April 1914
Eighty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (1914). Report of Discourses. Salt Lake City: The Deseret News.
EIGHTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
Saints manifest admirable qualities, but can improve
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
All members of the Church should work to save souls
AFTERNOON SESSION
PREST. CHARLES W. PENROSE
Religion of Christ both spiritual and temporal
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON
To speak or minister in God’s name a serious responsibility
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
A strong plea for state-wide prohibition
SECOND DAY
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN
The Church ordinance for healing
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS
The Gospel again revealed, the same in all ages
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY
The Power of God and the power of man
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER REY L. PRATT
(President of Mexican Mission.)
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
(President of Northwestern States Mission.)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
SECOND OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER JOS. S. GEDDES
(President of Oneida Stake.)
ELDER WALTER P. MONSON
(President of Eastern States Mission.)
ELDER LUCIUS N. MARSDEN
(President of Parowan Stake.)
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
David Starr Jordan’s writings confirming value of the Word of Wisdom
OUTDOOR MEETING
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD
(President of Bureau of Information.)
ELDER ANDREW JENSON
(Assistant Historian.)
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH
(President of Northern States Mission.)
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION
(President of Central States Mission.)
AFTERNOON SESSION
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY
"The religion worth having”
ELDER JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH
Example of faithful men and women an inspiration to others
ELDER JAMES E. TALMAGE
Simplicity of our teachings—Oratory and eloquence
THIRD DAY
PRESIDENT SEYMOUR B. YOUNG
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
CLOSING SESSION
ELDER RULON S. WELLS
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER LEVI EDGAR YOUNG
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY
Obedience and endurance requisites of Christ’s followers
PATRIARCH HYRUM G. SMITH
AUDITORS’ REPORT
Sustaining of the General Authorities
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
CLOSING REMARKS
EIGHTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
Saints manifest admirable qualities, but can improve
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
All members of the Church should work to save souls
AFTERNOON SESSION
PREST. CHARLES W. PENROSE
Religion of Christ both spiritual and temporal
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON
To speak or minister in God’s name a serious responsibility
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
A strong plea for state-wide prohibition
SECOND DAY
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN
The Church ordinance for healing
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS
The Gospel again revealed, the same in all ages
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY
The Power of God and the power of man
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH
OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER REY L. PRATT
(President of Mexican Mission.)
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
(President of Northwestern States Mission.)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
SECOND OVERFLOW MEETING
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER JOS. S. GEDDES
(President of Oneida Stake.)
ELDER WALTER P. MONSON
(President of Eastern States Mission.)
ELDER LUCIUS N. MARSDEN
(President of Parowan Stake.)
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT
David Starr Jordan’s writings confirming value of the Word of Wisdom
OUTDOOR MEETING
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD
(President of Bureau of Information.)
ELDER ANDREW JENSON
(Assistant Historian.)
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH
(President of Northern States Mission.)
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION
(President of Central States Mission.)
AFTERNOON SESSION
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY
"The religion worth having”
ELDER JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH
Example of faithful men and women an inspiration to others
ELDER JAMES E. TALMAGE
Simplicity of our teachings—Oratory and eloquence
THIRD DAY
PRESIDENT SEYMOUR B. YOUNG
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
CLOSING SESSION
ELDER RULON S. WELLS
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER CHARLES H. HART
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
ELDER LEVI EDGAR YOUNG
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY
Obedience and endurance requisites of Christ’s followers
PATRIARCH HYRUM G. SMITH
AUDITORS’ REPORT
Sustaining of the General Authorities
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
CLOSING REMARKS
EIGHTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
FIRST DAY.
The Eighty-fourth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at 10 a. m., Saturday, April 4, 1914, President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
AUTHORITIES PRESENT.
There were present of the First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith and Charles W. Penrose; of the Council pi the Twelve Apostles, Francis M. Lyman, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and James E. Talmage; of the First Council of Seventy, Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, Jonathan G. Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Charles H. Hart, and Levi Edgar Young; Presiding Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith; of the Presiding Bishopric, Charles W. Nibley, Orrin P. Miller, and David A. Smith; Assistant Historian, Andrew Jenson. There were also a large number of Presidents of Stakes with their Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops of Wards, Patriarchs, and numerous other prominent men and women, representing various quorums and organizations of the Church.
The combined choirs of Davis Stake, under the leadership of Prof. E. D. Mann, rendered the musical numbers during the first day of this conference. President Joseph F. Smith called the assembly to order, and the conference services were commenced by the combined choirs and congregation singing 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.
The opening prayer was offered by Elder Lewis S. Pond.
The combined choirs sang the hymn:
Behold! a royal army
With banner, sword and shield
Are marching forth to conquer
On life's great battlefield.
FIRST DAY.
The Eighty-fourth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at 10 a. m., Saturday, April 4, 1914, President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
AUTHORITIES PRESENT.
There were present of the First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith and Charles W. Penrose; of the Council pi the Twelve Apostles, Francis M. Lyman, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and James E. Talmage; of the First Council of Seventy, Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, Jonathan G. Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Charles H. Hart, and Levi Edgar Young; Presiding Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith; of the Presiding Bishopric, Charles W. Nibley, Orrin P. Miller, and David A. Smith; Assistant Historian, Andrew Jenson. There were also a large number of Presidents of Stakes with their Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops of Wards, Patriarchs, and numerous other prominent men and women, representing various quorums and organizations of the Church.
The combined choirs of Davis Stake, under the leadership of Prof. E. D. Mann, rendered the musical numbers during the first day of this conference. President Joseph F. Smith called the assembly to order, and the conference services were commenced by the combined choirs and congregation singing 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.
The opening prayer was offered by Elder Lewis S. Pond.
The combined choirs sang the hymn:
Behold! a royal army
With banner, sword and shield
Are marching forth to conquer
On life's great battlefield.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
OPENING ADDRESS.
Saints manifest admirable qualities, but can improve.—Church officers and members increasing in unity and good works.—Certainty of triumph of God's purposes.—Fallacious idea that there is a limit to God's power.—Interesting statistics concerning the Church.— Young people should marry at proper age, and in the Temple.—Men holding Priesthood cannot graduate from duty of teaching.
I am very happy to greet you, my brethren and sisters, in our gathering on this beautiful morning, to commence our eighty-fourth annual conference of the Church. I do not know how long I may address you this morning, but I sincerely hope I may not weary you too long. I am very grateful to say that I am in the enjoyment of my usual health and strength, notwithstanding for sometime, like a great many of my brethren, I have been “enjoying” a bad cold the best I could. It has had its effect upon my organs of speech, for, notwithstanding the cold, I have endeavored to perform my duty, and have very frequently used my voice to the utmost in addressing the quarterly conferences of our people, and also many ward gatherings as well.
I am very thankful, indeed, that the Lord has preserved us all to meet together here this morning in His service, from whom we receive all good, and in commemoration, also, of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I feel sure that during the sessions of this conference there is in store for us the usual outpouring of the good Spirit by which we may be strengthened in our faith, encouraged in our determination to continue faithful before the Lord, and aided in the performance of our duties as members and officers of the Church, and as men and women bearing responsibilities therein. All these blessings that we may resolve again, as we no doubt have resolved many times, to be more faithful, if possible, in the future than we have been in the past. It is a fact that however good we may be, however careful in the observance of the precepts of the Gospel, and in the preservation of our lives and virtues, there is a certain degree of weakness which we often call “human weakness” pervading our being. Hence, there is always opportunity for improvement over the best that we do. I feel that is the case with me, and I believe I am not an exception to the general rule. None of us, I presume, have reached such degree of perfection in all things that we can say of a truth that we have not neglected any duty required of us in the Church, and that we have done all that we possibly could do for our own good and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. The fact is, whoever will labor for his own welfare, for his own salvation and upbuilding in the knowledge of those principles which draw men nearer to God and make them more like unto Him, fitting them better for the performance of the duties required at their hands, is in like manner building up the Church. None of us, I suppose, can do as well as would be expected of us by those who are perfect in the observance of the laws of God. I presume that there are very few of us today who would be justified in claiming that we actually observe and are capable of living up to the precepts that were taught by the Son of God. However, good, honest and faithful we may be, I doubt very much that there are any of us who are capable of rightfully asserting that we are living up to all the precepts of the Son of God. There are some glorious principles advocated by Him that I fear it would be impossible for me, in my present condition and state of mind, to observe or comply with. To illustrate what I desire to express. I fear that if a man should smite me
on the right cheek that I would not feel very willing to turn the other cheek also; or, if a man should sue me at the law, unjustly, and take away my cloak, that I would willingly give him my coat also. I fear that I cannot pray for my enemies in the same spirit of love, kindness, devotion and earnest desire for the forgiveness and exemption of the consequences of their transgressions, that I can for my friends, or those who love me, and are true and faithful to me as I would be true and faithful to them. And so there are many great things, which are almost incomprehensible to mankind as taught by the Savior of the world, which lie before us, which should be the standard of perfection, for which we should aim, that we have not yet been able to master and to apply in ourselves. Yet, I believe that there are no better people in the world than the Latter-day Saints. I do not believe that there are any people in all the world, who more patiently endures insults, calumnies,
and misrepresentation than the Latter-day Saints do. I do not believe that there are a people anywhere who would endure the presence of the most vicious, wicked falsifiers on earth, and allow them to peacefully remain unquestioned in their midst, as the Latter-day Saints do and are doing right along. And yet I am firm in the belief that this evil is diminishing, and that *the time will come when those who falsify, who wilfully or ignorantly lie and misrepresent the people of God, will be ashamed to wag their vile tongues, at least in public. The time will come when they will be ashamed of it, and this evil will eventually cease.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I want to say to you, as I have said before on occasions like this, (and I believe I can say it again as truly as ever before) that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was never in a better condition than it is today; never was more alive to the interests of Zion; never was more united, and I believe that there never were less of fault to find with the people of God than there is today. I believe we are learning, and while we may be slow in coming to the knowledge of the truth, and to the acceptance of it all, we are progressing, we are growing in the right direction; we are learning wisdom, learning patience, getting understanding; we are increasing in our faith and in unity, and in good works; I believe this with all my soul. I believe that your servants, the Presidency of the Church; your servants, the Twelve Apostles, the Seven Presidents of Seventies, and the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, never were more faithful to you, to your interests and to the interest of the kingdom of God, than they are today. I don’t believe that the time ever was when they were more united than they are now. I believe that the councils of the priesthood are united, and that they are laboring together more effectively for their advancement and unity, and for the increase of their knowledge of the principles of the Gospel, than ever before. I can say the same, I think, of all auxiliary organizations of the Church. I believe that our Relief Society is doing a magnificent work among the people. I believe that the General Board of the Relief Society are more united than they have been, and they are doing better work than they have done before; that is; so far as I can remember, and I can remember a long way back in relation to some of the work that has been done by our Relief Societies. They are an essential organization for the good of Israel, for the welfare of the sisters, and mothers, and the daughters in Zion. They are doing a good work, and I believe are united more than ever before. I think I can say the same of all the other organizations that have been devised as helps to the priesthood for the advancement of the cause of Zion. And so I think that the kingdom is growing, that the Lord is with us, that His power is behind and before and above and beneath this work, and that it is the power of God that sustains it, that causes it to grow and to advance in the earth, and that is giving it power and influence for good among the children of men. I believe, too, that the power of God will be exerted in greater measure at home and abroad, in proportion as the faith of the Latter-day Saints and their good work increase; and as the power of the priesthood and of the people of God shall increase in the land, so the power of evil and of opposition will decrease, until the victory will come to the people of God in righteousness. I do not expect any victory, any triumph, anything to boast of, to come to the Latter-day Saints, except upon the principles of righteousness and of truth. Truth and righteousness will prevail, and endure. If we will only continue to build upon the principles of righteousness, of truth, of justice and of honor, I say to you there is no power beneath the celestial kingdom that can stay the progress of this work. And as this work shall progress, and shall gain power and influence among men, so the powers of the adversary and of darkness will diminish before the advancement and growth of this kingdom, until the kingdom of God, and not of men will triumph.
This is my testimony to you. I hardly need to say that I never in my life saw the time when I felt more sure of the truth that we are engaged in that I do today. Never in my life did I feel more satisfied, or greater assurance in my soul of the advancement of the cause of Zion, and of the divinity of the work that we are engaged in. I know that God lives, and I know that He is upholding this work, not you, nor I, no individual is doing it, no community is doing it for themselves. We may co-operate, we may be united with the power of God, and help Him to hasten it on to its consummation, but the honor of the accomplishment of it, of its triumph and victory over sin, over doubt, over the ignorance of the world, will be due to Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the founder of the Church and of His own kingdom. It will be due to Him, and the people of God will acknowledge it, and will give to Him the honor and the glory thereof.
It is true that we have, now and then, here and there, occasionally, persons who would, if they possibly could, limit the power, the knowledge, the wisdom of God Almighty, to the capacity of men. We have a few of them among us, and some of "them have been, and may be, school teachers. They will tell you that the scriptural testimony of the miraculous deeds performed by the Son of God while He tabernacled in the flesh is mere babyism, mere symbols, nothing real, only parable, that is all. They would make you believe that; they would make you and me believe, if they could, that the Lord God never did deal with men except by and through man’s own individual agency and wisdom, and that to the extent only of his own finite knowledge. They would make you believe that the winds and the waves are subject to men. They would, if they could, make you believe that the Son of God, who possessed all power, power to raise the dead, power to lay down His own life and take it up again, power to remit sin, power to unstop the ears of the deaf, to open the eyes of the blind, to cleanse the leper, to cast out evil spirits, and do all things, they would make you believe that all these are simply myths, and that God Almighty, who has all power, did not do such things. He “could not” turn water into wine, all nonsense, ridiculous, they say; could not walk on the water;” no, all nonsense; that the Almighty “could not do such things” any more than men could do them. I say again that there are just a few ignoramuses, “learned fools,” if you please, who would make you believe, if they could, that Almighty God is limited in His power to the capacity of man. Don’t you believe it, not for one moment.
They would make you believe, if they could, that the Father and Son did not come and reveal themselves to Joseph Smith, in person; that it was but the imagination of Joseph Smith. We know better. The truth is overwhelming to the contrary. The testimony of the Spirit of the living God bears record to the contrary, and it teaches men that these things are true, and that those who deny them are simply going outside of the truth into the fallacies and follies of the philosophies of men. They are not willing to abide in the solid, simple truth which God has revealed for the salvation of the souls of men. Beware of men who come to you with heresies of this kind, who would make you to think or feel that the Lord Almighty, who made heaven and earth and created all things, is limited in His dominion over earthly things to the capacities of mortal men. They try to make you believe that God is too busy and too great to trouble about earthly things. I am glad that there are comparatively few such characters in the world, and I hope that they will become more and more scarce until they are extinct.
Now, I feel that I must not detain you too long. The Presiding Bishop’s office has kindly provided a few interesting statements in writing, which I will read to you with, perhaps, some comment as I proceed. During the year 1913, there was an increase in membership in practically all of the stakes of Zion. The following items culled from the statistical records of the Church are at once interesting and instructive. The figures refer to the organized stakes only, exclusive of the missions:
“Birth rate among the Latter-day Saints, in the stakes, is 37 to the thousand.
“The death rate is 9.3 to the thousand. The average age of death among
the Latter-day Saints, is 38 years. “There are 8 widowers and 24 widows to the thousand.”
And these, especially the latter class, are members of the Church who need the care that the widow and the fatherless usually require from those who are abundantly supplied with the necessaries of life, for, as a rule, the widow and the fatherless are left practically destitute of this world’s goods.
“Persons over twenty-one years of age, and unmarried, are fifty-one to the thousand.
"The marriages were 15 to the thousand; of these marriages 8 to the thousand were solemnized in the temples, and 7 to the thousand were performed through civil ceremony outside the temples.” This condition, among the Latter-day Saints, so far as the latter statement is concerned, should be remedied as soon as possible. I presume the cause of it is that some of our young people are not properly trained, not properly instructed in their duties in the Church, and when they arrive at a marriageable age, some of them, at least, are not prepared to receive the indorsement of their presiding officers to go into the temples.
While the rate of marriage among the members of the Church is perhaps as high as that prevailing in any other civilized community, it should, nevertheless, be higher. Our young people should be encouraged to marry at the proper age.
This should be a text for every bishop, for every stake president. It is not good for man to be alone, and it is necessary that our young men and women should be properly taught the importance, the sacredness and the duty of marriage. Great evils occur among young people through neglect in teaching them these principles, and from failure to encourage them to the performance of their duties, in this respect.
“During the year, 427 members of the Church entered into marriages with non-members of the Church; and of these 427, it is noted that 398 were women.”
So that, it appears distinctly that it is the young women who are most inclined to follow the outsider, and to become associated in marriage with non-believers, which is a pity.
"The number of members of the Church divorced during the year is 163; of this number 59 had been married in the temples, and 104 by civil ceremony.”
I think that here is a point worthy of observation by the Latter-day Saints. Men and women who become united in the holy bonds of wedlock, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enter into the solemn relationship with better understanding of the duties and responsibilities of marriage than others do, because they are taught more fully the facts in the case.
“There were excommunicated from the Church, in the stakes of Zion, 55 persons.”
Mostly, I suppose, for being carried away by every wind of doctrine. We have some foolish people who take up with any chimera, or foolish notion that anybody may advance to them. They are to be pitied.
“Baptisms into the Church, of children and adults, within the stakes, numbered 35 to the thousand.
“During the year there has been a
greater proportion of baptisms of adults than for several years previous; this gratifying result is probably due to the more systematic missionary service within the stakes, in which excellent labor the Seventies have been prominent Organized and well directed labor on the part of the Seventies has been conducted whereby the message of the Gospel has been carried to many of our non-‘Mormon' friends who are fellow-members of the communities in which our people dwell. It is as surely our duty to preach the Gospel to non-members of the Church with whom we dwell as it is to carry the message of truth to the nations of the earth. Responsibility for this home missionary labor rests upon the local authorities—the presidents and bishops.—under whose direction the Seventies residing in the several stakes and wards may be effectively engaged.
"It is gratifying to know, as the records show, that through the benefits of our local option laws, the saloon has been eliminated in communities wherein the Latter-day Saints predominate
"A marked increase in the labors of the ward teachers is shown; and one of the direct results of this important activity is the increase in the attendance of the Latter-day Saints at their Sacrament meetings, and also a marked increase of enrollment in all the auxiliary organizations of the Church.
“In the Ogden Stake of Zion 93% of all the families in the wards were visited by the teachers, each month, during the year 1913. It is but fair to state that this is the best record in the Church.
