October 1909
The Eightieth Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (1909). Report of Discourses. Salt Lake City: The Deseret News.
THE EIGHTIETH SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
That God has spoken is an irrefutable truth
PRESIDENT JOHN R. WINDER
Grateful for the blessings of the Lord
PRESIDENT ANTHON H. LUND
Children are a blessing, and a responsibility
AFTERNOON SESSION
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN
Mormonism the work of God
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
ELDER JOHN HENRY SMITH
More care needed in the cultivation of the soil
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
Employment for the young a moral necessity
OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER ANDREW KIMBALL
(President of St. Joseph Stake.)
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
(President of Northwestern States Mission)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M'MURRIN
ELDER JOSEPH E. ROBINSON
(President of California Mission.)
OUTDOOR MEETING
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION
(President of Central States Mission)
ELDER JOHN L. HERRICK
(President of Northwestern States Mission)
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH
(President of Northern States Mission)
SECOND DAY
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON
History and powers of the Priesthood
ELDER REED SMOOT
The Saints a blest people
ELDER HYRUM M. SMITH
The triumph of Truth
AFTERNOON SESSION
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
Testimonies concerning Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS
Unity among all the Presiding Quorums
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY
The President of the Church and the President of the Nation
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY
The care and training of children
THIRD DAY
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
Fulfillment of the Lord's promises
PATRIARCH JOHN SMITH
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS
CLOSING SESSION
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL
ELDER RULON S. WELLS
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
Appeal to increase membership of M. I. Associations, and subscribe for The Era
AUTHORITIES SUSTAINED
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
An appeal for God's blessings upon His Church and people
THE EIGHTIETH SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
That God has spoken is an irrefutable truth
PRESIDENT JOHN R. WINDER
Grateful for the blessings of the Lord
PRESIDENT ANTHON H. LUND
Children are a blessing, and a responsibility
AFTERNOON SESSION
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN
Mormonism the work of God
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
ELDER JOHN HENRY SMITH
More care needed in the cultivation of the soil
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
Employment for the young a moral necessity
OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER ANDREW KIMBALL
(President of St. Joseph Stake.)
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
(President of Northwestern States Mission)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M'MURRIN
ELDER JOSEPH E. ROBINSON
(President of California Mission.)
OUTDOOR MEETING
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION
(President of Central States Mission)
ELDER JOHN L. HERRICK
(President of Northwestern States Mission)
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH
(President of Northern States Mission)
SECOND DAY
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON
History and powers of the Priesthood
ELDER REED SMOOT
The Saints a blest people
ELDER HYRUM M. SMITH
The triumph of Truth
AFTERNOON SESSION
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
Testimonies concerning Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS
Unity among all the Presiding Quorums
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY
The President of the Church and the President of the Nation
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY
The care and training of children
THIRD DAY
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
Fulfillment of the Lord's promises
PATRIARCH JOHN SMITH
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS
CLOSING SESSION
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL
ELDER RULON S. WELLS
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
Appeal to increase membership of M. I. Associations, and subscribe for The Era
AUTHORITIES SUSTAINED
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
An appeal for God's blessings upon His Church and people
THE EIGHTIETH SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Eightieth Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Held in the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 3rd, 4th and 6th, 1909, with a full report of the discourses
PUBLISHED BY THE DESERET NEWS
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
FIRST DAY.
The Eightieth Semi-annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at 10 a. m. on Sunday, October 3, 1909, President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
AUTHORITIES PRESENT.
There were present of the First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund; of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay and Anthony W. Ivins; Presiding Patriarch John Smith; of the First Council of Seventies, Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, J. Golden Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin and Charles H. Hart; of the Presiding Bishopric, Charles W. Nibley, Orrin P. Miller, and David A. Smith. There were also a large number of Presidents of Stakes and Missions, with their Counselors, Bishops of Wards, Patriarchs, and numerous other prominent men and women representing various organizations of the Church.
President Joseph F. Smith called the assembly to order, and announced that, if necessary, overflow meetings will be held this afternoon in the Assembly Hall, to be presided over by Elder Hyrum M. Smith, and outdoors, in the vicinity of the Bureau of Information building, under direction of Elder Benjamin Goddard. The brethren and sisters who can furnish lodgings to visitors were invited to give their residence addresses to the entertainment committee.
The conference services were commenced by the choir and congregation singing the hymn:
Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation;
No longer as strangers on earth need we roam,
Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation,
And shortly the hour of redemption will come.
The opening prayer was offered by Elder Seymour B. Young.
The choir sang the hymn:
An angel from on high,
The long, long silence broke;
Descending from the sky,
These gracious words he spoke:
Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill
A sacred record lies concealed.
The Eightieth Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Held in the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 3rd, 4th and 6th, 1909, with a full report of the discourses
PUBLISHED BY THE DESERET NEWS
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
FIRST DAY.
The Eightieth Semi-annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at 10 a. m. on Sunday, October 3, 1909, President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
AUTHORITIES PRESENT.
There were present of the First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund; of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay and Anthony W. Ivins; Presiding Patriarch John Smith; of the First Council of Seventies, Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, J. Golden Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin and Charles H. Hart; of the Presiding Bishopric, Charles W. Nibley, Orrin P. Miller, and David A. Smith. There were also a large number of Presidents of Stakes and Missions, with their Counselors, Bishops of Wards, Patriarchs, and numerous other prominent men and women representing various organizations of the Church.
President Joseph F. Smith called the assembly to order, and announced that, if necessary, overflow meetings will be held this afternoon in the Assembly Hall, to be presided over by Elder Hyrum M. Smith, and outdoors, in the vicinity of the Bureau of Information building, under direction of Elder Benjamin Goddard. The brethren and sisters who can furnish lodgings to visitors were invited to give their residence addresses to the entertainment committee.
The conference services were commenced by the choir and congregation singing the hymn:
Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation;
No longer as strangers on earth need we roam,
Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation,
And shortly the hour of redemption will come.
The opening prayer was offered by Elder Seymour B. Young.
The choir sang the hymn:
An angel from on high,
The long, long silence broke;
Descending from the sky,
These gracious words he spoke:
Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill
A sacred record lies concealed.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
OPENING ADDRESS.
That God has spoken is an irrefutable truth.—Parents censurable for unwise indulgence of children.—Reverence for sacred things should be inculcated.—Men and women should marry those of their own faith.— Prosperity retarded by neglect to foster home manufactures.—Opportunities needed for manual training of boys and girls.—A knowledge of God and Truth gives rest to the soul.
(After a few preliminary remarks, urging the brethren and sisters occupying seats to close up together and make room for as many as possible of those standing, the president continued):
It is always a source of regret to me to see our sisters—sometimes aged sisters—under the necessity of standing at our meetings. I do not think that I ever saw the time when it would not be far greater pleasure to me to occupy a "standing seat" if, by so doing, I could give to a sister, a mother perhaps, the chance to sit down. I suppose the time will not come—we do not look for it to come, at least—when we shall be able to build large enough to accommodate all the Latter-day Saints.
The feeling that is in my heart, at this moment, is that of gratitude, of pleasure, and of hearty welcome to all the Latter-day Saints who have assembled here this morning to attend the opening session of our eightieth semi-annual conference. We welcome you, brethren and sisters, with all our hearts, and we sincerely pray and hope that the blessings of the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon those, individually and collectively, who have left their homes and gathered here for the purpose of attending this general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We thank you, and I know that the Lord will bless you, for the interest you manifest in coming together. We hope that our coming together in this capacity, throughout this conference, may be attended with rich blessings and with abundant our-pourings of the Spirit of the Lord upon all the people; that our faith may be strengthened; that our earnest desire to keep the faith may be increased in our souls; and that an overpowering desire may prevail, over all other thoughts and all other desires, to serve God and keep His commandments, that, by His blessing and assistance, we may be able as parents, as fathers and mothers in Israel, to bring up our children in the way they should go; instilling into their minds a knowledge of the truth, a love of the truth and for the truth, and an earnest desire, also, in their hearts to serve God and keep His commandments.
We wish our children not only to believe but to acquire the -knowledge, which comes through obedience to the truth, that the Lord God Almighty has spoken from the heavens in the day in which we live and has revealed to man the true way of life everlasting. There is no mistake about it; this fact is not based upon the judgment or opinion of men; it is based upon the truth—truth that cannot be denied intelligently. Men may deny truth, through a wilful desire to do it, or through ignorance on their part, and they may reject the truth; but no man that lives can say of a truth that God has not spoken from the heavens to men in this latter day as He spoke to ancient prophets and inspired men, and revealed unto them anciently, and also in our present time, His mind and will, and His law. Men may say they do not believe it; but that does not make the truth of non-effect. Men may express their doubts about it; but the truth remains. Men may reject it; still the foundation of the truth is unshaken. Men may array themselves against it; they may fight it bitterly, as many have done from its incipiency; but still the truth remains unshaken and undisturbed — the truth that God did speak to His servant Joseph Smith, and did reveal Himself unto him; not only the Father, but the Son also. They did reveal themselves unto him, and they gave him commandments and their law, their Gospel and their plan of life eternal; salvation temporal and salvation spiritual, salvation for the present and salvation throughout the countless ages of eternity. This plan contemplated not only salvation from sin and from the effects of sin here and hereafter, but exaltation, glory, power and dominion, that will come to the children of God through their obedience to the laws and principles of the gospel, that the Lord has truly revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I want to bear my testimony to this, and I would say to this vast congregation, that as I believe in my own existence, I believe in the divinity of this latter-day work; as I know, and as I have reason to know, that I am here and that I live, so I believe and I have reason to know that God, my Father, lives, that Jesus lives and that Joseph Smith was raised up of God to lay the foundations of this work. My whole hope of life, my all is staked upon this proposition, and I accept it, with all my soul. Having accepted it, I want, first of all — which is natural, and for entertaining which feeling I think you and all men will forgive me—first of all, I want those that are immediately associated with me, those who are bound to me by the ties of kindred love, to know the truth as I know it; I want them to feel it as I feel it; to love it as I love it. And I want to take that course in my life that, at last, I can be counted free from the responsibility of any of those associated with me in life going astray, falling by the way, turning from the light into the darkness, denying the truth or falling into transgression, or- wandering from the right path. I have a fervent prayer in my soul, an earnest desire, that when I shall be called to give my last account, to the Judge of the quick and the dead, I may not be chargeable for the misdeeds of my children, for their wandering away from the truth, or for the falling into transgression, if they should do so, of any of my family. I do not want to be charged with it; I want to be free from this possibility. Next to them, I want my associates in life, my friends, my fellow-members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to so live that they may love God with all their hearts—for that is the greatest of all the commandments—and that they shall love their neighbor as they love themselves, as far as it is possible for men, with the help of God, to overcome their selfishness, and extend their love, their forgiveness, their interest and their charity to their fellowman. I want to see the people of God obedient to the Lord, obedient to the Gospel, true to the faith, true to their covenants, true to mankind, true to one another and to the gospel of life and salvation; and in order that they may be true to these things, that they will prove it, and show forth their faith, their devotion and love for the principles of the gospel, by the manner in which they will rear their children and bring them up in the faith.
The Lord has blest me wonderfully. Sometimes, indeed almost always, I feel that no man in all the world has been blest more than I have been. I cannot express the gratitude I feel to God my Father, the giver of every good and perfect gift, for the inestimable and boundless mercies and blessings He has vouchsafed to me, His humble servant. So far, through my journey of life, I have had the joy and satisfaction of knowing, as far as it is possible for me to know, that the Lord has put into the hearts of my children the love of God and the love of truth, as He has put it into my heart, and I thank the Lord for it with all my soul. I would to the Lord that every man, who is a father in Israel, could say as much for his children; and why can't they say so much? I want to tell you one reason why a few of them, at least, cannot do it, and tell the truth. It is because they love their children with a shallow and unreasonable love. They indulge them to the utmost limit, and they carry it to such an extent that, if a child of theirs should ask them, while it was incapable of protecting itself, for a razor or a deadly instrument, figuratively speaking, rather than disappoint the child or deny its request, they would put into its hand an instrument of destruction. That is what they do, and that is what they are doing when they weakly yield to their foolish whims, and you mark my word, my brethren and sisters. There may not be many, God forbid that there should be many of us so unwisely Indulgent, so thoughtless and so shallow in our affection for our children that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrong-doing and in their foolish love for the things of the world more than for the things of righteousness, for fear of offending them. I want to say this: Some people have grown to possess such unlimited confidence in their children that they do not believe it possible for them to be led astray or to do wrong. They do not believe they could do wrong, because they have such confidence in them. The result is, they turn them loose, morning, noon, and night, to attend all kinds of entertainments and amusements, often in company with those whom they know not and do not understand. Some of our children are so innocent that they do not suspect evil, and therefore, they are off their guard and are trapped into evil. I do not like, and it isn't pleasant for me, to throw chips, so to speak; for I do not know what may come to me in the future, I do not know what sorrows may await me, in my children or in their children. I cannot tell what the future may bring forth; but I would feel, today as though my life had been, in part, a failure if, at this moment, any one of my children had thrown off their allegiance to their father or to their mother and taken the bits in their own teeth, so to speak, to do as they pleased in the world without regard to their parents.
There are things, in connection with this subject, that would not, perhaps, be proper to speak of here, before a large and mixed congregation; but I want to sound a note of warning to the Latter-day Saints. The time has come for them to look after their children. Every device possible to the understanding and ingenuity of cunning men, is being used for the purpose of diverting our children from the faith of the gospel and from the love of the truth. Every species of organization is being formed, both in our midst and abroad, having for its object the express purpose of leading astray the children of the Latter- day Saints, because they can't reach their parents. This is their argument: "We cannot convert the adult Mormon people, but we may, perhaps, convert their children; we may lead away their children; we do not hope to lead away the old people." They can't do it, except it may be, now and then, a man or woman who never did know anything particularly about the gospel. These, only, are they who can be led away from the truth; and our children can be led away from their parents and from the faith of the Gospel, only when they are in a condition that they know not the truth for themselves, not having had a proper example before them to impress it upon their minds.
Sometimes good hearted people are in the habit of joking a good deal about sacred things, and there is scarcely anything that is held, by them, too sacred to speak lightly of in some form. They do this in the presence of their children, and their children take advantage of it; and while they go but an inch, so to speak, their children go the full length. They see that their parents do not hold sacred things which are sacred; they joke about them and speak lightly of them in the presence of their children, at the very fireside of their own home. The children grow up to feel that even their parents, when under the influence of a jocular spirit, do not hold sacred those things that they call sacred. The parents joke about these things and speak lightly of them, and the children take advantage of it.
I may be pardoned, since it is pretty well known everywhere, I believe, that I speak my mind if I speak at all, if I say to you, Mormon, Jew, and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, present in this congregation, I would rather take one of my children to the grave than I would see him turn away from this gospel. I would rather follow their bodies to the cemetery, and see them buried in innocence, than I would see them corrupted by the ways of the world. I would rather go myself to the grave than to be associated with a wife outside of the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. Now, I hold it just -so sacred; but some members of the Church do not so regard the matter. Some people feel that it does not make very much difference whether a girl marries a man in the Church, full of the faith of the gospel, or an unbeliever. Some of our young people have married outside the Church; but very few of those who have done it have failed to come to grief. I would like to see Latter-day Saint women marry Latter-day Saint men, and Latter-day Saint men marry Latter-day Saint women; and let Methodists marry Methodists, Catholics marry Catholics, and Presbyterians marry Presbyterians, and so on to the limit. Let them keep within the pale of their own faith and church, and marry and intermarry there, and let the Latter-day Saints do the same thing in their Church; then we will see who comes out best in the end. This is the way I feel about it. There is nothing that I can think of, in a religious way, that would grieve me more intensely that to see one of my boys marry an unbelieving girl, or one of my girls marry an unbelieving man. While I live, and they will listen to my voice, you can depend upon it none of them will ever do it, and I would to God that every father in Israel saw it just as I do, and would carry it out just as I intend to do. Yet, we do not know what the future may bring forth. We know the past, and the Spirit of the Lord may manifest to men, and does manifest to us, to some extent, what the future will be. We can in part judge of things that will come to pass by the things we see and understand, for we can trace the effect or result from the cause. When we see that laxity prevails in the family circle, when men do not pray at home, when they do not ask their wives nor their children to pray with them, when they treat lightly sacred things, when they joke and laugh about that which is most sacred, holy and most important to the welfare and happiness of men, when they do this before their children we may foretell what will be the result of it, eventually, with those children. You may foretell it almost as surely as you can tell that which has passed. The same causes, if pursued on the same lines, will produce the same effects in the future as in the past. We know what the past has done, and we may judge from the past what the future will bring forth.
Some of our people living elsewhere are in the habit of letting their daughters come to this city unprotected, to get employment, and it would be pitiable indeed, to relate the consequences which sometimes result from that practice.
I did not expect to occupy very much time when I rose before you. My voice is not in very good trim for speaking as I have been suffering for a short time with a cold; and I presume I am not doing myself any good, physically, by speaking as I am doing.
The brethren who will follow, through the conference, will be led by the Spirit of the Lord, I trust, in advancing and speaking upon those principles that will be profitable to the people. We expect them to talk about morality, about obedience to the laws of God and to the laws of men. We expect them to speak about home industry, for if any people in the world should believe in the propriety and necessity of home industry, it is the Latter-day Saints. On the back of that, if there is a people anywhere in the intermountain region, or anywhere else, who have failed more completely in maintaining and supporting some kinds of home industry, than we have, I do not know them. However much we may believe in it, we have not patronized it as we should; we have neglected it and let it go to the wall. President Young started up industries, home manufactures, and urged this matter upon the brethren. Factories were started under the administration of President Young in this valley and to the north of us in Weber county, and in Provo, Springville, in Washington county—this side of St. George, and in Beaver. He was earnest about it; he saw the necessity for it, but nearly every one of those enterprises, which he inaugurated, even to the manufacture of nails, in that early day, has gone to the wall. What for? Of course, eliminating the manufacture of nails, (for a factory was established for that purpose) die industry of raising cotton, of spinning cotton, of manufacturing our wool products into cloth and into other things that are needful, every one of these institutions has gone by the board; because labor was a little higher here, and cloth could not be produced here quite as cheap, within a few cents per yard, as the shoddy that is produced in the east could be made and sent here. We preferred the shoddy to the real goods, and we bought the shoddy and wore it, and let home manufacture go to the wall, and yet we believe in home manufacture! I wish we could produce here everything that is essential to our wellbeing— both for food and raiment and everything else, and I hope that the spirit of it will come upon us. I do not want to boast, but I want to tell you that I have the honor of wearing part of the last piece of home-made goods produced in Utah. I look about as well as some of you in your shoddy. (Laughter). Of course, I may not be a judge of my own appearance. You can judge of my appearance, and I can judge of yours; but if I may judge of my own appearance and my apparel, I have the opinion that my coat and vest look just about as well as some that you wear, and mine are homemade. For the last 40 years I have worn home-made goods, and I have paid just a little more than I could get shoddy for, I would have been glad to have done this right along, year after year, rather than to see this home industry fall to the ground for want of patronage. Here is Brother Smoot, who has been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods; he can speak from the figures, for he is more familiar with figures than I am.
We want to make these valleys of the mountains teem with the products of our own labor, and skill, and intelligence. I believe it to be suicidal for us to patronize those who are at a distance from us, when we should and could go to work and organize our labor and produce everything at home; we might thereby give employment to everybody at home, develop the intelligence and the skill of our children, instead of letting them hunt after these fancy occupations that so many young people desire above manual labor. The schools of the Latter-day Saints and some of the state schools are beginning to introduce manual labor. Some of our boys are learning how to make tables, chairs, sofas, bookcases, bureaus and all that sort of thing —all good as far as it goes; but if we want a mason to lay brick, we have got to look mostly to some man that has come from England or Germany or somewhere else to lay our brick. Why? Because our boys do not like to lay brick. If we want a good blacksmith, we must hunt up some foreigner who has learned the trade in his mother country, and who has come here with a knowledge of blacksmithing; we must find such a man before we can get blacksmithing done, because boys do not like to be blacksmiths. They don't like even to be farmers; they would rather be lawyers or doctors than to be farmers. This is the case with too many of our boys, and it is a great mistake. I hope the time will come when the children of the Latter-day Saints will learn that all labor that is necessary for the happiness of themselves and of their neighbors, or of mankind in general, is honorable; and that no man is degrading himself because he can lay brick, or carry on carpentry or blacksmithing, or any kind of mechanism, no matter what it is, but that all these things are honorable, and are necessary for the welfare of man and for the building up of the commonwealth.
I feel that I should not trespass much longer upon your time. The Lord bless this vast congregation. May peace dwell in your hearts; may you, indeed, find the rest in the gospel of Jesus Christ that will relieve you from the necessity of hunting for or longing to obtain something more than that which you have. The ancient prophets speak of "entering into God's rest;" what does it mean? To my mind, it means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in His purposes and in His plans to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are nor hunting for something else; we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lay in wait to deceive. We know of the doctrine, that it is of God, and we do not ask any questions of anybody about it; they are welcome to their opinions, to their ideas and- to their vagaries. The man who has reached that degree of faith in God that all doubt and fear have been cast from him, he has entered into "God's rest," and he need not fear the vagaries of men, nor their cunning and craftiness, by which they seek to deceive him and mislead him from the truth. I pray that we may all enter into God's rest—rest from doubt, from fear, from apprehension of danger, rest from the religious turmoil of the world; from the cry that is going forth, here and there—lo, here is Christ; lo, there is Christ; lo, He is in the desert, come ye out to meet Him. The man who has found God's rest will not be disturbed by these vagaries of men, for the Lord has told him, and does tell us: "Go not out to seek them. Go not out to hunt them: for when Christ shall come, He will come with the army of heaven with Him in the clouds of glory, and all eyes shall see Him." We do not need to be hunting for Christ here, or Christ there, or prophets here and prophets there.
There never was a time, perhaps, when there were more false prophets than there are today, when there were more visionary men or more false Christs than there are today. We get letters from them, and commands and threats from them, and admonitions and warnings and revelations from them, nearly every day. Our table is frequented by revelations from false prophets, from cranks and from crazy men—some calling themselves Christ, some calling themselves "deliverers of Israel," some calling themselves "the one mighty and strong, who is to deliver Israel out of bondage." Some say, "I am Christ; come unto me." We have these letters—those that we have not destroyed—stacked up almost by the cord. Some of these false prophets, these men to "deliver Israel," and these foolish, unwise, unstable creatures, led about by every wind of doctrine have risen right in our own midst. There is no one that can get up some foolish idea, or start out proposing to organize a church of some kind, no matter what the inconsistency of his claims may be, but what he will find some one to follow him, somebody as foolish as he is, and who knows as little. To the faithful Latter-day Saint is given the right to know the truth, as God knows it; and no power beneath the celestial kingdom can lead him astray, darken his understanding, becloud his mind or dim his faith or his knowledge of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It can't be done, for the light of God shines brighter than the illumination of falsehood and error, therefore, those who possess the light of Christ, the spirit of revelation and the knowledge of God, rise above all these vagaries in the world; they know of this doctrine, that it is of God and not of man.
The Lord bless you. Peace abide with you; and, oh, may the fathers in Israel live as they should live; treat their wives as they should treat them; make their homes as comfortable as they possibly can; lighten the burdens upon their companions as much as possible; set a proper example before their children; teach them to meet with them in prayer, morning, and night, and whenever they sit down to partake of food, to acknowledge the mercy of God in giving them the food that they eat and the raiment that they wear, and acknowledge the hand of God in all things. This is our duty, and if we do not do it the Lord will be displeased for He has said so. He is only pleased with those who acknowledge His hand in all things. Now, God bless you, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "O Beauty of Holiness."
OPENING ADDRESS.
That God has spoken is an irrefutable truth.—Parents censurable for unwise indulgence of children.—Reverence for sacred things should be inculcated.—Men and women should marry those of their own faith.— Prosperity retarded by neglect to foster home manufactures.—Opportunities needed for manual training of boys and girls.—A knowledge of God and Truth gives rest to the soul.
(After a few preliminary remarks, urging the brethren and sisters occupying seats to close up together and make room for as many as possible of those standing, the president continued):
It is always a source of regret to me to see our sisters—sometimes aged sisters—under the necessity of standing at our meetings. I do not think that I ever saw the time when it would not be far greater pleasure to me to occupy a "standing seat" if, by so doing, I could give to a sister, a mother perhaps, the chance to sit down. I suppose the time will not come—we do not look for it to come, at least—when we shall be able to build large enough to accommodate all the Latter-day Saints.
The feeling that is in my heart, at this moment, is that of gratitude, of pleasure, and of hearty welcome to all the Latter-day Saints who have assembled here this morning to attend the opening session of our eightieth semi-annual conference. We welcome you, brethren and sisters, with all our hearts, and we sincerely pray and hope that the blessings of the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon those, individually and collectively, who have left their homes and gathered here for the purpose of attending this general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We thank you, and I know that the Lord will bless you, for the interest you manifest in coming together. We hope that our coming together in this capacity, throughout this conference, may be attended with rich blessings and with abundant our-pourings of the Spirit of the Lord upon all the people; that our faith may be strengthened; that our earnest desire to keep the faith may be increased in our souls; and that an overpowering desire may prevail, over all other thoughts and all other desires, to serve God and keep His commandments, that, by His blessing and assistance, we may be able as parents, as fathers and mothers in Israel, to bring up our children in the way they should go; instilling into their minds a knowledge of the truth, a love of the truth and for the truth, and an earnest desire, also, in their hearts to serve God and keep His commandments.
We wish our children not only to believe but to acquire the -knowledge, which comes through obedience to the truth, that the Lord God Almighty has spoken from the heavens in the day in which we live and has revealed to man the true way of life everlasting. There is no mistake about it; this fact is not based upon the judgment or opinion of men; it is based upon the truth—truth that cannot be denied intelligently. Men may deny truth, through a wilful desire to do it, or through ignorance on their part, and they may reject the truth; but no man that lives can say of a truth that God has not spoken from the heavens to men in this latter day as He spoke to ancient prophets and inspired men, and revealed unto them anciently, and also in our present time, His mind and will, and His law. Men may say they do not believe it; but that does not make the truth of non-effect. Men may express their doubts about it; but the truth remains. Men may reject it; still the foundation of the truth is unshaken. Men may array themselves against it; they may fight it bitterly, as many have done from its incipiency; but still the truth remains unshaken and undisturbed — the truth that God did speak to His servant Joseph Smith, and did reveal Himself unto him; not only the Father, but the Son also. They did reveal themselves unto him, and they gave him commandments and their law, their Gospel and their plan of life eternal; salvation temporal and salvation spiritual, salvation for the present and salvation throughout the countless ages of eternity. This plan contemplated not only salvation from sin and from the effects of sin here and hereafter, but exaltation, glory, power and dominion, that will come to the children of God through their obedience to the laws and principles of the gospel, that the Lord has truly revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I want to bear my testimony to this, and I would say to this vast congregation, that as I believe in my own existence, I believe in the divinity of this latter-day work; as I know, and as I have reason to know, that I am here and that I live, so I believe and I have reason to know that God, my Father, lives, that Jesus lives and that Joseph Smith was raised up of God to lay the foundations of this work. My whole hope of life, my all is staked upon this proposition, and I accept it, with all my soul. Having accepted it, I want, first of all — which is natural, and for entertaining which feeling I think you and all men will forgive me—first of all, I want those that are immediately associated with me, those who are bound to me by the ties of kindred love, to know the truth as I know it; I want them to feel it as I feel it; to love it as I love it. And I want to take that course in my life that, at last, I can be counted free from the responsibility of any of those associated with me in life going astray, falling by the way, turning from the light into the darkness, denying the truth or falling into transgression, or- wandering from the right path. I have a fervent prayer in my soul, an earnest desire, that when I shall be called to give my last account, to the Judge of the quick and the dead, I may not be chargeable for the misdeeds of my children, for their wandering away from the truth, or for the falling into transgression, if they should do so, of any of my family. I do not want to be charged with it; I want to be free from this possibility. Next to them, I want my associates in life, my friends, my fellow-members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to so live that they may love God with all their hearts—for that is the greatest of all the commandments—and that they shall love their neighbor as they love themselves, as far as it is possible for men, with the help of God, to overcome their selfishness, and extend their love, their forgiveness, their interest and their charity to their fellowman. I want to see the people of God obedient to the Lord, obedient to the Gospel, true to the faith, true to their covenants, true to mankind, true to one another and to the gospel of life and salvation; and in order that they may be true to these things, that they will prove it, and show forth their faith, their devotion and love for the principles of the gospel, by the manner in which they will rear their children and bring them up in the faith.
The Lord has blest me wonderfully. Sometimes, indeed almost always, I feel that no man in all the world has been blest more than I have been. I cannot express the gratitude I feel to God my Father, the giver of every good and perfect gift, for the inestimable and boundless mercies and blessings He has vouchsafed to me, His humble servant. So far, through my journey of life, I have had the joy and satisfaction of knowing, as far as it is possible for me to know, that the Lord has put into the hearts of my children the love of God and the love of truth, as He has put it into my heart, and I thank the Lord for it with all my soul. I would to the Lord that every man, who is a father in Israel, could say as much for his children; and why can't they say so much? I want to tell you one reason why a few of them, at least, cannot do it, and tell the truth. It is because they love their children with a shallow and unreasonable love. They indulge them to the utmost limit, and they carry it to such an extent that, if a child of theirs should ask them, while it was incapable of protecting itself, for a razor or a deadly instrument, figuratively speaking, rather than disappoint the child or deny its request, they would put into its hand an instrument of destruction. That is what they do, and that is what they are doing when they weakly yield to their foolish whims, and you mark my word, my brethren and sisters. There may not be many, God forbid that there should be many of us so unwisely Indulgent, so thoughtless and so shallow in our affection for our children that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrong-doing and in their foolish love for the things of the world more than for the things of righteousness, for fear of offending them. I want to say this: Some people have grown to possess such unlimited confidence in their children that they do not believe it possible for them to be led astray or to do wrong. They do not believe they could do wrong, because they have such confidence in them. The result is, they turn them loose, morning, noon, and night, to attend all kinds of entertainments and amusements, often in company with those whom they know not and do not understand. Some of our children are so innocent that they do not suspect evil, and therefore, they are off their guard and are trapped into evil. I do not like, and it isn't pleasant for me, to throw chips, so to speak; for I do not know what may come to me in the future, I do not know what sorrows may await me, in my children or in their children. I cannot tell what the future may bring forth; but I would feel, today as though my life had been, in part, a failure if, at this moment, any one of my children had thrown off their allegiance to their father or to their mother and taken the bits in their own teeth, so to speak, to do as they pleased in the world without regard to their parents.
There are things, in connection with this subject, that would not, perhaps, be proper to speak of here, before a large and mixed congregation; but I want to sound a note of warning to the Latter-day Saints. The time has come for them to look after their children. Every device possible to the understanding and ingenuity of cunning men, is being used for the purpose of diverting our children from the faith of the gospel and from the love of the truth. Every species of organization is being formed, both in our midst and abroad, having for its object the express purpose of leading astray the children of the Latter- day Saints, because they can't reach their parents. This is their argument: "We cannot convert the adult Mormon people, but we may, perhaps, convert their children; we may lead away their children; we do not hope to lead away the old people." They can't do it, except it may be, now and then, a man or woman who never did know anything particularly about the gospel. These, only, are they who can be led away from the truth; and our children can be led away from their parents and from the faith of the Gospel, only when they are in a condition that they know not the truth for themselves, not having had a proper example before them to impress it upon their minds.
Sometimes good hearted people are in the habit of joking a good deal about sacred things, and there is scarcely anything that is held, by them, too sacred to speak lightly of in some form. They do this in the presence of their children, and their children take advantage of it; and while they go but an inch, so to speak, their children go the full length. They see that their parents do not hold sacred things which are sacred; they joke about them and speak lightly of them in the presence of their children, at the very fireside of their own home. The children grow up to feel that even their parents, when under the influence of a jocular spirit, do not hold sacred those things that they call sacred. The parents joke about these things and speak lightly of them, and the children take advantage of it.
I may be pardoned, since it is pretty well known everywhere, I believe, that I speak my mind if I speak at all, if I say to you, Mormon, Jew, and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, present in this congregation, I would rather take one of my children to the grave than I would see him turn away from this gospel. I would rather follow their bodies to the cemetery, and see them buried in innocence, than I would see them corrupted by the ways of the world. I would rather go myself to the grave than to be associated with a wife outside of the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. Now, I hold it just -so sacred; but some members of the Church do not so regard the matter. Some people feel that it does not make very much difference whether a girl marries a man in the Church, full of the faith of the gospel, or an unbeliever. Some of our young people have married outside the Church; but very few of those who have done it have failed to come to grief. I would like to see Latter-day Saint women marry Latter-day Saint men, and Latter-day Saint men marry Latter-day Saint women; and let Methodists marry Methodists, Catholics marry Catholics, and Presbyterians marry Presbyterians, and so on to the limit. Let them keep within the pale of their own faith and church, and marry and intermarry there, and let the Latter-day Saints do the same thing in their Church; then we will see who comes out best in the end. This is the way I feel about it. There is nothing that I can think of, in a religious way, that would grieve me more intensely that to see one of my boys marry an unbelieving girl, or one of my girls marry an unbelieving man. While I live, and they will listen to my voice, you can depend upon it none of them will ever do it, and I would to God that every father in Israel saw it just as I do, and would carry it out just as I intend to do. Yet, we do not know what the future may bring forth. We know the past, and the Spirit of the Lord may manifest to men, and does manifest to us, to some extent, what the future will be. We can in part judge of things that will come to pass by the things we see and understand, for we can trace the effect or result from the cause. When we see that laxity prevails in the family circle, when men do not pray at home, when they do not ask their wives nor their children to pray with them, when they treat lightly sacred things, when they joke and laugh about that which is most sacred, holy and most important to the welfare and happiness of men, when they do this before their children we may foretell what will be the result of it, eventually, with those children. You may foretell it almost as surely as you can tell that which has passed. The same causes, if pursued on the same lines, will produce the same effects in the future as in the past. We know what the past has done, and we may judge from the past what the future will bring forth.
Some of our people living elsewhere are in the habit of letting their daughters come to this city unprotected, to get employment, and it would be pitiable indeed, to relate the consequences which sometimes result from that practice.
I did not expect to occupy very much time when I rose before you. My voice is not in very good trim for speaking as I have been suffering for a short time with a cold; and I presume I am not doing myself any good, physically, by speaking as I am doing.
The brethren who will follow, through the conference, will be led by the Spirit of the Lord, I trust, in advancing and speaking upon those principles that will be profitable to the people. We expect them to talk about morality, about obedience to the laws of God and to the laws of men. We expect them to speak about home industry, for if any people in the world should believe in the propriety and necessity of home industry, it is the Latter-day Saints. On the back of that, if there is a people anywhere in the intermountain region, or anywhere else, who have failed more completely in maintaining and supporting some kinds of home industry, than we have, I do not know them. However much we may believe in it, we have not patronized it as we should; we have neglected it and let it go to the wall. President Young started up industries, home manufactures, and urged this matter upon the brethren. Factories were started under the administration of President Young in this valley and to the north of us in Weber county, and in Provo, Springville, in Washington county—this side of St. George, and in Beaver. He was earnest about it; he saw the necessity for it, but nearly every one of those enterprises, which he inaugurated, even to the manufacture of nails, in that early day, has gone to the wall. What for? Of course, eliminating the manufacture of nails, (for a factory was established for that purpose) die industry of raising cotton, of spinning cotton, of manufacturing our wool products into cloth and into other things that are needful, every one of these institutions has gone by the board; because labor was a little higher here, and cloth could not be produced here quite as cheap, within a few cents per yard, as the shoddy that is produced in the east could be made and sent here. We preferred the shoddy to the real goods, and we bought the shoddy and wore it, and let home manufacture go to the wall, and yet we believe in home manufacture! I wish we could produce here everything that is essential to our wellbeing— both for food and raiment and everything else, and I hope that the spirit of it will come upon us. I do not want to boast, but I want to tell you that I have the honor of wearing part of the last piece of home-made goods produced in Utah. I look about as well as some of you in your shoddy. (Laughter). Of course, I may not be a judge of my own appearance. You can judge of my appearance, and I can judge of yours; but if I may judge of my own appearance and my apparel, I have the opinion that my coat and vest look just about as well as some that you wear, and mine are homemade. For the last 40 years I have worn home-made goods, and I have paid just a little more than I could get shoddy for, I would have been glad to have done this right along, year after year, rather than to see this home industry fall to the ground for want of patronage. Here is Brother Smoot, who has been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods; he can speak from the figures, for he is more familiar with figures than I am.
We want to make these valleys of the mountains teem with the products of our own labor, and skill, and intelligence. I believe it to be suicidal for us to patronize those who are at a distance from us, when we should and could go to work and organize our labor and produce everything at home; we might thereby give employment to everybody at home, develop the intelligence and the skill of our children, instead of letting them hunt after these fancy occupations that so many young people desire above manual labor. The schools of the Latter-day Saints and some of the state schools are beginning to introduce manual labor. Some of our boys are learning how to make tables, chairs, sofas, bookcases, bureaus and all that sort of thing —all good as far as it goes; but if we want a mason to lay brick, we have got to look mostly to some man that has come from England or Germany or somewhere else to lay our brick. Why? Because our boys do not like to lay brick. If we want a good blacksmith, we must hunt up some foreigner who has learned the trade in his mother country, and who has come here with a knowledge of blacksmithing; we must find such a man before we can get blacksmithing done, because boys do not like to be blacksmiths. They don't like even to be farmers; they would rather be lawyers or doctors than to be farmers. This is the case with too many of our boys, and it is a great mistake. I hope the time will come when the children of the Latter-day Saints will learn that all labor that is necessary for the happiness of themselves and of their neighbors, or of mankind in general, is honorable; and that no man is degrading himself because he can lay brick, or carry on carpentry or blacksmithing, or any kind of mechanism, no matter what it is, but that all these things are honorable, and are necessary for the welfare of man and for the building up of the commonwealth.
I feel that I should not trespass much longer upon your time. The Lord bless this vast congregation. May peace dwell in your hearts; may you, indeed, find the rest in the gospel of Jesus Christ that will relieve you from the necessity of hunting for or longing to obtain something more than that which you have. The ancient prophets speak of "entering into God's rest;" what does it mean? To my mind, it means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in His purposes and in His plans to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are nor hunting for something else; we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lay in wait to deceive. We know of the doctrine, that it is of God, and we do not ask any questions of anybody about it; they are welcome to their opinions, to their ideas and- to their vagaries. The man who has reached that degree of faith in God that all doubt and fear have been cast from him, he has entered into "God's rest," and he need not fear the vagaries of men, nor their cunning and craftiness, by which they seek to deceive him and mislead him from the truth. I pray that we may all enter into God's rest—rest from doubt, from fear, from apprehension of danger, rest from the religious turmoil of the world; from the cry that is going forth, here and there—lo, here is Christ; lo, there is Christ; lo, He is in the desert, come ye out to meet Him. The man who has found God's rest will not be disturbed by these vagaries of men, for the Lord has told him, and does tell us: "Go not out to seek them. Go not out to hunt them: for when Christ shall come, He will come with the army of heaven with Him in the clouds of glory, and all eyes shall see Him." We do not need to be hunting for Christ here, or Christ there, or prophets here and prophets there.
There never was a time, perhaps, when there were more false prophets than there are today, when there were more visionary men or more false Christs than there are today. We get letters from them, and commands and threats from them, and admonitions and warnings and revelations from them, nearly every day. Our table is frequented by revelations from false prophets, from cranks and from crazy men—some calling themselves Christ, some calling themselves "deliverers of Israel," some calling themselves "the one mighty and strong, who is to deliver Israel out of bondage." Some say, "I am Christ; come unto me." We have these letters—those that we have not destroyed—stacked up almost by the cord. Some of these false prophets, these men to "deliver Israel," and these foolish, unwise, unstable creatures, led about by every wind of doctrine have risen right in our own midst. There is no one that can get up some foolish idea, or start out proposing to organize a church of some kind, no matter what the inconsistency of his claims may be, but what he will find some one to follow him, somebody as foolish as he is, and who knows as little. To the faithful Latter-day Saint is given the right to know the truth, as God knows it; and no power beneath the celestial kingdom can lead him astray, darken his understanding, becloud his mind or dim his faith or his knowledge of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It can't be done, for the light of God shines brighter than the illumination of falsehood and error, therefore, those who possess the light of Christ, the spirit of revelation and the knowledge of God, rise above all these vagaries in the world; they know of this doctrine, that it is of God and not of man.
The Lord bless you. Peace abide with you; and, oh, may the fathers in Israel live as they should live; treat their wives as they should treat them; make their homes as comfortable as they possibly can; lighten the burdens upon their companions as much as possible; set a proper example before their children; teach them to meet with them in prayer, morning, and night, and whenever they sit down to partake of food, to acknowledge the mercy of God in giving them the food that they eat and the raiment that they wear, and acknowledge the hand of God in all things. This is our duty, and if we do not do it the Lord will be displeased for He has said so. He is only pleased with those who acknowledge His hand in all things. Now, God bless you, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "O Beauty of Holiness."
PRESIDENT JOHN R. WINDER.
Grateful for the blessings of the Lord. —Sixty years' experience in the Church.—Joseph Smith a true Prophet of God.—In favor of home industries.—Endorsement of President Smith's teaching.
I scarcely know how to express my gratitude to God, our eternal Father, for this privilege that I have of once more meeting with you, my brethren and sisters, in general conference. As I looked over this congregation this morning, I thought of the time when I first heard the Gospel in a far off land, from an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was convinced of the truth when I first heard it, and I knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I am thankful to say, this morning, that faith has grown and increased with me as the years have passed along; and every day that I live I see new evidences of the truth of this work. I testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I am thankful that this testimony has never left me since I first heard the Gospel, more than sixty years ago.
I have rejoiced in listening to the words of the President, this morning, and I fully and heartily indorse every principle that he has spoken of. I hope that we will all be so impressed with the truth that we will seek to carry out these instructions in our lives; that when we go home, from this conference, we will all put forth our best efforts to improve, and live in accordance with these principles. I wish to say here, this morning, before this vast congregation, that I endorse with all my heart every sentiment expressed, and to the best of my humble ability, I will stand by the President and put forth my best efforts to aid and assist him in carrying out these principles.
I was delighted to hear him speak of home manufactures. For many years I was engaged in the business, myself, manufacturing various articles, and I have regretted many times to see the negligence and carelessness among our people in relation to this principle. I am proud to say, my brethren and sisters, without boasting at all, that I have the honor and the pleasure of wearing a coat, this morning, made from the same piece of cloth that the President's coat was made from, (laughter), and I leave you to judge as to how I look.
You know pretty well my age and how the Lord has blest and preserved me until the present time. I am almost eight-eight years of age; consequently, you do not expect that I am going to stand here and preach to you. I merely wish, this morning, to bear my testimony to the truth, and to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, that I propose to stand by the President and aid and assist him in every way that I can, and to carry out the principles of the Gospel.
May the Lord bless you all and help us to be true and faithful to our covenants that we make in the house of the Lord, and everywhere else, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Grateful for the blessings of the Lord. —Sixty years' experience in the Church.—Joseph Smith a true Prophet of God.—In favor of home industries.—Endorsement of President Smith's teaching.
I scarcely know how to express my gratitude to God, our eternal Father, for this privilege that I have of once more meeting with you, my brethren and sisters, in general conference. As I looked over this congregation this morning, I thought of the time when I first heard the Gospel in a far off land, from an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was convinced of the truth when I first heard it, and I knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I am thankful to say, this morning, that faith has grown and increased with me as the years have passed along; and every day that I live I see new evidences of the truth of this work. I testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I am thankful that this testimony has never left me since I first heard the Gospel, more than sixty years ago.
I have rejoiced in listening to the words of the President, this morning, and I fully and heartily indorse every principle that he has spoken of. I hope that we will all be so impressed with the truth that we will seek to carry out these instructions in our lives; that when we go home, from this conference, we will all put forth our best efforts to improve, and live in accordance with these principles. I wish to say here, this morning, before this vast congregation, that I endorse with all my heart every sentiment expressed, and to the best of my humble ability, I will stand by the President and put forth my best efforts to aid and assist him in carrying out these principles.
I was delighted to hear him speak of home manufactures. For many years I was engaged in the business, myself, manufacturing various articles, and I have regretted many times to see the negligence and carelessness among our people in relation to this principle. I am proud to say, my brethren and sisters, without boasting at all, that I have the honor and the pleasure of wearing a coat, this morning, made from the same piece of cloth that the President's coat was made from, (laughter), and I leave you to judge as to how I look.
You know pretty well my age and how the Lord has blest and preserved me until the present time. I am almost eight-eight years of age; consequently, you do not expect that I am going to stand here and preach to you. I merely wish, this morning, to bear my testimony to the truth, and to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, that I propose to stand by the President and aid and assist him in every way that I can, and to carry out the principles of the Gospel.
May the Lord bless you all and help us to be true and faithful to our covenants that we make in the house of the Lord, and everywhere else, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
PRESIDENT ANTHON H. LUND.
Children are a blessing, and a responsibility.— Every available agency for children's betterment should be utilized.— Important results from Bureau of Information.—Splendid record made by our missionaries. — "Truth will prevail;" the Church can not be destroyed.
I feel very humble in presenting myself before this large congregation after you have heard the splendid instructions and the strong testimonies borne of the truth. I know that you, with me, feel happy in the knowledge that we are not in doubt, but have a testimony of the truth. The Lord has given us an assurance that He has established this work, and that it points out the way which leads to eternal life. I feel very thankful for this testimony.
The subjects that have been treated upon are very timely. Our children are our most precious possession. The Psalmist says: "Children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them." Such was the way that that inspired man looked upon children. Do we look upon them in the same way? Of all the people upon the earth we ought to feel blest in the possession of children. We should regard it as a sacred duty to train them aright while they are young, for we are assured that if children are trained in the way they should go, when they grow old they will not depart therefrom. This duty, then, rests upon all the Latter-day Saints, and it is not a duty alone—we should look upon it as a privilege that God has given us to train their young minds, that they may grow up and be an honor to us and become useful members of the Church and Kingdom of God. Good children are among the greatest blessings; but we must remember that every blessing that God bestows upon us brings also responsibility, and the responsibility of raising our children aright, of guarding them against evil influences, is a great one. With the growing wealth in our community, we find also the growth of evil influences around us. There is much to draw our children away from the right path. Hence, Latter-day Saints we must be on our guard. Do not let us neglect our children. Let us encourage them in their attendance at the sessions of the different institutions in our midst. Let the little ones go to the Primaries. I will say here that our sisters who take such an interest in attending the Primaries will be blest of the Lord, and we feel to bless them; likewise the workers in the Religion Classes. We want our children to learn practical religion, and in these classes is where our brethren and sisters are training them in this direction. We have institutions in our midst that are hardly known, but which are doing a great work in protecting our children from the evil that surrounds them. I refer to the Betterment Committees, composed of men who have been appointed in the different wards to look after the children. They have saved many a one from going astray. I do not believe that the parents are really as much in harmony with them as they ought to be. As the President said, we have such unbounded confidence in our children that we do not think they could do anything wrong; and if one of our brethren should warn us that, perhaps, a boy or a girl of ours is in bad company, some of us are ready to repudiate such a charge; and the one who speaks to us, and who does it out of the goodness of his heart, we look upon almost as an enemy. We ought not to do this. These men are trying their best to work for the good of our young people. I would say, brethren and sisters, let us all be awake, let us all be on the watchtower; because if the adversary ever sought to destroy us and our children, he is at the present time; and what a sorrow it must be to the hearts of parents to see their children leave the faith or go astray. By taking hold of this matter in time, and by devoting more time to our children, much of this could be averted.
The Bureau of Information, here upon this block, is doing an important missionary work. Hundreds of thousands of people come here, and when they see what the Latter-day Saints have accomplished they want to know something concerning this peculiar people—what are their motives? and what are they doing? Our brethren and sisters who labor so unselfishly here, from day to day, are doing a splendid work in enlightening men and women concerning us and our religion. Our missionaries abroad are feeling the result of this work. They go into the houses of strangers, and commence to talk to them about the Gospel, and often they tell the elders that they have been in Salt Lake, and add: "We have been treated kindly by your people; can we do anything for you?" Many missionaries have been told, "Come and stay with us; make our homes your homes, while you are laboring in this district." This has been brought about by these people learning the truth concerning us, while in our midst; and so I say, Blessed be our workers on the block here, who labor in the service of the Bureau of Information. They are simply telling the truth to those who come here; and the travelers who visit us, feel that our people are telling what they feel and know, themselves, to be true in regard to their religion. We do not know how much good a word may do. It may open up the way for missionary work in districts of our country where we have not before been able to gain access. It may likewise open the way into foreign lands, for foreigners come here also. When I was at Stockholm this summer, I met one of our missionaries. This young man was once traveling to Denver. On the train he met with, a gentleman who had visited Salt Lake, and when he found out that the young man was a Mormon, he wanted to learn all he could about our people. When he left he gave his address and wanted the young man to correspond with him. The young man was called to go on a mission to Germany. He corresponded with this man, and found out that he was a baron from Finland, and before the missionary went home, this man invited him to take a sail with him in his yacht, around Scandinavia; but the brother did not have time to do this. I mention this to show you what influence a few words had on a man, even of such standing. He loved the young man, and when he bade him farewell, he was moved to tears. "Now," said he, "send missionaries over to our country, and they will be protected there." We have tried to send missionaries to Finland, bat on account of the strict rule of Russia, our elders have not been able to stay there long at a time. However, we have had excellent men and women join the Church there, who have come up here to live with us. This man was moved by what he had heard. He thought there was freedom enough in Finland for men and women to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, but he did not know how much the Elders had been persecuted there.
I want to say to our brethren and sisters, that during my visit to the different missions of Europe, this summer, I have rejoiced in seeing our missionaries, and the work they are doing. They are filled with holy zeal for the spread of the truth. They are men of whom you can be proud, men that are gaining the love and esteem of all good men with whom they come in contact. As the people of the world see their pure lives and upright conduct, their love for men and their unselfishness in devoting themselves, their time and means, to convert souls unto Christ, they realize that our missionaries could not do this, except they were sincere and had a firm conviction of the truth of the Gospel they proclaim.
The work is progressing, and I hope the time will soon come when those countries where there is no freedom to worship God, as men feel to do, may be given such liberty. I am astonished that an enlightened nation like Germany should still banish men who have done no wrong, who have only tried to show others the way that they know for themselves leads to God. Not many days ago, a young man studying in Berlin—not a missionary— went into our meeting. He was a splendid singer, and sung the songs of Zion to encourage his brethren and sisters; and for this offense he was banished. I think that when this is put in the right light before the government, this policy may be changed, for I cannot believe that judges and men of understanding can look upon it as a just thing. However, persecution has never stopped the work of the Lord. Banishment, arrests and imprisonment will not stop our elders from working among the people.
This work has been established by our heavenly Father, and no opposition can stop it. When there were only six or ten members in the Church, it might have been thought that the adversary could have stopped it, but not even then. It has grown. The influence of the Gospel, as brought forth by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is making its way and is being felt throughout all nations; the truths revealed through him will yet be accepted by the world. Many there are today who believe in them, though they know not the source whence they came. Truth will prevail, and we look forward to the time when it shall cover the whole earth, and make men free in Christ. Then Christ will come and reign upon the earth; bring peace unto men; bind the influences of evil, and introduce a reign of peace. I feel thankful that this faith and hope has been given me, and I know you have it also. May the Lord bless the Latter- day Saints; bless this work, that it may prosper; bless His servants with the spirit of their calling, that what they do may further the interests of the Church of Christ, I ask it, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "The Guiding Star."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Andrew Kimball.
Conference adjourned until 2 p.m.
Children are a blessing, and a responsibility.— Every available agency for children's betterment should be utilized.— Important results from Bureau of Information.—Splendid record made by our missionaries. — "Truth will prevail;" the Church can not be destroyed.
I feel very humble in presenting myself before this large congregation after you have heard the splendid instructions and the strong testimonies borne of the truth. I know that you, with me, feel happy in the knowledge that we are not in doubt, but have a testimony of the truth. The Lord has given us an assurance that He has established this work, and that it points out the way which leads to eternal life. I feel very thankful for this testimony.
The subjects that have been treated upon are very timely. Our children are our most precious possession. The Psalmist says: "Children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them." Such was the way that that inspired man looked upon children. Do we look upon them in the same way? Of all the people upon the earth we ought to feel blest in the possession of children. We should regard it as a sacred duty to train them aright while they are young, for we are assured that if children are trained in the way they should go, when they grow old they will not depart therefrom. This duty, then, rests upon all the Latter-day Saints, and it is not a duty alone—we should look upon it as a privilege that God has given us to train their young minds, that they may grow up and be an honor to us and become useful members of the Church and Kingdom of God. Good children are among the greatest blessings; but we must remember that every blessing that God bestows upon us brings also responsibility, and the responsibility of raising our children aright, of guarding them against evil influences, is a great one. With the growing wealth in our community, we find also the growth of evil influences around us. There is much to draw our children away from the right path. Hence, Latter-day Saints we must be on our guard. Do not let us neglect our children. Let us encourage them in their attendance at the sessions of the different institutions in our midst. Let the little ones go to the Primaries. I will say here that our sisters who take such an interest in attending the Primaries will be blest of the Lord, and we feel to bless them; likewise the workers in the Religion Classes. We want our children to learn practical religion, and in these classes is where our brethren and sisters are training them in this direction. We have institutions in our midst that are hardly known, but which are doing a great work in protecting our children from the evil that surrounds them. I refer to the Betterment Committees, composed of men who have been appointed in the different wards to look after the children. They have saved many a one from going astray. I do not believe that the parents are really as much in harmony with them as they ought to be. As the President said, we have such unbounded confidence in our children that we do not think they could do anything wrong; and if one of our brethren should warn us that, perhaps, a boy or a girl of ours is in bad company, some of us are ready to repudiate such a charge; and the one who speaks to us, and who does it out of the goodness of his heart, we look upon almost as an enemy. We ought not to do this. These men are trying their best to work for the good of our young people. I would say, brethren and sisters, let us all be awake, let us all be on the watchtower; because if the adversary ever sought to destroy us and our children, he is at the present time; and what a sorrow it must be to the hearts of parents to see their children leave the faith or go astray. By taking hold of this matter in time, and by devoting more time to our children, much of this could be averted.
The Bureau of Information, here upon this block, is doing an important missionary work. Hundreds of thousands of people come here, and when they see what the Latter-day Saints have accomplished they want to know something concerning this peculiar people—what are their motives? and what are they doing? Our brethren and sisters who labor so unselfishly here, from day to day, are doing a splendid work in enlightening men and women concerning us and our religion. Our missionaries abroad are feeling the result of this work. They go into the houses of strangers, and commence to talk to them about the Gospel, and often they tell the elders that they have been in Salt Lake, and add: "We have been treated kindly by your people; can we do anything for you?" Many missionaries have been told, "Come and stay with us; make our homes your homes, while you are laboring in this district." This has been brought about by these people learning the truth concerning us, while in our midst; and so I say, Blessed be our workers on the block here, who labor in the service of the Bureau of Information. They are simply telling the truth to those who come here; and the travelers who visit us, feel that our people are telling what they feel and know, themselves, to be true in regard to their religion. We do not know how much good a word may do. It may open up the way for missionary work in districts of our country where we have not before been able to gain access. It may likewise open the way into foreign lands, for foreigners come here also. When I was at Stockholm this summer, I met one of our missionaries. This young man was once traveling to Denver. On the train he met with, a gentleman who had visited Salt Lake, and when he found out that the young man was a Mormon, he wanted to learn all he could about our people. When he left he gave his address and wanted the young man to correspond with him. The young man was called to go on a mission to Germany. He corresponded with this man, and found out that he was a baron from Finland, and before the missionary went home, this man invited him to take a sail with him in his yacht, around Scandinavia; but the brother did not have time to do this. I mention this to show you what influence a few words had on a man, even of such standing. He loved the young man, and when he bade him farewell, he was moved to tears. "Now," said he, "send missionaries over to our country, and they will be protected there." We have tried to send missionaries to Finland, bat on account of the strict rule of Russia, our elders have not been able to stay there long at a time. However, we have had excellent men and women join the Church there, who have come up here to live with us. This man was moved by what he had heard. He thought there was freedom enough in Finland for men and women to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, but he did not know how much the Elders had been persecuted there.
I want to say to our brethren and sisters, that during my visit to the different missions of Europe, this summer, I have rejoiced in seeing our missionaries, and the work they are doing. They are filled with holy zeal for the spread of the truth. They are men of whom you can be proud, men that are gaining the love and esteem of all good men with whom they come in contact. As the people of the world see their pure lives and upright conduct, their love for men and their unselfishness in devoting themselves, their time and means, to convert souls unto Christ, they realize that our missionaries could not do this, except they were sincere and had a firm conviction of the truth of the Gospel they proclaim.
The work is progressing, and I hope the time will soon come when those countries where there is no freedom to worship God, as men feel to do, may be given such liberty. I am astonished that an enlightened nation like Germany should still banish men who have done no wrong, who have only tried to show others the way that they know for themselves leads to God. Not many days ago, a young man studying in Berlin—not a missionary— went into our meeting. He was a splendid singer, and sung the songs of Zion to encourage his brethren and sisters; and for this offense he was banished. I think that when this is put in the right light before the government, this policy may be changed, for I cannot believe that judges and men of understanding can look upon it as a just thing. However, persecution has never stopped the work of the Lord. Banishment, arrests and imprisonment will not stop our elders from working among the people.
This work has been established by our heavenly Father, and no opposition can stop it. When there were only six or ten members in the Church, it might have been thought that the adversary could have stopped it, but not even then. It has grown. The influence of the Gospel, as brought forth by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is making its way and is being felt throughout all nations; the truths revealed through him will yet be accepted by the world. Many there are today who believe in them, though they know not the source whence they came. Truth will prevail, and we look forward to the time when it shall cover the whole earth, and make men free in Christ. Then Christ will come and reign upon the earth; bring peace unto men; bind the influences of evil, and introduce a reign of peace. I feel thankful that this faith and hope has been given me, and I know you have it also. May the Lord bless the Latter- day Saints; bless this work, that it may prosper; bless His servants with the spirit of their calling, that what they do may further the interests of the Church of Christ, I ask it, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "The Guiding Star."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Andrew Kimball.
Conference adjourned until 2 p.m.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m., in the Tabernacle.
President Joseph F. Smith called the congregation to order, and announced the convening of overflow meetings at this hour, in the Assembly Hall, and outdoors near the Bureau of Information building.
The choir sang the anthem, "Hosannah!" ( Stephens. )
Prayer was offered by Elder William H. Smart.
The choir sang the anthem, "Gospel Restoration."
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m., in the Tabernacle.
President Joseph F. Smith called the congregation to order, and announced the convening of overflow meetings at this hour, in the Assembly Hall, and outdoors near the Bureau of Information building.
The choir sang the anthem, "Hosannah!" ( Stephens. )
Prayer was offered by Elder William H. Smart.
The choir sang the anthem, "Gospel Restoration."
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN
Mormonism the work of God.—Our splendid Church organizations. — General improvement 'among the Saints.—Advice to parents.—The sacredness of marriage.—Reward of a faithful and well-spent life.—Concerning children being kept employed.— Home industries.—The development of the State's resources.
This is a very interesting occasion for the Latter-day Saints. We meet together twice a year, in general conference, to transact the general business of the Church and to receive such instructions as the Lord may have for our profit and learning. All the stakes and many of the missions of the United States are represented in this great assembly.
The Lord has established this work; He has maintained it, and will do, I have no doubt, to the end. We have embraced the Gospel in our faith and in our works. Paul declared, anciently, that he was "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to all those who believe." No doubt, he meant, that it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe and obey it. The Latter-day Saints have been occupied with the Gospel for a great many years, and the results are seen in the great number of stakes that are established, the great number of wards, and the very perfect organizations that now exist in Zion. A great work is being accomplished in the world. Quite a little army of elders, two thousand of them, are abroad preaching the Gospel, and other elders are at home preaching the Gospel—in that eloquent discourse of example, at least. I believe that is the case with a very large majority, of all those who have received the priesthood — they are preaching by example.
Under the direction of the Presidency of the Church, the Council of the Twelve and the First Council of Seventies are constantly employed in preaching and in writing, in organizing and re-organizing, setting in order and keeping in order this great army of people, in their stakes, in their wards, in their quorums, and in all their associations; and a great work is being accomplished. Very much attention is being given to the rising generation in the splendid Sunday School system, so thoroughly established and developed, the Mutual Improvement Associations of young men and young women, the Primary Associations, and the Religion Class organizations, besides all the quorums of the priesthood; indeed all Israel seems to be thoroughly occupied.
I presume that sometimes we feel we are taxed in our attention to spiritual matters, church matters, more than we are able to meet; but the Lord will bring forth the fruit. We plant, we labor, we exhort and do our duty, bearing the priesthood; but it is the Lord that gives the result, that causes the convictions and brings about the conversions and the reformations. He finds the hearts of the people and controls them and endows them with faith, with the spirit of repentance and reformation. As a result of our observation, which is quite general — for we keep fairly in close touch with the missions throughout the world, with all the stakes in Zion, with all the wards, with all the associations and organizations that pertain to this splendidly organized Church—I feel to say a word in favor of our efforts. We are not perfect, but I believe that we are doing better, that we are getting more thoroughly acquainted with doctrines and principles; I believe that we are making improvement and that the Gospel of redemption and of salvation and of restoration is producing fruit that can be measured in the conditions of the people, can be measured in the conditions of individuals. I believe that every member of this Church can readily discover and determine just how far he is redeemed and reformed, and just how far he has become established upon a good, safe foundation of faith, of repentance, and of good works.
I believe it is highly necessary for every man to take stock of himself, every family, every quorum, every ward and every stake; to take stock of ourselves and determine just how far the Gospel has produced fruit in us, how far we are redeemed, how much reformation we have accomplished, while connected with this Church. Thus we can demonstrate or determine the power that is connected with the Gospel, the measure of the power of God; for, if we have wrought righteousness, if we are redeemed, so that we do not want to do wrong any more, so that we do not want' to be wicked, that we do not want to indulge in falsehood, intemperance, in profanity, or in any other measure of wickedness; if we are in that condition, we will know the virtue and the power of this Gospel. Let each man take stock of himself, ask himself the question, "What reformation have I made?" What reformation have we made? How well and thoroughly are we established now in the principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and how well has the power of God been demonstrated in us individually.
As the leading and presiding councils in the Church, it falls to our lot to visit all the departments of the Church, to give attention thereto, as directed by the Presidency of the Church; so that we go to your homes, we go to your wards, to your stakes, and we visit with the priesthood. We examine, and weigh the brethren, look them over. We have occasion to do-this whenever it is necessary to regulate and set in order any organization within the Church. That keeps us fairly well occupied, for changes are occurring constantly, and we find it necessary to examine the pieces of material, the timber at our disposal, in organizing stakes and wards and quorums and the like, in all the details of Church work. I want to say that we have discovered this—starting with the brethren who are charged with caring for stakes and wards, quorums and missions,—that quite generally, almost universally, these presiding men, and the presiding brethren and sisters in all the associations and organizations of the Church, are found to be doing good work, and they are fairly faithful and exemplary. We hardly hope to be perfect just yet; but we find these leading and presiding brethren and sisters, in their several positions, making very great improvement. That is our testimony; and that good condition is spreading and increasing, though evils exist and no doubt will do to the end, for some may never fully repent and reform, I fear. But, generally, it will be found that the Latter-day Saints are becoming more faithful and better established in their faith—more reliable, more spiritually-minded, giving greater attention to 'their ministry, and having matters of the Church better in hand than heretofore. We find that a very large percentage of all the Latter-day Saints are prayerful. They remember the Lord; a large percentage of them remember Him in their fastings, every month, and in their offerings for the poor. The law of tithing is fairly well and generally observed. The Sabbath day is being better observed. Yet, along all these lines there is opportunity for improvement.
Our children have been taken care of, and are being taken care of, by the associations, I believe, better than by their parents. Hence I thought the injunction of the President this morning—that we should give attention to our children—was very timely. I believe the President understands that the associations are doing their duty well; but it is your duty and my duty, our duty as fathers and mothers, to take greater pains with our children, to work with them more earnestly and consistently and wisely, to seek to have influence and weight with them; not only to teach them by word of mouth, but by our example. We should see to it that our example, our conversation, shall be proper, and that their faith shall never be weakened by our example, nor by our precepts, but that everything that we do as parents shall tend to strengthen faith in the hearts of our children. For we have an army of them, an immense army of children in this Church, thank the Lord; they are very numerous; they are bright and intelligent; they are very choice spirits, and are worthy of our care. They are entitled to the care of elders, as well as their mothers, and of seventies and high-priests, for every child properly, and well-born in this Church is entitled to be the child of a man bearing the Melchisedek Priesthood.
The suggestion upon marriage should receive our consideration. This principle cannot be too thoroughly taught in our families at home, not leaving these instructions for public consideration altogether, or to be given in public by our presiding officers. Every father should feel and realize the importance of the proper marriage of his son, the proper marriage of his daughter, and the proper legitimacy, in the eyes of the Lord, for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so that our posterity shall never have occasion to look us in the face and say that their progenitors were indifferent and careless. They are entitled to be born heirs of God, legitimate in the eyes of the Lord, and what a serious thing it would be and will be for us, my brethren and sisters, if we neglect to have the suitable and proper kind of marriage that is required in this Church: marriage for eternity, legal marriage in the eyes of the Lord, so that our children and our children's children may inherit this blessing, that they may be heirs of the Lord and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. If we neglect our duty in this regard, what a serious thing it will be for our posterity. They are not responsible for their birth; but they will be responsible for the birth of their own posterity.
I would like to suggest to the Latter-day Saints that it is a reproach to parents who do not insure to their children legitimacy in the eyes of the Lord. Marriages for time are all right and proper in the world, and are satisfactory to the world, I suppose, as a rule; that is the only form they have; but it is not sufficient for Latter-day Saints. For that reason, I take it, our President enjoins upon us the importance of Latter-day Saints marrying with Latter-day Saints and not marrying with those who are not of our faith. This does not mean that the other children .of God are not just as choice as we are, if they will open their hearts to receive the truth, and are willing to be taught and receive faith, and do the works that are required of us; but as long as they remain careless and indifferent and are satisfied with forms of religion, without the power thereof, the power of God, then they deprive themselves of many blessings. There is but one true religion. That Paul referred to; it is the religion that he came to be partial to. At first he had a religion that was not the true religion of the Lord Jesus Christ; but when he had corrected himself, when he had embraced the truth and had undertaken to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to be His follower, he discovered that the religion of the Pharisees was not sufficient for salvation. He had been reared in the strictest form of the religion of the Pharisees. He was a conscientious and an honest man. He felt as though he was doing his duty when he was persecuting the Saints, and he rejoiced at the stoning of Stephen, at the gate of Jerusalem; but he found out later that he was persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered that fact, because the Lord revealed it to him. He repented, he reformed and he was baptized for the remission of his sins and received the Holy Ghost which enlightened his mind and prepared him and qualified him to make that immortal saying, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." That was a new religion for him; he had not had that before in all his life. He had not been trained in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ; but when he discovered it, and found it out, he became enlightened; the Holy Ghost inspired his heart and bore testimony to him of the Father and of the Son, and he discovered that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus was the power of God unto salvation.
Now, we can determine this question, every one of us. We do not need to go to the bishop to find out, or to the president of the Church, or the president of the stake; but every member of this Church can determine just exactly where he stands and what measure of redemption and of restoration he has reached, where he is at the present time. Have we ceased to steal? We do not want to steal any more. Latter-day Saints do not want to steal. We do not want to lie any more, because we have reformed and repented. We have ceased to deceive, to cheat, to rob, or to do anything that is wicked. We have stood thus for many years, and expect to continue to the end; we must be faithful to the end if we want the blessing, finally, for it is not enough for us to be honest today and conscientious today and for a week or a month; our contract or compact with the Lord is that we will serve Him to the end of our mortal lives. If we do this, the Lord will receive us into His fellowship and make good His promise of forgiveness of our sins. We will attain to a remission of our sins if we serve Him faithfully to the end of our mortal lives. That is a very important place, so that when we get there, if we have kept the commandments, fought a good fight, and endured to the end, how blessed it will be for us to come into the presence of God and receive the welcome plaudit, "Well done." If we have done well, that will thrill us from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet; we will rejoice exceedingly, and there will, no doubt, be a great change in us when our sins are finally forgiven, when they are blotted out and are not remembered against us any more; then we will have no cause to be ashamed.
