if interpreted in its true spirit, to cover the individual, the continent, and the entire globe and furnish freedom for all.
Now, Latter-day Saints, if you have had narrow views I will tell you to put them aside. I do not mean by this you must take everybody into your houses. There is the difference. I have seen President Young scores of times acting upon the spirit to which I have alluded. He has invited strangers to our social parties and houses and extended courtesies to them because it was wisdom to do so. But a great many of the Latter-day Saints are so ignorant upon these points that they do not know when to stop. There are some so ignorant that they would, in the spirit of kindness, let a man come into their homes and become so familiar that he would try to lead astray some member of their family. Can you not see that these are acts of folly, that we are not required, because of the liberality we should cherish and cultivate, to throw down every barrier and allow vice to stalk through our cities and enter into our family circles to pollute the purity that should prevail there? Can you not see, Latter-day Saints, however young, however uninformed you may be, can you not see that to allow this liberty would be wrong? Therefore we ought to discriminate. Nowhere in good society has a man the entree without proper introduction. If a stranger were to come to me bearing lines of introduction from a friend of mine, I would, if necessary, go with him to the bank and endorse a note for him, because I would be perfectly secure in doing so. But supposing a stranger were to come to me for the same favor, without an introduction, I would not be under the slightest obligation to do as he wished, though I might do so as an act of charity, but of course under such circumstances I should not be expected to do more than this. And if I were to go among strangers I would not think of attempting to push myself among the people without proper introduction. I have gone in their midst many times, but have never been a sharer of their kindness and confidence only as such confidence was established by acquaintance. So in our midst; a man can come properly recommended, he is at home. He can have time enough to establish his name and to show to the people what kind of man he is. Then he will be received as he should be, having that respect shown to him that is due.
I have talked a great deal more than I intended. I hope what I have said may be blessed to your profit. If I have said any unwise thing, forget it. If I have said any improper thing, I hope it will pass from your minds, and that which is good, cling to you. Cleave to virtue, to purity, to everything that is good, that will elevate you and make you a better people. Above all, let me say to you, let us get rid of old traditions as fast as we can, and learn from the Lord, and be taught by his holy spirit. That God may grant this is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sung the anthem, “Inflamatus.”
Conference was adjourned till tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by President Joseph Young.
SECOND DAY.
Monday, April 7th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang on page 5: The morning breaks, the shadows flee, Lo! Zion’s standard is unfurled.
Prayer by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
The choir sang: Mortals awake, with angels join, And chant the solemn lay.
Monday, April 7th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang on page 5: The morning breaks, the shadows flee, Lo! Zion’s standard is unfurled.
Prayer by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
The choir sang: Mortals awake, with angels join, And chant the solemn lay.
Elder George Q. Cannon then read the statistical report of the Church, but as it was not perfect, some of the returns not being made in full, it is thought best not to publish.
The following report of donations received for the Manti Temple, from several of the adjoining Stakes, was then read, to March 31, 1879:
Total in 50 cent monthly cash donations, $4,889.74
Do. in Sunday donations, 117,406.29
----------------
$122,296.03
Amounts donated by Trustee-in-Trust, $15,427.76
-----------------
Total amount, $137,723.79
The report of the free-will offerings to the Logan Temple from Cache Valley and surrounding Stakes, from May 28th, 1877, to March 1st, 1879:
In cash, stock, produce, lumber, etc.: $119,984.51
In stock and produce per Trustee-in-Trust, 2,036.50
------------------
Total, $122,021.01
The following report of donations received for the Manti Temple, from several of the adjoining Stakes, was then read, to March 31, 1879:
Total in 50 cent monthly cash donations, $4,889.74
Do. in Sunday donations, 117,406.29
----------------
$122,296.03
Amounts donated by Trustee-in-Trust, $15,427.76
-----------------
Total amount, $137,723.79
The report of the free-will offerings to the Logan Temple from Cache Valley and surrounding Stakes, from May 28th, 1877, to March 1st, 1879:
In cash, stock, produce, lumber, etc.: $119,984.51
In stock and produce per Trustee-in-Trust, 2,036.50
------------------
Total, $122,021.01
Elder Franklin D. Richards
spoke of the many blessings that we had been the happy recipients of from our Heavenly Father. He felt pleased to note that a very praiseworthy improvement had been made in the Tithes and Temple offerings of the Saints during the past year. Also in the cooperative movement throughout the Territory, in establishing home industries, etc. He also made some remarks on the tendency in some, to turn away from the worship of the true and living God, into skepticism and idolatry. He then spoke of the efforts being made to draw away our children, by every species of inducements, and warned the Saints against allowing their increased wealth to lead them away from God and his ways, and giving way to an idolatrous devotion to their cattle, their farms, etc., and other worldly property, but when God blesses us with the good things of this world, we should not forget the obligations that such blessings impose upon us, but be willing to use them for the establishment of His purposes on the earth, and be always zealous of good works. He prayed that the blessings of peace and fellowship might abound with the Saints.
spoke of the many blessings that we had been the happy recipients of from our Heavenly Father. He felt pleased to note that a very praiseworthy improvement had been made in the Tithes and Temple offerings of the Saints during the past year. Also in the cooperative movement throughout the Territory, in establishing home industries, etc. He also made some remarks on the tendency in some, to turn away from the worship of the true and living God, into skepticism and idolatry. He then spoke of the efforts being made to draw away our children, by every species of inducements, and warned the Saints against allowing their increased wealth to lead them away from God and his ways, and giving way to an idolatrous devotion to their cattle, their farms, etc., and other worldly property, but when God blesses us with the good things of this world, we should not forget the obligations that such blessings impose upon us, but be willing to use them for the establishment of His purposes on the earth, and be always zealous of good works. He prayed that the blessings of peace and fellowship might abound with the Saints.
Elder George Q. Cannon then called over the following names as missionaries:
Great Britain.
Orson Pratt, Senr., Salt Lake City.
Brigham S. Young, “
Joseph R. Matthews, “
Geo. H. Taylor, “
John F. Miller, “
Hugh Watson “
Peter Reid, “
Edward E. Brain, “
Archibald M, Buchanan, “
John South, “
Thomas P. Jack “
Francis Cope “
John Rider, Kanab.
Isaac J. Wardle, South Jordan.
George Crane, Kanosh.
Hyrum Bennion, Taylorsville.
Wm. C. Haigh, “
Henry Rampton, Bountiful.
Edwin M. Curtis, Logan.
Oscar G. Hunter, American Fork.
Erastus B. Snow, St. George.
Moroni Snow, “
John M. Moody, Junr., “
Wm. Barnes, “
Edward Cliff, Sanpete Co.
Jonathan Midgeley, “
John Boyden, Coalvile.
W. B. Parkinson, Morgan.
Chas. Monk, Spanish Fork.
Wm. Wilkes, St. Charles.
Chas. Westover, Jun., Leeds.
Evan Wride, Provo.
Joseph Goddard, Logan.
Wm. Robertson, Spanish Fork.
Andrew Ferguson, “
Lyman Martineau, Logan.
Robert Dansie, Fort Herriman.
C. H. French, Salt Lake City.
Wm. McFadden, Salina.
William Driver, Ogden.
Henry Margetts, Paris.
Scandinavia.
Nils Wilhelmsen, St. Charles.
C. C Asmussen, Salt Lake City.
Andrew Jenson, Pleasant Grove.
Swiss and German Mission.
Serge L. Baliff, Logan.
Andrew Heppler, Glendale.
Ferdinand Oberhaensli, Payson.
Canada.
Andrew Coray, Cedar.
W. H. Seegmiller, Richfield.
Manitoba and Iceland.
Jacob B. Johnson, Spanish Fork.
John Evindson, “
United States—Southern States.
Orange Warner, Fillmore.
John H. Hougaard, Manti.
Martin Garn, Sugar House.
Henry C. Longmore, Moroni.
C. H. Bliss, Salt Lake City.
Hyrum S. Young, “
Leonard G. Hardy, “
Rudger Clawson, “
Elnathan Eldredge, Sugar House, to Indiana.
R. T. Barrett, North Ogden, to Pennsylvania.
Matthew Ivory, Beaver, to Pennsylvania.
C. H. Lund, Mount Pleasant, to Minnesota.
W. S. Seeley, Mount Pleasant, to Minnesota.
The choir sang the anthem, Thine O Lord, is the greatness.
Conference was adjourned until 2 o’clock p.m.
Benediction by Elder C. C. Rich.
Great Britain.
Orson Pratt, Senr., Salt Lake City.
Brigham S. Young, “
Joseph R. Matthews, “
Geo. H. Taylor, “
John F. Miller, “
Hugh Watson “
Peter Reid, “
Edward E. Brain, “
Archibald M, Buchanan, “
John South, “
Thomas P. Jack “
Francis Cope “
John Rider, Kanab.
Isaac J. Wardle, South Jordan.
George Crane, Kanosh.
Hyrum Bennion, Taylorsville.
Wm. C. Haigh, “
Henry Rampton, Bountiful.
Edwin M. Curtis, Logan.
Oscar G. Hunter, American Fork.
Erastus B. Snow, St. George.
Moroni Snow, “
John M. Moody, Junr., “
Wm. Barnes, “
Edward Cliff, Sanpete Co.
Jonathan Midgeley, “
John Boyden, Coalvile.
W. B. Parkinson, Morgan.
Chas. Monk, Spanish Fork.
Wm. Wilkes, St. Charles.
Chas. Westover, Jun., Leeds.
Evan Wride, Provo.
Joseph Goddard, Logan.
Wm. Robertson, Spanish Fork.
Andrew Ferguson, “
Lyman Martineau, Logan.
Robert Dansie, Fort Herriman.
C. H. French, Salt Lake City.
Wm. McFadden, Salina.
William Driver, Ogden.
Henry Margetts, Paris.
Scandinavia.
Nils Wilhelmsen, St. Charles.
C. C Asmussen, Salt Lake City.
Andrew Jenson, Pleasant Grove.
Swiss and German Mission.
Serge L. Baliff, Logan.
Andrew Heppler, Glendale.
Ferdinand Oberhaensli, Payson.
Canada.
Andrew Coray, Cedar.
W. H. Seegmiller, Richfield.
Manitoba and Iceland.
Jacob B. Johnson, Spanish Fork.
John Evindson, “
United States—Southern States.
Orange Warner, Fillmore.
John H. Hougaard, Manti.
Martin Garn, Sugar House.
Henry C. Longmore, Moroni.
C. H. Bliss, Salt Lake City.
Hyrum S. Young, “
Leonard G. Hardy, “
Rudger Clawson, “
Elnathan Eldredge, Sugar House, to Indiana.
R. T. Barrett, North Ogden, to Pennsylvania.
Matthew Ivory, Beaver, to Pennsylvania.
C. H. Lund, Mount Pleasant, to Minnesota.
W. S. Seeley, Mount Pleasant, to Minnesota.
The choir sang the anthem, Thine O Lord, is the greatness.
Conference was adjourned until 2 o’clock p.m.
Benediction by Elder C. C. Rich.
SECOND DAY.
Afternoon, 2 o’clock p.m.
The choir sang on page 13: What wondrous things we now behold, By prophets seen in days of old.
Prayer by Elder Joseph E. Taylor.
The choir sang on page 67: Praise ye the Lord, ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in his praise.
Afternoon, 2 o’clock p.m.
The choir sang on page 13: What wondrous things we now behold, By prophets seen in days of old.
Prayer by Elder Joseph E. Taylor.
The choir sang on page 67: Praise ye the Lord, ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in his praise.
President John Taylor
made a few remarks on the vacancy in the Apostleship occasioned by the late respected member, Orson Hyde, and said that the Quorum of the Twelve in consultation upon this subject, having agreed among themselves, had decided to nominate before this Conference the name of Moses Thatcher, of Logan, to fill that vacancy.
A vote was then called for, when the nomination was sustained by unanimous vote.
The authorities of the Church were then presented before the Conference by Elder George Q. Cannon, all of whom were unanimously sustained, as follows:
John Taylor, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles – Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles—Jno. W. Young, D. H. Wells.
The Twelve Apostles as the presiding quorum and authority of the Church, and, with their counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
As the first Seven Presidents of the Seventies – Joseph Young, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church – Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
John Taylor as Trustee-in-Trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the Twelve Apostles, their two Counselors and Edward Hunter, as his Counselors.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the Gathering of the Poor, and the following as his assistants: F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, John W. Young, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, William Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson.
Orson Pratt as Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff as his assistant.
Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angel, Junr., and W. H. Folsom as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee – W. Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards, J. F. Smith.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference.
made a few remarks on the vacancy in the Apostleship occasioned by the late respected member, Orson Hyde, and said that the Quorum of the Twelve in consultation upon this subject, having agreed among themselves, had decided to nominate before this Conference the name of Moses Thatcher, of Logan, to fill that vacancy.
A vote was then called for, when the nomination was sustained by unanimous vote.
The authorities of the Church were then presented before the Conference by Elder George Q. Cannon, all of whom were unanimously sustained, as follows:
John Taylor, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles – Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles—Jno. W. Young, D. H. Wells.
The Twelve Apostles as the presiding quorum and authority of the Church, and, with their counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
As the first Seven Presidents of the Seventies – Joseph Young, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church – Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
John Taylor as Trustee-in-Trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the Twelve Apostles, their two Counselors and Edward Hunter, as his Counselors.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the Gathering of the Poor, and the following as his assistants: F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, John W. Young, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, William Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson.
Orson Pratt as Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff as his assistant.
Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angel, Junr., and W. H. Folsom as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee – W. Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards, J. F. Smith.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference.
Elder Lorenzo Snow
said it was the privilege of the Latter-day Saints who met together on occasions like the present to receive instructions from the Almighty that will be useful to them in all the walks of life. He then quoted two passages of scriptures wherein God requires his people to be perfect as he himself is perfect, and with a view of receiving those great blessings which the Lord has promised to his children, it was absolutely necessary for His Saints to comply with the requirements that He has made upon them. He spoke of Abraham leaving his native country at the command of the Almighty, which entitled him to the blessing dependent on his obedience, and which he would not have received if he had not complied with the law. All Latter-day Saints who keep the commandments of God may be perfect in their sphere of action according to their ability. Although we have weaknesses and imperfections, we should not be distressed or discouraged in trying to carry out and observe the requirements of heaven. In whatever principles we rigidly carry out, we are perfect so far as that is concerned, as, for instance, the observance of the Word of Wisdom, the law of tithing, etc. He instanced the case of Peter, who, for quite a while, walked perfect before the Lord, but when overtaken by a trial, was tempted to deny his Lord and Master, This sin of Peter’s however, tended to humble him before the Savior, and he strove in the future to maintain a clear conscience before God, by doing right and keeping the commandments of God.
He quoted several instances of the ancient servants of God, who, although beset with weaknesses, still endeavored to overcome them, by availing themselves of all the aid and succor that God their Heavenly Father had placed within their reach.
He therefore called upon the Latter-day Saints to take courage, notwithstanding their many shortcomings, to still continue and strive to do better in the future, by seeking first to know the mind and will of the Lord, then to do the same, and live so as to enjoy his Holy Spirit, that they may be blest with an abundance of peace.
said it was the privilege of the Latter-day Saints who met together on occasions like the present to receive instructions from the Almighty that will be useful to them in all the walks of life. He then quoted two passages of scriptures wherein God requires his people to be perfect as he himself is perfect, and with a view of receiving those great blessings which the Lord has promised to his children, it was absolutely necessary for His Saints to comply with the requirements that He has made upon them. He spoke of Abraham leaving his native country at the command of the Almighty, which entitled him to the blessing dependent on his obedience, and which he would not have received if he had not complied with the law. All Latter-day Saints who keep the commandments of God may be perfect in their sphere of action according to their ability. Although we have weaknesses and imperfections, we should not be distressed or discouraged in trying to carry out and observe the requirements of heaven. In whatever principles we rigidly carry out, we are perfect so far as that is concerned, as, for instance, the observance of the Word of Wisdom, the law of tithing, etc. He instanced the case of Peter, who, for quite a while, walked perfect before the Lord, but when overtaken by a trial, was tempted to deny his Lord and Master, This sin of Peter’s however, tended to humble him before the Savior, and he strove in the future to maintain a clear conscience before God, by doing right and keeping the commandments of God.
He quoted several instances of the ancient servants of God, who, although beset with weaknesses, still endeavored to overcome them, by availing themselves of all the aid and succor that God their Heavenly Father had placed within their reach.
He therefore called upon the Latter-day Saints to take courage, notwithstanding their many shortcomings, to still continue and strive to do better in the future, by seeking first to know the mind and will of the Lord, then to do the same, and live so as to enjoy his Holy Spirit, that they may be blest with an abundance of peace.
Blessings of the Gospel Only Obtained By Compliance With the Law
Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Monday Morning, April 7th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
In connection with this I will quote part of the words of the Savior in his sermon on the Mount, as contained in the last verse of the 5th chapter of Matthew.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
In occupying a short time this morning, I desire an interest in your faith and prayers.
We learn that the Lord appeared to Abraham and made him very great promises, and that before he was prepared to receive them a certain requirement was made of him, that he should become perfect before the Lord. And the same requirement was made by the Savior of his disciples, that they should become perfect, even as he and his Father in heaven were perfect. This, I conceive, to be a subject that concerns the Latter-day Saints; and I wish to offer a few remarks by way of suggestion, for the reflection of those whom it concerns.