“Great good has been accomplished by the regular visits of the ward bishoprics to the homes of the Saints. This has given the bishops a personal insight into the family organization and home life of the people of their wards; and it is pleasing to note that in all except the largest wards, the respective bishoprics have visited at least once during the year every family in their wards. In the larger wards, the bishoprics have very properly called to their aid experienced and influential brethren to assist in this annual visitation by going to the homes of the members, two or three together, as representatives of the bishopric. Approximately 60,000 families were thus visited, either by the bishoprics in person or by their specially appointed representatives, during the closing months of the year 1913.”
I would like to interject here just a remark. We have had called to our attention, recently, the fact that some men who are of long standing in the Church—indeed, some of them born and reared in the Church, and who are occupying prominent positions in some of the quorums of the priesthood—when their presidents or their bishops of the wards in which they live call upon them to visit the Saints, teach the principles of the Gospel and perform the duties of teachers, they coolly inform their bishops that they have graduated from that calling, and refuse to act as teachers. Brother Charles W. Penrose is eighty-two years of age. I am going on seventy-six, and I believe that I am older than several of these good men who have graduated from the duties of the Lesser Priesthood, and I went to tell them and you that we are not too old to act as teachers, if you will call us to do it—not one of us. There is never a time, there never will come a time to those who hold the priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when men can say of themselves that they have done enough. So long as life lasts, and so long as we possess ability to do good, to labor for the upbuilding of Zion and for the benefit of the human family, we ought, with willingness, to yield with alacrity to the requirements made of us to do our duty, little or great. I hope that my friends of the Seventies and of the High Priests, who have graduated from the duties of the Lesser Priesthood, will take to heart what I say to them, and learn better, and be more valiant in their duties. For it may just come to the point that we will have to deal with men who cease to do their duties, who have paid all the tithing they are going to pay, who have paid their tithing so many years that they have become old and opulent, having plenty of means, and can ride in their automobiles, etc. They can’t afford to pay their tithing because they have graduated from it. I say, we may have to deal with some of these lofty, high-minded brethren, by and by, for their fellowship as members in the Church. We do not want to do it, because it is all free will anyhow; but when men cease to have the free will to do their duty as members of the Church of Jesus Christ , of Latter-day Saints, they ought not to be hoisted into responsible positions where, by their influence, they will destroy the faith of others, and we must see that this is not done.
“As already indicated, the vital statistics of the Church in the established stakes show a generally good condition among the people. As compared with the nation as a whole, our communities show a higher birth rate, a lower death rate, and greater average duration of life. It is strongly urged that strict attention be given to all sanitary requirements and rules of right living. In some of the sparsely settled districts, the people still depend upon wells or open streams for their drinking water. Stake and ward officers should put forth all proper effort to secure for their communities a properly safe-guarded water supply. Strict sanitary observance should characterize all communities. Among the greatest foes to human health are. impure drinking water, poor sanitary conditions, and the common house fly”
Now, think of it! Cleanliness, it is said, is a part of godliness. No unclean thing—and I think that means cleanliness of person, cleanliness of body, as well as cleanliness of heart, and cleanliness of spirit—no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God. All of us should do our utmost to supply our homes with pure water for the use of the home. We should provide for our families, as far as possible, every convenience of a sanitary character, to preserve life, and health, and to avoid exposures to colds, to weakness and sickness, incident to frontier life, in our country homes. The idea of going into a home where there are children, and where the housewife, together with the children, many of them, have to dwell, and where not even the most common necessaries of the home are supplied for the comfort of the family, and day or night, heat or cold they must take to the field or back yard, rods away, to meet the exigencies of nature—pardon the expression. I deplore the existence of such conditions. They arc not found very commonly, but where they do exist it is deplorable, and men should think and care for the welfare, comfort, safety and health of their wives and children, than to permit them to go on year after year in this comfortless way.
“The Bureau of Information, located on the Temple Block, has continued its splendid service, in affording entertainment and imparting information to the many tourists and transients who come among us. It reports that upwards of 200,000 visitors were received at the Bureau of Information during the year.
“And probably during the present year this number will lie practically doubled, if not more than doubled, from now on until the termination of the great Panama Fair at San Francisco.
“The missionary work of the Church outside the stakes has been carried on with unabated zeal. The number of missionaries laboring in the several mission fields during the year approximated an average of 2000: of this number, over 800 went from home to the various mission fields during the year. Among the missionaries are over 100 women, located principally in cities and towns where their services can he most properly applied. The presidents of stakes should feel it their duty to have in the mission field not less than six to the thousand of their stake population, so that the labor and the blessing attendant upon this great latter-day work may be fairly distributed throughout the stakes.”
I hope you will remember that.
“The following defers have been honorably released from their positions as mission presidents, and have returned from the field since the last October conference: Charles H. Hyde, from the Australian mission; Roscoe W. Eardly, from the Netherlands mission; Orson D. Romney, from the New Zealand mission; C. Christian Jenson, from the Samoan mission; Franklin J. Hewlett, from the South African mission; A. Theodore Johnson, from the Swedish mission.
The positions thus vacated by the brethren named have been filled by new appointments. The mission presidents now in office are as follows: European mission, Elder Hyrum M. Smith, of the Council of the Twelve; Australian mission, Elder William W. Taylor; French mission, Elder Edgar B. Brossard; Hawaiian mission. Elder Samuel E. Wolley; Japanese mission. Elder H. Grant Ivins; Mexican mission, Elder Rey L. Pratt; Netherlands mission, Elder LeGrand Richards; New Zealand mission, Elder William Gardner; Samoan mission, Elder John A. Nelson, Jr.: Scandinavian mission. Elder Martin Christopherson: South African mission, Elder Nicholas G. Smith; Swedish mission, Elder Theodore Tobiason; Swiss and German mission, Elder Hyrum W. Valentine; Tahitian mission, Elder Franklin J. Fullmer. And within the United States: California mission, Elder Joseph E. Robinson; Central States mission, Elder Samuel O. Bennion; Eastern States mission. Elder Walter P. Monson; Northern States mission. Elder German E. Ellsworth; North-western States mission, Elder Melvin J. Ballard; Southern States mission, Elder Charles A. Callis; Western States mission, Elder John L. Herrick; Iosepa Colony, Elder T. A. Waddoups.
“There are now 724 organized wards, and in addition 27 branches, within the stakes of Zion. There, are 65 stakes of Zion, and 21 missions, aside from the Iosepa Colony. Of the 724 wards, 607 own meeting houses, most of which are of modern construction and have cost from $5,000 to $35.00 each.”
And some of them a great deal more than that.
“There are 117 wards not yet provided with permanent meeting houses.”
And we want some of you good brethren of the wards, who are engaged in building meeting houses today, to bear in mind these 117 wards yet unsupplied with meeting houses, and that they will be calling upon us for help, by and by. Make your burdens as light upon us as you can, unless you decide to increase the tithing. If you will get all the non-tithe payers in your wards, who claim to be members of the Church, to pay a full tithing, and everybody else will do likewise, we will not ask you to call upon the people to build your meeting houses. The Trustee-in-Trust will do it for you. But we cannot do it until more of the people will do their duty.
“During the year 1913, one new stake of Zion (Boise stake,) and 26 new wards were organized: four new stake presidents were appointed and installed, also 115 bishops, and 155 ward clerks.”
So we keep changing all the while. Some die, some move away, and this creates a necessity for a new supply of men to fill these positions.
“The Church has not failed in its duty to the worthy poor. The hearts of the bishops are always open to provide for the needs of those who otherwise would be left in want. Our splendid Relief Society organization did more in aiding the poor and ministering to the needy, during the year 1913, than in any previous year since its organization.”
I think this is a well deserved word of credit to the Relief Societies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and possibly if our General Board had been a little more active in their efforts among the Latter-day Saints, going out and setting the proper example before them, even a greater work than this might have been accomplished.
"A very considerable item among the many expenditures of the Church for benevolent purposes is the aid extended to our Mexican refugees.
“The Church has sought to provide, as far as possible, mission headquarters and places of worship in the different missions as the need for such appears. At the present time the missions hold, as the property of the Church used strictly for missionary services and places of worship, houses as follows:
British mission. 9
California mission 5
Central States mission. 10
Eastern States mission. 4
Hawaiian mission. 9
losepa Colony 1
Netherlands mission. 2
New Zealand mission. 3
Northern States mission. 6
Northwestern States mission. 6
Samoan mission. 8
Scandinavian mission 6
Swedish mission. 1
Southern States mission. 46
Tahitian mission. 2
Western States mission. 3
All 46 places in the Southern States mission, with the exception of the headquarters in Chattanooga, have been provided for by the mission itself. The president of the Southern States mission has made his mission self-sustaining, and is able to send a portion of the tithings of the people there to the Presiding Bishop’s office, besides. I think it is a worthy example for some of the rest of our brethren.
To me these are very interesting facts, and I think they are facts that everybody in the Church should know. I would like to say that the books in the Bishop’s office are open to Latter-day Saints. There isn’t a Latter-day Saint anywhere who may not obtain information with reference to these matters and others of interest to himself, at any time when he desires to obtain them for his own information and benefit, and for the work of the ministry in which he may be engaged. It is open to him.
Now, the Lord bless you. I hope you will pardon me for occupying so much of your time. God bless Zion. My heart is with this work, and this people. I love God. I know that He is, and I know that my Redeemer lives. May the Lord help us to abide in the truth and be faithful and vigilant and valiant unto the winding up of our labor in life, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Marion Hess, of Farmington, sang a bass solo entitled, “I Come to Thee.”
OPENING ADDRESS.
Saints manifest admirable qualities, but can improve.—Church officers and members increasing in unity and good works.—Certainty of triumph of God's purposes.—Fallacious idea that there is a limit to God's power.—Interesting statistics concerning the Church.— Young people should marry at proper age, and in the Temple.—Men holding Priesthood cannot graduate from duty of teaching.
I am very happy to greet you, my brethren and sisters, in our gathering on this beautiful morning, to commence our eighty-fourth annual conference of the Church. I do not know how long I may address you this morning, but I sincerely hope I may not weary you too long. I am very grateful to say that I am in the enjoyment of my usual health and strength, notwithstanding for sometime, like a great many of my brethren, I have been “enjoying” a bad cold the best I could. It has had its effect upon my organs of speech, for, notwithstanding the cold, I have endeavored to perform my duty, and have very frequently used my voice to the utmost in addressing the quarterly conferences of our people, and also many ward gatherings as well.
I am very thankful, indeed, that the Lord has preserved us all to meet together here this morning in His service, from whom we receive all good, and in commemoration, also, of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I feel sure that during the sessions of this conference there is in store for us the usual outpouring of the good Spirit by which we may be strengthened in our faith, encouraged in our determination to continue faithful before the Lord, and aided in the performance of our duties as members and officers of the Church, and as men and women bearing responsibilities therein. All these blessings that we may resolve again, as we no doubt have resolved many times, to be more faithful, if possible, in the future than we have been in the past. It is a fact that however good we may be, however careful in the observance of the precepts of the Gospel, and in the preservation of our lives and virtues, there is a certain degree of weakness which we often call “human weakness” pervading our being. Hence, there is always opportunity for improvement over the best that we do. I feel that is the case with me, and I believe I am not an exception to the general rule. None of us, I presume, have reached such degree of perfection in all things that we can say of a truth that we have not neglected any duty required of us in the Church, and that we have done all that we possibly could do for our own good and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. The fact is, whoever will labor for his own welfare, for his own salvation and upbuilding in the knowledge of those principles which draw men nearer to God and make them more like unto Him, fitting them better for the performance of the duties required at their hands, is in like manner building up the Church. None of us, I suppose, can do as well as would be expected of us by those who are perfect in the observance of the laws of God. I presume that there are very few of us today who would be justified in claiming that we actually observe and are capable of living up to the precepts that were taught by the Son of God. However, good, honest and faithful we may be, I doubt very much that there are any of us who are capable of rightfully asserting that we are living up to all the precepts of the Son of God. There are some glorious principles advocated by Him that I fear it would be impossible for me, in my present condition and state of mind, to observe or comply with. To illustrate what I desire to express. I fear that if a man should smite me
on the right cheek that I would not feel very willing to turn the other cheek also; or, if a man should sue me at the law, unjustly, and take away my cloak, that I would willingly give him my coat also. I fear that I cannot pray for my enemies in the same spirit of love, kindness, devotion and earnest desire for the forgiveness and exemption of the consequences of their transgressions, that I can for my friends, or those who love me, and are true and faithful to me as I would be true and faithful to them. And so there are many great things, which are almost incomprehensible to mankind as taught by the Savior of the world, which lie before us, which should be the standard of perfection, for which we should aim, that we have not yet been able to master and to apply in ourselves. Yet, I believe that there are no better people in the world than the Latter-day Saints. I do not believe that there are any people in all the world, who more patiently endures insults, calumnies,
and misrepresentation than the Latter-day Saints do. I do not believe that there are a people anywhere who would endure the presence of the most vicious, wicked falsifiers on earth, and allow them to peacefully remain unquestioned in their midst, as the Latter-day Saints do and are doing right along. And yet I am firm in the belief that this evil is diminishing, and that *the time will come when those who falsify, who wilfully or ignorantly lie and misrepresent the people of God, will be ashamed to wag their vile tongues, at least in public. The time will come when they will be ashamed of it, and this evil will eventually cease.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I want to say to you, as I have said before on occasions like this, (and I believe I can say it again as truly as ever before) that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was never in a better condition than it is today; never was more alive to the interests of Zion; never was more united, and I believe that there never were less of fault to find with the people of God than there is today. I believe we are learning, and while we may be slow in coming to the knowledge of the truth, and to the acceptance of it all, we are progressing, we are growing in the right direction; we are learning wisdom, learning patience, getting understanding; we are increasing in our faith and in unity, and in good works; I believe this with all my soul. I believe that your servants, the Presidency of the Church; your servants, the Twelve Apostles, the Seven Presidents of Seventies, and the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, never were more faithful to you, to your interests and to the interest of the kingdom of God, than they are today. I don’t believe that the time ever was when they were more united than they are now. I believe that the councils of the priesthood are united, and that they are laboring together more effectively for their advancement and unity, and for the increase of their knowledge of the principles of the Gospel, than ever before. I can say the same, I think, of all auxiliary organizations of the Church. I believe that our Relief Society is doing a magnificent work among the people. I believe that the General Board of the Relief Society are more united than they have been, and they are doing better work than they have done before; that is; so far as I can remember, and I can remember a long way back in relation to some of the work that has been done by our Relief Societies. They are an essential organization for the good of Israel, for the welfare of the sisters, and mothers, and the daughters in Zion. They are doing a good work, and I believe are united more than ever before. I think I can say the same of all the other organizations that have been devised as helps to the priesthood for the advancement of the cause of Zion. And so I think that the kingdom is growing, that the Lord is with us, that His power is behind and before and above and beneath this work, and that it is the power of God that sustains it, that causes it to grow and to advance in the earth, and that is giving it power and influence for good among the children of men. I believe, too, that the power of God will be exerted in greater measure at home and abroad, in proportion as the faith of the Latter-day Saints and their good work increase; and as the power of the priesthood and of the people of God shall increase in the land, so the power of evil and of opposition will decrease, until the victory will come to the people of God in righteousness. I do not expect any victory, any triumph, anything to boast of, to come to the Latter-day Saints, except upon the principles of righteousness and of truth. Truth and righteousness will prevail, and endure. If we will only continue to build upon the principles of righteousness, of truth, of justice and of honor, I say to you there is no power beneath the celestial kingdom that can stay the progress of this work. And as this work shall progress, and shall gain power and influence among men, so the powers of the adversary and of darkness will diminish before the advancement and growth of this kingdom, until the kingdom of God, and not of men will triumph.
This is my testimony to you. I hardly need to say that I never in my life saw the time when I felt more sure of the truth that we are engaged in that I do today. Never in my life did I feel more satisfied, or greater assurance in my soul of the advancement of the cause of Zion, and of the divinity of the work that we are engaged in. I know that God lives, and I know that He is upholding this work, not you, nor I, no individual is doing it, no community is doing it for themselves. We may co-operate, we may be united with the power of God, and help Him to hasten it on to its consummation, but the honor of the accomplishment of it, of its triumph and victory over sin, over doubt, over the ignorance of the world, will be due to Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the founder of the Church and of His own kingdom. It will be due to Him, and the people of God will acknowledge it, and will give to Him the honor and the glory thereof.
It is true that we have, now and then, here and there, occasionally, persons who would, if they possibly could, limit the power, the knowledge, the wisdom of God Almighty, to the capacity of men. We have a few of them among us, and some of "them have been, and may be, school teachers. They will tell you that the scriptural testimony of the miraculous deeds performed by the Son of God while He tabernacled in the flesh is mere babyism, mere symbols, nothing real, only parable, that is all. They would make you believe that; they would make you and me believe, if they could, that the Lord God never did deal with men except by and through man’s own individual agency and wisdom, and that to the extent only of his own finite knowledge. They would make you believe that the winds and the waves are subject to men. They would, if they could, make you believe that the Son of God, who possessed all power, power to raise the dead, power to lay down His own life and take it up again, power to remit sin, power to unstop the ears of the deaf, to open the eyes of the blind, to cleanse the leper, to cast out evil spirits, and do all things, they would make you believe that all these are simply myths, and that God Almighty, who has all power, did not do such things. He “could not” turn water into wine, all nonsense, ridiculous, they say; could not walk on the water;” no, all nonsense; that the Almighty “could not do such things” any more than men could do them. I say again that there are just a few ignoramuses, “learned fools,” if you please, who would make you believe, if they could, that Almighty God is limited in His power to the capacity of man. Don’t you believe it, not for one moment.
They would make you believe, if they could, that the Father and Son did not come and reveal themselves to Joseph Smith, in person; that it was but the imagination of Joseph Smith. We know better. The truth is overwhelming to the contrary. The testimony of the Spirit of the living God bears record to the contrary, and it teaches men that these things are true, and that those who deny them are simply going outside of the truth into the fallacies and follies of the philosophies of men. They are not willing to abide in the solid, simple truth which God has revealed for the salvation of the souls of men. Beware of men who come to you with heresies of this kind, who would make you to think or feel that the Lord Almighty, who made heaven and earth and created all things, is limited in His dominion over earthly things to the capacities of mortal men. They try to make you believe that God is too busy and too great to trouble about earthly things. I am glad that there are comparatively few such characters in the world, and I hope that they will become more and more scarce until they are extinct.
Now, I feel that I must not detain you too long. The Presiding Bishop’s office has kindly provided a few interesting statements in writing, which I will read to you with, perhaps, some comment as I proceed. During the year 1913, there was an increase in membership in practically all of the stakes of Zion. The following items culled from the statistical records of the Church are at once interesting and instructive. The figures refer to the organized stakes only, exclusive of the missions:
“Birth rate among the Latter-day Saints, in the stakes, is 37 to the thousand.