Now, we have discovered that this Gospel is having its due weight among the people. When we come to examine them, and they are looked over by the bishops in the wards, or by the presidencies of the stakes, as well as these general authorities that travel among them, I believe it is the general opinion and understanding among us that the Latter-day Saints are improving, growing stronger, growing better in faith, and we are becoming more popular. Stakes are increasing, wards are increasing, and we are spreading abroad and having greater influence and accomplishing greater good in the earth. The Lord is blessing and redeeming His people. We see before us here one of the beautiful sights we see twice a year. I don't know of any other spot on earth, or any other people on earth where there is anything superior to this, or equal to it. We come together as parents. We are here today, and we will be together in great numbers again tonight in the Sunday School gathering. This house will be filled, for everybody is invited and everybody is expected to come, in the interest of the Sunday Schools. This is a work that engages much of our attention at home.
We have strangers on our borders, who need to hear the Gospel; and there are many among us who should hear the Gospel; not only do the Latter-day Saints gather from abroad, but our friends and neighbors gather; they come here in great numbers, until they almost outnumber us here in Salt Lake City. If we could only convert them, if they would come and listen and embrace the Gospel and help us in the building up of the kingdom, we would rejoice exceedingly. We go to the extremities of the earth, to the islands of the sea and all over the continents, and expect to go to the very ends of the earth and preach the gospel to every creature. This obligation rests upon us; this responsibility has been placed in our hands.
My testimony, my brethren and sisters, is that the Latter-day Saints are improving; they are increasing in strength, in faith, in power, and they desire to be faithful in the work of the ministry. I believe we feel that way, and that we will be successful if we just unite ourselves. You can determine the condition of the Latter-day Saints by the spirit they enjoy, for there is happiness and peace among us, and a foretaste of heaven fills the souls of the Latter-day Saints. We have no occasion to go on the outside; we have no occasion to go to any other religious denomination. They certainly ought to enjoy what they possess. We are satisfied with what we possess, for we have heard; we have seen; we have believed; we have repented; we have been baptized for the remission of our sins, by competent authority; and we have received the Holy Ghost, for it is that Spirit that has borne record to our souls. It is that Spirit that so establishes us that the world have concluded that they can't do very much with the Mormon people, at least the older people. They may catch some of the children; but if they do, we will catch some of theirs in turn, because we will be laboring to convert them while they are laboring to convert us.
This Gospel, with which Paul was so pleased, requires us to serve the Lord all the time, so that we may have joy and happiness in our souls, and that we may be prepared to live and be prepared to go to our reward when mortality closes and we lay down these mortal tabernacles of ours, for we will lay them in the dust after a little while — just a little while. All the time there are changes. Many are being born, and many are passing away. We mourn, we sorrow for our loved ones that go—our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents; we sorrow for them; and it is well and proper that we should mourn for them and shed tears for the loss, for it is our loss; but it is their gain, for it is in the march of progress, advancement and development. It will be all right when our time comes, when we have finished our work and accomplished what the Lord requires of us. If we are prepared, we need not be afraid to go, for it will be one of the most pleasant sensations that ever comes to the soul of man, whenever he departs, if he can go with a clear conscience into the presence of the Lord and receive that welcome I have mentioned. We will be full of joy and happiness, and we will enter into a place of rest, of peace, of joy, rest from every sorrow. What a blessed thing that will be! We will never be tired any more. We will not get tired, for we will be in a condition that we can endure and enjoy our work: for we shall be occupied and employed on the other side as we are on this side; we shall have plenty to occupy our attention right along.
Now, in closing, I want to say a word in regard to the children. I want to give you my thoughts in regard to one phase of child labor. I want to impress upon my brethren and sisters here, who have families, those who are raising families, who have children and will have children right along: I believe that there is nothing more important in the handling of children than to see that they are occupied, that they are employed, that they have something to do, that the mind is not left idle to study mischief or to do mischief. We should see that the little hands are suitably occupied; we should see that the little minds are constantly engaged. They should not be idle; boys should not be idle girls should not be idle; they should have employment. It should be the effort of parents to provide their children with occupation. I know of nothing that is so degenerating and so dangerous as idleness, for the brain will seek out mischief. Satan is just as ready to tempt and to lead astray as the Spirit of the Lord is willing to lead us in ways of righteousness. Try to find employment for your little ones; keep them occupied. I do not want little children to do men's work; they should not do hard work; but their little hands should be occupied, for they can't be still a minute while they are awake. They cannot sit still, and they cannot lie still; if you place them upon their backs, they will kick and scramble and make a good deal of noise, too. They must be occupied. The brain is active just as well as the body, from the very beginning; they must have something to do. I believe that is one of the secrets of success: that the children should be occupied; we should make use of them in such way that they will be learning to be useful in their lives, and not be idle and waste their time.
In regard to home industries: I thought I had the last suit myself, President. (Laughter). I thought, I had the last silk that was produced in Utah; and I thought I had the last cloth made at Provo; but I do not know how many last pieces have been made. (Laughter.) But here is the last silk ever made in Utah, (displaying a handkerchief.) In regard to home-made cloth, I have never worn anything, since I can remember, but goods made at Provo, until Provo stopped making the goods; since that time I have had to do the best I could, and I have been wearing shoddy ever since. I believe in sustaining home industry, the protection of everything that can be produced in our land. It has been said that, with some people, it is not considered very fashionable to be farmers, to cultivate the earth. As suggested, our boys want something easier, something smoother and cleaner; they don't want to get dirt on their hands, and the like. The cultivation of the earth, agriculture and horticulture, will be among the most profitable enterprises, and it will be found that the land here will be very valuable and precious; but it wants to be occupied and subdued. We want to produce good crops upon it, instead of weeds. We have been looking over the country —not only looking over the people and the organizations, but we have looked over the fields in the south, in the north, as far as we go in the north, up into Canada—the finest country I ever saw for weeds, except the south. The south is pretty good, a warm country, and produces many weeds. Now, if we would only take from the earth all that can be brought out in good profitable crops, instead of producing weeds, we would become prosperous. We should subdivide the earth, as much as we can handle, making it profitable to us, that it be made to grow flowers and fruits and. vegetables—everything that is necessary for the use and comfort of man. The mines, of course, will be developed; they will produce, as they should do, gold and silver, lead and copper, and iron. If I had influence with the railroads, I would have them put a railroad into the iron-fields here, and the gold-fields here, and develop industries that would employ men by the thousands. The railroads have done wonders in the state of Colorado, as well as in Utah and in the north, and in all directions. They have done wonders, but we want them to do more. I guess they will never be able to do all we want them to do. We want them to help develop the resources. The Latter-day Saints are industrious, and are increasing in numbers. There are many people, not of this faith, in Latter-day Saint communities, and we live together as friends and neighbors. We meet them in business transactions; we have the same reservoirs, the same mines, the same interests; we live together, side by side, in the same cities and towns; and we ought to live in peace and labor for the welfare of the people of our state, help each other and not tear each other to pieces.
May the Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters, in all your wards and stakes. May He bless you as individuals, in your homes. God bless the Latter-day Saints, that they may keep the faith, that their children may grow up in the faith, strong and determined in keeping the commandments of the Lord, so that they will have life now and life forever more, that they may dwell in the presence and favor and fellowship of God, our eternal Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Mormonism the work of God.—Our splendid Church organizations. — General improvement 'among the Saints.—Advice to parents.—The sacredness of marriage.—Reward of a faithful and well-spent life.—Concerning children being kept employed.— Home industries.—The development of the State's resources.
This is a very interesting occasion for the Latter-day Saints. We meet together twice a year, in general conference, to transact the general business of the Church and to receive such instructions as the Lord may have for our profit and learning. All the stakes and many of the missions of the United States are represented in this great assembly.
The Lord has established this work; He has maintained it, and will do, I have no doubt, to the end. We have embraced the Gospel in our faith and in our works. Paul declared, anciently, that he was "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to all those who believe." No doubt, he meant, that it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe and obey it. The Latter-day Saints have been occupied with the Gospel for a great many years, and the results are seen in the great number of stakes that are established, the great number of wards, and the very perfect organizations that now exist in Zion. A great work is being accomplished in the world. Quite a little army of elders, two thousand of them, are abroad preaching the Gospel, and other elders are at home preaching the Gospel—in that eloquent discourse of example, at least. I believe that is the case with a very large majority, of all those who have received the priesthood — they are preaching by example.
Under the direction of the Presidency of the Church, the Council of the Twelve and the First Council of Seventies are constantly employed in preaching and in writing, in organizing and re-organizing, setting in order and keeping in order this great army of people, in their stakes, in their wards, in their quorums, and in all their associations; and a great work is being accomplished. Very much attention is being given to the rising generation in the splendid Sunday School system, so thoroughly established and developed, the Mutual Improvement Associations of young men and young women, the Primary Associations, and the Religion Class organizations, besides all the quorums of the priesthood; indeed all Israel seems to be thoroughly occupied.
I presume that sometimes we feel we are taxed in our attention to spiritual matters, church matters, more than we are able to meet; but the Lord will bring forth the fruit. We plant, we labor, we exhort and do our duty, bearing the priesthood; but it is the Lord that gives the result, that causes the convictions and brings about the conversions and the reformations. He finds the hearts of the people and controls them and endows them with faith, with the spirit of repentance and reformation. As a result of our observation, which is quite general — for we keep fairly in close touch with the missions throughout the world, with all the stakes in Zion, with all the wards, with all the associations and organizations that pertain to this splendidly organized Church—I feel to say a word in favor of our efforts. We are not perfect, but I believe that we are doing better, that we are getting more thoroughly acquainted with doctrines and principles; I believe that we are making improvement and that the Gospel of redemption and of salvation and of restoration is producing fruit that can be measured in the conditions of the people, can be measured in the conditions of individuals. I believe that every member of this Church can readily discover and determine just how far he is redeemed and reformed, and just how far he has become established upon a good, safe foundation of faith, of repentance, and of good works.
I believe it is highly necessary for every man to take stock of himself, every family, every quorum, every ward and every stake; to take stock of ourselves and determine just how far the Gospel has produced fruit in us, how far we are redeemed, how much reformation we have accomplished, while connected with this Church. Thus we can demonstrate or determine the power that is connected with the Gospel, the measure of the power of God; for, if we have wrought righteousness, if we are redeemed, so that we do not want to do wrong any more, so that we do not want' to be wicked, that we do not want to indulge in falsehood, intemperance, in profanity, or in any other measure of wickedness; if we are in that condition, we will know the virtue and the power of this Gospel. Let each man take stock of himself, ask himself the question, "What reformation have I made?" What reformation have we made? How well and thoroughly are we established now in the principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and how well has the power of God been demonstrated in us individually.
As the leading and presiding councils in the Church, it falls to our lot to visit all the departments of the Church, to give attention thereto, as directed by the Presidency of the Church; so that we go to your homes, we go to your wards, to your stakes, and we visit with the priesthood. We examine, and weigh the brethren, look them over. We have occasion to do-this whenever it is necessary to regulate and set in order any organization within the Church. That keeps us fairly well occupied, for changes are occurring constantly, and we find it necessary to examine the pieces of material, the timber at our disposal, in organizing stakes and wards and quorums and the like, in all the details of Church work. I want to say that we have discovered this—starting with the brethren who are charged with caring for stakes and wards, quorums and missions,—that quite generally, almost universally, these presiding men, and the presiding brethren and sisters in all the associations and organizations of the Church, are found to be doing good work, and they are fairly faithful and exemplary. We hardly hope to be perfect just yet; but we find these leading and presiding brethren and sisters, in their several positions, making very great improvement. That is our testimony; and that good condition is spreading and increasing, though evils exist and no doubt will do to the end, for some may never fully repent and reform, I fear. But, generally, it will be found that the Latter-day Saints are becoming more faithful and better established in their faith—more reliable, more spiritually-minded, giving greater attention to 'their ministry, and having matters of the Church better in hand than heretofore. We find that a very large percentage of all the Latter-day Saints are prayerful. They remember the Lord; a large percentage of them remember Him in their fastings, every month, and in their offerings for the poor. The law of tithing is fairly well and generally observed. The Sabbath day is being better observed. Yet, along all these lines there is opportunity for improvement.
Our children have been taken care of, and are being taken care of, by the associations, I believe, better than by their parents. Hence I thought the injunction of the President this morning—that we should give attention to our children—was very timely. I believe the President understands that the associations are doing their duty well; but it is your duty and my duty, our duty as fathers and mothers, to take greater pains with our children, to work with them more earnestly and consistently and wisely, to seek to have influence and weight with them; not only to teach them by word of mouth, but by our example. We should see to it that our example, our conversation, shall be proper, and that their faith shall never be weakened by our example, nor by our precepts, but that everything that we do as parents shall tend to strengthen faith in the hearts of our children. For we have an army of them, an immense army of children in this Church, thank the Lord; they are very numerous; they are bright and intelligent; they are very choice spirits, and are worthy of our care. They are entitled to the care of elders, as well as their mothers, and of seventies and high-priests, for every child properly, and well-born in this Church is entitled to be the child of a man bearing the Melchisedek Priesthood.
The suggestion upon marriage should receive our consideration. This principle cannot be too thoroughly taught in our families at home, not leaving these instructions for public consideration altogether, or to be given in public by our presiding officers. Every father should feel and realize the importance of the proper marriage of his son, the proper marriage of his daughter, and the proper legitimacy, in the eyes of the Lord, for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so that our posterity shall never have occasion to look us in the face and say that their progenitors were indifferent and careless. They are entitled to be born heirs of God, legitimate in the eyes of the Lord, and what a serious thing it would be and will be for us, my brethren and sisters, if we neglect to have the suitable and proper kind of marriage that is required in this Church: marriage for eternity, legal marriage in the eyes of the Lord, so that our children and our children's children may inherit this blessing, that they may be heirs of the Lord and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. If we neglect our duty in this regard, what a serious thing it will be for our posterity. They are not responsible for their birth; but they will be responsible for the birth of their own posterity.
I would like to suggest to the Latter-day Saints that it is a reproach to parents who do not insure to their children legitimacy in the eyes of the Lord. Marriages for time are all right and proper in the world, and are satisfactory to the world, I suppose, as a rule; that is the only form they have; but it is not sufficient for Latter-day Saints. For that reason, I take it, our President enjoins upon us the importance of Latter-day Saints marrying with Latter-day Saints and not marrying with those who are not of our faith. This does not mean that the other children .of God are not just as choice as we are, if they will open their hearts to receive the truth, and are willing to be taught and receive faith, and do the works that are required of us; but as long as they remain careless and indifferent and are satisfied with forms of religion, without the power thereof, the power of God, then they deprive themselves of many blessings. There is but one true religion. That Paul referred to; it is the religion that he came to be partial to. At first he had a religion that was not the true religion of the Lord Jesus Christ; but when he had corrected himself, when he had embraced the truth and had undertaken to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to be His follower, he discovered that the religion of the Pharisees was not sufficient for salvation. He had been reared in the strictest form of the religion of the Pharisees. He was a conscientious and an honest man. He felt as though he was doing his duty when he was persecuting the Saints, and he rejoiced at the stoning of Stephen, at the gate of Jerusalem; but he found out later that he was persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered that fact, because the Lord revealed it to him. He repented, he reformed and he was baptized for the remission of his sins and received the Holy Ghost which enlightened his mind and prepared him and qualified him to make that immortal saying, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." That was a new religion for him; he had not had that before in all his life. He had not been trained in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ; but when he discovered it, and found it out, he became enlightened; the Holy Ghost inspired his heart and bore testimony to him of the Father and of the Son, and he discovered that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus was the power of God unto salvation.
Now, we can determine this question, every one of us. We do not need to go to the bishop to find out, or to the president of the Church, or the president of the stake; but every member of this Church can determine just exactly where he stands and what measure of redemption and of restoration he has reached, where he is at the present time. Have we ceased to steal? We do not want to steal any more. Latter-day Saints do not want to steal. We do not want to lie any more, because we have reformed and repented. We have ceased to deceive, to cheat, to rob, or to do anything that is wicked. We have stood thus for many years, and expect to continue to the end; we must be faithful to the end if we want the blessing, finally, for it is not enough for us to be honest today and conscientious today and for a week or a month; our contract or compact with the Lord is that we will serve Him to the end of our mortal lives. If we do this, the Lord will receive us into His fellowship and make good His promise of forgiveness of our sins. We will attain to a remission of our sins if we serve Him faithfully to the end of our mortal lives. That is a very important place, so that when we get there, if we have kept the commandments, fought a good fight, and endured to the end, how blessed it will be for us to come into the presence of God and receive the welcome plaudit, "Well done." If we have done well, that will thrill us from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet; we will rejoice exceedingly, and there will, no doubt, be a great change in us when our sins are finally forgiven, when they are blotted out and are not remembered against us any more; then we will have no cause to be ashamed.
Now, we have discovered that this Gospel is having its due weight among the people. When we come to examine them, and they are looked over by the bishops in the wards, or by the presidencies of the stakes, as well as these general authorities that travel among them, I believe it is the general opinion and understanding among us that the Latter-day Saints are improving, growing stronger, growing better in faith, and we are becoming more popular. Stakes are increasing, wards are increasing, and we are spreading abroad and having greater influence and accomplishing greater good in the earth. The Lord is blessing and redeeming His people. We see before us here one of the beautiful sights we see twice a year. I don't know of any other spot on earth, or any other people on earth where there is anything superior to this, or equal to it. We come together as parents. We are here today, and we will be together in great numbers again tonight in the Sunday School gathering. This house will be filled, for everybody is invited and everybody is expected to come, in the interest of the Sunday Schools. This is a work that engages much of our attention at home.
We have strangers on our borders, who need to hear the Gospel; and there are many among us who should hear the Gospel; not only do the Latter-day Saints gather from abroad, but our friends and neighbors gather; they come here in great numbers, until they almost outnumber us here in Salt Lake City. If we could only convert them, if they would come and listen and embrace the Gospel and help us in the building up of the kingdom, we would rejoice exceedingly. We go to the extremities of the earth, to the islands of the sea and all over the continents, and expect to go to the very ends of the earth and preach the gospel to every creature. This obligation rests upon us; this responsibility has been placed in our hands.
My testimony, my brethren and sisters, is that the Latter-day Saints are improving; they are increasing in strength, in faith, in power, and they desire to be faithful in the work of the ministry. I believe we feel that way, and that we will be successful if we just unite ourselves. You can determine the condition of the Latter-day Saints by the spirit they enjoy, for there is happiness and peace among us, and a foretaste of heaven fills the souls of the Latter-day Saints. We have no occasion to go on the outside; we have no occasion to go to any other religious denomination. They certainly ought to enjoy what they possess. We are satisfied with what we possess, for we have heard; we have seen; we have believed; we have repented; we have been baptized for the remission of our sins, by competent authority; and we have received the Holy Ghost, for it is that Spirit that has borne record to our souls. It is that Spirit that so establishes us that the world have concluded that they can't do very much with the Mormon people, at least the older people. They may catch some of the children; but if they do, we will catch some of theirs in turn, because we will be laboring to convert them while they are laboring to convert us.
This Gospel, with which Paul was so pleased, requires us to serve the Lord all the time, so that we may have joy and happiness in our souls, and that we may be prepared to live and be prepared to go to our reward when mortality closes and we lay down these mortal tabernacles of ours, for we will lay them in the dust after a little while — just a little while. All the time there are changes. Many are being born, and many are passing away. We mourn, we sorrow for our loved ones that go—our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents; we sorrow for them; and it is well and proper that we should mourn for them and shed tears for the loss, for it is our loss; but it is their gain, for it is in the march of progress, advancement and development. It will be all right when our time comes, when we have finished our work and accomplished what the Lord requires of us. If we are prepared, we need not be afraid to go, for it will be one of the most pleasant sensations that ever comes to the soul of man, whenever he departs, if he can go with a clear conscience into the presence of the Lord and receive that welcome I have mentioned. We will be full of joy and happiness, and we will enter into a place of rest, of peace, of joy, rest from every sorrow. What a blessed thing that will be! We will never be tired any more. We will not get tired, for we will be in a condition that we can endure and enjoy our work: for we shall be occupied and employed on the other side as we are on this side; we shall have plenty to occupy our attention right along.
Now, in closing, I want to say a word in regard to the children. I want to give you my thoughts in regard to one phase of child labor. I want to impress upon my brethren and sisters here, who have families, those who are raising families, who have children and will have children right along: I believe that there is nothing more important in the handling of children than to see that they are occupied, that they are employed, that they have something to do, that the mind is not left idle to study mischief or to do mischief. We should see that the little hands are suitably occupied; we should see that the little minds are constantly engaged. They should not be idle; boys should not be idle girls should not be idle; they should have employment. It should be the effort of parents to provide their children with occupation. I know of nothing that is so degenerating and so dangerous as idleness, for the brain will seek out mischief. Satan is just as ready to tempt and to lead astray as the Spirit of the Lord is willing to lead us in ways of righteousness. Try to find employment for your little ones; keep them occupied. I do not want little children to do men's work; they should not do hard work; but their little hands should be occupied, for they can't be still a minute while they are awake. They cannot sit still, and they cannot lie still; if you place them upon their backs, they will kick and scramble and make a good deal of noise, too. They must be occupied. The brain is active just as well as the body, from the very beginning; they must have something to do. I believe that is one of the secrets of success: that the children should be occupied; we should make use of them in such way that they will be learning to be useful in their lives, and not be idle and waste their time.
In regard to home industries: I thought I had the last suit myself, President. (Laughter). I thought, I had the last silk that was produced in Utah; and I thought I had the last cloth made at Provo; but I do not know how many last pieces have been made. (Laughter.) But here is the last silk ever made in Utah, (displaying a handkerchief.) In regard to home-made cloth, I have never worn anything, since I can remember, but goods made at Provo, until Provo stopped making the goods; since that time I have had to do the best I could, and I have been wearing shoddy ever since. I believe in sustaining home industry, the protection of everything that can be produced in our land. It has been said that, with some people, it is not considered very fashionable to be farmers, to cultivate the earth. As suggested, our boys want something easier, something smoother and cleaner; they don't want to get dirt on their hands, and the like. The cultivation of the earth, agriculture and horticulture, will be among the most profitable enterprises, and it will be found that the land here will be very valuable and precious; but it wants to be occupied and subdued. We want to produce good crops upon it, instead of weeds. We have been looking over the country —not only looking over the people and the organizations, but we have looked over the fields in the south, in the north, as far as we go in the north, up into Canada—the finest country I ever saw for weeds, except the south. The south is pretty good, a warm country, and produces many weeds. Now, if we would only take from the earth all that can be brought out in good profitable crops, instead of producing weeds, we would become prosperous. We should subdivide the earth, as much as we can handle, making it profitable to us, that it be made to grow flowers and fruits and. vegetables—everything that is necessary for the use and comfort of man. The mines, of course, will be developed; they will produce, as they should do, gold and silver, lead and copper, and iron. If I had influence with the railroads, I would have them put a railroad into the iron-fields here, and the gold-fields here, and develop industries that would employ men by the thousands. The railroads have done wonders in the state of Colorado, as well as in Utah and in the north, and in all directions. They have done wonders, but we want them to do more. I guess they will never be able to do all we want them to do. We want them to help develop the resources. The Latter-day Saints are industrious, and are increasing in numbers. There are many people, not of this faith, in Latter-day Saint communities, and we live together as friends and neighbors. We meet them in business transactions; we have the same reservoirs, the same mines, the same interests; we live together, side by side, in the same cities and towns; and we ought to live in peace and labor for the welfare of the people of our state, help each other and not tear each other to pieces.
May the Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters, in all your wards and stakes. May He bless you as individuals, in your homes. God bless the Latter-day Saints, that they may keep the faith, that their children may grow up in the faith, strong and determined in keeping the commandments of the Lord, so that they will have life now and life forever more, that they may dwell in the presence and favor and fellowship of God, our eternal Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
I don't want Brother Lyman to think he has the last silk handkerchief; (laughter) I have a number of them at home, which I intend to keep as long as I can.
There is a very modest lady in the congregation, who is clothed in home-made silk. The mulberry leaves were grown here, and the very worms that spun the silk into threads, were bred in Utah. I wish that more of the good sisters were clad in home-made silk.
A quartette, "The Floweret's Sleep," was rendered by Elders Siddoway, Winter, Robinson, and Peterson."
I don't want Brother Lyman to think he has the last silk handkerchief; (laughter) I have a number of them at home, which I intend to keep as long as I can.
There is a very modest lady in the congregation, who is clothed in home-made silk. The mulberry leaves were grown here, and the very worms that spun the silk into threads, were bred in Utah. I wish that more of the good sisters were clad in home-made silk.
A quartette, "The Floweret's Sleep," was rendered by Elders Siddoway, Winter, Robinson, and Peterson."
ELDER JOHN HENRY SMITH.
More care needed in the cultivation of the soil.—Beautifying of towns and villages.—Brethren advised to purchase land and to make homes in the vales of Utah.—Idleness discountenanced, Industry encouraged. —Praise for Utah and her people—Parents exhorted to safeguard their offspring.—Home Industries recommended.
I have enjoyed very much, indeed, the remarks that have been made by all of the brethren who have spoken to us in our conference today. The instructions and advice they have given us, on the various themes that have been dwelt upon, should encourage us in the more faithful discharge of the duties that rest upon us.
The closing suggestions presented by President Lyman, in which he called our attention to the fact that there is a considerable growth of weeds throughout the land, is a matter upon which I believe, as a whole, we require something of an awakening. It has been my privilege, in recent times, to attend quite a number of congresses that have been held in various sections of the country. There was a time, in my earlier mingling in these congresses, when Utah was most constantly and frequently quoted as an example to her sister states and territories, in the character of her productions, and the results of our irrigation system. But, I am sorry to say, that in more recent times, we are not quoted so frequently, if at all, in regard to these matters.
Many of our neighbors have taken steps in advance of us, and much greater care is being bestowed upon the productions of the soil than has been the case with ourselves. I believe that an awakening is necessary concerning the products of our farms; that an awakening of great moment is necessary in the upbuilding of our villages and towns, in the bestowal of greater care, more thought and industry on the beautifying of them. I am sanguine that it is necessary for an upward and onward movement to take place among the Latter-day Saints, looking to the accomplishment of this matter. I note, in many of the villages where it is my privilege to go, that there is not enough evidence of attention and labor and taste in the building of the cottage homes, in the selection of their position upon the lots, in the improvement of the sidewalks in front of the homes, in the planting of shade trees, in regular form. In thousands of the orchards of this country, peach trees and apple trees are gradually growing so old and looking so dead, that the condition of the neighborhood is to be regretted. I believe it would be a most wise effort upon the part of the presidency of each stake of Zion, backed by their high councils, the bishop's of their wards, and the leading elders of their sections, to look into and seek to improve the conditions of our villages. In the erection of cottage homes, the buildings should be put a sufficient distance from the sidewalk, so that the ground in front can be improved, that flower gardens may be made to grow up around the homes. If it were possible it would be well to secure the labors, in each district, of some young man who has a taste for architecture, in the drawing up of small plans, or plans that would reach the means of the now marrying young men and women of our communities; that in the laying of their home foundations, it would be upon a basis that would afford opportunity for culture and improvement, and would awaken in the minds of the young men and women of our communities an ambition to make the spot that they purpose to occupy the most pleasing and satisfactory upon which it would be possible for them to live.
I believe there should also be an awakening in our own minds in regard to the securing of lands that are within our reach, that are within the confines of our own states and neighborhoods. We need an awaking that will check the tendency to wander afar off, to virtually pass around the circle—leaving Salt Lake, going to the southland, into Mexico; stopping a short time, possibly, in Arizona, in New Mexico, in old Mexico, then proceeding into Colorado, thence into Wyoming, thence into Canada; remaining in Canada a few months, or a year or so, then making a break for Oregon, from Oregon into northern California; and eventually dropping down, possibly, into southern California; becoming dissatisfied with conditions in that section of the country, and wandering back into the vales of Utah. As I have traveled in the discharge of my duty, in the preaching of the Gospel, I have found men who, with their families, had been living in almost every state and territory of the western part of the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico; dragging their families "from pillar to post," living almost constantly in wagons. Many such have died without a home over the heads of their children.
I recognize that there is something essential, in regard to this matter, in the development and improvement of this God-given land. No choicer locations can be found upon the globe than are found beneath the shades of these grand old mountains. No finer opportunities can be found, in which men can secure the comforts and blessings of life, than can be found within the confines of this state—this pioneer state of the western lands. It is not creditable to us that there should have existed so much of this changing and moving, this unsettled feeling that has caused some men to move about till they have lived in almost every state and territory of the western part of this republic. Some such have returned to their former homes almost naked, and, at an advanced time of their lives, been compelled, possibly, to go out upon the streets and engage in digging and toiling, when their frames are bent with age. I believe that the effort should be made, devotedly and earnestly, and with unyielding courage, to uplift and upbuild this state, that it may be maintained in the vanguard, and merit the honor and continued respect of our neighbors, who have looked to us in the past and recognized our worth as colonizers and builders of commonwealths.
The suggestions and views expressed in the remarks of President Lyman, along the line of giving employment to the children, and keeping them in touch with an industrious and prudent life, should be remembered by every father and mother. They should carefully weigh these matters, and lay their plans in accordance therewith. That old saying, "An idle brain is the devil's workshop," is as true now as when it was first uttered. No man that is idle can be honest and virtuous and of use in the community. No woman that is an idler can be clean and sweet. No boy or girl left without employment "can, by any manner of means, make a mark in life or accomplish good for himself or herself. Wherever they are found in idleness, simply employing themselves briefly, for a few moments, possibly, each day, putting on the clothes they may have, and then wandering the streets, they will, in a very brief period of time, be found with the mark of evil upon their faces. Therefore, we should make every effort that is possible for us to make in safeguarding, training and providing suitable employment for our children. Every father and every mother among us should be devoting considerable of his and her talents to the establishing of something that will keep the hands of their children fully engaged. How easily and how nicely, nearly every home within the confines of this state could be made desirable by the labor of the boys and girls at home—in the making of a flower- garden, in the cultivation of the trees, in the care of the side-walk in front of the house, in improving the fence, and in working out plans that would bring results in the general improvement of the home. The idle hours that are spent, upon every hand, would make each farm within the confines of the state of Utah a garden spot.
There are some men whose lives of toil are continuous, but there are many whose lives are comparatively idle, and the result of that idleness goes far to overturn and destroy the effects of the industry of the prudent and thoughtful ones. The honey-bee and the bee-hive were taken to designate the character of the people who established themselves in these -mountains in that earlier day. Are the sons and the daughters of those honored pioneers worthy today of that ancestry? Are the boys as industrious, as prudent, as frugal, as determined, and as thorough, as a rule, as their fathers were? Are the daughters of our communities as fully alive to the accomplishment of their life mission, legitimately and properly, as many or most of their mothers were? These are questions that we must consider. In no sense of the word do I desire to reflect upon the honor and integrity, the worth, the industry and devotion of the people of communities I love, and with whom it has been my privilege to spend my life; but when, in my experiences among men from afar, whose voices are heard in commendation of the grand work of the pioneers of this people, I note their criticism of conditions today, I realize that there is need for improvement among us. Some of these men visit our communities, and upon leaving they say: "In some localities the canals are filled with weeds; the orchards are old; dead trees are seen; the fruits are wormy and unfit for use; the farms are without legitimate and proper cultivation; the evidences of lack of thrift, push, and industry are seen upon the right hand and upon the left. The prestige of the past is waning, speaking of your communities." Such remarks have been made to me by men who have passed through some sections of our country. Some sections are doing fairly well in producing fruits. Other sections are holding their own in producing potatoes; but there was a time when all Utah potatoes commanded the best prices everywhere in the land, and were looked upon as a luxury. "But now some of the neighbors of Utah are taking away from us the opportunities that were ours, in this field, advantages which were gained by those who entered in the start, and to which we had acquired a right in the estimation of many people.
I have an especial pride in the development of this goodly land. I recognize the Bee Hive State as the best in the world; her sons and daughters are among the most industrious, the most unflinching and determined of men and women in the accomplishment of the responsibilities and duties of life. As a rule, their homes are homes of peace, and of love and comfort. Around them are the evidences of thrift and worth, in every detail; whether in the garden, or on the farm, or in the orchard; whether in the character of the stock that they possess, in the nature of their buildings, or in the care they bestow in the development and improvement of their public places, and erection of good schoolhouses and good meetinghouses. In all these they are examples to the boys and girls in their respective districts, examples that shall lead the youth to active and determined purpose in the betterment and improvement of the community, and above all in the development of such manhood and womanhood that, wherever found in the world, the Mormon boys and girls shall be recognized for their moral virtues, their devotion, their faith, their determination to aid in the advancement and uplifting of mankind. Our young people should be so trained and taught that they may be free from that condition which affects many of our religious friends in the world, moving "from pillar to post," so far as religious faith is concerned. I trust that they will not be anxious to change and move about constantly, but that they will secure some permanent abiding place, lay a foundation and build upon it in a manner that shall be creditable to them in the fullest sense of the word.
My brothers and sisters, the admonitions that have been given to you by the brethren are worthy of your serious consideration. Our boys and girls are among the brightest and best that can be found. Their improvement and advancement is necessary, that not one of them may stray from the paths of right and of rectitude. We preach the Gospel unto them, but too often it happens with us that our confidence in them is greater than it should be. Those of you who have been students will remember how strictly the people of the Latin races guard their homes. Their girls are never allowed that liberty that is found among people of other races; they exercise great thoughtfulness and prudence in this matter. I am satisfied that the degree of liberty, that is gradually increasing among us in regard to these matters is likely to give us, in due time, very great regrets. We should wisely guard our children, as far as it is possible for us to do so, that the proper development of those that are entrusted to us may not be hampered, but that they may be rightly guarded and instructed, that heartaches may not come to us and our homes, through our overconfidence and neglect, as suggested in the remarks of President Smith, this morning.
To us has been given the grandest religious system in the world. To us has been given the greatest hopes that have ever been presented to mortals—the possibilities of eternal companionship, the association of husbands and wives, parents and children, in the eternities, based upon the laws of God, the laws of life, of morality, of temperance. Ours is a system based upon the proposition of industrious, thoughtful and prudent conduct, based upon continued and industrious effort upon our part to seek to bring those that may be entrusted to our watchcare, to an understanding of all that is good.
I want to indorse every sentiment that has been expressed looking to improvement in the establishment of industries, in the development of resources, in the opening of every door to the utilization of every good business enterprise that comes within our reach. I look around, upon the right hand and the left, I note that our friends, not of our faith, are gradually moving along the lines of the securing of the business concerns of our country; and I ask myself the question, Are we lacking in business tact, in skill, in industry, in perseverance, in the understanding of business, as compared with our neighbors, that their success and our failure should be so manifest? I ask the men who are under the sound of my voice, and our sisters as well, to look into these problems of the development of business interests, and secure to themselves a part in the coming tide of prosperity, in the development of some business that shall be a credit to themselves, and upon which their children may continue to build after them.
May the Lord bless and prosper the honorable and the good, those who seek the uplifting and betterment of their kind, of all creeds and conditions. May that spirit spread, which was so manifest in the utterances of that grand man who, as President of the United States, stood on this stand, a few days ago, and made an appeal to his countrymen, that they cease their bickerings; that they love their country; that they seek its improvement and its advancement; that they maintain the law in honor; that they guide themselves in keeping with the principles of righteousness; that they honor the Lord their God; that they honor their country; that they honor each other's rights, and strive to uplift and make better the condition of their fellowmen. That was his spirit, and these were the sentiments that fell from his lips as he stood here, and they were, I believe, a joy to every right thinking man and woman under the sound of his voice, as he made that appeal to his fellowmen.
That the Lord may inspire us with determination to be among the foremost in righteous works; and finally, when our missions are done, that we may be crowned with everlasting life, in. the kingdom of our God, is my prayer, Amen.
More care needed in the cultivation of the soil.—Beautifying of towns and villages.—Brethren advised to purchase land and to make homes in the vales of Utah.—Idleness discountenanced, Industry encouraged. —Praise for Utah and her people—Parents exhorted to safeguard their offspring.—Home Industries recommended.
I have enjoyed very much, indeed, the remarks that have been made by all of the brethren who have spoken to us in our conference today. The instructions and advice they have given us, on the various themes that have been dwelt upon, should encourage us in the more faithful discharge of the duties that rest upon us.
The closing suggestions presented by President Lyman, in which he called our attention to the fact that there is a considerable growth of weeds throughout the land, is a matter upon which I believe, as a whole, we require something of an awakening. It has been my privilege, in recent times, to attend quite a number of congresses that have been held in various sections of the country. There was a time, in my earlier mingling in these congresses, when Utah was most constantly and frequently quoted as an example to her sister states and territories, in the character of her productions, and the results of our irrigation system. But, I am sorry to say, that in more recent times, we are not quoted so frequently, if at all, in regard to these matters.
Many of our neighbors have taken steps in advance of us, and much greater care is being bestowed upon the productions of the soil than has been the case with ourselves. I believe that an awakening is necessary concerning the products of our farms; that an awakening of great moment is necessary in the upbuilding of our villages and towns, in the bestowal of greater care, more thought and industry on the beautifying of them. I am sanguine that it is necessary for an upward and onward movement to take place among the Latter-day Saints, looking to the accomplishment of this matter. I note, in many of the villages where it is my privilege to go, that there is not enough evidence of attention and labor and taste in the building of the cottage homes, in the selection of their position upon the lots, in the improvement of the sidewalks in front of the homes, in the planting of shade trees, in regular form. In thousands of the orchards of this country, peach trees and apple trees are gradually growing so old and looking so dead, that the condition of the neighborhood is to be regretted. I believe it would be a most wise effort upon the part of the presidency of each stake of Zion, backed by their high councils, the bishop's of their wards, and the leading elders of their sections, to look into and seek to improve the conditions of our villages. In the erection of cottage homes, the buildings should be put a sufficient distance from the sidewalk, so that the ground in front can be improved, that flower gardens may be made to grow up around the homes. If it were possible it would be well to secure the labors, in each district, of some young man who has a taste for architecture, in the drawing up of small plans, or plans that would reach the means of the now marrying young men and women of our communities; that in the laying of their home foundations, it would be upon a basis that would afford opportunity for culture and improvement, and would awaken in the minds of the young men and women of our communities an ambition to make the spot that they purpose to occupy the most pleasing and satisfactory upon which it would be possible for them to live.
I believe there should also be an awakening in our own minds in regard to the securing of lands that are within our reach, that are within the confines of our own states and neighborhoods. We need an awaking that will check the tendency to wander afar off, to virtually pass around the circle—leaving Salt Lake, going to the southland, into Mexico; stopping a short time, possibly, in Arizona, in New Mexico, in old Mexico, then proceeding into Colorado, thence into Wyoming, thence into Canada; remaining in Canada a few months, or a year or so, then making a break for Oregon, from Oregon into northern California; and eventually dropping down, possibly, into southern California; becoming dissatisfied with conditions in that section of the country, and wandering back into the vales of Utah. As I have traveled in the discharge of my duty, in the preaching of the Gospel, I have found men who, with their families, had been living in almost every state and territory of the western part of the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico; dragging their families "from pillar to post," living almost constantly in wagons. Many such have died without a home over the heads of their children.
I recognize that there is something essential, in regard to this matter, in the development and improvement of this God-given land. No choicer locations can be found upon the globe than are found beneath the shades of these grand old mountains. No finer opportunities can be found, in which men can secure the comforts and blessings of life, than can be found within the confines of this state—this pioneer state of the western lands. It is not creditable to us that there should have existed so much of this changing and moving, this unsettled feeling that has caused some men to move about till they have lived in almost every state and territory of the western part of this republic. Some such have returned to their former homes almost naked, and, at an advanced time of their lives, been compelled, possibly, to go out upon the streets and engage in digging and toiling, when their frames are bent with age. I believe that the effort should be made, devotedly and earnestly, and with unyielding courage, to uplift and upbuild this state, that it may be maintained in the vanguard, and merit the honor and continued respect of our neighbors, who have looked to us in the past and recognized our worth as colonizers and builders of commonwealths.
The suggestions and views expressed in the remarks of President Lyman, along the line of giving employment to the children, and keeping them in touch with an industrious and prudent life, should be remembered by every father and mother. They should carefully weigh these matters, and lay their plans in accordance therewith. That old saying, "An idle brain is the devil's workshop," is as true now as when it was first uttered. No man that is idle can be honest and virtuous and of use in the community. No woman that is an idler can be clean and sweet. No boy or girl left without employment "can, by any manner of means, make a mark in life or accomplish good for himself or herself. Wherever they are found in idleness, simply employing themselves briefly, for a few moments, possibly, each day, putting on the clothes they may have, and then wandering the streets, they will, in a very brief period of time, be found with the mark of evil upon their faces. Therefore, we should make every effort that is possible for us to make in safeguarding, training and providing suitable employment for our children. Every father and every mother among us should be devoting considerable of his and her talents to the establishing of something that will keep the hands of their children fully engaged. How easily and how nicely, nearly every home within the confines of this state could be made desirable by the labor of the boys and girls at home—in the making of a flower- garden, in the cultivation of the trees, in the care of the side-walk in front of the house, in improving the fence, and in working out plans that would bring results in the general improvement of the home. The idle hours that are spent, upon every hand, would make each farm within the confines of the state of Utah a garden spot.
There are some men whose lives of toil are continuous, but there are many whose lives are comparatively idle, and the result of that idleness goes far to overturn and destroy the effects of the industry of the prudent and thoughtful ones. The honey-bee and the bee-hive were taken to designate the character of the people who established themselves in these -mountains in that earlier day. Are the sons and the daughters of those honored pioneers worthy today of that ancestry? Are the boys as industrious, as prudent, as frugal, as determined, and as thorough, as a rule, as their fathers were? Are the daughters of our communities as fully alive to the accomplishment of their life mission, legitimately and properly, as many or most of their mothers were? These are questions that we must consider. In no sense of the word do I desire to reflect upon the honor and integrity, the worth, the industry and devotion of the people of communities I love, and with whom it has been my privilege to spend my life; but when, in my experiences among men from afar, whose voices are heard in commendation of the grand work of the pioneers of this people, I note their criticism of conditions today, I realize that there is need for improvement among us. Some of these men visit our communities, and upon leaving they say: "In some localities the canals are filled with weeds; the orchards are old; dead trees are seen; the fruits are wormy and unfit for use; the farms are without legitimate and proper cultivation; the evidences of lack of thrift, push, and industry are seen upon the right hand and upon the left. The prestige of the past is waning, speaking of your communities." Such remarks have been made to me by men who have passed through some sections of our country. Some sections are doing fairly well in producing fruits. Other sections are holding their own in producing potatoes; but there was a time when all Utah potatoes commanded the best prices everywhere in the land, and were looked upon as a luxury. "But now some of the neighbors of Utah are taking away from us the opportunities that were ours, in this field, advantages which were gained by those who entered in the start, and to which we had acquired a right in the estimation of many people.
I have an especial pride in the development of this goodly land. I recognize the Bee Hive State as the best in the world; her sons and daughters are among the most industrious, the most unflinching and determined of men and women in the accomplishment of the responsibilities and duties of life. As a rule, their homes are homes of peace, and of love and comfort. Around them are the evidences of thrift and worth, in every detail; whether in the garden, or on the farm, or in the orchard; whether in the character of the stock that they possess, in the nature of their buildings, or in the care they bestow in the development and improvement of their public places, and erection of good schoolhouses and good meetinghouses. In all these they are examples to the boys and girls in their respective districts, examples that shall lead the youth to active and determined purpose in the betterment and improvement of the community, and above all in the development of such manhood and womanhood that, wherever found in the world, the Mormon boys and girls shall be recognized for their moral virtues, their devotion, their faith, their determination to aid in the advancement and uplifting of mankind. Our young people should be so trained and taught that they may be free from that condition which affects many of our religious friends in the world, moving "from pillar to post," so far as religious faith is concerned. I trust that they will not be anxious to change and move about constantly, but that they will secure some permanent abiding place, lay a foundation and build upon it in a manner that shall be creditable to them in the fullest sense of the word.
My brothers and sisters, the admonitions that have been given to you by the brethren are worthy of your serious consideration. Our boys and girls are among the brightest and best that can be found. Their improvement and advancement is necessary, that not one of them may stray from the paths of right and of rectitude. We preach the Gospel unto them, but too often it happens with us that our confidence in them is greater than it should be. Those of you who have been students will remember how strictly the people of the Latin races guard their homes. Their girls are never allowed that liberty that is found among people of other races; they exercise great thoughtfulness and prudence in this matter. I am satisfied that the degree of liberty, that is gradually increasing among us in regard to these matters is likely to give us, in due time, very great regrets. We should wisely guard our children, as far as it is possible for us to do so, that the proper development of those that are entrusted to us may not be hampered, but that they may be rightly guarded and instructed, that heartaches may not come to us and our homes, through our overconfidence and neglect, as suggested in the remarks of President Smith, this morning.
To us has been given the grandest religious system in the world. To us has been given the greatest hopes that have ever been presented to mortals—the possibilities of eternal companionship, the association of husbands and wives, parents and children, in the eternities, based upon the laws of God, the laws of life, of morality, of temperance. Ours is a system based upon the proposition of industrious, thoughtful and prudent conduct, based upon continued and industrious effort upon our part to seek to bring those that may be entrusted to our watchcare, to an understanding of all that is good.
I want to indorse every sentiment that has been expressed looking to improvement in the establishment of industries, in the development of resources, in the opening of every door to the utilization of every good business enterprise that comes within our reach. I look around, upon the right hand and the left, I note that our friends, not of our faith, are gradually moving along the lines of the securing of the business concerns of our country; and I ask myself the question, Are we lacking in business tact, in skill, in industry, in perseverance, in the understanding of business, as compared with our neighbors, that their success and our failure should be so manifest? I ask the men who are under the sound of my voice, and our sisters as well, to look into these problems of the development of business interests, and secure to themselves a part in the coming tide of prosperity, in the development of some business that shall be a credit to themselves, and upon which their children may continue to build after them.
May the Lord bless and prosper the honorable and the good, those who seek the uplifting and betterment of their kind, of all creeds and conditions. May that spirit spread, which was so manifest in the utterances of that grand man who, as President of the United States, stood on this stand, a few days ago, and made an appeal to his countrymen, that they cease their bickerings; that they love their country; that they seek its improvement and its advancement; that they maintain the law in honor; that they guide themselves in keeping with the principles of righteousness; that they honor the Lord their God; that they honor their country; that they honor each other's rights, and strive to uplift and make better the condition of their fellowmen. That was his spirit, and these were the sentiments that fell from his lips as he stood here, and they were, I believe, a joy to every right thinking man and woman under the sound of his voice, as he made that appeal to his fellowmen.
That the Lord may inspire us with determination to be among the foremost in righteous works; and finally, when our missions are done, that we may be crowned with everlasting life, in. the kingdom of our God, is my prayer, Amen.
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT.
Employment for the young a moral necessity.—$5.00 paid for home-made goods pays $25.00 debts!—Provo mills all wool goods four-fold better than eastern shoddy.—Vicious stories formulated here by enemies becoming harmless.—Admonition to retain land.
I am pleased to have the opportunity of again meeting with the Latter-day Saints in general conference, and I hope that the same liberty of utterance, which has been granted to those who have already spoken, may be given to me; that I may be able to say something here today which shall be for our mutual benefit.
I have been deeply interested in all that has been said. One of the greatest desires of my life has been to live worthy of the father and the mother I have had; and one other of the greatest desires of my life is to rear my children in the nurture and admonition of the Gospel. One of the favorite themes I have ever had in preaching to the Latter-day Saints is derived from that revelation of the Lord which tells us that it is our duty to preach to our children and teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, inspire them with faith in the Lord and Savior of the world, and teach them to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord. I believe this commandment has been much neglected, and I rejoiced exceedingly in the remarks of our President today, urging the Latter-day Saints to do their duty in this respect. I have endeavored to do it, but I have made a resolution to be more faithful in doing so in the future. I believe there is opportunity for improvement upon the part of all of us in this direction.
I rejoiced to hear the remarks regarding home manufacture. I have been considered a "crank," as enthusiastic advocates are called, on this subject all my life. From a boy of sixteen I have worn homemade clothes, and continued to do so until the Provo factory closed. I have believed in home industry, not only because I have listened to the inspired words of President Brigham Young, and of all his successors, on this theme, but because, from a practical every-day standpoint, I know that it is beneficial to any community to raise and manufacture those things which they use. I believe it is a disgrace to us, as a people, that we are importing chickens, turkeys and butter by the carload. This community ought to produce all of these things, and it is a reflection on us that we bring them from abroad. I believe that no greater benefit, or moral uplift, can come to a people than the establishment of industries whereby the young can have employment. It has been my good fortune, in connection with the brethren who originally started the first sugar factory in this community, to not only watch the progress of this industry but to find in many sections where beets are raised, a wonderful growth in industry and an improvement in morals among the young people. I can remember, very distinctly, that we had to go down—figuratively speaking—on our knees and crawl to the farmer to get him to raise beets enough to start the first factory. I can remember that the farmers could not get their boys to go out and weed and thin the beets. They would say, "I don't have to." Now the boys have learned to grasp the opportunity for them to earn a little money and they are doing it, instead of being idle, and the communities, wherever there are industries of this kind, are benefited morally, to say nothing of the financial uplift. If we would study and reflect upon the actual benefits to a community by manufacturing at home the tilings that are used, and keeping our money here, we would realize that we would benefit ourselves every way in the long run.
I have preached many times and quoted Bishop Farrell on this subject. He remarked, here in the Assembly Hall, that one of the reasons he bought home-made goods was to keep the money in the country so he would have a chance to get hold of it again. Now, there is a great deal in that statement. Our home manufactures give us increased opportunities. Somebody has said that opportunity has a very large lock of hair on his forehead, and, as he comes along, you will have to grab him by the hair, because, if you don't do it, he will get by, and as the back of his head is bald, your hand will slip off. Brother Farrell said he had been coming to conferences here, twice a year, for the past twenty years, and that during all this time, when he paid for his railroad ticket, he had endeavored to do so with a gold piece which he marked, as he knew the railroads were owned by eastern capitalists, and he wondered if he would ever see any of this money again, and he never did. "But," he says, "I have marked many and many a five-dollar bill or gold piece that I have paid out for homemade goods, and I have got them back again, time and time again, because the money stayed in the community. Now, to give you a practical illustration," he said, "as I was leaving, on this identical trip, there was a crowd at the Smithfield depot. I saw a man who had made some shoes for my children, and I gave him five dollars in payment of those home-made shoes. He saw a man to whom he owed five dollars, and he gave him the money. This man saw somebody he was owing, and he handed him the money. This man saw another man to whom he was owing five dollars, and he gave it to him. So the five dollars went from one to another until it came to the fourth man, and he gave it back to me, saying, "I owe you six dollars, and here are five dollars on account.' That five dollar Dill cancelled twenty-five dollars of debts just as quick as it takes to tell it, and I put my 'home-made shoes/ figuratively speaking, back in my own pocket."
Now, if we had wisdom enough to look ahead of our noses—of course, mine is so long I can't look ahead of it. (Laughter.) But, if the people would only stop and take time to think of the ultimate benefits of sustaining home institutions, they would do it. It has been said that the tenderest part of the human anatomy is a man's pocket; and therefore the reason a man buys shoddy goods is that he thinks he is benefiting himself and saving money; but he is doing nothing of the kind. There is an old saying, and a true one—I used to have it on my letterheads, years ago—that "the best is always the cheapest." There is truth in it: I can buy a suit of clothes considerably cheaper since they quit manufacturing cloth at Provo; but I can wear it out in just about one-quarter of the time that I did a Provo suit. I can remember wearing one suit of clothes, of Provo goods, for three years, and all I had to do was to clean them occasionally and have them pressed. Finally I gave them away and they lasted two years more. I have never struck a shoddy suit of clothes that I could wear more than a year.
I believe, with all my heart, that there is a moral uplift in furnishing employment to our young people, and we make a mistake when we are not willing to follow the advice and counsel of those whom God has placed to guide this people. I give the credit for the inspiration of Almighty God to that humble, faithful, meek man, Wilford Woodruff, for the establishment of the sugar industry in Utah, which has been worth millions of dollars to our, communities. The men of means, of large wealth, did not believe that it could be established here. I know what I am talking about, because President Wilford Woodruff appointed me, in connection with others, to get means—to solicit people to invest in that factory. At first, men with large means would not put a dollar in it, but some of the same men have tens of thousands of dollars in this industry today. One of the strongest, if not the strongest, financial man in the community, in response to the request of the committee, put some money in the first factory, and as we were leaving, he asked me laughingly, if I knew where he could sell the stock for fifty cents on the dollar. The men who had the contract for building the first factory left the community, after running it a year or two, believing it would be a failure; but it did not fail, and I want to tell you that when the inspiration of the Lord prompts our leaders to do anything, and the people back them up, there will be no failure.
I have just returned from a trip to the east, and I rejoiced as I mingled among the people to find the good feeling there regarding the Latter-day Saints. I was impressed with the contrast between the feeling now and what it was some twenty years ago, when it fell to my lot to travel a good deal, and to mingle with business men. The change in sentiment toward the Latter-day Saints is very marked indeed, and I thank the Lord for it. I thank the Lord that the prejudice and the hatred that there used to be in the hearts of the people, from New York to San Francisco, has disappeared, and I will thank the Lord when it disappears at home. This is about the only place today, thank the Lord, that there is any hatred toward the Latter-day Saints. It has been said that the reputation of a man is what the world thinks of him, but character is what he is. Because of the vicious stories which have been told of us, the reputation of the Latter-day Saints has been bad; but, thank the Lord, there is no Latter-day Saint who is living up to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but what his character is absolutely above reproach. The people of the world are beginning to find this out. They are beginning to find that we are temperate, that we are industrious and virtuous, that we are honest, that we are patriotic, that we are godfearing; and when people find these things to be true of us, they are bound to respect us.
I believe that we are making a very great mistake, many of us, especially those who are farmers, in disposing of our lands. Much of the land on the Provo bench, and in other sections of the country, adapted to fruit raising, is being sold to people who are coming in here from Colorado. The same identical class of land which they are buying here for $200 and $300 an acre, they have sold in Colorado for two, three and four thousand dollars an acre. They have sold their orchards in the East, and are coming here and buying just as good land for about ten per cent of what they got for their lands in the East. Let us keep our own lands, which are really gold mines. The great trouble with us is that we do not know their value. We do not know how much they will produce. We have not learned that, by intense cultivation, by raising fruits, and by being careful to see that we get rid of the worms, and do our full duty by the soil, we can make it worth three and four times its present value.
Now, I rejoice, as I said, in the good feeling which I have found in the East. I rejoiced to meet with the missionaries in Chicago, and in attending meetings with them in New York. I rejoice in the Spirit of the Lord which I find among those who are laboring for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I rejoice in feeling that the Gospel satisfies every desire of the human heart, and in knowing that it is in very deed the truth.
As I was coming home, I read a little book which I have read a number of times, and one passage impressed me more this time than at any former reading; it is as follows:
"Which of the religions of the world is the real, the final, the absolute truth?"
After asking that question, the author says:
"We must make our individual choice, and live by it as best we can. Every new sect, every new cult, has in it a grain of truth at least; it is this that attracts attention and wins adherents. This mustard-seed of truth is often over-estimated, darkening the eyes of man to the untrue parts or phases of the varying religious faiths. But in exact proportion to the basic truth they contain do religions last, become permanent and growing, and satisfy and inspire the hearts of men. Mushrooms of error have a quick growth, but they exhaust their vitality and die; but truth still lives."
I wish to say that I endorse, with all my heart, this statement, "But in exact proportion to the basic truth they contain do religions last, become permanent and growing, and satisfy and inspire the hearts of men." There is no Latter-day Saint living who is keeping the commandments of God, but what the truth of Almighty God, revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, satisfies and inspires him. It satisfies all the yearnings of his heart; there is nothing to desire in time or eternity, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not give. This work has grown in the face of all opposition, in the face of all that has been said against it. In my judgment we are better, and we are doing more for the building up of the kingdom of God today, and living our religion better than ever before. I rejoice in this fact, and I rejoice in the peace and the happiness that each and every one, who is keeping the commandments of God, feels on every occasion.
"The man who makes the acquisition of wealth the goal and ultimatum of his life, seeing it as an end rather than a means to an end, is not true. Why does the world usually make wealth the criterion of success, and riches the synonym of attainment? Real success in life means the individual's conquest of himself; it means 'how he has bettered himself,' not 'how has he bettered his fortune?' The great question of life is not, 'What have I?’ but 'What am I?' "
Every Latter-day Saint who is loyal to the principles of the Gospel, is not seeking wealth; he is not asking himself the question, "What have I," and "What can I gain?" The true Latter-day Saint is asking, "What can I do to better myself, to encourage those with whom I am associated, and to uplift the children of God?" That is the inspiration that comes to every Latter-day Saint who realizes the force of this Gospel that we have espoused. It is in very deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is in very deed the plan of life and salvation. God lives; Jesus is the Christ, and He is the chief corner stone of this great work—He is directing it, and He will continue to direct it. He chose His prophet, and He gave him instructions and authority to establish this work; and the power and the influence of Joseph Smith are now being felt as the angel promised. His name is known for good or for evil all over the world; but it is not known for evil except by those who malign him. Those who know him, those who know of his teachings, know that his life was pure and that his teachings were, in very deed, God's law. I rejoiced in bowing down, in the cottage erected in memory of him and in seeing the beautiful monument, and I shed tears of joy while supplicating God, in that cottage, and thanking Him that this monument had been built to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I thank God that I know he was a Prophet of God; and I pray that every Latter-day Saint who has this knowledge may live up to it; I ask that we may have the power to do so, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain."
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch John Smith.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Monday, Oct. 4th.
Employment for the young a moral necessity.—$5.00 paid for home-made goods pays $25.00 debts!—Provo mills all wool goods four-fold better than eastern shoddy.—Vicious stories formulated here by enemies becoming harmless.—Admonition to retain land.
I am pleased to have the opportunity of again meeting with the Latter-day Saints in general conference, and I hope that the same liberty of utterance, which has been granted to those who have already spoken, may be given to me; that I may be able to say something here today which shall be for our mutual benefit.
I have been deeply interested in all that has been said. One of the greatest desires of my life has been to live worthy of the father and the mother I have had; and one other of the greatest desires of my life is to rear my children in the nurture and admonition of the Gospel. One of the favorite themes I have ever had in preaching to the Latter-day Saints is derived from that revelation of the Lord which tells us that it is our duty to preach to our children and teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, inspire them with faith in the Lord and Savior of the world, and teach them to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord. I believe this commandment has been much neglected, and I rejoiced exceedingly in the remarks of our President today, urging the Latter-day Saints to do their duty in this respect. I have endeavored to do it, but I have made a resolution to be more faithful in doing so in the future. I believe there is opportunity for improvement upon the part of all of us in this direction.
I rejoiced to hear the remarks regarding home manufacture. I have been considered a "crank," as enthusiastic advocates are called, on this subject all my life. From a boy of sixteen I have worn homemade clothes, and continued to do so until the Provo factory closed. I have believed in home industry, not only because I have listened to the inspired words of President Brigham Young, and of all his successors, on this theme, but because, from a practical every-day standpoint, I know that it is beneficial to any community to raise and manufacture those things which they use. I believe it is a disgrace to us, as a people, that we are importing chickens, turkeys and butter by the carload. This community ought to produce all of these things, and it is a reflection on us that we bring them from abroad. I believe that no greater benefit, or moral uplift, can come to a people than the establishment of industries whereby the young can have employment. It has been my good fortune, in connection with the brethren who originally started the first sugar factory in this community, to not only watch the progress of this industry but to find in many sections where beets are raised, a wonderful growth in industry and an improvement in morals among the young people. I can remember, very distinctly, that we had to go down—figuratively speaking—on our knees and crawl to the farmer to get him to raise beets enough to start the first factory. I can remember that the farmers could not get their boys to go out and weed and thin the beets. They would say, "I don't have to." Now the boys have learned to grasp the opportunity for them to earn a little money and they are doing it, instead of being idle, and the communities, wherever there are industries of this kind, are benefited morally, to say nothing of the financial uplift. If we would study and reflect upon the actual benefits to a community by manufacturing at home the tilings that are used, and keeping our money here, we would realize that we would benefit ourselves every way in the long run.
I have preached many times and quoted Bishop Farrell on this subject. He remarked, here in the Assembly Hall, that one of the reasons he bought home-made goods was to keep the money in the country so he would have a chance to get hold of it again. Now, there is a great deal in that statement. Our home manufactures give us increased opportunities. Somebody has said that opportunity has a very large lock of hair on his forehead, and, as he comes along, you will have to grab him by the hair, because, if you don't do it, he will get by, and as the back of his head is bald, your hand will slip off. Brother Farrell said he had been coming to conferences here, twice a year, for the past twenty years, and that during all this time, when he paid for his railroad ticket, he had endeavored to do so with a gold piece which he marked, as he knew the railroads were owned by eastern capitalists, and he wondered if he would ever see any of this money again, and he never did. "But," he says, "I have marked many and many a five-dollar bill or gold piece that I have paid out for homemade goods, and I have got them back again, time and time again, because the money stayed in the community. Now, to give you a practical illustration," he said, "as I was leaving, on this identical trip, there was a crowd at the Smithfield depot. I saw a man who had made some shoes for my children, and I gave him five dollars in payment of those home-made shoes. He saw a man to whom he owed five dollars, and he gave him the money. This man saw somebody he was owing, and he handed him the money. This man saw another man to whom he was owing five dollars, and he gave it to him. So the five dollars went from one to another until it came to the fourth man, and he gave it back to me, saying, "I owe you six dollars, and here are five dollars on account.' That five dollar Dill cancelled twenty-five dollars of debts just as quick as it takes to tell it, and I put my 'home-made shoes/ figuratively speaking, back in my own pocket."
Now, if we had wisdom enough to look ahead of our noses—of course, mine is so long I can't look ahead of it. (Laughter.) But, if the people would only stop and take time to think of the ultimate benefits of sustaining home institutions, they would do it. It has been said that the tenderest part of the human anatomy is a man's pocket; and therefore the reason a man buys shoddy goods is that he thinks he is benefiting himself and saving money; but he is doing nothing of the kind. There is an old saying, and a true one—I used to have it on my letterheads, years ago—that "the best is always the cheapest." There is truth in it: I can buy a suit of clothes considerably cheaper since they quit manufacturing cloth at Provo; but I can wear it out in just about one-quarter of the time that I did a Provo suit. I can remember wearing one suit of clothes, of Provo goods, for three years, and all I had to do was to clean them occasionally and have them pressed. Finally I gave them away and they lasted two years more. I have never struck a shoddy suit of clothes that I could wear more than a year.
I believe, with all my heart, that there is a moral uplift in furnishing employment to our young people, and we make a mistake when we are not willing to follow the advice and counsel of those whom God has placed to guide this people. I give the credit for the inspiration of Almighty God to that humble, faithful, meek man, Wilford Woodruff, for the establishment of the sugar industry in Utah, which has been worth millions of dollars to our, communities. The men of means, of large wealth, did not believe that it could be established here. I know what I am talking about, because President Wilford Woodruff appointed me, in connection with others, to get means—to solicit people to invest in that factory. At first, men with large means would not put a dollar in it, but some of the same men have tens of thousands of dollars in this industry today. One of the strongest, if not the strongest, financial man in the community, in response to the request of the committee, put some money in the first factory, and as we were leaving, he asked me laughingly, if I knew where he could sell the stock for fifty cents on the dollar. The men who had the contract for building the first factory left the community, after running it a year or two, believing it would be a failure; but it did not fail, and I want to tell you that when the inspiration of the Lord prompts our leaders to do anything, and the people back them up, there will be no failure.
I have just returned from a trip to the east, and I rejoiced as I mingled among the people to find the good feeling there regarding the Latter-day Saints. I was impressed with the contrast between the feeling now and what it was some twenty years ago, when it fell to my lot to travel a good deal, and to mingle with business men. The change in sentiment toward the Latter-day Saints is very marked indeed, and I thank the Lord for it. I thank the Lord that the prejudice and the hatred that there used to be in the hearts of the people, from New York to San Francisco, has disappeared, and I will thank the Lord when it disappears at home. This is about the only place today, thank the Lord, that there is any hatred toward the Latter-day Saints. It has been said that the reputation of a man is what the world thinks of him, but character is what he is. Because of the vicious stories which have been told of us, the reputation of the Latter-day Saints has been bad; but, thank the Lord, there is no Latter-day Saint who is living up to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but what his character is absolutely above reproach. The people of the world are beginning to find this out. They are beginning to find that we are temperate, that we are industrious and virtuous, that we are honest, that we are patriotic, that we are godfearing; and when people find these things to be true of us, they are bound to respect us.
I believe that we are making a very great mistake, many of us, especially those who are farmers, in disposing of our lands. Much of the land on the Provo bench, and in other sections of the country, adapted to fruit raising, is being sold to people who are coming in here from Colorado. The same identical class of land which they are buying here for $200 and $300 an acre, they have sold in Colorado for two, three and four thousand dollars an acre. They have sold their orchards in the East, and are coming here and buying just as good land for about ten per cent of what they got for their lands in the East. Let us keep our own lands, which are really gold mines. The great trouble with us is that we do not know their value. We do not know how much they will produce. We have not learned that, by intense cultivation, by raising fruits, and by being careful to see that we get rid of the worms, and do our full duty by the soil, we can make it worth three and four times its present value.
Now, I rejoice, as I said, in the good feeling which I have found in the East. I rejoiced to meet with the missionaries in Chicago, and in attending meetings with them in New York. I rejoice in the Spirit of the Lord which I find among those who are laboring for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I rejoice in feeling that the Gospel satisfies every desire of the human heart, and in knowing that it is in very deed the truth.
As I was coming home, I read a little book which I have read a number of times, and one passage impressed me more this time than at any former reading; it is as follows:
"Which of the religions of the world is the real, the final, the absolute truth?"
After asking that question, the author says:
"We must make our individual choice, and live by it as best we can. Every new sect, every new cult, has in it a grain of truth at least; it is this that attracts attention and wins adherents. This mustard-seed of truth is often over-estimated, darkening the eyes of man to the untrue parts or phases of the varying religious faiths. But in exact proportion to the basic truth they contain do religions last, become permanent and growing, and satisfy and inspire the hearts of men. Mushrooms of error have a quick growth, but they exhaust their vitality and die; but truth still lives."
I wish to say that I endorse, with all my heart, this statement, "But in exact proportion to the basic truth they contain do religions last, become permanent and growing, and satisfy and inspire the hearts of men." There is no Latter-day Saint living who is keeping the commandments of God, but what the truth of Almighty God, revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, satisfies and inspires him. It satisfies all the yearnings of his heart; there is nothing to desire in time or eternity, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not give. This work has grown in the face of all opposition, in the face of all that has been said against it. In my judgment we are better, and we are doing more for the building up of the kingdom of God today, and living our religion better than ever before. I rejoice in this fact, and I rejoice in the peace and the happiness that each and every one, who is keeping the commandments of God, feels on every occasion.
"The man who makes the acquisition of wealth the goal and ultimatum of his life, seeing it as an end rather than a means to an end, is not true. Why does the world usually make wealth the criterion of success, and riches the synonym of attainment? Real success in life means the individual's conquest of himself; it means 'how he has bettered himself,' not 'how has he bettered his fortune?' The great question of life is not, 'What have I?’ but 'What am I?' "
Every Latter-day Saint who is loyal to the principles of the Gospel, is not seeking wealth; he is not asking himself the question, "What have I," and "What can I gain?" The true Latter-day Saint is asking, "What can I do to better myself, to encourage those with whom I am associated, and to uplift the children of God?" That is the inspiration that comes to every Latter-day Saint who realizes the force of this Gospel that we have espoused. It is in very deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is in very deed the plan of life and salvation. God lives; Jesus is the Christ, and He is the chief corner stone of this great work—He is directing it, and He will continue to direct it. He chose His prophet, and He gave him instructions and authority to establish this work; and the power and the influence of Joseph Smith are now being felt as the angel promised. His name is known for good or for evil all over the world; but it is not known for evil except by those who malign him. Those who know him, those who know of his teachings, know that his life was pure and that his teachings were, in very deed, God's law. I rejoiced in bowing down, in the cottage erected in memory of him and in seeing the beautiful monument, and I shed tears of joy while supplicating God, in that cottage, and thanking Him that this monument had been built to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I thank God that I know he was a Prophet of God; and I pray that every Latter-day Saint who has this knowledge may live up to it; I ask that we may have the power to do so, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain."
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch John Smith.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Monday, Oct. 4th.
OVERFLOW MEETING.
An overflow session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall at 2 p. m., Elder Hyrum M. Smith presiding. Prof. Charles J. Thomas conducted the singing exercises, assisted by the Temple choir.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, "An Angel from on High."
Prayer was offered by Elder Asahel H. Woodruff.
The choir sang the hymn, "Come, thou glorious day of promise."