The Lord proposes to confer the highest blessings upon the Latter-day Saints; but, like Abraham, we must prepare ourselves for them, and to do this the same law that was given to him of the Lord has been given to us for our observance. We also are required to arrive at a state of perfection before the Lord; and the Lord in this case, the same as in every other, has not made a requirement that cannot be complied with, but on the other hand, He has placed for the use of the Latter-day Saints the means by which they can conform to His holy order. When the Lord made this requirement of Abraham, He gave him the means by which he could become qualified to obey that law and come up fully to the requirement. He had the privilege of the Holy Spirit, as we are told the Gospel was preached to Abraham, and through that Gospel he could obtain that divine aid which would enable him to understand the things of God, and without it no man could arrive at a state of perfection before the Lord. So in reference to the Latter-day Saints, they could not possibly come up to such a moral and spiritual standard except through supernatural aid and assistance. Neither do we expect that the Latter-day Saints, at once will or can conform to this law under all circumstances. It requires time; it requires much patience and discipline of the mind and heart in order to obey this commandment. And although we may fail at first in our attempts, yet this should not discourage the Latter-day Saints from endeavoring to exercise a determination to comply with the great requirement. Abraham, although he might have had faith to walk before the Lord according to this divine law, yet there were times when his faith was sorely tried, but still he was not discouraged because he exercised a determination to comply with the will of God. We may think that we cannot live up to the perfect law, that the work of perfecting ourselves is too difficult. This may be true in part, but the fact still remains that it is a command of the Almighty to us and we cannot ignore it. When we experience trying moments, then is the time for us to avail ourselves of that great privilege of calling upon the Lord for strength and understanding, intelligence and grace by which we can overcome the weakness of the flesh against which we have to make a continual warfare.
Abraham was called to leave his kindred and country. Had he not complied with this requirement, he would not have been approved of the Lord. But he did comply; and while he was leaving his home, he no doubt was living in obedience, to this divine law of perfection. Had he failed in this, he certainly could not have obeyed the requirements of the Almighty. And while he was leaving his father's house, while he was subjecting himself to this trial, he was doing that which his own conscience and the Spirit of God justified him in doing, and nobody could have done better, providing he was doing no wrong when he was performing this labor.
When the Latter-day Saints received the Gospel in the nations afar, and when the voice of the Almighty to them was, to leave the lands of their fathers, to leave their kindred as Abraham did, so far as they complied with this requirement, so far they were walking in obedience to this law; and they were as perfect as men could be under the circumstances, and in the sphere in which they were acting, not that they were perfect in knowledge or power, etc.; but in their feelings, in their integrity, motives and determination. And while they were crossing the great deep, providing they did not murmur nor complain, but obeyed the counsels which were given them, and in every way comported themselves in a becoming manner, they were as perfect as God required them to be.
The Lord designs to bring us up into the celestial kingdom. He has made known, through direct revelation, that we are His offspring, begotten in the eternal worlds, that we have come to this earth for the special purpose of preparing ourselves to receive a fullness of our Father's glory when we shall return into his presence. Therefore, we must seek the ability to keep this law, to sanctify our motives, desires, feelings and affections, that they may be pure and holy, and our will in all things be subservient to the will of God, and have no will of our own except to do the will of our Father. Such a man in his sphere is perfect, and commands the blessing of God in all that he does and wherever he goes. But we are subject to folly, to the weakness of the flesh, and we are more or less ignorant, thereby liable to err. Yes, but that is no reason why we should not feel desirous to comply with this command of God, especially seeing that he has placed within our reach the means of accomplishing this work. This I understand is the meaning of the word perfection, as expressed by our Savior and by the Lord to Abraham. A person may be perfect in regard to some things and not others. A person who obeys the word of wisdom faithfully, is perfect as far as that law is concerned. When we repented of our sins and were baptized for the remission of them, we were perfect as far as that matter was concerned. Now we are told by the Apostle John, that “we are the sons of God, but it does not appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure.” The Latter-day Saints expect to arrive at this state of perfection; we expect to become as our Father and God, fit and worthy children to dwell in his presence; we expect that when the Son of God shall appear, we shall receive our bodies renewed and glorified, and that “these vile bodies will be changed and become like unto his glorious body.” These are our expectations. Now let all present put this question to themselves. Are our expectations well founded? In other words, are we seeking to purify ourselves? How can a Latter-day Saint feel justified in himself unless he is seeking to purify himself even as God is pure—unless he is seeking to keep his conscience void of offense before God and man every day of his life. We doubtless, many of us, walk from day to day and from week to week, and from month to month, before God, feeling under no condemnation, comporting ourselves properly, and seeking earnestly and in all meekness for the Spirit of God to dictate our daily course; and yet there may be a certain time or times in our life, when we are greatly tried and perhaps overcome; even if this be so, that is no reason why we should not try again, and that, too, with redoubled energy and determination to accomplish our object, There was the Apostle Peter, for instance, a man valiant for the truth, and a man who walked before God in a manner that met with his divine approval; he told the Savior on a certain occasion that though all men forsook him, he would not. But the Savior, foreseeing what would happen, told him that on that same night, before the cock crowed, he would deny him thrice, and he did so. He proved himself unequal for the trial; but afterwards he gained power, and his mind was disciplined to that extent that such trials could not possibly affect him. And if we could read in detail the life of Abraham, or the lives of other great and holy men, we would doubtless find that their efforts to be righteous were not always crowned with success. Hence we should not be discouraged if we should be overcome in a weak moment; but, on the contrary, straightway repent of the error or the wrong we may have committed, and as far as possible repair it, and then seek to God for renewed strength to go on and do better.
Abraham could walk perfectly before God day after day when he was leaving his father's house, and he showed evidences of a superior and well disciplined mind in the course he suggested when his herdsmen quarreled with the herdsmen of his nephew, Lot. There came a time in Abraham's life, however, which must have been very trying; in fact anything more severe can scarcely be conceived of; that was when the Lord called upon him to offer as a sacrifice his beloved and only son, even him through whom he expected the fulfillment of the great promise made him by the Lord; but through manifesting a proper disposition he was enabled to surmount the trial, and prove his faith and integrity to God. It can hardly be supposed that Abraham inherited such a state of mind from his idolatrous parents; but it is consistent to believe that under the blessing of God he was enabled to acquire it, after going through a similar warfare with the flesh as we are, and doubtless being overcome at times and then overcoming until he was enabled to stand so severe a test. “Let this same mind be in you,” says the Apostle Paul, “which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Now every man that has this object before him will purify himself as God is pure, and try to walk perfectly before him. We have our little follies and our weaknesses; we should try to overcome them as fast as possible, and we should inculcate this feeling in the hearts of our children, that the fear of God may grow up with them from their very youth, and that they may learn to comport themselves properly before him under all circumstances. If the husband can live with his wife one day without quarreling or without treating anyone unkindly or without grieving the Spirit of God in any way, that is well so far; he is so far perfect. Then let him try to be the same the next day. But supposing he should fail in this his next day's attempt? That is no reason why he should not succeed in doing so the third day. If the Apostle Peter had become discouraged at his manifest failure to maintain the position that he had taken to stand by the Savior under all circumstances, he would have lost all; whereas, by repenting and persevering he lost nothing but gained all, leaving us too to profit by his experience. The Latter-day Saints should cultivate this ambition constantly which was so clearly set forth by the apostles in former days. We should try to walk each day so that our conscience would be void of offense before everybody. And God has placed in the Church certain means by which we can be assisted, namely, apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, etc., “for the perfecting of the Saints,” etc. And he has also conferred upon us his Holy Spirit, which is an unerring guide, standing as an angel of God at our side, telling us what to do, and affording us strength and succor when adverse circumstances arise in our way. We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged whenever we discover our weakness. We can scarcely find an instance in all the glorious examples set us by the prophets, ancient or modern, wherein they permitted the Evil One to discourage them; but on the other hand they constantly sought to overcome, to win the prize, and thus prepare themselves for a fulness of glory. The Prophet Elijah succeeded. He so walked before God that he was worthy to be translated. And Enoch was found worthy to walk with God some 300 years, and was at last, with his people, taken up to heaven.
We are told that in the latter days, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old.” And in another scripture we are told that the age of the infant shall be as the age of a tree, and that it shall not die until it shall be old, and then it shall not slumber in the dust but be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But in those days people must live perfectly before the Lord, for we are told in the same passage, that “the sinner,” instead of being favored, “being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” When we once get it into our minds that we really have the power within ourselves through the gospel we have received, to conquer our passions, our appetites and in all things submit our will to the will of our Heavenly Father, and, instead of being the means of generating unpleasant feeling in our family circle, and those with whom we are associated, but assisting greatly to create a little heaven upon earth, then the battle may be said to be half won. One of the chief difficulties that many suffer from is, that we are too apt to forget the great object of life, the motive of our Heavenly Father in sending us here to put on mortality, as well as the holy calling with which we have been called; and hence, instead of rising above the little transitory things of time, we too often allow ourselves to come down to the level of the world without availing ourselves of the divine help which God has instituted, which alone can enable us to overcome them. We are no better than the rest of the world if we do not cultivate the feeling to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.
This was the exhortation of the Savior to the former-day Saints, who were a people of like passions and who were subject to the same temptations as ourselves, and he knew whether the people could conform to it or not; the Lord never has, nor will he require things of his children which it is impossible for them to perform. The Elders of Israel who expect to go forth to preach the gospel of salvation in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among a people who are full of evil and corruption, should cultivate this spirit especially. And not only they, but everybody, every young man and woman belonging to this Church who is worthy to be called a Saint should cultivate this desire to live up to this requirement that their consciences may be clear before God. It is a beautiful thing, either in young or old, to have this object in view; it is especially delightful to see our young people take a course that the light and intelligence of God can beam in their countenances, that they may have a correct understanding of life, and be able to live above the follies and vanities of the world and the errors and wickedness of man.
May God bless you, brethren and sisters, and pour out His Holy Spirit upon you, that you may be blessed in all your acts, in your incomings and your outgoings and in the performance of every duty, and be blessed in calling upon the Almighty, that His Spirit may be in you as a well of water springing up to everlasting life, to guide you in His fear through all the scenes of life, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Monday Morning, April 7th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
In connection with this I will quote part of the words of the Savior in his sermon on the Mount, as contained in the last verse of the 5th chapter of Matthew.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
In occupying a short time this morning, I desire an interest in your faith and prayers.
We learn that the Lord appeared to Abraham and made him very great promises, and that before he was prepared to receive them a certain requirement was made of him, that he should become perfect before the Lord. And the same requirement was made by the Savior of his disciples, that they should become perfect, even as he and his Father in heaven were perfect. This, I conceive, to be a subject that concerns the Latter-day Saints; and I wish to offer a few remarks by way of suggestion, for the reflection of those whom it concerns.
The Lord proposes to confer the highest blessings upon the Latter-day Saints; but, like Abraham, we must prepare ourselves for them, and to do this the same law that was given to him of the Lord has been given to us for our observance. We also are required to arrive at a state of perfection before the Lord; and the Lord in this case, the same as in every other, has not made a requirement that cannot be complied with, but on the other hand, He has placed for the use of the Latter-day Saints the means by which they can conform to His holy order. When the Lord made this requirement of Abraham, He gave him the means by which he could become qualified to obey that law and come up fully to the requirement. He had the privilege of the Holy Spirit, as we are told the Gospel was preached to Abraham, and through that Gospel he could obtain that divine aid which would enable him to understand the things of God, and without it no man could arrive at a state of perfection before the Lord. So in reference to the Latter-day Saints, they could not possibly come up to such a moral and spiritual standard except through supernatural aid and assistance. Neither do we expect that the Latter-day Saints, at once will or can conform to this law under all circumstances. It requires time; it requires much patience and discipline of the mind and heart in order to obey this commandment. And although we may fail at first in our attempts, yet this should not discourage the Latter-day Saints from endeavoring to exercise a determination to comply with the great requirement. Abraham, although he might have had faith to walk before the Lord according to this divine law, yet there were times when his faith was sorely tried, but still he was not discouraged because he exercised a determination to comply with the will of God. We may think that we cannot live up to the perfect law, that the work of perfecting ourselves is too difficult. This may be true in part, but the fact still remains that it is a command of the Almighty to us and we cannot ignore it. When we experience trying moments, then is the time for us to avail ourselves of that great privilege of calling upon the Lord for strength and understanding, intelligence and grace by which we can overcome the weakness of the flesh against which we have to make a continual warfare.
Abraham was called to leave his kindred and country. Had he not complied with this requirement, he would not have been approved of the Lord. But he did comply; and while he was leaving his home, he no doubt was living in obedience, to this divine law of perfection. Had he failed in this, he certainly could not have obeyed the requirements of the Almighty. And while he was leaving his father's house, while he was subjecting himself to this trial, he was doing that which his own conscience and the Spirit of God justified him in doing, and nobody could have done better, providing he was doing no wrong when he was performing this labor.
When the Latter-day Saints received the Gospel in the nations afar, and when the voice of the Almighty to them was, to leave the lands of their fathers, to leave their kindred as Abraham did, so far as they complied with this requirement, so far they were walking in obedience to this law; and they were as perfect as men could be under the circumstances, and in the sphere in which they were acting, not that they were perfect in knowledge or power, etc.; but in their feelings, in their integrity, motives and determination. And while they were crossing the great deep, providing they did not murmur nor complain, but obeyed the counsels which were given them, and in every way comported themselves in a becoming manner, they were as perfect as God required them to be.
The Lord designs to bring us up into the celestial kingdom. He has made known, through direct revelation, that we are His offspring, begotten in the eternal worlds, that we have come to this earth for the special purpose of preparing ourselves to receive a fullness of our Father's glory when we shall return into his presence. Therefore, we must seek the ability to keep this law, to sanctify our motives, desires, feelings and affections, that they may be pure and holy, and our will in all things be subservient to the will of God, and have no will of our own except to do the will of our Father. Such a man in his sphere is perfect, and commands the blessing of God in all that he does and wherever he goes. But we are subject to folly, to the weakness of the flesh, and we are more or less ignorant, thereby liable to err. Yes, but that is no reason why we should not feel desirous to comply with this command of God, especially seeing that he has placed within our reach the means of accomplishing this work. This I understand is the meaning of the word perfection, as expressed by our Savior and by the Lord to Abraham. A person may be perfect in regard to some things and not others. A person who obeys the word of wisdom faithfully, is perfect as far as that law is concerned. When we repented of our sins and were baptized for the remission of them, we were perfect as far as that matter was concerned. Now we are told by the Apostle John, that “we are the sons of God, but it does not appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure.” The Latter-day Saints expect to arrive at this state of perfection; we expect to become as our Father and God, fit and worthy children to dwell in his presence; we expect that when the Son of God shall appear, we shall receive our bodies renewed and glorified, and that “these vile bodies will be changed and become like unto his glorious body.” These are our expectations. Now let all present put this question to themselves. Are our expectations well founded? In other words, are we seeking to purify ourselves? How can a Latter-day Saint feel justified in himself unless he is seeking to purify himself even as God is pure—unless he is seeking to keep his conscience void of offense before God and man every day of his life. We doubtless, many of us, walk from day to day and from week to week, and from month to month, before God, feeling under no condemnation, comporting ourselves properly, and seeking earnestly and in all meekness for the Spirit of God to dictate our daily course; and yet there may be a certain time or times in our life, when we are greatly tried and perhaps overcome; even if this be so, that is no reason why we should not try again, and that, too, with redoubled energy and determination to accomplish our object, There was the Apostle Peter, for instance, a man valiant for the truth, and a man who walked before God in a manner that met with his divine approval; he told the Savior on a certain occasion that though all men forsook him, he would not. But the Savior, foreseeing what would happen, told him that on that same night, before the cock crowed, he would deny him thrice, and he did so. He proved himself unequal for the trial; but afterwards he gained power, and his mind was disciplined to that extent that such trials could not possibly affect him. And if we could read in detail the life of Abraham, or the lives of other great and holy men, we would doubtless find that their efforts to be righteous were not always crowned with success. Hence we should not be discouraged if we should be overcome in a weak moment; but, on the contrary, straightway repent of the error or the wrong we may have committed, and as far as possible repair it, and then seek to God for renewed strength to go on and do better.
Abraham could walk perfectly before God day after day when he was leaving his father's house, and he showed evidences of a superior and well disciplined mind in the course he suggested when his herdsmen quarreled with the herdsmen of his nephew, Lot. There came a time in Abraham's life, however, which must have been very trying; in fact anything more severe can scarcely be conceived of; that was when the Lord called upon him to offer as a sacrifice his beloved and only son, even him through whom he expected the fulfillment of the great promise made him by the Lord; but through manifesting a proper disposition he was enabled to surmount the trial, and prove his faith and integrity to God. It can hardly be supposed that Abraham inherited such a state of mind from his idolatrous parents; but it is consistent to believe that under the blessing of God he was enabled to acquire it, after going through a similar warfare with the flesh as we are, and doubtless being overcome at times and then overcoming until he was enabled to stand so severe a test. “Let this same mind be in you,” says the Apostle Paul, “which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Now every man that has this object before him will purify himself as God is pure, and try to walk perfectly before him. We have our little follies and our weaknesses; we should try to overcome them as fast as possible, and we should inculcate this feeling in the hearts of our children, that the fear of God may grow up with them from their very youth, and that they may learn to comport themselves properly before him under all circumstances. If the husband can live with his wife one day without quarreling or without treating anyone unkindly or without grieving the Spirit of God in any way, that is well so far; he is so far perfect. Then let him try to be the same the next day. But supposing he should fail in this his next day's attempt? That is no reason why he should not succeed in doing so the third day. If the Apostle Peter had become discouraged at his manifest failure to maintain the position that he had taken to stand by the Savior under all circumstances, he would have lost all; whereas, by repenting and persevering he lost nothing but gained all, leaving us too to profit by his experience. The Latter-day Saints should cultivate this ambition constantly which was so clearly set forth by the apostles in former days. We should try to walk each day so that our conscience would be void of offense before everybody. And God has placed in the Church certain means by which we can be assisted, namely, apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, etc., “for the perfecting of the Saints,” etc. And he has also conferred upon us his Holy Spirit, which is an unerring guide, standing as an angel of God at our side, telling us what to do, and affording us strength and succor when adverse circumstances arise in our way. We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged whenever we discover our weakness. We can scarcely find an instance in all the glorious examples set us by the prophets, ancient or modern, wherein they permitted the Evil One to discourage them; but on the other hand they constantly sought to overcome, to win the prize, and thus prepare themselves for a fulness of glory. The Prophet Elijah succeeded. He so walked before God that he was worthy to be translated. And Enoch was found worthy to walk with God some 300 years, and was at last, with his people, taken up to heaven.