“The death rate is 9.3 to the thousand. The average age of death among
the Latter-day Saints, is 38 years. “There are 8 widowers and 24 widows to the thousand.”
And these, especially the latter class, are members of the Church who need the care that the widow and the fatherless usually require from those who are abundantly supplied with the necessaries of life, for, as a rule, the widow and the fatherless are left practically destitute of this world’s goods.
“Persons over twenty-one years of age, and unmarried, are fifty-one to the thousand.
"The marriages were 15 to the thousand; of these marriages 8 to the thousand were solemnized in the temples, and 7 to the thousand were performed through civil ceremony outside the temples.” This condition, among the Latter-day Saints, so far as the latter statement is concerned, should be remedied as soon as possible. I presume the cause of it is that some of our young people are not properly trained, not properly instructed in their duties in the Church, and when they arrive at a marriageable age, some of them, at least, are not prepared to receive the indorsement of their presiding officers to go into the temples.
While the rate of marriage among the members of the Church is perhaps as high as that prevailing in any other civilized community, it should, nevertheless, be higher. Our young people should be encouraged to marry at the proper age.
This should be a text for every bishop, for every stake president. It is not good for man to be alone, and it is necessary that our young men and women should be properly taught the importance, the sacredness and the duty of marriage. Great evils occur among young people through neglect in teaching them these principles, and from failure to encourage them to the performance of their duties, in this respect.
“During the year, 427 members of the Church entered into marriages with non-members of the Church; and of these 427, it is noted that 398 were women.”
So that, it appears distinctly that it is the young women who are most inclined to follow the outsider, and to become associated in marriage with non-believers, which is a pity.
"The number of members of the Church divorced during the year is 163; of this number 59 had been married in the temples, and 104 by civil ceremony.”
I think that here is a point worthy of observation by the Latter-day Saints. Men and women who become united in the holy bonds of wedlock, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enter into the solemn relationship with better understanding of the duties and responsibilities of marriage than others do, because they are taught more fully the facts in the case.
“There were excommunicated from the Church, in the stakes of Zion, 55 persons.”
Mostly, I suppose, for being carried away by every wind of doctrine. We have some foolish people who take up with any chimera, or foolish notion that anybody may advance to them. They are to be pitied.
“Baptisms into the Church, of children and adults, within the stakes, numbered 35 to the thousand.
“During the year there has been a
greater proportion of baptisms of adults than for several years previous; this gratifying result is probably due to the more systematic missionary service within the stakes, in which excellent labor the Seventies have been prominent Organized and well directed labor on the part of the Seventies has been conducted whereby the message of the Gospel has been carried to many of our non-‘Mormon' friends who are fellow-members of the communities in which our people dwell. It is as surely our duty to preach the Gospel to non-members of the Church with whom we dwell as it is to carry the message of truth to the nations of the earth. Responsibility for this home missionary labor rests upon the local authorities—the presidents and bishops.—under whose direction the Seventies residing in the several stakes and wards may be effectively engaged.
"It is gratifying to know, as the records show, that through the benefits of our local option laws, the saloon has been eliminated in communities wherein the Latter-day Saints predominate
"A marked increase in the labors of the ward teachers is shown; and one of the direct results of this important activity is the increase in the attendance of the Latter-day Saints at their Sacrament meetings, and also a marked increase of enrollment in all the auxiliary organizations of the Church.
“In the Ogden Stake of Zion 93% of all the families in the wards were visited by the teachers, each month, during the year 1913. It is but fair to state that this is the best record in the Church.
“Great good has been accomplished by the regular visits of the ward bishoprics to the homes of the Saints. This has given the bishops a personal insight into the family organization and home life of the people of their wards; and it is pleasing to note that in all except the largest wards, the respective bishoprics have visited at least once during the year every family in their wards. In the larger wards, the bishoprics have very properly called to their aid experienced and influential brethren to assist in this annual visitation by going to the homes of the members, two or three together, as representatives of the bishopric. Approximately 60,000 families were thus visited, either by the bishoprics in person or by their specially appointed representatives, during the closing months of the year 1913.”
I would like to interject here just a remark. We have had called to our attention, recently, the fact that some men who are of long standing in the Church—indeed, some of them born and reared in the Church, and who are occupying prominent positions in some of the quorums of the priesthood—when their presidents or their bishops of the wards in which they live call upon them to visit the Saints, teach the principles of the Gospel and perform the duties of teachers, they coolly inform their bishops that they have graduated from that calling, and refuse to act as teachers. Brother Charles W. Penrose is eighty-two years of age. I am going on seventy-six, and I believe that I am older than several of these good men who have graduated from the duties of the Lesser Priesthood, and I went to tell them and you that we are not too old to act as teachers, if you will call us to do it—not one of us. There is never a time, there never will come a time to those who hold the priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when men can say of themselves that they have done enough. So long as life lasts, and so long as we possess ability to do good, to labor for the upbuilding of Zion and for the benefit of the human family, we ought, with willingness, to yield with alacrity to the requirements made of us to do our duty, little or great. I hope that my friends of the Seventies and of the High Priests, who have graduated from the duties of the Lesser Priesthood, will take to heart what I say to them, and learn better, and be more valiant in their duties. For it may just come to the point that we will have to deal with men who cease to do their duties, who have paid all the tithing they are going to pay, who have paid their tithing so many years that they have become old and opulent, having plenty of means, and can ride in their automobiles, etc. They can’t afford to pay their tithing because they have graduated from it. I say, we may have to deal with some of these lofty, high-minded brethren, by and by, for their fellowship as members in the Church. We do not want to do it, because it is all free will anyhow; but when men cease to have the free will to do their duty as members of the Church of Jesus Christ , of Latter-day Saints, they ought not to be hoisted into responsible positions where, by their influence, they will destroy the faith of others, and we must see that this is not done.
“As already indicated, the vital statistics of the Church in the established stakes show a generally good condition among the people. As compared with the nation as a whole, our communities show a higher birth rate, a lower death rate, and greater average duration of life. It is strongly urged that strict attention be given to all sanitary requirements and rules of right living. In some of the sparsely settled districts, the people still depend upon wells or open streams for their drinking water. Stake and ward officers should put forth all proper effort to secure for their communities a properly safe-guarded water supply. Strict sanitary observance should characterize all communities. Among the greatest foes to human health are. impure drinking water, poor sanitary conditions, and the common house fly”
Now, think of it! Cleanliness, it is said, is a part of godliness. No unclean thing—and I think that means cleanliness of person, cleanliness of body, as well as cleanliness of heart, and cleanliness of spirit—no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God. All of us should do our utmost to supply our homes with pure water for the use of the home. We should provide for our families, as far as possible, every convenience of a sanitary character, to preserve life, and health, and to avoid exposures to colds, to weakness and sickness, incident to frontier life, in our country homes. The idea of going into a home where there are children, and where the housewife, together with the children, many of them, have to dwell, and where not even the most common necessaries of the home are supplied for the comfort of the family, and day or night, heat or cold they must take to the field or back yard, rods away, to meet the exigencies of nature—pardon the expression. I deplore the existence of such conditions. They arc not found very commonly, but where they do exist it is deplorable, and men should think and care for the welfare, comfort, safety and health of their wives and children, than to permit them to go on year after year in this comfortless way.
“The Bureau of Information, located on the Temple Block, has continued its splendid service, in affording entertainment and imparting information to the many tourists and transients who come among us. It reports that upwards of 200,000 visitors were received at the Bureau of Information during the year.
“And probably during the present year this number will lie practically doubled, if not more than doubled, from now on until the termination of the great Panama Fair at San Francisco.
“The missionary work of the Church outside the stakes has been carried on with unabated zeal. The number of missionaries laboring in the several mission fields during the year approximated an average of 2000: of this number, over 800 went from home to the various mission fields during the year. Among the missionaries are over 100 women, located principally in cities and towns where their services can he most properly applied. The presidents of stakes should feel it their duty to have in the mission field not less than six to the thousand of their stake population, so that the labor and the blessing attendant upon this great latter-day work may be fairly distributed throughout the stakes.”
I hope you will remember that.
“The following defers have been honorably released from their positions as mission presidents, and have returned from the field since the last October conference: Charles H. Hyde, from the Australian mission; Roscoe W. Eardly, from the Netherlands mission; Orson D. Romney, from the New Zealand mission; C. Christian Jenson, from the Samoan mission; Franklin J. Hewlett, from the South African mission; A. Theodore Johnson, from the Swedish mission.
The positions thus vacated by the brethren named have been filled by new appointments. The mission presidents now in office are as follows: European mission, Elder Hyrum M. Smith, of the Council of the Twelve; Australian mission, Elder William W. Taylor; French mission, Elder Edgar B. Brossard; Hawaiian mission. Elder Samuel E. Wolley; Japanese mission. Elder H. Grant Ivins; Mexican mission, Elder Rey L. Pratt; Netherlands mission, Elder LeGrand Richards; New Zealand mission, Elder William Gardner; Samoan mission, Elder John A. Nelson, Jr.: Scandinavian mission. Elder Martin Christopherson: South African mission, Elder Nicholas G. Smith; Swedish mission, Elder Theodore Tobiason; Swiss and German mission, Elder Hyrum W. Valentine; Tahitian mission, Elder Franklin J. Fullmer. And within the United States: California mission, Elder Joseph E. Robinson; Central States mission, Elder Samuel O. Bennion; Eastern States mission. Elder Walter P. Monson; Northern States mission. Elder German E. Ellsworth; North-western States mission, Elder Melvin J. Ballard; Southern States mission, Elder Charles A. Callis; Western States mission, Elder John L. Herrick; Iosepa Colony, Elder T. A. Waddoups.
“There are now 724 organized wards, and in addition 27 branches, within the stakes of Zion. There, are 65 stakes of Zion, and 21 missions, aside from the Iosepa Colony. Of the 724 wards, 607 own meeting houses, most of which are of modern construction and have cost from $5,000 to $35.00 each.”
And some of them a great deal more than that.
“There are 117 wards not yet provided with permanent meeting houses.”
And we want some of you good brethren of the wards, who are engaged in building meeting houses today, to bear in mind these 117 wards yet unsupplied with meeting houses, and that they will be calling upon us for help, by and by. Make your burdens as light upon us as you can, unless you decide to increase the tithing. If you will get all the non-tithe payers in your wards, who claim to be members of the Church, to pay a full tithing, and everybody else will do likewise, we will not ask you to call upon the people to build your meeting houses. The Trustee-in-Trust will do it for you. But we cannot do it until more of the people will do their duty.
“During the year 1913, one new stake of Zion (Boise stake,) and 26 new wards were organized: four new stake presidents were appointed and installed, also 115 bishops, and 155 ward clerks.”
So we keep changing all the while. Some die, some move away, and this creates a necessity for a new supply of men to fill these positions.
“The Church has not failed in its duty to the worthy poor. The hearts of the bishops are always open to provide for the needs of those who otherwise would be left in want. Our splendid Relief Society organization did more in aiding the poor and ministering to the needy, during the year 1913, than in any previous year since its organization.”
I think this is a well deserved word of credit to the Relief Societies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and possibly if our General Board had been a little more active in their efforts among the Latter-day Saints, going out and setting the proper example before them, even a greater work than this might have been accomplished.
"A very considerable item among the many expenditures of the Church for benevolent purposes is the aid extended to our Mexican refugees.
“The Church has sought to provide, as far as possible, mission headquarters and places of worship in the different missions as the need for such appears. At the present time the missions hold, as the property of the Church used strictly for missionary services and places of worship, houses as follows:
British mission. 9
California mission 5
Central States mission. 10
Eastern States mission. 4
Hawaiian mission. 9
losepa Colony 1
Netherlands mission. 2
New Zealand mission. 3
Northern States mission. 6
Northwestern States mission. 6
Samoan mission. 8
Scandinavian mission 6
Swedish mission. 1
Southern States mission. 46
Tahitian mission. 2
Western States mission. 3
All 46 places in the Southern States mission, with the exception of the headquarters in Chattanooga, have been provided for by the mission itself. The president of the Southern States mission has made his mission self-sustaining, and is able to send a portion of the tithings of the people there to the Presiding Bishop’s office, besides. I think it is a worthy example for some of the rest of our brethren.
To me these are very interesting facts, and I think they are facts that everybody in the Church should know. I would like to say that the books in the Bishop’s office are open to Latter-day Saints. There isn’t a Latter-day Saint anywhere who may not obtain information with reference to these matters and others of interest to himself, at any time when he desires to obtain them for his own information and benefit, and for the work of the ministry in which he may be engaged. It is open to him.
Now, the Lord bless you. I hope you will pardon me for occupying so much of your time. God bless Zion. My heart is with this work, and this people. I love God. I know that He is, and I know that my Redeemer lives. May the Lord help us to abide in the truth and be faithful and vigilant and valiant unto the winding up of our labor in life, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Marion Hess, of Farmington, sang a bass solo entitled, “I Come to Thee.”
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH.
Missionaries admonished to economize— Political affiliations should not antagonize Church members—Teach the Gospel at home to the children—All members of the Church should work to save souls—Blessings invoked.
I am sure that we have all been edified this morning by the splendid discourse delivered by President Smith, and by the music we have listened to. It is indeed good to be here. It is remarkable to me that so many of the members of the Church are able to be present at the opening session of this conference. This house is now filled so that if those who are standing were seated, every seat would be occupied.
I wonder how many of us have examined ourselves this morning, during the remarks of President Smith. How many of us have asked ourselves the question, “Are the delinquencies referred to in any way applicable to me?” For, after all, the purpose of our coming together is that we may receive the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, and that we may be taught the things that will be beneficial to us if we apply them in our lives.
From all portions of the world comes the glad tidings that investigation of the truth is increasing. From every mission field, without exception, comes the request for more missionaries than we are able to supply, and in many cases they are sorely needed. Many of the wards keep their full quota of missionaries in the field, and are reaping the benefits that follow such a course.
While speaking on missionary work, I desire to call your attention to the fact that, in the mission field, our representatives are doing a magnificent work, and the result of every effort is manifest in numerous conversions to the truth. I would like to direct the attention of Presidents of Stakes, Bishops of Wards, and parents in Israel, to the fact that many of our elders are expending more money in the mission field than they should, and that the excess of money they are using is often harmful to them and to the cause of God. Some of our elders send home for funds with the expectation that their demand will be met, no matter what the financial condition of their family may be. I believe they do this thoughtlessly, in most cases, but the fact is the elder who expends much means in the mission field usually does it in a way that it is not fruitful of blessings to himself, or beneficial to the Church. We would like those in authority in the stakes and wards to give this matter attention, and see if we cannot impress upon the minds of our sons going into the world the importance of living as much as possible in the homes of the people. That they may teach them the truth and confer blessings on those who entertain them.
It is a pleasure to mingle with the elders who have filled successful missions, who have returned from the nations of the earth in honor. They bring with them a spirit of happiness and satisfaction. They come home feeling that they have done well, and they know, if they have done their duty, that the Lord is pleased with them, and with the efforts they have put forth to bless their fellows.
From time to time we are arrayed against each other in political campaigns. I don’t know another people more intense than we are during such periods, and I regret that men are sometimes led to say and do things that are unworthy of a Latter-day Saint. The great political parties are necessary. It is important that our liberties be preserved, and all should be interested, and it seems to me that we can be consistent Church members and take part in politics, while we accord to others the privileges we claim for ourselves. We should be deeply concerned in the welfare of the nation, and sustain good and great men. as the Lord has commanded us, in order that we may continue to enjoy freedom. Some of our brethren have become so wrapped up in their political ambitions that they place them in advance of their faith in God. Quite recently, one man was heard to remark that he could not believe in a church which taught that the constitution of the United States was inspired of God, yet we believe it was inspired. This, of course, is an extreme case, yet is an indication of what we might be tempted to say. I would like to admonish you not to let your political ambitions lead up to make remarks that would wound your fellows, and draw you away from the Church. Whenever your politics cause you to speak unkindly of your brethren, know this, that you are upon dangerous ground. Remember that, after the great political nations of this world have crumbled and fallen to decay, the Church of Jesus Christ, with which you are identified, will be in existence, and the Master Himself will continue to be its head. Let us not become so worked up In our feelings that we shut our eyes to the greater blessings, to the most important thing, the salvation of our souls. Let us not ally ourselves with bodies of men who would tear down and break in pieces this government, that was founded under the inspiration of God the Eternal Father. We cannot belong to any political party that is opposed to this free government and be consistent Latter-day Saints.
I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, in the unity that exists among you. I am gratified as I travel from place to place to find in the homes of our people the spirit of love and kindness. They are attending to their daily prayers. Their children are being taught to pray, and ask a blessing upon the food. Fathers and mothers are teaching their children to honor God and to keep His commandments. All these things give me joy, and I am thankful for the peace that I find in such homes.
In our homes, brethren and sisters, it is our privilege, nay, it is our duty, to call our families together to be taught the truths of the Holy Scriptures. In every home, children should be encouraged to read the word of the Lord, as it has been revealed to us in all dispensations. We should read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; not only read it in our homes, but explain it to our children, that they may understand the hand dealings of God with the peoples of the earth. Let us see if we cannot do more of this in the future than we have done in the past. Let each one in this congregation today ask himself: “Have I done my duty in my home in reading and in teaching the Gospel, as it has been revealed through the prophets of the Lord?” If we have not let us repent of our neglect and draw our families around us and teach them the truth.
I would like to suggest that some of these older men, who have raised their own families, may, with profit, go into the homes of their sons and daughters and. by right of their fatherhood, call those families together and teach them the things that are necessary for them to know. On every hand we can find opportunity for the use of the talents our Father has blessed us with. Let us do individual work with our brethren and sisters. If we find a man or a woman who has not succeeded in life, one who is weakening in his faith, let us not turn our backs upon him; let us make it a point to visit him, and go to him in kindness and love, and encourage him to turn from the error of his way. The opportunity to do individual work among us as a people is present everywhere; and there are few men and few women in this Church who could not, if they would, reach out a little farther from the circle with which they are identified, and say a kind word, or teach the truth to some of our Father’s children who are not being reached by the organizations of the Church, because we are unable to gather them in. This is our Father’s work. It is the most important thing that we will be identified with in this life. All that we do to build it up will be profitable to us. Every kind act that we perform for one of our Father’s children is but a permanent investment made by us that will bear eternal dividends. We spend our time seeking the riches of this life, and on every hand opportunities are being neglected that would lay up for us treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt nor thieves break in and steal. The Lord will not hold President Smith responsible for the conduct of this great Church, only so far as he is required to perform his duties in it, but you and I, each and everyone, are responsible to the Father of us all for the time we expend in this life, and for the efforts that we make in one direction or another. It is just as important that those of us, who may feel that we are down in the ranks, should be fasting and praying and working for the salvation of the souls of men, as that those who are presiding over us should. It is just as important for you and for me to let our light so shine that others, seeing our good works, may glorify our Father in heaven, as that those who have been called to preside over us in the Church should do so. I am afraid some of us expect others to spend all their lives in the interest of the Church, many times to the neglect of their own families, in order that this work may continue on to the successful fruition; but forget that we ought to do as much as they if we expect the blessing.