An overflow session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall at 2 p. m., Elder Hyrum M. Smith presiding. Prof. Charles J. Thomas conducted the singing exercises, assisted by the Temple choir.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, "An Angel from on High."
Prayer was offered by Elder Asahel H. Woodruff.
The choir sang the hymn, "Come, thou glorious day of promise."
ELDER ANDREW KIMBALL.
(President of St. Joseph Stake.)
I esteem it a great privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be called upon to occupy this important position. It is not possible for me to attend all of these conferences. It has been something like eighteen months since I was here, and enjoyed such a privilege. It may be well in the few minutes allotted me to speak, to tell you of conditions as they exist in the southern part of Zion.
In Arizona we have in the neighborhood of 10,000 Latter-day Saints, in four stakes of Zion. There are 5,000 of these in the St. Joseph stake, over which I have the honor to preside, and these are scattered over a distance of nearly 600 miles, which we have to travel to associate with them. Our stake work is different from that in most of the stakes of Zion, in that we do missionary work among those who are not of our faith, in the mining camps surrounding us, where there is a large number of Gentile people, ranging from 700 to 1,500 inhabitants. In these cities and towns we have gone out amongst the people and preached the Gospel, and assembled together the scattered Saints who have gone into those sections to seek employment. We have organized so that we have in operation all the various auxiliary organizations of the Church, and are drawing together those who, in many instances, were careless in their old home settlements. Boys and girls who did not take part in their home wards are put to work, and we are accomplishing a splendid mission in this direction.
I want to say to you that while it is a fact that we are far separated from the body of the Church, and do not enjoy many of those great privileges that are within your reach, we are in sympathy with you, and are permitted, by the blessings of the Lord, to enjoy the spirit of the Gospel. And it comes to me as one of the strongest testimonies that this is, indeed, the work of God in which we are engaged, in that the Lord does not forget us, and that we are in touch with and are permitted to enjoy the inspiration of the Lord which characterizes His work throughout all the world.
I believe there are about ten of our young men here, during this conference season, preparing to go on missions. Two of them left yesterday. There are about fifty of our people who have come up to conference. When we realize that we come 1,400 miles the shortest route to attend this conference, there is an exhibition of faith, to say nothing of the expenditure of means. It costs us not less than $100 a head; so there is an expenditure of $5,000 from our stake alone, exclusive of the missionaries, and the number that may have come from other stakes in our Territory, and also from Old Mexico, where the people are under similar conditions.
I am pleased to report associated with me some splendid, stalwart men, my counselors and the high councilors, men who are united and whose hearts are in the work of God. The presidents of the different organizations and of the Priesthood are faithful in the discharge of their duties, so far as circumstances and conditions will allow them to attend to those duties. The Lord has held in reserve certain sections of the 'country, it seems to me, for the good of His people, and I recognize the hand of the Lord in that He has so reserved that choice section of the country lying east of Los Angeles in Arizona, a section very much like southern California and producing very much the same kind of products. While we are yet in our youth as to home industries, our people are practically self-sustaining and independent.
I desire to say a few words in regard to home industries, as suggested by our worthy President this morning, for nearly all my life I have advocated home industry. My father, Heber C. Kimball, was an advocate of home industries, and entered upon one of the first labors in that direction in Utah, operating mills for the making of linseed oil, the first that was ever made in the Territory. He also had a carding mill, which later developed into a woolen mill. Do you know, my brethren and sisters, until I was sixteen years of age I never wore anything but homespun, made in that factory and the workmanship of my dear mother, who made my clothing until I was a young man. And I have never departed from those teachings; I have always worn home-made goods when it was possible for me to do so; and I have patronized, and advocated, loud and long, the sustaining of home industries in our western settlements.
My brethren and sisters, I think I have discovered one of the secrets of why we do not succeed with our home industries; I believe that it is jealousy, at least in part. Whenever one of our brethren, or a few of them, start out with a good desire in their hearts to build up a home industry, and keep at home the means of the people, and they commence to succeed, and it looks as though they were going to make a little, then some envious individuals are ready to pull them down; and they fail as a consequence of their jealousies. I do not, however, find this feeling prevailing in the section that I travel in. I am familiar with conditions in California; during the past eleven years I have had to travel back and forth, through the great state of California, and I say to you, my brethren and sisters, that California is for California. The City of Los Angeles is for Los Angeles, and the people there are always working for their own city, with the result that they have built up a great commonwealth there. They are sustaining their neighbors, and their own industries, and you do not find them buying goods made in other cities as long as they can get some of their own manufacture. So we find it elsewhere; San Francisco is for San Francisco; and it was my pleasure also to notice the spirit of patriotism that was manifested in Portland while I was there recently. In the great state of Oregon I found the same feeling of local patriotism. Everybody that says anything in that state, speaks for Oregon. I found that same spirit everywhere as I was riding up and down that state—everybody was partial to speak a good word for their own home industries, the furnishing of employment for their own people, and building up their own commonwealth. So I found it in the State of Washington, as it was my business to attend the irrigation congress at Spokane recently, and also witness the display in the fair, at Seattle of the products of that great state. I never heard them talk about any other state. No, it was Washington, first, last and all the time—building up Washington, improving the products, developing its resources and means of home production, that they might become wealthy. So I found it in Idaho also. They had a splendid exhibition of their products in the Idaho building at the Fair. I found the same spirit, to a large extent, throughout all these western states, where it has been my privilege to travel.
Arizona is only a babe yet, comparatively speaking; but Arizona stands second in the production of mineral. The greatest copper fields in the world are in Arizona. Arizona, too, is for Arizona. I am pleased to say also, that there is a fraternal feeling in Arizona. Those in that Territory who are not Latter-day Saints recognize the Mormons as benefactors to their country. They respect us, from the governor down, and treat us with every consideration that the Mormon people could expect or are worthy of. I am glad to say, too, that the spirit of jealousy I have mentioned does not exist in Arizona. We are always building up Arizona, and our neighbors who are not of us recognize in the Mormon people that we have been the means of doing something that they could net do, and that is, that we have, through our co-operative system of establishing settlements in Arizona, redeemed the deserts until today they are fertile" fields. We have built up towns and cities, and are establishing conditions in Arizona, through that co-operative system, and under the counsels of the priesthood, that are conducive of great good to our Territory, and the people of Arizona recognize this.
Sometimes ministers of other denominations from the east, who are biased and prejudiced, knowing no better (God pity them) come into Arizona to look after some little congregation; and, before they realize the folly of it, they fire a fusillade of abuse upon the Mormon people. The result is, they are discharged from their pastorates almost immediately, and sent back to the non-progressive part of the world they came from. Not long ago a Methodist minister came into one of our towns, a county seat, where with a few exceptions, the population is non-Mormon. There was one young man, a son of one of our people, from Thatcher, a Mormon boy, who was employed there. He was waiting on a young lady there who was not of our faith, and they attended service at this place. This devout Methodist brother, not knowing any better, I presume, began telling some of the old 'stories about the Prophet Joseph Smith, belittling the Mormon faith, and undertaking to abuse and deride out people. Now this coy from Thatcher hardly knew whether he was himself a Latter-day Saint or not. When he was in Thatcher among "Mormons" he was called a Gentile; when he was among the Gentiles they called him a Mormon. He sat there on that occasion until he could stand it no longer, and, in the rough way characteristic of many of our western boys, he called this minister a liar. The result was that this rather strong expression was sustained by the people at the meeting. At the close of the service the minister came up to the boy and challenged him to a debate. The boy did not know anything scarcely about his religion, so he came down and asked me for some information to enable him to cope with the reverend gentleman; and I believe it has made a complete "Mormon" of the boy.
I am pleased to say, as I have referred to it before, that the governor, the federal and Territorial officials, prominent men and women throughout the Territory of Arizona, are all respectful, kind and considerate, so far as I know, to the "Mormon" people, and we are increasing in numbers, are friendly with our neighbors, and are united for the better Arizona. We are building up its resources, and I hope in the immediate future we will get statehood, that Arizona may shine forth as one of the brilliant stars in these United States.
I am often reminded, in the indifference of our people to sustaining home industries, of a certain picture caricature. You have often seen it, I have no doubt. It is the likeness of a big cow, with her front quarters in the west and her hind quarters in the east, and she being milked at our expense. That is what is being done with reference to our material resources, of which the east is getting the benefit, and we are sustaining its manufactures. So I say to you, my brethren and sisters, I want to stand with the president of this Church in this matter of home industries. As I have said, I have always stood for them, in Utah, in Arizona, and elsewhere. Everybody that knows me knows that I proclaimed home industries up and down this entire territory, trying to sell home products, and urging the people to patronize them. Now I belong to Arizona; my heart is in Arizona; I am for better Arizona; I want to work for that territory, to bring it into statehood, and make it shine brightly, and help to build it up, develop its resources, and locate homes for thousands of our people under the Reclamation act, that it may be a benefit to them. Such are the counsels that I give as I travel and labor for the good of Arizona and of this people.
May the Lord bless us and help us to be loyal to the principles we have espoused and the Priesthood which He has given for our upbuilding, and instruction. May the Lord bless and preserve us, and bless and preserve our boys and girls, and enable us to keep them at home, keep them in of evenings and give them something to do. My confidence is that the boys and girls, if they are kept employed, and if we teach them and set them proper examples, will not go astray. Employment is one of the great potencies, if you please, for overcoming evil in young people; keep them at work.
Pardon me for one thought which occurs to me right at this time. My father, rather than allow his boys to go unemployed, made them go and wheel rocks in a barrow, and pile them up; when they were done with that, if he had nothing more for them to do, he would get them to wheel the rocks back again. An old gentleman came to him, soon after he came over from the old country, and wanted employment. Father gave him a job wheeling rocks to a certain place and after he had got them all piled up nicely he came and reported. Father said, "Now, dear brother, wheel them back again." He said he wouldn't do that. Said he, "I was taught to try and accomplish something with my work." Father replied, "Didn't you want employment? I hadn't any, and I didn't want to give you means for nothing. You will earn your wages by what I want you to do." I say to you, according to my observation and experience throughout the stakes of Zion and my own home work, that employment is the great secret of success. Let us give our boys and girls work. It seems to me that every hat and every dress should be made by our girls. Let our boys grow up to become mechanics and good workmen. If we are going to patronize the east for everything, we cannot accomplish this.
May the Lord help us to accomplish our duty in all things, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(President of St. Joseph Stake.)
I esteem it a great privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be called upon to occupy this important position. It is not possible for me to attend all of these conferences. It has been something like eighteen months since I was here, and enjoyed such a privilege. It may be well in the few minutes allotted me to speak, to tell you of conditions as they exist in the southern part of Zion.
In Arizona we have in the neighborhood of 10,000 Latter-day Saints, in four stakes of Zion. There are 5,000 of these in the St. Joseph stake, over which I have the honor to preside, and these are scattered over a distance of nearly 600 miles, which we have to travel to associate with them. Our stake work is different from that in most of the stakes of Zion, in that we do missionary work among those who are not of our faith, in the mining camps surrounding us, where there is a large number of Gentile people, ranging from 700 to 1,500 inhabitants. In these cities and towns we have gone out amongst the people and preached the Gospel, and assembled together the scattered Saints who have gone into those sections to seek employment. We have organized so that we have in operation all the various auxiliary organizations of the Church, and are drawing together those who, in many instances, were careless in their old home settlements. Boys and girls who did not take part in their home wards are put to work, and we are accomplishing a splendid mission in this direction.
I want to say to you that while it is a fact that we are far separated from the body of the Church, and do not enjoy many of those great privileges that are within your reach, we are in sympathy with you, and are permitted, by the blessings of the Lord, to enjoy the spirit of the Gospel. And it comes to me as one of the strongest testimonies that this is, indeed, the work of God in which we are engaged, in that the Lord does not forget us, and that we are in touch with and are permitted to enjoy the inspiration of the Lord which characterizes His work throughout all the world.
I believe there are about ten of our young men here, during this conference season, preparing to go on missions. Two of them left yesterday. There are about fifty of our people who have come up to conference. When we realize that we come 1,400 miles the shortest route to attend this conference, there is an exhibition of faith, to say nothing of the expenditure of means. It costs us not less than $100 a head; so there is an expenditure of $5,000 from our stake alone, exclusive of the missionaries, and the number that may have come from other stakes in our Territory, and also from Old Mexico, where the people are under similar conditions.
I am pleased to report associated with me some splendid, stalwart men, my counselors and the high councilors, men who are united and whose hearts are in the work of God. The presidents of the different organizations and of the Priesthood are faithful in the discharge of their duties, so far as circumstances and conditions will allow them to attend to those duties. The Lord has held in reserve certain sections of the 'country, it seems to me, for the good of His people, and I recognize the hand of the Lord in that He has so reserved that choice section of the country lying east of Los Angeles in Arizona, a section very much like southern California and producing very much the same kind of products. While we are yet in our youth as to home industries, our people are practically self-sustaining and independent.
I desire to say a few words in regard to home industries, as suggested by our worthy President this morning, for nearly all my life I have advocated home industry. My father, Heber C. Kimball, was an advocate of home industries, and entered upon one of the first labors in that direction in Utah, operating mills for the making of linseed oil, the first that was ever made in the Territory. He also had a carding mill, which later developed into a woolen mill. Do you know, my brethren and sisters, until I was sixteen years of age I never wore anything but homespun, made in that factory and the workmanship of my dear mother, who made my clothing until I was a young man. And I have never departed from those teachings; I have always worn home-made goods when it was possible for me to do so; and I have patronized, and advocated, loud and long, the sustaining of home industries in our western settlements.
My brethren and sisters, I think I have discovered one of the secrets of why we do not succeed with our home industries; I believe that it is jealousy, at least in part. Whenever one of our brethren, or a few of them, start out with a good desire in their hearts to build up a home industry, and keep at home the means of the people, and they commence to succeed, and it looks as though they were going to make a little, then some envious individuals are ready to pull them down; and they fail as a consequence of their jealousies. I do not, however, find this feeling prevailing in the section that I travel in. I am familiar with conditions in California; during the past eleven years I have had to travel back and forth, through the great state of California, and I say to you, my brethren and sisters, that California is for California. The City of Los Angeles is for Los Angeles, and the people there are always working for their own city, with the result that they have built up a great commonwealth there. They are sustaining their neighbors, and their own industries, and you do not find them buying goods made in other cities as long as they can get some of their own manufacture. So we find it elsewhere; San Francisco is for San Francisco; and it was my pleasure also to notice the spirit of patriotism that was manifested in Portland while I was there recently. In the great state of Oregon I found the same feeling of local patriotism. Everybody that says anything in that state, speaks for Oregon. I found that same spirit everywhere as I was riding up and down that state—everybody was partial to speak a good word for their own home industries, the furnishing of employment for their own people, and building up their own commonwealth. So I found it in the State of Washington, as it was my business to attend the irrigation congress at Spokane recently, and also witness the display in the fair, at Seattle of the products of that great state. I never heard them talk about any other state. No, it was Washington, first, last and all the time—building up Washington, improving the products, developing its resources and means of home production, that they might become wealthy. So I found it in Idaho also. They had a splendid exhibition of their products in the Idaho building at the Fair. I found the same spirit, to a large extent, throughout all these western states, where it has been my privilege to travel.
Arizona is only a babe yet, comparatively speaking; but Arizona stands second in the production of mineral. The greatest copper fields in the world are in Arizona. Arizona, too, is for Arizona. I am pleased to say also, that there is a fraternal feeling in Arizona. Those in that Territory who are not Latter-day Saints recognize the Mormons as benefactors to their country. They respect us, from the governor down, and treat us with every consideration that the Mormon people could expect or are worthy of. I am glad to say, too, that the spirit of jealousy I have mentioned does not exist in Arizona. We are always building up Arizona, and our neighbors who are not of us recognize in the Mormon people that we have been the means of doing something that they could net do, and that is, that we have, through our co-operative system of establishing settlements in Arizona, redeemed the deserts until today they are fertile" fields. We have built up towns and cities, and are establishing conditions in Arizona, through that co-operative system, and under the counsels of the priesthood, that are conducive of great good to our Territory, and the people of Arizona recognize this.
Sometimes ministers of other denominations from the east, who are biased and prejudiced, knowing no better (God pity them) come into Arizona to look after some little congregation; and, before they realize the folly of it, they fire a fusillade of abuse upon the Mormon people. The result is, they are discharged from their pastorates almost immediately, and sent back to the non-progressive part of the world they came from. Not long ago a Methodist minister came into one of our towns, a county seat, where with a few exceptions, the population is non-Mormon. There was one young man, a son of one of our people, from Thatcher, a Mormon boy, who was employed there. He was waiting on a young lady there who was not of our faith, and they attended service at this place. This devout Methodist brother, not knowing any better, I presume, began telling some of the old 'stories about the Prophet Joseph Smith, belittling the Mormon faith, and undertaking to abuse and deride out people. Now this coy from Thatcher hardly knew whether he was himself a Latter-day Saint or not. When he was in Thatcher among "Mormons" he was called a Gentile; when he was among the Gentiles they called him a Mormon. He sat there on that occasion until he could stand it no longer, and, in the rough way characteristic of many of our western boys, he called this minister a liar. The result was that this rather strong expression was sustained by the people at the meeting. At the close of the service the minister came up to the boy and challenged him to a debate. The boy did not know anything scarcely about his religion, so he came down and asked me for some information to enable him to cope with the reverend gentleman; and I believe it has made a complete "Mormon" of the boy.
I am pleased to say, as I have referred to it before, that the governor, the federal and Territorial officials, prominent men and women throughout the Territory of Arizona, are all respectful, kind and considerate, so far as I know, to the "Mormon" people, and we are increasing in numbers, are friendly with our neighbors, and are united for the better Arizona. We are building up its resources, and I hope in the immediate future we will get statehood, that Arizona may shine forth as one of the brilliant stars in these United States.
I am often reminded, in the indifference of our people to sustaining home industries, of a certain picture caricature. You have often seen it, I have no doubt. It is the likeness of a big cow, with her front quarters in the west and her hind quarters in the east, and she being milked at our expense. That is what is being done with reference to our material resources, of which the east is getting the benefit, and we are sustaining its manufactures. So I say to you, my brethren and sisters, I want to stand with the president of this Church in this matter of home industries. As I have said, I have always stood for them, in Utah, in Arizona, and elsewhere. Everybody that knows me knows that I proclaimed home industries up and down this entire territory, trying to sell home products, and urging the people to patronize them. Now I belong to Arizona; my heart is in Arizona; I am for better Arizona; I want to work for that territory, to bring it into statehood, and make it shine brightly, and help to build it up, develop its resources, and locate homes for thousands of our people under the Reclamation act, that it may be a benefit to them. Such are the counsels that I give as I travel and labor for the good of Arizona and of this people.
May the Lord bless us and help us to be loyal to the principles we have espoused and the Priesthood which He has given for our upbuilding, and instruction. May the Lord bless and preserve us, and bless and preserve our boys and girls, and enable us to keep them at home, keep them in of evenings and give them something to do. My confidence is that the boys and girls, if they are kept employed, and if we teach them and set them proper examples, will not go astray. Employment is one of the great potencies, if you please, for overcoming evil in young people; keep them at work.
Pardon me for one thought which occurs to me right at this time. My father, rather than allow his boys to go unemployed, made them go and wheel rocks in a barrow, and pile them up; when they were done with that, if he had nothing more for them to do, he would get them to wheel the rocks back again. An old gentleman came to him, soon after he came over from the old country, and wanted employment. Father gave him a job wheeling rocks to a certain place and after he had got them all piled up nicely he came and reported. Father said, "Now, dear brother, wheel them back again." He said he wouldn't do that. Said he, "I was taught to try and accomplish something with my work." Father replied, "Didn't you want employment? I hadn't any, and I didn't want to give you means for nothing. You will earn your wages by what I want you to do." I say to you, according to my observation and experience throughout the stakes of Zion and my own home work, that employment is the great secret of success. Let us give our boys and girls work. It seems to me that every hat and every dress should be made by our girls. Let our boys grow up to become mechanics and good workmen. If we are going to patronize the east for everything, we cannot accomplish this.
May the Lord help us to accomplish our duty in all things, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD.
(President of Northwestern States Mission).
I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, in this glorious privilege which I have as a missionary to return, occasionally, to the bosom of the Church and participate in these assemblies of our general conference. The providences of God are daily manifest in our welfare, as Elders traveling in the missionary field. We appreciate that we have your confidence, and your faith and prayers in our behalf; but it does our hearts good to come and see you, face to face, and to feel that we are indorsed and appreciated in the course we are pursuing in our labors abroad in the world. I am sure the letters which come from the fathers and mothers, wives and sisters of the Elders who are laboring in the missionary field, are a great source of comfort and inspiration to them. It gives them courage to perform their labors when, as sometimes, clouds lower down before them and the way looks dark and discouraging. Often you are able, by the cheering words that you send, to lift their spirits and buoy them up, for then they feel that, no matter what their circumstances may be, at home there are hosts of friends and dear ones standing behind them, who are expecting each Elder to do his full duty; and it spurs the Elders on. I am sure that it inspires and strengthens those who are absent from their dear ones, laboring in the great cause, for which they are sacrificing the comforts and society of home; and I hope, as you are an inspiration to us, that our labors shall prove an inspiration to you, and that we shall be able, when we return from time to time, to show forth by the improvement we have made that the time and means have been well and profitably spent, that, if we have not been able to save many souls, we have most certainly benefited ourselves. I want to say to you that we are delighted to be able to accomplish the work for which we are sent, and for your encouragement and that it may be, perhaps, a source of inspiration to you, I will give you a brief comparative report for the four months of May, June, July, and August of 1908 as compared with the same months of this year, showing the progress in the Northwestern States Mission with an average of eight more Elders than there were last year. We do not give this in a spirit of boasting but in one of gratefulness to our Heavenly Father that we have been able to accomplish the labors we have performed.
Families Visited: 4 months, 1908, 17,397; 4 months, 1909, 39,468; Increase, 22,071.
Families Re-Visited: 4 months, 1908, 5,742; 4 months, 1909, 21,984; Increase, 16,242.
Tracts Distributed: 4 months, 1908, 25,092; 4 months, 1909, 79,621; Increase, 54,529.
Hours Work. 4 months, 1908, 13,982; 4 months, 1909, 30,658; Increase, 16,676.
Gospel Conversations: 4 months, 1908, 6,981; 4 months, 1909, 22,203; Increase, 15,222.
Meetings Held: 4 months, 1908, 269; 4 months, 1909, 1,296; Increase; 1.027.
Books Sold: 4 months, 1908, 628; 4 months, 1909, 2,605; Increase, 1,977.
Of books sold, 833 were Books of Mormon, while only 412 were sold in the mission for the entire year of 1908.
In the matter of baptisms there is an increase of 25 per cent, and from the increased seed sown there are splendid indications of an increased harvest.
So we feel glad to be in the field, and in the fight, and each man has expressed himself as feeling eager to push the work. We are determined to keep the banners waving wherever they have been planted, and to carry them to other places, until every soul in that land shall have heard the truth, and have an opportunity to receive the same; and we shall endeavor to set examples as worthy servants of our Master.
If there is one thing that has given us sorrow it is finding so many of our girls who have married outside of the Church and located in the northwest country. I could relate stories from their experiences that would occupy hours, telling of the disappointment and sorrow they have known through disobeying the counsel of their parents in this matter. I remember one told by a Mormon girl, a grand-daughter of one of the prominent brethren of this Church, and I give it as a testimony to support the advice of President Smith on this matter. She married outside of the Church to her sorrow as shown by her life today. Her husband was bitter toward the Church and laughed at the men and things she held sacred. He was not a moral man, but rather seemed to delight in the sorrow he caused his wife, as she learned of his infidelity to her. No pleading could induce him to change his manner of life, while she was compelled to endure terrible mental torture. In the midst of strangers, there was only one being whom she could trust, from whom she derived any comfort or consolation; it was her only child, a little six-year-old girl upon whom she lavished her heart's affections. A few weeks before I met her, the little girl sickened and died. It seemed then that her only comfort, her hope, her all had gone, and, under this terrible strain, she was so beside herself that she even thought seriously of taking her own life. She said to me, shaking her sorrowing head, "If Mormon girls could only profit by my experience, they would gladly accept their father's advice and their fond mother's wishes, and marry within the Church men whom they could trust, whose sympathies would be with them."
I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, that I sustain the advice and counsel that was given along this line by President Smith, because of the experiences that have come within my observation. While there are honorable Gentiles who marry Mormon girls, every girl who is thus married is risking her happiness here and hereafter. I believe that marriage is one of the most serious and important steps in life. Whatever we may accumulate in life, we will leave when we die, but the woman who is sealed to a man according to the law of God is his for time and all eternity, and the children that are born to them in that covenant will be theirs eternally. There is nothing else that we can gain in this world, outside of our resurrected bodies, and experiences, that will cling to us and stand with us forever. I believe that every girl should feel the importance of that step. She should realize its far reaching consequences, and satisfy herself, by a testimony through the Spirit of God, that her decision is a right one, just as thoroughly as she may know that God lives and that the Gospel is true. If she would take this course and listen to the advice of her parents, she would be spared much trouble and sorrow. After all, they come back to the counsel of father and mother, after years of distress, with stripes and scars upon them. We are doing what we can to comfort these girls. We encourage them to raise their children in the Church, and we are teaching them to set an example to the community where they reside that shall reflect credit upon the work of the Lord, and assist to redeem them, so far as can be, from the errors into which they have fallen. God is helping us in this direction.
I want to speak of the fair at Seattle, and of the Church exhibit in the Government building. We think this has been one of the most important events in the history of our Church, because, unsolicited by us, we were extended an invitation, by the Smithsonian Institute, to make an exhibit showing the influence of the Church in developing the west. You who were there saw the fine representation we had in the models of the tabernacle and the temple; maps showing the route of the pioneers and the Mormon Battalion, and others indicating the hundreds of towns and cities which the Latter-day Saints have founded; the press upon which the Book of Mormon was printed, and the one on which the first issue of the Deseret News was printed; the odometer with which the mileage was measured and recorded as the pioneers traveled to these valleys; portraits of some thirty leaders of this great latter day movement, and other things of great interest and historical importance. These were in the Government building, the most interesting one at the fair, and most of the people visited it. There have been in attendance at the fair nearly 3,250,000 people, and it is expected by the close of the fair that 4,000,000 will have visited it; without doubt 90 per cent of those who visit the fair go into the Government building and see our exhibits there. It has been our privilege to have some of the brethren located in that section to give information concerning the exhibits. We have by this means corrected many stories that would have been told by those who pretend to be well informed, and who would have related the old falsehoods. In this too we have enjoyed the friendship and good feelings of the crowds, and those in authority at the building, and they have told the truth with reference to our people. It has certainly done my heart gjod to see after long years of waiting, due appreciation of the Mormon pioneers, and though most of them have passed away and did not hear these words of praise, but were under constant misrepresentation by the world, to see them come to their own, and receive the credit which is due them, I say, does my heart good. I am pleased that their children can listen to just eulogies, as they come from the thousands who now witness in its true light the work of the Latter-day Saints. One of the officials of the fair, in a reception given to the governor of this state, said that Oregon and Washington, and the other great states of the Western country, would never have been what they are today had it not been for the labors of the Mormon pioneers. I believe that is true, and I rejoice that, after all these years, recognition comes, and that it comes from our great government in the invitation proffered to our Church to present these exhibitions of facts to the people of this country.
The choir also visited the fair, and I know that they accomplished an immense amount of good. In Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, the houses were crowded, and I have a mind to read you two brief extracts from a leading paper in Seattle, showing how well they were received, because it remained for the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir to establish the highest mark in the matter of attracting the largest number of people in one place during the fair, and perhaps in the history of the northwest. Even the visit of the president of the United States, a few days ago, did not attract as large a crowd to the Natural Amphitheatre, by several thousands, as did the choir in that place at their Sunday evening concert. Their first concert in Seattle was given in the Auditorium building, on the fair grounds, on Thursday evening, August 16th. I have attended numerous entertainments in this building, some of them grand musical events, when the doors were thrown open to the public, and no admission charged, but in no instance was the building filled, and, so far as I know, only once has it been filled to overflowing, and that was upon the occasion of the concert given by our choir. Although an admission of 75c and $1 was charged, every seat was sold, and hundreds paid to stand, while more than five hundred people were turned away. I stood on the steps, and actually saw people shed tears because they could not gain admission.
The Post Intelligencer of Seattle said of this entertainment:
"Three thousand people were enraptured by three hundred voices in the exposition auditorium last night when the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir gave a concert. The audience tired itself with encoring the numbers. Many musical treats have been offered the people attending the fair and others are to come, but there has not been, so far, any program, vocal or instrumental, that seemed to be received with the same satisfaction as that caused by the Tabernacle Choir."
We all regret that the choir did not enter the contest, for everybody conceded that it would have taken the prize, but I believe that it was justified in declining. The prize money was furnished by the fair officials to the Welsh Association, who were to make their own arrangements for the contest. They seemed to have taken an extra dose of the "Seattle Spirit" and employed methods unheard of to charge each singer 75c admission, notwithstanding they had paid their own way from distant homes. There was no provision for seats for the singers. On eleven other occasions when the choir has sung in contests they were not charged admission, and so were not prepared for this surprise. The officials in charge of this entertainment were not as civil to the singers as they should have been, and as you know, singers are sensitive, they felt that this was adding insult to injury. And who were their opponents in this contest? A local company of singers with little reputation in this line, not in the same class, not "a foe worthy of their steel;" after all to win the prize would only be an empty honor. The choir committee, however, sought the management of the association, and were prepared to pay the unjust admission fee asked, but a determination was evinced to keep them out, and further insulting and abusive language was used. The committee, therefore, decided that the choir should withdraw, feeling that the matter of this contest was only a disagreeable incident of their trip, and that they would not humiliate themselves before such intolerance.
The shabby treatment of the choir by the Welsh association was resented by the fair officials, who immediately offered $500, and admission for two days, if they would give a sacred concert in the Natural Amphitheatre on the following Sunday evening. This was agreed to. And a great majority of the people also resented this treatment was manifest, by their large attendance at this sacred concert. The grand ovation given the choir marked the largest gathering, as I have said before, in the history of the fair. Of this event the paper before quoted had this to say:
"Seattle's tribute to the grand concert of high class music last evening, by the Tabernacle Choir of Salt Lake City, under the direction of Evan Stephens, assisted by Ellery's band, in the Natural Amphitheatre on the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition grounds, was a crowd numbering between 20,000 and 25,000 persons. Nothing like it has ever been seen in the history of the city. Distinguished persons have come and gone, have had their hearing and been cheered by assembled thousands, but all these tributes sink into insignificance in comparison with the spectacle of last night."
We are enjoying the most friendly relations with leading men of that section; some of them have said to us "We want you Mormons to come out into our country, we have seen what you can do. We want you to come and establish yourselves with us." I will state just one instance to show the favor with which we are received, and the lack of interest that is shown toward those who are trying to raise funds to "convert" the Mormons. One of our distinguished ministers of Salt Lake City attempted to hold a meeting in the city of Seattle on the 23rd of September. I speak with due regard for the gentleman; I wish that all ministers were as fair and honorable. He was engaged in the business of securing means with which to establish missions for the conversion of the Mormons in Utah, and was trying to interest the people in this matter. I have nothing to say regarding what he said, but only concerning the response that was given to his appeal. Several articles appeared in the papers, advertising his meeting to be held in a building that would seat at least 3,000 people, a magnificent church, one of the finest I have ever seen. Two rectors appeared with him, and tracts were distributed on all of the seats for the thousands who were expected to attend, but only fifteen persons gathered in the building to hear his address, and three of these were Utah people who came out of curiosity. As a contrast to this, a few days before we held a conference in that city, and though we have only about 150 members in Seattle, and we did not get much newspaper notice, yet at our humble gathering there were 350 present. I felt in my heart to say that God has turned the tide in favor of Zion, and we feel fired with a holy zeal to seek to establish the truth. We know we have the interest and sympathy of the Latter-day Saints, and also of thousands of honorable men and women of the earth.
God bless the Latter-day Saints, that they may continue to live worthy lives, that more than ever we may be able to point with pride to them and their glorious achievements. We thank God for the integrity of the men and women of Zion, who abide in the faith, and for the young men and women who are determined to take the same stand that their fathers have taken. May God increase our efficiency to do the work He has placed upon our shoulders; may we be valiant for the truth; and may the Lord bless us that we may establish the standard of truth, and keep it waving until all men everywhere may learn to love it, that they may receive the reward of the righteous, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The hymn, "Sweet is the Peace the Gospel Brings," was rendered as a solo and chorus, by Sister Edith Grant and the choir; musical composition by C. J. Thomas.
(President of Northwestern States Mission).
I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, in this glorious privilege which I have as a missionary to return, occasionally, to the bosom of the Church and participate in these assemblies of our general conference. The providences of God are daily manifest in our welfare, as Elders traveling in the missionary field. We appreciate that we have your confidence, and your faith and prayers in our behalf; but it does our hearts good to come and see you, face to face, and to feel that we are indorsed and appreciated in the course we are pursuing in our labors abroad in the world. I am sure the letters which come from the fathers and mothers, wives and sisters of the Elders who are laboring in the missionary field, are a great source of comfort and inspiration to them. It gives them courage to perform their labors when, as sometimes, clouds lower down before them and the way looks dark and discouraging. Often you are able, by the cheering words that you send, to lift their spirits and buoy them up, for then they feel that, no matter what their circumstances may be, at home there are hosts of friends and dear ones standing behind them, who are expecting each Elder to do his full duty; and it spurs the Elders on. I am sure that it inspires and strengthens those who are absent from their dear ones, laboring in the great cause, for which they are sacrificing the comforts and society of home; and I hope, as you are an inspiration to us, that our labors shall prove an inspiration to you, and that we shall be able, when we return from time to time, to show forth by the improvement we have made that the time and means have been well and profitably spent, that, if we have not been able to save many souls, we have most certainly benefited ourselves. I want to say to you that we are delighted to be able to accomplish the work for which we are sent, and for your encouragement and that it may be, perhaps, a source of inspiration to you, I will give you a brief comparative report for the four months of May, June, July, and August of 1908 as compared with the same months of this year, showing the progress in the Northwestern States Mission with an average of eight more Elders than there were last year. We do not give this in a spirit of boasting but in one of gratefulness to our Heavenly Father that we have been able to accomplish the labors we have performed.
Families Visited: 4 months, 1908, 17,397; 4 months, 1909, 39,468; Increase, 22,071.
Families Re-Visited: 4 months, 1908, 5,742; 4 months, 1909, 21,984; Increase, 16,242.
Tracts Distributed: 4 months, 1908, 25,092; 4 months, 1909, 79,621; Increase, 54,529.
Hours Work. 4 months, 1908, 13,982; 4 months, 1909, 30,658; Increase, 16,676.
Gospel Conversations: 4 months, 1908, 6,981; 4 months, 1909, 22,203; Increase, 15,222.
Meetings Held: 4 months, 1908, 269; 4 months, 1909, 1,296; Increase; 1.027.
Books Sold: 4 months, 1908, 628; 4 months, 1909, 2,605; Increase, 1,977.
Of books sold, 833 were Books of Mormon, while only 412 were sold in the mission for the entire year of 1908.
In the matter of baptisms there is an increase of 25 per cent, and from the increased seed sown there are splendid indications of an increased harvest.
So we feel glad to be in the field, and in the fight, and each man has expressed himself as feeling eager to push the work. We are determined to keep the banners waving wherever they have been planted, and to carry them to other places, until every soul in that land shall have heard the truth, and have an opportunity to receive the same; and we shall endeavor to set examples as worthy servants of our Master.
If there is one thing that has given us sorrow it is finding so many of our girls who have married outside of the Church and located in the northwest country. I could relate stories from their experiences that would occupy hours, telling of the disappointment and sorrow they have known through disobeying the counsel of their parents in this matter. I remember one told by a Mormon girl, a grand-daughter of one of the prominent brethren of this Church, and I give it as a testimony to support the advice of President Smith on this matter. She married outside of the Church to her sorrow as shown by her life today. Her husband was bitter toward the Church and laughed at the men and things she held sacred. He was not a moral man, but rather seemed to delight in the sorrow he caused his wife, as she learned of his infidelity to her. No pleading could induce him to change his manner of life, while she was compelled to endure terrible mental torture. In the midst of strangers, there was only one being whom she could trust, from whom she derived any comfort or consolation; it was her only child, a little six-year-old girl upon whom she lavished her heart's affections. A few weeks before I met her, the little girl sickened and died. It seemed then that her only comfort, her hope, her all had gone, and, under this terrible strain, she was so beside herself that she even thought seriously of taking her own life. She said to me, shaking her sorrowing head, "If Mormon girls could only profit by my experience, they would gladly accept their father's advice and their fond mother's wishes, and marry within the Church men whom they could trust, whose sympathies would be with them."
I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, that I sustain the advice and counsel that was given along this line by President Smith, because of the experiences that have come within my observation. While there are honorable Gentiles who marry Mormon girls, every girl who is thus married is risking her happiness here and hereafter. I believe that marriage is one of the most serious and important steps in life. Whatever we may accumulate in life, we will leave when we die, but the woman who is sealed to a man according to the law of God is his for time and all eternity, and the children that are born to them in that covenant will be theirs eternally. There is nothing else that we can gain in this world, outside of our resurrected bodies, and experiences, that will cling to us and stand with us forever. I believe that every girl should feel the importance of that step. She should realize its far reaching consequences, and satisfy herself, by a testimony through the Spirit of God, that her decision is a right one, just as thoroughly as she may know that God lives and that the Gospel is true. If she would take this course and listen to the advice of her parents, she would be spared much trouble and sorrow. After all, they come back to the counsel of father and mother, after years of distress, with stripes and scars upon them. We are doing what we can to comfort these girls. We encourage them to raise their children in the Church, and we are teaching them to set an example to the community where they reside that shall reflect credit upon the work of the Lord, and assist to redeem them, so far as can be, from the errors into which they have fallen. God is helping us in this direction.
I want to speak of the fair at Seattle, and of the Church exhibit in the Government building. We think this has been one of the most important events in the history of our Church, because, unsolicited by us, we were extended an invitation, by the Smithsonian Institute, to make an exhibit showing the influence of the Church in developing the west. You who were there saw the fine representation we had in the models of the tabernacle and the temple; maps showing the route of the pioneers and the Mormon Battalion, and others indicating the hundreds of towns and cities which the Latter-day Saints have founded; the press upon which the Book of Mormon was printed, and the one on which the first issue of the Deseret News was printed; the odometer with which the mileage was measured and recorded as the pioneers traveled to these valleys; portraits of some thirty leaders of this great latter day movement, and other things of great interest and historical importance. These were in the Government building, the most interesting one at the fair, and most of the people visited it. There have been in attendance at the fair nearly 3,250,000 people, and it is expected by the close of the fair that 4,000,000 will have visited it; without doubt 90 per cent of those who visit the fair go into the Government building and see our exhibits there. It has been our privilege to have some of the brethren located in that section to give information concerning the exhibits. We have by this means corrected many stories that would have been told by those who pretend to be well informed, and who would have related the old falsehoods. In this too we have enjoyed the friendship and good feelings of the crowds, and those in authority at the building, and they have told the truth with reference to our people. It has certainly done my heart gjod to see after long years of waiting, due appreciation of the Mormon pioneers, and though most of them have passed away and did not hear these words of praise, but were under constant misrepresentation by the world, to see them come to their own, and receive the credit which is due them, I say, does my heart good. I am pleased that their children can listen to just eulogies, as they come from the thousands who now witness in its true light the work of the Latter-day Saints. One of the officials of the fair, in a reception given to the governor of this state, said that Oregon and Washington, and the other great states of the Western country, would never have been what they are today had it not been for the labors of the Mormon pioneers. I believe that is true, and I rejoice that, after all these years, recognition comes, and that it comes from our great government in the invitation proffered to our Church to present these exhibitions of facts to the people of this country.
The choir also visited the fair, and I know that they accomplished an immense amount of good. In Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, the houses were crowded, and I have a mind to read you two brief extracts from a leading paper in Seattle, showing how well they were received, because it remained for the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir to establish the highest mark in the matter of attracting the largest number of people in one place during the fair, and perhaps in the history of the northwest. Even the visit of the president of the United States, a few days ago, did not attract as large a crowd to the Natural Amphitheatre, by several thousands, as did the choir in that place at their Sunday evening concert. Their first concert in Seattle was given in the Auditorium building, on the fair grounds, on Thursday evening, August 16th. I have attended numerous entertainments in this building, some of them grand musical events, when the doors were thrown open to the public, and no admission charged, but in no instance was the building filled, and, so far as I know, only once has it been filled to overflowing, and that was upon the occasion of the concert given by our choir. Although an admission of 75c and $1 was charged, every seat was sold, and hundreds paid to stand, while more than five hundred people were turned away. I stood on the steps, and actually saw people shed tears because they could not gain admission.
The Post Intelligencer of Seattle said of this entertainment:
"Three thousand people were enraptured by three hundred voices in the exposition auditorium last night when the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir gave a concert. The audience tired itself with encoring the numbers. Many musical treats have been offered the people attending the fair and others are to come, but there has not been, so far, any program, vocal or instrumental, that seemed to be received with the same satisfaction as that caused by the Tabernacle Choir."
We all regret that the choir did not enter the contest, for everybody conceded that it would have taken the prize, but I believe that it was justified in declining. The prize money was furnished by the fair officials to the Welsh Association, who were to make their own arrangements for the contest. They seemed to have taken an extra dose of the "Seattle Spirit" and employed methods unheard of to charge each singer 75c admission, notwithstanding they had paid their own way from distant homes. There was no provision for seats for the singers. On eleven other occasions when the choir has sung in contests they were not charged admission, and so were not prepared for this surprise. The officials in charge of this entertainment were not as civil to the singers as they should have been, and as you know, singers are sensitive, they felt that this was adding insult to injury. And who were their opponents in this contest? A local company of singers with little reputation in this line, not in the same class, not "a foe worthy of their steel;" after all to win the prize would only be an empty honor. The choir committee, however, sought the management of the association, and were prepared to pay the unjust admission fee asked, but a determination was evinced to keep them out, and further insulting and abusive language was used. The committee, therefore, decided that the choir should withdraw, feeling that the matter of this contest was only a disagreeable incident of their trip, and that they would not humiliate themselves before such intolerance.
The shabby treatment of the choir by the Welsh association was resented by the fair officials, who immediately offered $500, and admission for two days, if they would give a sacred concert in the Natural Amphitheatre on the following Sunday evening. This was agreed to. And a great majority of the people also resented this treatment was manifest, by their large attendance at this sacred concert. The grand ovation given the choir marked the largest gathering, as I have said before, in the history of the fair. Of this event the paper before quoted had this to say:
"Seattle's tribute to the grand concert of high class music last evening, by the Tabernacle Choir of Salt Lake City, under the direction of Evan Stephens, assisted by Ellery's band, in the Natural Amphitheatre on the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition grounds, was a crowd numbering between 20,000 and 25,000 persons. Nothing like it has ever been seen in the history of the city. Distinguished persons have come and gone, have had their hearing and been cheered by assembled thousands, but all these tributes sink into insignificance in comparison with the spectacle of last night."
We are enjoying the most friendly relations with leading men of that section; some of them have said to us "We want you Mormons to come out into our country, we have seen what you can do. We want you to come and establish yourselves with us." I will state just one instance to show the favor with which we are received, and the lack of interest that is shown toward those who are trying to raise funds to "convert" the Mormons. One of our distinguished ministers of Salt Lake City attempted to hold a meeting in the city of Seattle on the 23rd of September. I speak with due regard for the gentleman; I wish that all ministers were as fair and honorable. He was engaged in the business of securing means with which to establish missions for the conversion of the Mormons in Utah, and was trying to interest the people in this matter. I have nothing to say regarding what he said, but only concerning the response that was given to his appeal. Several articles appeared in the papers, advertising his meeting to be held in a building that would seat at least 3,000 people, a magnificent church, one of the finest I have ever seen. Two rectors appeared with him, and tracts were distributed on all of the seats for the thousands who were expected to attend, but only fifteen persons gathered in the building to hear his address, and three of these were Utah people who came out of curiosity. As a contrast to this, a few days before we held a conference in that city, and though we have only about 150 members in Seattle, and we did not get much newspaper notice, yet at our humble gathering there were 350 present. I felt in my heart to say that God has turned the tide in favor of Zion, and we feel fired with a holy zeal to seek to establish the truth. We know we have the interest and sympathy of the Latter-day Saints, and also of thousands of honorable men and women of the earth.
God bless the Latter-day Saints, that they may continue to live worthy lives, that more than ever we may be able to point with pride to them and their glorious achievements. We thank God for the integrity of the men and women of Zion, who abide in the faith, and for the young men and women who are determined to take the same stand that their fathers have taken. May God increase our efficiency to do the work He has placed upon our shoulders; may we be valiant for the truth; and may the Lord bless us that we may establish the standard of truth, and keep it waving until all men everywhere may learn to love it, that they may receive the reward of the righteous, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The hymn, "Sweet is the Peace the Gospel Brings," was rendered as a solo and chorus, by Sister Edith Grant and the choir; musical composition by C. J. Thomas.
ELDER JOSEPH W. M'MURRIN.
I have rejoiced, my brethren and sisters, in listening to the words that have been spoken by the brethren who have occupied this position this afternoon. I pray that the words that may fall from my lips may be directed by the Spirit of the Lord, that I may have the same Spirit of instruction that has impressed the brethren in the words that have already been uttered in our hearing.
A great variety of thoughts have passed through my mind in listening to the testimonies that have been borne in this meeting, and also in listening to the musical exercises. We commenced our services by singing the hymn, "An Angel from on High, the long, long silence broke." I suppose the great majority of those who are gathered together in this holy house this afternoon believe that the words I have quoted,—relative to the coming of an angel,—have had a fulfillment; that at last, after- a long silence between the heavens and the earth, in the age in which we are living the silence has been broken, and an angel, clothed with power and authority from- our Father in heaven, has wended his way to earth, bringing the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, and giving a commandment that it should be preached to all who are dwelling upon the earth. That is the belief of the Latter-day Saints. Their declaration among all peoples in all the earth is, that they are operating, by virtue of this commandment of our Father in heaven. The ministry in which we are engaged is by Divine appointment, an authority such as was exercised by the holy apostles anciently, and which had been lost from among men, in fulfillment of predictions of the inspired servants of God, who, when under the inspiration of the Lord, were enabled to look into the future history of the world and discover that there would come a period when men would be without authority.
There are a very great many people who do not believe in the restoration of the authority of which I am speaking. I could not, however, help but feel, while listening to the words that have been spoken in our hearing, that many of the very precious promises that have been made by our Father in heaven are having- an actual and remarkable fulfillment.
I will read a few words from the revelations that have been given by the Lord in relation to His work as it was to be established among men in this great dispensation. I read from a revelation given at a very early period, in the year 1829, which was before there was any such an organization among men as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. The Lord says:
"Now, behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men; therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
I consider, my brethren and sisters, that this is a very marvelous declaration. It is a declaration that was made over and over again by the Lord, through the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the revelations that were given to him at the opening of this dispensation. When one stops to analyze, for a few moments, the lowly condition of Joseph Smith, the founder, by Divine appointment, of this great work of the Latter-days, and attempts to weigh and consider the unpreparedness of his condition, from a purely human point of view, one could scarcely believe—I suppose no one did believe, at the inception of the work, unless it were revealed to him by the Spirit and power of God—that there would ever be any fulfilment of the words I have read in this opening paragraph, that a marvelous work and a wonder was about to come forth among the children of men.
My brethren and sisters, when we take time to look into the history of this people the Latter-day Saints we find abundant evidence it seems to me, to justify us in the belief we entertain, that Joseph Smith was an inspired man. I wonder, sometimes, how it is possible for those who are not of us, to fail in discovering the Divinity of the work he was instrumental in establishing among men.
You all know there is a passage of scripture in the Old Testament wherein the Lord says:
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him."
But, on the other hand, what are we to understand when one speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing that is spoken comes to pass, particularly when the things that are spoken are beyond the power of man to foresee, naturally, and appear to be impossible of fulfilment? My understanding is we are then to know the man is sent of God, and we should be afraid to turn a deaf ear to his warning.
I am of the opinion that the clause I have read from the revelation concerning the marvelous character of the work that was to be introduced by the Prophet Joseph, at the time it was given, was entirely beyond the power of man, of Joseph himself, to foresee; it appeared to be impossible of accomplishment. We have listened this afternoon to some of the evidences bearing upon the fulfillment of predictions that have been made. Are we impressed with what we have heard, and do we give praise to God, or do we become so accustomed to such testimonies that we allow them to pass without serious consideration, as a mere matter of history, and think nothing more about them? One brother, Elder Andrew Kimball, president of the St. Joseph stake, told us a story this afternoon of ten thousand Latter-day Saints in Arizona, and incidentally mentioned the fact that there are other thousands over the line in the Republic of Mexico, who also are identified with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then another brother, President Melvin J. Ballard of the Northwestern States Mission, stood up and told of the Latter-day Saints who are in Oregon, and who are in Washington, and who are in other districts of the country in these great United States of America, where he is called to labor, all of whom have given allegiance to the work that was planted, about eighty years ago, by the boy Joseph Smith.
If the whole story were told in its completeness, we would discover that in every part of the civilized world there are hosts of men and women who have been convinced of the truth of what the world has nicknamed Mormonism, and have been made to feel, in their whole beings, that it is not the delusion it is thought by some to be, but that it is the power of God unto salvation. These converts to Mormonism have given every possible evidence that they have been born of the Holy Spirit, by doing all that mortal men could do in attestation of their faith, and their confidence in the great work that has been established.
The Lord God of heaven made the announcement as a preface to this Book of Commandments, to all the inhabitants of the earth, that His work would prevail. This thing has not been done in a corner. It has not been hidden up by the works of men, but it has been like a city set upon a hill that all the world might see it. That has been the manner and the character of the establishment of the work of the Lord in the latter times. Hear what the Lord has said:
"And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I, the Lord have commanded them."
That is not written like it came from the Scribes or Pharisees. The spirit of these words as one reads them, has the ring and sound of one speaking by authority. This proclamation was to all the inhabitants of the earth. The language is:
"Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the Book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O inhabitants, of the earth. Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for what I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled."
I believe it. My brethren and sisters, I feel the truth of this announcement, in my whole being. This is not like what an imposter would write. Think of Joseph Smith who then stood alone, and without any following. Joseph Smith, the youth, in his loneliness and ostracism, and in his lack of training and power of leadership, from a human point of view, telling the inhabitants of the earth to "fear and tremble." My brethren and sisters, it was not Joseph Smith it was the Lord of heaven, crying to the people to hearken to His voice, and to His proclamation.
The promise of the Lord is:
"And again, verily, I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth, I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh. * * Search these commandments for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled."
That was the declaration of Mormonism in the very commencement. Every soul who has honestly and prayerfully tested the promise couched in the words I have just read has been made to know that the promise is of God, and not of man. Efforts have been made in every land and clime, and among every people where the missionaries have carried these glad tidings, to stop the advancement of Mormonism, and yet we have heard from this missionary, as we will probably hear from other missionaries during this conference—for the story is the same from every land —that Mormonism is working its way among honest, thoughtful men, and they are yielding obedience to its principles, and are willing to sacrifice everything they have upon the earth, if need be, for its success. That is the story of Mormonism. It has been so from the very beginning. The word of the Lord God has been fulfilled, and this work has not halted, and it never will halt, worlds without end, for God, the Ruler and Creator, has made the promise, and He is able to fulfill it. We need have no anxiety about the onslaughts that are made against us by the ungodly. The concern of every member of the Church should be as to whether or not his full duty is being performed. Let me again read one of the paragraphs from the Book of Commandments:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve Him with all »our heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
My brethren and sisters, if we are serving the Lord in this manner all is well. I commend this paragraph to the earnest consideration of all who are assembled here today. When we consider how the promises of God are being fulfilled, we ought to be able and willing to put our trust in Him, and follow where He leads, for when the finish comes it will be found that victory has perched upon the banners of Israel, and upon all who have been willing to keep the commandments of God.
May the Lord help us to be with that victorious number, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I have rejoiced, my brethren and sisters, in listening to the words that have been spoken by the brethren who have occupied this position this afternoon. I pray that the words that may fall from my lips may be directed by the Spirit of the Lord, that I may have the same Spirit of instruction that has impressed the brethren in the words that have already been uttered in our hearing.
A great variety of thoughts have passed through my mind in listening to the testimonies that have been borne in this meeting, and also in listening to the musical exercises. We commenced our services by singing the hymn, "An Angel from on High, the long, long silence broke." I suppose the great majority of those who are gathered together in this holy house this afternoon believe that the words I have quoted,—relative to the coming of an angel,—have had a fulfillment; that at last, after- a long silence between the heavens and the earth, in the age in which we are living the silence has been broken, and an angel, clothed with power and authority from- our Father in heaven, has wended his way to earth, bringing the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, and giving a commandment that it should be preached to all who are dwelling upon the earth. That is the belief of the Latter-day Saints. Their declaration among all peoples in all the earth is, that they are operating, by virtue of this commandment of our Father in heaven. The ministry in which we are engaged is by Divine appointment, an authority such as was exercised by the holy apostles anciently, and which had been lost from among men, in fulfillment of predictions of the inspired servants of God, who, when under the inspiration of the Lord, were enabled to look into the future history of the world and discover that there would come a period when men would be without authority.
There are a very great many people who do not believe in the restoration of the authority of which I am speaking. I could not, however, help but feel, while listening to the words that have been spoken in our hearing, that many of the very precious promises that have been made by our Father in heaven are having- an actual and remarkable fulfillment.
I will read a few words from the revelations that have been given by the Lord in relation to His work as it was to be established among men in this great dispensation. I read from a revelation given at a very early period, in the year 1829, which was before there was any such an organization among men as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. The Lord says:
"Now, behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men; therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
I consider, my brethren and sisters, that this is a very marvelous declaration. It is a declaration that was made over and over again by the Lord, through the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the revelations that were given to him at the opening of this dispensation. When one stops to analyze, for a few moments, the lowly condition of Joseph Smith, the founder, by Divine appointment, of this great work of the Latter-days, and attempts to weigh and consider the unpreparedness of his condition, from a purely human point of view, one could scarcely believe—I suppose no one did believe, at the inception of the work, unless it were revealed to him by the Spirit and power of God—that there would ever be any fulfilment of the words I have read in this opening paragraph, that a marvelous work and a wonder was about to come forth among the children of men.
My brethren and sisters, when we take time to look into the history of this people the Latter-day Saints we find abundant evidence it seems to me, to justify us in the belief we entertain, that Joseph Smith was an inspired man. I wonder, sometimes, how it is possible for those who are not of us, to fail in discovering the Divinity of the work he was instrumental in establishing among men.
You all know there is a passage of scripture in the Old Testament wherein the Lord says:
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him."
But, on the other hand, what are we to understand when one speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing that is spoken comes to pass, particularly when the things that are spoken are beyond the power of man to foresee, naturally, and appear to be impossible of fulfilment? My understanding is we are then to know the man is sent of God, and we should be afraid to turn a deaf ear to his warning.
I am of the opinion that the clause I have read from the revelation concerning the marvelous character of the work that was to be introduced by the Prophet Joseph, at the time it was given, was entirely beyond the power of man, of Joseph himself, to foresee; it appeared to be impossible of accomplishment. We have listened this afternoon to some of the evidences bearing upon the fulfillment of predictions that have been made. Are we impressed with what we have heard, and do we give praise to God, or do we become so accustomed to such testimonies that we allow them to pass without serious consideration, as a mere matter of history, and think nothing more about them? One brother, Elder Andrew Kimball, president of the St. Joseph stake, told us a story this afternoon of ten thousand Latter-day Saints in Arizona, and incidentally mentioned the fact that there are other thousands over the line in the Republic of Mexico, who also are identified with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then another brother, President Melvin J. Ballard of the Northwestern States Mission, stood up and told of the Latter-day Saints who are in Oregon, and who are in Washington, and who are in other districts of the country in these great United States of America, where he is called to labor, all of whom have given allegiance to the work that was planted, about eighty years ago, by the boy Joseph Smith.
If the whole story were told in its completeness, we would discover that in every part of the civilized world there are hosts of men and women who have been convinced of the truth of what the world has nicknamed Mormonism, and have been made to feel, in their whole beings, that it is not the delusion it is thought by some to be, but that it is the power of God unto salvation. These converts to Mormonism have given every possible evidence that they have been born of the Holy Spirit, by doing all that mortal men could do in attestation of their faith, and their confidence in the great work that has been established.
The Lord God of heaven made the announcement as a preface to this Book of Commandments, to all the inhabitants of the earth, that His work would prevail. This thing has not been done in a corner. It has not been hidden up by the works of men, but it has been like a city set upon a hill that all the world might see it. That has been the manner and the character of the establishment of the work of the Lord in the latter times. Hear what the Lord has said:
"And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I, the Lord have commanded them."
That is not written like it came from the Scribes or Pharisees. The spirit of these words as one reads them, has the ring and sound of one speaking by authority. This proclamation was to all the inhabitants of the earth. The language is:
"Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the Book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O inhabitants, of the earth. Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for what I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled."
I believe it. My brethren and sisters, I feel the truth of this announcement, in my whole being. This is not like what an imposter would write. Think of Joseph Smith who then stood alone, and without any following. Joseph Smith, the youth, in his loneliness and ostracism, and in his lack of training and power of leadership, from a human point of view, telling the inhabitants of the earth to "fear and tremble." My brethren and sisters, it was not Joseph Smith it was the Lord of heaven, crying to the people to hearken to His voice, and to His proclamation.
The promise of the Lord is:
"And again, verily, I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth, I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh. * * Search these commandments for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled."
That was the declaration of Mormonism in the very commencement. Every soul who has honestly and prayerfully tested the promise couched in the words I have just read has been made to know that the promise is of God, and not of man. Efforts have been made in every land and clime, and among every people where the missionaries have carried these glad tidings, to stop the advancement of Mormonism, and yet we have heard from this missionary, as we will probably hear from other missionaries during this conference—for the story is the same from every land —that Mormonism is working its way among honest, thoughtful men, and they are yielding obedience to its principles, and are willing to sacrifice everything they have upon the earth, if need be, for its success. That is the story of Mormonism. It has been so from the very beginning. The word of the Lord God has been fulfilled, and this work has not halted, and it never will halt, worlds without end, for God, the Ruler and Creator, has made the promise, and He is able to fulfill it. We need have no anxiety about the onslaughts that are made against us by the ungodly. The concern of every member of the Church should be as to whether or not his full duty is being performed. Let me again read one of the paragraphs from the Book of Commandments:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve Him with all »our heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
My brethren and sisters, if we are serving the Lord in this manner all is well. I commend this paragraph to the earnest consideration of all who are assembled here today. When we consider how the promises of God are being fulfilled, we ought to be able and willing to put our trust in Him, and follow where He leads, for when the finish comes it will be found that victory has perched upon the banners of Israel, and upon all who have been willing to keep the commandments of God.
May the Lord help us to be with that victorious number, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER JOSEPH E. ROBINSON.
(President of California Mission.)
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that sayeth unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion."
These words, spoken over two thousand years ago by the poet-prophet Isaiah, came to my mind while listening to the words of testimony and encouragement spoken by Elder McMurrin. I desire very much to enjoy the spirit of truth and to be assisted by your faith and prayers that what I say may be of mutual worth and advantage. I rejoice in the Gospel; I rejoice in the work that is being done at home and abroad.
I have the honor of laboring with some thirty men of worth and integrity, your husbands and your sons, who are preaching the Gospel to the people of California, Nevada and Arizona, or some parts of those two latter states. You know them, you who are acquainted with them. You know their worth and their integrity, and you know the sacrifices that you are making in order that they may stay in the field. How good it is to know that they are soldiers of the cross, and that the same spirit with which David went out to meet Goliath and the Philistines is on these men—some of them hardly men as yet—boys you may call them. So do they go forth in the strength of the God of Israel to declare His word, that the hour of His judgment is come, and that His kingdom has been established again in the earth. Because of the courage, and unselfishness of these men, because of their holiness and virtue, because of the words of wisdom they speak, because of your prayers, because they are magnified in the eyes of men, by the eternal Father, they have not feared the world, and are winning souls to Christ.
One of the most successful years thus far that we have had in the California mission is the present one, in the work of preaching the Gospel, baptizing converts, the disposition of books, and in giving away tracts. In fact, we have been sufficiently successful to arouse the active antagonism of some of the so-called teachers of peace, who are contending for dogma and the creeds of men, but who are far removed from the mighty principles of truth, and the example, labors and life of the Master, who established His word and His work anciently, as He has established it in these days, by revelation, through the voice of prophets, and by the vision of seers.
A week ago, in the city of San Diego, there was gathered together a group of representatives of one of the great, so-called "Christian" churches of the day. They were in conference assembled, but I could not help marking the difference in the spirit manifested there and the Spirit we enjoy today. They met and sang, as we have done; they prayed, as we have prayed, to God, the Eternal Father, and they partook of the Holy Communion. They then asked for a statement or reckoning of the funds of the mission society. After this, one of the reverend gentlemen who has spent long years in Utah in the interest of that society, and who claims to be familiar with this people and their teachings, arose and edified the body with a dissertation along all the lines of meanness that has ever been spoken or written about our people. Then they were prepared to pass the plate, so that the missionary society can be sustained in this land. Charges were made that we are teaching the dogmas of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and that our hearts and lives are far removed from anything that savors of Christianity, or of the principles of republicanism, that obtains in our government.
In the northern parts of the state, they became so exercised that they formed a concerted plan of onslaught upon our people, and for some few weeks a battle with some of our brethren occurred in the newspapers, in the press of the country in that locality, and they were helped and abetted by the fulsome press of this city, and by some of the satellites- of disappointed politicians and apostate Latter-day Saints. We could not help but admire our brethren for the courage and calmness with which they answered the slanders and calumnies heaped upon our people, for they answered them, though in the spirit of kindness, with such force and philosophy that the enemy was put to rout. Then our brethren turned somewhat aggressive. They asked those ministers to state by whom they were authorized to preach; by what right they administered in the ordinances of the Gospel; by what right they preached and administered in the name of Christ for hire, instead of serving the people and preaching the word of God, conducting their work upon the lines instituted by the Master? Reminding them that the Lord said: "Freely ye have received, freely give," and declared that His Gospel was for the poor and the oppressed, for all who would come and partake of the waters of life, that His word and His Gospel were without money and without price.
These men said they would make no answer to any such contention as this, and signed their last article and withdrew from the field. Then one of the papers, in an editorial, arraigned them most severely for the manner in which they treated us, saying their methods were characterized by no traits of gentility, let alone the Christian character, which they professed. The editor wanted to know why they did not answer the questions propounded by our brethren; and it has resulted in much good. So our hearts are filled with joy, because we have been able to get the attention and active consideration of the people. It is the indifference of the people in any missionary field that is hurtful to our feelings. If we can arouse the people sufficiently that they become interested enough even to oppose us, we then feel assured of this fact: that if we have their ears in this cause we can divest their minds of prejudice that they have imbibed and, perhaps, through the grace of God, impart unto them some of the principles of eternal life, that they may enter into the joy of the Lord. They may then taste some of the peace of the gospel of Christ; peace that does away with error and superstition, that enters into the souls of men and elevates them far beyond the trifling things of earth; that relieves them of distrust and fear and trembling that belong to the wicked. That peace of which President Smith spoke in his remarks, that lifts the Latter-day Saint above the vagaries of men, above their bickerings, strifes and jealousies; the peace that is spoken of in the olden scriptures by the Master Himself, when He speaks of the kingdom of heaven, as we read it in the 13th chapter of St. Matthew. Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." The lesson that we draw from these two parables is this: that in the possession of this pearl of great price he came into God's peace; he came to the peace of the kingdom of heaven and into the possession of joy and truth far above the riches of the kings and princes of the earth, richer than one would be with all the untold wealth of the Indies.
Men who possess this peace rejoice. Such men, President Smith said, are lifted above the mundane things of this sphere and its petty strifes. Such men stand, as it were, above the clouds, like some great mountain capped with snow; whilst at its base there may be thunder and lightnings, floods and earthquakes, and all below is hidden from the light of the sun, and there is darkness, clouds and gloom, upon its head shines the rays of the effulgent sun. All is serene with such a man; he is in possession of peace that is above the earth. So it was with Joseph Smith when, persuaded to retrace the steps he had taken toward the peaceful abode he had foreseen for his people in the valleys of the mountains, he said to his brethren: "I go like a lamb to the slaughter, yet my conscience is void of offense towards God and all men. I am calm as a summer's morning, and it shall yet be said of me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.' " No man could have that peace and possess such equanimity of soul unless God was with him and he in God's peace; unless he was in possession of the "pearl of great price" that the husbandman sold all his possessions for, and then felt that joy that is unsurpassable.
So the Latter-day Saints should comfort themselves with this assurance that, whilst they are compelled to meet contumely and strife in the world, they possets the pearl of great price. They, too, stand upon Mount Zion, publishing peace and good tidings, and bringing joy to the inhabitants of the earth. Whilst great men are condemning the creeds of men, and stating the necessity of a new gospel, and that such new gospel should be without the dogmas of men, we know that the Gospel we preach, which we have received, is from the Lord, it has His authority, it is not what men have brought down from the dead past, but that it is characterized by newness of life, revealed from God in our own day, dealing with the past, present and future. Had President Eliot and others who find fault with existing religions, investigated "Mormonism," they could not have claimed the necessity of greater light, of greater truth, of greater freedom, than that which characterizes the religion of the Latter-day Saints. Christian men and women can not find in any one of the other churches all of that which they recognize as the religion of Christ. Feeling narrowed within the confines of the creeds, they have tried to find outside of their churches the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus. They are debating such matters as this in their colleges, such a one as I read some time ago at Stanford University, California: "Resolved, that a new religion suited for all men and all times should be brought forth to meet the intellectual conditions of each nation, and to meet the requirements of all people, and of all kindreds of the earth." They are running to and fro for the word of God. I trust some shall find it. They recognize the fact that there is a famine in the land, "not a famine for bread nor a thirst for water," but for the truth.
Is it not a glorious thought, my brethren and sisters, and something to be most thankful for, that we have in our possession this very thing that the learned and the wise and the mighty of the earth are seeking for? Is it not a consolation to know that this Gospel (good news, it means) answers every call of the human mind, responds to every emotion of the human soul, and answers fully and completely every requirement of intelligence and reason? There is a philosophy and a logic in it that appeals to the minds of men that cannot be controverted or contradicted. This Gospel which we preach, when they hear it or when they read it, and especially when they live it, has that quality that gives something more than a passive belief in some code of morals, it means more than a belief in the written word of God, for the letter killeth, the spirit is necessary to give it life. Men can see and feel that our faith is brighter, more perfect and heavenly than the churches or religions they have been acquainted with in the world. They can see, when they find it, that faith is an incentive to all intelligent action, that it is necessary for men and women to render that which is just and true to themselves, to their own families, to the citizens of our commonwealth and to God. Faith has prompted every great man in the world. It, was faith in the theory that the world was round that gave courage and inspiration to Columbus, when he steered his vessels into the rays of the western sun and discovered a new world. It was faith that led Watts and Stephenson in the line of work they respectively followed, that evolved the locomotive and engine of today. It was faith that led Franklin into the field with kite and key, and it is faith that is overcoming that which seemed a few years ago to be impossible, the difficulties in aerial navigation, so that machines heavier than air are flying, as Isaiah said, "like a cloud and as doves to their windows."
When they see and appreciate all this, they can see how logical is the principle maintained by the Latter-day Saints as a part of revealed religion, of the natural and rational law of the Gospel, that faith is the great first principle of revealed truth. No wonder, my brethren and sisters, that the Prophet Joseph Smith, under the inspiration of Almighty God, said that "faith is the foundation of all revealed religion." You will remember, perhaps, that some of the leading churches contend still that faith follows repentance, and that repentance is the first awakening of religious thought or belief. We had this contention not long since with a doctor of divinity, who was speaking to the people of San Diego about us and the tenets of Mormonism. So some of these men, who seem to know all about us, have not learned this one principle yet, that faith is the foundation truth of all intelligent thought and action, and that repentance comes as a natural sequence to it, and is true development and true education. All men have made mistakes, and all successful men have repented and turned from them; they have turned to a better theory, to a better plan. The housewife exercises faith in her household duties; for instance: in making bread, she knows that the proper ingredients will produce the proper and desired result; and if she makes a mistake in it, she repents of it, and then she sees that her bread is more carefully and more perfectly prepared. So that faith, you see, is used in the smallest as well as in the greatest things in life. If a banker, or a railroad magnate, makes a mistake, he repents of it, and sees that it does not occur again. So we might go on, and show that repentance is necessary in the development, and intelligent action, and operation of all things, and is the handmaid of faith, going hand in hand with it.