We are told that in the latter days, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old.” And in another scripture we are told that the age of the infant shall be as the age of a tree, and that it shall not die until it shall be old, and then it shall not slumber in the dust but be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But in those days people must live perfectly before the Lord, for we are told in the same passage, that “the sinner,” instead of being favored, “being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” When we once get it into our minds that we really have the power within ourselves through the gospel we have received, to conquer our passions, our appetites and in all things submit our will to the will of our Heavenly Father, and, instead of being the means of generating unpleasant feeling in our family circle, and those with whom we are associated, but assisting greatly to create a little heaven upon earth, then the battle may be said to be half won. One of the chief difficulties that many suffer from is, that we are too apt to forget the great object of life, the motive of our Heavenly Father in sending us here to put on mortality, as well as the holy calling with which we have been called; and hence, instead of rising above the little transitory things of time, we too often allow ourselves to come down to the level of the world without availing ourselves of the divine help which God has instituted, which alone can enable us to overcome them. We are no better than the rest of the world if we do not cultivate the feeling to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.
This was the exhortation of the Savior to the former-day Saints, who were a people of like passions and who were subject to the same temptations as ourselves, and he knew whether the people could conform to it or not; the Lord never has, nor will he require things of his children which it is impossible for them to perform. The Elders of Israel who expect to go forth to preach the gospel of salvation in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among a people who are full of evil and corruption, should cultivate this spirit especially. And not only they, but everybody, every young man and woman belonging to this Church who is worthy to be called a Saint should cultivate this desire to live up to this requirement that their consciences may be clear before God. It is a beautiful thing, either in young or old, to have this object in view; it is especially delightful to see our young people take a course that the light and intelligence of God can beam in their countenances, that they may have a correct understanding of life, and be able to live above the follies and vanities of the world and the errors and wickedness of man.
May God bless you, brethren and sisters, and pour out His Holy Spirit upon you, that you may be blessed in all your acts, in your incomings and your outgoings and in the performance of every duty, and be blessed in calling upon the Almighty, that His Spirit may be in you as a well of water springing up to everlasting life, to guide you in His fear through all the scenes of life, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Albert Carrington
made a few remarks on the subject of the Emigration of the poor from the old country, and the amount of indebtedness due the fund from those who have been assisted by it during a number of years past. Neither he nor President Taylor had the least desire of oppressing any one now indebted to the fund, but if only a reasonable proportion of their indebtedness was paid, every Latter-day Saint of the Lord’s poor could be emigrated this season.
He did not mention this subject in a scolding spirit, or with a view to having any undue influence exercised to induce liquidation, but realizing the extreme poverty in which many of the Lord's poor are now struggling, in the old country, he made this appeal in their behalf, and he hoped that as fast as the debtors were able to pay, that they would do it at the very earliest opportunity, and to give every one as easy a way of settling their indebtedness as possible, it was arranged that it might be paid in labor, in stock or in produce, and in instalments to suit each one’s circumstances.
He much regretted that some who had apostatized from the faith, had repudiated their honest indebtedness to that fund, for an honest debt would always hang over an individual until it was liquidated, but to all such he would say that he would make no legal effort to compel payment, but leave it upon their heads as an unpaid obligation. And notwithstanding their boast of freedom and advanced “liberal” principles, they display very bad taste in repudiating that which rescued them from the depths of wretchedness in the old country, where had they remained there till they were as old as Methuselah, would never have had a house of their own, but by the aid of the P. E. Fund, they had been assisted to a land where they had secured a competence.
made a few remarks on the subject of the Emigration of the poor from the old country, and the amount of indebtedness due the fund from those who have been assisted by it during a number of years past. Neither he nor President Taylor had the least desire of oppressing any one now indebted to the fund, but if only a reasonable proportion of their indebtedness was paid, every Latter-day Saint of the Lord’s poor could be emigrated this season.
He did not mention this subject in a scolding spirit, or with a view to having any undue influence exercised to induce liquidation, but realizing the extreme poverty in which many of the Lord's poor are now struggling, in the old country, he made this appeal in their behalf, and he hoped that as fast as the debtors were able to pay, that they would do it at the very earliest opportunity, and to give every one as easy a way of settling their indebtedness as possible, it was arranged that it might be paid in labor, in stock or in produce, and in instalments to suit each one’s circumstances.
He much regretted that some who had apostatized from the faith, had repudiated their honest indebtedness to that fund, for an honest debt would always hang over an individual until it was liquidated, but to all such he would say that he would make no legal effort to compel payment, but leave it upon their heads as an unpaid obligation. And notwithstanding their boast of freedom and advanced “liberal” principles, they display very bad taste in repudiating that which rescued them from the depths of wretchedness in the old country, where had they remained there till they were as old as Methuselah, would never have had a house of their own, but by the aid of the P. E. Fund, they had been assisted to a land where they had secured a competence.
Elder Geo. Q. Cannon then presented the following additional names for missions:
Sandwich Islands.
Harvey H. Cluff, Provo.
Wm. D. Alexander, “
James Knell, Pinto.
Harry World, Salt Lake City.
England.
John Alexander, Fillmore.
Piedmont.
Jacob Revoir, West Jordan.
The choir sang an anthem: Sing unto the Lord.
Conference dismissed until tomorrow at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by Elder Joseph F. Smith.
Sandwich Islands.
Harvey H. Cluff, Provo.
Wm. D. Alexander, “
James Knell, Pinto.
Harry World, Salt Lake City.
England.
John Alexander, Fillmore.
Piedmont.
Jacob Revoir, West Jordan.
The choir sang an anthem: Sing unto the Lord.
Conference dismissed until tomorrow at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by Elder Joseph F. Smith.
THIRD DAY.
Morning, 10 o’clock.
The choir sang hymn on page 235: From Greenland’s icy mountains, From India’s coral strand.
Prayer by President Joseph Young.
The choir sang hymn on page 106: With joy we own thy servants Lord, Thy ministers below.
Morning, 10 o’clock.
The choir sang hymn on page 235: From Greenland’s icy mountains, From India’s coral strand.
Prayer by President Joseph Young.
The choir sang hymn on page 106: With joy we own thy servants Lord, Thy ministers below.
Elder George Q. Cannon then presented the following additional names as missionaries:
United States—Northern.
Peter Henrickson, Big Cottonwood.
Wm. H. Newman, Big Cottonwood.
L. A. Howard, “
C. R. Romer, Farmington.
Southern States.
Thomas Lloyd, Wellsville.
Chas. W. Hulse, Millville.
Ole Sonne, Mendon.
Frank Benson, Logan.
Seth Lanckton, Jr., Smithfield.
Wm. Turner, Salt Lake City.
Isaac Riddle, Jr., Beaver.
Andrew Homer, of Mill Creek, to Norway.
Carl Anderson, of Coalville, to the Sandwich Islands.
An exhibit was then read of the financial business of the Perpetual Emigrating Company; also a financial report of the Tithing in cash, produce, etc., in all the Stakes of Zion.
The above reports were unanimously accepted by vote of the Conference, but are too lengthy in detail for publication, the showing however was of a very satisfactory character.
United States—Northern.
Peter Henrickson, Big Cottonwood.
Wm. H. Newman, Big Cottonwood.
L. A. Howard, “
C. R. Romer, Farmington.
Southern States.
Thomas Lloyd, Wellsville.
Chas. W. Hulse, Millville.
Ole Sonne, Mendon.
Frank Benson, Logan.
Seth Lanckton, Jr., Smithfield.
Wm. Turner, Salt Lake City.
Isaac Riddle, Jr., Beaver.
Andrew Homer, of Mill Creek, to Norway.
Carl Anderson, of Coalville, to the Sandwich Islands.
An exhibit was then read of the financial business of the Perpetual Emigrating Company; also a financial report of the Tithing in cash, produce, etc., in all the Stakes of Zion.
The above reports were unanimously accepted by vote of the Conference, but are too lengthy in detail for publication, the showing however was of a very satisfactory character.
Elder Brigham Young [Jr.]
said in the reading of these reports there was considerable monotony, yet such was the general interest taken by the Latter-day Saints in the welfare of each respective Stake, he found that the quarterly, semi-annual and annual conferences now being held under recent organizations, where the financial and statistical reports were read, they had a tendency of drawing and uniting the people together.
He then spoke on the great variety of human experiences in science, mechanism, law and statesmanship and the necessity as well as privilege of the less experienced to learn from and be guided by those more advanced and better instructed, and argued that the same need existed in spiritual things. The leaders of the Latter-day Saints had proven themselves skillful in the things of the Kingdom of God, and those less skilled and less experienced, ought to look to them for guidance and instruction. In this there was no lack of freedom any more than in the deference paid by men in all branches of learning to those who were masters of knowledge. He illustrated this in a forcible manner, and closed by asking the blessings of God upon the Saints, that they might learn wisdom and obedience.
said in the reading of these reports there was considerable monotony, yet such was the general interest taken by the Latter-day Saints in the welfare of each respective Stake, he found that the quarterly, semi-annual and annual conferences now being held under recent organizations, where the financial and statistical reports were read, they had a tendency of drawing and uniting the people together.
He then spoke on the great variety of human experiences in science, mechanism, law and statesmanship and the necessity as well as privilege of the less experienced to learn from and be guided by those more advanced and better instructed, and argued that the same need existed in spiritual things. The leaders of the Latter-day Saints had proven themselves skillful in the things of the Kingdom of God, and those less skilled and less experienced, ought to look to them for guidance and instruction. In this there was no lack of freedom any more than in the deference paid by men in all branches of learning to those who were masters of knowledge. He illustrated this in a forcible manner, and closed by asking the blessings of God upon the Saints, that they might learn wisdom and obedience.
The Growth of Zion—Benefits of Seeking Counsel From the More Experienced
Discourse by Elder Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, on Tuesday Morning, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The privilege that we enjoy of meeting together again in Conference I believe is highly appreciated by the Latter-day Saints. The dry details of our reports are somewhat tedious I am aware; but no doubt many are interested in the reports of their several Stakes, for there is a feeling in the hearts of this people that causes interest to be felt for all the stakes of Zion, and I believe that the present organization together with the reports that are made quarterly, semi-annually and annually are drawing the people together in their interests. We are better acquainted with each other than ever before within my recollection. Our general assemblies bring us together, and pleasant reunions are made, and the good Spirit of God being disseminated among us makes us feel more like the children of one common parent than when we are widely dispersed and seldom behold each other's faces.
Many reflections have passed through my mind during this Conference. I have listened with interest to the remarks which have been made, and to the reports which have been read. Zion is growing, financially and in numbers. It is wonderful! I was astonished, as well acquainted as I have been with this people for the number of years that they have inhabited these valleys, to know that one-third of the entire population of this Territory—as far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned—are children under eight years of age. But such is the fact. These reports do not take in the entire population of this Territory. There is quite a number of children over eight years of age who have not been baptized and consequently they are not represented in these reports. I presume that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of cases in the midst of the Latter-day Saints where we have neglected to administer the ordinance of baptism to our children, who, according to the revelations of God, ought to be numbered among the members of this Church. The instructions which we have received are plain and pointed; perhaps I may not be a competent judge for all mankind, or for my brethren, yet to me they are full of the inspiration of the Lord and are calculated to lead and guide his children in the path of everlasting life. And it does seem impossible to me for any man, or any set of men, to refute the testimonies that have been borne to this Conference.
It is proper and consistent that we look for counsel to those who are advanced in the knowledge of the Gospel. We should do the same in regard to law or politics. If I were to go to Washington among the politicians of the country and set myself up as a politician, pretending to understand all the ins and outs of political life as, say, one of the representatives of our nation, I would find myself greatly deficient, and I would gladly seek some experienced man on whom I could rely to instruct me in regard to these things. It is true, I might read the Congressional Record, in which the speeches of our statesmen are published; I might go to hear them delivered, and exert myself otherwise to inform myself; yet though through diligence and perseverance I might acquire very considerable knowledge of this kind of business, yet I would lack a most important part, namely: the experience, and I would willingly and gladly avail myself of the teaching of an experienced man. If I were to start in the business of law, it would be reasonable to suppose, of course, that I, like the seventy men or more who follow that business in this city, would have a smattering of legal knowledge; but like them too, if a more experienced man were to come along, and especially if he were a genius in his profession, I would gladly learn of him and it would afford me pleasure to listen to him. This is the case in all things. Suppose a member of my family is sick; I am at once prompted with a desire to consult some experienced nurse who is more competent than myself in administering such things as one in that condition ought to receive. Perhaps a finger of one of my children may need amputating. I might take an ax and cut it off in my way, but I could not do it like our Dr. Anderson for instance, a man who is a skilled surgeon. I would naturally yield my way to theirs in regard to these things. And so it is through all the branches of business transacted in this life—the influence, opinion or knowledge of somebody else controls or affects that of ours.
Today we may be acquainted with a man who is really excellent in his profession, but another man comes along who can surpass him, and the former is glad to learn of the latter. And so we may follow it through until we come to the subject of religion. But the moment that subject is touched men rise up, no matter how ignorant they may be with regard to the principles which are calculated to exalt mankind, and say, “I must think for myself; no man must be trammeled in those matters; every man must have the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of his conscience.” So say I, but I do know, and we have indubitable evidence of the fact that the men who stand at the head of this people are skilled in the things pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God in the last days. This fact is proven to the satisfaction of the Latter-day Saints, to those at least, who have followed them the last 15 to 30 years. We know that they understand more about these things than we do. When questions arise, whether in politics, finance, morals or law, requiring the judgment of sound and experienced men, or when circumstances arise in our individual lives which are perplexing and of such a nature as to exhaust our ability, we naturally seek the counsel of these our brethren; and our experience has proven them to be masters of the situation; that they are skilled in their profession and abundantly able to direct us. Why should I not follow the leaders whom God has placed over me? Why should not this privilege be granted me? Is it more inconsistent in me showing my principle and desire for right in following these men than in acquiring the art of mechanics, in being taught by a more experienced mechanic? Or in politics or law or surgery, by men who are farther advanced in those professions than myself? Certainly not. And besides this the Spirit of God which I have received which is an unmistakable guide, bears witness to me that it is right for me to be taught of them and that their teachings are the teachings of heaven to the children of men, and that they are calculated, if lived up to, to lead men back into the presence of God the Father. Yet I, in connection with this whole people, am accused of yielding my own will and free agency to an overbearing priesthood, thus becoming their dupes and slaves. This is in short, the judgment generally passed on the Latter-day Saints by the American nation. And while they say this of us, their better sense would tell them that they do the same in law, in morals, in mechanism, in politics, etc., directly, and in religious matters they do the same indirectly. Well, for one—and in saying this I speak the sentiments of this whole people—I intend to follow the men appointed and ordained of God to lead and direct his Saints, as they follow Christ. “Know ye not,” says the apostle, “that to whom ye yield yourselves to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”
May the blessings of God rest upon this people and the peace of heaven be with them in all of their locations and settlements, and give unto us strength to continue faithful in the cause of truth, that we may do our part towards the building up of his kingdom, and at last be saved with the faithful, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Elder Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, on Tuesday Morning, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The privilege that we enjoy of meeting together again in Conference I believe is highly appreciated by the Latter-day Saints. The dry details of our reports are somewhat tedious I am aware; but no doubt many are interested in the reports of their several Stakes, for there is a feeling in the hearts of this people that causes interest to be felt for all the stakes of Zion, and I believe that the present organization together with the reports that are made quarterly, semi-annually and annually are drawing the people together in their interests. We are better acquainted with each other than ever before within my recollection. Our general assemblies bring us together, and pleasant reunions are made, and the good Spirit of God being disseminated among us makes us feel more like the children of one common parent than when we are widely dispersed and seldom behold each other's faces.
Many reflections have passed through my mind during this Conference. I have listened with interest to the remarks which have been made, and to the reports which have been read. Zion is growing, financially and in numbers. It is wonderful! I was astonished, as well acquainted as I have been with this people for the number of years that they have inhabited these valleys, to know that one-third of the entire population of this Territory—as far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned—are children under eight years of age. But such is the fact. These reports do not take in the entire population of this Territory. There is quite a number of children over eight years of age who have not been baptized and consequently they are not represented in these reports. I presume that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of cases in the midst of the Latter-day Saints where we have neglected to administer the ordinance of baptism to our children, who, according to the revelations of God, ought to be numbered among the members of this Church. The instructions which we have received are plain and pointed; perhaps I may not be a competent judge for all mankind, or for my brethren, yet to me they are full of the inspiration of the Lord and are calculated to lead and guide his children in the path of everlasting life. And it does seem impossible to me for any man, or any set of men, to refute the testimonies that have been borne to this Conference.