Now let us examine ourselves. Are we doing as much as we should? And if we are not, let us turn around and do better. If we are doing as we should, if we are reaching out in all directions to do good to the children of our Father, then we will bring to ourselves the blessing of an all wise Father, and we will rejoice in the good that we accomplish here. When we go to the other side of the veil, we will receive there the thanks and gratitude of those for whom we have labored in this life. Let us be humble and prayerful, living near to our Heavenly Father, and evidence our belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living up to its principles. Let us evidence our faith in God, and in the work He has given to the earth, by a correct and consistent life, for after all that is the strongest testimony that we will be able to bear of the truth of this work.
I am grateful for the companionship that I have with my brethren and sisters in the Church. I am grateful that I have been considered worthy to have a name in this great organization of our Father, and thank you one and all for all the comfort that you have given me in the times that are past, when we have had the privilege of meeting in your homes in the stakes of Zion, I appreciate your consideration and kindness to me, and to the brethren who come to you, from time to time, from the headquarters of the Church.
May the Lord add His blessings; may His peace be upon us; may the spirit of kindness, of love, and of charity which we possess lead us to our neighbors who are not of our 'faith. May the disposition that we manifest to honor all men, and accord to them their liberties inspire in the hearts of some of those who are not of us a desire to do the same. May the testimony that we bear, that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and the Redeemer of the world, find lodgment in the breasts of those who do not understand it, and, by reason of that testimony, may they be brought to a knowledge of the truth. May this great work of our Father, in these last days, continue to roll on, not to do any man harm but to uplift every soul with which it comes in contact. May it continue to spread abroad in the earth for the lifting up and encouragement of all our Father’s children, and for the alleviation of their distress of mind, and the conditions they bring upon themselves by disobedience to the laws of our God.
May His peace be upon all Israel. May His peace be upon the land in which we live. May He bless those who stand at the head of this government, that they may be inspired to labor for the good and the welfare of all the people who dwell here. May the influence of this nation be for the liberty and enlightenment of all the nations of the earth; may they see in this great republic, the organization which was inspired by our Father, that righteousness will lead them to better lives, and that will bring to them the opportunity to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, that thereby, they may be able to return into His presence.
May His peace be upon you all, and His blessing upon all Israel, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Smith read the following notice:
In order that Latter-day Saints visiting the general conference may secure comfortable quarters during their stay in the city, all members of the Church living in Salt Lake City who have accommodations to offer to our visitors will please send their names and addresses, giving the number whom they can accommodate and the charges, if any, which will be made, to Benjamin Goddard, at the Bureau of Information, telephone Wasatch 309.
William McLachlan,
Richard W. Young,
Hugh J. Cannon,
Nephi L. Morris,
Benjamin Goddard.
Committee on Entertainment.
A soprano solo, “The Night Birds Cooing,” was rendered by John Parrish, of Centerville.
The choirs 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 Elder Alma Merrill.
Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
Missionaries admonished to economize— Political affiliations should not antagonize Church members—Teach the Gospel at home to the children—All members of the Church should work to save souls—Blessings invoked.
I am sure that we have all been edified this morning by the splendid discourse delivered by President Smith, and by the music we have listened to. It is indeed good to be here. It is remarkable to me that so many of the members of the Church are able to be present at the opening session of this conference. This house is now filled so that if those who are standing were seated, every seat would be occupied.
I wonder how many of us have examined ourselves this morning, during the remarks of President Smith. How many of us have asked ourselves the question, “Are the delinquencies referred to in any way applicable to me?” For, after all, the purpose of our coming together is that we may receive the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, and that we may be taught the things that will be beneficial to us if we apply them in our lives.
From all portions of the world comes the glad tidings that investigation of the truth is increasing. From every mission field, without exception, comes the request for more missionaries than we are able to supply, and in many cases they are sorely needed. Many of the wards keep their full quota of missionaries in the field, and are reaping the benefits that follow such a course.
While speaking on missionary work, I desire to call your attention to the fact that, in the mission field, our representatives are doing a magnificent work, and the result of every effort is manifest in numerous conversions to the truth. I would like to direct the attention of Presidents of Stakes, Bishops of Wards, and parents in Israel, to the fact that many of our elders are expending more money in the mission field than they should, and that the excess of money they are using is often harmful to them and to the cause of God. Some of our elders send home for funds with the expectation that their demand will be met, no matter what the financial condition of their family may be. I believe they do this thoughtlessly, in most cases, but the fact is the elder who expends much means in the mission field usually does it in a way that it is not fruitful of blessings to himself, or beneficial to the Church. We would like those in authority in the stakes and wards to give this matter attention, and see if we cannot impress upon the minds of our sons going into the world the importance of living as much as possible in the homes of the people. That they may teach them the truth and confer blessings on those who entertain them.
It is a pleasure to mingle with the elders who have filled successful missions, who have returned from the nations of the earth in honor. They bring with them a spirit of happiness and satisfaction. They come home feeling that they have done well, and they know, if they have done their duty, that the Lord is pleased with them, and with the efforts they have put forth to bless their fellows.
From time to time we are arrayed against each other in political campaigns. I don’t know another people more intense than we are during such periods, and I regret that men are sometimes led to say and do things that are unworthy of a Latter-day Saint. The great political parties are necessary. It is important that our liberties be preserved, and all should be interested, and it seems to me that we can be consistent Church members and take part in politics, while we accord to others the privileges we claim for ourselves. We should be deeply concerned in the welfare of the nation, and sustain good and great men. as the Lord has commanded us, in order that we may continue to enjoy freedom. Some of our brethren have become so wrapped up in their political ambitions that they place them in advance of their faith in God. Quite recently, one man was heard to remark that he could not believe in a church which taught that the constitution of the United States was inspired of God, yet we believe it was inspired. This, of course, is an extreme case, yet is an indication of what we might be tempted to say. I would like to admonish you not to let your political ambitions lead up to make remarks that would wound your fellows, and draw you away from the Church. Whenever your politics cause you to speak unkindly of your brethren, know this, that you are upon dangerous ground. Remember that, after the great political nations of this world have crumbled and fallen to decay, the Church of Jesus Christ, with which you are identified, will be in existence, and the Master Himself will continue to be its head. Let us not become so worked up In our feelings that we shut our eyes to the greater blessings, to the most important thing, the salvation of our souls. Let us not ally ourselves with bodies of men who would tear down and break in pieces this government, that was founded under the inspiration of God the Eternal Father. We cannot belong to any political party that is opposed to this free government and be consistent Latter-day Saints.
I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, in the unity that exists among you. I am gratified as I travel from place to place to find in the homes of our people the spirit of love and kindness. They are attending to their daily prayers. Their children are being taught to pray, and ask a blessing upon the food. Fathers and mothers are teaching their children to honor God and to keep His commandments. All these things give me joy, and I am thankful for the peace that I find in such homes.
In our homes, brethren and sisters, it is our privilege, nay, it is our duty, to call our families together to be taught the truths of the Holy Scriptures. In every home, children should be encouraged to read the word of the Lord, as it has been revealed to us in all dispensations. We should read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; not only read it in our homes, but explain it to our children, that they may understand the hand dealings of God with the peoples of the earth. Let us see if we cannot do more of this in the future than we have done in the past. Let each one in this congregation today ask himself: “Have I done my duty in my home in reading and in teaching the Gospel, as it has been revealed through the prophets of the Lord?” If we have not let us repent of our neglect and draw our families around us and teach them the truth.
I would like to suggest that some of these older men, who have raised their own families, may, with profit, go into the homes of their sons and daughters and. by right of their fatherhood, call those families together and teach them the things that are necessary for them to know. On every hand we can find opportunity for the use of the talents our Father has blessed us with. Let us do individual work with our brethren and sisters. If we find a man or a woman who has not succeeded in life, one who is weakening in his faith, let us not turn our backs upon him; let us make it a point to visit him, and go to him in kindness and love, and encourage him to turn from the error of his way. The opportunity to do individual work among us as a people is present everywhere; and there are few men and few women in this Church who could not, if they would, reach out a little farther from the circle with which they are identified, and say a kind word, or teach the truth to some of our Father’s children who are not being reached by the organizations of the Church, because we are unable to gather them in. This is our Father’s work. It is the most important thing that we will be identified with in this life. All that we do to build it up will be profitable to us. Every kind act that we perform for one of our Father’s children is but a permanent investment made by us that will bear eternal dividends. We spend our time seeking the riches of this life, and on every hand opportunities are being neglected that would lay up for us treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt nor thieves break in and steal. The Lord will not hold President Smith responsible for the conduct of this great Church, only so far as he is required to perform his duties in it, but you and I, each and everyone, are responsible to the Father of us all for the time we expend in this life, and for the efforts that we make in one direction or another. It is just as important that those of us, who may feel that we are down in the ranks, should be fasting and praying and working for the salvation of the souls of men, as that those who are presiding over us should. It is just as important for you and for me to let our light so shine that others, seeing our good works, may glorify our Father in heaven, as that those who have been called to preside over us in the Church should do so. I am afraid some of us expect others to spend all their lives in the interest of the Church, many times to the neglect of their own families, in order that this work may continue on to the successful fruition; but forget that we ought to do as much as they if we expect the blessing.
Now let us examine ourselves. Are we doing as much as we should? And if we are not, let us turn around and do better. If we are doing as we should, if we are reaching out in all directions to do good to the children of our Father, then we will bring to ourselves the blessing of an all wise Father, and we will rejoice in the good that we accomplish here. When we go to the other side of the veil, we will receive there the thanks and gratitude of those for whom we have labored in this life. Let us be humble and prayerful, living near to our Heavenly Father, and evidence our belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living up to its principles. Let us evidence our faith in God, and in the work He has given to the earth, by a correct and consistent life, for after all that is the strongest testimony that we will be able to bear of the truth of this work.
I am grateful for the companionship that I have with my brethren and sisters in the Church. I am grateful that I have been considered worthy to have a name in this great organization of our Father, and thank you one and all for all the comfort that you have given me in the times that are past, when we have had the privilege of meeting in your homes in the stakes of Zion, I appreciate your consideration and kindness to me, and to the brethren who come to you, from time to time, from the headquarters of the Church.
May the Lord add His blessings; may His peace be upon us; may the spirit of kindness, of love, and of charity which we possess lead us to our neighbors who are not of our 'faith. May the disposition that we manifest to honor all men, and accord to them their liberties inspire in the hearts of some of those who are not of us a desire to do the same. May the testimony that we bear, that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and the Redeemer of the world, find lodgment in the breasts of those who do not understand it, and, by reason of that testimony, may they be brought to a knowledge of the truth. May this great work of our Father, in these last days, continue to roll on, not to do any man harm but to uplift every soul with which it comes in contact. May it continue to spread abroad in the earth for the lifting up and encouragement of all our Father’s children, and for the alleviation of their distress of mind, and the conditions they bring upon themselves by disobedience to the laws of our God.
May His peace be upon all Israel. May His peace be upon the land in which we live. May He bless those who stand at the head of this government, that they may be inspired to labor for the good and the welfare of all the people who dwell here. May the influence of this nation be for the liberty and enlightenment of all the nations of the earth; may they see in this great republic, the organization which was inspired by our Father, that righteousness will lead them to better lives, and that will bring to them the opportunity to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, that thereby, they may be able to return into His presence.
May His peace be upon you all, and His blessing upon all Israel, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Smith read the following notice:
In order that Latter-day Saints visiting the general conference may secure comfortable quarters during their stay in the city, all members of the Church living in Salt Lake City who have accommodations to offer to our visitors will please send their names and addresses, giving the number whom they can accommodate and the charges, if any, which will be made, to Benjamin Goddard, at the Bureau of Information, telephone Wasatch 309.
William McLachlan,
Richard W. Young,
Hugh J. Cannon,
Nephi L. Morris,
Benjamin Goddard.
Committee on Entertainment.
A soprano solo, “The Night Birds Cooing,” was rendered by John Parrish, of Centerville.
The choirs 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 Elder Alma Merrill.
Conference adjourned until 2 p. m.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m. President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
The combined choirs and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Tho’ hard to you this journey may appear.
Grace shall be as your day.
Prayer was offered by Elder John F. Tolton.
The combined choirs sang the hymn:
Shall the youth of Zion falter
In defending truth and right?
While the enemy assaileth,
Shall we shrink or shun the fight? No!
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m. President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
The combined choirs and congregation sang the hymn:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Tho’ hard to you this journey may appear.
Grace shall be as your day.
Prayer was offered by Elder John F. Tolton.
The combined choirs sang the hymn:
Shall the youth of Zion falter
In defending truth and right?
While the enemy assaileth,
Shall we shrink or shun the fight? No!
PREST. CHARLES W. PENROSE.
Afflictions beneficial—Growth of “Mormonism” — “Go-to-Meeting Sunday” movement — Religion of Christ both spiritual and temporal— Figurative sayings of the Savior— Actual realities of divine manifestations and miracles—Disposition of the tithes—The Lord is with His Church.
I am very grateful for the privilege of attending this conference. I always have had thankfulness in my heart at every conference that I have ever attended. I have very little to boast about, but a great deal to be thankful for, and today I feel more than ever my dependence on the Lord, upon His providences and mercies for my daily life and health and for the exercise of my calling in the holy priesthood. I prize my standing in the Church and the authority bestowed upon me to minister in the things of the kingdom more than anything else. The Lord has indeed been good to me all my days, and recently, in the afflictions that I have passed through in consequence of some accidents that befell me, if that is a proper term to use, I felt my dependence upon the Lord and I recognize more than ever His kindness to me. It is good to know that we can draw near to the Lord, and sometimes afflictions are needful that we may feel our dependence upon our heavenly Father fully, and be made to feel grateful in our souls for His kindness and mercies to us. I can say, this afternoon, that I do feel grateful indeed to my heavenly Father that I am able to be here today to listen to the voices of His servants, to mingle with the Saints, and to feel the sacred influence that attends us in our gathering. For I did feel this morning that the Spirit and power of God were with us, and I enjoyed immensely the address that we heard from our President. The information that was imparted, as well as his own instructions were of very great value to us. I am glad that the report which he read will be printed so that we all can read it if we will. I hope we are all readers of the Deseret News, as well as other periodicals that are published, because in that paper we will be likely to receive a full report of the address that was given to us this morning, with the very valuable statistics that were read and the instructions that were imparted in connection with them.
It is very clear from what we heard this morning that Zion is growing, and that the work of the Lord is spreading throughout the world; that that which is called “Mormonism” is not going backward but is marching forward, and not only our numbers are increasing but the faithfulness of the members of the Church is made more prominent. I believe that the Church is better organized now than ever. Our President said the conditions are better than ever before, and I am sure that what he said is correct, and that there is a feeling growing in the hearts of the members of this Church, that it is necessary to their happiness and well being and their salvation, to adhere strictly to the principles and teachings of the Church of which they are members. It is different with its than with people in other denominations, not that I wish to say anything deprecatory of them, but in our Church the members are expected to be religious all the time, not merely on Sunday but every day of the week, and every moment of their lives; and that while they may not be able to live up fully to the standard which is set before them, they are working up in that direction. They are not going backward; they are growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and this is very cheering. They are growing in the duties that belong to them in a family capacity. They are growing in their attendance at places of worship. They are growing in the daily practice of the principles that conduce to bodily health and to spiritual advancement. This is evident from the reports that are received from time to time; and notwithstanding the many failures on the part of some people and the departures from the truth which occasionally occur, yet in the main, in the mass, the people called Latter-day Saints are advancing.
They are progressing truly. Not in the sense in which some people claim the title of “Progressives;” not going back to old, discarded and obsolete things, but reaching forward on a firm foundation, having planted their feet firmly on the rock of Truth. They are reaching up to the higher powers, and the Lord is with them and their progress is sure and steady in an upward direction. You can progress downward as well as progress upward, but our prize, the prize and mark of our high calling is in Christ Jesus; in His doctrine, in His principles, in His glorious example. He is the great exemplar, and while we lay hold upon the truths which He has revealed, both in former and in latter days, we can imitate, we can emulate and walk up to the life and character of our Redeemer, that we may indeed be like Him, and so by and by become fit to dwell in His presence.
There is a movement on foot in the world to try to get people to go to church on Sunday. Notice will be seen in the Deseret News this evening in regard to that matter, which is desirable to be made statewide, not only to occur in a few places but throughout the state, that people will go to church on a certain Sunday designated. That is a very good movement, so far as it goes, and we are in accord with it, because we' believe in going to church every Sunday; not only one particular Sunday in one particular month in one particular year, but, according to the commandment given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ in latter days—I am not speaking of the old scripture but the revelation of God to us through Jesus Christ in the last days— which will be found in the fifty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and in which we are told to serve the Lord and worship Him at all times, under all circumstances; but on His holy day—He claims this seventh day or first day—it depends upon where you start from, to make it the first or seventh—one day out of seven at any rate, on His day, the day on which He rose from the dead, Sunday as we call it, the new Sabbath, die Christian Sabbath, on that day we are to do none other thing but devote ourselves to divine worship and service. We may partake of food, prepared with singleness of heart, but we are not to perform our usual labors but to go up to the Lord’s house on this, Ilis holy day and worship Him in the spirit of holiness, to offer up our sacraments and pay our devotions to the Most High, to forgive one another if there be differences in our feelings with each other, to feel in our hearts that we want to bless mankind and to serve the Lord and become sanctified unto Him.
To be truly His people we have to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all other things will be added to us in the due time of the Lord. Though we set our hearts sometimes upon the things of this world, they will perish with the using and pass away like the dream of a night vision; but that which abides and remains are the eternal verities, the things of God, the principles that go to make up His kingdom and the righteousness that makes up His character. If we serve the Lord with all our hearts, and place His work first in our souls, and practise righteousness according to the pattern that God reveals, everything that is of worth in all the eternities, throughout all the regions of space, everything that is good and beautiful and glorious and happifying that makes for progress, for intelligence, for light, for wisdom, for power and for dominion will be ours. All things will be ours, and we shall be Christ’s and Christ will be the Father’s. Now that is the kind of religion that we have. This Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embodies these principles and it finds rules for our action in every department of life. It goes down to the commonest and so-called lowest things, and it rises to the highest.