It is most gratifying to know that we have this divine type of a message, this eternal character of a Gospel to preach. We have no apologies to make for it; we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His message which, if men will receive it in their hearts, they shall be thereby prepared for the advent of the Son of Man when He comes to earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
May the Father grant that this time shall not be far away, but that we shall do well our part, that the coming of the Son of Man may be hastened, and the time soon arrive when men shall study war no more, that every man shall render that which is just and true to all his fellows, come into God's peace, and be able to say, as did our Prophet and Seer, the martyred President of our Church, "My conscience is void of offense towards God and all men." In possession of this peace we shall be "as calm as a summer's morning." May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and give us of His Spirit, to know, to feel, and to live these Gospel truths, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "Our God Shall be Glorified."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Andrew G. Bowman.
(President of California Mission.)
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that sayeth unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion."
These words, spoken over two thousand years ago by the poet-prophet Isaiah, came to my mind while listening to the words of testimony and encouragement spoken by Elder McMurrin. I desire very much to enjoy the spirit of truth and to be assisted by your faith and prayers that what I say may be of mutual worth and advantage. I rejoice in the Gospel; I rejoice in the work that is being done at home and abroad.
I have the honor of laboring with some thirty men of worth and integrity, your husbands and your sons, who are preaching the Gospel to the people of California, Nevada and Arizona, or some parts of those two latter states. You know them, you who are acquainted with them. You know their worth and their integrity, and you know the sacrifices that you are making in order that they may stay in the field. How good it is to know that they are soldiers of the cross, and that the same spirit with which David went out to meet Goliath and the Philistines is on these men—some of them hardly men as yet—boys you may call them. So do they go forth in the strength of the God of Israel to declare His word, that the hour of His judgment is come, and that His kingdom has been established again in the earth. Because of the courage, and unselfishness of these men, because of their holiness and virtue, because of the words of wisdom they speak, because of your prayers, because they are magnified in the eyes of men, by the eternal Father, they have not feared the world, and are winning souls to Christ.
One of the most successful years thus far that we have had in the California mission is the present one, in the work of preaching the Gospel, baptizing converts, the disposition of books, and in giving away tracts. In fact, we have been sufficiently successful to arouse the active antagonism of some of the so-called teachers of peace, who are contending for dogma and the creeds of men, but who are far removed from the mighty principles of truth, and the example, labors and life of the Master, who established His word and His work anciently, as He has established it in these days, by revelation, through the voice of prophets, and by the vision of seers.
A week ago, in the city of San Diego, there was gathered together a group of representatives of one of the great, so-called "Christian" churches of the day. They were in conference assembled, but I could not help marking the difference in the spirit manifested there and the Spirit we enjoy today. They met and sang, as we have done; they prayed, as we have prayed, to God, the Eternal Father, and they partook of the Holy Communion. They then asked for a statement or reckoning of the funds of the mission society. After this, one of the reverend gentlemen who has spent long years in Utah in the interest of that society, and who claims to be familiar with this people and their teachings, arose and edified the body with a dissertation along all the lines of meanness that has ever been spoken or written about our people. Then they were prepared to pass the plate, so that the missionary society can be sustained in this land. Charges were made that we are teaching the dogmas of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and that our hearts and lives are far removed from anything that savors of Christianity, or of the principles of republicanism, that obtains in our government.
In the northern parts of the state, they became so exercised that they formed a concerted plan of onslaught upon our people, and for some few weeks a battle with some of our brethren occurred in the newspapers, in the press of the country in that locality, and they were helped and abetted by the fulsome press of this city, and by some of the satellites- of disappointed politicians and apostate Latter-day Saints. We could not help but admire our brethren for the courage and calmness with which they answered the slanders and calumnies heaped upon our people, for they answered them, though in the spirit of kindness, with such force and philosophy that the enemy was put to rout. Then our brethren turned somewhat aggressive. They asked those ministers to state by whom they were authorized to preach; by what right they administered in the ordinances of the Gospel; by what right they preached and administered in the name of Christ for hire, instead of serving the people and preaching the word of God, conducting their work upon the lines instituted by the Master? Reminding them that the Lord said: "Freely ye have received, freely give," and declared that His Gospel was for the poor and the oppressed, for all who would come and partake of the waters of life, that His word and His Gospel were without money and without price.
These men said they would make no answer to any such contention as this, and signed their last article and withdrew from the field. Then one of the papers, in an editorial, arraigned them most severely for the manner in which they treated us, saying their methods were characterized by no traits of gentility, let alone the Christian character, which they professed. The editor wanted to know why they did not answer the questions propounded by our brethren; and it has resulted in much good. So our hearts are filled with joy, because we have been able to get the attention and active consideration of the people. It is the indifference of the people in any missionary field that is hurtful to our feelings. If we can arouse the people sufficiently that they become interested enough even to oppose us, we then feel assured of this fact: that if we have their ears in this cause we can divest their minds of prejudice that they have imbibed and, perhaps, through the grace of God, impart unto them some of the principles of eternal life, that they may enter into the joy of the Lord. They may then taste some of the peace of the gospel of Christ; peace that does away with error and superstition, that enters into the souls of men and elevates them far beyond the trifling things of earth; that relieves them of distrust and fear and trembling that belong to the wicked. That peace of which President Smith spoke in his remarks, that lifts the Latter-day Saint above the vagaries of men, above their bickerings, strifes and jealousies; the peace that is spoken of in the olden scriptures by the Master Himself, when He speaks of the kingdom of heaven, as we read it in the 13th chapter of St. Matthew. Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." The lesson that we draw from these two parables is this: that in the possession of this pearl of great price he came into God's peace; he came to the peace of the kingdom of heaven and into the possession of joy and truth far above the riches of the kings and princes of the earth, richer than one would be with all the untold wealth of the Indies.
Men who possess this peace rejoice. Such men, President Smith said, are lifted above the mundane things of this sphere and its petty strifes. Such men stand, as it were, above the clouds, like some great mountain capped with snow; whilst at its base there may be thunder and lightnings, floods and earthquakes, and all below is hidden from the light of the sun, and there is darkness, clouds and gloom, upon its head shines the rays of the effulgent sun. All is serene with such a man; he is in possession of peace that is above the earth. So it was with Joseph Smith when, persuaded to retrace the steps he had taken toward the peaceful abode he had foreseen for his people in the valleys of the mountains, he said to his brethren: "I go like a lamb to the slaughter, yet my conscience is void of offense towards God and all men. I am calm as a summer's morning, and it shall yet be said of me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.' " No man could have that peace and possess such equanimity of soul unless God was with him and he in God's peace; unless he was in possession of the "pearl of great price" that the husbandman sold all his possessions for, and then felt that joy that is unsurpassable.
So the Latter-day Saints should comfort themselves with this assurance that, whilst they are compelled to meet contumely and strife in the world, they possets the pearl of great price. They, too, stand upon Mount Zion, publishing peace and good tidings, and bringing joy to the inhabitants of the earth. Whilst great men are condemning the creeds of men, and stating the necessity of a new gospel, and that such new gospel should be without the dogmas of men, we know that the Gospel we preach, which we have received, is from the Lord, it has His authority, it is not what men have brought down from the dead past, but that it is characterized by newness of life, revealed from God in our own day, dealing with the past, present and future. Had President Eliot and others who find fault with existing religions, investigated "Mormonism," they could not have claimed the necessity of greater light, of greater truth, of greater freedom, than that which characterizes the religion of the Latter-day Saints. Christian men and women can not find in any one of the other churches all of that which they recognize as the religion of Christ. Feeling narrowed within the confines of the creeds, they have tried to find outside of their churches the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus. They are debating such matters as this in their colleges, such a one as I read some time ago at Stanford University, California: "Resolved, that a new religion suited for all men and all times should be brought forth to meet the intellectual conditions of each nation, and to meet the requirements of all people, and of all kindreds of the earth." They are running to and fro for the word of God. I trust some shall find it. They recognize the fact that there is a famine in the land, "not a famine for bread nor a thirst for water," but for the truth.
Is it not a glorious thought, my brethren and sisters, and something to be most thankful for, that we have in our possession this very thing that the learned and the wise and the mighty of the earth are seeking for? Is it not a consolation to know that this Gospel (good news, it means) answers every call of the human mind, responds to every emotion of the human soul, and answers fully and completely every requirement of intelligence and reason? There is a philosophy and a logic in it that appeals to the minds of men that cannot be controverted or contradicted. This Gospel which we preach, when they hear it or when they read it, and especially when they live it, has that quality that gives something more than a passive belief in some code of morals, it means more than a belief in the written word of God, for the letter killeth, the spirit is necessary to give it life. Men can see and feel that our faith is brighter, more perfect and heavenly than the churches or religions they have been acquainted with in the world. They can see, when they find it, that faith is an incentive to all intelligent action, that it is necessary for men and women to render that which is just and true to themselves, to their own families, to the citizens of our commonwealth and to God. Faith has prompted every great man in the world. It, was faith in the theory that the world was round that gave courage and inspiration to Columbus, when he steered his vessels into the rays of the western sun and discovered a new world. It was faith that led Watts and Stephenson in the line of work they respectively followed, that evolved the locomotive and engine of today. It was faith that led Franklin into the field with kite and key, and it is faith that is overcoming that which seemed a few years ago to be impossible, the difficulties in aerial navigation, so that machines heavier than air are flying, as Isaiah said, "like a cloud and as doves to their windows."
When they see and appreciate all this, they can see how logical is the principle maintained by the Latter-day Saints as a part of revealed religion, of the natural and rational law of the Gospel, that faith is the great first principle of revealed truth. No wonder, my brethren and sisters, that the Prophet Joseph Smith, under the inspiration of Almighty God, said that "faith is the foundation of all revealed religion." You will remember, perhaps, that some of the leading churches contend still that faith follows repentance, and that repentance is the first awakening of religious thought or belief. We had this contention not long since with a doctor of divinity, who was speaking to the people of San Diego about us and the tenets of Mormonism. So some of these men, who seem to know all about us, have not learned this one principle yet, that faith is the foundation truth of all intelligent thought and action, and that repentance comes as a natural sequence to it, and is true development and true education. All men have made mistakes, and all successful men have repented and turned from them; they have turned to a better theory, to a better plan. The housewife exercises faith in her household duties; for instance: in making bread, she knows that the proper ingredients will produce the proper and desired result; and if she makes a mistake in it, she repents of it, and then she sees that her bread is more carefully and more perfectly prepared. So that faith, you see, is used in the smallest as well as in the greatest things in life. If a banker, or a railroad magnate, makes a mistake, he repents of it, and sees that it does not occur again. So we might go on, and show that repentance is necessary in the development, and intelligent action, and operation of all things, and is the handmaid of faith, going hand in hand with it.
It is most gratifying to know that we have this divine type of a message, this eternal character of a Gospel to preach. We have no apologies to make for it; we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His message which, if men will receive it in their hearts, they shall be thereby prepared for the advent of the Son of Man when He comes to earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
May the Father grant that this time shall not be far away, but that we shall do well our part, that the coming of the Son of Man may be hastened, and the time soon arrive when men shall study war no more, that every man shall render that which is just and true to all his fellows, come into God's peace, and be able to say, as did our Prophet and Seer, the martyred President of our Church, "My conscience is void of offense towards God and all men." In possession of this peace we shall be "as calm as a summer's morning." May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and give us of His Spirit, to know, to feel, and to live these Gospel truths, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, "Our God Shall be Glorified."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Andrew G. Bowman.
OUTDOOR MEETING.
To gratify the multitude unable to find sitting or standing room in the Tabernacle, or Assembly Hall, an outdoor meeting was held, at 2 p. m., in front of the Bureau of Information building. Elder Benjamin Goddard presided. Oscar Kirkman conducted the singing, and William C. Clive played violin accompaniments.
The congregation sang the hymn, "High on the Mountain Top."
Prayer was offered by Elder George Shorten.
Prof. Wm. C. Clive rendered a violin solo.
To gratify the multitude unable to find sitting or standing room in the Tabernacle, or Assembly Hall, an outdoor meeting was held, at 2 p. m., in front of the Bureau of Information building. Elder Benjamin Goddard presided. Oscar Kirkman conducted the singing, and William C. Clive played violin accompaniments.
The congregation sang the hymn, "High on the Mountain Top."
Prayer was offered by Elder George Shorten.
Prof. Wm. C. Clive rendered a violin solo.
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD.
We are glad to meet you, my brothers, sisters, and friends, in this gathering, realizing that you are unable to obtain entrance to the Tabernacle or the Assembly Hall, and that you are so desirous of learning something with regard to the work in which we are all interested, that you are willing to come to this open air gathering and remain standing, until the close.
In the official position I now occupy upon this block, every day in the year, I am asked questions with regard to Mormonism. The words of the prophets have been literally fulfilled, as indicated in the hymn that you have just sung:
"High on the mountain top
A banner is unfurled;
Ye nations now look up,
It waves to all the world.
In Deseret's sweet peaceful land --
On Zion's mount behold it stand!"
I think sometimes we ought to read the words of our hymns as well as sing them, and understand how forcible they are with regard to the Latter-day work. At times we give too much attention to the music and too little to the spirit of the song, and I am therefore going to read, perhaps as an inspiration unto those who may follow, the next few lines.
"For God remembers still
His promise made of old,
That He on Zion's hill
Truth's standard would unfold;
Her light should there attract the gaze
Of all the world in latter days.
"His house shall there be rear'd,
His glory to display;
And people shall be heard
In distant lands to say,
We'll now go up and serve the Lord,
Obey His truth, and learn His word."
The truth of the words that I read can be testified to by many who now stand before me. Many of you have come from foreign lands. Your presence here indicates the fulfillment of this prophecy; and, as I stated before, upon this block, within the vicinity in which you are now standing, thousands of people come from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, to learn what Mormonism means. To the strangers that come amongst us, we declare that Mormonism means the salvation of the human family. Mormonism has a message to the world, that message having been introduced by the direct ministration of the Father and the Son, repeated through the ministrations of the Angel Moroni, (whose figure is upon the summit of our Temple), who revealed the sacred record, the Book of Mormon, from which we teach, together with the Bible, the word of God. And, further, we declare that Mormonism is the revealed truth of the Almighty, given through a prophet in the latter days, that prophet having been ministered unto by resurrected beings: John the Baptist having come unto him and clothed him with the power of the Aaronic Priesthood; and Peter, James, and John having appeared unto him and given unto him the authority of the Melchisedek Priesthood; and these revelations of God, (the Doctrine and Covenants) we present unto the world as another sacred volume, which we commend as worthy of consideration. We therefore have before us today, the word of God contained in the Bible (for "we believe the Bible to be the word of God"), and the Book of Mormon, which we believe also to be the word of God: ancient scriptures treating of God's dealings with His people upon the Eastern continent, and also upon the Western continent; and we declare that we have now the living oracles amongst us; and revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, equally binding, equally sacred, equally divine. We commend unto the world these sacred volumes. I trust that the brethren will have your attention, and that God will bless us in this open air gathering equally with those who have been privileged to meet in the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall; and may the Spirit of the Lord fill your hearts, and interpret unto you every truth that is uttered, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We are glad to meet you, my brothers, sisters, and friends, in this gathering, realizing that you are unable to obtain entrance to the Tabernacle or the Assembly Hall, and that you are so desirous of learning something with regard to the work in which we are all interested, that you are willing to come to this open air gathering and remain standing, until the close.
In the official position I now occupy upon this block, every day in the year, I am asked questions with regard to Mormonism. The words of the prophets have been literally fulfilled, as indicated in the hymn that you have just sung:
"High on the mountain top
A banner is unfurled;
Ye nations now look up,
It waves to all the world.
In Deseret's sweet peaceful land --
On Zion's mount behold it stand!"
I think sometimes we ought to read the words of our hymns as well as sing them, and understand how forcible they are with regard to the Latter-day work. At times we give too much attention to the music and too little to the spirit of the song, and I am therefore going to read, perhaps as an inspiration unto those who may follow, the next few lines.
"For God remembers still
His promise made of old,
That He on Zion's hill
Truth's standard would unfold;
Her light should there attract the gaze
Of all the world in latter days.
"His house shall there be rear'd,
His glory to display;
And people shall be heard
In distant lands to say,
We'll now go up and serve the Lord,
Obey His truth, and learn His word."
The truth of the words that I read can be testified to by many who now stand before me. Many of you have come from foreign lands. Your presence here indicates the fulfillment of this prophecy; and, as I stated before, upon this block, within the vicinity in which you are now standing, thousands of people come from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, to learn what Mormonism means. To the strangers that come amongst us, we declare that Mormonism means the salvation of the human family. Mormonism has a message to the world, that message having been introduced by the direct ministration of the Father and the Son, repeated through the ministrations of the Angel Moroni, (whose figure is upon the summit of our Temple), who revealed the sacred record, the Book of Mormon, from which we teach, together with the Bible, the word of God. And, further, we declare that Mormonism is the revealed truth of the Almighty, given through a prophet in the latter days, that prophet having been ministered unto by resurrected beings: John the Baptist having come unto him and clothed him with the power of the Aaronic Priesthood; and Peter, James, and John having appeared unto him and given unto him the authority of the Melchisedek Priesthood; and these revelations of God, (the Doctrine and Covenants) we present unto the world as another sacred volume, which we commend as worthy of consideration. We therefore have before us today, the word of God contained in the Bible (for "we believe the Bible to be the word of God"), and the Book of Mormon, which we believe also to be the word of God: ancient scriptures treating of God's dealings with His people upon the Eastern continent, and also upon the Western continent; and we declare that we have now the living oracles amongst us; and revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, equally binding, equally sacred, equally divine. We commend unto the world these sacred volumes. I trust that the brethren will have your attention, and that God will bless us in this open air gathering equally with those who have been privileged to meet in the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall; and may the Spirit of the Lord fill your hearts, and interpret unto you every truth that is uttered, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION.
(President of Central States Mission).
My brothers and sisters and friends, I can say that I am pleased to have this opportunity of addressing you a short time this afternoon, and I trust that while I occupy this position, I may be aided by the Spirit of the Lord, and that you will assist me by your faith and prayers. I am pleased to see so many people out here to this open air meeting. I have never had the privilege of attending an open air meeting in this city before, although I understand such meetings have been held during several conferences. It is an indication of the growth and development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has been going steadily on ever since the appearance of God the eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ to the boy prophet some eighty odd years ago.
The Latter-day Saints have been taking great interest in the salvation of the souls of men, having received the testimony that Joseph the prophet received through the visitation of the Father and the Son. And it has come unto you and unto me with such force that we have rejoiced at the privilege of preaching it unto the children of men, both at home and abroad. It has become a knowledge with us, and we know absolutely that God lives, that Mormonism is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of, God, and that He has His authority upon the earth in this day in which we live, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in full force and effect for my benefit and for yours. By the principles which God, the eternal Father, has established, you and I may gain an exaltation in His kingdom, where He and His Son dwell. We know it so well that it has become a part of our lives.
I was very much impressed this morning with the remarks of President Joseph F. Smith, a prophet of the living God, who declared unto Israel today that the work of God in the world is here to stay; that there are men who have the authority to preach it upon the face of the earth, and that there is nothing that can stop the Almighty from revealing His principles unto the children of men.
Christ, the Lord, while He was upon the earth, said, "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." This doctrine, the doctrine which we call "Mormonism," does not belong to the people: it is God's law. He has established it upon the earth. It is His system by which you and I may gain an exaltation in His kingdom, using the agency that God gave us when He created us and sent us forth in the world, that we might use this agency to receive or to reject, to acknowledge, or not to acknowledge, his goodness in all things.
To me it is the greatest thing that could come into my life to know that the Gospel is in full force and effect here upon the earth, and that a man does not have to spend his time and his life and accomplish nothing; that he will not have to go back into the eternities bankrupt, but that he can go back there into a house filled with treasures, where nothing can take them from him, and where the experience that he has earned in this life will be of assistance to him in the life to come. When we think of the millions of people that have passed from the earth, that have not had a knowledge of the Gospel we recognize that there is plenty for the missionaries to do after they leave this stage of probation. The Gospel has to be preached unto every creature. Joseph the prophet gave .us to understand that no man could be saved in ignorance, and whether in life or in death, this system, this law, these ordinances of the Gospel, will have to be given unto the children of men. Christ opened the way, liberated the captives that lived in the days of Noah. Peter testified that this was the case, that the Gospel was preached to the dead that they might "live according to God in the spirit, but be judged according to man in the flesh;" for a man must obey the principles and doctrines of Christ. He has given us to understand that "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ."
While the Savior was upon the earth, He said to His apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature: he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.'' These are the words of Jesus Christ, who opened up the Gospel dispensation in His days, and brought light into the world. And who has the right to change an ordinance of the Gospel? What man under the sun has the right to say that the signs shall not follow the true believer when Christ plainly said that they would? I want to say unto you that no man has a right to change it, and that the principle upon which the Lord said that He would build His Church when He was talking to Peter—that of revelation— is in full force and effect here upon the earth. We have men who are appointed and chosen by God to represent Him here in the earth; and this knowledge can come unto you and to me, and unto every individual under the son; for He that said "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me" also said, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." If any man will put Him to the test; if any man will search the scriptures, as Christ, the Lord, said for him to do, he may know absolutely that this is the work of the Lord; that the angel which John the Revelator saw, has flown again through the midst of the heavens, and that the Gospel is here.
I am thankful that I have had the privilege of going into the world and declaring unto the children of men that I know this to be the truth, for I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that there are millions upon millions of people in the world today that are honest in their hearts, that have been led astray by the cunning craftiness of men. They do not know what the Lord requires of them; and when you look into their faces, and know, as surely as you stand there, that they are honorable men and women, it gives you joy and satisfaction, and it is a privilege to open the way for them. It is not our doctrine, it is not our Gospel, but it is the word of the Lord unto His children on the earth, that they should obey His commandments; that they should go .down into the waters of baptism; that they should obey His laws, just as He said they should be obeyed; and no one has the right to change them.
The result of all this missionary work is that thousands of people every year are going down into the waters of baptism, having listened to some humble Elder as he stood perhaps upon the streets of some city, without purse or scrip, a stranger in a strange land, with the Lord inspiring him, testifying, preaching the Gospel of the risen Redeemer. Hundreds of people have heard these Mormon Elders speak. As I look upon this congregation this afternoon, I see faces that I know, faces of men who have borne the testimony which they have received unto the children of men in foreign lands. Many have been brought to a knowledge of the truth, and to the world, the strange thing about it is this: that just as soon as a member of a family embraces Mormonism, he or she wants their whole family to accept it. Every convert becomes a missionary in the world, because they know positively that there is salvation for them in the doctrines taught by the Latter-day Saints. They know this, and they cannot deny it, and if a wife first embraces it—for quite frequently a wife joins the Church before the husband does,— she never rests until she has converted her husband. Then she starts with her family: she starts with her mother, or with some of her friends, or invites the Elders to help her, never relenting until she has accomplished her purpose.
The work of the Lord is growing. The work is not like it was in the early history of the Church. In every county, or at least in every state of the Union, and especially in the Central States Mission, we have bodies of Latter-day Saints organized into branches, building up the Church of Christ; and people around them are becoming acquainted with the principles of the Gospel that have been sent out from the tops of these mountains by those who have faith in God.
I want to say to the young men in Israel: take care of your means, that you may have the privilege of going into the world and preaching the Gospel; that you may not be curtailed for lack of funds: that you may go there and bear unto the children of men your testimony, and show them by scripture and by example that you know absolutely that this is the work of the Lord. I think that no apostate can ever say that he knew that he was wrong. Apostates say they know absolutely that the Gospel is right, that it is the Church that has gone astray. A man who had apostatized told me upon one occasion that he had joined other churches, a good many of them, but he never saw a peaceful day. His mind was never in a situation of contentment until he had got back into the Church again. He never could deny what he had received. The Gospel is so simple, and so plain that we cannot help but understand it.
This privilege of coming up here to attend the conferences is an inspiration to the Latter-day Saints. It helps you and me in our faith: it strengthens us. I wish to repeat again that I enjoyed the remarks made by the President of our Church this morning, and I wish that the Latter-day Saints would read them, and that they would give them to their friends, and that our newspapers would print them just as he spoke them, that they might go out into the world, for they were the words of the Lord unto this people. That is the way He speaks —by His servants, the prophets.
My brothers and sisters, I do not care to speak longer to you this afternoon, except that I with to say, in conclusion, that your sons and your daughters in the mission field, so far as I am able to find out in the Central States Mission—and I am traveling nearly all the time — are enjoying themselves and their work, and are meeting the people upon the street corners, in their work-shops, and in their homes.
We have four Elders, in one of the cities, who are meeting with the men who work in one of the great railway company's workshops. Every day, at twenty minutes past twelve, they preach to those men something like three hundred of them—until one o'clock. They are making friends everywhere.
Write unto your sons and unto your daughters words of encouragement. Preach the Gospel unto them when you write them letters, and do not write them anything that will disturb their minds. There is no question but that we pray for the Elders of Israel, thousands of us every night; but not only in your prayers, but when you write them letters, fill them with inspiration, that the Elders may become strengthened, and that there may be nothing in a letter that will detract from an Elder's labors. I ask the Lord to bless all Israel, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
(President of Central States Mission).
My brothers and sisters and friends, I can say that I am pleased to have this opportunity of addressing you a short time this afternoon, and I trust that while I occupy this position, I may be aided by the Spirit of the Lord, and that you will assist me by your faith and prayers. I am pleased to see so many people out here to this open air meeting. I have never had the privilege of attending an open air meeting in this city before, although I understand such meetings have been held during several conferences. It is an indication of the growth and development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has been going steadily on ever since the appearance of God the eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ to the boy prophet some eighty odd years ago.
The Latter-day Saints have been taking great interest in the salvation of the souls of men, having received the testimony that Joseph the prophet received through the visitation of the Father and the Son. And it has come unto you and unto me with such force that we have rejoiced at the privilege of preaching it unto the children of men, both at home and abroad. It has become a knowledge with us, and we know absolutely that God lives, that Mormonism is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of, God, and that He has His authority upon the earth in this day in which we live, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in full force and effect for my benefit and for yours. By the principles which God, the eternal Father, has established, you and I may gain an exaltation in His kingdom, where He and His Son dwell. We know it so well that it has become a part of our lives.
I was very much impressed this morning with the remarks of President Joseph F. Smith, a prophet of the living God, who declared unto Israel today that the work of God in the world is here to stay; that there are men who have the authority to preach it upon the face of the earth, and that there is nothing that can stop the Almighty from revealing His principles unto the children of men.
Christ, the Lord, while He was upon the earth, said, "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." This doctrine, the doctrine which we call "Mormonism," does not belong to the people: it is God's law. He has established it upon the earth. It is His system by which you and I may gain an exaltation in His kingdom, using the agency that God gave us when He created us and sent us forth in the world, that we might use this agency to receive or to reject, to acknowledge, or not to acknowledge, his goodness in all things.
To me it is the greatest thing that could come into my life to know that the Gospel is in full force and effect here upon the earth, and that a man does not have to spend his time and his life and accomplish nothing; that he will not have to go back into the eternities bankrupt, but that he can go back there into a house filled with treasures, where nothing can take them from him, and where the experience that he has earned in this life will be of assistance to him in the life to come. When we think of the millions of people that have passed from the earth, that have not had a knowledge of the Gospel we recognize that there is plenty for the missionaries to do after they leave this stage of probation. The Gospel has to be preached unto every creature. Joseph the prophet gave .us to understand that no man could be saved in ignorance, and whether in life or in death, this system, this law, these ordinances of the Gospel, will have to be given unto the children of men. Christ opened the way, liberated the captives that lived in the days of Noah. Peter testified that this was the case, that the Gospel was preached to the dead that they might "live according to God in the spirit, but be judged according to man in the flesh;" for a man must obey the principles and doctrines of Christ. He has given us to understand that "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ."
While the Savior was upon the earth, He said to His apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature: he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.'' These are the words of Jesus Christ, who opened up the Gospel dispensation in His days, and brought light into the world. And who has the right to change an ordinance of the Gospel? What man under the sun has the right to say that the signs shall not follow the true believer when Christ plainly said that they would? I want to say unto you that no man has a right to change it, and that the principle upon which the Lord said that He would build His Church when He was talking to Peter—that of revelation— is in full force and effect here upon the earth. We have men who are appointed and chosen by God to represent Him here in the earth; and this knowledge can come unto you and to me, and unto every individual under the son; for He that said "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me" also said, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." If any man will put Him to the test; if any man will search the scriptures, as Christ, the Lord, said for him to do, he may know absolutely that this is the work of the Lord; that the angel which John the Revelator saw, has flown again through the midst of the heavens, and that the Gospel is here.
I am thankful that I have had the privilege of going into the world and declaring unto the children of men that I know this to be the truth, for I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that there are millions upon millions of people in the world today that are honest in their hearts, that have been led astray by the cunning craftiness of men. They do not know what the Lord requires of them; and when you look into their faces, and know, as surely as you stand there, that they are honorable men and women, it gives you joy and satisfaction, and it is a privilege to open the way for them. It is not our doctrine, it is not our Gospel, but it is the word of the Lord unto His children on the earth, that they should obey His commandments; that they should go .down into the waters of baptism; that they should obey His laws, just as He said they should be obeyed; and no one has the right to change them.
The result of all this missionary work is that thousands of people every year are going down into the waters of baptism, having listened to some humble Elder as he stood perhaps upon the streets of some city, without purse or scrip, a stranger in a strange land, with the Lord inspiring him, testifying, preaching the Gospel of the risen Redeemer. Hundreds of people have heard these Mormon Elders speak. As I look upon this congregation this afternoon, I see faces that I know, faces of men who have borne the testimony which they have received unto the children of men in foreign lands. Many have been brought to a knowledge of the truth, and to the world, the strange thing about it is this: that just as soon as a member of a family embraces Mormonism, he or she wants their whole family to accept it. Every convert becomes a missionary in the world, because they know positively that there is salvation for them in the doctrines taught by the Latter-day Saints. They know this, and they cannot deny it, and if a wife first embraces it—for quite frequently a wife joins the Church before the husband does,— she never rests until she has converted her husband. Then she starts with her family: she starts with her mother, or with some of her friends, or invites the Elders to help her, never relenting until she has accomplished her purpose.
The work of the Lord is growing. The work is not like it was in the early history of the Church. In every county, or at least in every state of the Union, and especially in the Central States Mission, we have bodies of Latter-day Saints organized into branches, building up the Church of Christ; and people around them are becoming acquainted with the principles of the Gospel that have been sent out from the tops of these mountains by those who have faith in God.
I want to say to the young men in Israel: take care of your means, that you may have the privilege of going into the world and preaching the Gospel; that you may not be curtailed for lack of funds: that you may go there and bear unto the children of men your testimony, and show them by scripture and by example that you know absolutely that this is the work of the Lord. I think that no apostate can ever say that he knew that he was wrong. Apostates say they know absolutely that the Gospel is right, that it is the Church that has gone astray. A man who had apostatized told me upon one occasion that he had joined other churches, a good many of them, but he never saw a peaceful day. His mind was never in a situation of contentment until he had got back into the Church again. He never could deny what he had received. The Gospel is so simple, and so plain that we cannot help but understand it.
This privilege of coming up here to attend the conferences is an inspiration to the Latter-day Saints. It helps you and me in our faith: it strengthens us. I wish to repeat again that I enjoyed the remarks made by the President of our Church this morning, and I wish that the Latter-day Saints would read them, and that they would give them to their friends, and that our newspapers would print them just as he spoke them, that they might go out into the world, for they were the words of the Lord unto this people. That is the way He speaks —by His servants, the prophets.
My brothers and sisters, I do not care to speak longer to you this afternoon, except that I with to say, in conclusion, that your sons and your daughters in the mission field, so far as I am able to find out in the Central States Mission—and I am traveling nearly all the time — are enjoying themselves and their work, and are meeting the people upon the street corners, in their work-shops, and in their homes.
We have four Elders, in one of the cities, who are meeting with the men who work in one of the great railway company's workshops. Every day, at twenty minutes past twelve, they preach to those men something like three hundred of them—until one o'clock. They are making friends everywhere.
Write unto your sons and unto your daughters words of encouragement. Preach the Gospel unto them when you write them letters, and do not write them anything that will disturb their minds. There is no question but that we pray for the Elders of Israel, thousands of us every night; but not only in your prayers, but when you write them letters, fill them with inspiration, that the Elders may become strengthened, and that there may be nothing in a letter that will detract from an Elder's labors. I ask the Lord to bless all Israel, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
ELDER JOHN L. HERRICK.
(President of Northwestern States Mission).
I read from Section 68 of the Doctrine and Covenants, "And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, and of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents; for this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized."
One of the keynotes given to the great audience assembled in the Tabernacle this morning, by President Smith, was that the parents of children throughout the Church should give heed to them, should give more attention to their sons and daughters, and should see to it that they are guarded and directed aright. In the mission field we meet with so many classes of people, that the questions are involuntarily forced upon us time and time again: "What is our duty to those who are in the world?" and, "Who are we to consider our neighbor?"
It seems to me that this revelation which was given in our day for the guidance and direction of this people meant that our children should not be properly trained simply for our own good or for our immediate neighbor's good; but that they might be examples abroad wherever they went in whatever city or county, or state or nation. And so I say to you, my brothers and sisters, that this question of our neighbor is a very serious one for us to consider, because this work is broad. It comprehends all truth. We cannot afford to be narrow and contracted in our views, for our work and our duty extends to every one in the world who is in need of light, and who is seeking the truth pertaining to the salvation of the human family.
Christ told His followers upon one occasion, that at the last day it would be said to certain people, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me. * * * " And the people would wonder at this because they could not remember any particular time they had given Him such entertainment; and so they would say to Him, "When saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee?" And He would say, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
That is the spirit of this work. It means that it must go to all the world, to every man, woman, and child; that everyone must have a chance to hear this great plan of salvation. So our duty is not to our individual neighbor, to him that lives next door to us, but we are held responsible if our children go into another city, and come in contact with other people, and do not set them proper examples. I think we shall be held accountable, just as this scripture says, if we do not provide them the means and the ways, and do not set them proper examples. Condemnation will come upon us if we fail in this matter.
[Quoting again from the Doctrine and Covenants:] "Now, I the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; and they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness."
So, if our young men, and our young women go to the neighboring towns, to the neighboring county, or state, or wherever they go, and carry not this spirit, this inspiration of the Gospel with them, condemnation will rest upon us, their parents.
A few months ago, I read of a sad event which happened in this city, which very much impressed me at the time. I do not think I shall forget it. A man who was very popular here, both in a business and a political way a few years ago, was led into temptation, and he became a defaulter in the bank with which he was connected. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and had served quite a number of years of his time, but had a longer time to serve, when an outbreak occurred in the penitentiary. It seemed that a general jail, outbreak was planned, and that the execution of it would have been carried out had it not been for the prompt action of this man. He took it into his head to hide the keys from the jailbreakers and did so. Then he hid himself; but it was soon discovered that he was the man that had frustrated the plan of the desperadoes. So when the matter was brought before the Board of Pardons of this state, it was thought well to release him, to give him his freedom, because he had earned it.
This man began here, among the people who knew of his disgrace, among those who knew that he had defaulted from his bank, among those who knew that he had worn the prison garb, to start out among neighbors and friends, to make over his life, to live it anew. A great number of difficulties and trials and tribulations came in his way, and he was about to give up, and yet he thought, "I want to succeed here, and show these people that I am a man." So he kept on in this line of thought and action. But one day, as he was passing along the street, and as he turned a corner, two men who stood there were heard to remark, one of them to the other, "There goes an ex-convict: there goes----;" he said it loud enough for the unfortunate man to hear, and he was crushed beyond endurance. He had borne many indignities that had been heaped upon him by those who were opposite to him in business; but this was the final blow. .On the way to his office he purchased a revolver; as he entered he said, "If anyone calls for me, say that I am not in." Then he stepped into another room, and in a moment the report of a gun was heard. The poor fellow had blown out his brains. He left a letter to his intimate friends, in which he said, "My competitors would not let me live. They were jealous of me because I was trying to make a name for myself and live down my shame. They would not let me live."
I say to you, my friends, that that man's death is chargeable to some individual in this world. I believe also that we are chargeable, we are accountable, for what we do and say, no matter who is our neighbor. Everyone who is in trouble, who is in distress, who needs our help, is our neighbor; not our own family, not only those whom we mingle with from day to day, but every man and woman who is in distress in this world.
The words of one of the poets come to my mind in this connection, and I will try and repeat a few stanzas to you.
"Some there are who seek 'twixt covers
For their knowledge of mankind.
In whatever each discovers
May he satisfaction find;
But for me no book is needed,
As I ponder day by day
On the humor and the pathos
In the flats across the way.
"Mornings, as the children sally,
And a goodly score appear,
Forth to school or mimic warfare,
Boyhood's fancies reappear.
Life is short, and time is fleeting,
I repeat, as day by day,
Children change to youths and maidens
In the flats across the way.
"From a window just above me
Oft there leans a maiden fair,
Playing with her favored canine,
Tall is she, with golden hair.
I'll admit my heart, distracted,
Grows with envy day by day,
As she clasps that brindled bull pup,
In the flats across the way.
"Just across the nice young couple
Have been sent a son and heir,
But the way they treat that baby
Sets on end my every hair.
My conviction, though unpleasant,
Grows more certain day by day
That they'll kill that "kid" with kindness
In the flats across the way.
"By a window sits a grandsire,
Hopeless paralytic he,
There awaiting death to free him,
Yet he smiles right cheerfully.
To give thanks for present blessings
Is the lesson day by day
Taught me by that helpless cripple,
In the flats across the way.
"All unbidden, most disturbing,
Once a thought there came to me,
For it straight imposed upon me
Great responsibility;
For this thought, and 'tis a true one,
Guides my action day by day,
To those opposite I'm living,
In the flats across the way."
And so I say to you, my brothers and sisters, we are living to those who are looking upon our acts every day, every hour, and every minute of our lives, and we should be cautious in every act, thought, and deed, no matter where we are. God grant that His blessing may be with you, that He may lead you aright in the paths of truth and righteousness, is my humble desire, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The hymn, "I know that my Redeemer lives," was rendered as a solo, by Elder Oscar Kirkham.
(President of Northwestern States Mission).
I read from Section 68 of the Doctrine and Covenants, "And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, and of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents; for this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized."
One of the keynotes given to the great audience assembled in the Tabernacle this morning, by President Smith, was that the parents of children throughout the Church should give heed to them, should give more attention to their sons and daughters, and should see to it that they are guarded and directed aright. In the mission field we meet with so many classes of people, that the questions are involuntarily forced upon us time and time again: "What is our duty to those who are in the world?" and, "Who are we to consider our neighbor?"
It seems to me that this revelation which was given in our day for the guidance and direction of this people meant that our children should not be properly trained simply for our own good or for our immediate neighbor's good; but that they might be examples abroad wherever they went in whatever city or county, or state or nation. And so I say to you, my brothers and sisters, that this question of our neighbor is a very serious one for us to consider, because this work is broad. It comprehends all truth. We cannot afford to be narrow and contracted in our views, for our work and our duty extends to every one in the world who is in need of light, and who is seeking the truth pertaining to the salvation of the human family.
Christ told His followers upon one occasion, that at the last day it would be said to certain people, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me. * * * " And the people would wonder at this because they could not remember any particular time they had given Him such entertainment; and so they would say to Him, "When saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee?" And He would say, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
That is the spirit of this work. It means that it must go to all the world, to every man, woman, and child; that everyone must have a chance to hear this great plan of salvation. So our duty is not to our individual neighbor, to him that lives next door to us, but we are held responsible if our children go into another city, and come in contact with other people, and do not set them proper examples. I think we shall be held accountable, just as this scripture says, if we do not provide them the means and the ways, and do not set them proper examples. Condemnation will come upon us if we fail in this matter.
[Quoting again from the Doctrine and Covenants:] "Now, I the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; and they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness."
So, if our young men, and our young women go to the neighboring towns, to the neighboring county, or state, or wherever they go, and carry not this spirit, this inspiration of the Gospel with them, condemnation will rest upon us, their parents.
A few months ago, I read of a sad event which happened in this city, which very much impressed me at the time. I do not think I shall forget it. A man who was very popular here, both in a business and a political way a few years ago, was led into temptation, and he became a defaulter in the bank with which he was connected. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and had served quite a number of years of his time, but had a longer time to serve, when an outbreak occurred in the penitentiary. It seemed that a general jail, outbreak was planned, and that the execution of it would have been carried out had it not been for the prompt action of this man. He took it into his head to hide the keys from the jailbreakers and did so. Then he hid himself; but it was soon discovered that he was the man that had frustrated the plan of the desperadoes. So when the matter was brought before the Board of Pardons of this state, it was thought well to release him, to give him his freedom, because he had earned it.
This man began here, among the people who knew of his disgrace, among those who knew that he had defaulted from his bank, among those who knew that he had worn the prison garb, to start out among neighbors and friends, to make over his life, to live it anew. A great number of difficulties and trials and tribulations came in his way, and he was about to give up, and yet he thought, "I want to succeed here, and show these people that I am a man." So he kept on in this line of thought and action. But one day, as he was passing along the street, and as he turned a corner, two men who stood there were heard to remark, one of them to the other, "There goes an ex-convict: there goes----;" he said it loud enough for the unfortunate man to hear, and he was crushed beyond endurance. He had borne many indignities that had been heaped upon him by those who were opposite to him in business; but this was the final blow. .On the way to his office he purchased a revolver; as he entered he said, "If anyone calls for me, say that I am not in." Then he stepped into another room, and in a moment the report of a gun was heard. The poor fellow had blown out his brains. He left a letter to his intimate friends, in which he said, "My competitors would not let me live. They were jealous of me because I was trying to make a name for myself and live down my shame. They would not let me live."
I say to you, my friends, that that man's death is chargeable to some individual in this world. I believe also that we are chargeable, we are accountable, for what we do and say, no matter who is our neighbor. Everyone who is in trouble, who is in distress, who needs our help, is our neighbor; not our own family, not only those whom we mingle with from day to day, but every man and woman who is in distress in this world.
The words of one of the poets come to my mind in this connection, and I will try and repeat a few stanzas to you.
"Some there are who seek 'twixt covers
For their knowledge of mankind.
In whatever each discovers
May he satisfaction find;
But for me no book is needed,
As I ponder day by day
On the humor and the pathos
In the flats across the way.
"Mornings, as the children sally,
And a goodly score appear,
Forth to school or mimic warfare,
Boyhood's fancies reappear.
Life is short, and time is fleeting,
I repeat, as day by day,
Children change to youths and maidens
In the flats across the way.
"From a window just above me
Oft there leans a maiden fair,
Playing with her favored canine,
Tall is she, with golden hair.
I'll admit my heart, distracted,
Grows with envy day by day,
As she clasps that brindled bull pup,
In the flats across the way.
"Just across the nice young couple
Have been sent a son and heir,
But the way they treat that baby
Sets on end my every hair.
My conviction, though unpleasant,
Grows more certain day by day
That they'll kill that "kid" with kindness
In the flats across the way.
"By a window sits a grandsire,
Hopeless paralytic he,
There awaiting death to free him,
Yet he smiles right cheerfully.
To give thanks for present blessings
Is the lesson day by day
Taught me by that helpless cripple,
In the flats across the way.
"All unbidden, most disturbing,
Once a thought there came to me,
For it straight imposed upon me
Great responsibility;
For this thought, and 'tis a true one,
Guides my action day by day,
To those opposite I'm living,
In the flats across the way."
And so I say to you, my brothers and sisters, we are living to those who are looking upon our acts every day, every hour, and every minute of our lives, and we should be cautious in every act, thought, and deed, no matter where we are. God grant that His blessing may be with you, that He may lead you aright in the paths of truth and righteousness, is my humble desire, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The hymn, "I know that my Redeemer lives," was rendered as a solo, by Elder Oscar Kirkham.
ELDER CHARLES H. HART.
We are informed by the poet that "the groves were God's first temples." We are enjoying the privilege of standing under the shade of trees upon this historic square this afternoon, and listening to the music and the instructions of the Elders.
My mind was impressed this morning with that part of the remarks of President Smith concerning the responsibility we are under of saving souls. At the A. Y. P. Exposition at Seattle, in the Alaskan building there is a glass cage, surrounded by very strong iron bars. There is a treasure within that glass house that attracts the attention of passers-by at all hours of the day. They stand about the glass cage, longingly looking in upon the golden treasure, the gold bricks, and the gold nuggets within; but if all of those golden treasures were multiplied a thousand times, they would not equal the value of a human soul.
In visiting Arizona a few months ago, I was told the story of the search for the body of a man who was supposed to have been drowned in the Little Colorado River. His friends and neighbors turned out and searched day by day in those turbid waters to recover the remains, but without success up to the time of my visit. Just before that I was in Summit County, and heard narrated the search for a poor old lady, who, in her declining years, had wandered off in the snows of winter, and the search was going on for her body, for it was believed that shortly after she had been out in the snow and the cold she had perished. The search went on day after day in a systematic manner. Horsemen rode a few rods apart so that they might know that every rod had been carefully searched. And so the hunt went on from day to day; not in the hope of saving a human soul, but simply to administer to the comfort of loved ones in recovering the body. A year or two ago a half dozen of my friends and associates went into a steam launch upon the Bear River, and as they were gliding swiftly, at the twilight of a summer's day, suddenly the boat struck a submerged pile, and they were precipitated into the water, and two of them, the best swimmers, never reached the shore alive. In Logan the stores were closed; men in all vocations went from that town, from Smithfield, from Newton, Clarkston—went in large numbers, and dragged the river. Expert divers were summoned from a distance of a hundred miles to dive in the water to recover the bodies. Every known means of dragging the stream was put into effect. When darkness prevented the search to advantage, men rolled themselves in their blankets near the stream, in order to be at hand when daylight should come; and so the search went on day after day. I remember after the lapse of a day or two, the bishop of Wellsville telephoned to me to know if the bodies had been found, and he concluded by saying, "Wellsville stands ready to send one hundred men, if necessary, to participate in the search." Not for the purpose, I say, of saving a human soul, or even of saving life, because life, of course, was long since extinct; but for the purpose, merely, of recovering the tenements of clay, to minister to the sentiment of their friends in giving them a Christian burial, instead of having the bodies remain in a watery grave. If we will make that sort of an effort, my friends, in order to recover mere bodies, mere tenements of clay, what should we do when a human life, or a human soul is in peril? What price can we place upon a human soul? The Psalmist has given us some words bearing on that question. "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him."
The Savior has also given us some idea of the value of a soul when He says, "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
I once saw a young man shortly after a drowning, in which he had endeavored to save those who had perished, and, as the tears streamed down his cheeks, the thought that was uppermost in his mind was whether he had done the very best he could to save his drowning companions. It was true that nothing had been left undone by him, but in his anxiety as to whether he had fulfilled his full duty that thought was uppermost in his mind. As I understand it, there is a responsibility upon each one of us in reference to the welfare of his fellow man. Ezekiel, in the third chapter, discusses the question in this way:
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the House of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, 'Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."
So that here is a duty, not only to warn those who are in sin, but also to warn the righteous who may wander into sin, for we know full well that though a man today may be justified through the grace of Jesus Christ, his salvation is not sure, and he may fall from grace. Although he may be classified as a righteous man, still he may fall. And there may be a responsibility upon someone within warning distance of him for not warning him of some false step that he has taken, some by and forbidden path that he has entered upon.
It is the sense of this responsibility that enables these missionaries, these with whom I have the honor of speaking this afternoon, to remain abroad, as they do, for so many long years, gratuitously giving the best years of their lives in order to warn others. Brother Ellsworth who shall follow me, has been out, I suppose, some eight or ten years now. Brother Bennion has been in the missionary field for a number of years and Brother Herrick is just entering upon what will probably be a long missionary career for him. They do it gratuitously, and for the love they have for their fellow-men, to discharge this responsibility; for they know that a soul is precious in the sight of God; that Mormonism is the science and art of life, and that it will have a saving effect upon those who will give heed to its teachings, just in proportion as they understand that great system of truth, and will put it into practice and into effect in their lives.
It is on account of a realization of the sense of the importance of saving souls that there is such joy at the return of the prodigal. I confess that I do not like to hear the story of the prodigal son presented with a view of impressing, perhaps, a license to sow wild oats, or anything of that sort, but I like to hear it presented for the forgiveness manifested by the father in taking back to him his wayward son.
I was impressed the other day with the thought of an aged sister who was about to make her will. She had forgotten at first that there was an additional consideration due one of her children, the wayward on. She said, "You know he and his father had some friction, and he wandered away from home, and it is my desire, if I can, to make up to him, in a small way, by showing a greater interest in him than in the other children."
It was a realization of this principle of saving souls that gave joy to the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, in leaving the ninety and nine that were safe, and going after the one lost sheep, and in bringing it safely within the fold. I feel that the words of President Smith this morning were timely, and of great, importance to us all, of doing all we can for the salvation, first of those of our own household, and then of all mankind.
May the Lord bless us, and enable us to put into practice these principles of warning and saving others, doing our full duty to them, that we may not stand under condemnation, neither as to our children, nor as to our Father's children in general. May the Lord bless us and help us to endure true and faithful to the end, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We are informed by the poet that "the groves were God's first temples." We are enjoying the privilege of standing under the shade of trees upon this historic square this afternoon, and listening to the music and the instructions of the Elders.
My mind was impressed this morning with that part of the remarks of President Smith concerning the responsibility we are under of saving souls. At the A. Y. P. Exposition at Seattle, in the Alaskan building there is a glass cage, surrounded by very strong iron bars. There is a treasure within that glass house that attracts the attention of passers-by at all hours of the day. They stand about the glass cage, longingly looking in upon the golden treasure, the gold bricks, and the gold nuggets within; but if all of those golden treasures were multiplied a thousand times, they would not equal the value of a human soul.
In visiting Arizona a few months ago, I was told the story of the search for the body of a man who was supposed to have been drowned in the Little Colorado River. His friends and neighbors turned out and searched day by day in those turbid waters to recover the remains, but without success up to the time of my visit. Just before that I was in Summit County, and heard narrated the search for a poor old lady, who, in her declining years, had wandered off in the snows of winter, and the search was going on for her body, for it was believed that shortly after she had been out in the snow and the cold she had perished. The search went on day after day in a systematic manner. Horsemen rode a few rods apart so that they might know that every rod had been carefully searched. And so the hunt went on from day to day; not in the hope of saving a human soul, but simply to administer to the comfort of loved ones in recovering the body. A year or two ago a half dozen of my friends and associates went into a steam launch upon the Bear River, and as they were gliding swiftly, at the twilight of a summer's day, suddenly the boat struck a submerged pile, and they were precipitated into the water, and two of them, the best swimmers, never reached the shore alive. In Logan the stores were closed; men in all vocations went from that town, from Smithfield, from Newton, Clarkston—went in large numbers, and dragged the river. Expert divers were summoned from a distance of a hundred miles to dive in the water to recover the bodies. Every known means of dragging the stream was put into effect. When darkness prevented the search to advantage, men rolled themselves in their blankets near the stream, in order to be at hand when daylight should come; and so the search went on day after day. I remember after the lapse of a day or two, the bishop of Wellsville telephoned to me to know if the bodies had been found, and he concluded by saying, "Wellsville stands ready to send one hundred men, if necessary, to participate in the search." Not for the purpose, I say, of saving a human soul, or even of saving life, because life, of course, was long since extinct; but for the purpose, merely, of recovering the tenements of clay, to minister to the sentiment of their friends in giving them a Christian burial, instead of having the bodies remain in a watery grave. If we will make that sort of an effort, my friends, in order to recover mere bodies, mere tenements of clay, what should we do when a human life, or a human soul is in peril? What price can we place upon a human soul? The Psalmist has given us some words bearing on that question. "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him."
The Savior has also given us some idea of the value of a soul when He says, "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
I once saw a young man shortly after a drowning, in which he had endeavored to save those who had perished, and, as the tears streamed down his cheeks, the thought that was uppermost in his mind was whether he had done the very best he could to save his drowning companions. It was true that nothing had been left undone by him, but in his anxiety as to whether he had fulfilled his full duty that thought was uppermost in his mind. As I understand it, there is a responsibility upon each one of us in reference to the welfare of his fellow man. Ezekiel, in the third chapter, discusses the question in this way:
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the House of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, 'Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."
So that here is a duty, not only to warn those who are in sin, but also to warn the righteous who may wander into sin, for we know full well that though a man today may be justified through the grace of Jesus Christ, his salvation is not sure, and he may fall from grace. Although he may be classified as a righteous man, still he may fall. And there may be a responsibility upon someone within warning distance of him for not warning him of some false step that he has taken, some by and forbidden path that he has entered upon.
It is the sense of this responsibility that enables these missionaries, these with whom I have the honor of speaking this afternoon, to remain abroad, as they do, for so many long years, gratuitously giving the best years of their lives in order to warn others. Brother Ellsworth who shall follow me, has been out, I suppose, some eight or ten years now. Brother Bennion has been in the missionary field for a number of years and Brother Herrick is just entering upon what will probably be a long missionary career for him. They do it gratuitously, and for the love they have for their fellow-men, to discharge this responsibility; for they know that a soul is precious in the sight of God; that Mormonism is the science and art of life, and that it will have a saving effect upon those who will give heed to its teachings, just in proportion as they understand that great system of truth, and will put it into practice and into effect in their lives.
It is on account of a realization of the sense of the importance of saving souls that there is such joy at the return of the prodigal. I confess that I do not like to hear the story of the prodigal son presented with a view of impressing, perhaps, a license to sow wild oats, or anything of that sort, but I like to hear it presented for the forgiveness manifested by the father in taking back to him his wayward son.
I was impressed the other day with the thought of an aged sister who was about to make her will. She had forgotten at first that there was an additional consideration due one of her children, the wayward on. She said, "You know he and his father had some friction, and he wandered away from home, and it is my desire, if I can, to make up to him, in a small way, by showing a greater interest in him than in the other children."
It was a realization of this principle of saving souls that gave joy to the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, in leaving the ninety and nine that were safe, and going after the one lost sheep, and in bringing it safely within the fold. I feel that the words of President Smith this morning were timely, and of great, importance to us all, of doing all we can for the salvation, first of those of our own household, and then of all mankind.
May the Lord bless us, and enable us to put into practice these principles of warning and saving others, doing our full duty to them, that we may not stand under condemnation, neither as to our children, nor as to our Father's children in general. May the Lord bless us and help us to endure true and faithful to the end, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH
(President of Northern States Mission).
I rejoice in meeting you. I know you have gathered here, each and every one of you, to receive light, and to be encouraged in the principles of the Gospel that you have espoused; and as you have come seeking, so ye shall go away filled.
I enjoyed the spirit of our services this morning, and I have enjoyed the spirit of the service this afternoon. The song that: was just rendered by Elder Kirkhain ever inspires me. It arouses within me a feeling, a knowledge of God and His works, that is impossible for me to express, for I know that my Redeemer lives. This morning I was thrilled in every fibre of my being while listening to the prophet of the Lord. I was reminded of the song,
"Come, listen to a prophet's voice
And hear the word of God,
And in the way of truth rejoice,
And sing for joy aloud."
How many of us will listen to the voice of the prophet of God and go home singing and rejoicing because of the teachings that he has given us this day concerning our duty to ourselves and our children?
I am proud, my brothers and sisters, to feel that I am representing the Northern States and the missionaries laboring there. I have enjoyed every minute of the time I have been in that part of the world, because of the association I have with so many men and women who love the Lord—men and women who are struggling to keep the commandments of the Lord and magnify His holy name in their walks and conversations among the people. It has been my privilege to labor with about eight hundred Elders and a dozen lady missionaries in that mission. Out of that eight hundred, we have had only one man go astray so far, in the field, as to lose the spirit of his calling. We think this a wonderful record compared with hundreds of big men of the world, who confess the looseness of their morals both before and after marriage.
We have a most sacred duty to discharge to the children who have been given to us by our Father in heaven. They are an heritage from the Lord, and we have been given the privilege of being their fathers in the flesh. The scriptures say that we correct them and they give us reverence. I wonder if all the Latter- day Saints correct their children and their children give them reverence, so that they are growing up to be worthy sons and worthy daughters of our Father in heaven, able to stand before the world pure and clean and nobly represent His cause. Upon that principle alone we ought to be, and will be, if we can remain true to our covenants, the salt of the earth; for there are no people living upon the earth today who have made more sacred covenants concerning their virtuous actions than have the Latter-day Saints, and none ought to be more clean and pure. I am very proud of the young men who have been sent to the Northern States Mission. They may have neglected their opportunities for education; they may not have reverenced the name of Deity, as they should; they may have neglected to give honor to their parents, but they have listened to the promptings of the Spirit and given sufficient heed to parents that they are clean and pure before God concerning their morality. And when the Spirit of God fires the souls of such men it is life giving to the people who listen to them, and the heads of thousands are bowed because of the virtue of the young men and women of Zion.
We sing and pray, and thank God every day of our lives for a prophet to guide us; we thank Him for the Gospel to enlighten our minds, and I think, my brethren and sisters, that we ought to take seriously the warning concerning our children, and concerning our own lives. We ought never to forget with what a pleading voice our President declared that be would sooner bury his children or die himself, and be taken to the cemetery than to have them lose their virtue or lose their testimony, and wander away from the truth that God has given him and enabled him thus far to teach his children.
How many of you, my brothers and sisters, have sought in kindness and in love to so teach your children, and gather them around you so closely that they will not be tempted to go astray. To so teach them that they will love their homes and love their surroundings, and honor their parents in their lives when they go out from the parental roof? It is, indeed, an inspiration to me to see the sons and daughters of President Smith greet him with a kiss as they meet each day and receive in turn his fatherly greeting. How many of us, as parents, have so taught our children or have kept so close to them that the first time they meet us each day they feel like coming up and putting their arms around us and giving us a child's kiss, and we in turn kissing them? I wonder how many of us are so near to our sons that we can sit down by their side as they are budding into manhood and put our arms around them, and warn them against the vices of the world, and teach them, if they have not been taught, to lose every limb of their body, before they lose their virtue. Teach them that it will bring the deepest sorrow; teach them that it will bring a sting to them forever to lose the greatest gift that God has given us. During the past year, strong, hearty, big business men, have shed tears in confessing to me that they have not formed in early manhood the standard of morality that they understand the Latter-day Saints to have, and they were sorry to say that they deceived their wives. I say to mothers and fathers in Israel, that Joseph F. Smith meant purity and morality and clean living as strongly as anything else in the world; for if we can keep our children pure and clean, they will not go far away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored to us through the Prophet Joseph.
Should our Elders in the field sin they would never have the heart to face the world, and call them to repentance, because Satan will whisper, "Why are you out here? You ought to go home. You have done wrong. You have violated the sacred covenants that you made. You have no right to call the world to repentance," etc. And so, my brothers and sisters, on this score alone we ought to gather our sons and daughters around us and teach them the great strength of being clean and uncontaminated from the wicked ways of the world.
We, as a rule, guard our daughters, and we are able to rear them so that they are clean and pure before God; but I am afraid we are not as careful with our sons. If they associate with evil companions, perhaps a few years older than themselves; they hear things that are wrong; they receive a wrong conception of the most important things of life, and ere we are aware they may have done many things they are sorry for. Had their fathers begun teaching these vital truths to their boys of fourteen and fifteen, had they put their arms around them and made companions of them, they could send them out in the world, and in to life so strong they would come back, no matter how long the time, as clean as when they left their mother's arms. I rejoice in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I rejoice in the testimony I have that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is His son and the Savior of the world. I rejoice that the Latter-day Saints believe in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and believe that He actually lived, and lives today, and is able to counsel them, and render unto the world His Father's mind and will concerning the walks and conversations of men and women in the earth. It gives me pleasure, beyond my power to express, to have the privilege of laboring with men and women who night and morning kneel down and in humility pray for me as well as for those who are at home, men and women who earnestly desire to be guided and directed to teach and say and do the things that will build up the kingdom of God and magnify His name, in the earth.
We, as Latter-day Saints, pray for Joseph F. Smith every day of our lives, and in our hearts we sustain him and uphold him, as our leader and as the man to whom our Father gives ability to proclaim the things we need. He has given us this day instructions concerning our children; and I say it behooves us to go home and find some way to reach our sons and daughters who may be careless, and estranged from us; if there are any such. I venture the assertion that there are fathers in Israel who have never had their arms around their sons for many days and years, and in consequence there is a barrier between them. We should have the power to break that barrier down that keeps us from loving and counseling and helping our own flesh as we should. We sustain Joseph F. Smith, and we ought to heed his counsel and example and take the first opportunity to bring about conditions that there may be love between father and son such as should exist.
We ought to sustain each other with our faith and prayers; and by our daily actions we ought to sustain each other in business. We ought to look after each other's interests, that we shall not be crowded out of our place. We ought first to remember our brother, that he in return may remember us, and by so doing grow strong together. We are told to love our enemies, and I believe the Latter-day Saints, of all the people of the world, have loved their enemies, have builded them up when they have come in among us in such a way that they are stronger and more prosperous than ourselves.
We have something like two hundred students in Chicago, studying medicine, dentistry, mining, law, architecture, and other things. When they come back here, if they were known as John or Bill or Dick, they still are frequently dubbed John or Bill or Dick. They may have taken first honors in their college work; they may have stood head and shoulders above some other men, still it makes no difference. But when some common boy from some other state comes here to locate among us, it is "Dr." So and So, it is "Prof." So and So; it is this and that and the other with never a thought of who they used to be or what their present attitude toward our welfare is. I say, my brothers and sisters, we should give our boys a fair chance, we ought at least to give them an equal opportunity with those we know nothing of. If I were to be operated upon, I should like to have the knife in the hand of a man who knows that my spirit came from God, who has a prayer in his heart that I may recover, and who will do everything in his power, and do it in a better way because my life is more sacred to him than to those who know not what life is, neither know God or keep His commandments.
I know some of the men who came here from other towns and states, I know their lives, and I tell you that it will pay you to stand by Bill and John and Dick when they come home. When these professional men to whom I refer go into other places they seek membership and fellowship with the churches in order to get their patronage but here they join our enemies; they take sides with those who seek to destroy our faith and sacred honor, yet we love and support and build up these very men. I would like our own to have a little more chance after being away for years. We need to love our enemies, but not so much that we turn our own out of house and home and out of the country that our parents and grand-parents have made. I love the students that labor with us as missionaries, students who stand well with their professors and college students worthy of your patronage. Some of the presidents of graduating classes in different colleges have been nothing more than returned Mormon Elders, men who have filled missions, and gone back to school, and because of their leadership, are honored by their fellowmen; but when they come home, in some instances they find they have not a bit more or not an even chance with those who believe that when we die we are gone forever.
We ought and do pray for the President of the Church; we pray for the Twelve, and we sustain them, and we ought also to pray for every individual member of the Church, and we ought to sustain them too, that they may receive an inheritance in Zion, that through their lives and works and successes, this kingdom may be built up. When we need men in any line, we ought to call men who have the Spirit of God in their bosom, and who would do everything to save our lives or property, or that which is entrusted into their care, and in turn use their substance to the building up of this great cause instead of spending it in trying to undo what God has set us to do.
I rejoice in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoice in the achievements of the past, and I hope most earnestly that we shall sustain each other so well that we in the future, as young men and young women, will build well upon the foundations that have been laid by our noble sires. We will never.be able to do it if we so love our enemies that we give them preference in our business life and associations and companionship over those who bow the knee with us.
Some colleges of the east so recognize our people that numbers of our students who have come there to enter college have received entrance credit for work done as missionaries. They regard the training of young men who have done missionary work as qualifying them mentally to go on with college work more than had they been doing labor in other lines.
The Lord bless us, and help us to "listen to a prophet's voice, and hear the words of God," and in the way of truth abide, that we may sing for joy aloud. God bless the mothers and fathers of the missionaries and answer your prayers upon their heads, and in turn answer their prayers upon your heads, that Zion may grow and prosper until the honest in the earth shall sing praises unto the Master, until all shall know that our Redeemer lives, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
The congregation sang the hymn, "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Heber C. Jex.
(President of Northern States Mission).
I rejoice in meeting you. I know you have gathered here, each and every one of you, to receive light, and to be encouraged in the principles of the Gospel that you have espoused; and as you have come seeking, so ye shall go away filled.
I enjoyed the spirit of our services this morning, and I have enjoyed the spirit of the service this afternoon. The song that: was just rendered by Elder Kirkhain ever inspires me. It arouses within me a feeling, a knowledge of God and His works, that is impossible for me to express, for I know that my Redeemer lives. This morning I was thrilled in every fibre of my being while listening to the prophet of the Lord. I was reminded of the song,
"Come, listen to a prophet's voice
And hear the word of God,
And in the way of truth rejoice,
And sing for joy aloud."
How many of us will listen to the voice of the prophet of God and go home singing and rejoicing because of the teachings that he has given us this day concerning our duty to ourselves and our children?
I am proud, my brothers and sisters, to feel that I am representing the Northern States and the missionaries laboring there. I have enjoyed every minute of the time I have been in that part of the world, because of the association I have with so many men and women who love the Lord—men and women who are struggling to keep the commandments of the Lord and magnify His holy name in their walks and conversations among the people. It has been my privilege to labor with about eight hundred Elders and a dozen lady missionaries in that mission. Out of that eight hundred, we have had only one man go astray so far, in the field, as to lose the spirit of his calling. We think this a wonderful record compared with hundreds of big men of the world, who confess the looseness of their morals both before and after marriage.
We have a most sacred duty to discharge to the children who have been given to us by our Father in heaven. They are an heritage from the Lord, and we have been given the privilege of being their fathers in the flesh. The scriptures say that we correct them and they give us reverence. I wonder if all the Latter- day Saints correct their children and their children give them reverence, so that they are growing up to be worthy sons and worthy daughters of our Father in heaven, able to stand before the world pure and clean and nobly represent His cause. Upon that principle alone we ought to be, and will be, if we can remain true to our covenants, the salt of the earth; for there are no people living upon the earth today who have made more sacred covenants concerning their virtuous actions than have the Latter-day Saints, and none ought to be more clean and pure. I am very proud of the young men who have been sent to the Northern States Mission. They may have neglected their opportunities for education; they may not have reverenced the name of Deity, as they should; they may have neglected to give honor to their parents, but they have listened to the promptings of the Spirit and given sufficient heed to parents that they are clean and pure before God concerning their morality. And when the Spirit of God fires the souls of such men it is life giving to the people who listen to them, and the heads of thousands are bowed because of the virtue of the young men and women of Zion.
We sing and pray, and thank God every day of our lives for a prophet to guide us; we thank Him for the Gospel to enlighten our minds, and I think, my brethren and sisters, that we ought to take seriously the warning concerning our children, and concerning our own lives. We ought never to forget with what a pleading voice our President declared that be would sooner bury his children or die himself, and be taken to the cemetery than to have them lose their virtue or lose their testimony, and wander away from the truth that God has given him and enabled him thus far to teach his children.
How many of you, my brothers and sisters, have sought in kindness and in love to so teach your children, and gather them around you so closely that they will not be tempted to go astray. To so teach them that they will love their homes and love their surroundings, and honor their parents in their lives when they go out from the parental roof? It is, indeed, an inspiration to me to see the sons and daughters of President Smith greet him with a kiss as they meet each day and receive in turn his fatherly greeting. How many of us, as parents, have so taught our children or have kept so close to them that the first time they meet us each day they feel like coming up and putting their arms around us and giving us a child's kiss, and we in turn kissing them? I wonder how many of us are so near to our sons that we can sit down by their side as they are budding into manhood and put our arms around them, and warn them against the vices of the world, and teach them, if they have not been taught, to lose every limb of their body, before they lose their virtue. Teach them that it will bring the deepest sorrow; teach them that it will bring a sting to them forever to lose the greatest gift that God has given us. During the past year, strong, hearty, big business men, have shed tears in confessing to me that they have not formed in early manhood the standard of morality that they understand the Latter-day Saints to have, and they were sorry to say that they deceived their wives. I say to mothers and fathers in Israel, that Joseph F. Smith meant purity and morality and clean living as strongly as anything else in the world; for if we can keep our children pure and clean, they will not go far away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored to us through the Prophet Joseph.
Should our Elders in the field sin they would never have the heart to face the world, and call them to repentance, because Satan will whisper, "Why are you out here? You ought to go home. You have done wrong. You have violated the sacred covenants that you made. You have no right to call the world to repentance," etc. And so, my brothers and sisters, on this score alone we ought to gather our sons and daughters around us and teach them the great strength of being clean and uncontaminated from the wicked ways of the world.