It is proper and consistent that we look for counsel to those who are advanced in the knowledge of the Gospel. We should do the same in regard to law or politics. If I were to go to Washington among the politicians of the country and set myself up as a politician, pretending to understand all the ins and outs of political life as, say, one of the representatives of our nation, I would find myself greatly deficient, and I would gladly seek some experienced man on whom I could rely to instruct me in regard to these things. It is true, I might read the Congressional Record, in which the speeches of our statesmen are published; I might go to hear them delivered, and exert myself otherwise to inform myself; yet though through diligence and perseverance I might acquire very considerable knowledge of this kind of business, yet I would lack a most important part, namely: the experience, and I would willingly and gladly avail myself of the teaching of an experienced man. If I were to start in the business of law, it would be reasonable to suppose, of course, that I, like the seventy men or more who follow that business in this city, would have a smattering of legal knowledge; but like them too, if a more experienced man were to come along, and especially if he were a genius in his profession, I would gladly learn of him and it would afford me pleasure to listen to him. This is the case in all things. Suppose a member of my family is sick; I am at once prompted with a desire to consult some experienced nurse who is more competent than myself in administering such things as one in that condition ought to receive. Perhaps a finger of one of my children may need amputating. I might take an ax and cut it off in my way, but I could not do it like our Dr. Anderson for instance, a man who is a skilled surgeon. I would naturally yield my way to theirs in regard to these things. And so it is through all the branches of business transacted in this life—the influence, opinion or knowledge of somebody else controls or affects that of ours.
Today we may be acquainted with a man who is really excellent in his profession, but another man comes along who can surpass him, and the former is glad to learn of the latter. And so we may follow it through until we come to the subject of religion. But the moment that subject is touched men rise up, no matter how ignorant they may be with regard to the principles which are calculated to exalt mankind, and say, “I must think for myself; no man must be trammeled in those matters; every man must have the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of his conscience.” So say I, but I do know, and we have indubitable evidence of the fact that the men who stand at the head of this people are skilled in the things pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God in the last days. This fact is proven to the satisfaction of the Latter-day Saints, to those at least, who have followed them the last 15 to 30 years. We know that they understand more about these things than we do. When questions arise, whether in politics, finance, morals or law, requiring the judgment of sound and experienced men, or when circumstances arise in our individual lives which are perplexing and of such a nature as to exhaust our ability, we naturally seek the counsel of these our brethren; and our experience has proven them to be masters of the situation; that they are skilled in their profession and abundantly able to direct us. Why should I not follow the leaders whom God has placed over me? Why should not this privilege be granted me? Is it more inconsistent in me showing my principle and desire for right in following these men than in acquiring the art of mechanics, in being taught by a more experienced mechanic? Or in politics or law or surgery, by men who are farther advanced in those professions than myself? Certainly not. And besides this the Spirit of God which I have received which is an unmistakable guide, bears witness to me that it is right for me to be taught of them and that their teachings are the teachings of heaven to the children of men, and that they are calculated, if lived up to, to lead men back into the presence of God the Father. Yet I, in connection with this whole people, am accused of yielding my own will and free agency to an overbearing priesthood, thus becoming their dupes and slaves. This is in short, the judgment generally passed on the Latter-day Saints by the American nation. And while they say this of us, their better sense would tell them that they do the same in law, in morals, in mechanism, in politics, etc., directly, and in religious matters they do the same indirectly. Well, for one—and in saying this I speak the sentiments of this whole people—I intend to follow the men appointed and ordained of God to lead and direct his Saints, as they follow Christ. “Know ye not,” says the apostle, “that to whom ye yield yourselves to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”
May the blessings of God rest upon this people and the peace of heaven be with them in all of their locations and settlements, and give unto us strength to continue faithful in the cause of truth, that we may do our part towards the building up of his kingdom, and at last be saved with the faithful, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Joseph F. Smith
Said he had been greatly edified in listening to what had been said during the two days’ Conference that had passed. Spoke of the willingness of the Latter-day Saints in sustaining the measures presented before them by the authorities of the church.
Not much had been said during this Conference about our temporal affairs, but many interesting items had been called over from our financial reports. The work in which we are engaged is both temporal and spiritual, and these are so intimately blended together that he never knew where to draw the dividing line; but from experience and observation, he knew that the temporal duties and obligations which the kingdom of God imposes upon us, always sit light and easy, when the spiritual duties and privileges were duly and properly attended to and enjoyed, and the spirit of God was in the heart.
He exhorted the Saints to seek after and enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, which would abundantly qualify them for the performance of every duty, for God does not require of any of his children anything that they cannot perform.
We should be willing to make any sacrifice for the sake of the souls of the children of men, and be ready at any time when called upon to attend to any temporal duty as well as to go and preach the gospel to the nations afar off. He testified to the watchful and jealous care that is exercised by the present leader of the Church (President John Taylor) with his brethren the Twelve, in everything that affects the general or individual interests of the Saints.
He made a few remarks on the subject of the P. E. Fund indebtedness. Many Elders were now being sent out on missions to preach the gospel, and in some instances where large families are left but partially provided for, their wants should be supplied by those who remain at home, and not be allowed to suffer. He also referred to the building of temples, to the honest payment of our tithes and offerings, the proper attention to the poor and infirm, the sustaining of home industries, for Zion will never become independent until our wants can be supplied by the labor of our own hands. He also adverted to the raising of silk, which this country and climate are so abundantly adapted for, and the employment of children very profitably used in its manufacture.
He prayed that God would bless the Saints in all their efforts to build up Zion.
Said he had been greatly edified in listening to what had been said during the two days’ Conference that had passed. Spoke of the willingness of the Latter-day Saints in sustaining the measures presented before them by the authorities of the church.
Not much had been said during this Conference about our temporal affairs, but many interesting items had been called over from our financial reports. The work in which we are engaged is both temporal and spiritual, and these are so intimately blended together that he never knew where to draw the dividing line; but from experience and observation, he knew that the temporal duties and obligations which the kingdom of God imposes upon us, always sit light and easy, when the spiritual duties and privileges were duly and properly attended to and enjoyed, and the spirit of God was in the heart.
He exhorted the Saints to seek after and enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, which would abundantly qualify them for the performance of every duty, for God does not require of any of his children anything that they cannot perform.
We should be willing to make any sacrifice for the sake of the souls of the children of men, and be ready at any time when called upon to attend to any temporal duty as well as to go and preach the gospel to the nations afar off. He testified to the watchful and jealous care that is exercised by the present leader of the Church (President John Taylor) with his brethren the Twelve, in everything that affects the general or individual interests of the Saints.
He made a few remarks on the subject of the P. E. Fund indebtedness. Many Elders were now being sent out on missions to preach the gospel, and in some instances where large families are left but partially provided for, their wants should be supplied by those who remain at home, and not be allowed to suffer. He also referred to the building of temples, to the honest payment of our tithes and offerings, the proper attention to the poor and infirm, the sustaining of home industries, for Zion will never become independent until our wants can be supplied by the labor of our own hands. He also adverted to the raising of silk, which this country and climate are so abundantly adapted for, and the employment of children very profitably used in its manufacture.
He prayed that God would bless the Saints in all their efforts to build up Zion.
Duties of the Saints in Temporalities—Implicit Obedience Requisite—Church Interests Carefully Guarded—Gathering the Poor—Home Industries
Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
There is a little time remaining, and as I have been requested I desire to make such remarks as may occur to my mind. I have been pleased and edified during the Conference which is now drawing to a close. It has been very gratifying to see the large number of people that has gathered together during the two days that have passed. It is evident that the Latter-day Saints are interested in the welfare of Zion, and are prompted to attend to the duties which devolve upon them, to take that part which belongs to them; in adopting and sustaining the measures proposed for effectually carrying out the purposes of the Almighty in relation to the great Latter-day work in which we are engaged, and in seconding and sustaining those who are appointed to take the oversight of all the affairs of the Church, by the voice of the people and by the voice of the Lord. In doing this we are but doing our duty, still it is ever pleasant to see the people willing to do their duty, and especially so, to see so many cheerfully respond to their duty as have done so during this Conference. It is certainly encouraging to those who stand at our head to see the people rally around them, manifesting such faith, good feeling and love for the work of God and for those whom the Lord has inspired with his good Spirit to lead us. It is an evidence, at least, that in a great measure, our desires and our hearts are united.
There are a great many things which are necessary for us to consider and so far as possible thoroughly understand. Not much has been said during this Conference in relation to our temporal affairs, except so far as the reports which have been read have shown the financial and statistical condition of the Latter-day Saints. We belong to a temporal as well as a spiritual kingdom, and it is very necessary that we should take a lively interest in whatever tends to build up the kingdom of God, temporal as well as spiritual, and spiritual as well as temporal.
I have never yet found anyone who can draw the dividing line between our spiritual and temporal interests, neither do I expect to. I believe that it is quite as necessary that we should attend to the temporal, as it is to attend to the spiritual duties which devolve upon us, and vice versa. It will not do to devote all our time to the spiritual part, nor all to the temporal alone. We must not run to extremes, but we should carry on the work of the Lord committed to us, in all its parts, or bearings. We should have sufficient of the good Spirit to make the temporal labors light and easy to bear. I find that when we have to carry on the temporal labors without the Spirit, or the life, light, vigor and power of faith, we are apt to feel that it is burdensome and hard, or difficult to bear; but when we enjoy the companionship of the Holy Spirit, we can and do joyfully perform all the temporal duties and labors which may be righteously required of us. The Lord will not require of his people anything which they are unable to perform. He will not impose burdens upon his people that they cannot bear; but if we have not the love of the truth and the light of the good Spirit to guide us, the most simple duties and the easiest tasks may seem burdens, too grievous to be borne. I have known Elders, who, all their lives, have been “minute men;” they have never stopped a moment to question the calls that have been made upon them, neither have they stopped to consider their own temporal interests, they have gone and come at the request of their brethren in the service of the people and the Lord. They have had their cares and personal responsibilities, which have not always been of the lightest character, and which have taxed their energies to the utmost, or at least equal to many of those brethren who have enjoyed their leisure at home, spending largely their time and ability in the interests of themselves and families. They have had perhaps as many in family to look after, to feed, clothe, and otherwise care for; yet these things have not been considered, or allowed to stand in the way, when duty called them to go forth in the interest of the Church. They were on hand, like the ready watchman, scarcely stopping to think of themselves or theirs. This they have done with all their hearts, and their labors have never been regarded as burdensome; but on the contrary, they afforded them joy, pleasure and constant satisfaction. They have not grown weary, they do not think that they have done enough, as some have thought who have performed a short mission—that it is now time they were beginning to do something for themselves; they are still ready and willing to go or come, or do whatever may be required of them, regarding, at all times, their duties in the priesthood of greater moment than any personal considerations. The Lord has blessed them in their labors; he has made their burdens comparatively easy to bear; they have not felt the load, but they have gone on rejoicing, never failing to accomplish the work assigned them, to the best of their ability, trusting in the Lord, at the same time doing all in their power, for the maintenance of themselves and families.
This is but a sample of what all the people ought to be. We should all be willing to labor for the welfare and salvation of the people—to sacrifice our own desires and feelings for the good of the whole, being perfectly willing to do the bidding of the Almighty, with no will of our own but to serve the purposes of the Lord. Is this not consistent with the pattern set us by the Savior? Jesus said, “Father, not my will, but thy will be done.” This was the doctrine he inculcated among his followers, and commanded them to obey; that their will should be swallowed up in the will and pleasure of the Almighty, that they should feel in their hearts that they are willing to serve God even to the sacrifice of everything, though it should be life itself, “counting all things but dross in comparison to the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” When we possess the spirit of the Gospel and faith in God, as we should, we will have no burdens that will be difficult to bear; on the contrary, we will find our “yokes easy and our burdens light,” and it will be a pleasure to do our duty, whatever that may be. If we should be called to preach the Gospel, we will find it a pleasure to preach the Gospel, we will find it a pleasure to respond, for we will feel that we are enlisted in the service of God, for the salvation of souls, including our own. What is there to compare with this labor? Can we compare houses and lands, gold or silver, or the wealth of the earth, to the salvation of the souls of men? What will a man not give for his own life? And what will it profit a man though he gain the whole world, if he at last lose his own soul? These are questions propounded by the Savior who, is “the author and finisher of our faith.” That which is of the earth is earthy; it belongs here, we cannot carry it away when we leave this state of existence, we cannot possess it beyond the veil, unless we live so while here that eventually we shall be numbered with the Saints of the Most High God—for it is said that unto them shall the earth be given, but not until they are prepared to “possess it for ever and ever.” And then they must receive it from Him who has the right to give. If we do right, therefore, in this probation, when “the earth and the fulness thereof shall be given to the saints of the most High,” we will be numbered among those who will inherit it. But that time has not yet come. The earth and its fulness are not ours—if they were, we might remain here in peaceful possession; but they are God's, and we are his, what we have being committed to us, as stewards, for a little season; therefore, our worldly riches and possessions are but dross compared with our eternal salvation. We are laboring for the salvation of souls, and we should feel that this is the greatest duty devolving upon us. Therefore, we should feel willing to sacrifice everything, if need be, for the love of God, the salvation of men, and the triumph of the kingdom of God upon the earth, in which we expect to receive our reward, our exaltation and our crown of life. These are not mere suppositions, the chimera of men's brains, or the cunning of man's devices; but things which have been revealed to us from God, he having spoken and declared these truths unto man in our day.
I can testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that so far as the Spirit of God manifests to me, all is well in Zion today. The work of God is progressing. The interests of the kingdom are carefully and jealously guarded by those upon whom rests this responsibility. Zion's welfare is the constant theme, meditation and prayer. They desire that no interest of Zion shall be allowed to fail, or flag, for the want of proper care and timely attention. The finances of the Church are guarded carefully by the Trustee-in-Trust for the Church. This I can testify to, having been more or less intimately associated with him for the last six months. I know he has carefully looked after the financial interest of the Church, as well as the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people, that the Church might be protected in its rights as well as individuals and that individuals might also be protected in their rights as well as the Church, that justice might be dealt out to all.
There have been some circumstances developed and brought to the notice of the Trustee-in-Trust and the Auditing Committee, which have been of a very trying character, both to their feelings and to the feelings of the other members of the council of Apostles, and no doubt also very trying to the feelings of some of the brethren who have supposed they had claims upon the Trustee-in-Trust, which investigation has proved they did not have. And in other instances, where it has been shown that the Trustee-in-Trust has claims upon individuals who supposed they were not indebted to the Church. But in all of these matters evenhanded justice has been sought to be dealt out to the individual and to the Church; but while the Church can afford to be liberal in its alms to the worthy and needy poor, and to pay all just demands, or claims upon it, it cannot afford to sanction or allow claims that are not just. And further, it is but just and fair that individuals should be as prompt, so far as it is in their power, to meet their obligations to the Church as it is expected that the Church will be in meeting its obligations to individuals.
We do not expect that the rights of the Church will be disregarded in any particular. We do not expect that any person will indulge, or even admit the feeling that the Church is an institution only to be preyed upon; but we expect that the people do and will understand that we cannot afford to deal in any other manner than upon the principles of the strictest justice, righteousness and equity between man and man, and between the Church and individual members of the Church, or the individual members and the Church.
We have had a very excellent discourse from the President of the P. E. Fund Company, in regard to the duties of those who are indebted to the company. He has shown the vast amount that is now owing to that company by individuals who have been assisted to immigrate to this goodly land by its means; and the ingratitude, want of charity and dishonor which attaches to individuals who have been so generously assisted out of poverty and oppression, and placed in circumstances to become free and independent, and then neglect or fail to do their duty in these matters.
In some instances individuals who have been assisted to Zion by the P. E. Fund, have gathered around them of this world's goods until they have become rich, and still their indebtedness to the “Fund” remains unsettled.
It is more than probable that these same individuals would always have remained in poverty had they not been gathered to Zion by the P. E. Fund: thus, we see, they are doubly indebted to the “fund,” first for their deliverance from Babylon, from poverty and bondage; and secondly for the wealth and liberty which they now possess.
And again they are manifoldly more guilty of ingratitude to God and man, because they have withheld from the fund its just dues—which they were able to pay, and deprived others more worthy than themselves from receiving assistance in the manner they had been assisted.
Every man that owes the fund a dollar should realize that it is a just debt, that there are others in the same condition that they were in when picked up by the P. E. Fund company and brought to this blessed land, that they are praying and pleading for deliverance also, and that perhaps they are quite as worthy—if not more so—than many who have been helped and now owe the “fund” to an amount which, if all was paid up, would be more than sufficient to immigrate to this country all the Saints now in Europe.
Men but do their duty when they pay their just debts and to do so in this case they discharge a triple duty—to the Fund, themselves and to the ungathered, worthy poor. What honorable person can refuse or neglect to do such a duty?
We are sending large numbers of Elders from time to time, to preach the Gospel abroad. It is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to assist those Elders on their missions when they need assistance, or when they are unable to fit themselves out. Their families too should be cared for by the Church, during the absence of the husband and father, so far as they are needy or unable to provide for themselves. Every man is in duty bound to do all he reasonably can to roll on the work of God, to maintain himself and family and assist to build up Zion.
Sometimes a good man is needed to fill a certain mission, he is well adapted to the position he is called to fill, or the duty he is required to perform; but he is poor, he may perhaps have a large family to maintain, which would require his whole time if devoted wholly to that end, yet his ability, faith, integrity and other qualifications peculiarly fit him for the duty required, and he is the most available man to be found. Now what is to be done? Are we to excuse him because his family is large and require his services, or because of his poverty? Certainly not.
If the interest of Zion requires his services, in that direction lies his legitimate path of duty. Then it becomes the duty of the Saints to provide for his family and see that they do not lack the necessaries of life; and it would not hurt us to see that they enjoyed some of the comforts.