Some of our good friends, if I may call them such, try to make it appear that the Latter-day Saints’ religion is a mere religion of temporalities and grosser things. That is where they make one of their big mistakes. While the Church of Christ reaches down to every department of life, here on the earth, in the flesh, and takes hold of what are called temporal things, yet it reaches up to the very highest. We are told that the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek reaches up not only to the ministration of angels and to the beings that are spiritual and to the heavenly Jerusalem, but to Christ, the Redeemer, and to God, who is the Father of all. Rising up to the highest and reaching down to the lowest, the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ takes it all in and gives us rules and regulations for our conduct day by day and hour by hour, that we may be His people and that we may enjoy all there is to be enjoyed, both temporal and spiritual, and finally be prepared for the immediate society and presence of our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, our elder Brother in the spirit, and all the good and true and the just and the pure from God’s creations; to mingle with them, to be in their company, to be one with them. That is our destiny, and in order to reach it, we have to bring ourselves in subjection to righteous laws and principles and orders and rules and ordinances, which are all, in their place, necessary to bring us to the great ultimatum and fulness of glory and of power and of dominion and of joy which shall be eternal.
So we want to observe the Sunday services every Sunday. Brethren and sisters, you that have come here to conference today, do not forget that. You have heard that told a great many times, to carry away with you a determination that you will not only go to meeting now and then, but that you will observe the Sunday law that God has revealed. Not of going to Church for one day or one Sunday in the year, but regularly on the Lord’s day, you will consecrate yourselves to His service; go up to His holy house, be in unison with the Saints, partake of the holy sacrament in remembrance of His body and of His blood shed for the remission of sins, and receiving a renewal of His Spirit, you may be able to serve Him during the coming week, every day, and be under the influence and direction of His Spirit; and in that you will have joy and peace. We want to establish peace in our homes. We want to have this Sunday spirit where we dwell. We want to be neighborly and kind, and have that good Spirit in our hearts spoken of by our President this morning, that Jesus Christ taught in that grand sermon on the mount. Not that we want to carry out literally, perhaps, everything that He said; some sayings of Jesus Christ are figurative in their nature. In the parables that He gave there are figures of speech, but right behind them all are facts and truths that we want to lay hold of and understand.
President Smith spoke this morning of the injunction of the Savior, “If a man smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other.” We may not be able to come up to that yet fully in the literal sense, but we can live in the spirit of it, and we can forgive one another for injuries, and we can say, “I will not seek to do evil to that man that did evil to me, or that woman who tried to do evil to me, but I will do good for evil, and if I can do a good turn to the person who injured me, I will do it;” that is the spirit we should manifest. I remember once that back in London we had an old veteran of the army who was a member of the Church; he was ordained a priest, and used to go out and preach on the street. One Sunday he was preaching and a man came up and slapped him in the face. “Now,” he cried, “if you are a Christian, turn the other cheek.” So he turned it, but exclaimed, extending his clenched fist, “Hit again and down you go.” Well, I suppose many of us have that kind of spirit, but he was willing to-comply with the rule, and if the man had slapped him on the other cheek I think he would have gone down. So, as I said, many of the sayings of Jesus Christ are couched in figurative language.
For instance, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.” But He did not mean that to apply literally to the physical hand. It was the spirit of it that was intended. If we have anybody in the Church who will not obey the laws of the Church, who will transgress the commandments of God, though that person may be one with authority and power, having done a great deal of good and with a great deal of influence, even if we should regard him as the right hand of the ward or stake where he belongs, yet if he will not be obedient to the laws of Christ, he has to be severed from the Church. The same idea in regard to the saying, “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out.” He did not mean for you to pull your eye out because it does not do its duty properly; but there was a great principle lying behind these figures of speech. When we read the scriptures we should seek to understand the sense, spirit and meaning of the phrases that are used. But we have to be very cautious in regard to that other matter that the President was speaking of this morning; that some people want to make it appear that t.ie statements in the scriptures concerning the revelations of God, His personal manifestations and those events that are called miraculous, are only imaginary; that the narration of them is only figurative. Let us be cautious about that. We must understand that when it is stated in these latter days that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith when he was a boy, the account is literally true, that they really appeared. He did not imagine it; he did not dream it; they manifested themselves to him, and what he received was a message from the eternal worlds, and all the communications to him by angelic ministers; all those administrations of John the Baptist and of Peter, James and John, and of Elijah, and Moses, and all those worthies spoken of as having visited the prophet in the Kirtland temple, that these were realities. He saw them, he heard them. lie did not evolve the ideas out of his own inner consciousness or mind. They were not imaginary. And so in regard to these manifestations in ancient times. When Moses went up into the mount, and we are told that “he saw the God of Israel,” the writer narrated a fact. When “Moses and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up into the mount and saw the God of Israel,” and described Him, what was under His feet and told about His hand not being laid upon them, they narrated what they saw and heard, and the statement that is written by Moses is a statement of fact, not something imaginary.
These great truths that have come from the manifestations of God to the human family, abide; they are for our benefit. It is good for us to listen to the voice of inspiration and of instruction concerning them. And in these last days let us understand fully that the Church to which we belong is not founded upon any mere imagination or the thoughts and ideas and notions of men. It has come down out of heaven .to the earth. The authority of the holy priesthood was not here. It did not continue from the days of the Savior down to the present time, through any of the denominations claiming succession. The world fell into darkness and into corruption and abomination, and went astray from the Lord. While many good men and good women existed on the earth, serving the Lord to the best of their ability, all authority and power in the holy priesthood were taken away from the earth, and the world was left to itself, and to the notions and opinions of men, and hence the confusion among the jarring sects and contending organizations of the latter times.
But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come from God to man. It was not evolved out of the ideas and opinions of men. It has not been organized by the wisdom of men, but every principle, every ordinance, every doctrine, every form of authority has been sent down in the last days from the heavens to the earth, and these are all embodied in the splendid organization which is called by the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is Christ’s Church. He made it. He built it up. Through Him came all the revelations from God to the Church, and He is with the Church now. And the Holy Ghost, the “personage of spirit,” who bears witness of the Father and of the Son. is with this Church. That divine spirit which proceeds from the presence of God throughout the immensity of space, by which God created all things, spiritual as well as temporal, is in this Church, and is enjoyed by the members thereof, according to their faithfulness and diligence in seeking after it, and after these inspirations and gifts and manifestations. The Trinity— God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, making one Trinity and Deity, are with this Church, and they have built it up and they are going to stay with it, because a majority of the people of this Church are going to stay by these glorious truths that have been revealed, and live them in their lives, and train up their children in the way they should go, so that a purer and better and stronger and mightier generation will grow up to carry on the work of this kingdom. I rejoice in looking forward to the prospects of this Church, to its future. It will be great and glorious, and the time will come when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and His Christ, and He will rule and reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth, as the ancient prophets predicted.
I thank the Lord for the good things we heard this morning in regard to the progress of this work, and I bear testimony that they are true. One thing I hope will be impressed upon the minds of our brethren and sisters from the different parts of Zion, and that is the statement that was read this morning by the President, that the tithes they pay—some of them—that the tithes that are collected in the various parts of Zion are expended right within the stakes to the extent of at least sixty per cent. If I were to express my own opinion, I would say the percentage is greater, and I think it will so be found when we get our statistics entirely and fully compiled; but the great bulk of the tithing is expended right in the stakes where the funds are collected. There are applications made every day to the Trustee-in-Trust for means to use in the erection or improvement of meeting houses and amusement halls, and so forth; so that there is a constant drain on the resources of the Church for the building up of the different stakes and wards of Zion. These things may be called temporal, but they are absolutely essential and they are a part of our great work, for the Lord has established Zion temporally as well as spiritually. His power is in it and His providences are over it, and He will be with it and with every individual in it, according to their faith and diligence in seeking after Him.
We believe in the spiritual things as well as the temporal things. Part of our baptism is spiritual. We are baptized in water by burial and raising up again for the remission of sins, and then we receive the Holy Ghost as a gift from God to us. It has various manifestations, but is the same Spirit. It is the light of the Lord. It is the witness for God. It enlightens; it comforts; it heals; it strengthens, it leads us on to progress, to comprehend truth as God sees it, and to walk in the light thereof, and to become sanctified unto Him. By the power of that Spirit our souls can reach up to the highest. Don’t I know that this is a fact? I do. In my career in this Church I have been placed many times, especially when on foreign missions, in positions where I needed to know the mind of the Lord, and by faith and prayer it has come to me, and I rejoice in bearing testimony of it. I do not think that I should feel that I lived really, if I could not be in communion with the higher powers by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God is for us all. We are baptized in it when we are confirmed, and it is our privilege to be guided by it always and to walk in its light and to have its joy and comfort and inspiration, and this can be our continual lot day by day. If we will observe the laws and commandments and rules and regulations given to us in this Church, the Lord will be with us; all things will work together for our good as individuals. Our very trials and difficulties, and the pains that we pass through sometimes, will inure to our experience and growth and benefit, and some day we will recognize that “all things have been done in the wisdom of Him that knoweth all things.”
I feel full of joy and peace this afternoon to be in the midst of the Saints. I thank God for His goodness to me. I hope to live for the truth while my remaining days shall be upon the earth, and then when my time of departure comes I hope to mingle with the blest and labor behind the veil, no matter in what capacity. As the President showed this morning, we are willing to labor as teachers, or deacons, or do anything for the building up of the kingdom, either in the body or out of the body, wherever we are, wherever we go. We want to live up to our Father and our God, to walk in His ways, and observe the laws of His righteousness and to prepare ourselves eventually for a glorious resurrection into His divine presence.
May the Lord help us to be faithful and true, keep our covenants and preserve ourselves from the evils of this world. May peace be in the homes of the Saints. May the power of God rest upon these good brethren who are here—the Presidents of Stakes and their counselors, the Bishops of wards and their counselors, and the teachers and laborers in the vineyard of the Lord at home and abroad; that they may carry with them a sacred and holy influence, and be able to give counsel and instruction to the people, and answer the numerous questions that are arising, many of which come up to the First Presidency and need not come there, but could go to these brethren who preside in the wards and stakes of Zion. God bless you, my brethren, with wisdom and understanding and inspiration, and may the light and blessings of the Lord which we are enjoying here in conference, spread abroad to the uttermost parts of the earth wherever there is a Saint of God desiring His blessing. May the work continue to increase and spread forth and prevail, unto the great consummation, when the earth shall be redeemed and Christ shall be our King, and God, the Father, will come and visit His people, and be their God, wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall no more be any sorrow or mourning or death, but all things shall be light and life and blessing and praise and glory, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
A soprano solo, “The Lord is my Light,” was sung by Retta S. Payne, of Clearfield.
Afflictions beneficial—Growth of “Mormonism” — “Go-to-Meeting Sunday” movement — Religion of Christ both spiritual and temporal— Figurative sayings of the Savior— Actual realities of divine manifestations and miracles—Disposition of the tithes—The Lord is with His Church.
I am very grateful for the privilege of attending this conference. I always have had thankfulness in my heart at every conference that I have ever attended. I have very little to boast about, but a great deal to be thankful for, and today I feel more than ever my dependence on the Lord, upon His providences and mercies for my daily life and health and for the exercise of my calling in the holy priesthood. I prize my standing in the Church and the authority bestowed upon me to minister in the things of the kingdom more than anything else. The Lord has indeed been good to me all my days, and recently, in the afflictions that I have passed through in consequence of some accidents that befell me, if that is a proper term to use, I felt my dependence upon the Lord and I recognize more than ever His kindness to me. It is good to know that we can draw near to the Lord, and sometimes afflictions are needful that we may feel our dependence upon our heavenly Father fully, and be made to feel grateful in our souls for His kindness and mercies to us. I can say, this afternoon, that I do feel grateful indeed to my heavenly Father that I am able to be here today to listen to the voices of His servants, to mingle with the Saints, and to feel the sacred influence that attends us in our gathering. For I did feel this morning that the Spirit and power of God were with us, and I enjoyed immensely the address that we heard from our President. The information that was imparted, as well as his own instructions were of very great value to us. I am glad that the report which he read will be printed so that we all can read it if we will. I hope we are all readers of the Deseret News, as well as other periodicals that are published, because in that paper we will be likely to receive a full report of the address that was given to us this morning, with the very valuable statistics that were read and the instructions that were imparted in connection with them.
It is very clear from what we heard this morning that Zion is growing, and that the work of the Lord is spreading throughout the world; that that which is called “Mormonism” is not going backward but is marching forward, and not only our numbers are increasing but the faithfulness of the members of the Church is made more prominent. I believe that the Church is better organized now than ever. Our President said the conditions are better than ever before, and I am sure that what he said is correct, and that there is a feeling growing in the hearts of the members of this Church, that it is necessary to their happiness and well being and their salvation, to adhere strictly to the principles and teachings of the Church of which they are members. It is different with its than with people in other denominations, not that I wish to say anything deprecatory of them, but in our Church the members are expected to be religious all the time, not merely on Sunday but every day of the week, and every moment of their lives; and that while they may not be able to live up fully to the standard which is set before them, they are working up in that direction. They are not going backward; they are growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and this is very cheering. They are growing in the duties that belong to them in a family capacity. They are growing in their attendance at places of worship. They are growing in the daily practice of the principles that conduce to bodily health and to spiritual advancement. This is evident from the reports that are received from time to time; and notwithstanding the many failures on the part of some people and the departures from the truth which occasionally occur, yet in the main, in the mass, the people called Latter-day Saints are advancing.
They are progressing truly. Not in the sense in which some people claim the title of “Progressives;” not going back to old, discarded and obsolete things, but reaching forward on a firm foundation, having planted their feet firmly on the rock of Truth. They are reaching up to the higher powers, and the Lord is with them and their progress is sure and steady in an upward direction. You can progress downward as well as progress upward, but our prize, the prize and mark of our high calling is in Christ Jesus; in His doctrine, in His principles, in His glorious example. He is the great exemplar, and while we lay hold upon the truths which He has revealed, both in former and in latter days, we can imitate, we can emulate and walk up to the life and character of our Redeemer, that we may indeed be like Him, and so by and by become fit to dwell in His presence.
There is a movement on foot in the world to try to get people to go to church on Sunday. Notice will be seen in the Deseret News this evening in regard to that matter, which is desirable to be made statewide, not only to occur in a few places but throughout the state, that people will go to church on a certain Sunday designated. That is a very good movement, so far as it goes, and we are in accord with it, because we' believe in going to church every Sunday; not only one particular Sunday in one particular month in one particular year, but, according to the commandment given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ in latter days—I am not speaking of the old scripture but the revelation of God to us through Jesus Christ in the last days— which will be found in the fifty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and in which we are told to serve the Lord and worship Him at all times, under all circumstances; but on His holy day—He claims this seventh day or first day—it depends upon where you start from, to make it the first or seventh—one day out of seven at any rate, on His day, the day on which He rose from the dead, Sunday as we call it, the new Sabbath, die Christian Sabbath, on that day we are to do none other thing but devote ourselves to divine worship and service. We may partake of food, prepared with singleness of heart, but we are not to perform our usual labors but to go up to the Lord’s house on this, Ilis holy day and worship Him in the spirit of holiness, to offer up our sacraments and pay our devotions to the Most High, to forgive one another if there be differences in our feelings with each other, to feel in our hearts that we want to bless mankind and to serve the Lord and become sanctified unto Him.
To be truly His people we have to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all other things will be added to us in the due time of the Lord. Though we set our hearts sometimes upon the things of this world, they will perish with the using and pass away like the dream of a night vision; but that which abides and remains are the eternal verities, the things of God, the principles that go to make up His kingdom and the righteousness that makes up His character. If we serve the Lord with all our hearts, and place His work first in our souls, and practise righteousness according to the pattern that God reveals, everything that is of worth in all the eternities, throughout all the regions of space, everything that is good and beautiful and glorious and happifying that makes for progress, for intelligence, for light, for wisdom, for power and for dominion will be ours. All things will be ours, and we shall be Christ’s and Christ will be the Father’s. Now that is the kind of religion that we have. This Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embodies these principles and it finds rules for our action in every department of life. It goes down to the commonest and so-called lowest things, and it rises to the highest.
Some of our good friends, if I may call them such, try to make it appear that the Latter-day Saints’ religion is a mere religion of temporalities and grosser things. That is where they make one of their big mistakes. While the Church of Christ reaches down to every department of life, here on the earth, in the flesh, and takes hold of what are called temporal things, yet it reaches up to the very highest. We are told that the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek reaches up not only to the ministration of angels and to the beings that are spiritual and to the heavenly Jerusalem, but to Christ, the Redeemer, and to God, who is the Father of all. Rising up to the highest and reaching down to the lowest, the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ takes it all in and gives us rules and regulations for our conduct day by day and hour by hour, that we may be His people and that we may enjoy all there is to be enjoyed, both temporal and spiritual, and finally be prepared for the immediate society and presence of our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, our elder Brother in the spirit, and all the good and true and the just and the pure from God’s creations; to mingle with them, to be in their company, to be one with them. That is our destiny, and in order to reach it, we have to bring ourselves in subjection to righteous laws and principles and orders and rules and ordinances, which are all, in their place, necessary to bring us to the great ultimatum and fulness of glory and of power and of dominion and of joy which shall be eternal.
So we want to observe the Sunday services every Sunday. Brethren and sisters, you that have come here to conference today, do not forget that. You have heard that told a great many times, to carry away with you a determination that you will not only go to meeting now and then, but that you will observe the Sunday law that God has revealed. Not of going to Church for one day or one Sunday in the year, but regularly on the Lord’s day, you will consecrate yourselves to His service; go up to His holy house, be in unison with the Saints, partake of the holy sacrament in remembrance of His body and of His blood shed for the remission of sins, and receiving a renewal of His Spirit, you may be able to serve Him during the coming week, every day, and be under the influence and direction of His Spirit; and in that you will have joy and peace. We want to establish peace in our homes. We want to have this Sunday spirit where we dwell. We want to be neighborly and kind, and have that good Spirit in our hearts spoken of by our President this morning, that Jesus Christ taught in that grand sermon on the mount. Not that we want to carry out literally, perhaps, everything that He said; some sayings of Jesus Christ are figurative in their nature. In the parables that He gave there are figures of speech, but right behind them all are facts and truths that we want to lay hold of and understand.