We, as a rule, guard our daughters, and we are able to rear them so that they are clean and pure before God; but I am afraid we are not as careful with our sons. If they associate with evil companions, perhaps a few years older than themselves; they hear things that are wrong; they receive a wrong conception of the most important things of life, and ere we are aware they may have done many things they are sorry for. Had their fathers begun teaching these vital truths to their boys of fourteen and fifteen, had they put their arms around them and made companions of them, they could send them out in the world, and in to life so strong they would come back, no matter how long the time, as clean as when they left their mother's arms. I rejoice in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I rejoice in the testimony I have that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is His son and the Savior of the world. I rejoice that the Latter-day Saints believe in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and believe that He actually lived, and lives today, and is able to counsel them, and render unto the world His Father's mind and will concerning the walks and conversations of men and women in the earth. It gives me pleasure, beyond my power to express, to have the privilege of laboring with men and women who night and morning kneel down and in humility pray for me as well as for those who are at home, men and women who earnestly desire to be guided and directed to teach and say and do the things that will build up the kingdom of God and magnify His name, in the earth.
We, as Latter-day Saints, pray for Joseph F. Smith every day of our lives, and in our hearts we sustain him and uphold him, as our leader and as the man to whom our Father gives ability to proclaim the things we need. He has given us this day instructions concerning our children; and I say it behooves us to go home and find some way to reach our sons and daughters who may be careless, and estranged from us; if there are any such. I venture the assertion that there are fathers in Israel who have never had their arms around their sons for many days and years, and in consequence there is a barrier between them. We should have the power to break that barrier down that keeps us from loving and counseling and helping our own flesh as we should. We sustain Joseph F. Smith, and we ought to heed his counsel and example and take the first opportunity to bring about conditions that there may be love between father and son such as should exist.
We ought to sustain each other with our faith and prayers; and by our daily actions we ought to sustain each other in business. We ought to look after each other's interests, that we shall not be crowded out of our place. We ought first to remember our brother, that he in return may remember us, and by so doing grow strong together. We are told to love our enemies, and I believe the Latter-day Saints, of all the people of the world, have loved their enemies, have builded them up when they have come in among us in such a way that they are stronger and more prosperous than ourselves.
We have something like two hundred students in Chicago, studying medicine, dentistry, mining, law, architecture, and other things. When they come back here, if they were known as John or Bill or Dick, they still are frequently dubbed John or Bill or Dick. They may have taken first honors in their college work; they may have stood head and shoulders above some other men, still it makes no difference. But when some common boy from some other state comes here to locate among us, it is "Dr." So and So, it is "Prof." So and So; it is this and that and the other with never a thought of who they used to be or what their present attitude toward our welfare is. I say, my brothers and sisters, we should give our boys a fair chance, we ought at least to give them an equal opportunity with those we know nothing of. If I were to be operated upon, I should like to have the knife in the hand of a man who knows that my spirit came from God, who has a prayer in his heart that I may recover, and who will do everything in his power, and do it in a better way because my life is more sacred to him than to those who know not what life is, neither know God or keep His commandments.
I know some of the men who came here from other towns and states, I know their lives, and I tell you that it will pay you to stand by Bill and John and Dick when they come home. When these professional men to whom I refer go into other places they seek membership and fellowship with the churches in order to get their patronage but here they join our enemies; they take sides with those who seek to destroy our faith and sacred honor, yet we love and support and build up these very men. I would like our own to have a little more chance after being away for years. We need to love our enemies, but not so much that we turn our own out of house and home and out of the country that our parents and grand-parents have made. I love the students that labor with us as missionaries, students who stand well with their professors and college students worthy of your patronage. Some of the presidents of graduating classes in different colleges have been nothing more than returned Mormon Elders, men who have filled missions, and gone back to school, and because of their leadership, are honored by their fellowmen; but when they come home, in some instances they find they have not a bit more or not an even chance with those who believe that when we die we are gone forever.
We ought and do pray for the President of the Church; we pray for the Twelve, and we sustain them, and we ought also to pray for every individual member of the Church, and we ought to sustain them too, that they may receive an inheritance in Zion, that through their lives and works and successes, this kingdom may be built up. When we need men in any line, we ought to call men who have the Spirit of God in their bosom, and who would do everything to save our lives or property, or that which is entrusted into their care, and in turn use their substance to the building up of this great cause instead of spending it in trying to undo what God has set us to do.
I rejoice in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoice in the achievements of the past, and I hope most earnestly that we shall sustain each other so well that we in the future, as young men and young women, will build well upon the foundations that have been laid by our noble sires. We will never.be able to do it if we so love our enemies that we give them preference in our business life and associations and companionship over those who bow the knee with us.
Some colleges of the east so recognize our people that numbers of our students who have come there to enter college have received entrance credit for work done as missionaries. They regard the training of young men who have done missionary work as qualifying them mentally to go on with college work more than had they been doing labor in other lines.
The Lord bless us, and help us to "listen to a prophet's voice, and hear the words of God," and in the way of truth abide, that we may sing for joy aloud. God bless the mothers and fathers of the missionaries and answer your prayers upon their heads, and in turn answer their prayers upon your heads, that Zion may grow and prosper until the honest in the earth shall sing praises unto the Master, until all shall know that our Redeemer lives, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
The congregation sang the hymn, "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet."
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Heber C. Jex.
SECOND DAY.
In the Tabernacle, Monday, October 4th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus anointed that "Prophet and Seer"--
Blessed to open the last dispensation;
Kings shall extol him and nations revere.
Prayer was offered by Elder Benjamin Goddard.
The choir sang the hymn:
Lo! the mighty God appearing,
From on high Jehovah speaks!
Eastern lands the summons hearing,
O'er the west His thunder breaks.
In the Tabernacle, Monday, October 4th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus anointed that "Prophet and Seer"--
Blessed to open the last dispensation;
Kings shall extol him and nations revere.
Prayer was offered by Elder Benjamin Goddard.
The choir sang the hymn:
Lo! the mighty God appearing,
From on high Jehovah speaks!
Eastern lands the summons hearing,
O'er the west His thunder breaks.
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON.
A profitable cyclone.—History and powers of the Priesthood.—Benefits of class instruction in Priesthood duties.
Brethren and sisters, the Lord is very good to us and orders all things well. Last evening He sent a beautiful shower which cooled the air and laid the dust, and today it is bright and beautiful for the holding of our conference and for the movement of the people upon the streets of our city, and, later in the day, for the State Fair which is now open. Speaking of the weather reminds me of a story that is told of a capitalist who went from the eastern states into one of the western states—Kansas, I think — to look at a large farm, with a view to investment. In speaking with the farmer, he inquired very carefully as to the quality of the soil of the farm; the farmer replied that it was very rich and productive. The capitalist said, "How is the weather here, how is your climate?" "O," he says, "we have a very fine climate here—very fine. I will give you an example: Sometime ago- I had two or three hundred chickens that I wanted to put upon the market. Being very busy, I did not know what to do to prepare these chickens and get them to the market. I was very much worried in regard to the matter. About: that time a cyclone came along,, caught up the chickens, twisted their necks, stripped them of all their feathers, and transported them: to the town, ten miles distant, and put them on the market, all ready for sale the next morning.." (Laughter).
Now, my brethren and sisters, I don't know where you would go, in all the world, to find a better climate, a climate more beautiful and satisfactory than our own. Of course, we have a few severe blows occasionally—notably in Davis County—but nothing to compare with those nice, convenient, gentle, cyclone zephyrs of Kansas.
I would like to say a few words, this morning, upon the subject of the priesthood, inasmuch as this is n. matter that always vitally concerns us. There is a vast difference, brethren and sisters, between priesthood and priestcraft. Priesthood, as I understand it, is the authority of God delegated to men, by which they can build up His Church and kingdom upon the earth. Priestcraft is the assumed authority of God, by which men claim that they are building up the Church and kingdom of God. Now, if this be true, wherever you find the people of God upon the earth, there you will find the priesthood. We are borne out in this claim by the scriptures, also by the revelations of God given to Joseph Smith, which throw a flood of light upon this important question. It is said, in one of the revelations, that the priesthood continueth in the Church of God, in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years. It is referred to, in the holy scriptures, as a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, an unchangeable priesthood, and an everlasting priesthood. You will find in section 84, these very important words recorded. The order of the priesthood was instituted in the days of Adam, and was handed clown from father to son, and rightly belongs to the descendants of the chosen seed. Adam ordained Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah to the priesthood, and Methuselah ordained Noah. Abraham was ordained to the priesthood by Melchizedek who received it through the lineage of his father, back to and until the time of Noah. Moses received the priesthood under the hand of his father-in-law, Jethro, who received it through a line of prophets back to Esaias, who received it under the hand of God. Esaias lived also in the days of Abraham and was blest of him. Now, we read in the revelation, that Moses sought to sanctify the children of Israel, that they might behold the face of God; but they hardened their hearts and they could not endure His presence, and God swore in His wrath—for His anger was kindled against them—that they should not enter into His rest while in the wilderness, which rest was the fulness of His glory. Moses and the high priesthood was taken out of their midst, and the lesser priesthood was continued among the children of Israel until the time of John the Baptist, who was raised up of God to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to prepare the way of the Lord and make His way straight. John received the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and he was baptized and ordained to the priesthood, by an angel, when he was eight days old. Now, brethren and sisters, we also have every reason to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ held the priesthood, for is it not said of Him that He was a great high priest, and does He not say of Himself that He had received all power both in the heavens and upon the earth; and did He not also say to His apostles, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you." It follows that the Savior would not have ordained His disciples had He not received the power to ordain. We know, and we have learned by revelation, by the word of the Lord, that Joseph Smith received the priesthood under the hands of Peter, James and John. He received it in the year 1829, and in the following year, in September, 1830, this matter is referred to in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in which the Lord says, beginning with the 12th verse:
"And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the same things which I revealed unto them."
Also John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in May, 1829, and laying his hands upon his head and the head of Oliver Cowdery, he used these words:
"Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
Thus, brethren and sisters, it is very easily shown that the priesthood was handed down from Adam to Joseph Smith the Prophet, and from Joseph Smith to us who are assembled here this day. I have only referred to the priesthood in the abstract. When you come into a little closer range, you will find it a most interesting and instructive study. This matter of priesthood is treated, very fully indeed, in section 84 and also in section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants. We learn that there are two priesthoods; one is called the High Priesthood, the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the other is called the Lesser Priesthood, or the Priesthood of Aaron. In these priesthoods there are various offices and orders. In the High Priesthood we have High Priests, Seventies, Elders; and in the Lesser Priesthood, Bishops, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons. The High Priesthood is defined as the power and authority to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church, to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly of the Church of the First Born, and to hold communion with God the Father and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. The Lesser Priesthood is defined as the power and authority that holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments. You see what a very important bearing this priesthood has upon the Church and Kingdom of God. If you should separate the priesthood and the power of the priesthood from those who are gathered in this great assembly today, we would be weak indeed. It is said in the revelations that in the ordinances of the priesthood is the power of godliness manifested; and without this, the power of godliness is not manifested; and without the ordinances of the priesthood and the authority thereof, the power of godliness is not manifest; and without this authority no man can see the face of God and live. Again, these very impressive words are recorded in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods, of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies;
"They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God;
"And also all they who receive this Priesthood receiveth me, saith the Lord;
"For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
"And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
"And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him;
"And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the Priesthood.
"Therefore, all those who receive the Priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved;
"But whoso breaketh this covenant, after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
Now, from this we get some understanding of the character and importance of the priesthood. It is a matter so sacred and concerns us so deeply, brethren and sisters, that it has been thought wise by the general authorities to establish classes in the priesthood, that the brethren of the priesthood may become acquainted with the doctrines of the Gospel and may learn their duty in their quorums. To me this seems beautiful; it seems consistent and right, that thereby they might acquire a love for it, and a spirit of devotion and of loyalty to their quorums; that no man need, necessarily, go outside or away from his quorum to learn his duty, and to become acquainted with the importance of the priesthood. A committee on priesthood quorums was appointed, and this committee prepared outlines of a course of study for the last year, which course was received joyfully by the Church, and has been followed. This course of lessons was studied in the quorums during the past winter and into the spring. Now, we have some difficulties to meet; there are some obstacles in the way. One of the most serious of them is the fact that most of the classes were compelled, through circumstances, because of their work and conditions that surrounded them, to adjourn during the summer months. Thus they were broken up, and the members have been scattered. Now it will be necessary to gather them together again, and arouse in them a spirit of interest in this work. I look upon said adjournment as very unfortunate. I do not know that it is possible, but if it is possible, it seems to me, that we ought to devise some means by which these classes of the priesthood can pursue their studies, without interruption, through the entire year; if we would be successful in this thing, it must be so, brethren and sisters, I think it must be so.
Now, in conclusion, let me say this: Think what it means to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when the fathers in sixty stakes of Zion, and in seven or eight hundred wards of the Church, can say to their boys: Boys, come, let us go to the priesthood meeting. And the father takes his boys, gathers them around him, and they go with the father to the priesthood meeting. How beautiful that is. The father goes into his class to be instructed in the duties of the priesthood, the deacon goes into his class, the teacher into his class, and the priest into his class. They follow their lessons and obtain their instruction, and at the close the father gathers his sons around him, they accompany him home again. Thus they are brought into an intimacy, a closeness of acquaintance and of friendship and love that has, possibly, never been known in the Church. Think what it means, brethren and sisters, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when an elder in Israel shall have nine years of training in the priesthood before he is permitted and found worthy to receive the high-priesthood. For instance, he has three years training as a deacon, three years training as a teacher, three years training as a priest; then he is ready and, generally I think, would be found worthy, and would have sufficient knowledge, to entitle him to receive the office of an Elder; and even then the good work continues. He gets his training as an Elder, and he will receive his training as a Seventy, and even if he goes beyond and higher up, he will still be instructed and taught his duty in the Church, as a High Priest. Think what it means to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, brethren and sisters, when a boy in this Church shall receive nine years training in the art of singing-—we know what the value of singing is to our boys—think what it will mean when the boy has nine years training in his quorum, besides other opportunities in the Church, to prepare him for missionary work, that when he shall go into the field he is prepared and qualified not only to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ but to sing it into the hearts of the people. In my humble opinion, we do not begin to comprehend the possibilities of this great movement in the Church, for I regard it as one of the greatest movements that has been inaugurated in recent times. I believe that the Lord Almighty will work wonders with His people, through this study and training in the priesthood and in the priesthood classes. I hope the presidents of stakes and bishops of wards and all the authorities of Zion will appreciate this great step in advance, this opportunity that is now thrown open for the training of the youth of Zion in a knowledge of eternal things.
May the Lord bless us and help us and strengthen us in every good work, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
A profitable cyclone.—History and powers of the Priesthood.—Benefits of class instruction in Priesthood duties.
Brethren and sisters, the Lord is very good to us and orders all things well. Last evening He sent a beautiful shower which cooled the air and laid the dust, and today it is bright and beautiful for the holding of our conference and for the movement of the people upon the streets of our city, and, later in the day, for the State Fair which is now open. Speaking of the weather reminds me of a story that is told of a capitalist who went from the eastern states into one of the western states—Kansas, I think — to look at a large farm, with a view to investment. In speaking with the farmer, he inquired very carefully as to the quality of the soil of the farm; the farmer replied that it was very rich and productive. The capitalist said, "How is the weather here, how is your climate?" "O," he says, "we have a very fine climate here—very fine. I will give you an example: Sometime ago- I had two or three hundred chickens that I wanted to put upon the market. Being very busy, I did not know what to do to prepare these chickens and get them to the market. I was very much worried in regard to the matter. About: that time a cyclone came along,, caught up the chickens, twisted their necks, stripped them of all their feathers, and transported them: to the town, ten miles distant, and put them on the market, all ready for sale the next morning.." (Laughter).
Now, my brethren and sisters, I don't know where you would go, in all the world, to find a better climate, a climate more beautiful and satisfactory than our own. Of course, we have a few severe blows occasionally—notably in Davis County—but nothing to compare with those nice, convenient, gentle, cyclone zephyrs of Kansas.
I would like to say a few words, this morning, upon the subject of the priesthood, inasmuch as this is n. matter that always vitally concerns us. There is a vast difference, brethren and sisters, between priesthood and priestcraft. Priesthood, as I understand it, is the authority of God delegated to men, by which they can build up His Church and kingdom upon the earth. Priestcraft is the assumed authority of God, by which men claim that they are building up the Church and kingdom of God. Now, if this be true, wherever you find the people of God upon the earth, there you will find the priesthood. We are borne out in this claim by the scriptures, also by the revelations of God given to Joseph Smith, which throw a flood of light upon this important question. It is said, in one of the revelations, that the priesthood continueth in the Church of God, in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years. It is referred to, in the holy scriptures, as a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, an unchangeable priesthood, and an everlasting priesthood. You will find in section 84, these very important words recorded. The order of the priesthood was instituted in the days of Adam, and was handed clown from father to son, and rightly belongs to the descendants of the chosen seed. Adam ordained Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah to the priesthood, and Methuselah ordained Noah. Abraham was ordained to the priesthood by Melchizedek who received it through the lineage of his father, back to and until the time of Noah. Moses received the priesthood under the hand of his father-in-law, Jethro, who received it through a line of prophets back to Esaias, who received it under the hand of God. Esaias lived also in the days of Abraham and was blest of him. Now, we read in the revelation, that Moses sought to sanctify the children of Israel, that they might behold the face of God; but they hardened their hearts and they could not endure His presence, and God swore in His wrath—for His anger was kindled against them—that they should not enter into His rest while in the wilderness, which rest was the fulness of His glory. Moses and the high priesthood was taken out of their midst, and the lesser priesthood was continued among the children of Israel until the time of John the Baptist, who was raised up of God to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to prepare the way of the Lord and make His way straight. John received the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and he was baptized and ordained to the priesthood, by an angel, when he was eight days old. Now, brethren and sisters, we also have every reason to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ held the priesthood, for is it not said of Him that He was a great high priest, and does He not say of Himself that He had received all power both in the heavens and upon the earth; and did He not also say to His apostles, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you." It follows that the Savior would not have ordained His disciples had He not received the power to ordain. We know, and we have learned by revelation, by the word of the Lord, that Joseph Smith received the priesthood under the hands of Peter, James and John. He received it in the year 1829, and in the following year, in September, 1830, this matter is referred to in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in which the Lord says, beginning with the 12th verse:
"And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the same things which I revealed unto them."
Also John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in May, 1829, and laying his hands upon his head and the head of Oliver Cowdery, he used these words:
"Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
Thus, brethren and sisters, it is very easily shown that the priesthood was handed down from Adam to Joseph Smith the Prophet, and from Joseph Smith to us who are assembled here this day. I have only referred to the priesthood in the abstract. When you come into a little closer range, you will find it a most interesting and instructive study. This matter of priesthood is treated, very fully indeed, in section 84 and also in section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants. We learn that there are two priesthoods; one is called the High Priesthood, the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the other is called the Lesser Priesthood, or the Priesthood of Aaron. In these priesthoods there are various offices and orders. In the High Priesthood we have High Priests, Seventies, Elders; and in the Lesser Priesthood, Bishops, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons. The High Priesthood is defined as the power and authority to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church, to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly of the Church of the First Born, and to hold communion with God the Father and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. The Lesser Priesthood is defined as the power and authority that holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments. You see what a very important bearing this priesthood has upon the Church and Kingdom of God. If you should separate the priesthood and the power of the priesthood from those who are gathered in this great assembly today, we would be weak indeed. It is said in the revelations that in the ordinances of the priesthood is the power of godliness manifested; and without this, the power of godliness is not manifested; and without the ordinances of the priesthood and the authority thereof, the power of godliness is not manifest; and without this authority no man can see the face of God and live. Again, these very impressive words are recorded in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods, of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies;
"They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God;
"And also all they who receive this Priesthood receiveth me, saith the Lord;
"For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
"And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
"And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him;
"And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the Priesthood.
"Therefore, all those who receive the Priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved;
"But whoso breaketh this covenant, after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
Now, from this we get some understanding of the character and importance of the priesthood. It is a matter so sacred and concerns us so deeply, brethren and sisters, that it has been thought wise by the general authorities to establish classes in the priesthood, that the brethren of the priesthood may become acquainted with the doctrines of the Gospel and may learn their duty in their quorums. To me this seems beautiful; it seems consistent and right, that thereby they might acquire a love for it, and a spirit of devotion and of loyalty to their quorums; that no man need, necessarily, go outside or away from his quorum to learn his duty, and to become acquainted with the importance of the priesthood. A committee on priesthood quorums was appointed, and this committee prepared outlines of a course of study for the last year, which course was received joyfully by the Church, and has been followed. This course of lessons was studied in the quorums during the past winter and into the spring. Now, we have some difficulties to meet; there are some obstacles in the way. One of the most serious of them is the fact that most of the classes were compelled, through circumstances, because of their work and conditions that surrounded them, to adjourn during the summer months. Thus they were broken up, and the members have been scattered. Now it will be necessary to gather them together again, and arouse in them a spirit of interest in this work. I look upon said adjournment as very unfortunate. I do not know that it is possible, but if it is possible, it seems to me, that we ought to devise some means by which these classes of the priesthood can pursue their studies, without interruption, through the entire year; if we would be successful in this thing, it must be so, brethren and sisters, I think it must be so.
Now, in conclusion, let me say this: Think what it means to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when the fathers in sixty stakes of Zion, and in seven or eight hundred wards of the Church, can say to their boys: Boys, come, let us go to the priesthood meeting. And the father takes his boys, gathers them around him, and they go with the father to the priesthood meeting. How beautiful that is. The father goes into his class to be instructed in the duties of the priesthood, the deacon goes into his class, the teacher into his class, and the priest into his class. They follow their lessons and obtain their instruction, and at the close the father gathers his sons around him, they accompany him home again. Thus they are brought into an intimacy, a closeness of acquaintance and of friendship and love that has, possibly, never been known in the Church. Think what it means, brethren and sisters, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when an elder in Israel shall have nine years of training in the priesthood before he is permitted and found worthy to receive the high-priesthood. For instance, he has three years training as a deacon, three years training as a teacher, three years training as a priest; then he is ready and, generally I think, would be found worthy, and would have sufficient knowledge, to entitle him to receive the office of an Elder; and even then the good work continues. He gets his training as an Elder, and he will receive his training as a Seventy, and even if he goes beyond and higher up, he will still be instructed and taught his duty in the Church, as a High Priest. Think what it means to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, brethren and sisters, when a boy in this Church shall receive nine years training in the art of singing-—we know what the value of singing is to our boys—think what it will mean when the boy has nine years training in his quorum, besides other opportunities in the Church, to prepare him for missionary work, that when he shall go into the field he is prepared and qualified not only to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ but to sing it into the hearts of the people. In my humble opinion, we do not begin to comprehend the possibilities of this great movement in the Church, for I regard it as one of the greatest movements that has been inaugurated in recent times. I believe that the Lord Almighty will work wonders with His people, through this study and training in the priesthood and in the priesthood classes. I hope the presidents of stakes and bishops of wards and all the authorities of Zion will appreciate this great step in advance, this opportunity that is now thrown open for the training of the youth of Zion in a knowledge of eternal things.
May the Lord bless us and help us and strengthen us in every good work, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
ELDER REED SMOOT.
The Saints a blest people.—Saints counseled to keep their children around them.—Happy homes and how to make them.—Dr. Eliot's "new religion."—The nobility of labor.—Should establish home industries.— Duties of husbands.
I am, indeed, thankful to my Heavenly Father for this another privilege of meeting with the Latter- day Saints in general conference. I have enjoyed the testimonies that have been borne, the words of counsel that have been given; and I trust that the same good spirit that has made itself manifest in the remarks and testimonies of the brethren who have preceded me, in this conference, may continue with us until the end. I, for one, never get tired of thanking my Heavenly Father that I was born in these valleys of the mountains. The more I visit the different parts of the world, and the oftener I come in contact with the people of the world, I feel in my heart that the Latter-day Saints, every one of them, should thank God every day of their lives, that they are permitted to live here under such favorable circumstances. We see prosperity on all hands, it is so universal, we take it for granted that it is but natural, and forget that it is God's blessings showered upon us. I tell you, my brethren and sisters, we live in a blessed part of this country. God has blest this inter-mountain country with so many of the material blessings of this world, that there is no place to compare with it. I hope and trust that the brethren and sisters will realize this and that they will be contented and thankful; that they will keep their sons and their daughters around them; that they will cultivate their farms a little better, and by cultivating them better, be able to increase their productiveness, thus enabling them to divide it with their children and prevent them from leaving the state to establish new homes elsewhere. In this way we will have more homes in all of our communities and a better chance of our children having a God-fearing home.
There has been considerable said during this conference, about home industry, the necessity o', proper home-life, the improvement of home-surroundings. I wish to emphasize all those good instructions, and I want also to call the attention of the people here to the fact that there are many successful homes that, perhaps, would not be looked upon as successful homes by many who do not know what constitutes a home of that character. Every home in Zion should be a home of order, a home of contentment, a home of hospitality, and a home of godliness; for it is said: "The beauty of a home is order; the blessing of a home is contentment; the glory of a home is hospitality; the crown of a* home is godliness." My brethren and sisters, I wonder if our homes are such. I wonder if we, as heads of homes, have built upon these truths and taught our children the same. What greater truth than that the crown of the home is godliness. My brethren and sisters, the fear that I have of Christianity today, in my beloved country, is that the spirit of prayer, of godliness, if you please, is fast vanishing from the homes of the people. In many parts of America the best of people, as they are called, do not even ask God's blessing upon the food that they eat. They never think of praying to God, in private or as families; and it seems to me that this is a menace to Christianity, and reformation is needed in a great majority of homes in this our beloved country.
All manner of isms are arising. There is a feeling, from one end of the country to the other, of throwing off the yoke of what people call Christianity. I care not for the cranks that may arise from time to time, for their lives are short; but it seems to me that when a man like Dr. Charles R. Eliot, of the great Harvard University, comes out and announces as a new doctrine a faith that denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that denies that man is made in God's image, that denies the authenticity of all biblical miracles, the efficacy of prayer, the supernatural value of the sacrament, the merit of self-sacrifice, and even denies the immortality of the soul—it strikes me, my brethren and sisters, that there is danger for Christianity among the people. He is a man who has been honored with the greatest of positions, and even, within a short time, offered a position as the American ambassador to one of the greatest countries on this earth. While I haven't the time, this morning, to analyze these denials of his, I am going to content myself by saying, today, that such teaching has a tendency to bring into the homes of the American people a disregard for Christ and His teachings. When that is accomplished, when the spirit of anti-Christ enters the home, I want to say to the good people here assembled, and to the people of this country, there is a condition in the home that cannot be too strongly condemned, and can only be overcome by the acquisition of a knowledge of Christ and our Heavenly Father.
I hope our homes are homes of order; I hope that our homes are homes of contentment—and when I say "home," I mean a place where the father, the mother and every child loves one another and fears God. It is not necessarily a mansion. A successful, contented home may be one within only four simple walls; it may be of the humblest proportions and of the poorest construction; but if in that home there is the love of God; if there is love and contentment; if all the family are laboring to one end, I know that it is a home that God is pleased with. Let me impress this fact upon the people here, that the foremost of all things to bring contentment into a home is the faithful practice of prayer. Let the father pray; let the mother pray; let every child pray; let them take their turns, and let the hearthstone be the place where the desires of your hearts are poured out to your Heavenly Father.
I think about the meanest being on this earth is a lazy man. I have met a few men, and I thank the Lord they are few, whom I consider absolutely lazy, so lazy they allow their wives to do all the work at home, and earn the living for the family, including the head of the household. I remember, on one occasion, meeting one of these men. I asked him why he didn't get work? I knew he was always looking for it, but hoping and praying that he would not find it. I could see him upon the street all times of day 'and all seasons of the year, and I asked him how he made a living? "Well," he said, "my wife is still washing." I said to him, "If you can't find a job, why on earth don't you go and help the wife wash?" "Why, that is beneath the dignity of a man," was his answer. I say, God pity such a being—I hardly like to call him a man. I ask the brethren and sisters here today, to begin with each one of your children, when they are young; instil into them a desire to work. I thank God that I have a trade at my fingers' ends; and that it is a great joy to me, for I know I can go and earn my living any time as a woolen goods manufacturer. I want every daughter of mine to learn how to work. I want her, when she is married, to be capable of taking care of a home. I care not whether she has to do it or not; I want her to know how to do it. I was reading, in a magazine last night, an article on Laziness, by Dr. Albert Von Bergmann, of Berlin, who is acknowledged as the one man of the world who has made the greatest study of this question; and this is what he says about laziness:
"No one is born naturally lazy. One born indolent and inactive is already diseased by some other cause than laziness. The chronically lazy boy is at the start as healthy as the average child, but, as- he continues to refuse to do his work in school, his duties at home, his labor in shop and field, a great physical change takes place in him. He physically becomes so that he cannot help being lazy except under powerful, curative treatment.
"The motor muscles and points of his feet soften as do those of tie legs and hands. The powers of perception of the brain are dull, and thought becomes sluggish and non-creative. The eye is dulled and only performs about half of the functions it should. The ear misses many sounds, and thus weakens the strength of its possessor. Although slower in its development, there is as much disintegration in a lazy boy's body as in the frame of one attacked with a malignant disease.
"Gradually this physical change passes into the soul, and the beautiful inspirations given by God to all new-born beings change under human influence into criminal instincts. Society receives then the boy beggar, the boy thief, the boy sloth. Nothing is left to do with him but look him up, or drive him from town to town until death releases him from his uselessness."
I would like to see every father have a desire in his heart to see his boy become proficient in whatever line of work is mapped out for him, or the boy may choose. We talk about home manufactures—why, I gave almost twenty years of my life, to the Woolen Mills at Provo; and I want to say that one of the hardest things that I had to contend with was to get boys and girls, and even men, and women to stay long enough at a job to learn how to do the work well. My brethren and sisters, it seems to me that if the Manufacturers' Association, or the Chambers of Commerce of our state, would like to do a splendid thing for this state, in developing home manufacturers, they would have a committee appointed from their body to go and visit some of the great manufacturing centers, as well as the smaller ones, of this country, and pick out from among the thousands of different articles manufactured east, those that could be made here, and then secure the formation of companies to make them here. Why, take little New Jersey, a state no larger than one of our counties, I never realized that any one little spot could be so interested in everything that was affected by the tariff. There was scarcely an item in all of the eight hundred paragraphs of the bill, that New Jersey was not interested in — not all large concerns, but little concerns, the manufacturing of little things. I believe that a committee could go east and look up hundreds of these little things, that would not take very much money to manufacture here, and I have no doubt, could be made successfully. Suppose there were only a hundred of them; and suppose that there were only twenty men or boys required in each one of them, there would be two thousand men or boys engaged in useful work. Every industry that can be started here, that will give your boys employment is, as has been said here, a blessing to the whole community.
I hope that the fathers will take an interest in the work at home; I hope they will lighten the burden of mothers just as much as possible. I once heard a man speak in public, and he said that he had not kissed his wife since he was married to her. Brethren and sisters, I thought that a strange remark and a confession of wrong doing. I do not believe in that doctrine or practice. I have never left my home, when my wife was there, from the day that I had a home, up till this very morning, without kissing my wife goodbye. I never left her at noon-time, in my life, unless I kissed her goodbye. And I wish that every Latter-day Saint would follow this practice—not to kiss my wife, but his own. (Laughter). Start married life and continue it, by making the wife feel that you are interested in her labors and love her. Lift as much of the burden from her tired shoulders as it is possible to do; for you know it is said, "Man's work is from sun to sun; but woman's work is never clone." No successful home can be made by the father alone; no successful home can be made by the mother, alone; it takes a united family to make a perfect Latter-day Saint home.
May God give us strength and a determination to make every home in Zion a perfect home and, above all, a prayerful home, a godlike home, an industrious home, a contented home, a hospitable home, and a home of order, I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Saints a blest people.—Saints counseled to keep their children around them.—Happy homes and how to make them.—Dr. Eliot's "new religion."—The nobility of labor.—Should establish home industries.— Duties of husbands.
I am, indeed, thankful to my Heavenly Father for this another privilege of meeting with the Latter- day Saints in general conference. I have enjoyed the testimonies that have been borne, the words of counsel that have been given; and I trust that the same good spirit that has made itself manifest in the remarks and testimonies of the brethren who have preceded me, in this conference, may continue with us until the end. I, for one, never get tired of thanking my Heavenly Father that I was born in these valleys of the mountains. The more I visit the different parts of the world, and the oftener I come in contact with the people of the world, I feel in my heart that the Latter-day Saints, every one of them, should thank God every day of their lives, that they are permitted to live here under such favorable circumstances. We see prosperity on all hands, it is so universal, we take it for granted that it is but natural, and forget that it is God's blessings showered upon us. I tell you, my brethren and sisters, we live in a blessed part of this country. God has blest this inter-mountain country with so many of the material blessings of this world, that there is no place to compare with it. I hope and trust that the brethren and sisters will realize this and that they will be contented and thankful; that they will keep their sons and their daughters around them; that they will cultivate their farms a little better, and by cultivating them better, be able to increase their productiveness, thus enabling them to divide it with their children and prevent them from leaving the state to establish new homes elsewhere. In this way we will have more homes in all of our communities and a better chance of our children having a God-fearing home.
There has been considerable said during this conference, about home industry, the necessity o', proper home-life, the improvement of home-surroundings. I wish to emphasize all those good instructions, and I want also to call the attention of the people here to the fact that there are many successful homes that, perhaps, would not be looked upon as successful homes by many who do not know what constitutes a home of that character. Every home in Zion should be a home of order, a home of contentment, a home of hospitality, and a home of godliness; for it is said: "The beauty of a home is order; the blessing of a home is contentment; the glory of a home is hospitality; the crown of a* home is godliness." My brethren and sisters, I wonder if our homes are such. I wonder if we, as heads of homes, have built upon these truths and taught our children the same. What greater truth than that the crown of the home is godliness. My brethren and sisters, the fear that I have of Christianity today, in my beloved country, is that the spirit of prayer, of godliness, if you please, is fast vanishing from the homes of the people. In many parts of America the best of people, as they are called, do not even ask God's blessing upon the food that they eat. They never think of praying to God, in private or as families; and it seems to me that this is a menace to Christianity, and reformation is needed in a great majority of homes in this our beloved country.
All manner of isms are arising. There is a feeling, from one end of the country to the other, of throwing off the yoke of what people call Christianity. I care not for the cranks that may arise from time to time, for their lives are short; but it seems to me that when a man like Dr. Charles R. Eliot, of the great Harvard University, comes out and announces as a new doctrine a faith that denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that denies that man is made in God's image, that denies the authenticity of all biblical miracles, the efficacy of prayer, the supernatural value of the sacrament, the merit of self-sacrifice, and even denies the immortality of the soul—it strikes me, my brethren and sisters, that there is danger for Christianity among the people. He is a man who has been honored with the greatest of positions, and even, within a short time, offered a position as the American ambassador to one of the greatest countries on this earth. While I haven't the time, this morning, to analyze these denials of his, I am going to content myself by saying, today, that such teaching has a tendency to bring into the homes of the American people a disregard for Christ and His teachings. When that is accomplished, when the spirit of anti-Christ enters the home, I want to say to the good people here assembled, and to the people of this country, there is a condition in the home that cannot be too strongly condemned, and can only be overcome by the acquisition of a knowledge of Christ and our Heavenly Father.
I hope our homes are homes of order; I hope that our homes are homes of contentment—and when I say "home," I mean a place where the father, the mother and every child loves one another and fears God. It is not necessarily a mansion. A successful, contented home may be one within only four simple walls; it may be of the humblest proportions and of the poorest construction; but if in that home there is the love of God; if there is love and contentment; if all the family are laboring to one end, I know that it is a home that God is pleased with. Let me impress this fact upon the people here, that the foremost of all things to bring contentment into a home is the faithful practice of prayer. Let the father pray; let the mother pray; let every child pray; let them take their turns, and let the hearthstone be the place where the desires of your hearts are poured out to your Heavenly Father.
I think about the meanest being on this earth is a lazy man. I have met a few men, and I thank the Lord they are few, whom I consider absolutely lazy, so lazy they allow their wives to do all the work at home, and earn the living for the family, including the head of the household. I remember, on one occasion, meeting one of these men. I asked him why he didn't get work? I knew he was always looking for it, but hoping and praying that he would not find it. I could see him upon the street all times of day 'and all seasons of the year, and I asked him how he made a living? "Well," he said, "my wife is still washing." I said to him, "If you can't find a job, why on earth don't you go and help the wife wash?" "Why, that is beneath the dignity of a man," was his answer. I say, God pity such a being—I hardly like to call him a man. I ask the brethren and sisters here today, to begin with each one of your children, when they are young; instil into them a desire to work. I thank God that I have a trade at my fingers' ends; and that it is a great joy to me, for I know I can go and earn my living any time as a woolen goods manufacturer. I want every daughter of mine to learn how to work. I want her, when she is married, to be capable of taking care of a home. I care not whether she has to do it or not; I want her to know how to do it. I was reading, in a magazine last night, an article on Laziness, by Dr. Albert Von Bergmann, of Berlin, who is acknowledged as the one man of the world who has made the greatest study of this question; and this is what he says about laziness:
"No one is born naturally lazy. One born indolent and inactive is already diseased by some other cause than laziness. The chronically lazy boy is at the start as healthy as the average child, but, as- he continues to refuse to do his work in school, his duties at home, his labor in shop and field, a great physical change takes place in him. He physically becomes so that he cannot help being lazy except under powerful, curative treatment.
"The motor muscles and points of his feet soften as do those of tie legs and hands. The powers of perception of the brain are dull, and thought becomes sluggish and non-creative. The eye is dulled and only performs about half of the functions it should. The ear misses many sounds, and thus weakens the strength of its possessor. Although slower in its development, there is as much disintegration in a lazy boy's body as in the frame of one attacked with a malignant disease.
"Gradually this physical change passes into the soul, and the beautiful inspirations given by God to all new-born beings change under human influence into criminal instincts. Society receives then the boy beggar, the boy thief, the boy sloth. Nothing is left to do with him but look him up, or drive him from town to town until death releases him from his uselessness."
I would like to see every father have a desire in his heart to see his boy become proficient in whatever line of work is mapped out for him, or the boy may choose. We talk about home manufactures—why, I gave almost twenty years of my life, to the Woolen Mills at Provo; and I want to say that one of the hardest things that I had to contend with was to get boys and girls, and even men, and women to stay long enough at a job to learn how to do the work well. My brethren and sisters, it seems to me that if the Manufacturers' Association, or the Chambers of Commerce of our state, would like to do a splendid thing for this state, in developing home manufacturers, they would have a committee appointed from their body to go and visit some of the great manufacturing centers, as well as the smaller ones, of this country, and pick out from among the thousands of different articles manufactured east, those that could be made here, and then secure the formation of companies to make them here. Why, take little New Jersey, a state no larger than one of our counties, I never realized that any one little spot could be so interested in everything that was affected by the tariff. There was scarcely an item in all of the eight hundred paragraphs of the bill, that New Jersey was not interested in — not all large concerns, but little concerns, the manufacturing of little things. I believe that a committee could go east and look up hundreds of these little things, that would not take very much money to manufacture here, and I have no doubt, could be made successfully. Suppose there were only a hundred of them; and suppose that there were only twenty men or boys required in each one of them, there would be two thousand men or boys engaged in useful work. Every industry that can be started here, that will give your boys employment is, as has been said here, a blessing to the whole community.
I hope that the fathers will take an interest in the work at home; I hope they will lighten the burden of mothers just as much as possible. I once heard a man speak in public, and he said that he had not kissed his wife since he was married to her. Brethren and sisters, I thought that a strange remark and a confession of wrong doing. I do not believe in that doctrine or practice. I have never left my home, when my wife was there, from the day that I had a home, up till this very morning, without kissing my wife goodbye. I never left her at noon-time, in my life, unless I kissed her goodbye. And I wish that every Latter-day Saint would follow this practice—not to kiss my wife, but his own. (Laughter). Start married life and continue it, by making the wife feel that you are interested in her labors and love her. Lift as much of the burden from her tired shoulders as it is possible to do; for you know it is said, "Man's work is from sun to sun; but woman's work is never clone." No successful home can be made by the father alone; no successful home can be made by the mother, alone; it takes a united family to make a perfect Latter-day Saint home.
May God give us strength and a determination to make every home in Zion a perfect home and, above all, a prayerful home, a godlike home, an industrious home, a contented home, a hospitable home, and a home of order, I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER HYRUM M. SMITH.
The triumph of Truth.—Dr. Eliot's "new religion."—Where men can find rest for their souls.—Duties of officers in the Priesthood.—Resignations discountenanced. — Saints should assist the Bishops.—Training of the Young.
For some time prior to our annual and semi-annual conferences, I experience a good deal of anxiety, as I contemplate the probability of my having to address the conference. The Elders of the Church are not in the habit of making set discourses, but rely upon the Lord and His inspiration, and the inspiration they can gather from the people of God, for what they shall say. I always have more or less fear that I shall be unable to collect my thoughts and put them in an order that shall be profitable and interesting to the Latter-da> Saints. As a general thing, however, when a man puts his trust in the Lord, the Lord sustains him. While, as I have said, I have anxiety prior to these conferences because of having to speak at them, I have usually had great cause for thankfulness, when the ordeal is over. The remarks of Brother Clawson and Brother Smoot have given me an opening, however; and I desire to say a few words along similar lines.
I know that this is the work of God, this latter-day work, that is being performed by the people known as the Latter-day Saints. This knowledge has come to me through my own observation, through my own study, as also by the inspiration and impression, upon my heart, of the Holy Ghost. I am satisfied that the work that has been so well started and has made such wonderful progress in the world, will continue until the principles embraced in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as understood by the Latter-day Saints, and as revealed to us of the Lord, through His servant Joseph Smith, the Prophet, shall fill the whole earth and be understood and accepted by all the children of God. Such is my hope and my faith, and I have no doubt whatsoever in this regard.
While Brother Smoot was speaking of this new religion—if you may call it a religion—of which Doctor Eliot has assumed the head, I thought to myself that it is not anything new. It is but a crystallization, on the part of Doctor Eliot, of the beliefs of the Christian clergy throughout the whole country. It is what they have been believing and preaching all along. As a result of this belief and of this preaching, the Christian churches have been almost depleted of their membership; there has at least been a great falling off in attendance at Divine worship; and I think that Doctor Eliot's crystallization of these beliefs into a sort of creed, will accomplish, perhaps, the entire depletion of the churches of the various Christian denominations.
But, my brethren and sisters, Brother Smoot saw danger in this, and perhaps there is danger in it to the Christian churches; but as he was speaking, I asked myself the question, is not the hand of God in it? I believe, in all these movements which take upon themselves the nature of being world-wide, the hand of the Lord is in them. Mankind have been going to these various churches in search of God, their heavenly Father; they have been going for the purpose of receiving solace to their souls; they have desired consolation, instruction, information and guidance; and they have not found it. Hence, multitudes have turned away from these places and have lost interest in the so-called religions extant among modern Christianity. But there is something in man, and it has been demonstrated to be in man from the beginning until now, that cries out for support, for help, for comfort, for consolation, for knowledge of some supreme being. Man is naturally a worshipful creature. He believes in a power greater than his own. He sees all around him the workings of a greater power than that of man, he sees the handiwork of Deity, both in the heavens and in the earth. It is natural for men to be religious and to seek after God. But they have not found Him in the churches; hence they have abandoned them, largely. Now comes Doctor Eliot with his crystallization of these ideas referred to by Elder Smoot. Well, it will be popular with some; but do you think that mankind are going to be satisfied with that kind of husk? I don't think so, not for a moment. The Latter-day Saints, have struggled and have worked, since the inception of the Church, to spread a knowledge of the truth among the children of men. We have preached the Gospel; we have proclaimed the restoration of it; we have declared Joseph Smith a prophet; we have preached that God is, as He revealed Himself, a person, and that man was created in His image; that as Christ, the Redeemer, His Being was like unto man, so was He like unto His Father, and His Father like unto Him and to the children of men. We have made wonderful success in convincing many of the truth of these revelations from the Lord. Yet the great majority are still unconvinced. I believe the Lord is now using their ministers and learned men to destroy the faith of the people in these false creeds which have erroneously been called the churches of Christ. Let men go on and do their work; let them persuade mankind that there is no God; that there is no such thing as the immortality of the soul; that there is no revelation; nor prophecy; that there is no such thing as authority—only that authority which men themselves assume. Let them go on and do this until men have lost faith in all these false religions in which they have had faith, heretofore. I see in it the workings of the hand of God, for they will be less satisfied then than before they were undeceived. And they will look elsewhere to satisfy that which within them cries out for something that they know not of; and where will they look? They will look here and there; they will run to and fro, and, as predicted, they will not find it among the organizations which have been established by men and which have been perpetuated by the authority of man. But they will continue to look, to search and to seek for the truth, and the Lord will influence and guide them, and they will, in time, discover the truth where the truth is, and that is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,—the Church of God, founded by the power of God, which enjoys the authority of the Lord, namely, the Priesthood, conferred upon man to act and speak in the stead of God, in behalf of those who seek knowledge and salvation. Here they will find it. I cannot blame President Eliot for reaching the conclusion that hundreds and thousands have reached before him, and that many are reaching today: that there is no such thing as authority in the Christian churches. He has arrived at the truth concerning the Christian churches—because there is no such thing as divine authority in them. Now, if these men who have reached this state will continue to search for the truth, they will discover it in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will find within it all the pure principles of the Gospel of salvation, they will become familiar with and receive the glorious gifts of the Holy Ghost; they will become acquainted with the true doctrines of the kingdom of God, and will find also all that the soul of man yearns for, and in the end life eternal. They will understand what the Priesthood is and comprehend the authority thereof, which authority is Divine, and powerful, and which accomplishes the work that authority ought to accomplish among the children of men.
This brings me to the main thing I wanted to speak about this morning, in connection with the remarks of Elder Clawson concerning the Priesthood. He spoke of the Priesthood itself; I desire to make a few remarks with respect to the officers in the Priesthood.
The Church is a wonderful organization. The terms "wonderful," ''marvelous" and "remarkable" are the only terms that we can find with which to express our admiration for the organization of the Church in these latter days. While wonderful and marvelous in the perfection of its organization, it is also wonderful in its simplicity. The Church is divided and sub-divided into stakes, and wards, and organizations. Over these divisions and organizations are placed men to preside and to direct the affairs of the same, men who hold the Priesthood that has been restored by the servants of God, under the direction of the Father, as explained by Elder Clawson this morning. Now, the Lord has provided that the Church shall be so divided in organization, in stakes and wards with men called to preside over them, so that this most wonderful and mighty work may be the more easily accomplished. Every man who holds this Priesthood, and is an officer in it, has a duty to perform; and if all men would get a full understanding of their duties and conscientiously perform them, then the labor of carrying on the work of God' in the world would be a joy to those engaged in it. If every man had his work, and did the work, then, it would be easy; but when there are some of these officers who are more or less indifferent, or careless in the performance of their duties, that increases— in just the proportion of the numbers who are thus indifferent— the labors of those who are diligent and faithful. I believe, when a man is ordained to the Priesthood, and called to ah office therein, he ought to seek for the spirit of that calling, and the full understanding of what it means to bear the Priesthood, what his duties are; and then, with mighty prayer unto the Lord for assistance, set his hand to labor in that calling and office to the very best of his ability, even unto the end, or as long as the Lord wants him and does not release him therefrom.
The special feature that I desire to bring to the attention of the officers in the Church is this, that in my opinion the freedom with which men who hold office in the Church, resign that office, is altogether out of keeping with the responsibility of their calling, and with the work that the Lord has for them to do, and which He has called them to do, in giving them the office and the authority. This applies more especially to the bishops in the Church. It was not so formerly, as now, that men upon this whim or that whim, would resign their positions. Some feel that they are at liberty to resign and get out from under the responsibility and authority the very moment they find their duties becoming a little irksome or strenuous, or troublesome. I think that disposition and that spirit altogether wrong, brethren. I think it is wrong with respect to presidents of stakes; I think it is wrong with the bishops; I think it is wrong when it is found among superintendents or presiding officers, in any capacity whatsoever, who have been called and placed in their positions by the inspiration of God through His servants who preside over them. They ought to accept these offices with a determination to remain in them until such time as those who place them there say it is enough. There are times, of course, when changes are necessary and have to be made, when men in office, because of neglect and indifference, prove themselves incompetent to carry on the work of the Lord. But, as a general rule, in such cases the officer never resigns; it is the man who has the ability, and who could do the work if he would, he is the one who may want to resign. If his church duties interfere with some desire, or some business interests, or he finds difficulties arising, that are burdensome; perhaps someone has criticised or found fault with him; why, for these and other unworthy reasons, he resigns his most sacred and holy office in the Church. There are some Bishops who have gone so far as to deliberately remove from one ward to another, or from one stake to another, in order to be relieved of their duties in the Bishopric. That is not the proper spirit that a Bishop ought to have. During this year, sixty-eight re-organizations among the Bishoprics in that many wards of the Church have taken place. There are six hundred and eighty-five wards in the Church. That means that ten per cent of them have had a re-organization in their Bishoprics during this year— altogether too many resignations. I may say that most of these re-organizations have been made necessary because the Bishops had resigned. Very few of them were brought about or found necessary because of the death of the Bishop. I fear many of these Bishops resigned because they wanted to get out from under the responsibility of the Bishopric. I say, brethren, this is not right; it ought not to be. You never hear—at least I have never heard, and I don't think you have heard—of the presidents in the mission field sending in their resignations, because they find some difficulties in the preaching of the Gospel. The Elders sent abroad rarely resign from their missions before they are released. I think this same loyalty should be found among us who hold general and local offices and authority in the Priesthood, in the stakes and wards of the Church. If a ward is suffering because of its bishopric, the president of that stake ought to know it; and if it is advisable that a re-organization should be made, then the president should bring that condition to the attention of those whose right and duty it is to make the re-organization. If a president of a stake is incompetent, or cannot perform his duty because of business interests and other inclinations on his part, and he desires to be relieved of his presidency and wants to get out of it, the Twelve will very likely discover it, and when they receive the proper inspiration from the Lord, will make the change. Men in this Church ought not to feel that they are free to resign at their own will the positions that the Lord God of Heaven has called them to occupy, and in which He has for them a work to perform, in the carrying on of this great latter-day work, in this dispensation. The Lord's will rather than man's should be done.
I would like to say, in connection with these remarks, to the people of the Church, you ought to make the office of the Bishop a pleasant one by giving him your undivided support, as long as he is worthy of it. You ought to withhold your criticisms and not find fault with him when he is doing the best he can. Some wards have boasted of their ability to "kill off" the Bishops. Well, that is wrong on the part of the people. The people should love the Bishop; they should delight to honor him; they should sustain him, pray for him, and magnify him. Much of his strength to bear and to perform his duty depends on how the saints uphold and sustain him. We ought to help these brethren in their positions. And to the brethren I wish to say again, we should not feel that we can lay down these offices in the Priesthood, as some have felt they could. We should feel more, with reference to our offices in the Priesthood as we feel toward the Priesthood itself. You can't find any of the officers of the Church, who still retain a love of the truth and a knowledge thereof, who have a desire to resign from holding the Priesthood itself. O no! We don't want the office of Bishop: we don't want the trouble of being Bishop; we don't want all this labor and responsibility, but we want the Priesthood; we will not yield that; we value that most highly, and we are determined to keep it. If we would feel this way toward the offices in the Priesthood, it would be better for us and better for the Church at large, by far; for every time a ward is re-organized, it is disturbed from center to circumference and the new men have to be trained. We are halted in our progress as a general thing, momentarily at least, when these changes have to be made. I hope in the future the brethren will not resign except under the most urgent necessity.
Speaking of home industries — brethren and sisters, I believe in home manufacture; and, as suggested by President Smith, yesterday morning, I think that along a certain line of manufacture the Latter- day Saints, every one of them, ought to be most industriously engaged, and that is in the manufacture, out of their children, material for good Bishops and good officers of the Church; giving special care and training to the children who will in time become the officers in the Priesthood and in the Church, that when they grow up they will be polished and finished articles, fully understanding and realizing that when the Lord calls them to positions of responsibility, He wants them until He releases them from their calling. And among our girls, we ought to be manufacturing noble women, true and virtuous, who shall be worthy and devout mothers in Israel, and keepers of these homes that Brother Smoot spoke of. I tell you these boys and girls, born under the new and everlasting covenant, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the very best and most genuine material that can be found among all human kind; and if we do our duty toward them, if they are properly taught, and if they are industrious in their training, as we ought to be, they will become men and women of whom God Himself shall be proud, and glad to bless and magnify in our own eyes, and in the eyes of all the children of the earth. The Lord help us to be true in all things, that we may be able to carry on this great latter-day work, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
A baritone solo, "Oh shining light Divine," was sung by Brother Melvin Peterson.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky
Arches over the vales of the free,
Where the pure breezes blow and the clear streamlets flow,
How I've longed to your bosom to flee.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Angus M. Cannon.
Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
The triumph of Truth.—Dr. Eliot's "new religion."—Where men can find rest for their souls.—Duties of officers in the Priesthood.—Resignations discountenanced. — Saints should assist the Bishops.—Training of the Young.
For some time prior to our annual and semi-annual conferences, I experience a good deal of anxiety, as I contemplate the probability of my having to address the conference. The Elders of the Church are not in the habit of making set discourses, but rely upon the Lord and His inspiration, and the inspiration they can gather from the people of God, for what they shall say. I always have more or less fear that I shall be unable to collect my thoughts and put them in an order that shall be profitable and interesting to the Latter-da> Saints. As a general thing, however, when a man puts his trust in the Lord, the Lord sustains him. While, as I have said, I have anxiety prior to these conferences because of having to speak at them, I have usually had great cause for thankfulness, when the ordeal is over. The remarks of Brother Clawson and Brother Smoot have given me an opening, however; and I desire to say a few words along similar lines.
I know that this is the work of God, this latter-day work, that is being performed by the people known as the Latter-day Saints. This knowledge has come to me through my own observation, through my own study, as also by the inspiration and impression, upon my heart, of the Holy Ghost. I am satisfied that the work that has been so well started and has made such wonderful progress in the world, will continue until the principles embraced in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as understood by the Latter-day Saints, and as revealed to us of the Lord, through His servant Joseph Smith, the Prophet, shall fill the whole earth and be understood and accepted by all the children of God. Such is my hope and my faith, and I have no doubt whatsoever in this regard.
While Brother Smoot was speaking of this new religion—if you may call it a religion—of which Doctor Eliot has assumed the head, I thought to myself that it is not anything new. It is but a crystallization, on the part of Doctor Eliot, of the beliefs of the Christian clergy throughout the whole country. It is what they have been believing and preaching all along. As a result of this belief and of this preaching, the Christian churches have been almost depleted of their membership; there has at least been a great falling off in attendance at Divine worship; and I think that Doctor Eliot's crystallization of these beliefs into a sort of creed, will accomplish, perhaps, the entire depletion of the churches of the various Christian denominations.
But, my brethren and sisters, Brother Smoot saw danger in this, and perhaps there is danger in it to the Christian churches; but as he was speaking, I asked myself the question, is not the hand of God in it? I believe, in all these movements which take upon themselves the nature of being world-wide, the hand of the Lord is in them. Mankind have been going to these various churches in search of God, their heavenly Father; they have been going for the purpose of receiving solace to their souls; they have desired consolation, instruction, information and guidance; and they have not found it. Hence, multitudes have turned away from these places and have lost interest in the so-called religions extant among modern Christianity. But there is something in man, and it has been demonstrated to be in man from the beginning until now, that cries out for support, for help, for comfort, for consolation, for knowledge of some supreme being. Man is naturally a worshipful creature. He believes in a power greater than his own. He sees all around him the workings of a greater power than that of man, he sees the handiwork of Deity, both in the heavens and in the earth. It is natural for men to be religious and to seek after God. But they have not found Him in the churches; hence they have abandoned them, largely. Now comes Doctor Eliot with his crystallization of these ideas referred to by Elder Smoot. Well, it will be popular with some; but do you think that mankind are going to be satisfied with that kind of husk? I don't think so, not for a moment. The Latter-day Saints, have struggled and have worked, since the inception of the Church, to spread a knowledge of the truth among the children of men. We have preached the Gospel; we have proclaimed the restoration of it; we have declared Joseph Smith a prophet; we have preached that God is, as He revealed Himself, a person, and that man was created in His image; that as Christ, the Redeemer, His Being was like unto man, so was He like unto His Father, and His Father like unto Him and to the children of men. We have made wonderful success in convincing many of the truth of these revelations from the Lord. Yet the great majority are still unconvinced. I believe the Lord is now using their ministers and learned men to destroy the faith of the people in these false creeds which have erroneously been called the churches of Christ. Let men go on and do their work; let them persuade mankind that there is no God; that there is no such thing as the immortality of the soul; that there is no revelation; nor prophecy; that there is no such thing as authority—only that authority which men themselves assume. Let them go on and do this until men have lost faith in all these false religions in which they have had faith, heretofore. I see in it the workings of the hand of God, for they will be less satisfied then than before they were undeceived. And they will look elsewhere to satisfy that which within them cries out for something that they know not of; and where will they look? They will look here and there; they will run to and fro, and, as predicted, they will not find it among the organizations which have been established by men and which have been perpetuated by the authority of man. But they will continue to look, to search and to seek for the truth, and the Lord will influence and guide them, and they will, in time, discover the truth where the truth is, and that is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,—the Church of God, founded by the power of God, which enjoys the authority of the Lord, namely, the Priesthood, conferred upon man to act and speak in the stead of God, in behalf of those who seek knowledge and salvation. Here they will find it. I cannot blame President Eliot for reaching the conclusion that hundreds and thousands have reached before him, and that many are reaching today: that there is no such thing as authority in the Christian churches. He has arrived at the truth concerning the Christian churches—because there is no such thing as divine authority in them. Now, if these men who have reached this state will continue to search for the truth, they will discover it in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will find within it all the pure principles of the Gospel of salvation, they will become familiar with and receive the glorious gifts of the Holy Ghost; they will become acquainted with the true doctrines of the kingdom of God, and will find also all that the soul of man yearns for, and in the end life eternal. They will understand what the Priesthood is and comprehend the authority thereof, which authority is Divine, and powerful, and which accomplishes the work that authority ought to accomplish among the children of men.
This brings me to the main thing I wanted to speak about this morning, in connection with the remarks of Elder Clawson concerning the Priesthood. He spoke of the Priesthood itself; I desire to make a few remarks with respect to the officers in the Priesthood.
The Church is a wonderful organization. The terms "wonderful," ''marvelous" and "remarkable" are the only terms that we can find with which to express our admiration for the organization of the Church in these latter days. While wonderful and marvelous in the perfection of its organization, it is also wonderful in its simplicity. The Church is divided and sub-divided into stakes, and wards, and organizations. Over these divisions and organizations are placed men to preside and to direct the affairs of the same, men who hold the Priesthood that has been restored by the servants of God, under the direction of the Father, as explained by Elder Clawson this morning. Now, the Lord has provided that the Church shall be so divided in organization, in stakes and wards with men called to preside over them, so that this most wonderful and mighty work may be the more easily accomplished. Every man who holds this Priesthood, and is an officer in it, has a duty to perform; and if all men would get a full understanding of their duties and conscientiously perform them, then the labor of carrying on the work of God' in the world would be a joy to those engaged in it. If every man had his work, and did the work, then, it would be easy; but when there are some of these officers who are more or less indifferent, or careless in the performance of their duties, that increases— in just the proportion of the numbers who are thus indifferent— the labors of those who are diligent and faithful. I believe, when a man is ordained to the Priesthood, and called to ah office therein, he ought to seek for the spirit of that calling, and the full understanding of what it means to bear the Priesthood, what his duties are; and then, with mighty prayer unto the Lord for assistance, set his hand to labor in that calling and office to the very best of his ability, even unto the end, or as long as the Lord wants him and does not release him therefrom.
The special feature that I desire to bring to the attention of the officers in the Church is this, that in my opinion the freedom with which men who hold office in the Church, resign that office, is altogether out of keeping with the responsibility of their calling, and with the work that the Lord has for them to do, and which He has called them to do, in giving them the office and the authority. This applies more especially to the bishops in the Church. It was not so formerly, as now, that men upon this whim or that whim, would resign their positions. Some feel that they are at liberty to resign and get out from under the responsibility and authority the very moment they find their duties becoming a little irksome or strenuous, or troublesome. I think that disposition and that spirit altogether wrong, brethren. I think it is wrong with respect to presidents of stakes; I think it is wrong with the bishops; I think it is wrong when it is found among superintendents or presiding officers, in any capacity whatsoever, who have been called and placed in their positions by the inspiration of God through His servants who preside over them. They ought to accept these offices with a determination to remain in them until such time as those who place them there say it is enough. There are times, of course, when changes are necessary and have to be made, when men in office, because of neglect and indifference, prove themselves incompetent to carry on the work of the Lord. But, as a general rule, in such cases the officer never resigns; it is the man who has the ability, and who could do the work if he would, he is the one who may want to resign. If his church duties interfere with some desire, or some business interests, or he finds difficulties arising, that are burdensome; perhaps someone has criticised or found fault with him; why, for these and other unworthy reasons, he resigns his most sacred and holy office in the Church. There are some Bishops who have gone so far as to deliberately remove from one ward to another, or from one stake to another, in order to be relieved of their duties in the Bishopric. That is not the proper spirit that a Bishop ought to have. During this year, sixty-eight re-organizations among the Bishoprics in that many wards of the Church have taken place. There are six hundred and eighty-five wards in the Church. That means that ten per cent of them have had a re-organization in their Bishoprics during this year— altogether too many resignations. I may say that most of these re-organizations have been made necessary because the Bishops had resigned. Very few of them were brought about or found necessary because of the death of the Bishop. I fear many of these Bishops resigned because they wanted to get out from under the responsibility of the Bishopric. I say, brethren, this is not right; it ought not to be. You never hear—at least I have never heard, and I don't think you have heard—of the presidents in the mission field sending in their resignations, because they find some difficulties in the preaching of the Gospel. The Elders sent abroad rarely resign from their missions before they are released. I think this same loyalty should be found among us who hold general and local offices and authority in the Priesthood, in the stakes and wards of the Church. If a ward is suffering because of its bishopric, the president of that stake ought to know it; and if it is advisable that a re-organization should be made, then the president should bring that condition to the attention of those whose right and duty it is to make the re-organization. If a president of a stake is incompetent, or cannot perform his duty because of business interests and other inclinations on his part, and he desires to be relieved of his presidency and wants to get out of it, the Twelve will very likely discover it, and when they receive the proper inspiration from the Lord, will make the change. Men in this Church ought not to feel that they are free to resign at their own will the positions that the Lord God of Heaven has called them to occupy, and in which He has for them a work to perform, in the carrying on of this great latter-day work, in this dispensation. The Lord's will rather than man's should be done.
I would like to say, in connection with these remarks, to the people of the Church, you ought to make the office of the Bishop a pleasant one by giving him your undivided support, as long as he is worthy of it. You ought to withhold your criticisms and not find fault with him when he is doing the best he can. Some wards have boasted of their ability to "kill off" the Bishops. Well, that is wrong on the part of the people. The people should love the Bishop; they should delight to honor him; they should sustain him, pray for him, and magnify him. Much of his strength to bear and to perform his duty depends on how the saints uphold and sustain him. We ought to help these brethren in their positions. And to the brethren I wish to say again, we should not feel that we can lay down these offices in the Priesthood, as some have felt they could. We should feel more, with reference to our offices in the Priesthood as we feel toward the Priesthood itself. You can't find any of the officers of the Church, who still retain a love of the truth and a knowledge thereof, who have a desire to resign from holding the Priesthood itself. O no! We don't want the office of Bishop: we don't want the trouble of being Bishop; we don't want all this labor and responsibility, but we want the Priesthood; we will not yield that; we value that most highly, and we are determined to keep it. If we would feel this way toward the offices in the Priesthood, it would be better for us and better for the Church at large, by far; for every time a ward is re-organized, it is disturbed from center to circumference and the new men have to be trained. We are halted in our progress as a general thing, momentarily at least, when these changes have to be made. I hope in the future the brethren will not resign except under the most urgent necessity.
Speaking of home industries — brethren and sisters, I believe in home manufacture; and, as suggested by President Smith, yesterday morning, I think that along a certain line of manufacture the Latter- day Saints, every one of them, ought to be most industriously engaged, and that is in the manufacture, out of their children, material for good Bishops and good officers of the Church; giving special care and training to the children who will in time become the officers in the Priesthood and in the Church, that when they grow up they will be polished and finished articles, fully understanding and realizing that when the Lord calls them to positions of responsibility, He wants them until He releases them from their calling. And among our girls, we ought to be manufacturing noble women, true and virtuous, who shall be worthy and devout mothers in Israel, and keepers of these homes that Brother Smoot spoke of. I tell you these boys and girls, born under the new and everlasting covenant, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the very best and most genuine material that can be found among all human kind; and if we do our duty toward them, if they are properly taught, and if they are industrious in their training, as we ought to be, they will become men and women of whom God Himself shall be proud, and glad to bless and magnify in our own eyes, and in the eyes of all the children of the earth. The Lord help us to be true in all things, that we may be able to carry on this great latter-day work, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
A baritone solo, "Oh shining light Divine," was sung by Brother Melvin Peterson.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky
Arches over the vales of the free,
Where the pure breezes blow and the clear streamlets flow,
How I've longed to your bosom to flee.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Angus M. Cannon.
Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Redeemer of Israel, our only delight,
On whom for a blessing we call.
Our shadow by day, and bur pillar by night,
Our King, our Deliv'rer, our all!
Prayer was offered by Elder D. M. McAllister.
The choir sang the anthem, "From afar, gracious Lord, Thou hast gathered Thy flock."
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Redeemer of Israel, our only delight,
On whom for a blessing we call.
Our shadow by day, and bur pillar by night,
Our King, our Deliv'rer, our all!
Prayer was offered by Elder D. M. McAllister.
The choir sang the anthem, "From afar, gracious Lord, Thou hast gathered Thy flock."
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH.
Testimonies concerning Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith—No break in the Priesthood.—Setting our homes in order.—Should strive after the best in life.
I believe there is no one here today more grateful than I am for the privilege of being here. It is a joy to me to look into the faces of my brethren and sisters, whom it has been my privilege to visit in their homes.
I realize that you are here because you believe it is our Father's will that you should be; and you have come for the eternal blessings of our Father, rather than remain at home to seek those things that perish in this life.
I am grateful for the testimony God has given me that this is His work. I know that He lives. I know that Jesus Christ is His Son and the Redeemer of the world. I know that Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of our Father, to bring again the Gospel of salvation to the children of men. The Lord has continued His priesthood in the Church, since the days of the Prophet and his presiding authority, until the present time. We are now presided over by a faithful servant of our Heavenly Father, one of His children whom He has chosen to declare unto us His mind and will.
I hope that the words which we have heard, in this conference, will be taken home by each of us. "Have I set my house in order?" This should be the query in every heart. Not, Has my neighbor done so ? but, have I done what the Lord has required of me?
Brethren and sisters, we may have given to us, in this life, a few things that will give us satisfaction, temporally; but the things that are eternal, the things that are "worthwhile," are those eternal things that we reach out for, and prepare ourselves to receive, and lay hold of by the effort that we individually make.
This is God's work; it is the power of God unto salvation, unto every man and every woman that will receive and obey its precepts; and I bear you witness of it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Testimonies concerning Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith—No break in the Priesthood.—Setting our homes in order.—Should strive after the best in life.
I believe there is no one here today more grateful than I am for the privilege of being here. It is a joy to me to look into the faces of my brethren and sisters, whom it has been my privilege to visit in their homes.
I realize that you are here because you believe it is our Father's will that you should be; and you have come for the eternal blessings of our Father, rather than remain at home to seek those things that perish in this life.
I am grateful for the testimony God has given me that this is His work. I know that He lives. I know that Jesus Christ is His Son and the Redeemer of the world. I know that Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of our Father, to bring again the Gospel of salvation to the children of men. The Lord has continued His priesthood in the Church, since the days of the Prophet and his presiding authority, until the present time. We are now presided over by a faithful servant of our Heavenly Father, one of His children whom He has chosen to declare unto us His mind and will.
I hope that the words which we have heard, in this conference, will be taken home by each of us. "Have I set my house in order?" This should be the query in every heart. Not, Has my neighbor done so ? but, have I done what the Lord has required of me?
Brethren and sisters, we may have given to us, in this life, a few things that will give us satisfaction, temporally; but the things that are eternal, the things that are "worthwhile," are those eternal things that we reach out for, and prepare ourselves to receive, and lay hold of by the effort that we individually make.
This is God's work; it is the power of God unto salvation, unto every man and every woman that will receive and obey its precepts; and I bear you witness of it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS.
Unity among all the Presiding Quorums.— Prophecies fulfilled.— Responsibility resting upon the Saints. —Elders laboring under Divine appointment.— Work at home: conversions among the Gentiles. — Duty of the Priesthood Quorums.