If there is no excuse for the poor, certainly there can be none for the wealthy, nevertheless the rich are often so engrossed in their business so bound up in worldly affairs, that they are but poorly qualified for missionary service; the greater the reason why they should freely impart of their abundance in aid of those who are better fitted for the ministry when such are called into the missionary field. It is true the tithings of the people are for these and other purposes, and no doubt when all the rich and poor with one accord honestly obey the law of tithing there will be plenty in the store house of the Lord, to build temples and houses of worship, to feed and clothe the hungry and naked to provide for the aged, infirm and poor, to gather the Saints, to send the Elders to the nations of the earth and maintain their families while they are gone, and also to purchase the land of Zion and redeem the Center Stake and obtain possession of our inheritances, or do any other thing which may be needed, although in the beginning God gave a more perfect law than that of tithing by which to accomplish all these things, but the Saints were not able to abide the higher law—and it was temporarily suspended, therefore until we know how, and will do better than we now do, our tithings and our offerings are necessary to carry on the work of God.
These duties should not be considered a hardship by the Saints. The law of tithing is a commandment with promise of reward for obedience. No man ever observed this law but he was blessed in so doing, for God is both able and willing to fulfill all his promises when the conditions are complied with on our part. Those duties which God requires may seem a burden to the disobedient and unfaithful, but to the willing and obedient they are sources of blessing, pleasure and delight and are no burden at all. Our burdens become lighter in proportion to our increasing faithfulness. Our enjoyment of the gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit will increase as we become more diligent and so will our knowledge extend and our title to exaltation and eternal life become more and more sure.
The sending of Elders from year to year, and thousands of dollars annually to gather the poor is not all we have to do. We have home industries to look after. We must provide employment for our people, that when they are gathered home they may not be idle for want of remunerative labor. We should establish branches of industry from which we could at least provide for our own necessities and as soon as possible be able to export our home productions, and thus give employment to every faithful Latter-day Saint who is gathered to Zion, that individuals may not only become self sustaining but contribute their proportion to the general good.
Our manufactories should be fostered, patronized and protected, and their staple wares sought after and preferred by the people, even though they were more costly at first. It needs no argument to prove to the sagacious and far seeing that this policy will pay the best in the end.
While we continue to be purchasers and importers only, we will remain dependent to, and at the mercy of manufacturers and exporters from abroad; but when we can produce what we need by our own industry and skill, from the elements which so abundantly surround us, we cease to import, to be dependent upon Babylon, or the world, we approach independence, and begin to assume the position in the earth which God has designed we should, to lead and not be led, to teach and not be taught, to be the “head and not the tail.”
Every Latter-day Saint should be proud to wear homemade clothes, from head to foot, and when we begin to study our best interests, and the interest of Zion we will do so though it costs us more now than to wear the stuffed, starched, glossed and glittering shoddy of the world, or even the best the world affords. Money spent in home manufactures, is money saved to the community, it is money laid up for future use and benefit at home, while money sent abroad builds up New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Lowell, and the world generally all of whom are opposed to the people and the work of God and will only return evil to us for the patronage we bestow upon them.
We should be prepared, not only to manufacture our own wearing apparel, but also to make all our mechanical and agricultural implements, our household furniture, our building materials, our wagons, carriages and equipment, with all that is necessary for the righteous and legitimate use of man, that when Babylon shall fall we may be prepared for it, and not be found among those who shall wail and lament because “no man buyeth her merchandise any more.”
I see some of the sisters wearing fine hats trimmed with silk ribbon, also silk shawls, dresses, neckties, etc., which are of their own production and make. This is as it should be—“the beauty of the work of their own hands.”
Perhaps no country in the world abounds more profusely than ours, with the real elements of wealth, and none better adapted to the raising of silk, which enters so largely into, and is so eagerly sought for female apparel, and there are thousands of men, women and children in Utah, who could as well as not devote a portion of their time to its culture, say a month or six weeks in the proper season of the year, both to their pleasure and profit, if they would, and the result would be the production in vast quantities of the much coveted article of silk, and an increase of profitable labor.
Sister Zina Young, Father Graves and a few others are interesting themselves in this industry and are trying to awaken an interest therein in the minds of the industrial classes, that silk may eventually become a staple product of Utah. So far, I fear, they have found it rather uphill work. The people seem to be eager for immediate profit, for present gain, which in too many cases is exceedingly detrimental to the individual as well as to the public good. It is difficult to get people to look forward, or labor for the future; we are all so terribly wrapped up and engrossed in the present and in self. But the culture of silk is gradually being extended, I am told, and by and by it will, unquestionably, become one of our flourishing industries. A little child is capable of attending to a large part of the labor involved in the production of raw silk, and children a little farther advanced can prepare it for the loom.
May the Lord bless the people. May the Spirit of the Lord abide in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, and lead them continually, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Conference was adjourned until 2 p. m.
The choir sang an anthem, Resound His praise.
Benediction by Elder D. H. Wells.
Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
There is a little time remaining, and as I have been requested I desire to make such remarks as may occur to my mind. I have been pleased and edified during the Conference which is now drawing to a close. It has been very gratifying to see the large number of people that has gathered together during the two days that have passed. It is evident that the Latter-day Saints are interested in the welfare of Zion, and are prompted to attend to the duties which devolve upon them, to take that part which belongs to them; in adopting and sustaining the measures proposed for effectually carrying out the purposes of the Almighty in relation to the great Latter-day work in which we are engaged, and in seconding and sustaining those who are appointed to take the oversight of all the affairs of the Church, by the voice of the people and by the voice of the Lord. In doing this we are but doing our duty, still it is ever pleasant to see the people willing to do their duty, and especially so, to see so many cheerfully respond to their duty as have done so during this Conference. It is certainly encouraging to those who stand at our head to see the people rally around them, manifesting such faith, good feeling and love for the work of God and for those whom the Lord has inspired with his good Spirit to lead us. It is an evidence, at least, that in a great measure, our desires and our hearts are united.
There are a great many things which are necessary for us to consider and so far as possible thoroughly understand. Not much has been said during this Conference in relation to our temporal affairs, except so far as the reports which have been read have shown the financial and statistical condition of the Latter-day Saints. We belong to a temporal as well as a spiritual kingdom, and it is very necessary that we should take a lively interest in whatever tends to build up the kingdom of God, temporal as well as spiritual, and spiritual as well as temporal.
I have never yet found anyone who can draw the dividing line between our spiritual and temporal interests, neither do I expect to. I believe that it is quite as necessary that we should attend to the temporal, as it is to attend to the spiritual duties which devolve upon us, and vice versa. It will not do to devote all our time to the spiritual part, nor all to the temporal alone. We must not run to extremes, but we should carry on the work of the Lord committed to us, in all its parts, or bearings. We should have sufficient of the good Spirit to make the temporal labors light and easy to bear. I find that when we have to carry on the temporal labors without the Spirit, or the life, light, vigor and power of faith, we are apt to feel that it is burdensome and hard, or difficult to bear; but when we enjoy the companionship of the Holy Spirit, we can and do joyfully perform all the temporal duties and labors which may be righteously required of us. The Lord will not require of his people anything which they are unable to perform. He will not impose burdens upon his people that they cannot bear; but if we have not the love of the truth and the light of the good Spirit to guide us, the most simple duties and the easiest tasks may seem burdens, too grievous to be borne. I have known Elders, who, all their lives, have been “minute men;” they have never stopped a moment to question the calls that have been made upon them, neither have they stopped to consider their own temporal interests, they have gone and come at the request of their brethren in the service of the people and the Lord. They have had their cares and personal responsibilities, which have not always been of the lightest character, and which have taxed their energies to the utmost, or at least equal to many of those brethren who have enjoyed their leisure at home, spending largely their time and ability in the interests of themselves and families. They have had perhaps as many in family to look after, to feed, clothe, and otherwise care for; yet these things have not been considered, or allowed to stand in the way, when duty called them to go forth in the interest of the Church. They were on hand, like the ready watchman, scarcely stopping to think of themselves or theirs. This they have done with all their hearts, and their labors have never been regarded as burdensome; but on the contrary, they afforded them joy, pleasure and constant satisfaction. They have not grown weary, they do not think that they have done enough, as some have thought who have performed a short mission—that it is now time they were beginning to do something for themselves; they are still ready and willing to go or come, or do whatever may be required of them, regarding, at all times, their duties in the priesthood of greater moment than any personal considerations. The Lord has blessed them in their labors; he has made their burdens comparatively easy to bear; they have not felt the load, but they have gone on rejoicing, never failing to accomplish the work assigned them, to the best of their ability, trusting in the Lord, at the same time doing all in their power, for the maintenance of themselves and families.
This is but a sample of what all the people ought to be. We should all be willing to labor for the welfare and salvation of the people—to sacrifice our own desires and feelings for the good of the whole, being perfectly willing to do the bidding of the Almighty, with no will of our own but to serve the purposes of the Lord. Is this not consistent with the pattern set us by the Savior? Jesus said, “Father, not my will, but thy will be done.” This was the doctrine he inculcated among his followers, and commanded them to obey; that their will should be swallowed up in the will and pleasure of the Almighty, that they should feel in their hearts that they are willing to serve God even to the sacrifice of everything, though it should be life itself, “counting all things but dross in comparison to the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” When we possess the spirit of the Gospel and faith in God, as we should, we will have no burdens that will be difficult to bear; on the contrary, we will find our “yokes easy and our burdens light,” and it will be a pleasure to do our duty, whatever that may be. If we should be called to preach the Gospel, we will find it a pleasure to preach the Gospel, we will find it a pleasure to respond, for we will feel that we are enlisted in the service of God, for the salvation of souls, including our own. What is there to compare with this labor? Can we compare houses and lands, gold or silver, or the wealth of the earth, to the salvation of the souls of men? What will a man not give for his own life? And what will it profit a man though he gain the whole world, if he at last lose his own soul? These are questions propounded by the Savior who, is “the author and finisher of our faith.” That which is of the earth is earthy; it belongs here, we cannot carry it away when we leave this state of existence, we cannot possess it beyond the veil, unless we live so while here that eventually we shall be numbered with the Saints of the Most High God—for it is said that unto them shall the earth be given, but not until they are prepared to “possess it for ever and ever.” And then they must receive it from Him who has the right to give. If we do right, therefore, in this probation, when “the earth and the fulness thereof shall be given to the saints of the most High,” we will be numbered among those who will inherit it. But that time has not yet come. The earth and its fulness are not ours—if they were, we might remain here in peaceful possession; but they are God's, and we are his, what we have being committed to us, as stewards, for a little season; therefore, our worldly riches and possessions are but dross compared with our eternal salvation. We are laboring for the salvation of souls, and we should feel that this is the greatest duty devolving upon us. Therefore, we should feel willing to sacrifice everything, if need be, for the love of God, the salvation of men, and the triumph of the kingdom of God upon the earth, in which we expect to receive our reward, our exaltation and our crown of life. These are not mere suppositions, the chimera of men's brains, or the cunning of man's devices; but things which have been revealed to us from God, he having spoken and declared these truths unto man in our day.
I can testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that so far as the Spirit of God manifests to me, all is well in Zion today. The work of God is progressing. The interests of the kingdom are carefully and jealously guarded by those upon whom rests this responsibility. Zion's welfare is the constant theme, meditation and prayer. They desire that no interest of Zion shall be allowed to fail, or flag, for the want of proper care and timely attention. The finances of the Church are guarded carefully by the Trustee-in-Trust for the Church. This I can testify to, having been more or less intimately associated with him for the last six months. I know he has carefully looked after the financial interest of the Church, as well as the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people, that the Church might be protected in its rights as well as individuals and that individuals might also be protected in their rights as well as the Church, that justice might be dealt out to all.
There have been some circumstances developed and brought to the notice of the Trustee-in-Trust and the Auditing Committee, which have been of a very trying character, both to their feelings and to the feelings of the other members of the council of Apostles, and no doubt also very trying to the feelings of some of the brethren who have supposed they had claims upon the Trustee-in-Trust, which investigation has proved they did not have. And in other instances, where it has been shown that the Trustee-in-Trust has claims upon individuals who supposed they were not indebted to the Church. But in all of these matters evenhanded justice has been sought to be dealt out to the individual and to the Church; but while the Church can afford to be liberal in its alms to the worthy and needy poor, and to pay all just demands, or claims upon it, it cannot afford to sanction or allow claims that are not just. And further, it is but just and fair that individuals should be as prompt, so far as it is in their power, to meet their obligations to the Church as it is expected that the Church will be in meeting its obligations to individuals.
We do not expect that the rights of the Church will be disregarded in any particular. We do not expect that any person will indulge, or even admit the feeling that the Church is an institution only to be preyed upon; but we expect that the people do and will understand that we cannot afford to deal in any other manner than upon the principles of the strictest justice, righteousness and equity between man and man, and between the Church and individual members of the Church, or the individual members and the Church.
We have had a very excellent discourse from the President of the P. E. Fund Company, in regard to the duties of those who are indebted to the company. He has shown the vast amount that is now owing to that company by individuals who have been assisted to immigrate to this goodly land by its means; and the ingratitude, want of charity and dishonor which attaches to individuals who have been so generously assisted out of poverty and oppression, and placed in circumstances to become free and independent, and then neglect or fail to do their duty in these matters.
In some instances individuals who have been assisted to Zion by the P. E. Fund, have gathered around them of this world's goods until they have become rich, and still their indebtedness to the “Fund” remains unsettled.
It is more than probable that these same individuals would always have remained in poverty had they not been gathered to Zion by the P. E. Fund: thus, we see, they are doubly indebted to the “fund,” first for their deliverance from Babylon, from poverty and bondage; and secondly for the wealth and liberty which they now possess.
And again they are manifoldly more guilty of ingratitude to God and man, because they have withheld from the fund its just dues—which they were able to pay, and deprived others more worthy than themselves from receiving assistance in the manner they had been assisted.
Every man that owes the fund a dollar should realize that it is a just debt, that there are others in the same condition that they were in when picked up by the P. E. Fund company and brought to this blessed land, that they are praying and pleading for deliverance also, and that perhaps they are quite as worthy—if not more so—than many who have been helped and now owe the “fund” to an amount which, if all was paid up, would be more than sufficient to immigrate to this country all the Saints now in Europe.
Men but do their duty when they pay their just debts and to do so in this case they discharge a triple duty—to the Fund, themselves and to the ungathered, worthy poor. What honorable person can refuse or neglect to do such a duty?
We are sending large numbers of Elders from time to time, to preach the Gospel abroad. It is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to assist those Elders on their missions when they need assistance, or when they are unable to fit themselves out. Their families too should be cared for by the Church, during the absence of the husband and father, so far as they are needy or unable to provide for themselves. Every man is in duty bound to do all he reasonably can to roll on the work of God, to maintain himself and family and assist to build up Zion.
Sometimes a good man is needed to fill a certain mission, he is well adapted to the position he is called to fill, or the duty he is required to perform; but he is poor, he may perhaps have a large family to maintain, which would require his whole time if devoted wholly to that end, yet his ability, faith, integrity and other qualifications peculiarly fit him for the duty required, and he is the most available man to be found. Now what is to be done? Are we to excuse him because his family is large and require his services, or because of his poverty? Certainly not.
If the interest of Zion requires his services, in that direction lies his legitimate path of duty. Then it becomes the duty of the Saints to provide for his family and see that they do not lack the necessaries of life; and it would not hurt us to see that they enjoyed some of the comforts.
If there is no excuse for the poor, certainly there can be none for the wealthy, nevertheless the rich are often so engrossed in their business so bound up in worldly affairs, that they are but poorly qualified for missionary service; the greater the reason why they should freely impart of their abundance in aid of those who are better fitted for the ministry when such are called into the missionary field. It is true the tithings of the people are for these and other purposes, and no doubt when all the rich and poor with one accord honestly obey the law of tithing there will be plenty in the store house of the Lord, to build temples and houses of worship, to feed and clothe the hungry and naked to provide for the aged, infirm and poor, to gather the Saints, to send the Elders to the nations of the earth and maintain their families while they are gone, and also to purchase the land of Zion and redeem the Center Stake and obtain possession of our inheritances, or do any other thing which may be needed, although in the beginning God gave a more perfect law than that of tithing by which to accomplish all these things, but the Saints were not able to abide the higher law—and it was temporarily suspended, therefore until we know how, and will do better than we now do, our tithings and our offerings are necessary to carry on the work of God.
These duties should not be considered a hardship by the Saints. The law of tithing is a commandment with promise of reward for obedience. No man ever observed this law but he was blessed in so doing, for God is both able and willing to fulfill all his promises when the conditions are complied with on our part. Those duties which God requires may seem a burden to the disobedient and unfaithful, but to the willing and obedient they are sources of blessing, pleasure and delight and are no burden at all. Our burdens become lighter in proportion to our increasing faithfulness. Our enjoyment of the gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit will increase as we become more diligent and so will our knowledge extend and our title to exaltation and eternal life become more and more sure.
The sending of Elders from year to year, and thousands of dollars annually to gather the poor is not all we have to do. We have home industries to look after. We must provide employment for our people, that when they are gathered home they may not be idle for want of remunerative labor. We should establish branches of industry from which we could at least provide for our own necessities and as soon as possible be able to export our home productions, and thus give employment to every faithful Latter-day Saint who is gathered to Zion, that individuals may not only become self sustaining but contribute their proportion to the general good.
Our manufactories should be fostered, patronized and protected, and their staple wares sought after and preferred by the people, even though they were more costly at first. It needs no argument to prove to the sagacious and far seeing that this policy will pay the best in the end.
While we continue to be purchasers and importers only, we will remain dependent to, and at the mercy of manufacturers and exporters from abroad; but when we can produce what we need by our own industry and skill, from the elements which so abundantly surround us, we cease to import, to be dependent upon Babylon, or the world, we approach independence, and begin to assume the position in the earth which God has designed we should, to lead and not be led, to teach and not be taught, to be the “head and not the tail.”