President Smith spoke this morning of the injunction of the Savior, “If a man smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other.” We may not be able to come up to that yet fully in the literal sense, but we can live in the spirit of it, and we can forgive one another for injuries, and we can say, “I will not seek to do evil to that man that did evil to me, or that woman who tried to do evil to me, but I will do good for evil, and if I can do a good turn to the person who injured me, I will do it;” that is the spirit we should manifest. I remember once that back in London we had an old veteran of the army who was a member of the Church; he was ordained a priest, and used to go out and preach on the street. One Sunday he was preaching and a man came up and slapped him in the face. “Now,” he cried, “if you are a Christian, turn the other cheek.” So he turned it, but exclaimed, extending his clenched fist, “Hit again and down you go.” Well, I suppose many of us have that kind of spirit, but he was willing to-comply with the rule, and if the man had slapped him on the other cheek I think he would have gone down. So, as I said, many of the sayings of Jesus Christ are couched in figurative language.
For instance, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.” But He did not mean that to apply literally to the physical hand. It was the spirit of it that was intended. If we have anybody in the Church who will not obey the laws of the Church, who will transgress the commandments of God, though that person may be one with authority and power, having done a great deal of good and with a great deal of influence, even if we should regard him as the right hand of the ward or stake where he belongs, yet if he will not be obedient to the laws of Christ, he has to be severed from the Church. The same idea in regard to the saying, “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out.” He did not mean for you to pull your eye out because it does not do its duty properly; but there was a great principle lying behind these figures of speech. When we read the scriptures we should seek to understand the sense, spirit and meaning of the phrases that are used. But we have to be very cautious in regard to that other matter that the President was speaking of this morning; that some people want to make it appear that t.ie statements in the scriptures concerning the revelations of God, His personal manifestations and those events that are called miraculous, are only imaginary; that the narration of them is only figurative. Let us be cautious about that. We must understand that when it is stated in these latter days that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith when he was a boy, the account is literally true, that they really appeared. He did not imagine it; he did not dream it; they manifested themselves to him, and what he received was a message from the eternal worlds, and all the communications to him by angelic ministers; all those administrations of John the Baptist and of Peter, James and John, and of Elijah, and Moses, and all those worthies spoken of as having visited the prophet in the Kirtland temple, that these were realities. He saw them, he heard them. lie did not evolve the ideas out of his own inner consciousness or mind. They were not imaginary. And so in regard to these manifestations in ancient times. When Moses went up into the mount, and we are told that “he saw the God of Israel,” the writer narrated a fact. When “Moses and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up into the mount and saw the God of Israel,” and described Him, what was under His feet and told about His hand not being laid upon them, they narrated what they saw and heard, and the statement that is written by Moses is a statement of fact, not something imaginary.
These great truths that have come from the manifestations of God to the human family, abide; they are for our benefit. It is good for us to listen to the voice of inspiration and of instruction concerning them. And in these last days let us understand fully that the Church to which we belong is not founded upon any mere imagination or the thoughts and ideas and notions of men. It has come down out of heaven .to the earth. The authority of the holy priesthood was not here. It did not continue from the days of the Savior down to the present time, through any of the denominations claiming succession. The world fell into darkness and into corruption and abomination, and went astray from the Lord. While many good men and good women existed on the earth, serving the Lord to the best of their ability, all authority and power in the holy priesthood were taken away from the earth, and the world was left to itself, and to the notions and opinions of men, and hence the confusion among the jarring sects and contending organizations of the latter times.
But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come from God to man. It was not evolved out of the ideas and opinions of men. It has not been organized by the wisdom of men, but every principle, every ordinance, every doctrine, every form of authority has been sent down in the last days from the heavens to the earth, and these are all embodied in the splendid organization which is called by the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is Christ’s Church. He made it. He built it up. Through Him came all the revelations from God to the Church, and He is with the Church now. And the Holy Ghost, the “personage of spirit,” who bears witness of the Father and of the Son. is with this Church. That divine spirit which proceeds from the presence of God throughout the immensity of space, by which God created all things, spiritual as well as temporal, is in this Church, and is enjoyed by the members thereof, according to their faithfulness and diligence in seeking after it, and after these inspirations and gifts and manifestations. The Trinity— God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, making one Trinity and Deity, are with this Church, and they have built it up and they are going to stay with it, because a majority of the people of this Church are going to stay by these glorious truths that have been revealed, and live them in their lives, and train up their children in the way they should go, so that a purer and better and stronger and mightier generation will grow up to carry on the work of this kingdom. I rejoice in looking forward to the prospects of this Church, to its future. It will be great and glorious, and the time will come when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and His Christ, and He will rule and reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth, as the ancient prophets predicted.
I thank the Lord for the good things we heard this morning in regard to the progress of this work, and I bear testimony that they are true. One thing I hope will be impressed upon the minds of our brethren and sisters from the different parts of Zion, and that is the statement that was read this morning by the President, that the tithes they pay—some of them—that the tithes that are collected in the various parts of Zion are expended right within the stakes to the extent of at least sixty per cent. If I were to express my own opinion, I would say the percentage is greater, and I think it will so be found when we get our statistics entirely and fully compiled; but the great bulk of the tithing is expended right in the stakes where the funds are collected. There are applications made every day to the Trustee-in-Trust for means to use in the erection or improvement of meeting houses and amusement halls, and so forth; so that there is a constant drain on the resources of the Church for the building up of the different stakes and wards of Zion. These things may be called temporal, but they are absolutely essential and they are a part of our great work, for the Lord has established Zion temporally as well as spiritually. His power is in it and His providences are over it, and He will be with it and with every individual in it, according to their faith and diligence in seeking after Him.
We believe in the spiritual things as well as the temporal things. Part of our baptism is spiritual. We are baptized in water by burial and raising up again for the remission of sins, and then we receive the Holy Ghost as a gift from God to us. It has various manifestations, but is the same Spirit. It is the light of the Lord. It is the witness for God. It enlightens; it comforts; it heals; it strengthens, it leads us on to progress, to comprehend truth as God sees it, and to walk in the light thereof, and to become sanctified unto Him. By the power of that Spirit our souls can reach up to the highest. Don’t I know that this is a fact? I do. In my career in this Church I have been placed many times, especially when on foreign missions, in positions where I needed to know the mind of the Lord, and by faith and prayer it has come to me, and I rejoice in bearing testimony of it. I do not think that I should feel that I lived really, if I could not be in communion with the higher powers by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God is for us all. We are baptized in it when we are confirmed, and it is our privilege to be guided by it always and to walk in its light and to have its joy and comfort and inspiration, and this can be our continual lot day by day. If we will observe the laws and commandments and rules and regulations given to us in this Church, the Lord will be with us; all things will work together for our good as individuals. Our very trials and difficulties, and the pains that we pass through sometimes, will inure to our experience and growth and benefit, and some day we will recognize that “all things have been done in the wisdom of Him that knoweth all things.”
I feel full of joy and peace this afternoon to be in the midst of the Saints. I thank God for His goodness to me. I hope to live for the truth while my remaining days shall be upon the earth, and then when my time of departure comes I hope to mingle with the blest and labor behind the veil, no matter in what capacity. As the President showed this morning, we are willing to labor as teachers, or deacons, or do anything for the building up of the kingdom, either in the body or out of the body, wherever we are, wherever we go. We want to live up to our Father and our God, to walk in His ways, and observe the laws of His righteousness and to prepare ourselves eventually for a glorious resurrection into His divine presence.
May the Lord help us to be faithful and true, keep our covenants and preserve ourselves from the evils of this world. May peace be in the homes of the Saints. May the power of God rest upon these good brethren who are here—the Presidents of Stakes and their counselors, the Bishops of wards and their counselors, and the teachers and laborers in the vineyard of the Lord at home and abroad; that they may carry with them a sacred and holy influence, and be able to give counsel and instruction to the people, and answer the numerous questions that are arising, many of which come up to the First Presidency and need not come there, but could go to these brethren who preside in the wards and stakes of Zion. God bless you, my brethren, with wisdom and understanding and inspiration, and may the light and blessings of the Lord which we are enjoying here in conference, spread abroad to the uttermost parts of the earth wherever there is a Saint of God desiring His blessing. May the work continue to increase and spread forth and prevail, unto the great consummation, when the earth shall be redeemed and Christ shall be our King, and God, the Father, will come and visit His people, and be their God, wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall no more be any sorrow or mourning or death, but all things shall be light and life and blessing and praise and glory, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
A soprano solo, “The Lord is my Light,” was sung by Retta S. Payne, of Clearfield.
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON.
To speak or minister in God’s name a serious responsibility.—Meaning and importance of “the new and everlasting covenant.” — Marriage designed by God to be an eternal relationship.—God’s law of marriage changed by men, who limit it to this life.
Brethren and sisters, I will read a few words from the Doctrine and Covenants, section 132:
"Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.
“Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name!
“Or, will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed!
“And will I appoint' unto you, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you, before the world was!
“I am the Lord thy God, and I give
unto you this commandment, that no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord;
“And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God;
“For whatsoever things remain, are
by me; and whatsoever things are not by me, shall be shaken and destroyed.”
These very remarkable words were given by revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and through them we are distinctly given to understand that the Lord’s house is a house of order and that He governs by law and not by chance. The Lord practically states that it is His law, and this might very well be applied to the law of the Gospel, for that is the law which God has given us, and by which He governs His people, and builds up and establishes His work upon the earth. Those who administer in the name of the Lord ought to be very careful and know of a surety that they enjoy divine authority. It is a very serious thing to speak in the name of the Lord. You will remember what Paul the Apostle said upon this subject. He said, “If any man preach any other gospel than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” You see from this that it is truly a serious and a dangerous thing to preach and minister in the name of the Lord, without authority. The Prophet Isaiah, looking down through the centuries, saw a very peculiar condition of the people, and he used language something like this:
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”
We know something about the laws of God; they are set forth very clearly in the scriptures and also by modem revelation, and we know also something about the ordinances of the Gospel; but what is this new and everlasting covenant, that is spoken of? Surely it must be an interesting question to the world to know what that covenant is. It is something at least of an enduring nature. An everlasting covenant must be an eternal covenant, something that goes beyond this life, but does the world really know what it is? In order to understand clearly what Isaiah meant when he said that it had been broken, it is only necessary to consult modern revelation. In speaking upon this subject, the Lord said to Joseph Smith the Prophet:
“For behold! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant, and be permitted to enter into my glory;
“For all who will have a blessing at my hands, shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world:
“And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof, must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.”
It is plain from this that the everlasting covenant has again been revealed to the world in our time; and it involves a fulness of the glory of God. So it will be seen that the world is in a very serious condition if they have violated that covenant. Well, now, what is the nature of this Covenant? It is nothing more nor less, brethren and sisters, than the covenant of marriage, and it is explained very fully, very beautifully in the revelation of God, for the Lord said unto Joseph:
"Verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these:—AU covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time, on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred,) are of no efficacy, virtue or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made up to this end, have an end when men are dead.”
Hear it, oh Israel! That all contracts. and all engagements that are not entered into by appointment of God, have an end when men are dead.
“Therefore,” said the Lord, “if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word; and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world;
“Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory;
“For these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God, for ever and ever.” This, then, is the new and ever
lasting covenant which God has revealed to His people, in our day, a covenant that binds men and women in marriage to all eternity. We are confronted with two covenants, the new and everlasting covenant and the covenant which is made by man. These two covenants are before us—and every Latter-day Saint who contemplates marriage has the choice of two covenants, but strange to say that while very many of the Latter-day Saints choose the everlasting covenant of the Lord, there are others who appear to be satisfied with the lesser covenant, which is only temporary in its character.
Brethren and sisters, this question is not determined by love alone. Because a man falls in love with a woman, and a woman with the man, and they agree to join hands and become united in marriage, it does not follow that the marriage will continue and be of force in the eternal worlds, and it will not be unless it is solemnized for those worlds. People have said to me: “Look at that couple; look at that man and woman; what a beautiful picture it is! Don’t you see that the man loves the woman; that the woman loves the man; that they are truly husband and wife; and that they have a family of beautiful children ? Surely, when death comes God will not separate that couple, God will not part the husband and wife from each other and from their children, although they were united by an earthly covenant.” We should take the right point of view. We cannot, surely we cannot attribute it to the Lord if they are separated. The Lord is not responsible. The Lord says, “My house is a house of order.” This is the law. If you obey the law you will receive the blessing. If you reject the law you will be damned. Then, if people reject the law, though they may love one another, if people reject the law, though they may be married one to another; if people reject the law, though they may have had children in that marriage, they cannot blame the Lord. If in the resurrection they are separated from each other, from their loved ones, it is their own fault. They had their choice. We have our choice. We must remember always that the Lord governs by law, and we must give obedience to His word and to His law, else we lose the blessing.
Now, brethren and sisters, I greatly rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I rejoice exceedingly in this everlasting covenant that God has given to His people. In it there is beauty, there is power, there is glory, there is exaltation and eternal life.
I know that this Gospel is true; I know that Jesus is the Christ; that this is His work, and that He was crucified for the sins of the world. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and the revelations which he has given, and his predictions which have been fulfilled, amply prove this; but I know it by the testimony and power of the Holy Ghost. God bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The East Bountiful First Ward choir rendered the anthem, “In Our Redeemer’s Name.”
To speak or minister in God’s name a serious responsibility.—Meaning and importance of “the new and everlasting covenant.” — Marriage designed by God to be an eternal relationship.—God’s law of marriage changed by men, who limit it to this life.
Brethren and sisters, I will read a few words from the Doctrine and Covenants, section 132:
"Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.
“Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name!
“Or, will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed!
“And will I appoint' unto you, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you, before the world was!
“I am the Lord thy God, and I give
unto you this commandment, that no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord;
“And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God;
“For whatsoever things remain, are
by me; and whatsoever things are not by me, shall be shaken and destroyed.”
These very remarkable words were given by revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and through them we are distinctly given to understand that the Lord’s house is a house of order and that He governs by law and not by chance. The Lord practically states that it is His law, and this might very well be applied to the law of the Gospel, for that is the law which God has given us, and by which He governs His people, and builds up and establishes His work upon the earth. Those who administer in the name of the Lord ought to be very careful and know of a surety that they enjoy divine authority. It is a very serious thing to speak in the name of the Lord. You will remember what Paul the Apostle said upon this subject. He said, “If any man preach any other gospel than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” You see from this that it is truly a serious and a dangerous thing to preach and minister in the name of the Lord, without authority. The Prophet Isaiah, looking down through the centuries, saw a very peculiar condition of the people, and he used language something like this:
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”
We know something about the laws of God; they are set forth very clearly in the scriptures and also by modem revelation, and we know also something about the ordinances of the Gospel; but what is this new and everlasting covenant, that is spoken of? Surely it must be an interesting question to the world to know what that covenant is. It is something at least of an enduring nature. An everlasting covenant must be an eternal covenant, something that goes beyond this life, but does the world really know what it is? In order to understand clearly what Isaiah meant when he said that it had been broken, it is only necessary to consult modern revelation. In speaking upon this subject, the Lord said to Joseph Smith the Prophet:
“For behold! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant, and be permitted to enter into my glory;
“For all who will have a blessing at my hands, shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world:
“And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof, must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.”
It is plain from this that the everlasting covenant has again been revealed to the world in our time; and it involves a fulness of the glory of God. So it will be seen that the world is in a very serious condition if they have violated that covenant. Well, now, what is the nature of this Covenant? It is nothing more nor less, brethren and sisters, than the covenant of marriage, and it is explained very fully, very beautifully in the revelation of God, for the Lord said unto Joseph:
"Verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these:—AU covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time, on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred,) are of no efficacy, virtue or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made up to this end, have an end when men are dead.”
Hear it, oh Israel! That all contracts. and all engagements that are not entered into by appointment of God, have an end when men are dead.
“Therefore,” said the Lord, “if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word; and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world;
“Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory;
“For these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God, for ever and ever.” This, then, is the new and ever
lasting covenant which God has revealed to His people, in our day, a covenant that binds men and women in marriage to all eternity. We are confronted with two covenants, the new and everlasting covenant and the covenant which is made by man. These two covenants are before us—and every Latter-day Saint who contemplates marriage has the choice of two covenants, but strange to say that while very many of the Latter-day Saints choose the everlasting covenant of the Lord, there are others who appear to be satisfied with the lesser covenant, which is only temporary in its character.
Brethren and sisters, this question is not determined by love alone. Because a man falls in love with a woman, and a woman with the man, and they agree to join hands and become united in marriage, it does not follow that the marriage will continue and be of force in the eternal worlds, and it will not be unless it is solemnized for those worlds. People have said to me: “Look at that couple; look at that man and woman; what a beautiful picture it is! Don’t you see that the man loves the woman; that the woman loves the man; that they are truly husband and wife; and that they have a family of beautiful children ? Surely, when death comes God will not separate that couple, God will not part the husband and wife from each other and from their children, although they were united by an earthly covenant.” We should take the right point of view. We cannot, surely we cannot attribute it to the Lord if they are separated. The Lord is not responsible. The Lord says, “My house is a house of order.” This is the law. If you obey the law you will receive the blessing. If you reject the law you will be damned. Then, if people reject the law, though they may love one another, if people reject the law, though they may be married one to another; if people reject the law, though they may have had children in that marriage, they cannot blame the Lord. If in the resurrection they are separated from each other, from their loved ones, it is their own fault. They had their choice. We have our choice. We must remember always that the Lord governs by law, and we must give obedience to His word and to His law, else we lose the blessing.
Now, brethren and sisters, I greatly rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I rejoice exceedingly in this everlasting covenant that God has given to His people. In it there is beauty, there is power, there is glory, there is exaltation and eternal life.
I know that this Gospel is true; I know that Jesus is the Christ; that this is His work, and that He was crucified for the sins of the world. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and the revelations which he has given, and his predictions which have been fulfilled, amply prove this; but I know it by the testimony and power of the Holy Ghost. God bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The East Bountiful First Ward choir rendered the anthem, “In Our Redeemer’s Name.”
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT.
Sunday desecration denounced.—A strong plea for state-wide prohibition.—Commendable efforts of the Anti-Saloon League.—A prohibition amendment to U. S. Constitution advocated.—Gratifying increase in prohibition sentiment in nation.— All faithful members of the Church staunch prohibitionists.
I am always pleased when I have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in any of their gatherings. I never attend any of our meetings, in the wards or stakes or at the general conferences, that I am not blessed, instructed and encouraged in the faith of the Gospel; that I do not hear something that
in very deed feeds me the bread of life. I have been pleased and grateful to be present at our conference meetings thus far.
It is said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. My heart has been set for many years firmly and steadfastly upon the accomplishment of certain results in our fair state. One result which I would like to see accomplished is the doing away with amusements upon the Sabbath day. I feel that it is a reproach to the Latter-day Saints that we should have amusements in our towns and cities on the day of the Lord. As the years come and go, and young men and young women go to their ruin because of losing their respect for the Sabbath, and the sacredness of the day, I 'feel that the men who have sat in the legislature, and who have failed to protect us against this evil, will have much to answer for.