Work enough for all. I have been trying to take stock of myself and of my faith, since coming into this meeting, this afternoon; and I have concluded that the harmony which exists in the testimonies of my brethren, which have been borne during the meetings of this conference, and my own thoughts and feelings, h an evidence to me that my- faith is about right. I indorse, with all my heart, the testimonies which have been borne, the instructions which have been given to us during the conference. I uphold and sustain, with all my heart, the President of the Church, as such, and as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and mouthpiece of God unto this people; and I thank the Lord for him, for his integrity, for his love of the truth, for his administration of the affairs of the Church of our Master. I uphold and sustain with him his counselors. These as men of God, approved of Him, sustained with willing hearts by the people who know them, and know that their deepest interest is for the welfare and triumph of the work of the Lord. I sustain, with all my heart, the members of the Council of the Twelve. I know these men from association with them, day after day, in counsel and in our administrations among the people, and I know that they have the love of the work at heart. I know of their unity—for they are united, to a man, in every question that has come before us, pertaining to the welfare of this work and of the people. I sustain them, pray for them, and I know that the Lord is with them and blessing their administrations. I uphold and sustain the Council of the Seventy, and I know that this council is in harmony with the Council of the Twelve and the First Presidency. The Presiding Bishopric and the Patriarch are one with these councils. I believe I can say in truth that all the council? of the holy priesthood, throughout the length and breadth of this Church, uphold and sustain the general authorities, and are one with them in interest and labor for the progress of the work of the Lord.
In witnessing the great concourse of people that we had here in this building yesterday, and upon the grounds surrounding this building —knowing that at the same time there was an overflow meeting being held in the Assembly Hall — my thoughts were directed to a revelation found in the eleventh section of the book of Covenants, where the Lord, speaking to the Prophet in the year 1829, before the organization of the Church, said: "A marvelous work is about to come forth upon the earth." When I think of the conditions at that time—(there was no organization of the Church then, but the Lord told the Prophet clearly what He had in mind to accomplish; Joseph was to be the instrument in His hands, the chief of all instruments, in bring it about)—and then when I see what has been accomplished, knowing that all these people are but a small representation of the Latter-day Saints, I saw, and was impressed with the fulfillment of that promise unto Joseph. I rejoice in it, and it makes me more satisfied, better assured that all those other promises that have been made by the Lord through His prophets, pertaining to the ultimate triumph of His work in the last days, will be fulfilled.
In connection with these thoughts, I thought of the wonderful responsibility that rests upon us. Numerous as we are, in the sense that I have spoken of, we are but a handful of our Father's children. The Lord, through His prophet John, upon the Isle of Patmos, referred to a time when the everlasting Gospel would be restored by an angel from heaven. It was to be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. We accept the visitation of the angel Moroni, the message which he brought, the Book of Mormon which contains the everlasting Gospel, and the revelations of the Lord to us since, as a fulfillment of that' prediction, and we have accepted the great responsibility of preaching this Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, throughout the world. We have made efforts to this end. I hope that our efforts are accepted of the Lord. I sometimes wonder if we are doing all that He requires of us in this connection. We aim to maintain, at the present time, in the mission-field, from the stakes of Zion, about two thousand missionaries. They are maintained at a cost of time and money to the elders and to the Church, together with other expenses connected with the mission fields, in the neighborhood of two million dollars per annum, or more closely figuring, $150,000.00 per month. When we think of it in this sense, it is indeed a wonderful work that we are doing in the preaching of the Gospel abroad.
Now, there is another point in connection with this responsibility, that I desire to speak of for a few moments; and that we may be impressed with the greatness of this responsibility, I desire to read a few paragraphs from the third chapter of the Book of Ezekiel. The Lord said to Ezekiel:
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
"When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou giveth him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
"Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
"Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at thine hand."
This is a responsibility—the Lord placed it upon Ezekiel, as a watchman upon the towers of Israel; and we have been commissioned with like authority and with like responsibility. It extends to the preaching of the Gospel in the nations of the earth; and that same responsibility, if I understand correctly, rests upon those of us who remain at home.
Just a few verses from the eleventh section of the book of Covenants. The Lord says, m a revelation given in May, 1829:
"A great and marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
"Behold, I am God, and give heed to my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my word.
"Behold, the field is white already to harvest, therefore, whoso desireth to reap, let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God;
"Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is called of God".
And reading from the 15th paragraph:
"Behold, I command you, that you need not suppose that you are called to preach until you are called."
We read from the scriptures, with reference to authority, that no man taketh the honor upon himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. Aaron was called by the voice of the Lord, through His prophet Moses. This is a principle observed in this Church. One of the articles of our faith reads, "We believe that a man must be called of God by 'prophecy and by the laying on of hands,' by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
There are many men in Zion who have been thus called by the voice of the Lord, through His servants —the way the Lord has appointed, and they have had the hands of the servants of the Lord laid upon them. They have been blest and set apart for their particular ministry. Take for example the presidencies of the various stakes of Zion, the Bishops, and their counselors in the various wards throughout the Church, and the visiting ward Teachers in the labor which they are called to perform: they have all been called, appointed, ordained, blest and set apart for their particular labors; and this responsibility rests heavily upon them, and many other responsibilities not mentioned.
There are today many of Israel being gathered up, coming up to Zion of their own accord. We find them purchasing homes, farms, and business of our people, from one end, I was going to say, of this state to the other; yes, and in other states where our people are located. We are selling them our inheritances, in many instances; and some of these people have proven to be of the blood of Israel. We have converted many of them, but I fear that we are not doing our full duty in that regard. And it is that point that I have in mind to impress upon all the people gathered here this afternoon—not alone those whom I have mentioned, these officers, but upon all men and women in the Church, for the Lord exempts no one, as I understand the reading of the revelation. He expects us to find something to do, if we have not been specially called. I wish now to read a few verses from the 58th section of the Book of Covenants:
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."
The Lord expects us to look around and see what can be done of our own accord, and devote ourselves to such work as we are capable and have opportunity of doing for the salvation of the children of men. Now, one more passage, from the 38th section:
"And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.
"And let your preaching be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor, in mildness and in meekness."
Of course, "no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness, and meekness, and love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile." That is the spirit in which we are to exercise our priesthood and our authority, and discharge this obligation, whether it be abroad, or at home. It does seem to me that we have here the voice of the Lord, all that is necessary in the way of authority to justify and place responsibility upon every man, be he Elder, Priest, Teacher, Deacon, or member, to lift his voice in defense of truth and of righteousness, seeking opportunity where he can do good, allaying prejudice, bringing to the knowledge of those who are uninformed the revealed word and will of the Lord. There are many of our people who are diligently engaged in this work. When traveling among them, we discover this fact. I would call attention to several instances that have come under my observation, and the observation of my brethren, in their travels, which have been reported to us.
Some few months ago, while I was in the Fremont stake of Zion, visiting one of the wards, the Bishop reported that during the three years of his administration, in connection with his counselors, the ward teachers, and such help as he had in that ward, they had been the means of bringing into the Church twenty adult members. In one of the wards in Davis stake, it is reported that in nine months time, by organized, systematic, diligent effort, the brethren there had been the means of bringing thirteen out of the twenty-two non-Mormons in that ward into the Church, and others are investigating. And they propose to continue their labors. President Lyman recently visited the Bingham stake, and one of the Bishops of a small ward in that stake reported that, during the past three months, six adults had been baptized into the Church. Visiting in the Morgan stake, a few weeks ago, it was reported by a member of the bishopric of one of the wards that during the past three months twenty-one people over ten years of age, ranging from fifteen, to thirty, several of them married—heads of families—had been brought into the Church. So these instances might be multiplied.
The thought occurs to me, brethren and sisters, Bishops and ward teachers: If in these wards, by systematic, faithful, devoted effort, these have been converted and brought into the Church, is it not possible that there are some of the blood of Israel within the limits of your wards, of your districts, who could be brought, also, to see the truth, if you were to do your full duty by them? The quorums of the Priesthood have all the authority necessary. Every presidency of a quorum have been called, appointed, ordained, set apart for their labors—not alone to preach the Gospel in the world but to minister at home and in their quorums. Do the presidencies of High Priests' quorums, or the Presidencies of the Seventies' quorums, or the Elders' quorums require more authority than has been given to them, to enable them to take up the work in their own quorums? I think not; they have all the authority that is necessary; and the responsibility accompanies the authority. Yet, we find no field, anywhere, that might be more fruitful, through the diligent labors of faithful men, than in these quorums of Priesthood. Therein are men who have repented of their sins, who have come forth and embraced the Gospel; but some have slackened in their efforts; have neglected to labor, the spirit of the Gospel seems to be withdrawn from them, <hey are without the Spirit of the Lord, and are in darkness. We should labor with these men. They may have indulged in habits which are forbidden, and have acquired these habits right under the noses, so to speak, and in the presence of the presidencies of these quorums. I think that these men ought, indeed, of all men to be watchmen upon the towers in Zion, especially to the quorums of Priesthood over which they preside. They should be so familiar with every member of the quorum, by frequent contact with them, in conversation, interviewing them as to their faith and their faithfulness in the discharge of their duties as quorum members, that those members could not deviate far from the narrow way, the path of duty, without being discovered. And when the discovery is made, in the very incipiency of these habits, this labor should be taken up by those who are in the presidency over them, for upon them rests responsibility concerning the life, the faithfulness of their members.
Inasmuch as the Seventies and Elders form the foreign ministry to a very great extent, they ought to be practicing their profession while they are at home, for they have an ample field in the quorums of Priesthood. But, we are told in what I have just read, that the members, as well, have this responsibility. They also should preach, and their preaching should be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor. The requirement of this Gospel, in respect to the preaching of the word, is: "Let every man that is warned, warn his neighbor." There should be no cowards among us. I sometimes think that we neglect our duty as teachers to our fellow men at home, because of cowardice. We are not as bold and courageous as we might be. There may be a cause for this. Perhaps, in some of us the testimony of the truth is not sufficiently grounded into our souls, and, perhaps, our course of life is not what it ought to be, and this condition closes our mouths; it humiliates and embarrasses us when we undertake the performance of our duties. So we ought to remain as faithful, at least, as we were when we came into the Church. Our lives should be worthy the emulation of all men, and thus bring glory to the name of the Lord and to His work. If we were living thus, the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon us, the spirit of our callings would attend us, and we would be fearless in the discharge of our duties, we would have love in our hearts for our fellowmen, and, if the sense of responsibility would not force us to do our duty, the love we would have burning in our souls for our brethren and our sisters, and those who come among us, would cause us to reach out a helping hand and lead them into the narrow way which leads to safety, to salvation and to eternal life.
But notwithstanding all these reasons why we ought to be active, there is too small a percentage, I believe, of the Latter-day Saints, who have the true, real missionary spirit, even among those who have been out in the world and have spent two or three years, and later, perhaps, duplicated it, in the mission field. They come home, and some even forget what manner of men they ought to be as preachers of righteousness, and lose the spirit of missionary work, a thing to be regretted. Why, their talents, their ability, their memory, everything sharpened by that missionary work, qualifies and equips them to do this most necessary work of individual missionary labor. There is a field broad enough, no one is without excuse, and no man, or woman, need be jealous of the opportunities afforded his or her neighbor, for he has all the opportunity of doing good that is necessary.
Now, I would like to impress one thought upon your minds, my brethren and sisters who preside in the stakes and in the wards, in the ' quorums and in the auxiliary associations: that we be chaperones, that we be guardians of the people, that we, indeed, be fathers unto the people, and give unto them that which they most need. Let us cultivate in ourselves this spirit, a desire to teach, to encourage, counsel and advise wherever we have opportunity, wherever we see that it is needful. I promise you, if you engage in this work, it will increase your own faith; it will be an anchor to your souls; it will bring joy and satisfaction to you, and your hope of eternal life will be greatly augmented. Thus engaged, our confidence in the Lord will be increased, and also our assurance that our lives will not be spent in vain, but that we will obtain, in the end, the promised blessing of eternal life. God bless us to this end, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Unity among all the Presiding Quorums.— Prophecies fulfilled.— Responsibility resting upon the Saints. —Elders laboring under Divine appointment.— Work at home: conversions among the Gentiles. — Duty of the Priesthood Quorums.
Work enough for all. I have been trying to take stock of myself and of my faith, since coming into this meeting, this afternoon; and I have concluded that the harmony which exists in the testimonies of my brethren, which have been borne during the meetings of this conference, and my own thoughts and feelings, h an evidence to me that my- faith is about right. I indorse, with all my heart, the testimonies which have been borne, the instructions which have been given to us during the conference. I uphold and sustain, with all my heart, the President of the Church, as such, and as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and mouthpiece of God unto this people; and I thank the Lord for him, for his integrity, for his love of the truth, for his administration of the affairs of the Church of our Master. I uphold and sustain with him his counselors. These as men of God, approved of Him, sustained with willing hearts by the people who know them, and know that their deepest interest is for the welfare and triumph of the work of the Lord. I sustain, with all my heart, the members of the Council of the Twelve. I know these men from association with them, day after day, in counsel and in our administrations among the people, and I know that they have the love of the work at heart. I know of their unity—for they are united, to a man, in every question that has come before us, pertaining to the welfare of this work and of the people. I sustain them, pray for them, and I know that the Lord is with them and blessing their administrations. I uphold and sustain the Council of the Seventy, and I know that this council is in harmony with the Council of the Twelve and the First Presidency. The Presiding Bishopric and the Patriarch are one with these councils. I believe I can say in truth that all the council? of the holy priesthood, throughout the length and breadth of this Church, uphold and sustain the general authorities, and are one with them in interest and labor for the progress of the work of the Lord.
In witnessing the great concourse of people that we had here in this building yesterday, and upon the grounds surrounding this building —knowing that at the same time there was an overflow meeting being held in the Assembly Hall — my thoughts were directed to a revelation found in the eleventh section of the book of Covenants, where the Lord, speaking to the Prophet in the year 1829, before the organization of the Church, said: "A marvelous work is about to come forth upon the earth." When I think of the conditions at that time—(there was no organization of the Church then, but the Lord told the Prophet clearly what He had in mind to accomplish; Joseph was to be the instrument in His hands, the chief of all instruments, in bring it about)—and then when I see what has been accomplished, knowing that all these people are but a small representation of the Latter-day Saints, I saw, and was impressed with the fulfillment of that promise unto Joseph. I rejoice in it, and it makes me more satisfied, better assured that all those other promises that have been made by the Lord through His prophets, pertaining to the ultimate triumph of His work in the last days, will be fulfilled.
In connection with these thoughts, I thought of the wonderful responsibility that rests upon us. Numerous as we are, in the sense that I have spoken of, we are but a handful of our Father's children. The Lord, through His prophet John, upon the Isle of Patmos, referred to a time when the everlasting Gospel would be restored by an angel from heaven. It was to be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. We accept the visitation of the angel Moroni, the message which he brought, the Book of Mormon which contains the everlasting Gospel, and the revelations of the Lord to us since, as a fulfillment of that' prediction, and we have accepted the great responsibility of preaching this Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, throughout the world. We have made efforts to this end. I hope that our efforts are accepted of the Lord. I sometimes wonder if we are doing all that He requires of us in this connection. We aim to maintain, at the present time, in the mission-field, from the stakes of Zion, about two thousand missionaries. They are maintained at a cost of time and money to the elders and to the Church, together with other expenses connected with the mission fields, in the neighborhood of two million dollars per annum, or more closely figuring, $150,000.00 per month. When we think of it in this sense, it is indeed a wonderful work that we are doing in the preaching of the Gospel abroad.
Now, there is another point in connection with this responsibility, that I desire to speak of for a few moments; and that we may be impressed with the greatness of this responsibility, I desire to read a few paragraphs from the third chapter of the Book of Ezekiel. The Lord said to Ezekiel:
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
"When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou giveth him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
"Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
"Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at thine hand."
This is a responsibility—the Lord placed it upon Ezekiel, as a watchman upon the towers of Israel; and we have been commissioned with like authority and with like responsibility. It extends to the preaching of the Gospel in the nations of the earth; and that same responsibility, if I understand correctly, rests upon those of us who remain at home.
Just a few verses from the eleventh section of the book of Covenants. The Lord says, m a revelation given in May, 1829:
"A great and marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
"Behold, I am God, and give heed to my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my word.
"Behold, the field is white already to harvest, therefore, whoso desireth to reap, let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God;
"Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is called of God".
And reading from the 15th paragraph:
"Behold, I command you, that you need not suppose that you are called to preach until you are called."
We read from the scriptures, with reference to authority, that no man taketh the honor upon himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. Aaron was called by the voice of the Lord, through His prophet Moses. This is a principle observed in this Church. One of the articles of our faith reads, "We believe that a man must be called of God by 'prophecy and by the laying on of hands,' by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
There are many men in Zion who have been thus called by the voice of the Lord, through His servants —the way the Lord has appointed, and they have had the hands of the servants of the Lord laid upon them. They have been blest and set apart for their particular ministry. Take for example the presidencies of the various stakes of Zion, the Bishops, and their counselors in the various wards throughout the Church, and the visiting ward Teachers in the labor which they are called to perform: they have all been called, appointed, ordained, blest and set apart for their particular labors; and this responsibility rests heavily upon them, and many other responsibilities not mentioned.
There are today many of Israel being gathered up, coming up to Zion of their own accord. We find them purchasing homes, farms, and business of our people, from one end, I was going to say, of this state to the other; yes, and in other states where our people are located. We are selling them our inheritances, in many instances; and some of these people have proven to be of the blood of Israel. We have converted many of them, but I fear that we are not doing our full duty in that regard. And it is that point that I have in mind to impress upon all the people gathered here this afternoon—not alone those whom I have mentioned, these officers, but upon all men and women in the Church, for the Lord exempts no one, as I understand the reading of the revelation. He expects us to find something to do, if we have not been specially called. I wish now to read a few verses from the 58th section of the Book of Covenants:
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."
The Lord expects us to look around and see what can be done of our own accord, and devote ourselves to such work as we are capable and have opportunity of doing for the salvation of the children of men. Now, one more passage, from the 38th section:
"And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.
"And let your preaching be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor, in mildness and in meekness."
Of course, "no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness, and meekness, and love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile." That is the spirit in which we are to exercise our priesthood and our authority, and discharge this obligation, whether it be abroad, or at home. It does seem to me that we have here the voice of the Lord, all that is necessary in the way of authority to justify and place responsibility upon every man, be he Elder, Priest, Teacher, Deacon, or member, to lift his voice in defense of truth and of righteousness, seeking opportunity where he can do good, allaying prejudice, bringing to the knowledge of those who are uninformed the revealed word and will of the Lord. There are many of our people who are diligently engaged in this work. When traveling among them, we discover this fact. I would call attention to several instances that have come under my observation, and the observation of my brethren, in their travels, which have been reported to us.
Some few months ago, while I was in the Fremont stake of Zion, visiting one of the wards, the Bishop reported that during the three years of his administration, in connection with his counselors, the ward teachers, and such help as he had in that ward, they had been the means of bringing into the Church twenty adult members. In one of the wards in Davis stake, it is reported that in nine months time, by organized, systematic, diligent effort, the brethren there had been the means of bringing thirteen out of the twenty-two non-Mormons in that ward into the Church, and others are investigating. And they propose to continue their labors. President Lyman recently visited the Bingham stake, and one of the Bishops of a small ward in that stake reported that, during the past three months, six adults had been baptized into the Church. Visiting in the Morgan stake, a few weeks ago, it was reported by a member of the bishopric of one of the wards that during the past three months twenty-one people over ten years of age, ranging from fifteen, to thirty, several of them married—heads of families—had been brought into the Church. So these instances might be multiplied.
The thought occurs to me, brethren and sisters, Bishops and ward teachers: If in these wards, by systematic, faithful, devoted effort, these have been converted and brought into the Church, is it not possible that there are some of the blood of Israel within the limits of your wards, of your districts, who could be brought, also, to see the truth, if you were to do your full duty by them? The quorums of the Priesthood have all the authority necessary. Every presidency of a quorum have been called, appointed, ordained, set apart for their labors—not alone to preach the Gospel in the world but to minister at home and in their quorums. Do the presidencies of High Priests' quorums, or the Presidencies of the Seventies' quorums, or the Elders' quorums require more authority than has been given to them, to enable them to take up the work in their own quorums? I think not; they have all the authority that is necessary; and the responsibility accompanies the authority. Yet, we find no field, anywhere, that might be more fruitful, through the diligent labors of faithful men, than in these quorums of Priesthood. Therein are men who have repented of their sins, who have come forth and embraced the Gospel; but some have slackened in their efforts; have neglected to labor, the spirit of the Gospel seems to be withdrawn from them, <hey are without the Spirit of the Lord, and are in darkness. We should labor with these men. They may have indulged in habits which are forbidden, and have acquired these habits right under the noses, so to speak, and in the presence of the presidencies of these quorums. I think that these men ought, indeed, of all men to be watchmen upon the towers in Zion, especially to the quorums of Priesthood over which they preside. They should be so familiar with every member of the quorum, by frequent contact with them, in conversation, interviewing them as to their faith and their faithfulness in the discharge of their duties as quorum members, that those members could not deviate far from the narrow way, the path of duty, without being discovered. And when the discovery is made, in the very incipiency of these habits, this labor should be taken up by those who are in the presidency over them, for upon them rests responsibility concerning the life, the faithfulness of their members.
Inasmuch as the Seventies and Elders form the foreign ministry to a very great extent, they ought to be practicing their profession while they are at home, for they have an ample field in the quorums of Priesthood. But, we are told in what I have just read, that the members, as well, have this responsibility. They also should preach, and their preaching should be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor. The requirement of this Gospel, in respect to the preaching of the word, is: "Let every man that is warned, warn his neighbor." There should be no cowards among us. I sometimes think that we neglect our duty as teachers to our fellow men at home, because of cowardice. We are not as bold and courageous as we might be. There may be a cause for this. Perhaps, in some of us the testimony of the truth is not sufficiently grounded into our souls, and, perhaps, our course of life is not what it ought to be, and this condition closes our mouths; it humiliates and embarrasses us when we undertake the performance of our duties. So we ought to remain as faithful, at least, as we were when we came into the Church. Our lives should be worthy the emulation of all men, and thus bring glory to the name of the Lord and to His work. If we were living thus, the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon us, the spirit of our callings would attend us, and we would be fearless in the discharge of our duties, we would have love in our hearts for our fellowmen, and, if the sense of responsibility would not force us to do our duty, the love we would have burning in our souls for our brethren and our sisters, and those who come among us, would cause us to reach out a helping hand and lead them into the narrow way which leads to safety, to salvation and to eternal life.
But notwithstanding all these reasons why we ought to be active, there is too small a percentage, I believe, of the Latter-day Saints, who have the true, real missionary spirit, even among those who have been out in the world and have spent two or three years, and later, perhaps, duplicated it, in the mission field. They come home, and some even forget what manner of men they ought to be as preachers of righteousness, and lose the spirit of missionary work, a thing to be regretted. Why, their talents, their ability, their memory, everything sharpened by that missionary work, qualifies and equips them to do this most necessary work of individual missionary labor. There is a field broad enough, no one is without excuse, and no man, or woman, need be jealous of the opportunities afforded his or her neighbor, for he has all the opportunity of doing good that is necessary.
Now, I would like to impress one thought upon your minds, my brethren and sisters who preside in the stakes and in the wards, in the ' quorums and in the auxiliary associations: that we be chaperones, that we be guardians of the people, that we, indeed, be fathers unto the people, and give unto them that which they most need. Let us cultivate in ourselves this spirit, a desire to teach, to encourage, counsel and advise wherever we have opportunity, wherever we see that it is needful. I promise you, if you engage in this work, it will increase your own faith; it will be an anchor to your souls; it will bring joy and satisfaction to you, and your hope of eternal life will be greatly augmented. Thus engaged, our confidence in the Lord will be increased, and also our assurance that our lives will not be spent in vain, but that we will obtain, in the end, the promised blessing of eternal life. God bless us to this end, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY.
The President of the Church and the President of the Nation.—God finds and qualifies His servants.—The power of Presidency.—No officer chosen for personal reasons.—An abundance of material for the Lord's work.—President Taft's "sermon." —Christ's doctrine.—A mission of Salvation.
"Our President." I see these words confronting me, in letters of colossal size; and I can think of no better text for the few remarks that I shall make on this occasion. The motto hung in the eastern end of the Tabernacle was placed there in honor of the President of the United States, who recently paid Utah a visit, and spoke to the assembled citizens from this stand. I desire to refer to him before I complete my discourse; but for the present I wish to speak of our other President, if he will pardon me for being personal in his direction —I mean President Joseph F. Smith, the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While President Smith "was speaking, yesterday morning, with such earnestness and power— a greater power than any of his brethren can hope to command and exercise— I was reminded of some conversations that I had not long ago with two of the brethren numbered among the general authorities of the Church. Each one said, in substance, "I would not know where to look to find another man to lead this Church; if I should survey the land from one end to the other, I do not believe I could find as good a man, a man as well qualified for that position, as President Joseph F. Smith." I agreed with my brethren; but I thought then, and the thought has recurred to me now: it is not my business to find the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; that is the Lord's business. I have full confidence that the Lord could find a man to preside over this Church at any time, and that He would qualify him and equip him to the performance of his duty to that degree that the people would feel, as they feel now towards our honored President, that he is the right man for his time and place.
I presume this question arose during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the first President of the Church. Doubtless many of the Latter-day Saints then asked themselves the question: What would we do if the Prophet were taken away? Where would we find another president, another leader? The Prophet seemed absolutely indispensable to his generation; but when the Lord saw fit to take him, another man arose—up to that time not noted, any more that several of the brethren with whom he was associated. He was a mighty man, and they were mighty men. But when the mantle of Joseph fell upon him, when God had chosen Brigham Young to be His prophet, and the Saints had sustained him with the uplifted hand and with the power of their faith and prayers, as their president, where was the man in all Israel who could compare with President Brigham Young? He had all the natural gifts before he was President that he had after he became President; but it was not his right, not his prerogative to exercise the power of presidency until it had been duly placed upon him, until the people had sustained him in that position and signified, by their uplifted hands, that they proposed to be loyal to him, to uphold him and make him strong. God chose Brigham Young and placed the power of presidency upon him. That was the secret of his might—the secret of his success. This is the Lord's work, and it is the Lord who makes His servants mighty. When President Young drew near to his end, many were asking themselves the question: who will take his place? Where is there another man of his sagacity, his wisdom, his executive ability? Brigham Young had made himself almost indispensable to the Latter-day Saints, and in the world, among the Gentiles, speculation was rife, and predictions were numerous to the effect that when Brigham Young died Mormonism would be at an end. I remember an utterance of one reverend gentleman who never bore the Latter-day Saints any good will—Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage. In the Brooklyn Tabernacle, just after President Young died, this reverend gentleman called upon the government to strike at Mormonism. "Now is the time," he said, "while they are scattered and confused, while they are without leadership. Now is the ' time for the government of the United States to strike." On another occasion he said, "Thunder into them the seventh commandment, with shot and shell and cannon of the biggest bore." But the "confusion" that the reverend gentleman imagined, did not exist. There was no confusion. There may have been some question as to who was qualified to take the place of Brigham Young at the head of the Church; but when John Taylor had been sustained as President, when the people had united their prayers in his behalf, and God had clothed him with the power of the presidency, it was perfectly apparent to the Latter-day Saints that another leader had been provided, and that he, from that time, would be the strongest and mightiest man among them.
It was the same when President Taylor died; it was the same when President Woodruff died; and when President Snow passed away, the man for the time and place was found; as he always will be. It is the Lord's business to find him and to qualify him for His work; and the Lord has never failed. This is my testimony concerning all the leaders, of Israel including our honored and beloved President Joseph F. Smith.
I remember when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated—Wilford Woodruff was then President of the Church—Wilford Woodruff, that humble man, who did not deem himself fitted, if I am correctly informed, scarcely believed himself worthy to be the President, and shrunk, in native modesty and humility, from presenting himself to his brethren as their leader, and would fain have retired and had some one else hold the reins of power. But, when his brethren united upon him and sustained him, and the people gave their prayers and their votes in his behalf, who could compare with President Wilford Woodruff, the Prophet of God? I saw him arise, day after day, in the dedication services of the Temple. There were gifted men around him—mighty men, strong and capable—but none could approach him in power and majesty. There were times when he towered like a mountain among hills; because God was with him, and it was not the prerogative of any man, while he lived and held the reins of authority, to exercise the same degree of spiritual power.
I do not believe, brethren and sisters, that the Lord ever exalts any man or woman to office for his or her own sake. I do not believe that I am standing where I stand today because of any desire on the part of our Heavenly Father to glorify me, or to glorify my father's family; and I do not believe it of any of these men, my brethren. I do not believe it of President Smith. I do not believe it of the Lord — that He has pets and favorites, and that He is interested in advancing the private fortunes of any man. He is thinking of His people, of the general good, of the salvation of the world. When He chooses men and women and places His power upon them it is because they can better be used in the places where He puts them, than anywhere else, for the general welfare. The reason President Smith presides over us, and exercises greater power than any other man can hope to exercise, is because the Lord wants him where he is, and can work through him there to better advantage than through any other man at the present time. I believe this is the principle of promotion in the Church of Christ.
I believe there are just as good men down in the ranks as occupy high positions—and some strong men are needed in the ranks. They cannot all be Apostles; they cannot all be High Councilors; they cannot all be Bishops; but they can all be men of God. I have never believed that the all-wise Being who made this earth—and who had made millions of earths like it, and had peopled them, redeemed them, and glorified them—would fail to provide Himself with enough material to carry on His work. I believe there is an abundance of material, in the various quorums of the Priesthood, and scattered through the twelve tribes of Israel —an abundance of material out of which to make Bishops and Stake Presidents and Apostles in the due rime of the Lord, according to His will. When an ax-handle breaks, there is a forest of timber from which to select a new one. I do not believe that our Heavenly Father is impoverished; that He has left Himself without men and without resources to carry out His great and beneficent designs. Therefore, we can be comforted , we can afford to take an optimistic view, and face the future with hope and confidence, knowing that God is at the helm, that the right man is at our head, and that the right man will always be found at the proper time and in the proper place.
I believe, also, that the right man is now at the head of this nation. I felt honored in being one of the congregation that assembled here, a week ago yesterday morning, to hear our other President deliver his so-called sermon to the citizens of Utah—Mormon, Jew, and Gentile. I rejoice that I have lived to see the day when the President of the United States could come here as the guest of the whole people, and speak to the whole people, and be the friend to all the people. I believe President Taft is the right man for the place he occupies, and that he is entitled to our friendship and sympathy. He has more power and more prestige, at this time, than any other man throughout the nation,—and he has a right to have it. There are eighty or ninety millions of people praying for him — such of them as do pray, at least Democrats as well as Republicans, and all others. They are loyal to the head of the nation; and that loyalty and love and sympathy cannot fail to contribute much toward making him our wisest and strongest man in civic affairs. It ought to be so, and it is so. I rejoice that he is a friend to Utah and to all her people, and that Mormons, Jews, and Gentiles could assemble here on that notable occasion, to honor him and receive instructions at his hands.
Now I wish to read two short paragraphs of President Taft's so-called sermon, based upon the text which he chose from Proverbs: "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." In the course of his remarks, the President said:
"My dear friends, this matter of hatred and resentment which accompanies the attributing of bad motives to those who differ with you, is a source of a waste of nervous strength, of time, of worry, without accomplishing one single good thing. I don't know how it has been with you, but it has happened, time and time again, with me, that some man has done something that I didn't like, which I thought had a personal bearing, and that I have said in my heart, 'Times will change, and I will get even with that gentleman ;'—O, I don't profess to be free from those feelings at all—but it has frequently happened, I may say generally, that the time did come when I could get even with that man, and when that time came, it seemed to me that I would demean myself and that it would show me no man at all, if I took advantage."
Later on he said:
"So, my friends, what I am urging is less acrimony in public discussion, more charity with respect to each other, as to what moves each man to do what he does do, and not to charge dishonesty and corruption until you have a real reason for doing so. I am the last man to pardon or mitigate wrongs against the public or against the individual. I believe, and I regret to say, that throughout this country the administration of the criminal law, and the prosecution of crime, is a disgrace to our civilization. But it is one thing to prosecute a criminal when you have the evidence, and it is another thing "to ascribe motives to an act of a man, when you have not any evidence and are just living in your imagination in respect to what you say."
I am not going to waste time in any speculations as to how much of this sermon was intended for the Mormons and how much of it for the Gentiles. I think it was intended for me; I think President Taft meant me—I saw him looking at me when he said it. (Laughter); and I saw him looking at you, too; and he meant you, every one of you that was here, and a great many more that were not here. Speaking for myself, brethren and sisters, I want to say that I am in full and hearty sympathy with these noble sentiments uttered by the Chief Magistrate of the Republic. I desire to be charitable to my brethren and sisters and to my fellow- men. I don't want to live in my imagination as to their motives and their acts. I don't want to think my neighbor a worse man than he is; I want to be just to him, and I desire, also, to be merciful. I believe this to be in consonance with the principles that our Savior died to introduce. The mission of Christ would have been a failure if it had not been a mission of love, of forgiveness, of charity to all mankind; and Mormonism, as it is called, is no more nor less than the Gospel of Christ. It teaches us to be charitable to all men. It teaches us to return good for evil—not to retaliate. If we get a man into a corner who has injured us, we cannot afford to condescend to his level, and treat him as he has treated us. We ought to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. That is Christ's doctrine. President Taft was but paraphrasing the Savior's teachings upon this point. To love God with all our might, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves — upon these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets; and that man or woman who cannot forgive, who seeks revenge and has no higher conception of duty than to cherish hatred and practice retaliation—has a small soul and needs to have it expanded and enlarged by the Spirit of Christ. We cannot afford to descend to base levels. We are here to save men; we have been chosen and sent into the world for this purpose, and we must show men that we love them —not their wickedness; God does not love the wickedness of the world, but He loves His sons and daughters, and is anxious to save them. He is not trying to damn a single soul. Our mission is a mission of peace, of charity, of forgiveness, and love; and the Gospel that we preach and try to practice is the power of God unto salvation. Amen.
The President of the Church and the President of the Nation.—God finds and qualifies His servants.—The power of Presidency.—No officer chosen for personal reasons.—An abundance of material for the Lord's work.—President Taft's "sermon." —Christ's doctrine.—A mission of Salvation.
"Our President." I see these words confronting me, in letters of colossal size; and I can think of no better text for the few remarks that I shall make on this occasion. The motto hung in the eastern end of the Tabernacle was placed there in honor of the President of the United States, who recently paid Utah a visit, and spoke to the assembled citizens from this stand. I desire to refer to him before I complete my discourse; but for the present I wish to speak of our other President, if he will pardon me for being personal in his direction —I mean President Joseph F. Smith, the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While President Smith "was speaking, yesterday morning, with such earnestness and power— a greater power than any of his brethren can hope to command and exercise— I was reminded of some conversations that I had not long ago with two of the brethren numbered among the general authorities of the Church. Each one said, in substance, "I would not know where to look to find another man to lead this Church; if I should survey the land from one end to the other, I do not believe I could find as good a man, a man as well qualified for that position, as President Joseph F. Smith." I agreed with my brethren; but I thought then, and the thought has recurred to me now: it is not my business to find the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; that is the Lord's business. I have full confidence that the Lord could find a man to preside over this Church at any time, and that He would qualify him and equip him to the performance of his duty to that degree that the people would feel, as they feel now towards our honored President, that he is the right man for his time and place.
I presume this question arose during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the first President of the Church. Doubtless many of the Latter-day Saints then asked themselves the question: What would we do if the Prophet were taken away? Where would we find another president, another leader? The Prophet seemed absolutely indispensable to his generation; but when the Lord saw fit to take him, another man arose—up to that time not noted, any more that several of the brethren with whom he was associated. He was a mighty man, and they were mighty men. But when the mantle of Joseph fell upon him, when God had chosen Brigham Young to be His prophet, and the Saints had sustained him with the uplifted hand and with the power of their faith and prayers, as their president, where was the man in all Israel who could compare with President Brigham Young? He had all the natural gifts before he was President that he had after he became President; but it was not his right, not his prerogative to exercise the power of presidency until it had been duly placed upon him, until the people had sustained him in that position and signified, by their uplifted hands, that they proposed to be loyal to him, to uphold him and make him strong. God chose Brigham Young and placed the power of presidency upon him. That was the secret of his might—the secret of his success. This is the Lord's work, and it is the Lord who makes His servants mighty. When President Young drew near to his end, many were asking themselves the question: who will take his place? Where is there another man of his sagacity, his wisdom, his executive ability? Brigham Young had made himself almost indispensable to the Latter-day Saints, and in the world, among the Gentiles, speculation was rife, and predictions were numerous to the effect that when Brigham Young died Mormonism would be at an end. I remember an utterance of one reverend gentleman who never bore the Latter-day Saints any good will—Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage. In the Brooklyn Tabernacle, just after President Young died, this reverend gentleman called upon the government to strike at Mormonism. "Now is the time," he said, "while they are scattered and confused, while they are without leadership. Now is the ' time for the government of the United States to strike." On another occasion he said, "Thunder into them the seventh commandment, with shot and shell and cannon of the biggest bore." But the "confusion" that the reverend gentleman imagined, did not exist. There was no confusion. There may have been some question as to who was qualified to take the place of Brigham Young at the head of the Church; but when John Taylor had been sustained as President, when the people had united their prayers in his behalf, and God had clothed him with the power of the presidency, it was perfectly apparent to the Latter-day Saints that another leader had been provided, and that he, from that time, would be the strongest and mightiest man among them.
It was the same when President Taylor died; it was the same when President Woodruff died; and when President Snow passed away, the man for the time and place was found; as he always will be. It is the Lord's business to find him and to qualify him for His work; and the Lord has never failed. This is my testimony concerning all the leaders, of Israel including our honored and beloved President Joseph F. Smith.
I remember when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated—Wilford Woodruff was then President of the Church—Wilford Woodruff, that humble man, who did not deem himself fitted, if I am correctly informed, scarcely believed himself worthy to be the President, and shrunk, in native modesty and humility, from presenting himself to his brethren as their leader, and would fain have retired and had some one else hold the reins of power. But, when his brethren united upon him and sustained him, and the people gave their prayers and their votes in his behalf, who could compare with President Wilford Woodruff, the Prophet of God? I saw him arise, day after day, in the dedication services of the Temple. There were gifted men around him—mighty men, strong and capable—but none could approach him in power and majesty. There were times when he towered like a mountain among hills; because God was with him, and it was not the prerogative of any man, while he lived and held the reins of authority, to exercise the same degree of spiritual power.
I do not believe, brethren and sisters, that the Lord ever exalts any man or woman to office for his or her own sake. I do not believe that I am standing where I stand today because of any desire on the part of our Heavenly Father to glorify me, or to glorify my father's family; and I do not believe it of any of these men, my brethren. I do not believe it of President Smith. I do not believe it of the Lord — that He has pets and favorites, and that He is interested in advancing the private fortunes of any man. He is thinking of His people, of the general good, of the salvation of the world. When He chooses men and women and places His power upon them it is because they can better be used in the places where He puts them, than anywhere else, for the general welfare. The reason President Smith presides over us, and exercises greater power than any other man can hope to exercise, is because the Lord wants him where he is, and can work through him there to better advantage than through any other man at the present time. I believe this is the principle of promotion in the Church of Christ.
I believe there are just as good men down in the ranks as occupy high positions—and some strong men are needed in the ranks. They cannot all be Apostles; they cannot all be High Councilors; they cannot all be Bishops; but they can all be men of God. I have never believed that the all-wise Being who made this earth—and who had made millions of earths like it, and had peopled them, redeemed them, and glorified them—would fail to provide Himself with enough material to carry on His work. I believe there is an abundance of material, in the various quorums of the Priesthood, and scattered through the twelve tribes of Israel —an abundance of material out of which to make Bishops and Stake Presidents and Apostles in the due rime of the Lord, according to His will. When an ax-handle breaks, there is a forest of timber from which to select a new one. I do not believe that our Heavenly Father is impoverished; that He has left Himself without men and without resources to carry out His great and beneficent designs. Therefore, we can be comforted , we can afford to take an optimistic view, and face the future with hope and confidence, knowing that God is at the helm, that the right man is at our head, and that the right man will always be found at the proper time and in the proper place.
I believe, also, that the right man is now at the head of this nation. I felt honored in being one of the congregation that assembled here, a week ago yesterday morning, to hear our other President deliver his so-called sermon to the citizens of Utah—Mormon, Jew, and Gentile. I rejoice that I have lived to see the day when the President of the United States could come here as the guest of the whole people, and speak to the whole people, and be the friend to all the people. I believe President Taft is the right man for the place he occupies, and that he is entitled to our friendship and sympathy. He has more power and more prestige, at this time, than any other man throughout the nation,—and he has a right to have it. There are eighty or ninety millions of people praying for him — such of them as do pray, at least Democrats as well as Republicans, and all others. They are loyal to the head of the nation; and that loyalty and love and sympathy cannot fail to contribute much toward making him our wisest and strongest man in civic affairs. It ought to be so, and it is so. I rejoice that he is a friend to Utah and to all her people, and that Mormons, Jews, and Gentiles could assemble here on that notable occasion, to honor him and receive instructions at his hands.
Now I wish to read two short paragraphs of President Taft's so-called sermon, based upon the text which he chose from Proverbs: "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." In the course of his remarks, the President said:
"My dear friends, this matter of hatred and resentment which accompanies the attributing of bad motives to those who differ with you, is a source of a waste of nervous strength, of time, of worry, without accomplishing one single good thing. I don't know how it has been with you, but it has happened, time and time again, with me, that some man has done something that I didn't like, which I thought had a personal bearing, and that I have said in my heart, 'Times will change, and I will get even with that gentleman ;'—O, I don't profess to be free from those feelings at all—but it has frequently happened, I may say generally, that the time did come when I could get even with that man, and when that time came, it seemed to me that I would demean myself and that it would show me no man at all, if I took advantage."
Later on he said:
"So, my friends, what I am urging is less acrimony in public discussion, more charity with respect to each other, as to what moves each man to do what he does do, and not to charge dishonesty and corruption until you have a real reason for doing so. I am the last man to pardon or mitigate wrongs against the public or against the individual. I believe, and I regret to say, that throughout this country the administration of the criminal law, and the prosecution of crime, is a disgrace to our civilization. But it is one thing to prosecute a criminal when you have the evidence, and it is another thing "to ascribe motives to an act of a man, when you have not any evidence and are just living in your imagination in respect to what you say."
I am not going to waste time in any speculations as to how much of this sermon was intended for the Mormons and how much of it for the Gentiles. I think it was intended for me; I think President Taft meant me—I saw him looking at me when he said it. (Laughter); and I saw him looking at you, too; and he meant you, every one of you that was here, and a great many more that were not here. Speaking for myself, brethren and sisters, I want to say that I am in full and hearty sympathy with these noble sentiments uttered by the Chief Magistrate of the Republic. I desire to be charitable to my brethren and sisters and to my fellow- men. I don't want to live in my imagination as to their motives and their acts. I don't want to think my neighbor a worse man than he is; I want to be just to him, and I desire, also, to be merciful. I believe this to be in consonance with the principles that our Savior died to introduce. The mission of Christ would have been a failure if it had not been a mission of love, of forgiveness, of charity to all mankind; and Mormonism, as it is called, is no more nor less than the Gospel of Christ. It teaches us to be charitable to all men. It teaches us to return good for evil—not to retaliate. If we get a man into a corner who has injured us, we cannot afford to condescend to his level, and treat him as he has treated us. We ought to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. That is Christ's doctrine. President Taft was but paraphrasing the Savior's teachings upon this point. To love God with all our might, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves — upon these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets; and that man or woman who cannot forgive, who seeks revenge and has no higher conception of duty than to cherish hatred and practice retaliation—has a small soul and needs to have it expanded and enlarged by the Spirit of Christ. We cannot afford to descend to base levels. We are here to save men; we have been chosen and sent into the world for this purpose, and we must show men that we love them —not their wickedness; God does not love the wickedness of the world, but He loves His sons and daughters, and is anxious to save them. He is not trying to damn a single soul. Our mission is a mission of peace, of charity, of forgiveness, and love; and the Gospel that we preach and try to practice is the power of God unto salvation. Amen.
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY.
The care and training of children. — The blessing of work.—Hugo's admonition to a young man.—Exhortation to officers and members of the Church.—Good work of three Elders.
Yesterday morning when our President suggested to this vast assemblage that they move nearer together in their seats, in order to give brethren and sisters who were standing a little room to sit down, there was a universal movement throughout this tabernacle. It was surprising to those who could look over the audience, to see how just a little one-sixteenth of an inch, multiplied by probably ten thousand, made room for so many people. There was a universal response to that suggestion. Some were unable to give even the sixteenth of an inch, but they wiggled all the same. (Laughter). I thought, why cannot all Israel respond as readily to his suggestion to guard well their children. We can move ever so little, perhaps; but let us move and do something to improve the environment into which our children are thrown.
"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." How many times, dear parents, has God visited your homes and given into your charge one of these precious souls? Did you hear, at each visit, the Savior's words: Suffer this little babe to come back to me, and forbid him not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven?
Last evening, about five o'clock, four brethren were riding down Main Street in an automobile. Just as they passed First South Street, they heard a little plaintive cry, "Papa! papa! papa! wait." The father was the chauffeur, and his ready ear recognized his son's voice. He brought the machine instantly to a standstill. As the men looked out the}' saw coming out of that bustling, jostling crowd of humanity, a little nine-year-old boy, out of breath, panting, crying, because of his effort to overtake the machine, which he had spied going along Main Street, to get to his father. The father said, "Why, where have you been, my son?" "I have been looking for you." "Well did you leave the place where we appointed to meet?" "Yes, I went up to see where you were." He understood that he was to meet up here, in front of the tabernacle. The father evidently meant to meet the child farther down the street. Through a misunderstanding, however, the son had become separated from his parent, and the little child was thrown into that vast throng, unprotected. He knew his way home; he was safe. If he had missed his father, he would have taken the street car and, probably before the shades of night closed in upon him, he would be safely nestled with father and mother and brothers and sisters in one of the most cheerful homes in this city.
I believe that illustrates the keynote of warning that was sounded to us Sunday morning. Fathers, is there a misunderstanding between you and your sons? Is there one wandering amidst the throngs of life, surrounded with all kinds of temptations, and you expecting to meet him at an appointed place which he does not know? He may not come out from that throng and cry, "Father, father!" and if he should, your ears might be deaf to that call, because of the concentration of your mind upon the affairs of life. So you might speed by him and leave him in the midst of evil, to find his own way home. Take your sons with you along this road of life, that you may have them with you in that eternal home where there is everlasting peace and contentment. When our children are given us, and that admonition "Suffer them to come back to Me" is given, three means of developing them are at hand: The first is home influence; the second, activities —avenues of action, including vocations and avocations; and third, social environment. In all three of these there must be the predominating element of salvation—I mean, now, physically, intellectually, spiritually. And what is it? Work. Work in the- home. Work; legitimate work, in the avenues of life. Work, legitimate work in the social world.
Of work in the home I shall say nothing this afternoon. We have had excellent sermons on home life; and we shall hear more. The importance of home, as. a saving influence, not only of children but of communities and of the nation, we fully realize, I believe; and it is well we do, for today some educators in our leading universities are saying that the home, as an institution, is doomed. Put that doctrine with some of the doctrines that we heard this morning educators are preaching, and see if we had better not guard well our children from some of the so-called educational theories of the day. Our homes are homes of salvation. Home is the safeguard of the nation.
I desire to say a word about work as a means, I say, of salvation to the individual. Work! O how often do we read in the scriptures about the blessings that come from doing. Eternal life rests upon the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Now, note it, "This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." How do you get that knowledge? In another place He says, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." There you have the doing, the work, associated with the knowledge, and knowledge bringing eternal life — "To know Thee is eternal life." To do is to know.
In our physical being there is no development, there is no growth, without activity; in the intellectual world there is no advancement without effort, work; and in the spiritual world, in the development of our spirits, there is no growth without effort. There is no salvation without work. I do not mean, now, redemption from death — Christ has done that; He has given us all that we need to get by way of salvation. The doctrine of work does not rob Him of any of His glory. "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God." But aside from that, the individual growth and advancement, the individual knowledge, the advancement in God's truth, depends upon the doing of God's will. Let us teach ourselves that; let us teach our children and give them something to do; let them know the sin of idleness.
Joseph Smith, the prophet, has repeatedly given us the assurance that God will not support the idler, that the idler has no place in this Church. The children should know it—O these young men, some of whom belong to us, who are looking forward to a life of ease, to clean clothes, soft white hands—the result, they think of leisure or of wealth! I say, these young men should be warned of the danger of that kind of life. I have here an admonition from Hugo, given by a supposed reformed criminal to a young man who had just started out on a criminal career. I will read it:
"My boy, you are entering, by sloth, into the most laborious of existences. Ah! You declare yourself an idler; then prepare yourself for labor. Have you ever seen a formidable machine which is called a flatting-press? You must be on your guard against it, for it is a crafty and ferocious thing, and if it catch you by the skirt of the coat it drags you under it entirely. This machine is indolence. Stop while there is yet time, and save yourself. Otherwise, it is all over with you, and ere long you will be among the cogwheels. Once caught, hope for nothing more. You will be forced to fatigue yourself, idler, and no rest will be allowed you, for the iron hand of implacable toil has seized you. You refuse to earn your livelihood,—have a calling and accomplish' a duty; it bores you to be like the rest: well, you will be different. Labor is the law, and whoever repulses it as a bore must have it as a punishment: You do not wish to be a laborer, and you will be a slave; toil only lets you loose on one side to seize you again on the other; you do not wish to be its friend, and you will be its negro. Ah, you did not care for the honest fatigue of men, and you are about to know the sweat of the damned; while others sing you will groan. You will see other men working in the distance, and they will seem to you to be resting. The laborer, the reaper, the sailor, the blacksmith, will appear to you in the light, like the blessed inmates of a paradise. What a radiance there is in the anvil! What a joy it is to guide the plow, and tie up the sheaf! What a holiday to fly before the wind in a boat! But you, idler, will have to dig and rag, and roll and walk! Pull at your halter, for you are a beast of burden in the service of hell! So your desire is to do nothing? Well, you will not have a week, a day, an hour without feeling crushed. You will not be able to lift anything without agony, and every passing minute will make your muscles crack. What is a feather for others will be a rock for you, and the most simple things will grow seamed. Life will become a monster around you, and coming, going, breathing, will be so many terrible tasks for you.
"What precipices are sloth and pleasure! To do nothing is a melancholy resolution, are you aware of that? To live; n indolence on the social substance! to be useless, that is to say, injurious! This leads straight to the bottom of misery.
"Woe to the man who wishes to be a parasite, for he will be a vermin! Ah! it does not please you to work! Ah! you have only one thought, to drink well, eat well, and sleep well. You will drink water; you will eat black bread; you will sleep on a plank, with fetters riveted to your limbs, and feel their coldness at night in your flesh! You will break these fetters and fly; very good. You will drag yourself on your stomach into the shrubs and eat grass like the beasts of the field, and you will pass years in a dungeon, chained to the wall, groping in the dark for your water jug, biting at frightful black bread which dogs would refuse, and eating beans which maggots have eaten before you. .You will be a woodlouse in a cellar. Ah! Ah! take a pity on yourself, wretched boy, still so young, who were at your nurse's breast not twenty years ago, and have doubtless a mother still! I implore you to listen to me. You will want fine black cloth, polished shoes, to scent your head with fragrant oil, to please creatures, and be a pretty fellow; you will have your hair close shaven and wear a red jacket and wooden shoes. You want a ring on your finger, and will wear a collar on your neck, and if you look at a woman you will be beaten. And you will go in there at twenty and come out at fifty years of age. You will go in young, red-cheeked, healthy, with your sparkling eyes, and all your white teeth, and your curly locks, and you will come out again broken, bent, wrinkled, toothless, horrible, and gray-headed! Ah! my poor boy, you are on the wrong road, and indolence is a bad adviser, for robbery is the hardest of labors. Take my advice and do not undertake the laborious task of being an idler. To become a rogue is inconvenient, and it is not nearly so hard to be an honest man. Now go and think over what I have said to you."
In social environment may be included all our Church influences. As I look at the organization, given through the Prophet Joseph Smith to the world in this dispensation; as I occasionally catch a glimpse of the possibilities of the quorums and organizations in this Church, I feel to exclaim, O Lord, my God, how marvelous are Thy works! "Great is Thy wisdom, marvelous are Thy ways! and the extent of Thy doings none can find out!" The organization of the Church is so perfect that every man, woman and child within the Church can find something to do; and therein depends the advancement of the person's spiritual welfare. He has a chance to work in the Church of Christ, no matter how young a boy or how old a man. Now, think, what that means. You go over, in your minds, the organizations as revealed to us in this dispensation. Go first from the First Presidency, down through the Twelve, the High Priests, the Seventy, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, all that line of Priesthood. See that mighty army of men, ready to do—what? Called upon to do what? To work for the Lord. We heard, this afternoon, that not one of those men have been called to the position to honor him, but he has been called into the service of the Lord. What does it mean? It means work; work means knowledge; knowledge means eternal life. O, brethren and sisters, shall we not, as parents, put our boys and girls into that environment? If we do not, are we not unmindful of the call of Christ to suffer the children to come back to Him? Are we negligent as parents, in seeing that our boys as deacons go to these quorum meetings? Are we negligent, as parents, and fail to see that our daughters get to their auxiliary meetings? Think of it. The note has been sounded; are we going to move? Presidents of quorums: The Lord has said to you, as you will read in the 107th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, that it is your duty to meet with your quorum. If you are the president of a deacon's quorum, you are to meet with twelve deacons, and preside over them, to sit in counsel with them, and to teach them their duties. O, deacons, throughout the world! respond to that call. Do your duty, Bishops, you who hold the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood; guide the young men in this activity. Are they slothful? Are they inactive? If they are, some of the results of inactivity mentioned before as befalling the idle individual will afflict the quorum in your ward. Mark it, it will not fulfill its place in the councils of the Church, unless it be active as a council, as a quorum. This is true of the Teachers, of the Priests, the Elders, the Seventies, the High Priests, and all.
I remember visiting, recently, the sugar factory, in Sugar City, Idaho. Brother Austin took me through it when every wheel was quiet; the engine was cold; the chimneys stood like specters; the wheels were dry and covered with dust; the sparrows were building their nests in wheels that a few months before hummed with industry. Men had to be hired to keep the dust off the machinery, to make repairs, to keep the factory from going into decay. I thought, that is always the result of inactivity. No sugar was manufactured in that inactivity. There were no laborers employed, except those hired to keep the factory from going into absolute decay. But when the power was turned on, then raw products were changed to useful articles, which are carried into the homes, throughout the world. Sometimes part of the machinery is shut up, closed down, and only one part—that of refining—used. I sometimes think that in our Church we are using just part of the machinery that God has placed in our hands. So many of these quorums are lying in inactivity; dust is accumulating. Shall we not work and get them into prominence, bring them into operation? As presidents of quorums, let us meet in council; let us think over what men in our quorums are neglecting their duty. In 1899, in one of the Elders quorums in this city, three young men were called to preside. At their first meeting there were only six men present in the Elders quorum. "Well," they said, "this will not do; let us institute systematic visiting." And so they did. Those men, as presidents, carrying the responsibility, went out to visit the Elders of that quorum. They went into one house, and asked the man to take up Elder's work, but he said, "No, I will not go to Elders meeting." "May we have a meeting here tonight?" was asked. "Yes." They sang, prayed, spent an hour or so with the man and his wife. At the conclusion of it, the man promised that he would attend Elders' meeting. The wife, who was unconverted, and who knew little or nothing of the workings of the Church, who lacked a knowledge of it, because of inactivity, began to cry because her husband's going to meeting would take him away from home. "A mission will be next," she said. However, that young man promised to go to meeting on this condition; that he would not be asked to take part. "All right," said the brethren. But it was not long before he was willing to take part on the program. They assigned him a subject, and the brother who told me of this incident, said it was painful to see what that poor man suffered the first time he stood up before his brethren. Those in the meeting deeply sympathized with the man who was making his first effort in public. At the conclusion of it the brother said, "You did well.” "No," said the man, "I want another chance; I believe I can do better." He did do better, and he became a strong power in influencing other Elders of his crowd to come out to their meetings.
They went into another home and met a similar spirit of indifference. They asked permission to pray, and were told "No." They talked to the man a little while, and finally he said, "Well, you may kneel down and pray, if you want to." "Will you kneel with us?" "No." After a little kind persuasion, he knelt down. At the conclusion of the meeting in that home, this second Elder, following the brethren to the door, broke down and cried, confessed that he had been out away from the influence of the Church, had been in another environment, and said, "Keep with me, work with me, and help me to get back into Church environment." The president of that Elder's quorum is now sitting on this stand, a member of the presiding bishopric. He and his fellow-workers increased the attendance of the quorum from six to over one hundred during that year.
There is a practical example of doing. What was accomplished in this Elder's quorum in this city can be done throughout the entire Church. My brethren and sisters, the quorums and organizations are means put into our hands whereby we may bring our children back to Christ. "Suffer them to come." God help us in guiding them, and may He keep us true; that we may increase our own testimonies in this work; that we may know of its eternal application to our needs; that we may know what happiness comes through living virtuous, pure lives. Let us take up our children and carry them with us, along this road of life. No other purpose of life is more worthy, more admirable. Let us teach them to work, and to realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love to work is success. Amen.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Our God, we raise to Thee
Thanks for Thy blessings free
We here enjoy;
In this far western land,
A true and chosen band,
Led hither by Thy hand,
We sing for joy.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Joseph E. Taylor.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Wednesday, October 6th.
The care and training of children. — The blessing of work.—Hugo's admonition to a young man.—Exhortation to officers and members of the Church.—Good work of three Elders.
Yesterday morning when our President suggested to this vast assemblage that they move nearer together in their seats, in order to give brethren and sisters who were standing a little room to sit down, there was a universal movement throughout this tabernacle. It was surprising to those who could look over the audience, to see how just a little one-sixteenth of an inch, multiplied by probably ten thousand, made room for so many people. There was a universal response to that suggestion. Some were unable to give even the sixteenth of an inch, but they wiggled all the same. (Laughter). I thought, why cannot all Israel respond as readily to his suggestion to guard well their children. We can move ever so little, perhaps; but let us move and do something to improve the environment into which our children are thrown.
"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." How many times, dear parents, has God visited your homes and given into your charge one of these precious souls? Did you hear, at each visit, the Savior's words: Suffer this little babe to come back to me, and forbid him not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven?
Last evening, about five o'clock, four brethren were riding down Main Street in an automobile. Just as they passed First South Street, they heard a little plaintive cry, "Papa! papa! papa! wait." The father was the chauffeur, and his ready ear recognized his son's voice. He brought the machine instantly to a standstill. As the men looked out the}' saw coming out of that bustling, jostling crowd of humanity, a little nine-year-old boy, out of breath, panting, crying, because of his effort to overtake the machine, which he had spied going along Main Street, to get to his father. The father said, "Why, where have you been, my son?" "I have been looking for you." "Well did you leave the place where we appointed to meet?" "Yes, I went up to see where you were." He understood that he was to meet up here, in front of the tabernacle. The father evidently meant to meet the child farther down the street. Through a misunderstanding, however, the son had become separated from his parent, and the little child was thrown into that vast throng, unprotected. He knew his way home; he was safe. If he had missed his father, he would have taken the street car and, probably before the shades of night closed in upon him, he would be safely nestled with father and mother and brothers and sisters in one of the most cheerful homes in this city.
I believe that illustrates the keynote of warning that was sounded to us Sunday morning. Fathers, is there a misunderstanding between you and your sons? Is there one wandering amidst the throngs of life, surrounded with all kinds of temptations, and you expecting to meet him at an appointed place which he does not know? He may not come out from that throng and cry, "Father, father!" and if he should, your ears might be deaf to that call, because of the concentration of your mind upon the affairs of life. So you might speed by him and leave him in the midst of evil, to find his own way home. Take your sons with you along this road of life, that you may have them with you in that eternal home where there is everlasting peace and contentment. When our children are given us, and that admonition "Suffer them to come back to Me" is given, three means of developing them are at hand: The first is home influence; the second, activities —avenues of action, including vocations and avocations; and third, social environment. In all three of these there must be the predominating element of salvation—I mean, now, physically, intellectually, spiritually. And what is it? Work. Work in the- home. Work; legitimate work, in the avenues of life. Work, legitimate work in the social world.
Of work in the home I shall say nothing this afternoon. We have had excellent sermons on home life; and we shall hear more. The importance of home, as. a saving influence, not only of children but of communities and of the nation, we fully realize, I believe; and it is well we do, for today some educators in our leading universities are saying that the home, as an institution, is doomed. Put that doctrine with some of the doctrines that we heard this morning educators are preaching, and see if we had better not guard well our children from some of the so-called educational theories of the day. Our homes are homes of salvation. Home is the safeguard of the nation.
I desire to say a word about work as a means, I say, of salvation to the individual. Work! O how often do we read in the scriptures about the blessings that come from doing. Eternal life rests upon the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Now, note it, "This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." How do you get that knowledge? In another place He says, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." There you have the doing, the work, associated with the knowledge, and knowledge bringing eternal life — "To know Thee is eternal life." To do is to know.
In our physical being there is no development, there is no growth, without activity; in the intellectual world there is no advancement without effort, work; and in the spiritual world, in the development of our spirits, there is no growth without effort. There is no salvation without work. I do not mean, now, redemption from death — Christ has done that; He has given us all that we need to get by way of salvation. The doctrine of work does not rob Him of any of His glory. "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God." But aside from that, the individual growth and advancement, the individual knowledge, the advancement in God's truth, depends upon the doing of God's will. Let us teach ourselves that; let us teach our children and give them something to do; let them know the sin of idleness.
Joseph Smith, the prophet, has repeatedly given us the assurance that God will not support the idler, that the idler has no place in this Church. The children should know it—O these young men, some of whom belong to us, who are looking forward to a life of ease, to clean clothes, soft white hands—the result, they think of leisure or of wealth! I say, these young men should be warned of the danger of that kind of life. I have here an admonition from Hugo, given by a supposed reformed criminal to a young man who had just started out on a criminal career. I will read it:
"My boy, you are entering, by sloth, into the most laborious of existences. Ah! You declare yourself an idler; then prepare yourself for labor. Have you ever seen a formidable machine which is called a flatting-press? You must be on your guard against it, for it is a crafty and ferocious thing, and if it catch you by the skirt of the coat it drags you under it entirely. This machine is indolence. Stop while there is yet time, and save yourself. Otherwise, it is all over with you, and ere long you will be among the cogwheels. Once caught, hope for nothing more. You will be forced to fatigue yourself, idler, and no rest will be allowed you, for the iron hand of implacable toil has seized you. You refuse to earn your livelihood,—have a calling and accomplish' a duty; it bores you to be like the rest: well, you will be different. Labor is the law, and whoever repulses it as a bore must have it as a punishment: You do not wish to be a laborer, and you will be a slave; toil only lets you loose on one side to seize you again on the other; you do not wish to be its friend, and you will be its negro. Ah, you did not care for the honest fatigue of men, and you are about to know the sweat of the damned; while others sing you will groan. You will see other men working in the distance, and they will seem to you to be resting. The laborer, the reaper, the sailor, the blacksmith, will appear to you in the light, like the blessed inmates of a paradise. What a radiance there is in the anvil! What a joy it is to guide the plow, and tie up the sheaf! What a holiday to fly before the wind in a boat! But you, idler, will have to dig and rag, and roll and walk! Pull at your halter, for you are a beast of burden in the service of hell! So your desire is to do nothing? Well, you will not have a week, a day, an hour without feeling crushed. You will not be able to lift anything without agony, and every passing minute will make your muscles crack. What is a feather for others will be a rock for you, and the most simple things will grow seamed. Life will become a monster around you, and coming, going, breathing, will be so many terrible tasks for you.
"What precipices are sloth and pleasure! To do nothing is a melancholy resolution, are you aware of that? To live; n indolence on the social substance! to be useless, that is to say, injurious! This leads straight to the bottom of misery.
"Woe to the man who wishes to be a parasite, for he will be a vermin! Ah! it does not please you to work! Ah! you have only one thought, to drink well, eat well, and sleep well. You will drink water; you will eat black bread; you will sleep on a plank, with fetters riveted to your limbs, and feel their coldness at night in your flesh! You will break these fetters and fly; very good. You will drag yourself on your stomach into the shrubs and eat grass like the beasts of the field, and you will pass years in a dungeon, chained to the wall, groping in the dark for your water jug, biting at frightful black bread which dogs would refuse, and eating beans which maggots have eaten before you. .You will be a woodlouse in a cellar. Ah! Ah! take a pity on yourself, wretched boy, still so young, who were at your nurse's breast not twenty years ago, and have doubtless a mother still! I implore you to listen to me. You will want fine black cloth, polished shoes, to scent your head with fragrant oil, to please creatures, and be a pretty fellow; you will have your hair close shaven and wear a red jacket and wooden shoes. You want a ring on your finger, and will wear a collar on your neck, and if you look at a woman you will be beaten. And you will go in there at twenty and come out at fifty years of age. You will go in young, red-cheeked, healthy, with your sparkling eyes, and all your white teeth, and your curly locks, and you will come out again broken, bent, wrinkled, toothless, horrible, and gray-headed! Ah! my poor boy, you are on the wrong road, and indolence is a bad adviser, for robbery is the hardest of labors. Take my advice and do not undertake the laborious task of being an idler. To become a rogue is inconvenient, and it is not nearly so hard to be an honest man. Now go and think over what I have said to you."
In social environment may be included all our Church influences. As I look at the organization, given through the Prophet Joseph Smith to the world in this dispensation; as I occasionally catch a glimpse of the possibilities of the quorums and organizations in this Church, I feel to exclaim, O Lord, my God, how marvelous are Thy works! "Great is Thy wisdom, marvelous are Thy ways! and the extent of Thy doings none can find out!" The organization of the Church is so perfect that every man, woman and child within the Church can find something to do; and therein depends the advancement of the person's spiritual welfare. He has a chance to work in the Church of Christ, no matter how young a boy or how old a man. Now, think, what that means. You go over, in your minds, the organizations as revealed to us in this dispensation. Go first from the First Presidency, down through the Twelve, the High Priests, the Seventy, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, all that line of Priesthood. See that mighty army of men, ready to do—what? Called upon to do what? To work for the Lord. We heard, this afternoon, that not one of those men have been called to the position to honor him, but he has been called into the service of the Lord. What does it mean? It means work; work means knowledge; knowledge means eternal life. O, brethren and sisters, shall we not, as parents, put our boys and girls into that environment? If we do not, are we not unmindful of the call of Christ to suffer the children to come back to Him? Are we negligent as parents, in seeing that our boys as deacons go to these quorum meetings? Are we negligent, as parents, and fail to see that our daughters get to their auxiliary meetings? Think of it. The note has been sounded; are we going to move? Presidents of quorums: The Lord has said to you, as you will read in the 107th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, that it is your duty to meet with your quorum. If you are the president of a deacon's quorum, you are to meet with twelve deacons, and preside over them, to sit in counsel with them, and to teach them their duties. O, deacons, throughout the world! respond to that call. Do your duty, Bishops, you who hold the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood; guide the young men in this activity. Are they slothful? Are they inactive? If they are, some of the results of inactivity mentioned before as befalling the idle individual will afflict the quorum in your ward. Mark it, it will not fulfill its place in the councils of the Church, unless it be active as a council, as a quorum. This is true of the Teachers, of the Priests, the Elders, the Seventies, the High Priests, and all.
I remember visiting, recently, the sugar factory, in Sugar City, Idaho. Brother Austin took me through it when every wheel was quiet; the engine was cold; the chimneys stood like specters; the wheels were dry and covered with dust; the sparrows were building their nests in wheels that a few months before hummed with industry. Men had to be hired to keep the dust off the machinery, to make repairs, to keep the factory from going into decay. I thought, that is always the result of inactivity. No sugar was manufactured in that inactivity. There were no laborers employed, except those hired to keep the factory from going into absolute decay. But when the power was turned on, then raw products were changed to useful articles, which are carried into the homes, throughout the world. Sometimes part of the machinery is shut up, closed down, and only one part—that of refining—used. I sometimes think that in our Church we are using just part of the machinery that God has placed in our hands. So many of these quorums are lying in inactivity; dust is accumulating. Shall we not work and get them into prominence, bring them into operation? As presidents of quorums, let us meet in council; let us think over what men in our quorums are neglecting their duty. In 1899, in one of the Elders quorums in this city, three young men were called to preside. At their first meeting there were only six men present in the Elders quorum. "Well," they said, "this will not do; let us institute systematic visiting." And so they did. Those men, as presidents, carrying the responsibility, went out to visit the Elders of that quorum. They went into one house, and asked the man to take up Elder's work, but he said, "No, I will not go to Elders meeting." "May we have a meeting here tonight?" was asked. "Yes." They sang, prayed, spent an hour or so with the man and his wife. At the conclusion of it, the man promised that he would attend Elders' meeting. The wife, who was unconverted, and who knew little or nothing of the workings of the Church, who lacked a knowledge of it, because of inactivity, began to cry because her husband's going to meeting would take him away from home. "A mission will be next," she said. However, that young man promised to go to meeting on this condition; that he would not be asked to take part. "All right," said the brethren. But it was not long before he was willing to take part on the program. They assigned him a subject, and the brother who told me of this incident, said it was painful to see what that poor man suffered the first time he stood up before his brethren. Those in the meeting deeply sympathized with the man who was making his first effort in public. At the conclusion of it the brother said, "You did well.” "No," said the man, "I want another chance; I believe I can do better." He did do better, and he became a strong power in influencing other Elders of his crowd to come out to their meetings.