Every Latter-day Saint should be proud to wear homemade clothes, from head to foot, and when we begin to study our best interests, and the interest of Zion we will do so though it costs us more now than to wear the stuffed, starched, glossed and glittering shoddy of the world, or even the best the world affords. Money spent in home manufactures, is money saved to the community, it is money laid up for future use and benefit at home, while money sent abroad builds up New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Lowell, and the world generally all of whom are opposed to the people and the work of God and will only return evil to us for the patronage we bestow upon them.
We should be prepared, not only to manufacture our own wearing apparel, but also to make all our mechanical and agricultural implements, our household furniture, our building materials, our wagons, carriages and equipment, with all that is necessary for the righteous and legitimate use of man, that when Babylon shall fall we may be prepared for it, and not be found among those who shall wail and lament because “no man buyeth her merchandise any more.”
I see some of the sisters wearing fine hats trimmed with silk ribbon, also silk shawls, dresses, neckties, etc., which are of their own production and make. This is as it should be—“the beauty of the work of their own hands.”
Perhaps no country in the world abounds more profusely than ours, with the real elements of wealth, and none better adapted to the raising of silk, which enters so largely into, and is so eagerly sought for female apparel, and there are thousands of men, women and children in Utah, who could as well as not devote a portion of their time to its culture, say a month or six weeks in the proper season of the year, both to their pleasure and profit, if they would, and the result would be the production in vast quantities of the much coveted article of silk, and an increase of profitable labor.
Sister Zina Young, Father Graves and a few others are interesting themselves in this industry and are trying to awaken an interest therein in the minds of the industrial classes, that silk may eventually become a staple product of Utah. So far, I fear, they have found it rather uphill work. The people seem to be eager for immediate profit, for present gain, which in too many cases is exceedingly detrimental to the individual as well as to the public good. It is difficult to get people to look forward, or labor for the future; we are all so terribly wrapped up and engrossed in the present and in self. But the culture of silk is gradually being extended, I am told, and by and by it will, unquestionably, become one of our flourishing industries. A little child is capable of attending to a large part of the labor involved in the production of raw silk, and children a little farther advanced can prepare it for the loom.
May the Lord bless the people. May the Spirit of the Lord abide in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, and lead them continually, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Conference was adjourned until 2 p. m.
The choir sang an anthem, Resound His praise.
Benediction by Elder D. H. Wells.
Afternoon, 2 p. m.
The choir sang hymn on page 172: All you that love Immanuel’s name, Whose spirits burn with ardent flame.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
The choir sang hymn on page 7: Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God.
The choir sang hymn on page 172: All you that love Immanuel’s name, Whose spirits burn with ardent flame.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
The choir sang hymn on page 7: Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God.
Elder George Q. Cannon
then read the report of the Trustee-in-Trust, including the receipts and disbursements of the Tithing.
It was moved and carried unanimously that the report be accepted.
The following names were then presented and unanimously sustained as missionaries for Europe:
Henry Greensides, Salt Lake City.
George Smith Grant, Salt Lake City.
then read the report of the Trustee-in-Trust, including the receipts and disbursements of the Tithing.
It was moved and carried unanimously that the report be accepted.
The following names were then presented and unanimously sustained as missionaries for Europe:
Henry Greensides, Salt Lake City.
George Smith Grant, Salt Lake City.
Elder Moses Thatcher
expressed his feelings of gratitude to God for his manifold mercies manifested towards us who live in these peaceful valleys of the mountains. He rejoiced in the many improvements so visible everywhere as the work of man, but he felt in addressing the youth of our community to remind them that although the works of man appeared so wonderful, they must look beyond and see and acknowledge that all wisdom comes from God, who was the organizer of the materials out of which men formed their works of art, and held in His hand all the powers discovered and developed by the principles of science. He made a few timely remarks of warning against the spirit of skepticism and infidelity. He then bore a strong testimony that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Prest. John Taylor were inspired servants of God to lead the people and guide them in ways of righteousness, and he had learned by his short experience that the only true source of happiness consisted in keeping of God’s commandments.
expressed his feelings of gratitude to God for his manifold mercies manifested towards us who live in these peaceful valleys of the mountains. He rejoiced in the many improvements so visible everywhere as the work of man, but he felt in addressing the youth of our community to remind them that although the works of man appeared so wonderful, they must look beyond and see and acknowledge that all wisdom comes from God, who was the organizer of the materials out of which men formed their works of art, and held in His hand all the powers discovered and developed by the principles of science. He made a few timely remarks of warning against the spirit of skepticism and infidelity. He then bore a strong testimony that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Prest. John Taylor were inspired servants of God to lead the people and guide them in ways of righteousness, and he had learned by his short experience that the only true source of happiness consisted in keeping of God’s commandments.
Manifest Blessings of God to the Saints—Proper Education of the Young—Infidelity the Result of Ignorance
Discourse by Elder Moses Thatcher, delivered at the General Conference, Tuesday Afternoon, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In trying to address so large an audience, I earnestly desire an interest in the prayers of my brethren and sisters, that the few remarks I may offer may be dictated by the Spirit of God. There are many things that we, as Elders in Israel, should always be pleased to speak of, and particularly in this case in reference to the kindness of our Father in heaven towards us as a people. We are permitted to dwell in peace, surrounded with the blessings of life and liberty, having pleasant homes wherein to dwell, and God to be our Father and Friend. When I look around upon the homes of the Latter-day Saints and see how the elements have been changed and made so propitious, enabling us to produce food and clothing, the necessities and many of the luxuries of life, my heart is exceedingly grateful, for I must confess there is no land with which I am familiar where the blessings of God are so abundantly bestowed as in our own. It appears to me that every bud is not only willing, but does blossom, and where seed by man is sown broadcast in the ground it comes forth, bearing twenty, thirty, or fifty fold. This, my brethren and sisters, is not the result of the work of man; but it is the blessings of our Heavenly Father. And how any human being can look upon the mountains by which we are surrounded, and gaze upon the beautiful fields and smiling nature seen on every hand, and not be able to acknowledge God in all these things is beyond my comprehension. In speaking to the young people particularly I have had sometimes pleasure in referring to the works of man, comparing them with the works of God. And while I believe it proper for us to look with pleasure upon the accomplishments of art and science, and upon the skilled workmanship of man, yet I would have our young people always realize that God is the originator; I would have them understand, as the arts and sciences are being developed and new discoveries are being brought out by what we call the genius of man, that God understood all these things before they were made known to us. And while having them admire and wonder at the grand achievement of man in chaining the lightning, thus making it to serve his purposes; and while it was the work of man that molded and fashioned the metal into the wire over which intelligence is transmitted by the power of electricity, I would help to lead their minds beyond, so that they may comprehend that the material of which that wire is composed was the creation and work of God, and that the electricity itself is at the bidding and mandate of the great Jehovah.
I believe, my brethren and sisters, if we take proper pains in the education of the young, employing the right kind of men and women to be their preceptors, that instead of the seeds of infidelity being sown in their minds, we will have faith, and in that faith we will have the manifestations of power.
In talking with the learned of the world we find that they have but a faint conception of God and Godliness. Were you to tell them that they hate God, or that the carnal mind is at enmity against God, they would not understand you. And yet, when we come to the actual facts, we find that the learned and many professors of Christianity really do hate God. I do not mean to say they hate the God they themselves picture in their own minds; but that they hate and fight against him whose attributes and character are portrayed within the lids of the Bible. The Supreme Ruler of the universe, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is not only the tender and loving Being that the pious Christian of the 19th century pictures him to be—he is not only willing to love and cherish and save the human family, but he is also a Being of justice and judgment, having always power enough to inflict punishment upon the breakers of his laws. Yet modern divines think with horror of a God who would inflict punishment, on the plea that such would be revengeful; and yet, neither they nor any of our professed Christian friends would for a moment find fault with the judge of an inferior earthly court for passing judgment on a criminal, though it might lead even to the loss of the life of a fellow creature.
Having but a very short time to occupy this afternoon my remarks must necessarily be brief. But before closing I feel to bear my testimony that here in Utah is a people who are trying to serve the Lord. And I testify too, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the living God, chosen of Him to open up the last dispensation to man—the dispensation of the fulness of times; and that his successor, Brigham Young, was an apostle of the Lord Jesus, and a prophet, seer and revelator. And I feel to bear my testimony that this same power and revelation rests upon his servant, Brother John Taylor. If we would live for the light of God's Holy Spirit we might see not as with eyes through a glass darkly, but with eyes that see clearly having also ears capable of hearing, and hearts full to understand.
It is our duty, as young men, as middle aged men and as aged men to bestow great care and attention on the education of the young. It is not particularly the duty of the father, as I understand it, to place in the hands of his son the writings of Payne and other infidel authors unless they follow up the reading of such works with good sound argument, and then place the Bible and the Book of Mormon in their hands to be read and studied, and, when necessary, correctly explained showing wherein the Lord has wrought out the literal fulfillment of many of the predictions therein recorded. If they would do this with prayerful hearts and with the wisdom God may give them, there will be little or nothing to fear from the readings of infidel works. I take the broad ground that in infidelity is ignorance. You meet the infidel and you will find him as a general thing, ignorant in regard to that which is laid down in the Bible, which he claims to disbelieve. It has been so from the beginning. It is a truth that has been uttered on many occasions by the servants of God, that it is easier and more natural for mankind to believe a hundred falsehoods than to accept a single truth. It must be apparent to all, that it is more in harmony with our fallen nature to do wrong than to do right. Let six boys be taken, for instance, and be carefully taught in the principles of morality, virtue and truth; and another six in the follies and wickedness of the world and see which of the two sets will make the most rapid progress, those in the right, or those in the wrong? All will readily agree with me that immorality is more easily acquired than the virtues, and hence we may conclude that we are in a fallen world, and that we have the battle against sin to fight.
May the blessings of God rest down upon the Latter-day Saints. And by way of conclusion I will say, if we want to dream dreams or see visions, it is our privilege to do so, but we must first purify our hearts and seek to love the Lord our God with all our might, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves; and to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. And permit me to say that in all my experience in life I have found as yet but one thing that can afford true happiness and true enjoyment, and that is a consciousness of keeping the commandments of God. And if we, Latter-day Saints, will live near unto him, he will be near unto us. And instead of having to call in physicians to minister to the members of our families when sickness makes its appearance, the power of God will be upon us in such rich abundance as to enable us to rebuke it from our dwellings, and to invoke the blessings of health to attend us and ours, which was the case years ago in the primeval days of the Church. If we have lost any of these blessings it is not through any fault in the Lord, or that there is less power and efficacy in the priesthood we bear, but rather in our own lack of faith in the promises made to the faithful. Amen.
Discourse by Elder Moses Thatcher, delivered at the General Conference, Tuesday Afternoon, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In trying to address so large an audience, I earnestly desire an interest in the prayers of my brethren and sisters, that the few remarks I may offer may be dictated by the Spirit of God. There are many things that we, as Elders in Israel, should always be pleased to speak of, and particularly in this case in reference to the kindness of our Father in heaven towards us as a people. We are permitted to dwell in peace, surrounded with the blessings of life and liberty, having pleasant homes wherein to dwell, and God to be our Father and Friend. When I look around upon the homes of the Latter-day Saints and see how the elements have been changed and made so propitious, enabling us to produce food and clothing, the necessities and many of the luxuries of life, my heart is exceedingly grateful, for I must confess there is no land with which I am familiar where the blessings of God are so abundantly bestowed as in our own. It appears to me that every bud is not only willing, but does blossom, and where seed by man is sown broadcast in the ground it comes forth, bearing twenty, thirty, or fifty fold. This, my brethren and sisters, is not the result of the work of man; but it is the blessings of our Heavenly Father. And how any human being can look upon the mountains by which we are surrounded, and gaze upon the beautiful fields and smiling nature seen on every hand, and not be able to acknowledge God in all these things is beyond my comprehension. In speaking to the young people particularly I have had sometimes pleasure in referring to the works of man, comparing them with the works of God. And while I believe it proper for us to look with pleasure upon the accomplishments of art and science, and upon the skilled workmanship of man, yet I would have our young people always realize that God is the originator; I would have them understand, as the arts and sciences are being developed and new discoveries are being brought out by what we call the genius of man, that God understood all these things before they were made known to us. And while having them admire and wonder at the grand achievement of man in chaining the lightning, thus making it to serve his purposes; and while it was the work of man that molded and fashioned the metal into the wire over which intelligence is transmitted by the power of electricity, I would help to lead their minds beyond, so that they may comprehend that the material of which that wire is composed was the creation and work of God, and that the electricity itself is at the bidding and mandate of the great Jehovah.
I believe, my brethren and sisters, if we take proper pains in the education of the young, employing the right kind of men and women to be their preceptors, that instead of the seeds of infidelity being sown in their minds, we will have faith, and in that faith we will have the manifestations of power.
In talking with the learned of the world we find that they have but a faint conception of God and Godliness. Were you to tell them that they hate God, or that the carnal mind is at enmity against God, they would not understand you. And yet, when we come to the actual facts, we find that the learned and many professors of Christianity really do hate God. I do not mean to say they hate the God they themselves picture in their own minds; but that they hate and fight against him whose attributes and character are portrayed within the lids of the Bible. The Supreme Ruler of the universe, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is not only the tender and loving Being that the pious Christian of the 19th century pictures him to be—he is not only willing to love and cherish and save the human family, but he is also a Being of justice and judgment, having always power enough to inflict punishment upon the breakers of his laws. Yet modern divines think with horror of a God who would inflict punishment, on the plea that such would be revengeful; and yet, neither they nor any of our professed Christian friends would for a moment find fault with the judge of an inferior earthly court for passing judgment on a criminal, though it might lead even to the loss of the life of a fellow creature.
Having but a very short time to occupy this afternoon my remarks must necessarily be brief. But before closing I feel to bear my testimony that here in Utah is a people who are trying to serve the Lord. And I testify too, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the living God, chosen of Him to open up the last dispensation to man—the dispensation of the fulness of times; and that his successor, Brigham Young, was an apostle of the Lord Jesus, and a prophet, seer and revelator. And I feel to bear my testimony that this same power and revelation rests upon his servant, Brother John Taylor. If we would live for the light of God's Holy Spirit we might see not as with eyes through a glass darkly, but with eyes that see clearly having also ears capable of hearing, and hearts full to understand.
It is our duty, as young men, as middle aged men and as aged men to bestow great care and attention on the education of the young. It is not particularly the duty of the father, as I understand it, to place in the hands of his son the writings of Payne and other infidel authors unless they follow up the reading of such works with good sound argument, and then place the Bible and the Book of Mormon in their hands to be read and studied, and, when necessary, correctly explained showing wherein the Lord has wrought out the literal fulfillment of many of the predictions therein recorded. If they would do this with prayerful hearts and with the wisdom God may give them, there will be little or nothing to fear from the readings of infidel works. I take the broad ground that in infidelity is ignorance. You meet the infidel and you will find him as a general thing, ignorant in regard to that which is laid down in the Bible, which he claims to disbelieve. It has been so from the beginning. It is a truth that has been uttered on many occasions by the servants of God, that it is easier and more natural for mankind to believe a hundred falsehoods than to accept a single truth. It must be apparent to all, that it is more in harmony with our fallen nature to do wrong than to do right. Let six boys be taken, for instance, and be carefully taught in the principles of morality, virtue and truth; and another six in the follies and wickedness of the world and see which of the two sets will make the most rapid progress, those in the right, or those in the wrong? All will readily agree with me that immorality is more easily acquired than the virtues, and hence we may conclude that we are in a fallen world, and that we have the battle against sin to fight.
May the blessings of God rest down upon the Latter-day Saints. And by way of conclusion I will say, if we want to dream dreams or see visions, it is our privilege to do so, but we must first purify our hearts and seek to love the Lord our God with all our might, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves; and to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. And permit me to say that in all my experience in life I have found as yet but one thing that can afford true happiness and true enjoyment, and that is a consciousness of keeping the commandments of God. And if we, Latter-day Saints, will live near unto him, he will be near unto us. And instead of having to call in physicians to minister to the members of our families when sickness makes its appearance, the power of God will be upon us in such rich abundance as to enable us to rebuke it from our dwellings, and to invoke the blessings of health to attend us and ours, which was the case years ago in the primeval days of the Church. If we have lost any of these blessings it is not through any fault in the Lord, or that there is less power and efficacy in the priesthood we bear, but rather in our own lack of faith in the promises made to the faithful. Amen.
Elder Geo. Q. Cannon
said he felt impressed to make a few remarks about some circumstances in connection with our beloved leader, President John Taylor. It was well known by the Latter-day Saints how his life had been spent in years past, in laboring to build up Zion, and the humble habitation he had occupied since he was called to preside over the affairs of the Church. He felt that the house he had himself built under the direction of our beloved and lamented Prest. Brigham Young was such a one that he could not consistently occupy while Presidents Taylor, Woodruff, Pratt and others, who had so long labored in the vineyard, were living in such humble habitations, and on several occasions he expressed to President Young a desire to vacate it, but was told by him not to do so. After his death he felt relieved of any obligation in regard to this matter. And since that time he had privately spoken to President Taylor about leaving his present abode and occupying some place more in keeping with his position as President of the Church. The subject was once spoken of in the council of the Apostles. The delicacy of Brother Taylor’s feelings was such that the matter had been put off until the present, and he felt that it should no longer be postponed. The President of the Church had necessarily to receive many visitors, and as President Taylor had no private resources at command to differently situate himself, he submitted the following motion, which was most cheerfully and unanimously responded to by all present:
“That one of the buildings owned by the Church shall be selected as a place of residence for the President of the Church, and shall be properly furnished under the direction of a committee whom the Apostles shall appoint; and further that a steward be selected to take charge of this residence, who shall furnish the table and other household requirements, and that the costs and expenses of so doing shall be met by appropriations from the funds of the Church.”
said he felt impressed to make a few remarks about some circumstances in connection with our beloved leader, President John Taylor. It was well known by the Latter-day Saints how his life had been spent in years past, in laboring to build up Zion, and the humble habitation he had occupied since he was called to preside over the affairs of the Church. He felt that the house he had himself built under the direction of our beloved and lamented Prest. Brigham Young was such a one that he could not consistently occupy while Presidents Taylor, Woodruff, Pratt and others, who had so long labored in the vineyard, were living in such humble habitations, and on several occasions he expressed to President Young a desire to vacate it, but was told by him not to do so. After his death he felt relieved of any obligation in regard to this matter. And since that time he had privately spoken to President Taylor about leaving his present abode and occupying some place more in keeping with his position as President of the Church. The subject was once spoken of in the council of the Apostles. The delicacy of Brother Taylor’s feelings was such that the matter had been put off until the present, and he felt that it should no longer be postponed. The President of the Church had necessarily to receive many visitors, and as President Taylor had no private resources at command to differently situate himself, he submitted the following motion, which was most cheerfully and unanimously responded to by all present:
“That one of the buildings owned by the Church shall be selected as a place of residence for the President of the Church, and shall be properly furnished under the direction of a committee whom the Apostles shall appoint; and further that a steward be selected to take charge of this residence, who shall furnish the table and other household requirements, and that the costs and expenses of so doing shall be met by appropriations from the funds of the Church.”