If the whole of Utah should go “dry!” it would be the one great thing above all others, to my mind, which would be beneficial to this fair state of ours, and would add more to the health and longevity of its people, and would cause a more wonderful increase for good in the excellent vital statistics which we heard read here today, than anything I can possibly think of. I believe absolutely in the prohibition of the manufacture and the sale of liquor, and I hope and pray, with all the energy with which God has endowed me, that this great blessing for the uplift and for the betterment of the people of our fair state may come to us at no far distant day.
A few months ago it fell to my lot to have the privilege of attending some of the meetings of a very wonderful convention of a number of organizations which are engaged in the fight against liquor. These were the meetings of the Anti-Saloon League, and other temperance organizations, at Columbus, Ohio. The meetings of the convention lasted for several days, sessions being held morning, noon and night. It was to me a very inspiring sight to witness the enthusiasm, the earnestness and the determination, as manifested by the assembled multitude, running into the thousands, who attended those gatherings. I listened with a great deal of pleasure to nearly all of the very many inspiring speeches which were made upon that occasion.
Since coming into the meeting this afternoon, I have been glancing over one of those speeches to mark a few passages to read to you, and I find myself almost at a loss to pick out which passages I would like to read. To be perfectly frank with you, I would like to read the entire speech, as it is such a splendid one, but time will not permit. The speech was made by Ex Governor J. Frank Hanly, who for many years was the governor of Indiana. He says, in part, referring to the fight for a constitutional amendment:
“It is not partisan, it is civic. It is not sectarian, it is catholic. It is not sectional, it is national.* * *It has been said that the things we seek—an amendment to the national constitution prohibiting throughout the United States the manufacture, sale, importation, exportation and transportation of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage—is contrary to the genius and the spirit of our government, as the constitution gives only limited powers to the national government.* * * This I deny. I believe in the federal constitution, believe in it profoundly* * * Five times I have solemnly sworn to preserve, protect and _ defend it, and I would not change in the slightest measure a single one of its great fundamental provisions.* * * First. Its representative or Republican character. Second. Its trinity of departments with their co-ordinate and independent powers. Third. Its dual form, or system of separate sovereign states within a sovereign whole. Fourth. The authority of the judiciary, to interpret the constitution and decide the constitutionality of laws, state and national.”
“Henceforth we will know this cause only. For it, whenever necessary, men shall be set aside and parties abandoned. * * * Slavery had become a national evil, too vast and powerful for state control, affecting the nation as a whole and imperiling the life of the government itself, and the nation struck it down, writing its epitaph in the blood' of a hundred tragic battle fields. As it was with slavery before the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, so it is now with the liquor traffic. It has outgrown state boundaries and become a national evil amounting to a menace, too powerful for state regulation or control, affecting the nation as a whole and requiring national jurisdiction and treatment. It accomplishes by insidious means what slavery sought in the open, doing by corruption and shameless misuse of wealth all slavery sought by force of arms. It beggars the individual, burdens the state and impoverishes the nation. It capitalizes human weakness and commercializes human vice. It impairs the public health, breaks the public peace and debauches the public morals. . It makes cowards of public men, intimidating political parties, bribes, badgers and dominates the makers, interpreters and administrators of the law, and suborns the public press. It claims for itself a special right and privilege asserted by no other interest in all the land—the right and privilege to violate municipal ordinances at will, to infract legislative resolves and enactments. and to set aside the most solemn and sacred provisions of constitutions framed and adopted by free peoples.”
With the intelligence with which God has endowed me, I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt that more evil, suffering and crime has come into the world by the use of intoxicating liquors, and more misery has been brought into homes of the people, many, many times over, than was ever caused by slavery. I believe that the greatest financial, the greatest moral problem that is before the people of the United States today is this liquor problem. I regret exceedingly that the first state-wide “white” spot upon the map of the United States was not made by the State of Utah. However, I rejoice in knowing that in every town, in every county, when the matter of local option came up at the election a couple of years ago, that where the Latter-day Saints were in the majority, with the exception of one town, liquor had to go. I rejoice in this record made. I rejoice in knowing that today the majority of all the people in the United States are living in “dry” territory. There are ninety-one millions of people in the United States, and forty-six millions—one million more than half are living in “dry” territory. Of the area of the United States there are two million nine hundred and seventy-three thousand square miles, and two million one hundred and thirty-two thousand square miles are in “dry” territory and only a little over eight hundred thousand in “wet” territory. The battle is on and I feel assured that it will be won. Why? Because I am convinced beyond a doubt that our fight is right, and right is bound to prevail. I agree with Governor Hanly that we, who are converted to the benefits of prohibition, shall dedicate ourselves to this cause; shall labor for it; shall pledge our honor, and also pledge our means to accomplish it.
I endorse William Jennings Bryan’s words:
“A Christianity that does not make a man a better citizen would be difficult to defend. I shall not attempt to lay down rules to cover every phase of the liquor question that must be met by legislation, but I will venture to suggest a principle that is universal in its application and that cannot be ignored at any time, at any place or under any circumstances, viz.: That the liquor question is a moral question which must be dealt with as a question of conscience and not as a question of profit.”
I have heard Latter-day Saints say that we need the saloon to help pay our taxes. God pity the. men whose consciences have become so elastic. President Smith says, “They are ‘Mormons,’ not Latter-day Saints.”
Quoting again from Secretary Bryan:
“Whatever decision one reaches as to the position he should take on any legislative phase of the liquor question he must be able to defend it before the bar of his conscience. No advantage that he could secure in business, no money that he can take out of his decision, directly or indirectly, and no advantage that he can secure for his party can be allowed to weigh in the balance. Any unit, however small or large, should be permitted to rid itself of the saloon or place restrictions upon the sale of liquor. according to the will of the majority.”
And I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, that a majority of the citizens of the State of Utah is. has always been, and always will be, as long as the Latter-day Saints are in the majority, against liquor. Therefore, I claim, let us have a state wide vote and we will have prohibition; because then the men who are trafficking and dealing in this damnable stuff in our cities will no longer control our majority. We are citizens of the United States where the majority should rule, and all we ask is a fair battle and we are sure to win because we are right.
I rejoice in knowing that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taken a positive stand on the liquor question. I rejoice in knowing that the Lord, Himself, has given us a revelation, and that every Latter-day Saint in his daily life, in his walk, in his conversation, if he lives up to the commandments of God, is in very deed not only a prohibitionist so far as liquor is concerned, but every true Latter-day Saint who does not violate his conscience, who does not fail to live according to the commandments of God, not only leaves liquor alone, but he also leaves alone tobacco, tea and coffee. I rejoice in knowing that the Church, as a Church, has set up for us a shining standard, and that the very best of us, those who live for the highest ideals possible, can only hope to come somewhere near the standard set up by the Church.
I thank the Lord that out of over six thousand men who are today representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—two thousand as missionaries in the world and over four thousand as general authorities of the Church,— as presidents of stakes and counselors, stake clerks, high counselors and alternates, bishops and bishops’ counselors—over six thousand men—standing as promulgators of the Gospel at home and abroad,—no one of them is ever put in office or sent on a mission who is not pledged upon his honor to obey the “Word of Wisdom." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as I say, has a standard, and it behooves each and every one of us to live up to that standard. May God help us to do so is my prayer, and I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The combined choirs sang the anthem, “Star of Descending Night.”
President Smith, in behalf of the congregation, heartily thanked the combined choirs of Davis County for the splendid musical service rendered by them during the two meetings of the Conference today.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Joseph H. Grant.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Sunday, April 5th.
Sunday desecration denounced.—A strong plea for state-wide prohibition.—Commendable efforts of the Anti-Saloon League.—A prohibition amendment to U. S. Constitution advocated.—Gratifying increase in prohibition sentiment in nation.— All faithful members of the Church staunch prohibitionists.
I am always pleased when I have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in any of their gatherings. I never attend any of our meetings, in the wards or stakes or at the general conferences, that I am not blessed, instructed and encouraged in the faith of the Gospel; that I do not hear something that
in very deed feeds me the bread of life. I have been pleased and grateful to be present at our conference meetings thus far.
It is said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. My heart has been set for many years firmly and steadfastly upon the accomplishment of certain results in our fair state. One result which I would like to see accomplished is the doing away with amusements upon the Sabbath day. I feel that it is a reproach to the Latter-day Saints that we should have amusements in our towns and cities on the day of the Lord. As the years come and go, and young men and young women go to their ruin because of losing their respect for the Sabbath, and the sacredness of the day, I 'feel that the men who have sat in the legislature, and who have failed to protect us against this evil, will have much to answer for.
If the whole of Utah should go “dry!” it would be the one great thing above all others, to my mind, which would be beneficial to this fair state of ours, and would add more to the health and longevity of its people, and would cause a more wonderful increase for good in the excellent vital statistics which we heard read here today, than anything I can possibly think of. I believe absolutely in the prohibition of the manufacture and the sale of liquor, and I hope and pray, with all the energy with which God has endowed me, that this great blessing for the uplift and for the betterment of the people of our fair state may come to us at no far distant day.
A few months ago it fell to my lot to have the privilege of attending some of the meetings of a very wonderful convention of a number of organizations which are engaged in the fight against liquor. These were the meetings of the Anti-Saloon League, and other temperance organizations, at Columbus, Ohio. The meetings of the convention lasted for several days, sessions being held morning, noon and night. It was to me a very inspiring sight to witness the enthusiasm, the earnestness and the determination, as manifested by the assembled multitude, running into the thousands, who attended those gatherings. I listened with a great deal of pleasure to nearly all of the very many inspiring speeches which were made upon that occasion.
Since coming into the meeting this afternoon, I have been glancing over one of those speeches to mark a few passages to read to you, and I find myself almost at a loss to pick out which passages I would like to read. To be perfectly frank with you, I would like to read the entire speech, as it is such a splendid one, but time will not permit. The speech was made by Ex Governor J. Frank Hanly, who for many years was the governor of Indiana. He says, in part, referring to the fight for a constitutional amendment:
“It is not partisan, it is civic. It is not sectarian, it is catholic. It is not sectional, it is national.* * *It has been said that the things we seek—an amendment to the national constitution prohibiting throughout the United States the manufacture, sale, importation, exportation and transportation of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage—is contrary to the genius and the spirit of our government, as the constitution gives only limited powers to the national government.* * * This I deny. I believe in the federal constitution, believe in it profoundly* * * Five times I have solemnly sworn to preserve, protect and _ defend it, and I would not change in the slightest measure a single one of its great fundamental provisions.* * * First. Its representative or Republican character. Second. Its trinity of departments with their co-ordinate and independent powers. Third. Its dual form, or system of separate sovereign states within a sovereign whole. Fourth. The authority of the judiciary, to interpret the constitution and decide the constitutionality of laws, state and national.”
“Henceforth we will know this cause only. For it, whenever necessary, men shall be set aside and parties abandoned. * * * Slavery had become a national evil, too vast and powerful for state control, affecting the nation as a whole and imperiling the life of the government itself, and the nation struck it down, writing its epitaph in the blood' of a hundred tragic battle fields. As it was with slavery before the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, so it is now with the liquor traffic. It has outgrown state boundaries and become a national evil amounting to a menace, too powerful for state regulation or control, affecting the nation as a whole and requiring national jurisdiction and treatment. It accomplishes by insidious means what slavery sought in the open, doing by corruption and shameless misuse of wealth all slavery sought by force of arms. It beggars the individual, burdens the state and impoverishes the nation. It capitalizes human weakness and commercializes human vice. It impairs the public health, breaks the public peace and debauches the public morals. . It makes cowards of public men, intimidating political parties, bribes, badgers and dominates the makers, interpreters and administrators of the law, and suborns the public press. It claims for itself a special right and privilege asserted by no other interest in all the land—the right and privilege to violate municipal ordinances at will, to infract legislative resolves and enactments. and to set aside the most solemn and sacred provisions of constitutions framed and adopted by free peoples.”
With the intelligence with which God has endowed me, I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt that more evil, suffering and crime has come into the world by the use of intoxicating liquors, and more misery has been brought into homes of the people, many, many times over, than was ever caused by slavery. I believe that the greatest financial, the greatest moral problem that is before the people of the United States today is this liquor problem. I regret exceedingly that the first state-wide “white” spot upon the map of the United States was not made by the State of Utah. However, I rejoice in knowing that in every town, in every county, when the matter of local option came up at the election a couple of years ago, that where the Latter-day Saints were in the majority, with the exception of one town, liquor had to go. I rejoice in this record made. I rejoice in knowing that today the majority of all the people in the United States are living in “dry” territory. There are ninety-one millions of people in the United States, and forty-six millions—one million more than half are living in “dry” territory. Of the area of the United States there are two million nine hundred and seventy-three thousand square miles, and two million one hundred and thirty-two thousand square miles are in “dry” territory and only a little over eight hundred thousand in “wet” territory. The battle is on and I feel assured that it will be won. Why? Because I am convinced beyond a doubt that our fight is right, and right is bound to prevail. I agree with Governor Hanly that we, who are converted to the benefits of prohibition, shall dedicate ourselves to this cause; shall labor for it; shall pledge our honor, and also pledge our means to accomplish it.
I endorse William Jennings Bryan’s words:
“A Christianity that does not make a man a better citizen would be difficult to defend. I shall not attempt to lay down rules to cover every phase of the liquor question that must be met by legislation, but I will venture to suggest a principle that is universal in its application and that cannot be ignored at any time, at any place or under any circumstances, viz.: That the liquor question is a moral question which must be dealt with as a question of conscience and not as a question of profit.”
I have heard Latter-day Saints say that we need the saloon to help pay our taxes. God pity the. men whose consciences have become so elastic. President Smith says, “They are ‘Mormons,’ not Latter-day Saints.”
Quoting again from Secretary Bryan:
“Whatever decision one reaches as to the position he should take on any legislative phase of the liquor question he must be able to defend it before the bar of his conscience. No advantage that he could secure in business, no money that he can take out of his decision, directly or indirectly, and no advantage that he can secure for his party can be allowed to weigh in the balance. Any unit, however small or large, should be permitted to rid itself of the saloon or place restrictions upon the sale of liquor. according to the will of the majority.”
And I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, that a majority of the citizens of the State of Utah is. has always been, and always will be, as long as the Latter-day Saints are in the majority, against liquor. Therefore, I claim, let us have a state wide vote and we will have prohibition; because then the men who are trafficking and dealing in this damnable stuff in our cities will no longer control our majority. We are citizens of the United States where the majority should rule, and all we ask is a fair battle and we are sure to win because we are right.
I rejoice in knowing that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taken a positive stand on the liquor question. I rejoice in knowing that the Lord, Himself, has given us a revelation, and that every Latter-day Saint in his daily life, in his walk, in his conversation, if he lives up to the commandments of God, is in very deed not only a prohibitionist so far as liquor is concerned, but every true Latter-day Saint who does not violate his conscience, who does not fail to live according to the commandments of God, not only leaves liquor alone, but he also leaves alone tobacco, tea and coffee. I rejoice in knowing that the Church, as a Church, has set up for us a shining standard, and that the very best of us, those who live for the highest ideals possible, can only hope to come somewhere near the standard set up by the Church.
I thank the Lord that out of over six thousand men who are today representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—two thousand as missionaries in the world and over four thousand as general authorities of the Church,— as presidents of stakes and counselors, stake clerks, high counselors and alternates, bishops and bishops’ counselors—over six thousand men—standing as promulgators of the Gospel at home and abroad,—no one of them is ever put in office or sent on a mission who is not pledged upon his honor to obey the “Word of Wisdom." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as I say, has a standard, and it behooves each and every one of us to live up to that standard. May God help us to do so is my prayer, and I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The combined choirs sang the anthem, “Star of Descending Night.”
President Smith, in behalf of the congregation, heartily thanked the combined choirs of Davis County for the splendid musical service rendered by them during the two meetings of the Conference today.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Joseph H. Grant.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m. Sunday, April 5th.
SECOND DAY.
In the Tabernacle, Sunday, April 5th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
President Smith announced that, for the benefit of the great number of people unable to obtain admission to the Tabernacle, overflow meetings will be held in the adjoining Assembly Hall this morning, and afternoon, and in front of the Bureau of Information at 2 p. m.
The tabernacle choir sang the anthem, “The Palms.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Richard W. Young.
The choir sang the anthem, “The Gathered Saints.”
The following letter was read to the congregation by Elder Heber J. Grant.
Salt Lake City, Utah,
April 4, 1914.
President Joseph F. Smith, and Members of the Church in General Conference Assembled:
Dear Brethren and Sisters: I greatly regret my inability to be present, and to rejoice with you in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which I know will characterize this conference as it has characterized the conferences of the past. My absence from you is due to an attack of illness requiring absolute rest and quiet for a few days.
I congratulate the Church on its continued prosperity as shown by its numerical increase in membership, and as further evidenced by the improvement of its members in the different activities of our splendid organization. This improvement is shown in the steady increase of attendance at' Sacrament meetings, quorum meetings, and other appointed gatherings, and in the growing interest associated with the different auxiliary organizations.
I bear witness to the earnest devotion of the Latter-day Saints to their Church duties; and commend to them a continuation of this action. I understand there is to be observed a “Go to Church Sunday” in the near future, and I trust our people will show their hearty accord, with this commendable movement and that they will observe that day together with fifty-one other “Go to Church Sundays” during the twelve months following.
The attendance of our people at the Temple meetings, and their devotion to Temple labor speaks well for the Saints, and we have reason to rejoice in the earnestness with which this labor for the living and for the dead is maintained.
The work of the Historian’s Office has been actively carried on in the collection and collating of historical facts which will prove invaluable both for the present and for future generations. Our office history has been brought into permanent shape down to the year 1906.
With assurances of brotherly affection, and with earnest prayers for the continued advancement of the Church with ever-increasing efficiency in the work of the Master, I am
Your brother in the Gospel,
Anthon H. Lund.
In the Tabernacle, Sunday, April 5th, 10 a. m.
Conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith.
President Smith announced that, for the benefit of the great number of people unable to obtain admission to the Tabernacle, overflow meetings will be held in the adjoining Assembly Hall this morning, and afternoon, and in front of the Bureau of Information at 2 p. m.
The tabernacle choir sang the anthem, “The Palms.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Richard W. Young.
The choir sang the anthem, “The Gathered Saints.”
The following letter was read to the congregation by Elder Heber J. Grant.
Salt Lake City, Utah,
April 4, 1914.
President Joseph F. Smith, and Members of the Church in General Conference Assembled:
Dear Brethren and Sisters: I greatly regret my inability to be present, and to rejoice with you in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which I know will characterize this conference as it has characterized the conferences of the past. My absence from you is due to an attack of illness requiring absolute rest and quiet for a few days.