They went into another home and met a similar spirit of indifference. They asked permission to pray, and were told "No." They talked to the man a little while, and finally he said, "Well, you may kneel down and pray, if you want to." "Will you kneel with us?" "No." After a little kind persuasion, he knelt down. At the conclusion of the meeting in that home, this second Elder, following the brethren to the door, broke down and cried, confessed that he had been out away from the influence of the Church, had been in another environment, and said, "Keep with me, work with me, and help me to get back into Church environment." The president of that Elder's quorum is now sitting on this stand, a member of the presiding bishopric. He and his fellow-workers increased the attendance of the quorum from six to over one hundred during that year.
There is a practical example of doing. What was accomplished in this Elder's quorum in this city can be done throughout the entire Church. My brethren and sisters, the quorums and organizations are means put into our hands whereby we may bring our children back to Christ. "Suffer them to come." God help us in guiding them, and may He keep us true; that we may increase our own testimonies in this work; that we may know of its eternal application to our needs; that we may know what happiness comes through living virtuous, pure lives. Let us take up our children and carry them with us, along this road of life. No other purpose of life is more worthy, more admirable. Let us teach them to work, and to realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love to work is success. Amen.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Our God, we raise to Thee
Thanks for Thy blessings free
We here enjoy;
In this far western land,
A true and chosen band,
Led hither by Thy hand,
We sing for joy.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Joseph E. Taylor.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Wednesday, October 6th.
THIRD DAY.
Wednesday, Oct. 6th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, let us anew our journey pursue,
Roll round with the year,
And never stand still till the Master appear.
His adorable will let us gladly fulfil,
And our talents improve,
By the patience of hope and the labor of love.
Prayer was offered by Elder Samuel E. Woolley.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Guide us, O Thou great Jehovah,
Lead us to the promised land,
We are weak, but Thou art able --
Hold us with Thy powerful hand.
Holy Spirit,
Feed us till the Savior comes.
Wednesday, Oct. 6th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, let us anew our journey pursue,
Roll round with the year,
And never stand still till the Master appear.
His adorable will let us gladly fulfil,
And our talents improve,
By the patience of hope and the labor of love.
Prayer was offered by Elder Samuel E. Woolley.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Guide us, O Thou great Jehovah,
Lead us to the promised land,
We are weak, but Thou art able --
Hold us with Thy powerful hand.
Holy Spirit,
Feed us till the Savior comes.
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS.
Fulfillment of the Lord's promises. — Saints should love and serve the Lord with all their heart.—The second great commandment.—Other commandments.—Proper observance of the Sabbath.—Evils should be uprooted.
"Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments."
The proceedings of this conference, this large congregation of Latter-day Saints who are assembled here this morning, have brought very forcibly to my mind the word of the Lord as it is contained in this 59th section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants, from which I have read; and I feel like re-iterating those words:
"Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments;
"For they that live shall inherit the earth, and they that die shall rest from all their labors, and their works shall follow them, and they shall receive a crown in the mansions of ray Father, which I have prepared for them."
These are promises of very great value to us, my brethren and sisters; and I want to ask you, this morning, if you and I are not living witnesses of the fulfillment of this word of the Lord, so far as it applies to us who live? We are here in the enjoyment of the blessings which have been showered upon us in this goodly land, and it is of great importance to us to know, as we do know, because of the revelations of the Lord to the Church, that those who are not here, those who have died, having kept inviolate the covenants that they entered into with the Lord, do rest from their labors, that their works do follow them, and that they have gone to those mansions prepared for the righteous by our Father who is in heaven.
"Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel, for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth; and it shall bring forth in its strength;
"And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few; and with revelations in their time: they that are faithful and diligent before me."
My brethren and sisters, you Latter-day Saints who have gathered up here to the valleys of these mountains, from among the different nations of the earth—you people from Scandinavia, from England, from Ireland, from Wales, and from Scotland, you German saints, you people from the mountains of Switzerland—I want to ask you if the Lord has not made good these promises, if He has not blest you with the good things of the earth; if you have not received revelations in their time; if your faith has not been strengthened, your confidence waxed strong in the Lord, and if you do not now stand firmly convinced that every word spoken by the mouths of His servants, the prophets, will be verified and fulfilled?
It seems to me that I see so clearly the verification of this word of the Lord, that there can be no doubt but that He has gathered this people together. Nothing like it has ever been undertaken before in the history of the world. Nothing will ever be accomplished like it again; for this is a day of restoration, a day for the redemption of Israel, a day when the Lord's people are to be gathered together, a day when He will manifest His power among them, a day when He will consummate all things spoken by His servants, the prophets; and we see the verification of these things. Now, there is something more attached to this: these promises do not come to us except that we fulfill the requirements of the law. These blessings to which I have referred, promised by the Lord, are given to us upon these conditions: "Wherefore I give unto them a commandment," (as the Lord always commands, and as there are always conditions incident to every blessings that emanates from Him) "I give unto them a commandment, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve Him." This is the first great commandment. It applies to every one of us. The Lord expects us— because of His blessings, because of the great and marvelous work which He has set His hand to accomplish, and which He is accomplishing— to recognize Him, to love Him with all our hearts. And if we love the Lord, we will serve Him. It is not they who say "Lord, ' Lord," who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but they who do the will of the Father; they are they who shall enter into His rest. It is not sufficient that we acknowledge allegiance to the Lord, but that we give Him our hearts; and if we give Him our hearts, we keep His commandments; we show our love, we show our appreciation by yielding homage, obedience and service to Him whom we acknowledge as our Creator. We do this in the name of Jesus Christ His Son, the Redeemer of the world, our advocate with the Father, He who came in the meridian of time and took upon Him the sins of the world; whose blood was shed that we might be redeemed and thus brought back into the presence of God. Because of the sacrifice which He made, He became the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead; and He made that sacrifice that we, likewise, might be heirs not only to eternal life in the presence of God, our Heavenly Father, but of physical resurrected life, through the redemption which He wrought out. Thus He is our advocate with the Father; through Him the blessings of the Father come to us; and if we please the Lord we not only love Him with all our hearts, we not only keep His commandments, we not only worship Him, but we recognize His Son as our advocate with the Father, and through Him we approach the throne of grace. Christ was asked what was the first great commandment. He said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Then He said that there is another great commandment which is very nigh unto it, which approaches chat, the most important of all commandments, which is that you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. So the Lord has reiterated to us this other great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It is frequently suggested that this—in our condition, clothed upon with mortality, as we are—is not possible. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has made no requirements of us, no requirement of any of His children, which is not possible of accomplishment; and so I fully believe that it is just as empty for a man to say that he loves God, and manifest in his life his utter lack of affection, his lack of love, his lack of consideration for his fellowman, as it is to say that he loves God and then violate His commandments. If the love of God is in our hearts, if we have been born again, we love human kind; we love our neighbor; and if we love our neighbor, we seek to do to him as we would that he should do unto us. Upon this hangs the law and the prophets.
I believe that this doctrine may be better understood by the Latter-day Saints; I believe that greater consideration may be had for our fellow; I believe that we can show greater interest in his welfare, greater love for him, greater respect for him in his place and in his station. But, mark you, there is nothing in the word of the Lord which indicates that this love of our fellow, of our neighbor, shall extend to the extent that we justify him in wrong-doing, that we join with him in that which is evil. We stand squarely opposed to this, for it is not love that prompts one to indulge his fellow, his brother, his sister, his wife, his son or daughter in that which is wrong. Love may be as destructive, when it leads to indulgence, as it may be beneficial when its restraining influence is exercised over those with whom we are surrounded. So, while I would respect my neighbor in his rights, in his opinions, the Lord does not require me to in any way indorse, to in any way approve of the evil that may be in his life. On the contrary I am expected to use my influence, my example, my words for his reformation. For to love mankind, or to love God, or to love righteousness is to adhere to that which is right and refrain from doing that which is evil. I would that this love for our fellows might be established in the heart of every Latter-day Saint.
Now, there are some other things here which the Lord requires of us: "Thou shalt not lie"—a very important admonition; for what can be more disreputable than a liar. To lie is not simply to speak that which is untrue; it is not to say "yes" when we mean "no," and "no" when we mean "yes." A man may conscientiously, be in error; he may adhere to that which is wrong; but if he does it with the thought that it is right, he is true before the Lord. Better such a man than he who for his own personal gain or interest, and against his own conscience, adheres to the right — a hypocrite before the Lord, and untruthful in his life before the people.
"Thou shalt not steal"—not take that which belongs to another. The Lord requires that we should live by the sweat of our brow; that with the labor of our own hands we should acquire the necessities of life. Men may steal by other means than by going in the dark hours of the night and appropriating that which belongs to their neighbors; they may steal by other means than holding one up upon the public highway. Whenever we take that which belongs to another, by unfair means, by misrepresentation of facts, we take that which does not belong to us; and the Lord is not pleased with us. He is not pleased with that which we acquire by any other means except those honest, honorable, truthful means that are provided, by which we have clear conscience before God and before the world. I wish this truth could be impressed upon the heart of every Latter-day Saint. We are living in an age when—you will all agree with me—to a certain extent, it is regarded as honorable to acquire means by methods which, critically examined, cannot be approved of; they are not honest. No man has a right to promote any enterprise, any industry that is not based upon principles which give reasonable hope and success. A man who goes out canvassing for things that he knows to be without value, taking away from the people their hard-earned means, places himself very nearly, I will say, upon a level with the man who goes in the darkness of the night and appropriates to his own use that which belongs to his neighbor.
"You shall not commit adultery." The Lord requires the Latter-day Saints—you people whom He has blest, in your coming up here to these valleys of the mountains — to be pure in your lives; that your morality may be above reproach; that you may keep yourselves unspotted from the sins of the world. This is one of the conditions which He imposes, in this revelation, and upon which He predicates the abundance of His blessings to the Latter-day Saints.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I come to that portion of this revelation, to which I desire, more particularly, to call your attention:
"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
"For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
"Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
"But remember that on this the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord."
My brethren and sisters, if there is one thing more than another that these presidents need to take back into the different stakes, over which they preside; that these Bishops need to teach in the wards over which they preside; that you Elders of Israel need to teach by precept and example in the communities of Latter-day Saints, it is a righteous observance of the Sabbath day—a day hallowed and made sacred and holy by the Lord, for His worship, not a day of pleasure, not a day for excursions into the canyons, not a day for automobile rides into the country, not a day for baseball games on the public square, not a day for horseraces in the park, not a day when the Lord is forgotten and the pleasures of the world sought; but a day when God requires His people to gather together and partake of the sacrament, acknowledging their allegiance to Him and His Son, and entering into covenants with Him that they will keep His commandments. It is not a day when representative men of the Church, who may be in New York, or in Chicago, or in Los Angeles, shall seek pleasure while the Latter-day Saints, who are there, are met together to partake of the sacrament and bear testimony to each other of the goodness of the Lord. They ought to be there in the congregations of the Latter-day Saints, at home or abroad, or wherever a branch of the Church exists; and if no branch at all exists, we may still pay our devotions to the Lord, remembering Him, acknowledging our allegiance to Him, upon this sacred day.
Now, my brethren and sisters, these are fundamental doctrines of the Church, every one of them, unchangeable. We cannot please the Lord except we observe them. We must acknowledge the Lord; we must acknowledge His Son as the Savior of the world; we must love our neighbor; we must be truthful; we must be honest; we must be virtuous. We have been preaching these doctrines from the very inception of the Church; and, thank the Lord, we have made headway in this work; thank the Lord, the great majority of the people believe and practice these doctrines; but there is still room for reform. Now, we are taught these things by two methods: in the first place, the Gospel of Christ admonishes us to serve the Lord because we love Him —to do it without coercion, to do it voluntarily. This is His law to us. He loves every one of us, but He wishes us to exercise our own judgment, to follow after our own consciences in these things; He does not restrain us. We wish that every man and woman in the world were converted to well-doing, and voluntarily and without coercion yield allegiance to these eternal laws, but they will not do it. Knowing this, and realizing the importance of restraining men in the willful exercise of their passions, which are evil, civil laws are provided which do restrain us, which do govern these things. I stand here this morning and advocate the righteousness of these laws. I believe that it is the right of the people to frame such laws in civil government, as will restrain crime, restrain that which is evil; and if men and women will not, of their own volition, adhere to the word of the Lord, they must be restrained. So, if it were in my power, I would see today that these evils which menace us are struck down, in the proper spirit, by the hand of the law. Down upon the table-lands of northern Mexico, where I have lived, scattered here and there among the luxurious grasses which grow, there is a noxious weed, a weed which, ordinarily, a horse will not touch. At first he shuns it, but after a while, having grazed near it, having rubbed his nose against it and become better acquainted with it, he tastes it. Later he acquires an appetite for it, and it saps his strength; it affects his intellect; it makes him crazy—we say in Spanish "loco;" he becomes a locoed horse. Well, we found out that by keeping our horses in the stable all the time, we could keep them away from that weed; they did not get it; but it is a very difficult and inconvenient thing to always keep horses in the stable. They want the open air; they want the green grass which grows upon the hills; and we had to deprive them of all this, just simply because here and there on the hill, grew this noxious weed. We found a remedy; we turned out with hoes. We traveled over the hills, and we dug up the weed by the roots; then we turned out our horses and they grazed, and no harm came to them.
I am strongly of the opinion, my brethren and sisters, that we may talk of home and home influence; we may throw protection around our children, which we know to be proper; but the moment they go out of the house, evil is staring them in the face. So long as, under the law, men and women are permitted to desecrate the Sabbath day; so long as places of amusement and pleasure are wide open before them; so long as saloons throw open their doors, and music and pleasure invite them to come in; so long as houses of ill fame stand upon the corners of our streets,—just so long the evil will exist. Just as long as the horses continue to get out of the barn and on to the plains, they will eat the noxious weed that at first they refused and resented. After the appetite becomes acquired, the only way you can get rid of it is to go out and hoe up the weeds. Well, you will say, is that in accordance with the spirit of love, the spirit of tolerance which you advocate, that shall be exercised towards your brother ? It is. I am willing to go just as far as God, our eternal Father is willing to go. No one can be more merciful than He; no one more tolerant; and yet He never compromises with that which is wrong. His laws are as inevitable as fate itself. John told us that the books were opened, and another book was opened which was the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to the deeds done in the body. Men cannot escape that judgment; all will be judged according to the deeds done in the body; and so I say that mercy and tolerance cannot and ought not to rob justice. President Taft, in his recent remarks from this pulpit, referred to the administration of the criminal law of our country. He did not criticise the law; he stands for the law, for its vindication; he upholds it; but he advocated that it be administered in charity, that it be administered with mercy—just as we advocate that all law should and ought to be administered. So, I do not want to be intolerant; I do not want to be unjust; I do not want to ask of my fellowman that which I am not willing and ready to concede to him; but I do believe this, my brethren and sisters, that reforms will never be accomplished until you strike at the root of the evil, and make it impossible, under the law, for these things to exist.
God bless you; keep us in the way of virtue, rectitude and righteousness, I ask, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Fulfillment of the Lord's promises. — Saints should love and serve the Lord with all their heart.—The second great commandment.—Other commandments.—Proper observance of the Sabbath.—Evils should be uprooted.
"Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments."
The proceedings of this conference, this large congregation of Latter-day Saints who are assembled here this morning, have brought very forcibly to my mind the word of the Lord as it is contained in this 59th section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants, from which I have read; and I feel like re-iterating those words:
"Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments;
"For they that live shall inherit the earth, and they that die shall rest from all their labors, and their works shall follow them, and they shall receive a crown in the mansions of ray Father, which I have prepared for them."
These are promises of very great value to us, my brethren and sisters; and I want to ask you, this morning, if you and I are not living witnesses of the fulfillment of this word of the Lord, so far as it applies to us who live? We are here in the enjoyment of the blessings which have been showered upon us in this goodly land, and it is of great importance to us to know, as we do know, because of the revelations of the Lord to the Church, that those who are not here, those who have died, having kept inviolate the covenants that they entered into with the Lord, do rest from their labors, that their works do follow them, and that they have gone to those mansions prepared for the righteous by our Father who is in heaven.
"Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel, for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth; and it shall bring forth in its strength;
"And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few; and with revelations in their time: they that are faithful and diligent before me."
My brethren and sisters, you Latter-day Saints who have gathered up here to the valleys of these mountains, from among the different nations of the earth—you people from Scandinavia, from England, from Ireland, from Wales, and from Scotland, you German saints, you people from the mountains of Switzerland—I want to ask you if the Lord has not made good these promises, if He has not blest you with the good things of the earth; if you have not received revelations in their time; if your faith has not been strengthened, your confidence waxed strong in the Lord, and if you do not now stand firmly convinced that every word spoken by the mouths of His servants, the prophets, will be verified and fulfilled?
It seems to me that I see so clearly the verification of this word of the Lord, that there can be no doubt but that He has gathered this people together. Nothing like it has ever been undertaken before in the history of the world. Nothing will ever be accomplished like it again; for this is a day of restoration, a day for the redemption of Israel, a day when the Lord's people are to be gathered together, a day when He will manifest His power among them, a day when He will consummate all things spoken by His servants, the prophets; and we see the verification of these things. Now, there is something more attached to this: these promises do not come to us except that we fulfill the requirements of the law. These blessings to which I have referred, promised by the Lord, are given to us upon these conditions: "Wherefore I give unto them a commandment," (as the Lord always commands, and as there are always conditions incident to every blessings that emanates from Him) "I give unto them a commandment, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve Him." This is the first great commandment. It applies to every one of us. The Lord expects us— because of His blessings, because of the great and marvelous work which He has set His hand to accomplish, and which He is accomplishing— to recognize Him, to love Him with all our hearts. And if we love the Lord, we will serve Him. It is not they who say "Lord, ' Lord," who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but they who do the will of the Father; they are they who shall enter into His rest. It is not sufficient that we acknowledge allegiance to the Lord, but that we give Him our hearts; and if we give Him our hearts, we keep His commandments; we show our love, we show our appreciation by yielding homage, obedience and service to Him whom we acknowledge as our Creator. We do this in the name of Jesus Christ His Son, the Redeemer of the world, our advocate with the Father, He who came in the meridian of time and took upon Him the sins of the world; whose blood was shed that we might be redeemed and thus brought back into the presence of God. Because of the sacrifice which He made, He became the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead; and He made that sacrifice that we, likewise, might be heirs not only to eternal life in the presence of God, our Heavenly Father, but of physical resurrected life, through the redemption which He wrought out. Thus He is our advocate with the Father; through Him the blessings of the Father come to us; and if we please the Lord we not only love Him with all our hearts, we not only keep His commandments, we not only worship Him, but we recognize His Son as our advocate with the Father, and through Him we approach the throne of grace. Christ was asked what was the first great commandment. He said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Then He said that there is another great commandment which is very nigh unto it, which approaches chat, the most important of all commandments, which is that you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. So the Lord has reiterated to us this other great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It is frequently suggested that this—in our condition, clothed upon with mortality, as we are—is not possible. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has made no requirements of us, no requirement of any of His children, which is not possible of accomplishment; and so I fully believe that it is just as empty for a man to say that he loves God, and manifest in his life his utter lack of affection, his lack of love, his lack of consideration for his fellowman, as it is to say that he loves God and then violate His commandments. If the love of God is in our hearts, if we have been born again, we love human kind; we love our neighbor; and if we love our neighbor, we seek to do to him as we would that he should do unto us. Upon this hangs the law and the prophets.
I believe that this doctrine may be better understood by the Latter-day Saints; I believe that greater consideration may be had for our fellow; I believe that we can show greater interest in his welfare, greater love for him, greater respect for him in his place and in his station. But, mark you, there is nothing in the word of the Lord which indicates that this love of our fellow, of our neighbor, shall extend to the extent that we justify him in wrong-doing, that we join with him in that which is evil. We stand squarely opposed to this, for it is not love that prompts one to indulge his fellow, his brother, his sister, his wife, his son or daughter in that which is wrong. Love may be as destructive, when it leads to indulgence, as it may be beneficial when its restraining influence is exercised over those with whom we are surrounded. So, while I would respect my neighbor in his rights, in his opinions, the Lord does not require me to in any way indorse, to in any way approve of the evil that may be in his life. On the contrary I am expected to use my influence, my example, my words for his reformation. For to love mankind, or to love God, or to love righteousness is to adhere to that which is right and refrain from doing that which is evil. I would that this love for our fellows might be established in the heart of every Latter-day Saint.
Now, there are some other things here which the Lord requires of us: "Thou shalt not lie"—a very important admonition; for what can be more disreputable than a liar. To lie is not simply to speak that which is untrue; it is not to say "yes" when we mean "no," and "no" when we mean "yes." A man may conscientiously, be in error; he may adhere to that which is wrong; but if he does it with the thought that it is right, he is true before the Lord. Better such a man than he who for his own personal gain or interest, and against his own conscience, adheres to the right — a hypocrite before the Lord, and untruthful in his life before the people.
"Thou shalt not steal"—not take that which belongs to another. The Lord requires that we should live by the sweat of our brow; that with the labor of our own hands we should acquire the necessities of life. Men may steal by other means than by going in the dark hours of the night and appropriating that which belongs to their neighbors; they may steal by other means than holding one up upon the public highway. Whenever we take that which belongs to another, by unfair means, by misrepresentation of facts, we take that which does not belong to us; and the Lord is not pleased with us. He is not pleased with that which we acquire by any other means except those honest, honorable, truthful means that are provided, by which we have clear conscience before God and before the world. I wish this truth could be impressed upon the heart of every Latter-day Saint. We are living in an age when—you will all agree with me—to a certain extent, it is regarded as honorable to acquire means by methods which, critically examined, cannot be approved of; they are not honest. No man has a right to promote any enterprise, any industry that is not based upon principles which give reasonable hope and success. A man who goes out canvassing for things that he knows to be without value, taking away from the people their hard-earned means, places himself very nearly, I will say, upon a level with the man who goes in the darkness of the night and appropriates to his own use that which belongs to his neighbor.
"You shall not commit adultery." The Lord requires the Latter-day Saints—you people whom He has blest, in your coming up here to these valleys of the mountains — to be pure in your lives; that your morality may be above reproach; that you may keep yourselves unspotted from the sins of the world. This is one of the conditions which He imposes, in this revelation, and upon which He predicates the abundance of His blessings to the Latter-day Saints.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I come to that portion of this revelation, to which I desire, more particularly, to call your attention:
"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
"For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
"Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
"But remember that on this the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord."
My brethren and sisters, if there is one thing more than another that these presidents need to take back into the different stakes, over which they preside; that these Bishops need to teach in the wards over which they preside; that you Elders of Israel need to teach by precept and example in the communities of Latter-day Saints, it is a righteous observance of the Sabbath day—a day hallowed and made sacred and holy by the Lord, for His worship, not a day of pleasure, not a day for excursions into the canyons, not a day for automobile rides into the country, not a day for baseball games on the public square, not a day for horseraces in the park, not a day when the Lord is forgotten and the pleasures of the world sought; but a day when God requires His people to gather together and partake of the sacrament, acknowledging their allegiance to Him and His Son, and entering into covenants with Him that they will keep His commandments. It is not a day when representative men of the Church, who may be in New York, or in Chicago, or in Los Angeles, shall seek pleasure while the Latter-day Saints, who are there, are met together to partake of the sacrament and bear testimony to each other of the goodness of the Lord. They ought to be there in the congregations of the Latter-day Saints, at home or abroad, or wherever a branch of the Church exists; and if no branch at all exists, we may still pay our devotions to the Lord, remembering Him, acknowledging our allegiance to Him, upon this sacred day.
Now, my brethren and sisters, these are fundamental doctrines of the Church, every one of them, unchangeable. We cannot please the Lord except we observe them. We must acknowledge the Lord; we must acknowledge His Son as the Savior of the world; we must love our neighbor; we must be truthful; we must be honest; we must be virtuous. We have been preaching these doctrines from the very inception of the Church; and, thank the Lord, we have made headway in this work; thank the Lord, the great majority of the people believe and practice these doctrines; but there is still room for reform. Now, we are taught these things by two methods: in the first place, the Gospel of Christ admonishes us to serve the Lord because we love Him —to do it without coercion, to do it voluntarily. This is His law to us. He loves every one of us, but He wishes us to exercise our own judgment, to follow after our own consciences in these things; He does not restrain us. We wish that every man and woman in the world were converted to well-doing, and voluntarily and without coercion yield allegiance to these eternal laws, but they will not do it. Knowing this, and realizing the importance of restraining men in the willful exercise of their passions, which are evil, civil laws are provided which do restrain us, which do govern these things. I stand here this morning and advocate the righteousness of these laws. I believe that it is the right of the people to frame such laws in civil government, as will restrain crime, restrain that which is evil; and if men and women will not, of their own volition, adhere to the word of the Lord, they must be restrained. So, if it were in my power, I would see today that these evils which menace us are struck down, in the proper spirit, by the hand of the law. Down upon the table-lands of northern Mexico, where I have lived, scattered here and there among the luxurious grasses which grow, there is a noxious weed, a weed which, ordinarily, a horse will not touch. At first he shuns it, but after a while, having grazed near it, having rubbed his nose against it and become better acquainted with it, he tastes it. Later he acquires an appetite for it, and it saps his strength; it affects his intellect; it makes him crazy—we say in Spanish "loco;" he becomes a locoed horse. Well, we found out that by keeping our horses in the stable all the time, we could keep them away from that weed; they did not get it; but it is a very difficult and inconvenient thing to always keep horses in the stable. They want the open air; they want the green grass which grows upon the hills; and we had to deprive them of all this, just simply because here and there on the hill, grew this noxious weed. We found a remedy; we turned out with hoes. We traveled over the hills, and we dug up the weed by the roots; then we turned out our horses and they grazed, and no harm came to them.
I am strongly of the opinion, my brethren and sisters, that we may talk of home and home influence; we may throw protection around our children, which we know to be proper; but the moment they go out of the house, evil is staring them in the face. So long as, under the law, men and women are permitted to desecrate the Sabbath day; so long as places of amusement and pleasure are wide open before them; so long as saloons throw open their doors, and music and pleasure invite them to come in; so long as houses of ill fame stand upon the corners of our streets,—just so long the evil will exist. Just as long as the horses continue to get out of the barn and on to the plains, they will eat the noxious weed that at first they refused and resented. After the appetite becomes acquired, the only way you can get rid of it is to go out and hoe up the weeds. Well, you will say, is that in accordance with the spirit of love, the spirit of tolerance which you advocate, that shall be exercised towards your brother ? It is. I am willing to go just as far as God, our eternal Father is willing to go. No one can be more merciful than He; no one more tolerant; and yet He never compromises with that which is wrong. His laws are as inevitable as fate itself. John told us that the books were opened, and another book was opened which was the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to the deeds done in the body. Men cannot escape that judgment; all will be judged according to the deeds done in the body; and so I say that mercy and tolerance cannot and ought not to rob justice. President Taft, in his recent remarks from this pulpit, referred to the administration of the criminal law of our country. He did not criticise the law; he stands for the law, for its vindication; he upholds it; but he advocated that it be administered in charity, that it be administered with mercy—just as we advocate that all law should and ought to be administered. So, I do not want to be intolerant; I do not want to be unjust; I do not want to ask of my fellowman that which I am not willing and ready to concede to him; but I do believe this, my brethren and sisters, that reforms will never be accomplished until you strike at the root of the evil, and make it impossible, under the law, for these things to exist.
God bless you; keep us in the way of virtue, rectitude and righteousness, I ask, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
PATRIARCH JOHN SMITH.
My brethren and sisters: I am pleased to be with you on this occasion. I always feel best when in the line and discharge of duty, but it is with peculiar feelings that I stand before you here today, because, as I have said so often, preaching is not my forte.
I bear testimony that I have listened attentively to all that has been said during the conference thus far, and I can indorse every word that has been uttered. I ask God our Father to let His blessings rest upon us, His people; that we may profit by what we have learned during this conference; that when we return to our homes we shall go in peace, remembering the instructions and striving diligently to carry out the same; that we may live according to the laws of our heavenly Father and keep His commandments, that we may be worthy of his blessings.
All Latter-day Saints have certain duties to perform; and, in so doing, if they will follow the promptings of that still small voice, they will never err in their judgments, but will be able to fulfill their missions in that way and manner that shall be pleasing to our heavenly Father.
I ask God that His blessings may rest upon us, that He may guide us in the true path, qualify us for every duty, that when we have finished our course here we may be worthy of the blessings which He has promised us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Sister Erma Pendleton sang the soprano solo, "The Lord is my Light."
My brethren and sisters: I am pleased to be with you on this occasion. I always feel best when in the line and discharge of duty, but it is with peculiar feelings that I stand before you here today, because, as I have said so often, preaching is not my forte.
I bear testimony that I have listened attentively to all that has been said during the conference thus far, and I can indorse every word that has been uttered. I ask God our Father to let His blessings rest upon us, His people; that we may profit by what we have learned during this conference; that when we return to our homes we shall go in peace, remembering the instructions and striving diligently to carry out the same; that we may live according to the laws of our heavenly Father and keep His commandments, that we may be worthy of his blessings.
All Latter-day Saints have certain duties to perform; and, in so doing, if they will follow the promptings of that still small voice, they will never err in their judgments, but will be able to fulfill their missions in that way and manner that shall be pleasing to our heavenly Father.
I ask God that His blessings may rest upon us, that He may guide us in the true path, qualify us for every duty, that when we have finished our course here we may be worthy of the blessings which He has promised us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Sister Erma Pendleton sang the soprano solo, "The Lord is my Light."
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS.
These conference days are rather anxious times, I believe, for at least two classes of people: those who, in the ordinary course of things, may be expected to address the conference, and those who have to listen to them. I am sure I do not know which suffers most. A very long time ago we had a Bishopric in the ward where I lived, and the Bishop, as perhaps is fitting for a Bishop, was not particularly gifted in giving expression to his thought—he was not a "preaching Bishop;" and he had a counselor who had pretty much the same kind of a gift. However, there were occasions when both of them were under the necessity of speaking in the ward meeting; and one clay, in conversation with the counselor upon this subject, he confidentially imparted to me the information that he really did not know which distressed him most—to try to say something himself or listen to the Bishop try to say it. I have been living, the past few days, in the fancied security that it was not likely that I would be called upon to speak during this conference; but since the brethren have desired it, I feel honored in being called upon to address you. I most earnestly pray that I may be given right inspirations, and may say only those things that will be proper to say, and that ought to be said; for I have no desire in my heart other than to help in this great latter-day work to which, up to the present time, I have given my life and thought and my love—although I may not always be equal to the task of expressing my love for this work in a perfectly ordered life, yet I love it.
There have been many interesting things brought to our attention during this conference, and especially the references that have been made to the remarks of the President of the United States, who recently was Utah's most honored and welcome guest. I listened to his so-called "sermon" from this stand, with a very great deal of pleasure, and I thought that he presented to the community here in Utah—non- Mormon as well as Mormon— a most excellent thought and sound advice. For my own part, however, I feared that it was a sermon that would fall on stony ground, and I doubted a little in my heart as to whether it would achieve the good the executive of the nation hoped to achieve by it, because—as remarked by Elder Whitney in his discourse a day or two ago—each of the parties to the controversy, the President had in mind, would most likely think he meant the "other fellow." You know we are all anxious for reform—in the "other fellow!" and we overlook the great principle that in any common need for reform, if each would reform one, then all would be reformed. I was sitting near Elder Whitney, on the occasion referred to, and with him I thought the President meant me; and so far as he meant me, in his advice, the matter is perfectly easy, because I am a man of peace. When it really does become necessary to say things that seem harsh, I always believe in saying them in the very pleasantest manner possible—not that it gives one the same degree of satisfaction that might come to one if he "let himself go" in the matter, but it pleases the other fellow so much to have the harsh things said pleasantly. But now, I do not believe that the President addressed himself to me as an individual, but he addressed himself to a condition that exists here, a controversy that is on, and to which there are two parties—"Mormon" and non-"Mormon." Now, I have been wondering whether those who represent the "Mormons" in that controversy are willing to sit down and seriously take into account the question whether or not there is any fault in us; whether in any respect we give color of justification for the controversy that is on; and if there is fault in our methods of conducting the controversy, or if there exists real faults on our part that give in any degree justification for the opposition we experience—in that event—are we ready to make such corrections as may be necessary on our part to reduce, somewhat, the bitterness of the strife ? Of course, I do not expect the "other fellows" to do anything of that kind; but I am wondering if we ought not to do it, and trust that the example we might set in that direction shall at least sweep out of existence every vestige of excuse for the bitterness with which warfare is waged upon us.
I may not lay claim to the title of historian, because that is a very high title, a very honorable one; it ranks with artist, with poet, with philosopher; and I may not presume in my halting and narrow and imperfect labors in that kind, to think of myself as a historian. Yet, as you know, my labors have fallen into historical work to a limited extent, and that begets the habit of considering all the factors that enter into an event or series of events. Necessarily the critical sense is cultivated, and one forms the habit of balancing one fact against another, with a view of arriving at the exact truth. Following this line of work in connection with the history of the Church, truth would compel me to say, as to events in the past, that our people have not always been blameless in their attitude as a community as to the things we have done. God has given us a system of truth that constitutes the Gospel of Jesus Christ —to my mind this Gospel is invulnerable; it is perfect, and unassailable with truth and reason. To defend it is a joy, and always a success. But our history—which is but another name for our conduct— is not always defensible at all points. While the Church in Missouri and Illinois never did anything that warranted the cruelty practiced upon them by the people of those states; and in the course of which there were violations of constitutions and the infringement of law—while all that was and is absolutely unjustifiable—yet there was much of fanaticism, much of narrowness, and bigotry, and unwisdom on the part of individuals among the Latter-day Saints. It has become a truism that some men cannot endure prosperity. A hundred men fall away from the service of God when they are prosperous, as against one when they have to struggle with adversity. As the Lord says: "In the day of their peace they esteem lightly my counsel; but in the day of their trouble, of necessity, they feel after me." (Doc. and Cov., Sec. 101). We overlook the fact, sometimes, that we need the Lord in the day of our prosperity. A sectarian hymn recognizes this truth, wherein it says:
"Come near me, O my Savior,
I need Thee in my joys,
No less than when the direst ills
My happiness destroys;
For when the sun shines o'er me
And pleasures throng my way,
Without Thy wise and guiding hand,
More easily I stray."
It is a dangerous thing, almost, for a people to feel that they are the especial favorites of heaven, and that God has marked them off from the rest of mankind by giving to them a special mission, and exalts them by making them the depository of His law, of His truth, and the executors of His will in the earth, in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For a people to sense this is to have them feel that they are all powerful, within the law of God, and that God will support them against all opposition. In the state of Missouri, for example, some of our brethren under the sense of being the chosen of God, gave way to fanatical expressions and boastfulness, as to what God was going to do as to giving them the land of Missouri for an inheritance. Their boastfulness angered the people by whom they were surrounded. If you analyze strictly all the causes that led to the disasters that befell our community in Missouri, you will find that over-zeal, fanaticism, unwisdom on their part, was among the factors; and if you are not disposed to take my statements in relation to it, you have only to review our own history and the revelations of our Doctrine and Covenants and hear the word of the Lord in reproof of His people for these things; and because of them, He declares that He permitted' their enemies to prevail against them; because by their not adhering strictly unto the law of God as He delivered it unto them, He was not bound to give them the victory over their enemies. It is well to be frank with ourselves, and make a little introspection; indulge in a little self analysis, and put ourselves right in respect to these things, not only as individuals but as a community, also.
Let me read to you from a revelation, a passage connected with a little history that it may be well to remind you of. In his early experiences the Prophet Joseph Smith made his mistakes and was several times reproved of the Lord because of them. When the Lord delivered to Joseph by the hand of Moroni the Nephite records, He gave him a strict injunction that they were not to be exhibited to any but those whom the Lord would designate, the translation of the record was to be a sacred transaction. However, when with the help of Martin Harris, Joseph had succeeded in translating enough of the plates to make about one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript, Martin Harris began to be over-anxious to exhibit the manuscript to his friends. He was so convinced by this translation that the Prophet had the record, that he desired to show his friends, members of his family especially, the product of their labors. The matter was referred to the Lord, and the Lord said, No. But Martin Harris continued his importunity, and Joseph continued to inquire of the Lord, until at last the plates were taken from Joseph as were also the associated sacred things. After this was done, then permission was given to Martin Harris to take the manuscript of the translated part under a very sacred covenant, to keep it secure, and naming those to whom he was to show the translation. Martin Harris broke his covenant with the Prophet and the result was that this precious document was lost to the Prophet and to the Church, and remains so lost up to this day. The Prophet lost possession of the sacred things as well as the record. The Urim and Thummim was gone, and the distress of that man, under these circumstances, it would be difficult to appreciate. He was bowed down in humiliation and the most poignant grief. Finally, however, the angel appeared to him and presented him, once more, with the Urim and Thummim; and the Prophet made immediate use of it to inquire of the Lord, and this was the opening of the revelation unto the Prophet, namely:
"The works and designs and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught; for God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth He turn to the right hand nor to the left; neither doth He vary from that which He hath said; therefore His paths are straight, and His course is one eternal round. Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated but the work of men."
Now, I pray you, hold that declaration in your thought. Let me emphasize it, if I can,—"God does not walk in crooked paths ;" and when men represent Him as varying from truth, or as walking in crooked paths, they blaspheme His name. And what the Lord Himself declares He will not do, He does not inspire men to do; therefore, God and His Church are anchored to the truth. The angel took the Urim and Thummim again into his possession. In a few days the angel appeared, brought with him the records and the sacred associated things, and the Prophet was reinstated in the full favor and acceptance of the Lord; but He refers again, in the revelation, to this matter of adhering to the truth. After explaining to the young Prophet the plot that had been laid by his enemies to destroy the work, and the justification they urged for their attempts at destroying it, He said:
"Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.
"And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God, but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation in the day of judgment.
"Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.
"Yea, he saith unto them, deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy: behold, this is no harm, and thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie, that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.
"And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare.
"And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive, because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God."
That gives me to understand that though my enemy may lie, and deceive, and traduce and slander, that does not warrant me with using against him the same weapons. Neither God, nor His servants, nor His Church are out on a fencing match with Lucifer, using as weapons untruth, and chicanery. God is not going to win His victory over evil by such means. He is going to win by truth gaining a victory over falsehood. So that if a man tells us that God is varying from His own law, that He has spoken a word to the ear to break it to the hope, or that He has announced a law for His Church and after that men may disregard it and practice falsehood—by acting contrary to that law, or to the position that God's Church has taken, then we may know that that man is certainly mistaken, because we have God's word for our warrant that He does not walk in crooked paths, nor justify lying to meet lying. How jealous we ought to be of the honor of God's Church—God's Church! I wonder, sometimes, if we have the true vision of how magnificent that Church is. Paul, in the epistle to the Hebrews, tells us that the whole family of heaven and earth are named after Christ. The whole family of heaven and earth! The Church of the living God! At the head of it, the Godhead! After that all the worthies who have received dispensations of the Gospel for this earth, coming through the grand patriarch of the race—Adam, our honored patriarchal head; and through him to Enoch, and to Moses, and to the prophets in Israel, to John the Baptist, and to the Christ, in the meridian of time, who came to make the great sacrifice, and give the manifestation of God's love for men, so that all men might know from thence forward, how great, indeed was the love of God. Then came the dispensation to the apostles and to the Saints of the early Christian centuries; followed by the period of spiritual darkness; and yet God, not willing that the truth should be all obscured, permitted fragments of it to live even through the dark ages in some of the doctrines of men, even as- the clouds, sometimes, after the sun has sunk behind the western horizon, still reflect somewhat the glory of a departing day. Then, at last, came the dispensation of the fulness of times, with God's great Witness and Prophet of that dispensation, Joseph Smith. The Church of Christ then exists both in earth and in heaven, and its history includes all these great dispensations and the ages yet to come. Loyalty to the Church means loyalty to the Godhead, to all the great prophets who have stood as God's representatives in the earth, through all ages; loyalty to the truth; loyalty to the history of the truth and its consistency. You know how jealously men guard the honor of a kingdom — how much more binding is it upon the members of this great spiritual empire of the Church of Christ to be jealous of the honor of that institution! Earthly kingdoms have had their patriots: Richelieu loved France; and Bulwer Lytton represents him as saying, as he viewed the work which his hands and brain had achieved in bringing France from anarchy to the first rank of the nations of Europe,—"France, I love thee! Not all earth shall pluck thee from my heart. My mistress, France! My wedded wife! who shall proclaim divorce for thee and me?" Frederick the Great loved Prussia; Bismark loved united Germany; Garibaldi loved Italy; Cromwell and the Pitts, and Burke, and Disraeli, and Gladstone loved England. In our own country, Washington loved the United States; so, too, did Jefferson, and Webster, and Lincoln. Worthy, indeed, was the patriotism of these men, but how petty, mean and small seems the things that challenged their love, in comparison with this empire of the Christ, the Church of God. Men, I say, hold dear the honor of an earthly kingdom, how much more ought we to hold the honor of the spiritual empire of Christ. The archpatriot of this spiritual empire is the Christ Himself; and as His empire is more glorious than earthly kingdoms, so too His patriotism exceeds the patriotism of men; for He not only died for His empire, He lived for it! and in addition to living for it and dying for it, He gathered up into His own soul all the sorrows of the members of the empire, and bore their sins Himself, that they might not suffer for sin, if only they would observe His law, and keep His commandments. (Doc. and Cov., Sec. xix).
Such is the Church of Christ to me. Love it? Why, what man, who even in a small degree catches a glimpse of the glory of this kingdom of Christ can fail to love it? Who, seeing its excellence, would not love it, and desire to see it honored among the children of men? Its honor and its word, when pledged, is the most sacred thing that can be plighted.
I fear I am trespassing upon the time, but there is just one other circumstance I would like to use as an illustration, exhibiting how sure the word of the Lord must stand, and how He regards an oath and covenant to which He or His people are pledged. It arises out of an experience of ancient Israel. The Lord, as you remember, gave Palestine as an inheritance to ancient Israel, and a commandment was given to Joshua to go in and take possession of it. Of course, the taking possession of it meant a war of conquest. There was nothing else for it, and as the peoples that were to be displaced had filled to over-running the cup of their iniquity, there was nothing but the justice of God involved in moving them from their lands. So Joshua followed his war of conquest. It was a cruel warfare in some respects, as all wars are; and he won—so secular history tells us —the title of the "Scourge of God." The Gibeonites were a people living just north of Jerusalem, and they desired to retain their possession in the land, and escape the severity of Joshua. They hit upon this strategy: They took a certain delegation, dressed them in old clothing, gave them worn out and fatigued animals; their tents and equipment were worn and travel stained; their wine bottles were old, and the wine sour and unwholesome. This delegation came to the camps of Joshua, representing themselves as coming from a far country; from a people, however, who had heard of Joshua and his conquest; and who feared that he might be tempted even to take possession of their land, and hence they wanted to enter into a league of peace with Israel that they might not be disturbed. So Joshua, in one of his 'moments of mercy, I suppose, entered into covenant with them; when, lo, the disguises were thrown off, and here were representatives of a people right at the door of his encampment, and who, doubtless, would have been the next victims of his war of conquest. But he had entered into covenant with them, and he remembered that from olden times in Israel the principle held good that though a man swear to his hurt, yet he should change not (Psalms 15:4); and so, the covenant being made, the Gibeonites lived in peace with Israel for a number of generations. In the days of Saul, however, we are informed by the Bible that the covenant was violated, and Saul broke loose upon this people and shed their blood, and went far towards destroying them. In the days of David, a famine occurred, and it persisted. The efforts of the priests, the efforts of the king to stay the famine, seemed to be all in vain. The famine continued year after year for three years; until finally the word of the Lord came to David, saying, "It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." So David, knowing the sacredness of a pledged word, sent for these Gibeonites, and said, "What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?" They in reply, said: "We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. * * * The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul." Did David halt and say: You obtained your covenant by deceit and fraud, and by misrepresentation, and we are not bound by it? No, he did not, but he found among the family of Saul the required sacrifice, the seven and they were brought forth and delivered into the hands of this wronged people, and they led them outside, upon a hill, and hung them before the Lord, says the historian; and then, mark this language, "And after that God was entreated for the land," that is, the famine stayed. (II Samuel xxi). I am not responsible for this story; it is in the record that you accept as the word of God; and it shows us how sternly God holds to the pledged word. But one will say, "was not this stern old law set aside—this law demanding an eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth; this law that said thou shalt not foreswear they self, but thou shalt preform unto the Lord all thine oaths. Was not all this set aside by the Christ, saying, 'swear not at all?' And does not this indicate that God, though having given a commandment, may change it or modify it?" Bless your heart, the Lord, so far as I am concerned, can and will do as He pleases, and I for one, if I know that will, shall do what I can to carry it out; but, mark you, these examples I cite to you are taken at a time when one law was being displaced by another, when the law of Moses had completed its purpose and was put aside for the law of the gospel. I do not think you can find a place in holy writ where the Savior holds that while the law of Moses was yet in force, you could violate it with impunity. He may displace the law of Moses by the law of the gospel, as He did, but you cannot find Him counseling violation of the law of Moses while that law is in force. The Jehovah of the Jews, who gave the law unto Moses, is the Christ of the New Testament, and you could not imagine such an inconsistency as His giving a law and then permitting violations of it; for God, we have seen, does not walk in crooked paths.
Now, my brethren and sisters, perhaps these things are not proper for me to discourse upon; but I cannot help thinking about them; and if called upon to speak, I must needs speak that which seems to me the most important thing to be considered. If I have overstepped any bounds of propriety, in referring to these matters, most humbly I beg the pardon of the brethren; for I assure you there is no desire in my heart to assume any function that does not properly belong to my ministry. I speak only because always before my vision is the Church of God, as I have tried to present it in thought to you, an institution that I am sure will prevail; and I am sure that God will inspire His servants to do that which is essential to the salvation of the people and to the honor of the Church of Christ. I have the fullest confidence that whatever may be erratic or sporadically wrong among us will be corrected; and the presiding brethren will find me, heart and hand, with them in maintaining the honor and the glory of this great empire of the Christ.
May the Lord bless you, is my prayer. Amen.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
O, say, what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem
That the riches of worlds can produce;
And priceless the value of truth will be when
The proud monarch's costliest diadem
Is counted but dross and refuse.
Benediction was pronounced by Bishop David A. Smith. Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
These conference days are rather anxious times, I believe, for at least two classes of people: those who, in the ordinary course of things, may be expected to address the conference, and those who have to listen to them. I am sure I do not know which suffers most. A very long time ago we had a Bishopric in the ward where I lived, and the Bishop, as perhaps is fitting for a Bishop, was not particularly gifted in giving expression to his thought—he was not a "preaching Bishop;" and he had a counselor who had pretty much the same kind of a gift. However, there were occasions when both of them were under the necessity of speaking in the ward meeting; and one clay, in conversation with the counselor upon this subject, he confidentially imparted to me the information that he really did not know which distressed him most—to try to say something himself or listen to the Bishop try to say it. I have been living, the past few days, in the fancied security that it was not likely that I would be called upon to speak during this conference; but since the brethren have desired it, I feel honored in being called upon to address you. I most earnestly pray that I may be given right inspirations, and may say only those things that will be proper to say, and that ought to be said; for I have no desire in my heart other than to help in this great latter-day work to which, up to the present time, I have given my life and thought and my love—although I may not always be equal to the task of expressing my love for this work in a perfectly ordered life, yet I love it.
There have been many interesting things brought to our attention during this conference, and especially the references that have been made to the remarks of the President of the United States, who recently was Utah's most honored and welcome guest. I listened to his so-called "sermon" from this stand, with a very great deal of pleasure, and I thought that he presented to the community here in Utah—non- Mormon as well as Mormon— a most excellent thought and sound advice. For my own part, however, I feared that it was a sermon that would fall on stony ground, and I doubted a little in my heart as to whether it would achieve the good the executive of the nation hoped to achieve by it, because—as remarked by Elder Whitney in his discourse a day or two ago—each of the parties to the controversy, the President had in mind, would most likely think he meant the "other fellow." You know we are all anxious for reform—in the "other fellow!" and we overlook the great principle that in any common need for reform, if each would reform one, then all would be reformed. I was sitting near Elder Whitney, on the occasion referred to, and with him I thought the President meant me; and so far as he meant me, in his advice, the matter is perfectly easy, because I am a man of peace. When it really does become necessary to say things that seem harsh, I always believe in saying them in the very pleasantest manner possible—not that it gives one the same degree of satisfaction that might come to one if he "let himself go" in the matter, but it pleases the other fellow so much to have the harsh things said pleasantly. But now, I do not believe that the President addressed himself to me as an individual, but he addressed himself to a condition that exists here, a controversy that is on, and to which there are two parties—"Mormon" and non-"Mormon." Now, I have been wondering whether those who represent the "Mormons" in that controversy are willing to sit down and seriously take into account the question whether or not there is any fault in us; whether in any respect we give color of justification for the controversy that is on; and if there is fault in our methods of conducting the controversy, or if there exists real faults on our part that give in any degree justification for the opposition we experience—in that event—are we ready to make such corrections as may be necessary on our part to reduce, somewhat, the bitterness of the strife ? Of course, I do not expect the "other fellows" to do anything of that kind; but I am wondering if we ought not to do it, and trust that the example we might set in that direction shall at least sweep out of existence every vestige of excuse for the bitterness with which warfare is waged upon us.
I may not lay claim to the title of historian, because that is a very high title, a very honorable one; it ranks with artist, with poet, with philosopher; and I may not presume in my halting and narrow and imperfect labors in that kind, to think of myself as a historian. Yet, as you know, my labors have fallen into historical work to a limited extent, and that begets the habit of considering all the factors that enter into an event or series of events. Necessarily the critical sense is cultivated, and one forms the habit of balancing one fact against another, with a view of arriving at the exact truth. Following this line of work in connection with the history of the Church, truth would compel me to say, as to events in the past, that our people have not always been blameless in their attitude as a community as to the things we have done. God has given us a system of truth that constitutes the Gospel of Jesus Christ —to my mind this Gospel is invulnerable; it is perfect, and unassailable with truth and reason. To defend it is a joy, and always a success. But our history—which is but another name for our conduct— is not always defensible at all points. While the Church in Missouri and Illinois never did anything that warranted the cruelty practiced upon them by the people of those states; and in the course of which there were violations of constitutions and the infringement of law—while all that was and is absolutely unjustifiable—yet there was much of fanaticism, much of narrowness, and bigotry, and unwisdom on the part of individuals among the Latter-day Saints. It has become a truism that some men cannot endure prosperity. A hundred men fall away from the service of God when they are prosperous, as against one when they have to struggle with adversity. As the Lord says: "In the day of their peace they esteem lightly my counsel; but in the day of their trouble, of necessity, they feel after me." (Doc. and Cov., Sec. 101). We overlook the fact, sometimes, that we need the Lord in the day of our prosperity. A sectarian hymn recognizes this truth, wherein it says:
"Come near me, O my Savior,
I need Thee in my joys,
No less than when the direst ills
My happiness destroys;
For when the sun shines o'er me
And pleasures throng my way,
Without Thy wise and guiding hand,
More easily I stray."
It is a dangerous thing, almost, for a people to feel that they are the especial favorites of heaven, and that God has marked them off from the rest of mankind by giving to them a special mission, and exalts them by making them the depository of His law, of His truth, and the executors of His will in the earth, in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For a people to sense this is to have them feel that they are all powerful, within the law of God, and that God will support them against all opposition. In the state of Missouri, for example, some of our brethren under the sense of being the chosen of God, gave way to fanatical expressions and boastfulness, as to what God was going to do as to giving them the land of Missouri for an inheritance. Their boastfulness angered the people by whom they were surrounded. If you analyze strictly all the causes that led to the disasters that befell our community in Missouri, you will find that over-zeal, fanaticism, unwisdom on their part, was among the factors; and if you are not disposed to take my statements in relation to it, you have only to review our own history and the revelations of our Doctrine and Covenants and hear the word of the Lord in reproof of His people for these things; and because of them, He declares that He permitted' their enemies to prevail against them; because by their not adhering strictly unto the law of God as He delivered it unto them, He was not bound to give them the victory over their enemies. It is well to be frank with ourselves, and make a little introspection; indulge in a little self analysis, and put ourselves right in respect to these things, not only as individuals but as a community, also.
Let me read to you from a revelation, a passage connected with a little history that it may be well to remind you of. In his early experiences the Prophet Joseph Smith made his mistakes and was several times reproved of the Lord because of them. When the Lord delivered to Joseph by the hand of Moroni the Nephite records, He gave him a strict injunction that they were not to be exhibited to any but those whom the Lord would designate, the translation of the record was to be a sacred transaction. However, when with the help of Martin Harris, Joseph had succeeded in translating enough of the plates to make about one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript, Martin Harris began to be over-anxious to exhibit the manuscript to his friends. He was so convinced by this translation that the Prophet had the record, that he desired to show his friends, members of his family especially, the product of their labors. The matter was referred to the Lord, and the Lord said, No. But Martin Harris continued his importunity, and Joseph continued to inquire of the Lord, until at last the plates were taken from Joseph as were also the associated sacred things. After this was done, then permission was given to Martin Harris to take the manuscript of the translated part under a very sacred covenant, to keep it secure, and naming those to whom he was to show the translation. Martin Harris broke his covenant with the Prophet and the result was that this precious document was lost to the Prophet and to the Church, and remains so lost up to this day. The Prophet lost possession of the sacred things as well as the record. The Urim and Thummim was gone, and the distress of that man, under these circumstances, it would be difficult to appreciate. He was bowed down in humiliation and the most poignant grief. Finally, however, the angel appeared to him and presented him, once more, with the Urim and Thummim; and the Prophet made immediate use of it to inquire of the Lord, and this was the opening of the revelation unto the Prophet, namely:
"The works and designs and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught; for God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth He turn to the right hand nor to the left; neither doth He vary from that which He hath said; therefore His paths are straight, and His course is one eternal round. Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated but the work of men."
Now, I pray you, hold that declaration in your thought. Let me emphasize it, if I can,—"God does not walk in crooked paths ;" and when men represent Him as varying from truth, or as walking in crooked paths, they blaspheme His name. And what the Lord Himself declares He will not do, He does not inspire men to do; therefore, God and His Church are anchored to the truth. The angel took the Urim and Thummim again into his possession. In a few days the angel appeared, brought with him the records and the sacred associated things, and the Prophet was reinstated in the full favor and acceptance of the Lord; but He refers again, in the revelation, to this matter of adhering to the truth. After explaining to the young Prophet the plot that had been laid by his enemies to destroy the work, and the justification they urged for their attempts at destroying it, He said:
"Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.
"And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God, but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation in the day of judgment.
"Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.
"Yea, he saith unto them, deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy: behold, this is no harm, and thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie, that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.
"And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare.
"And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive, because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God."
That gives me to understand that though my enemy may lie, and deceive, and traduce and slander, that does not warrant me with using against him the same weapons. Neither God, nor His servants, nor His Church are out on a fencing match with Lucifer, using as weapons untruth, and chicanery. God is not going to win His victory over evil by such means. He is going to win by truth gaining a victory over falsehood. So that if a man tells us that God is varying from His own law, that He has spoken a word to the ear to break it to the hope, or that He has announced a law for His Church and after that men may disregard it and practice falsehood—by acting contrary to that law, or to the position that God's Church has taken, then we may know that that man is certainly mistaken, because we have God's word for our warrant that He does not walk in crooked paths, nor justify lying to meet lying. How jealous we ought to be of the honor of God's Church—God's Church! I wonder, sometimes, if we have the true vision of how magnificent that Church is. Paul, in the epistle to the Hebrews, tells us that the whole family of heaven and earth are named after Christ. The whole family of heaven and earth! The Church of the living God! At the head of it, the Godhead! After that all the worthies who have received dispensations of the Gospel for this earth, coming through the grand patriarch of the race—Adam, our honored patriarchal head; and through him to Enoch, and to Moses, and to the prophets in Israel, to John the Baptist, and to the Christ, in the meridian of time, who came to make the great sacrifice, and give the manifestation of God's love for men, so that all men might know from thence forward, how great, indeed was the love of God. Then came the dispensation to the apostles and to the Saints of the early Christian centuries; followed by the period of spiritual darkness; and yet God, not willing that the truth should be all obscured, permitted fragments of it to live even through the dark ages in some of the doctrines of men, even as- the clouds, sometimes, after the sun has sunk behind the western horizon, still reflect somewhat the glory of a departing day. Then, at last, came the dispensation of the fulness of times, with God's great Witness and Prophet of that dispensation, Joseph Smith. The Church of Christ then exists both in earth and in heaven, and its history includes all these great dispensations and the ages yet to come. Loyalty to the Church means loyalty to the Godhead, to all the great prophets who have stood as God's representatives in the earth, through all ages; loyalty to the truth; loyalty to the history of the truth and its consistency. You know how jealously men guard the honor of a kingdom — how much more binding is it upon the members of this great spiritual empire of the Church of Christ to be jealous of the honor of that institution! Earthly kingdoms have had their patriots: Richelieu loved France; and Bulwer Lytton represents him as saying, as he viewed the work which his hands and brain had achieved in bringing France from anarchy to the first rank of the nations of Europe,—"France, I love thee! Not all earth shall pluck thee from my heart. My mistress, France! My wedded wife! who shall proclaim divorce for thee and me?" Frederick the Great loved Prussia; Bismark loved united Germany; Garibaldi loved Italy; Cromwell and the Pitts, and Burke, and Disraeli, and Gladstone loved England. In our own country, Washington loved the United States; so, too, did Jefferson, and Webster, and Lincoln. Worthy, indeed, was the patriotism of these men, but how petty, mean and small seems the things that challenged their love, in comparison with this empire of the Christ, the Church of God. Men, I say, hold dear the honor of an earthly kingdom, how much more ought we to hold the honor of the spiritual empire of Christ. The archpatriot of this spiritual empire is the Christ Himself; and as His empire is more glorious than earthly kingdoms, so too His patriotism exceeds the patriotism of men; for He not only died for His empire, He lived for it! and in addition to living for it and dying for it, He gathered up into His own soul all the sorrows of the members of the empire, and bore their sins Himself, that they might not suffer for sin, if only they would observe His law, and keep His commandments. (Doc. and Cov., Sec. xix).
Such is the Church of Christ to me. Love it? Why, what man, who even in a small degree catches a glimpse of the glory of this kingdom of Christ can fail to love it? Who, seeing its excellence, would not love it, and desire to see it honored among the children of men? Its honor and its word, when pledged, is the most sacred thing that can be plighted.
I fear I am trespassing upon the time, but there is just one other circumstance I would like to use as an illustration, exhibiting how sure the word of the Lord must stand, and how He regards an oath and covenant to which He or His people are pledged. It arises out of an experience of ancient Israel. The Lord, as you remember, gave Palestine as an inheritance to ancient Israel, and a commandment was given to Joshua to go in and take possession of it. Of course, the taking possession of it meant a war of conquest. There was nothing else for it, and as the peoples that were to be displaced had filled to over-running the cup of their iniquity, there was nothing but the justice of God involved in moving them from their lands. So Joshua followed his war of conquest. It was a cruel warfare in some respects, as all wars are; and he won—so secular history tells us —the title of the "Scourge of God." The Gibeonites were a people living just north of Jerusalem, and they desired to retain their possession in the land, and escape the severity of Joshua. They hit upon this strategy: They took a certain delegation, dressed them in old clothing, gave them worn out and fatigued animals; their tents and equipment were worn and travel stained; their wine bottles were old, and the wine sour and unwholesome. This delegation came to the camps of Joshua, representing themselves as coming from a far country; from a people, however, who had heard of Joshua and his conquest; and who feared that he might be tempted even to take possession of their land, and hence they wanted to enter into a league of peace with Israel that they might not be disturbed. So Joshua, in one of his 'moments of mercy, I suppose, entered into covenant with them; when, lo, the disguises were thrown off, and here were representatives of a people right at the door of his encampment, and who, doubtless, would have been the next victims of his war of conquest. But he had entered into covenant with them, and he remembered that from olden times in Israel the principle held good that though a man swear to his hurt, yet he should change not (Psalms 15:4); and so, the covenant being made, the Gibeonites lived in peace with Israel for a number of generations. In the days of Saul, however, we are informed by the Bible that the covenant was violated, and Saul broke loose upon this people and shed their blood, and went far towards destroying them. In the days of David, a famine occurred, and it persisted. The efforts of the priests, the efforts of the king to stay the famine, seemed to be all in vain. The famine continued year after year for three years; until finally the word of the Lord came to David, saying, "It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." So David, knowing the sacredness of a pledged word, sent for these Gibeonites, and said, "What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?" They in reply, said: "We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. * * * The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul." Did David halt and say: You obtained your covenant by deceit and fraud, and by misrepresentation, and we are not bound by it? No, he did not, but he found among the family of Saul the required sacrifice, the seven and they were brought forth and delivered into the hands of this wronged people, and they led them outside, upon a hill, and hung them before the Lord, says the historian; and then, mark this language, "And after that God was entreated for the land," that is, the famine stayed. (II Samuel xxi). I am not responsible for this story; it is in the record that you accept as the word of God; and it shows us how sternly God holds to the pledged word. But one will say, "was not this stern old law set aside—this law demanding an eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth; this law that said thou shalt not foreswear they self, but thou shalt preform unto the Lord all thine oaths. Was not all this set aside by the Christ, saying, 'swear not at all?' And does not this indicate that God, though having given a commandment, may change it or modify it?" Bless your heart, the Lord, so far as I am concerned, can and will do as He pleases, and I for one, if I know that will, shall do what I can to carry it out; but, mark you, these examples I cite to you are taken at a time when one law was being displaced by another, when the law of Moses had completed its purpose and was put aside for the law of the gospel. I do not think you can find a place in holy writ where the Savior holds that while the law of Moses was yet in force, you could violate it with impunity. He may displace the law of Moses by the law of the gospel, as He did, but you cannot find Him counseling violation of the law of Moses while that law is in force. The Jehovah of the Jews, who gave the law unto Moses, is the Christ of the New Testament, and you could not imagine such an inconsistency as His giving a law and then permitting violations of it; for God, we have seen, does not walk in crooked paths.
Now, my brethren and sisters, perhaps these things are not proper for me to discourse upon; but I cannot help thinking about them; and if called upon to speak, I must needs speak that which seems to me the most important thing to be considered. If I have overstepped any bounds of propriety, in referring to these matters, most humbly I beg the pardon of the brethren; for I assure you there is no desire in my heart to assume any function that does not properly belong to my ministry. I speak only because always before my vision is the Church of God, as I have tried to present it in thought to you, an institution that I am sure will prevail; and I am sure that God will inspire His servants to do that which is essential to the salvation of the people and to the honor of the Church of Christ. I have the fullest confidence that whatever may be erratic or sporadically wrong among us will be corrected; and the presiding brethren will find me, heart and hand, with them in maintaining the honor and the glory of this great empire of the Christ.
May the Lord bless you, is my prayer. Amen.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
O, say, what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem
That the riches of worlds can produce;
And priceless the value of truth will be when
The proud monarch's costliest diadem
Is counted but dross and refuse.
Benediction was pronounced by Bishop David A. Smith. Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
CLOSING SESSION.
In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
Prayer was offered by Elder Charles F. Middleton.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
Prayer was offered by Elder Charles F. Middleton.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL.
I am reminded of one of the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the Lord, speaking to Oliver Cowdery, says:
"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me;
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right."
My father often said to this people, many years ago, "ever/ tub will have to stand upon its own bottom." He also said many times just before his death—I think it was about the last thing he did say— ‘Oh! the test, the test, the test! Who will be able to stand?" He made that remark to mother, and she asked him what the test was. He -said, "I don't know; but no one will be able to stand unless he knows that Jesus is the Christ."
At the age of fifty-six, and after a number of years of labor in the ministry and among this people, I am able to testify in and of myself, under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, that I believe all that God has revealed; and I believe every principle that the Lord has revealed through His servants.
Now, I want to confess to the people that I have been thinking along certain lines, not with any knowledge or assurance that I would be called upon to speak at this conference, as I have performed very little labor among the people during the last year or more, owing to the condition of my health. When thinking about the matter, I was wondering what the chief topic of this conference would be, and I came to the conclusion that if I were called upon, I would speak upon the temporal salvation of this people. I appreciate salvation; I realize that eternal life is the greatest gift of God; but the temporal salvation of this people is also of vital importance. Some of us— I plead guilty—have sold our inheritances for a "mess of pottage ;" and in doing so we are without excuse, for we were warned by the servants of the Lord to hold secure our inheritances, as we were only stewards over the same.
I will now read something I have copied. On August 5th, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize; others would be put to death by their persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease; but, he said, "Some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and building cities and will see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." They had not been here very long before the gold fever broke out in California, and some of our people were tinctured very badly with the spirit of money getting. Now listen to what President Brigham Young said—it was his admonition to the Saints who desired to go to California: "The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses and making culinary dishes. When the Saints shall have preached the Gospel, raised grain and built cities enough, the Lord will open up the way for a supply of gold to the satisfaction of the people." I am very glad that the Prophet Brigham Young, emphasized the true use of gold and silver. I have heard it preached hundreds of times—the effects of speculation among this people; that it would tend to break them up and lead them from raising grain, building cities, and making preparation for the tens of thousands of people who will desire to come to these mountains for safety.
We have our own people scattered all over the world, and which of you has land to divide among them? Are we properly supplied with grain? I call the attention of the people to a pamphlet written by Brother John Beck on a "Co-operative college" for Utah. There was a time in the history of Brother John Beck, when he had plenty of gold and silver. At that time his words would have resounded through all Israel, but he is now a poor man, and we don't read his pamphlet. I say to the Latter-day Saints, that we are not doing our duty in regard to temporal affairs. We are not looking after the streams of water; we are not securing titles to land. On the contrary, our sons are being educated, and probably half of them are hunting for white-shirt jobs, and they don't want to secure the land. Yet there has never been a time in the history of this Church, or in the settling of this country, when there were such opportunities. I recently talked with one of our prominent brethren, a business man, a man for whom I have the greatest regard. He was interested in representing our products at Seattle, and on his return to Utah, he felt inspired to go down to the Virgin River, and secure some of that water for the people.
What did it cost to settle that country—the Saint George country? It cost the lives of hundreds of people. The last time I was in St. George there were ninety widows in that one settlement. Well, this good man went to the State Engineer; he looked over the maps carefully, and ascertained the facts in the case. He returned to the Engineer's Office in the evening to file upon the water, but a stranger had been there between morning and evening, and secured over five hundred inches of the Virgin River water. So it is all over Utah; we are sleeping in our trail, and we are in a sort of Rip Van Winkle condition as to our rights,—some of us.
My brethren, and sisters, I am a practical man, and I wish you to know that I have been a pioneer; I know what it costs to make a home. I fought my battles years ago, in as hard a country as has ever been settled by our people. I know it requires ten years of hard labor, and economy, to succeed as a pioneer. I desire it to go down in history to my posterity, that, while I have made a number of failures, I did not fail as a pioneer. When I left that country, I could have bought out a dozen men who had been raised and remained in Salt Lake City; I mean young men who worked behind the counter. But I lost it all through speculation. That is what I want to talk to you about. Speculation— there is nothing more dangerous to the people and to the Church of Latter-day Saints, unless it be immorality and wickedness. I point you back to history, to Nauvoo. What did the spirit of speculation do, according to the history. It nearly destroyed the people there.
Take Heber C. Kimball's family, as an illustration. My father died in 1868. When his administrators divided up the estate there was not a single silver dollar given to any of his children, to my knowledge, but there was some property. Our father selected land on the side hill, among the rocks—he wanted to get away from the center of the city. He owned what is known as the Capitol Hill. He left his children that real estate. There was one lot that was given to my mother's family, and I owned one third of it. I received twenty-five thousand dollars for my portion, and I have been sorry twenty-five thousand times that I ever sold it. (Laughter). I am thankful we had sense enough to keep sufficient ground to bury our posterity on. We have paid taxes on it ever since I was fifteen years old, and I still hold it. What about the other property? There is now hardly a Kimball to be found on the Capitol Hill—unless it be those that are dead. Some of the Kimballs sold their lots at $50 each; today the same lots are worth $4,000.00. If Heber C. Kimball's family had kept their inheritance they would all be wealthy now. And what about the families of other pioneers who came here and fought this great battle? Many of their children are in very nearly the same predicament. I predict to the Latter- day Saints, as a watchman upon the towers, if you follow that foolish example you will "hew stone and draw water:" you can write that down. God bless you. Amen.