President John Taylor
said if his own private feelings were consulted, he would much prefer living in comparative privacy and seclusion, for he did not crave the glitter and pomp of this world, and when this subject was submitted to him, he could not yield to its nomination at this conference on any other consideration, but the fact of his being a servant of the people, through Jesus Christ his master. But for the kind and good feelings made manifest by such a unanimous vote, he returned his heartful thanks to the thousands present. He then reviewed the history of the Church since the time of its organization, which was 49 years this conference. All the various branches of Priesthood revealed in their order came from the heavens through Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith the Prophet. Hence it is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
God was the originator of it, and the priesthood which we hold came from him, and he expects us to magnify it and honor it by doing whatever is required at our hands. We are as much dependent upon God to-day for his guidance and his spirit as we ever were in our lives. Let us therefore live humble and faithful before God, that we may enjoy his spirit continually. If the thousands of Latter-day Saints will only live their religion and do their duty, the kingdom of God will roll on with tenfold rapidity. Nothing can hinder the fulfilling of those prophecies which have been uttered by both ancient and modern prophets. Seek to God for wisdom and faith that all your Apostles, Presidents of Stakes, and others holding authority, may govern in righteousness. The Latter-day Saints, he was pleased to say, were doing all they could to build up Zion; they feel that everything they have is for the service of God, and are willing to act as saviors upon Mount Zion. He also spoke favorably of the unceasing labors of the sisters, who are doing all they can in their peculiar labor of love among the poor, etc.
A great many thousand dollars had been donated by the Saints during the past year towards the building of temples, and a spirit of emulation seemed to stimulate the brethren as to who could do the most, and notwithstanding so much had been done towards building Temples, &c., the tithing receipts had increased about $50,000 and he felt pleased to mention this for it is right and proper to give honor to whom it is due. Those who had been called to take foreign missions had been selected as men of good moral standing and able to honorably represent the interests of Zion, and he wished them to go forth in the spirit and power of their holy priesthood, and be willing to stay in their fields of labor until they are honorably released.
He then eulogized the labors of the sisters in connection with the Relief Societies and of the Young Mens’ and Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associations. The subject of education was also referred to, and he strongly urged that all teachers engaged in the tuition of our youth should be men of faith in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who would exercise a proper influence over the rising generation. The Sabbath School interest, co-operation, etc. were also treated upon with approval.
said if his own private feelings were consulted, he would much prefer living in comparative privacy and seclusion, for he did not crave the glitter and pomp of this world, and when this subject was submitted to him, he could not yield to its nomination at this conference on any other consideration, but the fact of his being a servant of the people, through Jesus Christ his master. But for the kind and good feelings made manifest by such a unanimous vote, he returned his heartful thanks to the thousands present. He then reviewed the history of the Church since the time of its organization, which was 49 years this conference. All the various branches of Priesthood revealed in their order came from the heavens through Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith the Prophet. Hence it is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
God was the originator of it, and the priesthood which we hold came from him, and he expects us to magnify it and honor it by doing whatever is required at our hands. We are as much dependent upon God to-day for his guidance and his spirit as we ever were in our lives. Let us therefore live humble and faithful before God, that we may enjoy his spirit continually. If the thousands of Latter-day Saints will only live their religion and do their duty, the kingdom of God will roll on with tenfold rapidity. Nothing can hinder the fulfilling of those prophecies which have been uttered by both ancient and modern prophets. Seek to God for wisdom and faith that all your Apostles, Presidents of Stakes, and others holding authority, may govern in righteousness. The Latter-day Saints, he was pleased to say, were doing all they could to build up Zion; they feel that everything they have is for the service of God, and are willing to act as saviors upon Mount Zion. He also spoke favorably of the unceasing labors of the sisters, who are doing all they can in their peculiar labor of love among the poor, etc.
A great many thousand dollars had been donated by the Saints during the past year towards the building of temples, and a spirit of emulation seemed to stimulate the brethren as to who could do the most, and notwithstanding so much had been done towards building Temples, &c., the tithing receipts had increased about $50,000 and he felt pleased to mention this for it is right and proper to give honor to whom it is due. Those who had been called to take foreign missions had been selected as men of good moral standing and able to honorably represent the interests of Zion, and he wished them to go forth in the spirit and power of their holy priesthood, and be willing to stay in their fields of labor until they are honorably released.
He then eulogized the labors of the sisters in connection with the Relief Societies and of the Young Mens’ and Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associations. The subject of education was also referred to, and he strongly urged that all teachers engaged in the tuition of our youth should be men of faith in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who would exercise a proper influence over the rising generation. The Sabbath School interest, co-operation, etc. were also treated upon with approval.
Opening of the Last Dispensation—Development of the Work of God—Sending Forth Missionaries—Usefulness of the Sisters—Improvement Associations—Education—Cooperation
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Tuesday Afternoon, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I will state that I feel very much obliged to my brethren for the generous feeling manifested to myself. Permit me, however, to say, with regard to some of these ideas presented to the Conference by Brother George Q. and which he has said, he has frequently presented to me and others of the Twelve, that while I duly appreciate the feelings and views of my brethren, and am not ignorant of the proprieties of life, individually I would not wish to change my position. Personally I care nothing about the outside show, the glitter and appearance of men; but I do care about the great eternal principles associated with the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth. And as has been stated, it was some time before I could make up my mind to accept a proposition of this kind. And I accept it now simply in the capacity of your servant for Christ's sake for the benefit of the Kingdom of God and that all things may be conducted in a proper manner.
Now we will let this pass, and talk about something else.
I have been very much interested in the remarks that have been made at this Conference. It is now forty-nine years since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. There were then, as you heard stated and as we very well know, six members organized. There were however, more than six persons in the Church, as was remarked by Brother Snow, the organization being effected for the purpose of legal recognition, still there were only a very few, and as the spirit of revelation rested down upon God's servant Joseph in these early days, who like Adam, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Jared, Nephi, Moroni and others, had the heavens unfolded to his view, and although the Church was so few in number the principles and purposes of God were developed fully to the vision of his mind, and he gazed upon the things that are to transpire in the latter days associated with the dispensation that he was called upon by the Almighty to introduce. He learned by communication from the heavens, from time to time, of the great events that should transpire in the latter days. He understood things that were past, and comprehended the various dispensations and the designs of those dispensations. He not only had the principles developed, but he was conversant with the parties who officiated as the leading men of those dispensations, and from a number of them he received authority and keys and priesthood and power for the carrying out of the great purposes of the Lord in the last days, who were sent and commissioned specially by the Almighty to confer upon him those keys and this authority, and hence he introduced what was spoken of by all the prophets since the world was; the dispensation in which we live, which differs from all other dispensations in that it is the dispensation of the fulness of times, embracing all other dispensations, all other powers, all other keys and all other privileges and immunities that ever existed upon the face of the earth. At that time, he was a feeble youth, inexperienced, without a knowledge of the learning of the day. But God put him in possession of that kind of intelligence, and what may be termed a scientific knowledge of all things pertaining to this earth, and the heavens, if you please, which was altogether ahead of all the intelligence that existed in the world. He commenced as opportunity presented by following the education he had received from the Almighty, by teaching the principles of life and salvation, the principles of the everlasting Gospel, by conferring upon others that priesthood which had been conferred upon him, and by organizing a state of things that was after the pattern of the heavens, that was calculated to live and grow and increase, that had the principle of life and vitality within itself, and that was calculated to draw together the honest in heart and assimilate them in their ideas and views and feelings and faith, and empower them to operate with him and with the Lord and with the holy priesthood that had existed in former ages. And thus he commenced to organize the Church with all its various offices under the direct inspiration, guidance and revelation of the Lord. The First Presidency was pointed out, the Twelve were also pointed out and designated, and these quorums were ordained. The high priesthood was organized however before these other quorums took shape. Then there were the quorums of Seventies, then the quorums of Elders, then the Bishops, then the quorums of Priests, Teachers and Deacons, together with the High Councils and all that we know about these things. He taught us all that we know about them; God taught him. Hence in the various organizations of the several quorums of priesthood whether it relates to the Melchizedek, Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, all of these, together with the duties devolving upon each, were given by the Lord. And hence the church that we are associated with is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hence Jesus Christ is the medium through whom we are to approach the Father, calling upon him in the name of Jesus; for there is no name given under heaven, nor known among men, whereby we can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. And although they do not do it now, yet the time is approaching when to him “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is the Christ, to the glory of God the Father.” And hence the religion we profess is one that has been given us from the heavens. We cannot dispense with it; we cannot dispense with any part of it. It is not of man, but from the Lord God, our Heavenly Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, making use of his servant Joseph and those whom he should call by revelation as the instruments to carry out the purposes of God upon the earth. The priesthood we have received we received not of man nor by man, but by revelation. And Latter-day President Young, a little before his death, organized all the various branches of the Church into Stakes, with the officers thereof, carrying out the design of God and his revelations to Joseph Smith; and placed them upon the foundation that was first laid by Joseph Smith under the immediate revelations of the Lord. And God expects it at our hands that we magnify our calling, and that we cleave unto him as his servants upon whom he has conferred this priesthood. He expects it at our hands that we shall magnify it, and not operate according to our peculiar notions, but according to the will and law and guidance and revelations of God in all things and under all circumstances; for we are here as Jesus was here—not to do our own will, but the will of our Heavenly Father who has sent us, and who has called us to this high calling, and has made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
In accordance with the order of God, the Twelve, the Seventies, the High Priests and Elders have been abroad among the nations of the earth, delivering the testimony which God gave to them, and the Spirit and power of God has operated with us in our ministrations; and the results of these operations and these labors, and the faith and the self-abnegation and self-denial and the desire to do the will of God, and the testimonies that have been borne, are manifested in the Saints gathered today as we are in the valleys of the mountains. These things have been brought about by the interposition of the Almighty; we are, as such dependent upon him today, and as we ever were in all the days of our lives, for guidance, for support, for revelation, for the Spirit of God to guide us that we may not make any false steps; but as a people we must magnify the Lord our God in our hearts and honor him and observe his laws and keep his commandments. There has quite a change taken place since this Gospel was introduced, as the thousands of people who inhabit these valleys sufficiently attest. And if we continue to progress in faith, in union, in intelligence, in virtue, in purity, in knowledge, and especially in the knowledge of God and in the observance of his ordinances, the work of the Lord will continue to roll with tenfold rapidity. We are just commencing our labors, and are just getting ready to perform the work that God has laid upon our shoulders, and are just commencing to perform the work that God intends us to accomplish; everything that has been prophesied by all the ancient prophets, as contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and those things predicted by Joseph Smith, and every other prophet of God, will as surely be fulfilled as we are here today, without any faltering, or flagging, or hesitation.
We go on and attend to many things. Our organizations are very good; but we need, I think sometimes, the breath of life from God breathing into them all through, that the Spirit and power of the Most High may be in our midst, and that the power and blessings of God that come through the ordinances may be in our midst, and that the power and blessings of God, that come through the ordinances may be imparted to us; and such will be the case if we are faithful in the performance of the duties devolving upon us. It is not with us a question of what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what kind of houses we shall live in; it is not a matter of so much importance as it is to be doing the will of God to have our hearts engaged in his service, to feel that we are building up the Zion of the Lord of Hosts, to feel that we are recognized of the heavens, to feel that we are associated with the priesthood behind the veil who have lived and operated in time and are now operating in eternity; for they without us cannot be made perfect, neither can we without them be made perfect. We need their assistance from the heavens, and we ought to seek it all the time.
Let me speak of this not only to the Twelve, but to the presidents of Stakes and their counselors, and to all men holding authority, to seek to God, seek for wisdom, seek for faith, and learn to approach God, that we may draw down blessings from heaven and partake of that faith which was once delivered to the Saints. We are trying to do some things and are doing them pretty well. Do I wish to find fault? No. Or to censure anybody? No. But I wish everybody would so live and act that they would not censure themselves, that their minds would not condemn them; for if your own hearts condemn you, God is greater than your hearts.
We are doing pretty well. We are building our Temples, and there is a laudable spirit manifested in relation to these things generally. Do all do it? No. Have all this spirit? No. I wish they had; but then we would be expecting too much perhaps. But there is a growing interest in these things, which I am glad to give the Saints credit for. And in speaking of our Temples, I suppose there are no less than 500 men engaged today in building Temples in this Territory. Some people would consider this quite a tax upon them, and, I may say, we have some who call themselves Latter-day Saints who have a little of this feeling, not much, but a little of it. But men who feel right, they feel that they and all they have belong to the Lord; they feel that they are on hand to perform the work of God, to build up his kingdom, to operate with him and with the holy priesthood, and to prepare Temples to administer for the living and for the dead; that we may indeed be not poor and helpless dolts; but feel that we are saviors upon Mount Zion, and that the kingdom is the Lord's.
There is a good feeling manifested among the brethren and also among the sisters, who are quite as zealous in most interests as the brethren are. Notwithstanding the immense labors we are performing in our building, for we are doing a good deal, we are not unmindful of other matters. There is constant labor going on in the Temple at St. George, with very little intermission, and a corps of persons steadily engaged administering in the ordinances of the Lord's House there; while in these other places, as you have heard read over, according to the financial accounts pertaining to the Temple being built in Manti and Logan—there has been expended in a short time on these two Temples nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The brethren have taken hold of it with a will, and there seems to be a feeling among many of them to see who shall do the most, instead of who can do the least. And notwithstanding this there is about fifty thousand, I think, in round numbers, more tithing paid this last year than there was before these things commenced. I speak this for the credit of the Latter-day Saints. Honor, as the Scriptures say, to whom honor is due. And I am pleased to see a spirit of that kind grow and increase among the brethren.
There has been a good deal of care bestowed on the sending forth of missionaries whom we have sent forth among the different nations abroad and to this nation. There is a duty devolving upon the Twelve and the Seventies especially, to see that this work is performed; and we have been alive to this matter, and have aimed to call men that would not be embarrassed or perplexed in their minds, but such as would go forth as the servants of the Living God, who would not, when they got about two hundred miles from home, commence to think when it would be time for them to return; and the fruits are fast beginning to be borne in the European, the Scandinavian and other missions, and also in the United States. And we wish it to be understood among the Elders and Seventies that we do not want men to go on missions who look upon it as a painful duty for them to fulfill; we would rather such men stay at home. But he that hath a desire to preach the Gospel to the world, whose life is upright, pure and virtuous, and who is capable of presenting the principles of the Gospel to the world; he is the kind of man we are desirous to send. We do not want anybody to go simply because it might be thought that a mission would do him good, or that it might save him from some evil he might be likely to fall into. We do not want men to go abroad representing the Captain of our salvation to reform themselves; let the work of reformation be done at home. We want men to preach the Gospel who are honorable and upright men, and full of the Holy Ghost; and when such men go they go with our faith, carrying with them our esteem and love and affection; and if they need anything, we will give it to them. If their families need anything, we will have them looked after, we will feed them and clothe them and take care of them, and consider that they are our brethren and not that they are poor, miserable paupers, or that their wives and families are a trouble to us; we want to do away with all such feelings. Let us cultivate the spirit of magnanimity and kindness, and as the Lord blesses us, let us bless others; and that is all the things of the earth are worth. Do good to all men, especially to the household of faith. And by and by, as was the case formerly, those who go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, will return rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.
Furthermore, we have an auxiliary among our sisters here. Brother Geo. Q. Cannon represented how they were imposed on in many lands and how they had been. Why should they be? Are they not our mothers? Are they not our wives? Are they not our sisters? Are they not our children? Should we not protect them? Do we profess to be in the image of God, holding the holy priesthood of God, and then would we treat the fair daughters of Zion with contempt, or permit them to be injured or imposed upon in any way? God forbid. They are flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone; they are our helpmeets, and our associations and our relations with them ought to be pleasant and agreeable and with all long-suffering and fidelity. And then the sisters should turn round and help to bless one another, and act as our teachers are doing in other respects—teaching their sisters, looking after the poor and assisting the bishops in the performance of their labors. And the Relief Societies which have been organized have been of very great benefit to the Saints of God. And I say, God bless the sisters, and inspire them with more of that heavenly spirit, that they may assist their husbands and their brethren and their children—their sons and their daughters—to promote correct principles, to stem the tide of iniquity, and to promulgate virtue, truth and purity among the Saints of God. And I would say, it is the duty of the bishops and presidents of Stakes to assist them all they can, which I believe they generally do, to carry out everything that is good and praiseworthy.
There is another class of people among us doing a great deal of good; that is our Mutual Improvement Associations; both Young Men's and Young Women's. How much more pleasant it is to see our youth grow up in the fear of God, trying to instruct one another in the principles of life and salvation, than to see them ignore the laws of God. How pleasing to us! How pleasing to God and the holy angels! Let us encourage these things, and instruct our sons and daughters, that they may grow up in intelligence, virtue, purity and holiness before the Lord.
And then we want to study also the principles of education, and to get the very best teachers we can to teach our children; see that they are men and women who fear God and keep his commandments. We do not want men or women to teach the children of the Latter-day Saints who are not Latter-day Saints themselves. Hear it, you Elders of Israel and you school-trustees! We want none of these things. Let others who fear not God take their course; but it is for us to train our children up in the fear of God. God will hold us responsible for this trust. Hear it, you Elders of Israel and you fathers and you mothers! Talking about education, as I said before, Joseph Smith knew more in regard to the education than all the philosophers and scientists of the earth; and he knew it by the revelations of God. We want to get together to train our children up in the fear of God, to teach them correct principles ourselves, and place them in possession of such things as will lead them in the paths of life.
I find it is time for me to quit. I feel to thank you for your attendance at this Conference, and for the kind of spirit that has been manifested here. And to thank the members of our choir who have made for us sweet music; and I would say that our choir is a credit to our Territory and to our people. And furthermore they are meeting together for the purpose of cultivating the art of music, and that we may be organized and be more perfect in relation to these things.
I would like to have said something about our Sunday Schools. I do not believe we are behind any people on the face of the earth in relation to these matters. I am informed by the general Superintendent that we have 29,000 children attending Sunday Schools; and I would not be afraid to say that that is more than attend the Sunday Schools in all the Territories put together, outside of Utah. (A voice from the stand—“And in half the States.”) Some one remarks, and in half of the States. I do not know how that is. But they do say our children are Utah's surest and best crop. Let us try to train them up in the fear of God, that we may have his blessing to be with us.
I would like to have said something, too, about our cooperative associations. I am pleased to inform you that the Cooperative Institution of this city is doing remarkably well; it is on a solid foundation and everything is moving along pleasantly and agreeably. We have organized for some time a Trade's Union, through which all the people of Utah can be represented. And while the Co-op calls upon us to sustain them, which is right and proper, we want the Co-op to sustain us. There are two sides to this question, hence we have an organization called a Board of Trade in a number of the Stakes, and expect to perfect them in all the Stakes, that the whole people may be represented at our general board. Then we expect to spread and grow in manufactures of all kinds, that we may become a self-sustaining people, a people who shall be independent, under God, of all other powers.
I will not detain you. God bless Israel, and all that bless Israel, and let our enemies be confounded. And God grant unto us power to serve him and observe his laws that we may have a claim upon his blessings, and at last obtain eternal life in his kingdom, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
After blessing the congregation, the Conference was adjourned until the 6th of October.
The choir sang an anthem: How beautiful upon the mountains.
Benediction by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon.
GEORGE GODDARD,
Clerk of Conference.
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Tuesday Afternoon, April 8, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I will state that I feel very much obliged to my brethren for the generous feeling manifested to myself. Permit me, however, to say, with regard to some of these ideas presented to the Conference by Brother George Q. and which he has said, he has frequently presented to me and others of the Twelve, that while I duly appreciate the feelings and views of my brethren, and am not ignorant of the proprieties of life, individually I would not wish to change my position. Personally I care nothing about the outside show, the glitter and appearance of men; but I do care about the great eternal principles associated with the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth. And as has been stated, it was some time before I could make up my mind to accept a proposition of this kind. And I accept it now simply in the capacity of your servant for Christ's sake for the benefit of the Kingdom of God and that all things may be conducted in a proper manner.
Now we will let this pass, and talk about something else.
I have been very much interested in the remarks that have been made at this Conference. It is now forty-nine years since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. There were then, as you heard stated and as we very well know, six members organized. There were however, more than six persons in the Church, as was remarked by Brother Snow, the organization being effected for the purpose of legal recognition, still there were only a very few, and as the spirit of revelation rested down upon God's servant Joseph in these early days, who like Adam, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Jared, Nephi, Moroni and others, had the heavens unfolded to his view, and although the Church was so few in number the principles and purposes of God were developed fully to the vision of his mind, and he gazed upon the things that are to transpire in the latter days associated with the dispensation that he was called upon by the Almighty to introduce. He learned by communication from the heavens, from time to time, of the great events that should transpire in the latter days. He understood things that were past, and comprehended the various dispensations and the designs of those dispensations. He not only had the principles developed, but he was conversant with the parties who officiated as the leading men of those dispensations, and from a number of them he received authority and keys and priesthood and power for the carrying out of the great purposes of the Lord in the last days, who were sent and commissioned specially by the Almighty to confer upon him those keys and this authority, and hence he introduced what was spoken of by all the prophets since the world was; the dispensation in which we live, which differs from all other dispensations in that it is the dispensation of the fulness of times, embracing all other dispensations, all other powers, all other keys and all other privileges and immunities that ever existed upon the face of the earth. At that time, he was a feeble youth, inexperienced, without a knowledge of the learning of the day. But God put him in possession of that kind of intelligence, and what may be termed a scientific knowledge of all things pertaining to this earth, and the heavens, if you please, which was altogether ahead of all the intelligence that existed in the world. He commenced as opportunity presented by following the education he had received from the Almighty, by teaching the principles of life and salvation, the principles of the everlasting Gospel, by conferring upon others that priesthood which had been conferred upon him, and by organizing a state of things that was after the pattern of the heavens, that was calculated to live and grow and increase, that had the principle of life and vitality within itself, and that was calculated to draw together the honest in heart and assimilate them in their ideas and views and feelings and faith, and empower them to operate with him and with the Lord and with the holy priesthood that had existed in former ages. And thus he commenced to organize the Church with all its various offices under the direct inspiration, guidance and revelation of the Lord. The First Presidency was pointed out, the Twelve were also pointed out and designated, and these quorums were ordained. The high priesthood was organized however before these other quorums took shape. Then there were the quorums of Seventies, then the quorums of Elders, then the Bishops, then the quorums of Priests, Teachers and Deacons, together with the High Councils and all that we know about these things. He taught us all that we know about them; God taught him. Hence in the various organizations of the several quorums of priesthood whether it relates to the Melchizedek, Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, all of these, together with the duties devolving upon each, were given by the Lord. And hence the church that we are associated with is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hence Jesus Christ is the medium through whom we are to approach the Father, calling upon him in the name of Jesus; for there is no name given under heaven, nor known among men, whereby we can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. And although they do not do it now, yet the time is approaching when to him “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is the Christ, to the glory of God the Father.” And hence the religion we profess is one that has been given us from the heavens. We cannot dispense with it; we cannot dispense with any part of it. It is not of man, but from the Lord God, our Heavenly Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, making use of his servant Joseph and those whom he should call by revelation as the instruments to carry out the purposes of God upon the earth. The priesthood we have received we received not of man nor by man, but by revelation. And Latter-day President Young, a little before his death, organized all the various branches of the Church into Stakes, with the officers thereof, carrying out the design of God and his revelations to Joseph Smith; and placed them upon the foundation that was first laid by Joseph Smith under the immediate revelations of the Lord. And God expects it at our hands that we magnify our calling, and that we cleave unto him as his servants upon whom he has conferred this priesthood. He expects it at our hands that we shall magnify it, and not operate according to our peculiar notions, but according to the will and law and guidance and revelations of God in all things and under all circumstances; for we are here as Jesus was here—not to do our own will, but the will of our Heavenly Father who has sent us, and who has called us to this high calling, and has made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
In accordance with the order of God, the Twelve, the Seventies, the High Priests and Elders have been abroad among the nations of the earth, delivering the testimony which God gave to them, and the Spirit and power of God has operated with us in our ministrations; and the results of these operations and these labors, and the faith and the self-abnegation and self-denial and the desire to do the will of God, and the testimonies that have been borne, are manifested in the Saints gathered today as we are in the valleys of the mountains. These things have been brought about by the interposition of the Almighty; we are, as such dependent upon him today, and as we ever were in all the days of our lives, for guidance, for support, for revelation, for the Spirit of God to guide us that we may not make any false steps; but as a people we must magnify the Lord our God in our hearts and honor him and observe his laws and keep his commandments. There has quite a change taken place since this Gospel was introduced, as the thousands of people who inhabit these valleys sufficiently attest. And if we continue to progress in faith, in union, in intelligence, in virtue, in purity, in knowledge, and especially in the knowledge of God and in the observance of his ordinances, the work of the Lord will continue to roll with tenfold rapidity. We are just commencing our labors, and are just getting ready to perform the work that God has laid upon our shoulders, and are just commencing to perform the work that God intends us to accomplish; everything that has been prophesied by all the ancient prophets, as contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and those things predicted by Joseph Smith, and every other prophet of God, will as surely be fulfilled as we are here today, without any faltering, or flagging, or hesitation.
We go on and attend to many things. Our organizations are very good; but we need, I think sometimes, the breath of life from God breathing into them all through, that the Spirit and power of the Most High may be in our midst, and that the power and blessings of God that come through the ordinances may be in our midst, and that the power and blessings of God, that come through the ordinances may be imparted to us; and such will be the case if we are faithful in the performance of the duties devolving upon us. It is not with us a question of what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what kind of houses we shall live in; it is not a matter of so much importance as it is to be doing the will of God to have our hearts engaged in his service, to feel that we are building up the Zion of the Lord of Hosts, to feel that we are recognized of the heavens, to feel that we are associated with the priesthood behind the veil who have lived and operated in time and are now operating in eternity; for they without us cannot be made perfect, neither can we without them be made perfect. We need their assistance from the heavens, and we ought to seek it all the time.
Let me speak of this not only to the Twelve, but to the presidents of Stakes and their counselors, and to all men holding authority, to seek to God, seek for wisdom, seek for faith, and learn to approach God, that we may draw down blessings from heaven and partake of that faith which was once delivered to the Saints. We are trying to do some things and are doing them pretty well. Do I wish to find fault? No. Or to censure anybody? No. But I wish everybody would so live and act that they would not censure themselves, that their minds would not condemn them; for if your own hearts condemn you, God is greater than your hearts.
We are doing pretty well. We are building our Temples, and there is a laudable spirit manifested in relation to these things generally. Do all do it? No. Have all this spirit? No. I wish they had; but then we would be expecting too much perhaps. But there is a growing interest in these things, which I am glad to give the Saints credit for. And in speaking of our Temples, I suppose there are no less than 500 men engaged today in building Temples in this Territory. Some people would consider this quite a tax upon them, and, I may say, we have some who call themselves Latter-day Saints who have a little of this feeling, not much, but a little of it. But men who feel right, they feel that they and all they have belong to the Lord; they feel that they are on hand to perform the work of God, to build up his kingdom, to operate with him and with the holy priesthood, and to prepare Temples to administer for the living and for the dead; that we may indeed be not poor and helpless dolts; but feel that we are saviors upon Mount Zion, and that the kingdom is the Lord's.
There is a good feeling manifested among the brethren and also among the sisters, who are quite as zealous in most interests as the brethren are. Notwithstanding the immense labors we are performing in our building, for we are doing a good deal, we are not unmindful of other matters. There is constant labor going on in the Temple at St. George, with very little intermission, and a corps of persons steadily engaged administering in the ordinances of the Lord's House there; while in these other places, as you have heard read over, according to the financial accounts pertaining to the Temple being built in Manti and Logan—there has been expended in a short time on these two Temples nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The brethren have taken hold of it with a will, and there seems to be a feeling among many of them to see who shall do the most, instead of who can do the least. And notwithstanding this there is about fifty thousand, I think, in round numbers, more tithing paid this last year than there was before these things commenced. I speak this for the credit of the Latter-day Saints. Honor, as the Scriptures say, to whom honor is due. And I am pleased to see a spirit of that kind grow and increase among the brethren.
There has been a good deal of care bestowed on the sending forth of missionaries whom we have sent forth among the different nations abroad and to this nation. There is a duty devolving upon the Twelve and the Seventies especially, to see that this work is performed; and we have been alive to this matter, and have aimed to call men that would not be embarrassed or perplexed in their minds, but such as would go forth as the servants of the Living God, who would not, when they got about two hundred miles from home, commence to think when it would be time for them to return; and the fruits are fast beginning to be borne in the European, the Scandinavian and other missions, and also in the United States. And we wish it to be understood among the Elders and Seventies that we do not want men to go on missions who look upon it as a painful duty for them to fulfill; we would rather such men stay at home. But he that hath a desire to preach the Gospel to the world, whose life is upright, pure and virtuous, and who is capable of presenting the principles of the Gospel to the world; he is the kind of man we are desirous to send. We do not want anybody to go simply because it might be thought that a mission would do him good, or that it might save him from some evil he might be likely to fall into. We do not want men to go abroad representing the Captain of our salvation to reform themselves; let the work of reformation be done at home. We want men to preach the Gospel who are honorable and upright men, and full of the Holy Ghost; and when such men go they go with our faith, carrying with them our esteem and love and affection; and if they need anything, we will give it to them. If their families need anything, we will have them looked after, we will feed them and clothe them and take care of them, and consider that they are our brethren and not that they are poor, miserable paupers, or that their wives and families are a trouble to us; we want to do away with all such feelings. Let us cultivate the spirit of magnanimity and kindness, and as the Lord blesses us, let us bless others; and that is all the things of the earth are worth. Do good to all men, especially to the household of faith. And by and by, as was the case formerly, those who go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, will return rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.
Furthermore, we have an auxiliary among our sisters here. Brother Geo. Q. Cannon represented how they were imposed on in many lands and how they had been. Why should they be? Are they not our mothers? Are they not our wives? Are they not our sisters? Are they not our children? Should we not protect them? Do we profess to be in the image of God, holding the holy priesthood of God, and then would we treat the fair daughters of Zion with contempt, or permit them to be injured or imposed upon in any way? God forbid. They are flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone; they are our helpmeets, and our associations and our relations with them ought to be pleasant and agreeable and with all long-suffering and fidelity. And then the sisters should turn round and help to bless one another, and act as our teachers are doing in other respects—teaching their sisters, looking after the poor and assisting the bishops in the performance of their labors. And the Relief Societies which have been organized have been of very great benefit to the Saints of God. And I say, God bless the sisters, and inspire them with more of that heavenly spirit, that they may assist their husbands and their brethren and their children—their sons and their daughters—to promote correct principles, to stem the tide of iniquity, and to promulgate virtue, truth and purity among the Saints of God. And I would say, it is the duty of the bishops and presidents of Stakes to assist them all they can, which I believe they generally do, to carry out everything that is good and praiseworthy.
There is another class of people among us doing a great deal of good; that is our Mutual Improvement Associations; both Young Men's and Young Women's. How much more pleasant it is to see our youth grow up in the fear of God, trying to instruct one another in the principles of life and salvation, than to see them ignore the laws of God. How pleasing to us! How pleasing to God and the holy angels! Let us encourage these things, and instruct our sons and daughters, that they may grow up in intelligence, virtue, purity and holiness before the Lord.
And then we want to study also the principles of education, and to get the very best teachers we can to teach our children; see that they are men and women who fear God and keep his commandments. We do not want men or women to teach the children of the Latter-day Saints who are not Latter-day Saints themselves. Hear it, you Elders of Israel and you school-trustees! We want none of these things. Let others who fear not God take their course; but it is for us to train our children up in the fear of God. God will hold us responsible for this trust. Hear it, you Elders of Israel and you fathers and you mothers! Talking about education, as I said before, Joseph Smith knew more in regard to the education than all the philosophers and scientists of the earth; and he knew it by the revelations of God. We want to get together to train our children up in the fear of God, to teach them correct principles ourselves, and place them in possession of such things as will lead them in the paths of life.
I find it is time for me to quit. I feel to thank you for your attendance at this Conference, and for the kind of spirit that has been manifested here. And to thank the members of our choir who have made for us sweet music; and I would say that our choir is a credit to our Territory and to our people. And furthermore they are meeting together for the purpose of cultivating the art of music, and that we may be organized and be more perfect in relation to these things.
I would like to have said something about our Sunday Schools. I do not believe we are behind any people on the face of the earth in relation to these matters. I am informed by the general Superintendent that we have 29,000 children attending Sunday Schools; and I would not be afraid to say that that is more than attend the Sunday Schools in all the Territories put together, outside of Utah. (A voice from the stand—“And in half the States.”) Some one remarks, and in half of the States. I do not know how that is. But they do say our children are Utah's surest and best crop. Let us try to train them up in the fear of God, that we may have his blessing to be with us.
I would like to have said something, too, about our cooperative associations. I am pleased to inform you that the Cooperative Institution of this city is doing remarkably well; it is on a solid foundation and everything is moving along pleasantly and agreeably. We have organized for some time a Trade's Union, through which all the people of Utah can be represented. And while the Co-op calls upon us to sustain them, which is right and proper, we want the Co-op to sustain us. There are two sides to this question, hence we have an organization called a Board of Trade in a number of the Stakes, and expect to perfect them in all the Stakes, that the whole people may be represented at our general board. Then we expect to spread and grow in manufactures of all kinds, that we may become a self-sustaining people, a people who shall be independent, under God, of all other powers.
I will not detain you. God bless Israel, and all that bless Israel, and let our enemies be confounded. And God grant unto us power to serve him and observe his laws that we may have a claim upon his blessings, and at last obtain eternal life in his kingdom, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
After blessing the congregation, the Conference was adjourned until the 6th of October.
The choir sang an anthem: How beautiful upon the mountains.
Benediction by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon.
GEORGE GODDARD,
Clerk of Conference.