I am reminded of one of the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the Lord, speaking to Oliver Cowdery, says:
"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me;
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right."
My father often said to this people, many years ago, "ever/ tub will have to stand upon its own bottom." He also said many times just before his death—I think it was about the last thing he did say— ‘Oh! the test, the test, the test! Who will be able to stand?" He made that remark to mother, and she asked him what the test was. He -said, "I don't know; but no one will be able to stand unless he knows that Jesus is the Christ."
At the age of fifty-six, and after a number of years of labor in the ministry and among this people, I am able to testify in and of myself, under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, that I believe all that God has revealed; and I believe every principle that the Lord has revealed through His servants.
Now, I want to confess to the people that I have been thinking along certain lines, not with any knowledge or assurance that I would be called upon to speak at this conference, as I have performed very little labor among the people during the last year or more, owing to the condition of my health. When thinking about the matter, I was wondering what the chief topic of this conference would be, and I came to the conclusion that if I were called upon, I would speak upon the temporal salvation of this people. I appreciate salvation; I realize that eternal life is the greatest gift of God; but the temporal salvation of this people is also of vital importance. Some of us— I plead guilty—have sold our inheritances for a "mess of pottage ;" and in doing so we are without excuse, for we were warned by the servants of the Lord to hold secure our inheritances, as we were only stewards over the same.
I will now read something I have copied. On August 5th, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize; others would be put to death by their persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease; but, he said, "Some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and building cities and will see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." They had not been here very long before the gold fever broke out in California, and some of our people were tinctured very badly with the spirit of money getting. Now listen to what President Brigham Young said—it was his admonition to the Saints who desired to go to California: "The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses and making culinary dishes. When the Saints shall have preached the Gospel, raised grain and built cities enough, the Lord will open up the way for a supply of gold to the satisfaction of the people." I am very glad that the Prophet Brigham Young, emphasized the true use of gold and silver. I have heard it preached hundreds of times—the effects of speculation among this people; that it would tend to break them up and lead them from raising grain, building cities, and making preparation for the tens of thousands of people who will desire to come to these mountains for safety.
We have our own people scattered all over the world, and which of you has land to divide among them? Are we properly supplied with grain? I call the attention of the people to a pamphlet written by Brother John Beck on a "Co-operative college" for Utah. There was a time in the history of Brother John Beck, when he had plenty of gold and silver. At that time his words would have resounded through all Israel, but he is now a poor man, and we don't read his pamphlet. I say to the Latter-day Saints, that we are not doing our duty in regard to temporal affairs. We are not looking after the streams of water; we are not securing titles to land. On the contrary, our sons are being educated, and probably half of them are hunting for white-shirt jobs, and they don't want to secure the land. Yet there has never been a time in the history of this Church, or in the settling of this country, when there were such opportunities. I recently talked with one of our prominent brethren, a business man, a man for whom I have the greatest regard. He was interested in representing our products at Seattle, and on his return to Utah, he felt inspired to go down to the Virgin River, and secure some of that water for the people.
What did it cost to settle that country—the Saint George country? It cost the lives of hundreds of people. The last time I was in St. George there were ninety widows in that one settlement. Well, this good man went to the State Engineer; he looked over the maps carefully, and ascertained the facts in the case. He returned to the Engineer's Office in the evening to file upon the water, but a stranger had been there between morning and evening, and secured over five hundred inches of the Virgin River water. So it is all over Utah; we are sleeping in our trail, and we are in a sort of Rip Van Winkle condition as to our rights,—some of us.
My brethren, and sisters, I am a practical man, and I wish you to know that I have been a pioneer; I know what it costs to make a home. I fought my battles years ago, in as hard a country as has ever been settled by our people. I know it requires ten years of hard labor, and economy, to succeed as a pioneer. I desire it to go down in history to my posterity, that, while I have made a number of failures, I did not fail as a pioneer. When I left that country, I could have bought out a dozen men who had been raised and remained in Salt Lake City; I mean young men who worked behind the counter. But I lost it all through speculation. That is what I want to talk to you about. Speculation— there is nothing more dangerous to the people and to the Church of Latter-day Saints, unless it be immorality and wickedness. I point you back to history, to Nauvoo. What did the spirit of speculation do, according to the history. It nearly destroyed the people there.
Take Heber C. Kimball's family, as an illustration. My father died in 1868. When his administrators divided up the estate there was not a single silver dollar given to any of his children, to my knowledge, but there was some property. Our father selected land on the side hill, among the rocks—he wanted to get away from the center of the city. He owned what is known as the Capitol Hill. He left his children that real estate. There was one lot that was given to my mother's family, and I owned one third of it. I received twenty-five thousand dollars for my portion, and I have been sorry twenty-five thousand times that I ever sold it. (Laughter). I am thankful we had sense enough to keep sufficient ground to bury our posterity on. We have paid taxes on it ever since I was fifteen years old, and I still hold it. What about the other property? There is now hardly a Kimball to be found on the Capitol Hill—unless it be those that are dead. Some of the Kimballs sold their lots at $50 each; today the same lots are worth $4,000.00. If Heber C. Kimball's family had kept their inheritance they would all be wealthy now. And what about the families of other pioneers who came here and fought this great battle? Many of their children are in very nearly the same predicament. I predict to the Latter- day Saints, as a watchman upon the towers, if you follow that foolish example you will "hew stone and draw water:" you can write that down. God bless you. Amen.
ELDER RULON S. WELLS.
I trust that the Spirit of the Lord will direct me while I stand before you. I have rejoiced in the meetings of this conference and the spirit of the instructions which have been given unto us. While our brethren have been talking to us many reflections have come to my mind, regarding the great plan of life and salvation. I was particularly interested in the reference that was made to the "new religion" of Doctor Eliot, the ex-president of Harvard University; and I thought, how vain men are, who will presume to formulate a religion for the salvation of our Father's children. It lies only with God to devise a plan whereby His children can be saved. The great trouble in the world is that we have too many man-made religions, and they do not possess the power of God unto salvation. Only that plan that was revealed from heaven, that was given and established before the foundations of this earth were laid, possesses this power. Eternal life is the goal for which we are striving, and men may not attain to it except in the way which has been pointed out by the Savior of the world. In order for men to find out the true way, it is necessary that they shall be obedient unto the will of God, that they turn away from wickedness and sin, that the Spirit of the Lord may possess their souls and bring them to a knowledge of the truth and to a knowledge of God, for it is this knowledge of God that we understand to be eternal life, as was pointed out by Brother McKay: "This is eternal life, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." But no man can obtain that knowledge of God through the wisdom of men. Men are unable to devise the plan by which the children of men may attain to that knowledge. We read in the holy scriptures that when our first parents were placed in the Garden of Eden, the Lord had planted a garden in the east end thereof, and in the midst of the garden there stood a tree, which was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Lord told our father Adam that of the fruit of this tree he should not eat, for in the day that he ate thereof he should surely die. I wish to call attention to this particular instance which occurred in the beginning of the history of man, upon this earth. After having partaken of this fruit, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and Cherubim, with flaming swords, were placed at the entrance to guard the way to the tree of life, which also stood in the midst of this garden, lest they might also partake of the fruit of that tree and live forever in their transgression. It is obvious, therefore, that in the great plan of the Almighty, men were not to obtain eternal life while in transgression; and a plan must be formed that would cleanse and purify men before they should be permitted to partake of that fruit which gave them eternal life. If it had been possible, or if it had been permitted that our first parents, in their transgression, could have also partaken of the fruit of this tree of life, we would not have attained to the eternal life that the Lord desires His children to obtain, because it would have been an eternal life of sin, and transgression from the ways of the Lord, and the next world would have been no better than this one. The Lord desired that all those who should partake of the fruit of that tree and live forever, should first become purged and purified and cleansed from all sin and from all unrighteousness; therefore, He revealed from heaven a plan whereby men and women could obtain eternal life and come to the knowledge of God. Then, to know God is eternal life, and men cannot attain it only through faith and repentance from sin. Likewise, they must receive a remission of sin through baptism of the water, and Spirit, before they can know Him, for we can only know God and the things of God by the Spirit of God. Men may endeavor by their sophistry and philosophy to find Him out, but they will fail. They may undertake, by logic and reason to uncover His hiding place, but they will not succeed only as they pass through the cleansing process of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cherubim with flaming swords still guard the way to the tree of life and knowledge of God, whom to know is life eternal. It is a wonderful plan. I wish to call attention to this fact, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and in reference to obtaining wisdom or knowledge, it must begin with the fear of God in our hearts. The Lord has given commandments and, with these commandments, this condition of fear is held up before the children of men. Sometimes there is a disposition to belittle this feeling of fear of God. Of course, it is not to be compared with the love of God, which is the greatest thing in the world; but the beginning is the fear of God. The beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom has its origin in the fear of God, because human nature is such that this apprehension must continually be held up before mankind. It is so in the family government; it is so in our civil government. What would we be if it were not for the fact that laws are passed and penalties attached to the transgression of the laws? Would we be as honest, as virtuous, as true, as we are today if there were no civil laws prescribing penalties? I do not believe we would be. I believe that it is necessary, in our civil government, that there should be laws passed that whosoever sheddeth the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; and that whosoever shall steal must pay the penalty. The sentiment of fear must be held up before us. I believe that it is necessary for every one of us to have these things before us, that we may know the consequence of transgression is that we will be punished. I rejoice that there is a code of laws in force by which society is protected, by which our children and we ourselves are protected from going the wrong way. We, too, are a covenant people, and this essential condition of fear is inscribed in the law of God; it is always held up before us. We are under holy and sacred covenants, penalties are attached to the transgression of the law of God; and, my brethren and sisters, in this fear of God I can find the beginning of wisdom and of knowledge. Men who wish to come to a knowledge of God may begin by having the fear in their hearts that they will not violate or transgress His laws, for they are wholesome and good, and we need them to keep us straight. As I advance in years, I find that I approve of every influence that has a tendency to keep me in the right path. I delight in those restrictions that are placed upon society and upon me, that prevent us from going wrong. It will hurt no good man to have good and wholesome laws; furthermore, it will lead us to the love of God, because if we are walking in this path, eschewing evil, turning away from it, each time that we govern ourselves in this way we will find we are coming nearer to obeying the will of God, and the great law of love will have an opportunity of controlling us.
I desire to read a few words from the eleventh chapter of the first book of Nephi. Those of you who are familiar with the Book of Mormon will remember the great dream that Lehi had, and how the Lord revealed to him, in that dream, wonderful things, and among other things that he saw was a tree, the fruit of which was very desirable. Afterwards Nephi received a vision, and an angel of the Lord asked him a question, as to what he desired, and he said he desired to see the things which his father had seen in his dream:
"And the angel said unto me (Nephi) Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?
"And I answered him saying, Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
"And he spake unto me saying, Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
"And after he had said these words, he said unto me, Look! and I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.
"And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God."
The word of God was the iron rod which also led to the tree of life. That is the way to get to that tree and to partake of its fruit; and it represents the love of God. Blessed are those who shall attain to the love of God, but let them not despise the necessity of fearing God, and keeping His commandments.
In this the dispensation of the fulness of times, as it was predicted, an angel came flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the face of the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people; and this was his cry: "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made the heavens and the earth, and the seas, and the fountains of water." Brethren and sisters, let the fear of God take hold of us, that we may obey His commandments, lest we have to pay the penalty; let us so live that we may avoid the punishment that comes to the evil-doer. If we will do so, clinging to the word of God, remembering the penalties that come from transgressing and going against it, we will eventually arrive at the tree and partake of that love of God that will fill our hearts with joy that is beyond all description. God bless us all. Amen.
I trust that the Spirit of the Lord will direct me while I stand before you. I have rejoiced in the meetings of this conference and the spirit of the instructions which have been given unto us. While our brethren have been talking to us many reflections have come to my mind, regarding the great plan of life and salvation. I was particularly interested in the reference that was made to the "new religion" of Doctor Eliot, the ex-president of Harvard University; and I thought, how vain men are, who will presume to formulate a religion for the salvation of our Father's children. It lies only with God to devise a plan whereby His children can be saved. The great trouble in the world is that we have too many man-made religions, and they do not possess the power of God unto salvation. Only that plan that was revealed from heaven, that was given and established before the foundations of this earth were laid, possesses this power. Eternal life is the goal for which we are striving, and men may not attain to it except in the way which has been pointed out by the Savior of the world. In order for men to find out the true way, it is necessary that they shall be obedient unto the will of God, that they turn away from wickedness and sin, that the Spirit of the Lord may possess their souls and bring them to a knowledge of the truth and to a knowledge of God, for it is this knowledge of God that we understand to be eternal life, as was pointed out by Brother McKay: "This is eternal life, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." But no man can obtain that knowledge of God through the wisdom of men. Men are unable to devise the plan by which the children of men may attain to that knowledge. We read in the holy scriptures that when our first parents were placed in the Garden of Eden, the Lord had planted a garden in the east end thereof, and in the midst of the garden there stood a tree, which was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Lord told our father Adam that of the fruit of this tree he should not eat, for in the day that he ate thereof he should surely die. I wish to call attention to this particular instance which occurred in the beginning of the history of man, upon this earth. After having partaken of this fruit, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and Cherubim, with flaming swords, were placed at the entrance to guard the way to the tree of life, which also stood in the midst of this garden, lest they might also partake of the fruit of that tree and live forever in their transgression. It is obvious, therefore, that in the great plan of the Almighty, men were not to obtain eternal life while in transgression; and a plan must be formed that would cleanse and purify men before they should be permitted to partake of that fruit which gave them eternal life. If it had been possible, or if it had been permitted that our first parents, in their transgression, could have also partaken of the fruit of this tree of life, we would not have attained to the eternal life that the Lord desires His children to obtain, because it would have been an eternal life of sin, and transgression from the ways of the Lord, and the next world would have been no better than this one. The Lord desired that all those who should partake of the fruit of that tree and live forever, should first become purged and purified and cleansed from all sin and from all unrighteousness; therefore, He revealed from heaven a plan whereby men and women could obtain eternal life and come to the knowledge of God. Then, to know God is eternal life, and men cannot attain it only through faith and repentance from sin. Likewise, they must receive a remission of sin through baptism of the water, and Spirit, before they can know Him, for we can only know God and the things of God by the Spirit of God. Men may endeavor by their sophistry and philosophy to find Him out, but they will fail. They may undertake, by logic and reason to uncover His hiding place, but they will not succeed only as they pass through the cleansing process of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cherubim with flaming swords still guard the way to the tree of life and knowledge of God, whom to know is life eternal. It is a wonderful plan. I wish to call attention to this fact, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and in reference to obtaining wisdom or knowledge, it must begin with the fear of God in our hearts. The Lord has given commandments and, with these commandments, this condition of fear is held up before the children of men. Sometimes there is a disposition to belittle this feeling of fear of God. Of course, it is not to be compared with the love of God, which is the greatest thing in the world; but the beginning is the fear of God. The beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom has its origin in the fear of God, because human nature is such that this apprehension must continually be held up before mankind. It is so in the family government; it is so in our civil government. What would we be if it were not for the fact that laws are passed and penalties attached to the transgression of the laws? Would we be as honest, as virtuous, as true, as we are today if there were no civil laws prescribing penalties? I do not believe we would be. I believe that it is necessary, in our civil government, that there should be laws passed that whosoever sheddeth the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; and that whosoever shall steal must pay the penalty. The sentiment of fear must be held up before us. I believe that it is necessary for every one of us to have these things before us, that we may know the consequence of transgression is that we will be punished. I rejoice that there is a code of laws in force by which society is protected, by which our children and we ourselves are protected from going the wrong way. We, too, are a covenant people, and this essential condition of fear is inscribed in the law of God; it is always held up before us. We are under holy and sacred covenants, penalties are attached to the transgression of the law of God; and, my brethren and sisters, in this fear of God I can find the beginning of wisdom and of knowledge. Men who wish to come to a knowledge of God may begin by having the fear in their hearts that they will not violate or transgress His laws, for they are wholesome and good, and we need them to keep us straight. As I advance in years, I find that I approve of every influence that has a tendency to keep me in the right path. I delight in those restrictions that are placed upon society and upon me, that prevent us from going wrong. It will hurt no good man to have good and wholesome laws; furthermore, it will lead us to the love of God, because if we are walking in this path, eschewing evil, turning away from it, each time that we govern ourselves in this way we will find we are coming nearer to obeying the will of God, and the great law of love will have an opportunity of controlling us.
I desire to read a few words from the eleventh chapter of the first book of Nephi. Those of you who are familiar with the Book of Mormon will remember the great dream that Lehi had, and how the Lord revealed to him, in that dream, wonderful things, and among other things that he saw was a tree, the fruit of which was very desirable. Afterwards Nephi received a vision, and an angel of the Lord asked him a question, as to what he desired, and he said he desired to see the things which his father had seen in his dream:
"And the angel said unto me (Nephi) Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?
"And I answered him saying, Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
"And he spake unto me saying, Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
"And after he had said these words, he said unto me, Look! and I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.
"And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God."
The word of God was the iron rod which also led to the tree of life. That is the way to get to that tree and to partake of its fruit; and it represents the love of God. Blessed are those who shall attain to the love of God, but let them not despise the necessity of fearing God, and keeping His commandments.
In this the dispensation of the fulness of times, as it was predicted, an angel came flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the face of the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people; and this was his cry: "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made the heavens and the earth, and the seas, and the fountains of water." Brethren and sisters, let the fear of God take hold of us, that we may obey His commandments, lest we have to pay the penalty; let us so live that we may avoid the punishment that comes to the evil-doer. If we will do so, clinging to the word of God, remembering the penalties that come from transgressing and going against it, we will eventually arrive at the tree and partake of that love of God that will fill our hearts with joy that is beyond all description. God bless us all. Amen.
ELDER CHARLES H. HART.
It is pleasing, and I think, indeed, fitting that this house of worship should be decorated with the Stars and Stripes, the colors and emblem of our country; for I know of no religion, except ours, that has as one of its religious beliefs or doctrines, the fact that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired. In Section 150 of the Doctrine and Covenants we have this language:
"Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage, one to another, and for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."
The history of constitution making shows that there is good reason for a doctrine such as this. When we view the progress that had been made in constitution making up to the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and the great success of that instrument, we can readily believe that it was more than man's wisdom that established the balances, the divisions of government, and the harmony and consistency existing in that great document. If we may presume ourselves incompetent to pass an impartial judgment upon the value of that document, on account of being, ourselves, citizens and lovers of our own country, let us take the testimony of one of those distinguished statesmen mentioned this morning, a patriot and lover of the English government, the English Premier, William Gladstone, who said of our Constitution, "So far as I am able to observe, it is the greatest instrument ever stricken off at a given time, by the brain and purpose of man." I think one of the elements of distinction, in connection with that instrument, is the fact that it was a written constitution. England had made great progress in establishing the rights of freemen, during all the centuries of her history, that were so rich in the development of those principles guaranteeing the rights and liberties that Anglo-Saxons so dearly prize. But England did not have a written constitution, so-called; she had her various documents which were repositories of these great principles that the English forefathers had contended for. She had her Magna Charta, that was wrested from King John, by the Barons, upon the plains of Runnymede. She had her petition of Rights, her Bill of Rights, her Act of Settlement, the Habeas Corpus Act, and all of these great palladiums of English liberty; but none of them could compare with this remarkable document that was produced by these wise men, whom God raised up for the very purpose of making that constitution.
The influence of the document has been contagious. It spread to Europe. Governments in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in the islands of the sea have patterned after it; and we may well be proud, it seems to me, of the position of our Church with reference to this great instrument, that is suitable to the needs of eighty or ninety millions of people as readily as it was suitable to some three millions; a document that is capable of being extended and expanded, and of growing in the right directions; a document which secures unto us liberty and security that we, perhaps, do not realize or stop to think of,—surrounding us and protecting us, as the very air that we breathe.
A missionary in Turkey, some years ago, when times were as troublesome and as dangerous to life, almost, then as they were recently, told me of his experience, showing the value to him of being an American citizen. His life was in danger. Before that time he had made the friendship of the United States consul, and when the lines began to be drawn about him, so that it seemed his life was in great hazard and jeopardy, he got a communication through to that United States consul, at a distant port. He responded immediately by sending several American war vessels into the harbor where our missionary brother was located, and the Turkish government had served upon them, very vigorously, a notice which warned them that they would be held responsible for every hair on the head of that missionary that might be harmed.
Now, while receiving protection such as makes it a great privilege to be a citizen of the United States, we owe a corresponding duty to our country; we owe the duty of perpetuation, of obedience to the first great command that was given our first parents. The question of race suicide is agitating the minds of thinking people today. According to statistics given by Professor Ross of the Wisconsin University, in the American Journal of Sociology, the birthrate of all European nations declined, during the period that the statistics covered, the last quarter of the 19th century. The decline was from 2.2% to 6.8% births to the thousand population, making England's reduction of the birthrate from 35.4 to 28.6 at about the close of the 19th century. There were evidences of the birthrate declining in all those nations, even in the vigorous young colonies of Great Britain, during that period and since. From statistics given by one of the brethren, sometime ago, the birthrate of the Mormon people, for the year 1908, I think, was 40.2 births, per annum, for the thousand population. We owe it to our government, in addition to the perpetuation of the race, to develop worthy citizens, men who have embodied in their lives those principles that have been taught during this conference, by the various speakers. We who went to the Fair, yesterday, admired the products of the soil. We paused for a moment, as we passed that group of squash weighing 1,370 pounds. We admired the mammoth horses, fat cattle, beautiful birds, and the products of the shop and field; but I am sure we would take greater pride in the growth and development of our sons and daughters, and in their virtue and integrity, rather than in these products of the held and of the farm. Emerson has said that the chief test of civilization is not in the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops—no, but far greater than these, the character of the men and women we are producing. If the doctrines and teachings of this conference shall be adhered to by the people, an improvement will be made for the future, in this most important direction of the proper care, growth, and development of our children.
This doctrine of temporal salvation is really a spiritual doctrine, when you come to think of it. In the Doctrine and Covenants we are informed that at no time has the Lord given any temporal law, but they are all spiritual. These so-called temporal things are spiritual in a sense; and that is in harmony with the doctrine of a modern philosopher who expresses it in the form of a question: "If we continue to progress, must there not come a time when we shall cease to differentiate and call some things secular, and some things sacred?" All these things that tend to the growth, development and betterment of the people are sacred and spiritual.
The soul of an individual is certainly very precious in the sight of our Father. The words of the Savior, according to Luke, referring to the value of a human soul, are as follows: "What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or is cast away?" For many years, and perhaps still, with some people, the doctrine existed that man was made by our Father in Heaven for the purpose of giving him praise; but in the Pearl of Great Price we have the true doctrine in reference to that matter, as revealed from the Lord, "Behold, this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Not the matter of singing praise unto Him, as the chief glory of God, as declared by some formal statements of creed; but the glory of God is in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of us, His creatures.
May the Lord help us, my brethren and sisters, to accept and put into practice the important doctrines and truths we have heard during this conference, that shall help to make us better citizens of this great country of ours, and better members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I ask it, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Sister Judith Anderson Bird sang the contralto solo, "Lord hear us, we pray Thee."
It is pleasing, and I think, indeed, fitting that this house of worship should be decorated with the Stars and Stripes, the colors and emblem of our country; for I know of no religion, except ours, that has as one of its religious beliefs or doctrines, the fact that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired. In Section 150 of the Doctrine and Covenants we have this language:
"Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage, one to another, and for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."
The history of constitution making shows that there is good reason for a doctrine such as this. When we view the progress that had been made in constitution making up to the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and the great success of that instrument, we can readily believe that it was more than man's wisdom that established the balances, the divisions of government, and the harmony and consistency existing in that great document. If we may presume ourselves incompetent to pass an impartial judgment upon the value of that document, on account of being, ourselves, citizens and lovers of our own country, let us take the testimony of one of those distinguished statesmen mentioned this morning, a patriot and lover of the English government, the English Premier, William Gladstone, who said of our Constitution, "So far as I am able to observe, it is the greatest instrument ever stricken off at a given time, by the brain and purpose of man." I think one of the elements of distinction, in connection with that instrument, is the fact that it was a written constitution. England had made great progress in establishing the rights of freemen, during all the centuries of her history, that were so rich in the development of those principles guaranteeing the rights and liberties that Anglo-Saxons so dearly prize. But England did not have a written constitution, so-called; she had her various documents which were repositories of these great principles that the English forefathers had contended for. She had her Magna Charta, that was wrested from King John, by the Barons, upon the plains of Runnymede. She had her petition of Rights, her Bill of Rights, her Act of Settlement, the Habeas Corpus Act, and all of these great palladiums of English liberty; but none of them could compare with this remarkable document that was produced by these wise men, whom God raised up for the very purpose of making that constitution.
The influence of the document has been contagious. It spread to Europe. Governments in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in the islands of the sea have patterned after it; and we may well be proud, it seems to me, of the position of our Church with reference to this great instrument, that is suitable to the needs of eighty or ninety millions of people as readily as it was suitable to some three millions; a document that is capable of being extended and expanded, and of growing in the right directions; a document which secures unto us liberty and security that we, perhaps, do not realize or stop to think of,—surrounding us and protecting us, as the very air that we breathe.
A missionary in Turkey, some years ago, when times were as troublesome and as dangerous to life, almost, then as they were recently, told me of his experience, showing the value to him of being an American citizen. His life was in danger. Before that time he had made the friendship of the United States consul, and when the lines began to be drawn about him, so that it seemed his life was in great hazard and jeopardy, he got a communication through to that United States consul, at a distant port. He responded immediately by sending several American war vessels into the harbor where our missionary brother was located, and the Turkish government had served upon them, very vigorously, a notice which warned them that they would be held responsible for every hair on the head of that missionary that might be harmed.
Now, while receiving protection such as makes it a great privilege to be a citizen of the United States, we owe a corresponding duty to our country; we owe the duty of perpetuation, of obedience to the first great command that was given our first parents. The question of race suicide is agitating the minds of thinking people today. According to statistics given by Professor Ross of the Wisconsin University, in the American Journal of Sociology, the birthrate of all European nations declined, during the period that the statistics covered, the last quarter of the 19th century. The decline was from 2.2% to 6.8% births to the thousand population, making England's reduction of the birthrate from 35.4 to 28.6 at about the close of the 19th century. There were evidences of the birthrate declining in all those nations, even in the vigorous young colonies of Great Britain, during that period and since. From statistics given by one of the brethren, sometime ago, the birthrate of the Mormon people, for the year 1908, I think, was 40.2 births, per annum, for the thousand population. We owe it to our government, in addition to the perpetuation of the race, to develop worthy citizens, men who have embodied in their lives those principles that have been taught during this conference, by the various speakers. We who went to the Fair, yesterday, admired the products of the soil. We paused for a moment, as we passed that group of squash weighing 1,370 pounds. We admired the mammoth horses, fat cattle, beautiful birds, and the products of the shop and field; but I am sure we would take greater pride in the growth and development of our sons and daughters, and in their virtue and integrity, rather than in these products of the held and of the farm. Emerson has said that the chief test of civilization is not in the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops—no, but far greater than these, the character of the men and women we are producing. If the doctrines and teachings of this conference shall be adhered to by the people, an improvement will be made for the future, in this most important direction of the proper care, growth, and development of our children.
This doctrine of temporal salvation is really a spiritual doctrine, when you come to think of it. In the Doctrine and Covenants we are informed that at no time has the Lord given any temporal law, but they are all spiritual. These so-called temporal things are spiritual in a sense; and that is in harmony with the doctrine of a modern philosopher who expresses it in the form of a question: "If we continue to progress, must there not come a time when we shall cease to differentiate and call some things secular, and some things sacred?" All these things that tend to the growth, development and betterment of the people are sacred and spiritual.
The soul of an individual is certainly very precious in the sight of our Father. The words of the Savior, according to Luke, referring to the value of a human soul, are as follows: "What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or is cast away?" For many years, and perhaps still, with some people, the doctrine existed that man was made by our Father in Heaven for the purpose of giving him praise; but in the Pearl of Great Price we have the true doctrine in reference to that matter, as revealed from the Lord, "Behold, this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Not the matter of singing praise unto Him, as the chief glory of God, as declared by some formal statements of creed; but the glory of God is in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of us, His creatures.
May the Lord help us, my brethren and sisters, to accept and put into practice the important doctrines and truths we have heard during this conference, that shall help to make us better citizens of this great country of ours, and better members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I ask it, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Sister Judith Anderson Bird sang the contralto solo, "Lord hear us, we pray Thee."
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY.
The variety of instruction that we have had at this conference, and the kind of instruction, is certainly to be commended. I do not see how any right-minded person, of whatever creed or persuasion, or of no creed, could object or find fault with the teachings that have been given to the Latter-day Saints during the sessions of our conference. We have been taught to be good citizens, good fathers, good mothers, good children; to love our neighbors; to pay our debts; to keep out of debt; to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and many more items of instruction to which I have not time to call your attention. We have also heard of the work of the Betterment Committee, in looking after our children, and this was emphasized by President Smith in the beginning of the conference. The work of the Bureau of Information, on this block, extending courtesy to strangers, has also been called to our attention. All of these things have been talked about, and many more, and everyone of them are good.
Nor have we been wanting in manifestation of the spirit of patriotism and love of country. The remarks of Elder Hart, the previous speaker, alluded to this matter. I thought as he was speaking, if we only knew and could sense always what this priceless boon of liberty has cost the children of men, we would appreciate it perhaps more than we do; and if we only knew and could sense, always, that beyond the liberty of our country and its God-inspired Constitution, which we have for the government of the country, we have beyond that, and higher than that, a perfect law of liberty in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All other forms are naturally imperfect, being largely the product of man; but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Saint Paul tells us, we have a perfect law of liberty. Indeed, we have it recorded here in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, which may be called the constitution of this Church, that no man should exercise his Priesthood, or the rights of the Priesthood in any degree of unrighteousness. The dominion, the control that is given through this organization must be on righteous principles.
Mormonism holds a singular and unique position in the world, claiming as it does to be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a creed founded in righteousness, established, in this perfect law of liberty, and it challenges the world to produce anything like the organization which the Lord has revealed, and through which He makes manifest His righteousness and His purposes in the earth. Without this Priesthood, we are told, the power of godliness is not made manifest to men in the flesh.
We mistake greatly if we think that in the struggle for this liberty, in the fighting which began three hundred years ago, and continued during two hundred years —we mistake greatly if we think that that contention and struggle was for the purpose of establishing any particular creed, or branch of the Church. The contention of the Protestants, who protested against the misrule of the Catholic Church, was not that they should establish any particular kind of a church, it was a contention and fight against tyranny; it was a fight for liberty —liberty that they might establish a church, if they chose to do so, or do without one if they chose; but it was for liberty and against oppression. I say all honor to Protestantism. No man shall go before me in honoring that spirit of patriotism which was manifested all through the struggle in the Netherlands, in the low countries, in fighting that terrible oppressor the Duke of Alva, sent by the Spanish government and the Pope — not in the interests of liberty but to crush out the spirit of liberty. But the little thing that the Lord had planted, this desire for liberty, grew in the hearts of the children of men, and it became the great thing in England, as well as in Holland, in Queen Elizabeth's time, with Sir Francis Drake scouring the seas and capturing the Spanish galleons, with their treasure loads of gold from Peru and Mexico. All that was not that any particular brand of church might be established; that is to say, that they wanted this church or the other church; the fight was—let me tell you again—that liberty should be established, so that men could worship as they pleased, how they pleased, or not worship at all, if they so pleased. The time had not yet come for the Church of Jesus Christ to be established; and all honor, I say, to the Protestant countries and Protestant peoples who caused liberty to become established.
So, a little later, in our own country, the same fight, the same contention, the same struggle is on —not to establish one church or the other, but for liberty. In Washington's time, the liberty, which this flag [pointing to the national emblem], now represents was fully accomplished, when there was enacted in our Constitution a full fruition of this fighting and struggling,— in these words: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, nor the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." That being enacted into law and becoming the law of the country, then the liberty that all these people had been fighting for was granted to our country, and became an accomplished fact. Now, when that was accomplished, God Almighty, in His own way, sends forth what? A more perfect law of liberty and righteousness, more perfect than the Constitution of the country itself, in the bringing forth of His Church in these last days, in raising up the Prophet Joseph Smith as He did and instructing him how to prepare this wonderful organization, with the Priesthood of the Son of God as its governing power.
Our contention is that the Priesthood was taken from the earth in an early age of the Christian era. As soon as the Primitive Church dwindled into darkness and unbelief and the Church itself adopted rules and measures, regulations and ordinances which were subversive and destructive of the spirit of liberty, then the Priesthood was withdrawn from the earth; so that the question as to when this Priesthood was taken from the earth is answered in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants itself in these words:
"The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
"That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the Priesthood, or the authority of that man."
If that is true with respect to one man, it is true with respect to one million of men or any number of men. That shows when the Priesthood was lost. That is why it needed restoring again.
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile."
So I say that of all people, in all this world, the Latter-day Saints stand for liberty and righteousness, and ought to stand, and must so stand, under this doctrine and constitution of our Church. If we maintain the Church of Christ iri the earth, and it will be maintained, it will be upon principles of righteousness. No man will be put to death by this Church because he does not believe its doctrines—even if it were possible under the law that they could be compelled in any way. You can't maintain the rights and authority of the Priesthood n, that way. You can believe what you please, of course, this liberty exists. Anyone can establish a Church. Doctor Eliot? Yes, just as much right, under the law, as any man—just exactly—and nobody will say him nay. He hasn't any authority from God Almighty to bestow the Priesthood—that is a very different proposition; he does not claim it; neither do the other churches, except one, claim it. But Mormonism claims it; this church claims it.
This is not a chinch established by some man, by man's wisdom — any old kind of a church, so to speak; it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Herein is the truth, and the light, and the way—a perfect law of liberty and of righteousness. All the counsel of this whole conference has been to that end, and makes for the establishment of that aim; makes for righteousness; makes for liberty, right-living and the well-being of the children of men upon the earth. You shall not oppress any one, nor attempt to oppress any one. Men may believe, as our Catholic brethren profess to believe, that the bread that is blest becomes into the living flesh of Christ. Of .course we do not believe that; we believe it is ridiculous, and know, in fact, that it is not true. But they have a right to believe it, if they want to; and I glory in the fact that, through the fighting of the three hundred years that have passed, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, I glory in the fact that I cannot be put to death because I refuse to believe it; that is where our liberty comes in.
This is God's Church; this is The Church,—the only Church that He acknowledges in the earth, as having His Priesthood—the only one in all the world. We challenge the attention of the world on that proposition. It is guided by Him. I know as I live, that this is the Church of God, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is His prophet, sent of God to establish the Church whose law is a perfect law of liberty to all mankind. God bless you. Amen.
The variety of instruction that we have had at this conference, and the kind of instruction, is certainly to be commended. I do not see how any right-minded person, of whatever creed or persuasion, or of no creed, could object or find fault with the teachings that have been given to the Latter-day Saints during the sessions of our conference. We have been taught to be good citizens, good fathers, good mothers, good children; to love our neighbors; to pay our debts; to keep out of debt; to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and many more items of instruction to which I have not time to call your attention. We have also heard of the work of the Betterment Committee, in looking after our children, and this was emphasized by President Smith in the beginning of the conference. The work of the Bureau of Information, on this block, extending courtesy to strangers, has also been called to our attention. All of these things have been talked about, and many more, and everyone of them are good.
Nor have we been wanting in manifestation of the spirit of patriotism and love of country. The remarks of Elder Hart, the previous speaker, alluded to this matter. I thought as he was speaking, if we only knew and could sense always what this priceless boon of liberty has cost the children of men, we would appreciate it perhaps more than we do; and if we only knew and could sense, always, that beyond the liberty of our country and its God-inspired Constitution, which we have for the government of the country, we have beyond that, and higher than that, a perfect law of liberty in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All other forms are naturally imperfect, being largely the product of man; but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Saint Paul tells us, we have a perfect law of liberty. Indeed, we have it recorded here in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, which may be called the constitution of this Church, that no man should exercise his Priesthood, or the rights of the Priesthood in any degree of unrighteousness. The dominion, the control that is given through this organization must be on righteous principles.
Mormonism holds a singular and unique position in the world, claiming as it does to be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a creed founded in righteousness, established, in this perfect law of liberty, and it challenges the world to produce anything like the organization which the Lord has revealed, and through which He makes manifest His righteousness and His purposes in the earth. Without this Priesthood, we are told, the power of godliness is not made manifest to men in the flesh.
We mistake greatly if we think that in the struggle for this liberty, in the fighting which began three hundred years ago, and continued during two hundred years —we mistake greatly if we think that that contention and struggle was for the purpose of establishing any particular creed, or branch of the Church. The contention of the Protestants, who protested against the misrule of the Catholic Church, was not that they should establish any particular kind of a church, it was a contention and fight against tyranny; it was a fight for liberty —liberty that they might establish a church, if they chose to do so, or do without one if they chose; but it was for liberty and against oppression. I say all honor to Protestantism. No man shall go before me in honoring that spirit of patriotism which was manifested all through the struggle in the Netherlands, in the low countries, in fighting that terrible oppressor the Duke of Alva, sent by the Spanish government and the Pope — not in the interests of liberty but to crush out the spirit of liberty. But the little thing that the Lord had planted, this desire for liberty, grew in the hearts of the children of men, and it became the great thing in England, as well as in Holland, in Queen Elizabeth's time, with Sir Francis Drake scouring the seas and capturing the Spanish galleons, with their treasure loads of gold from Peru and Mexico. All that was not that any particular brand of church might be established; that is to say, that they wanted this church or the other church; the fight was—let me tell you again—that liberty should be established, so that men could worship as they pleased, how they pleased, or not worship at all, if they so pleased. The time had not yet come for the Church of Jesus Christ to be established; and all honor, I say, to the Protestant countries and Protestant peoples who caused liberty to become established.
So, a little later, in our own country, the same fight, the same contention, the same struggle is on —not to establish one church or the other, but for liberty. In Washington's time, the liberty, which this flag [pointing to the national emblem], now represents was fully accomplished, when there was enacted in our Constitution a full fruition of this fighting and struggling,— in these words: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, nor the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." That being enacted into law and becoming the law of the country, then the liberty that all these people had been fighting for was granted to our country, and became an accomplished fact. Now, when that was accomplished, God Almighty, in His own way, sends forth what? A more perfect law of liberty and righteousness, more perfect than the Constitution of the country itself, in the bringing forth of His Church in these last days, in raising up the Prophet Joseph Smith as He did and instructing him how to prepare this wonderful organization, with the Priesthood of the Son of God as its governing power.
Our contention is that the Priesthood was taken from the earth in an early age of the Christian era. As soon as the Primitive Church dwindled into darkness and unbelief and the Church itself adopted rules and measures, regulations and ordinances which were subversive and destructive of the spirit of liberty, then the Priesthood was withdrawn from the earth; so that the question as to when this Priesthood was taken from the earth is answered in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants itself in these words:
"The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
"That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the Priesthood, or the authority of that man."
If that is true with respect to one man, it is true with respect to one million of men or any number of men. That shows when the Priesthood was lost. That is why it needed restoring again.
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile."
So I say that of all people, in all this world, the Latter-day Saints stand for liberty and righteousness, and ought to stand, and must so stand, under this doctrine and constitution of our Church. If we maintain the Church of Christ iri the earth, and it will be maintained, it will be upon principles of righteousness. No man will be put to death by this Church because he does not believe its doctrines—even if it were possible under the law that they could be compelled in any way. You can't maintain the rights and authority of the Priesthood n, that way. You can believe what you please, of course, this liberty exists. Anyone can establish a Church. Doctor Eliot? Yes, just as much right, under the law, as any man—just exactly—and nobody will say him nay. He hasn't any authority from God Almighty to bestow the Priesthood—that is a very different proposition; he does not claim it; neither do the other churches, except one, claim it. But Mormonism claims it; this church claims it.
This is not a chinch established by some man, by man's wisdom — any old kind of a church, so to speak; it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Herein is the truth, and the light, and the way—a perfect law of liberty and of righteousness. All the counsel of this whole conference has been to that end, and makes for the establishment of that aim; makes for righteousness; makes for liberty, right-living and the well-being of the children of men upon the earth. You shall not oppress any one, nor attempt to oppress any one. Men may believe, as our Catholic brethren profess to believe, that the bread that is blest becomes into the living flesh of Christ. Of .course we do not believe that; we believe it is ridiculous, and know, in fact, that it is not true. But they have a right to believe it, if they want to; and I glory in the fact that, through the fighting of the three hundred years that have passed, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, I glory in the fact that I cannot be put to death because I refuse to believe it; that is where our liberty comes in.
This is God's Church; this is The Church,—the only Church that He acknowledges in the earth, as having His Priesthood—the only one in all the world. We challenge the attention of the world on that proposition. It is guided by Him. I know as I live, that this is the Church of God, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is His prophet, sent of God to establish the Church whose law is a perfect law of liberty to all mankind. God bless you. Amen.
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT.
Appeal to increase membership of M. I. Associations, and subscribe for The Era.
I have asked permission to say a few words in the interest of the Mutual Improvement Associations. As is known, the organization of classes in the Priesthood has taken away {, om the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association regular religious study, that is, regular scriptural study, and many people have expressed the .idea that there is now little or no use for the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations. We feel the exact opposite. The General Superintendency, and all the members of the General Board, feel that there is as much necessity for improvement of our young men in other lines as in ecclesiastical study.
We have, at the present time, 1,097 members of the Mutual Improvement Association on missions. Fully one-half of all the missionaries are members of our association. There are 685 wards in the Church, and 629 Young Men's Mutual Improvement associations; so there are fifty-six wards that lack these associations. I appeal to the Bishops of these wards to see that at the next report there shall be none lacking this organization. We have over 3,500 officers, and 32,225 members. There are 12,752 male members between the ages of 14 and 45, in our Church, who are not enrolled. We appeal to the presidents of stakes, the High Councilors and the Bishops to assist in decreasing this number; we did decrease it last year by 2,429. We have 1,400 teachers, and there are more than 1,200 classes. Twenty-five thousands Manuals are printed and sold each year. Many thousands of dollars are spent every year in educating the young people of the Latter-day Saints, in our Church schools, but all of the education that is given in the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations is given free of cost. There are over 32,000 members in the Young Men's associations, and there are more members in the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations; so there are over 60,000 young men and ladies in these two associations. We appeal to each and every one of you to take an interest in these associations; and now that the Improvement Era is the organ of the Priesthood, we appeal to those holding the Priesthood to support it. We have, from the beginning of the magazine, supplied it free to all of the missionaries. Over two thousand copies are going out now to the missionaries, free of cost. That is one of the reasons that we maintain the price at two dollars. We also appeal to the people to sustain the Young Ladies' Journal. These two magazines are doing an immense amount of good in the community; and every father and mother interested in the welfare of their children should do all that they possibly can to increase the membership of our Mutual Improvement Associations.
Appeal to increase membership of M. I. Associations, and subscribe for The Era.
I have asked permission to say a few words in the interest of the Mutual Improvement Associations. As is known, the organization of classes in the Priesthood has taken away {, om the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association regular religious study, that is, regular scriptural study, and many people have expressed the .idea that there is now little or no use for the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations. We feel the exact opposite. The General Superintendency, and all the members of the General Board, feel that there is as much necessity for improvement of our young men in other lines as in ecclesiastical study.
We have, at the present time, 1,097 members of the Mutual Improvement Association on missions. Fully one-half of all the missionaries are members of our association. There are 685 wards in the Church, and 629 Young Men's Mutual Improvement associations; so there are fifty-six wards that lack these associations. I appeal to the Bishops of these wards to see that at the next report there shall be none lacking this organization. We have over 3,500 officers, and 32,225 members. There are 12,752 male members between the ages of 14 and 45, in our Church, who are not enrolled. We appeal to the presidents of stakes, the High Councilors and the Bishops to assist in decreasing this number; we did decrease it last year by 2,429. We have 1,400 teachers, and there are more than 1,200 classes. Twenty-five thousands Manuals are printed and sold each year. Many thousands of dollars are spent every year in educating the young people of the Latter-day Saints, in our Church schools, but all of the education that is given in the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations is given free of cost. There are over 32,000 members in the Young Men's associations, and there are more members in the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations; so there are over 60,000 young men and ladies in these two associations. We appeal to each and every one of you to take an interest in these associations; and now that the Improvement Era is the organ of the Priesthood, we appeal to those holding the Priesthood to support it. We have, from the beginning of the magazine, supplied it free to all of the missionaries. Over two thousand copies are going out now to the missionaries, free of cost. That is one of the reasons that we maintain the price at two dollars. We also appeal to the people to sustain the Young Ladies' Journal. These two magazines are doing an immense amount of good in the community; and every father and mother interested in the welfare of their children should do all that they possibly can to increase the membership of our Mutual Improvement Associations.
AUTHORITIES SUSTAINED.
Elder Heber J. Grant presented the General Authorities of the Church, to be voted upon by the assembly, as follows:
Joseph F. Smith, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
John R. Winder, as First Counselor in the First Presidency.
Anthon H. Lund, as Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Francis M. Lyman, as President of the Twelve Apostles.
As Members of the Council of Twelve Apostles: Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, Charles W. Penrose, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, and Anthony W. Ivins.
John Smith, as Presiding Patriarch of the Church.
The Counselors in the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles and the Presiding Patriarch, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
First Seven Presidents of Seventies: Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, Jonathan G. Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Charles H. Hart, and Levi Edgar Young.
Charles W. Nibley, as presiding bishop, with Orrin P. Miller and David A. Smith as his First and Second Counselors.
Joseph F. Smith, as Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshipers known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Anthon H. Lund, as Church historian and General Church Recorder.
Andrew Jenson, Brigham H. Roberts, and Joseph F. Smith, Jr., assistant Historians.
As Members of the General Church Board of Education: Joseph F. Smith, Willard Young, Anthon H. Lund, George H. Brimhall, Rudger Clawson, John R. Winder, Charles W. Penrose, Horace H. Cummings, and Orson F. Whitney.
Arthur Winter, Secretary and Treasurer to the General Church Board of Education.
Horace H. Cummings, General Superintendent of Church Schools.
Board of Examiners for Church Schools: Horace H. Cummings, Chairman; George H. Brimhall, James H. Linford, and Willard Young.
Auditing Committee: Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, William W. Riter, August W. Carlson, Henry H. Rolapp.
Tabernacle Choir: President John R. Winder, President; Evan Stephens, Conductor; Horace S. Ensign, Assistant Conductor; John J. McClellan, Organist; Edward P. Kimball and Tracy Y. Cannon, Assistant Organists; George C. Smith, Secretary and Treasurer; Noel S. Pratt, Librarian; and all the Members.
General Board of Relief Society: Bathsheba W. Smith, President; Ida Smoot Dusehberry, Second Counselor; Emmeline B. Wells, Secretary; Clarissa S. Williams, Treasurer. Members of the Board: Jane S. Richards, Sarah J. Cannon, Romania B. Penrose, Susan Grant, Emma S. Woodruff, Julina L. Smith, Emily S. Richards, Julia P. M. Farnsworth, Phebe Y. Beatie, Carrie S. Thomas, Alice M. Home, Annie W. Cannon, Priscilla P. Jennings, Elizabeth S. Wilcox, Harriet B. Harker, Minnie H. James, Rebecca N. Nibley, Amy B. Lyman, Anna K. Hardy; Lizzie Thomas Edward, Musical Director; Edna H. Coray, Organist.
Relief Society School of Nurses: Emma A. Empey, superintendent; Dr. Margaret C. Roberts, Instructor of Nurse Work; Phebe Y. Beatie, Secretary and Treasurer.
Deseret Sunday School Union Board: Joseph F. Smith, Superintendent; David O. McKay, First Asst. superintendent; Stephen L. Richards, Second Asst. Superintendent; George D. Pyper, Secretary; John F. Bennett, Treasurer; Members of the Board: Joseph F. Smith, David O. McKay, Stephen L. Richards, Joseph W. Summerhays, Levi W. Richards, Francis M. Lyman, Heber J. Grant, Hugh J. Cannon, Andrew Kimball, James W. Ure, John F. Bennett, John M. Mills, William D. Owen, Seymour B. Young, George D. Pyper, Henry Peterson, Anthon H. Lund, John R. Winder, James E. Talmage, George M. Cannon, Horace H. Cummings, Josiah Burrows, William A. Morton, Horace S. Ensign, Henry H. Rolapp, Harold G. Reynolds, John Henry Smith, Charles B. Felt, Geo. H. Wallace, Lindsay R. McGhie and Sylvester D. Bradford.
General Board Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association: Joseph F. Smith, Superintendent; Heber J. Grant, Assistant Superintendent; Brigham H. Roberts, Assistant Superintendent; Aids: Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, J. Golden Kimball, Junius F Wells, Rodney C. Badger, George H. Brimhall, Edward H. Anderson, Douglas M. Todd, Thomas Hull, Nephi L. Morris, Willard Done, Leroy C. Snow, Frank Y. Taylor, Rudger Clawson, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Reed Smoot, Bryant S. Hinckley, Moses W. Taylor, B. F. Grant, Hyrum M. Smith, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., O. C. Beebe, Lewis T. Cannon, Benjamin Goddard, George Albert Smith, Thomas A. Clawson, Lyman R. Martineau, Charles H. Hart, John A. Widtsoe, James H. Anderson, Anthony W. Ivins, Oscar W. Kirkham.
General Board Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association — Martha H. Tingey, president; Ruth M. Fox, First Counselor; Mae T. Nystrom, Second Counselor; Ann M. Cannon, Secretary; Alice K. Smith, Treasurer; Maria Y. Dougall, Honorary Member. Aids: Adella W. Eardley, Sarah Eddington, Agnes Campbell, Susa Y. Gates, May B. Talmage, Joan Campbell, Emma Goddard, Rose W. Bennett, Elizabeth C. McCune, Julia M. Brixen, Augusta W. Grant, Mary A. Freeze, Estelle N. Caldwell, Nellie C. Taylor, Emily C. Adams, Mary E. Connelly, Elen Wallace, Lucy W. Smith, Jane B. Anderson, Edith R. Lovesy, Letitia T. Teasdale. Alice C. Tuddenham, Music Director; Mattie R. Evans, Organist; Lizzie T. Sardoni, Assistant Organist.
General Board of Primary Association: Louie B. Felt, President; May Anderson, First Counselor; Clara W. Beebe, Second Counselor; Olive D. Christensen, Secretary; Vera I. Felt, Recording Secretary; Vilate Peart, Librarian; Isabelle S. Ross, Physical Director; Lillie T. Freeze and Josephine R. West, Honorary Members. Aids: Aurelia S. Rogers, Lula L. G. Richards, Camilla C. Cobb, Edna L. Smith, Eliza S. Bennion, Edna Harker Thomas, Alice Howarth, Emma Romney, Rebecca N. Nibley, Zina Y. Card, and Maria B. Winder.
General Board of Religion Classes: Anthon H. Lund, superintendent; Rudger Clawson, First Assistant Superintendent; Hyrum M. Smith, Second Assistant Superintendent. Members of the Board: Anthon H. Lund, Rudger Clawson, Hyrum M. Smith, Henry Peterson, Horace H. Cummings, Joseph W. Summerhays, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, John Henry Evans, William A. Morton, Joseph J. Cannon, George Albert Smith, Charles W. Penrose, Orson F. Whitney, James E. King, George F. Richards, George H. Brimhall, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., P. J. Jenson, and J. D. Cummings, Secretary.
Trustees of the Brigham Young University: Joseph F. Smith, President; Jesse Knight, Vice-President; Wilson H. Dusenberry, Susa Young Gates, John Henry Smith, Reed Smoot, Lafayette Holbrook, Stephen L. Chipman, Jonathan S. Page, Jr., Richard W. Young, Willard Young, and Joseph R. Murdock.
Board of the Genealogical Society of Utah: Anthon H. Lund, President; Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Secretary and Treasurer; Charles W. Penrose, Joseph Christenson, Anthony W. Ivins, D. M. McAllister and Heber J. Grant.
Duncan M. McAllister, as Clerk of the Conference.
Each and all of those named were duly sustained in the positions designated, by unanimous vote of the Conference.
Elder Heber J. Grant presented the General Authorities of the Church, to be voted upon by the assembly, as follows:
Joseph F. Smith, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
John R. Winder, as First Counselor in the First Presidency.
Anthon H. Lund, as Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Francis M. Lyman, as President of the Twelve Apostles.
As Members of the Council of Twelve Apostles: Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, Charles W. Penrose, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, and Anthony W. Ivins.
John Smith, as Presiding Patriarch of the Church.
The Counselors in the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles and the Presiding Patriarch, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
First Seven Presidents of Seventies: Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, Jonathan G. Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Charles H. Hart, and Levi Edgar Young.
Charles W. Nibley, as presiding bishop, with Orrin P. Miller and David A. Smith as his First and Second Counselors.
Joseph F. Smith, as Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshipers known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Anthon H. Lund, as Church historian and General Church Recorder.
Andrew Jenson, Brigham H. Roberts, and Joseph F. Smith, Jr., assistant Historians.
As Members of the General Church Board of Education: Joseph F. Smith, Willard Young, Anthon H. Lund, George H. Brimhall, Rudger Clawson, John R. Winder, Charles W. Penrose, Horace H. Cummings, and Orson F. Whitney.
Arthur Winter, Secretary and Treasurer to the General Church Board of Education.
Horace H. Cummings, General Superintendent of Church Schools.
Board of Examiners for Church Schools: Horace H. Cummings, Chairman; George H. Brimhall, James H. Linford, and Willard Young.
Auditing Committee: Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, William W. Riter, August W. Carlson, Henry H. Rolapp.
Tabernacle Choir: President John R. Winder, President; Evan Stephens, Conductor; Horace S. Ensign, Assistant Conductor; John J. McClellan, Organist; Edward P. Kimball and Tracy Y. Cannon, Assistant Organists; George C. Smith, Secretary and Treasurer; Noel S. Pratt, Librarian; and all the Members.
General Board of Relief Society: Bathsheba W. Smith, President; Ida Smoot Dusehberry, Second Counselor; Emmeline B. Wells, Secretary; Clarissa S. Williams, Treasurer. Members of the Board: Jane S. Richards, Sarah J. Cannon, Romania B. Penrose, Susan Grant, Emma S. Woodruff, Julina L. Smith, Emily S. Richards, Julia P. M. Farnsworth, Phebe Y. Beatie, Carrie S. Thomas, Alice M. Home, Annie W. Cannon, Priscilla P. Jennings, Elizabeth S. Wilcox, Harriet B. Harker, Minnie H. James, Rebecca N. Nibley, Amy B. Lyman, Anna K. Hardy; Lizzie Thomas Edward, Musical Director; Edna H. Coray, Organist.
Relief Society School of Nurses: Emma A. Empey, superintendent; Dr. Margaret C. Roberts, Instructor of Nurse Work; Phebe Y. Beatie, Secretary and Treasurer.
Deseret Sunday School Union Board: Joseph F. Smith, Superintendent; David O. McKay, First Asst. superintendent; Stephen L. Richards, Second Asst. Superintendent; George D. Pyper, Secretary; John F. Bennett, Treasurer; Members of the Board: Joseph F. Smith, David O. McKay, Stephen L. Richards, Joseph W. Summerhays, Levi W. Richards, Francis M. Lyman, Heber J. Grant, Hugh J. Cannon, Andrew Kimball, James W. Ure, John F. Bennett, John M. Mills, William D. Owen, Seymour B. Young, George D. Pyper, Henry Peterson, Anthon H. Lund, John R. Winder, James E. Talmage, George M. Cannon, Horace H. Cummings, Josiah Burrows, William A. Morton, Horace S. Ensign, Henry H. Rolapp, Harold G. Reynolds, John Henry Smith, Charles B. Felt, Geo. H. Wallace, Lindsay R. McGhie and Sylvester D. Bradford.
General Board Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association: Joseph F. Smith, Superintendent; Heber J. Grant, Assistant Superintendent; Brigham H. Roberts, Assistant Superintendent; Aids: Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, J. Golden Kimball, Junius F Wells, Rodney C. Badger, George H. Brimhall, Edward H. Anderson, Douglas M. Todd, Thomas Hull, Nephi L. Morris, Willard Done, Leroy C. Snow, Frank Y. Taylor, Rudger Clawson, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Reed Smoot, Bryant S. Hinckley, Moses W. Taylor, B. F. Grant, Hyrum M. Smith, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., O. C. Beebe, Lewis T. Cannon, Benjamin Goddard, George Albert Smith, Thomas A. Clawson, Lyman R. Martineau, Charles H. Hart, John A. Widtsoe, James H. Anderson, Anthony W. Ivins, Oscar W. Kirkham.
General Board Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association — Martha H. Tingey, president; Ruth M. Fox, First Counselor; Mae T. Nystrom, Second Counselor; Ann M. Cannon, Secretary; Alice K. Smith, Treasurer; Maria Y. Dougall, Honorary Member. Aids: Adella W. Eardley, Sarah Eddington, Agnes Campbell, Susa Y. Gates, May B. Talmage, Joan Campbell, Emma Goddard, Rose W. Bennett, Elizabeth C. McCune, Julia M. Brixen, Augusta W. Grant, Mary A. Freeze, Estelle N. Caldwell, Nellie C. Taylor, Emily C. Adams, Mary E. Connelly, Elen Wallace, Lucy W. Smith, Jane B. Anderson, Edith R. Lovesy, Letitia T. Teasdale. Alice C. Tuddenham, Music Director; Mattie R. Evans, Organist; Lizzie T. Sardoni, Assistant Organist.
General Board of Primary Association: Louie B. Felt, President; May Anderson, First Counselor; Clara W. Beebe, Second Counselor; Olive D. Christensen, Secretary; Vera I. Felt, Recording Secretary; Vilate Peart, Librarian; Isabelle S. Ross, Physical Director; Lillie T. Freeze and Josephine R. West, Honorary Members. Aids: Aurelia S. Rogers, Lula L. G. Richards, Camilla C. Cobb, Edna L. Smith, Eliza S. Bennion, Edna Harker Thomas, Alice Howarth, Emma Romney, Rebecca N. Nibley, Zina Y. Card, and Maria B. Winder.
General Board of Religion Classes: Anthon H. Lund, superintendent; Rudger Clawson, First Assistant Superintendent; Hyrum M. Smith, Second Assistant Superintendent. Members of the Board: Anthon H. Lund, Rudger Clawson, Hyrum M. Smith, Henry Peterson, Horace H. Cummings, Joseph W. Summerhays, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, John Henry Evans, William A. Morton, Joseph J. Cannon, George Albert Smith, Charles W. Penrose, Orson F. Whitney, James E. King, George F. Richards, George H. Brimhall, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., P. J. Jenson, and J. D. Cummings, Secretary.
Trustees of the Brigham Young University: Joseph F. Smith, President; Jesse Knight, Vice-President; Wilson H. Dusenberry, Susa Young Gates, John Henry Smith, Reed Smoot, Lafayette Holbrook, Stephen L. Chipman, Jonathan S. Page, Jr., Richard W. Young, Willard Young, and Joseph R. Murdock.
Board of the Genealogical Society of Utah: Anthon H. Lund, President; Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Secretary and Treasurer; Charles W. Penrose, Joseph Christenson, Anthony W. Ivins, D. M. McAllister and Heber J. Grant.
Duncan M. McAllister, as Clerk of the Conference.
Each and all of those named were duly sustained in the positions designated, by unanimous vote of the Conference.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
CLOSING REMARKS.
An appeal for God's blessings upon His Church and people.—Admonition to exercise wisdom in public speaking.
I desire to express my thanks and gratitude to all the Latter-day Saints who have attended this conference, for the excellent and peaceful spirit that has pervaded our meetings and has given, I believe, to all who have been present a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment.
I have felt that, before closing the meeting, I would like to read a few words of the prayer that was indicted by the Prophet Joseph Smith at the time of the dedication of the Kirtland temple, as I think the prayer and principles set forth apply to us at this time as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The prayer reads, in part, as follows:
"Remember all thy Church, O Lord, with all their families, and all their immediate connections, with all their sick and afflicted ones, with all the poor and meek of the earth, that the kingdom which thou hast set up without hands, may become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth.
"That thy church may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.
"And be adorned as a bride for that day when thou shalt unveil the heavens, and cause the mountains to flow down at thy presence, and the valleys to be exalted, the rough places made smooth; that thy glory may fill the earth.
"That when the trump shall sound for the dead we shall be caught up in the cloud to meet thee, that we may ever be with the Lord.
"That our garments may be pure, that we may be clothed upon with robes of righteousness, with palms in our hands, and crowns of glory upon our heads, and reap eternal joy for all our sufferings.
"O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting.
"And also this church, to put upon it thy name; and help us by the power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those bright, shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing, Hosanna to God and the Lamb.
"And let these thine anointed ones be clothed with salvation, and thy saints shout aloud for joy. Amen."
We have had a variety of teaching here during our conference. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints and to the Elders that have addressed us, that, personally, I have rejoiced exceedingly in every word that has been spoken, wherein the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been made. I believe that the Elders of Israel, and the officers of the Church, should devote themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel of life everlasting, and that they should not dwell or seek to dwell upon trivial and nonsensical things, or upon personal conduct or extraneous affairs. I think they should be dignified and sincere in their spirit and utterances. I think they should be moved by the spirit of truth and of the inspiration of the Gospel, and consider that it is their mission to bear record of Jesus Christ, of Joseph Smith, and of the divinity of the great latter-day work, the foundations of which Joseph Smith was instrumental in the hand of God in establishing in the latter day. I believe if our brethren will devote their thought, their minds and efforts in this direction, that they will please the Lord, they will satisfy the saints, and they will fulfill the object of their mission better than they can possibly do by criticising themselves or others, or dwelling on the faults and failings of men. There never, perhaps, was a time in the Church when there were not foolish ones amongst us. Some have been foolish through overzeal; some have been still more foolish through lack of zeal, altogether,—some have been foolish in saying things they ought never to have said, and others have been guilty before the Lord in not saying that which they should have said. I presume that this condition will remain and continue amongst us so long as men are imperfect and do not see clearly, as the Lord sees, and are not susceptible to the inspiration and promptings of the Holy Spirit, to which they are entitled for their guidance every day of their lives, if they will but live for it. I think it is not wise or prudent for me to proclaim the short-comings of the Church if it has any, or the defects, faults, or failings of its members. I do not think it is my right or prerogative to point out the supposed defects of the Prophet Joseph Smith, or Brigham Young, or any other of the leaders of the Church. Let the Lord God Almighty judge them and speak for or against them as it may seem Him good—but not I; it is not for me, my brethren, to do this. Our enemies may have taken advantage of us, in times gone by, because of unwise things that may have been said. Some of us, may now, give to the world the same opportunity to speak evil against us, because of that which we say which should not be spoken at all.
I felt that it was my duty to say this much at the conclusion of this conference. When the Lord wants to reveal something new to us, He knows the channel through which to reveal it; He knows that He can do it, and He will do it in His own way and time, and through the proper channels of the Priesthood. Don't forget that!
When this meeting concludes, our conference will be adjourned for six months, to meet, without further consideration, at this place.
It was announced that John J. McClellan, and assistants, will continue to give recitals at 12 m. daily, on the great Tabernacle organ, to which the public will be admitted free, as heretofore.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,
To guide us in these latter days;
We thank Thee for sending the Gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays;
We thank Thee for every blessing
Bestowed by Thy bounteous hand;
We feel it a pleasure to serve Thee,
And love to obey Thy command.
Benediction was pronounced by President John R. Winder.
Conference was adjourned for six months.
Prof. Evan Stephens conducted the singing of the choir and congregation at all the conference meetings in the Tabernacle, and Prof. John J. McClellan played the accompaniments, interludes, etc., on the great organ.
The stenographic reports of the discourses were taken by Elders Franklin W. Otterstrom, Frederick E. Barker, and Fred G. Barker.
Duncan M. McAllister,
Clerk of Conference.
CLOSING REMARKS.
An appeal for God's blessings upon His Church and people.—Admonition to exercise wisdom in public speaking.
I desire to express my thanks and gratitude to all the Latter-day Saints who have attended this conference, for the excellent and peaceful spirit that has pervaded our meetings and has given, I believe, to all who have been present a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment.
I have felt that, before closing the meeting, I would like to read a few words of the prayer that was indicted by the Prophet Joseph Smith at the time of the dedication of the Kirtland temple, as I think the prayer and principles set forth apply to us at this time as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The prayer reads, in part, as follows:
"Remember all thy Church, O Lord, with all their families, and all their immediate connections, with all their sick and afflicted ones, with all the poor and meek of the earth, that the kingdom which thou hast set up without hands, may become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth.
"That thy church may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.
"And be adorned as a bride for that day when thou shalt unveil the heavens, and cause the mountains to flow down at thy presence, and the valleys to be exalted, the rough places made smooth; that thy glory may fill the earth.
"That when the trump shall sound for the dead we shall be caught up in the cloud to meet thee, that we may ever be with the Lord.
"That our garments may be pure, that we may be clothed upon with robes of righteousness, with palms in our hands, and crowns of glory upon our heads, and reap eternal joy for all our sufferings.
"O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting.
"And also this church, to put upon it thy name; and help us by the power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those bright, shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing, Hosanna to God and the Lamb.
"And let these thine anointed ones be clothed with salvation, and thy saints shout aloud for joy. Amen."
We have had a variety of teaching here during our conference. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints and to the Elders that have addressed us, that, personally, I have rejoiced exceedingly in every word that has been spoken, wherein the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been made. I believe that the Elders of Israel, and the officers of the Church, should devote themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel of life everlasting, and that they should not dwell or seek to dwell upon trivial and nonsensical things, or upon personal conduct or extraneous affairs. I think they should be dignified and sincere in their spirit and utterances. I think they should be moved by the spirit of truth and of the inspiration of the Gospel, and consider that it is their mission to bear record of Jesus Christ, of Joseph Smith, and of the divinity of the great latter-day work, the foundations of which Joseph Smith was instrumental in the hand of God in establishing in the latter day. I believe if our brethren will devote their thought, their minds and efforts in this direction, that they will please the Lord, they will satisfy the saints, and they will fulfill the object of their mission better than they can possibly do by criticising themselves or others, or dwelling on the faults and failings of men. There never, perhaps, was a time in the Church when there were not foolish ones amongst us. Some have been foolish through overzeal; some have been still more foolish through lack of zeal, altogether,—some have been foolish in saying things they ought never to have said, and others have been guilty before the Lord in not saying that which they should have said. I presume that this condition will remain and continue amongst us so long as men are imperfect and do not see clearly, as the Lord sees, and are not susceptible to the inspiration and promptings of the Holy Spirit, to which they are entitled for their guidance every day of their lives, if they will but live for it. I think it is not wise or prudent for me to proclaim the short-comings of the Church if it has any, or the defects, faults, or failings of its members. I do not think it is my right or prerogative to point out the supposed defects of the Prophet Joseph Smith, or Brigham Young, or any other of the leaders of the Church. Let the Lord God Almighty judge them and speak for or against them as it may seem Him good—but not I; it is not for me, my brethren, to do this. Our enemies may have taken advantage of us, in times gone by, because of unwise things that may have been said. Some of us, may now, give to the world the same opportunity to speak evil against us, because of that which we say which should not be spoken at all.
I felt that it was my duty to say this much at the conclusion of this conference. When the Lord wants to reveal something new to us, He knows the channel through which to reveal it; He knows that He can do it, and He will do it in His own way and time, and through the proper channels of the Priesthood. Don't forget that!
When this meeting concludes, our conference will be adjourned for six months, to meet, without further consideration, at this place.
It was announced that John J. McClellan, and assistants, will continue to give recitals at 12 m. daily, on the great Tabernacle organ, to which the public will be admitted free, as heretofore.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn:
We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,
To guide us in these latter days;
We thank Thee for sending the Gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays;
We thank Thee for every blessing
Bestowed by Thy bounteous hand;
We feel it a pleasure to serve Thee,
And love to obey Thy command.
Benediction was pronounced by President John R. Winder.
Conference was adjourned for six months.
Prof. Evan Stephens conducted the singing of the choir and congregation at all the conference meetings in the Tabernacle, and Prof. John J. McClellan played the accompaniments, interludes, etc., on the great organ.
The stenographic reports of the discourses were taken by Elders Franklin W. Otterstrom, Frederick E. Barker, and Fred G. Barker.
Duncan M. McAllister,
Clerk of Conference.