I congratulate the Church on its continued prosperity as shown by its numerical increase in membership, and as further evidenced by the improvement of its members in the different activities of our splendid organization. This improvement is shown in the steady increase of attendance at' Sacrament meetings, quorum meetings, and other appointed gatherings, and in the growing interest associated with the different auxiliary organizations.
I bear witness to the earnest devotion of the Latter-day Saints to their Church duties; and commend to them a continuation of this action. I understand there is to be observed a “Go to Church Sunday” in the near future, and I trust our people will show their hearty accord, with this commendable movement and that they will observe that day together with fifty-one other “Go to Church Sundays” during the twelve months following.
The attendance of our people at the Temple meetings, and their devotion to Temple labor speaks well for the Saints, and we have reason to rejoice in the earnestness with which this labor for the living and for the dead is maintained.
The work of the Historian’s Office has been actively carried on in the collection and collating of historical facts which will prove invaluable both for the present and for future generations. Our office history has been brought into permanent shape down to the year 1906.
With assurances of brotherly affection, and with earnest prayers for the continued advancement of the Church with ever-increasing efficiency in the work of the Master, I am
Your brother in the Gospel,
Anthon H. Lund.
PRESIDENT FRANCIS M. LYMAN.
The Church ordinance for healing.— Misuse of words “appointed unto death.”—Proper limitations in field of ministry.—Officers well trained.— Not all healed under administration.—Many remarkable healings.
My brethren and sisters, I will need your assistance, your faith and prayers, to be able to make you hear, and I trust that the Lord will bless us in hearing and in speaking, that we may be further instructed and edified in this conference. My mind has been resting upon a subject in connection with our doctrines and principles which, although generally recognized in the Church, has not, I fear, been fully appreciated, and that is the principle of the healing of the sick.
Having had occasion to give consideration to this subject lately, I desire to express a few of my thoughts in regard to the same. I believe that this principle has been enjoyed quite generally in the Church; that it has been enjoyed by every family, if not by every individual member of the Church. There have been very remarkable healings, which have sometimes been brought to our attention. Some have been published, but generally the healing of the sick has not been commented upon. I think the Latter-day Saints should be aroused to the fact that this great blessing and spirit is in the Church, that we enjoy the benefits thereof, and that the Lord has so arranged, in the organization of the Church, that within the reach of every family, in every ward, there are those commissioned and authorized to administer to the sick, that the sick may be healed and their lives preserved. But I have wondered if the Latter-day Saints, on some occasions, have not been surprised, and their faith possibly weakened, because all are not healed, and that we do not always receive answers to our prayers. I thought I would just read to you from the forty-second section of the Doctrine and Covenants the word of the Lord upon this subject, so that we may be prepared in our hearts and minds for the conditions that obtain, and be willing to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in the experience of those who have not faith to be healed. For the time comes when men are appointed unto death, and the fact that we may be finally “appointed unto death” has aroused some question in the minds of the brethren. It is an expression that I always prefer not to mention when administering to the sick. In asking the Lord to heal our afflicted it is not necessary to add, “If they be not appointed unto death.” In fact, I have felt that such an expression in our prayers, tends rather to weaken the faith of the afflicted, and to shake their hope and confidence. The time will come, however ; it will come to you and me, as well as it has to those that have passed away, when we may be appointed unto death, and I understand that that appointment is when fatal sickness is upon us and we have not faith to overcome it. At such times we may realize, in our administrations, that the sickness is fatal, and it is not possible to overcome it, for we may discover conditions that inform us in no uncertain terms that, death is at the door. We should appreciate the fact that the Lord has provided, in the organization of this Church, that there are elders, including seventies, high priests and patriarchs, and other brethren of the Melchisedek Priesthood, always at hand to administer to the sick in our wards. There are stake authorities who may officiate in the stakes and do officiate as patriarchs, blessing the people, and as stake authorities they are at home in any part of the stake. Then there arc the general authorities of the Church, with the presidency thereof, whose jurisdiction extends throughout the Church, both at home and abroad. But ordinarily the brethren bearing the Priesthood are expected to officiate in their own wards. I have thought of the wonderful opportunity that is provided there for the employment and service of the brethren bearing the Priesthood. They should cultivate the spirit of faith and the gift of healing, as well as other gifts that pertain to the Gospel, so that whatever is required in a ward, it will not be necessary for you to send to a neighboring ward for help. We do not have to send from one stake to another; for in every stake, in every ward in this Church, in every branch and in every mission, there are those who are entitled to administer to the sick and have experience therein, as well as in administering the Sacrament to us on the Sabbath day. These services belong to the ward. They belong also to the stake, and to the Church, and to those who are designated as officials in these particular positions.
Sometimes brethren have felt that they had a mission and a gift, and I believe that men do; I believe that some men have greater faith than others. I believe according to our living and our conduct and our service in the work of the Lord, so will our faith increase in the healing of the sick, and in other ordinances. But we should understand the limit of our jurisdiction and ministry. The brethren of the ward should not go to their neighbor wards. They should not be sent for; it is not necessary. And we should jealously be prepared ourselves for what is required in our own wards, in our own stakes. Baptisms, confirmations, the blessing of children, ordinations, and so forth, are all taken care of in order. The house of God is a house of order, so that it is not necessary for ns to be moving about from place to place, from ward to ward. It sometimes occurs that brethren are inclined to make merchandise of their ministry, which is not proper to be done. All who are authorized should administer to the sick and wait upon them gratuitously; it is not proper that we should make merchandise of that ordinance.
Presidents of stakes and bishops of wards and officials throughout the Church should be advised that they ought not to send abroad for help. We send for physicians, and for attorneys, and men in worldly affairs, whose jurisdiction extends everywhere; but in our Church affairs each ward and each stake, as a rule, is provided with all officials that are necessary for the performance of the ordinances required in the Church, and to officiate in the Priesthood, to anoint with oil, to bless the sick, and to pray God for their restoration.
These ordinances belong with the people where they live. As a rule we would not expect the elders who are officials in a ward, or the brethren who labor in a stake, to follow the example of the general authorities of the Church, for their jurisdiction reaches all over the world, while your jurisdiction extends only to where you are called. Men are called also to officiate in certain positions, such as stake positions, and as members of general boards for the Sunday Schools, for the Mutual Improvement Associations, for the Relief Societies, and the like, and when that is the case they are designated, they are appointed and set apart for the special ministry and labor, and they have their peculiar and marked responsibilities resting upon them in connection with these auxiliary organizations. We would not expect brethren in the missionary field to assume to enter into wards, nor branches, baptizing, confirming, blessing children, ordaining, and the like, only in the ministry that really belongs to them. And though the general authorities of the Church, the Twelve and others, have ample authority in all stakes and missions everywhere in the world, yet the discipline of the Church is so carefully straight that when we go into wards and stakes, and missions, we always labor in harmony with those who preside. We observe order in the official acts that are required at our hands, and we work in harmony with the people, with the common consent of all concerned. We do not want the brethren that labor at home and whose field is not quite so broad as ours, to feel that we are at liberty to do as we please; that is, except we please to do exactly what is right. The Twelve are subordinate to the counsels of the presidency of the Church, are under their direction and counsel, and we never outrage order and discipline. The chief authorities of the Church should be models in all these things, and every consideration and care should be taken by us that we receive the approval of the Lord, the approval of the Spirit of the Lord, and in the hearts of the people. We work harmoniously with the First Presidency, and we are controlled, submissive, obedient, listen to counsel, and labor in harmony with the mind and will of the Lord.
I am delighted to make this little talk before you leading brethren of the stakes of Zion, for we have had occasion to consider this matter. As I say, we have found occasionally a brother who is out of order—not very many; it does not frequently occur; but it occurs sometimes, as referred to in the remarks of the President this morning. There are people who sometimes get curious ideas in their minds, ideas that are not tenable, and that are not proper. Men sometimes get the thought that it is their duty to regulate the Church, and to set it in order, and to regulate the authorities of the Church, and the organization of the Church. These instances occur occasionally, not very frequently. I thank the Lord that we discover, when we look over the Church, that the brethren quite generally know where they belong; they know their field, they know their homes, they know their limitations; and the presiding authorities in wards, in quorums, in the stakes and in the missions, know what is required of them. They are learning lessons; and we are learning lessons all the time. Men are called to fill positions in missions, in stakes, and in wards, and are frequently changed; hence new men are brought into the field, and they are not always supplied by their predecessors with the information that has been in their home offices. Consequently we have to continue to teach, instruct and exhort them, answer their questions and train them in the ministry that is entrusted to them. But there is growth and development, and we discover that the Church, as spoken of yesterday by the President, is in its very best condition, for the reason that we have been in long training. We have been born and reared among the Saints, and we have been in the ministry and have had great experience, and our questions have been answered. The doctrines of the Church are comprehended and thoroughly understood by these brethren who preside over us. When we gather with this body of men, with these trained brethren, tried brethren, general authorities of the Church, associated with the Presidency ; and then we go to the fields, we go to the stakes, we go to the wards, we find the very choicest and most model men have been chosen and are employed. The same is true of our sisters in the Relief Societies, in the Primary Associations, and in the Religion Class work. Our brethren and sisters are thus being well trained. In the quorums and classes of the Priesthood they are being more thoroughly trained now than ever in the Church, and these trainings, lessons, instructions, and experiences tend to establish the Latter-day Saints. But there is, no doubt, room for improvement, and always will be.
I want to emphasize one fact, and I want to read this scripture now, my text, in order to close my remarks, so that the brethren will bear in mind and notice how reasonable and consistent is this doctrine.
You will find something about the same principle included also in the 5th chapter of St. James, in the New Testament. And you will find the doctrine, also, in regard to the healing of the sick, contained in the 17th. 18th and 19th chapters of
III Nephi. Read them at your leisure, for they are very choice, and pertain to the ministry of the Lord in the flesh. Here is what the Lord says in our day:
“And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy, and the ciders of the Church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name; and if they die they shall die unto me, and if they live they shall live unto me.”
The Lord does not expect us all to die when we are taken sick; that is quite well understood. Generally we are healed, and I suppose that each person in this congregation, almost without exception, could bear strong testimony to their own healing, and some very many times healed from serious sickness, remarkable healings.
“Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that' have not hope of a glorious resurrection. And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them; and they that die not in me, woe unto them, for their death is bitter. And again it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.’
If they have not fatal sickness they may be healed; if they have fatal sickness they will die. They have been doing so, and you and I will do the same, one time.
“He that hath faith to see shall see; lie who hath faith to hear shall hear; the lame who have faith to leap shall leap; and they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become my sons; and inasmuch as they break not mv laws, thou shalt bear their infirmities.”
Many there are that are infirm in their hearing, faulty in their seeing and otherwise, and if they will but serve the Lord and keep His commandments they shall become the sons of God. They have that power, though they may not be able to overcome all their infirmities, and with them we must bear. You must bear with my infirmities, and I must bear with yours, for they will abide with us if we have not faith to be healed. We want the brethren bearing the Priesthood in every ward in Zion to be a little jealous to take care of the employment that is furnished them there in their office as teachers, and in administering to the sick; don’t let the people send abroad, and don’t make merchandise of your ministry. Attend to the ordinance of the healing of the sick in your own ward, and the ministering to them, and laying on of hands. It should be done in order; it should not be done offensively, but properly and rightly done, in a manner that no one need take exception to. I want to make the declaration that there are elders sufficient, and high priests, and seventies and patriarchs, and other brethren bearing the Melchizedek Priesthood, in every ward in Zion, for all the laying on of hands that is required ; and the Lord is just as near to one ward as another. He is near at hand to every one of us. If our faith is not quite so strong as our neighbor’s, we should cultivate it, and we should have the experience and the practice. We don’t send to a neighbor ward for somebody to administer the Sacrament for us, do we ? Nor yet to baptize, nor to confirm, nor to ordain, nor to bless children, or perform any of those ordinances. It is not necessary to do so. If the sick want the brethren who are general authorities, and who are traveling, if you can put the sick in their way so that you don’t do them a hardship, they are always willing to bless the sick; and quite generally, almost invariably the sick are healed under the hands of the elders. This Church is remarkable therefor.
Though there may be among us some that are a little careless and indifferent, they are always aroused in case of sickness, in case of death and hardships and trial. They are aroused at once to seek the Lord, and they want the help of those who are faithful and worthy. They want the assistance of the Holy Priesthood, and they appeal to us, and you know, my brethren, you that are here today, that the Lord has answered the prayers of His servants, and the sick have been healed and there have been some very remarkable healings. Sight has been restored to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and health to the sickly and the afflicted, and there is not a man on this stand, I presume, who has not been healed. I presume I have been generally as healthy as any man upon the stand here, but I have had the assistance of the Lord to help me on occasions when I have needed to be healed, and I have been healed very remarkably, and instantly, under the hands of brethren over whom I presided in the Southern States, and in our own state, and on different occasions. And so it has been with you. The sick have been healed under our hands. They have been restored and this is the experience of every family. I don’t have to refer you to any one family where the sick have been healed, for it is manifest in every family; in every home. No family is so far away out on the borders but what they have been found, and the sick have been administered to, and they have been healed. Yet we who have been healed, who have received these remarkable manifestations, will pass away after a while, when the sickness is final and fatal, and death has been appointed unto us, and it will not be appointed to us until the time we are required to pass away.
I took occasion to talk on this subject last Sunday in Davis Stake, and there were some remarkable cases there of the sick that I had been acquainted with and that were healed, such as Brother John R. Barnes who, like King Hezekiah, has been given a lease of life of about fifteen or eighteen years, and with prospects of living no one can tell how much longer, when he was at the point of death. And also the late President John W. Hess of Davis County. It fell to my lot to go and ordain him a patriarch when he was thought to be lying on his death bed, that he should take the office with him. He arose from his bed and blessed his numerous family, as I understand, almost every soul of them, and then he went from ward to ward and blessed the people in whole, all that would gather to hear him. He raised his hands and put blessings upon their heads after he had been at the point of death. We want to bear these things in mind and acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and when we offer up prayers and acknowledgments to the Lord, let us gratefully remember the good that we have received at His hands. Don’t let us forget, don’t let us lose our faith, don’t let us wander from the straight and narrow path that leads to life, but be sons of God, serve and honor Him with all our might, mind and strength, to our latest day.
May the blessings of the Lord be upon gathered Israel, upon the people in these valleys, these splendid valleys, and upon the presiding officers in the Church, that they may be blessed, that they may be healed when they are afflicted, and have the same experiences that we have had before, be healed and restored, that our lives may be perpetuated and extended, while the Lord finds it profitable for us to live. God bless you. The Lord bless these brethren, presiding brethren that have come up here, and who come up twice a year to worship the Lord and receive instructions. God bless you, my brethren. God bless the brethren in all the wards and stakes in Zion; and the Lord bless our sisters in their labor and ministry as ministering angels, those that have been chosen and have sustained the work of the Lord, and have joined with their husbands and brothers in carrying forward the work of the Lord in the heat of the day. They have borne a great responsibility. They have borne the sons of men, the souls of men in this earth, and have builded up the kingdom. They are entitled to all honor and credit and blessing.
We pray, Father, that Thy Spirit may rest abundantly upon these gathered people, and upon all Zion, and upon the honest in heart, the conscientious throughout the earth, the friends of the Latter-day Saints, those that have the courage to speak a good word in our favor, for we deserve it, we need it, and are entitled to enjoy it. May the blessings of the Lord be upon us always, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The Church ordinance for healing.— Misuse of words “appointed unto death.”—Proper limitations in field of ministry.—Officers well trained.— Not all healed under administration.—Many remarkable healings.
My brethren and sisters, I will need your assistance, your faith and prayers, to be able to make you hear, and I trust that the Lord will bless us in hearing and in speaking, that we may be further instructed and edified in this conference. My mind has been resting upon a subject in connection with our doctrines and principles which, although generally recognized in the Church, has not, I fear, been fully appreciated, and that is the principle of the healing of the sick.
Having had occasion to give consideration to this subject lately, I desire to express a few of my thoughts in regard to the same. I believe that this principle has been enjoyed quite generally in the Church; that it has been enjoyed by every family, if not by every individual member of the Church. There have been very remarkable healings, which have sometimes been brought to our attention. Some have been published, but generally the healing of the sick has not been commented upon. I think the Latter-day Saints should be aroused to the fact that this great blessing and spirit is in the Church, that we enjoy the benefits thereof, and that the Lord has so arranged, in the organization of the Church, that within the reach of every family, in every ward, there are those commissioned and authorized to administer to the sick, that the sick may be healed and their lives preserved. But I have wondered if the Latter-day Saints, on some occasions, have not been surprised, and their faith possibly weakened, because all are not healed, and that we do not always receive answers to our prayers. I thought I would just read to you from the forty-second section of the Doctrine and Covenants the word of the Lord upon this subject, so that we may be prepared in our hearts and minds for the conditions that obtain, and be willing to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in the experience of those who have not faith to be healed. For the time comes when men are appointed unto death, and the fact that we may be finally “appointed unto death” has aroused some question in the minds of the brethren. It is an expression that I always prefer not to mention when administering to the sick. In asking the Lord to heal our afflicted it is not necessary to add, “If they be not appointed unto death.” In fact, I have felt that such an expression in our prayers, tends rather to weaken the faith of the afflicted, and to shake their hope and confidence. The time will come, however ; it will come to you and me, as well as it has to those that have passed away, when we may be appointed unto death, and I understand that that appointment is when fatal sickness is upon us and we have not faith to overcome it. At such times we may realize, in our administrations, that the sickness is fatal, and it is not possible to overcome it, for we may discover conditions that inform us in no uncertain terms that, death is at the door. We should appreciate the fact that the Lord has provided, in the organization of this Church, that there are elders, including seventies, high priests and patriarchs, and other brethren of the Melchisedek Priesthood, always at hand to administer to the sick in our wards. There are stake authorities who may officiate in the stakes and do officiate as patriarchs, blessing the people, and as stake authorities they are at home in any part of the stake. Then there arc the general authorities of the Church, with the presidency thereof, whose jurisdiction extends throughout the Church, both at home and abroad. But ordinarily the brethren bearing the Priesthood are expected to officiate in their own wards. I have thought of the wonderful opportunity that is provided there for the employment and service of the brethren bearing the Priesthood. They should cultivate the spirit of faith and the gift of healing, as well as other gifts that pertain to the Gospel, so that whatever is required in a ward, it will not be necessary for you to send to a neighboring ward for help. We do not have to send from one stake to another; for in every stake, in every ward in this Church, in every branch and in every mission, there are those who are entitled to administer to the sick and have experience therein, as well as in administering the Sacrament to us on the Sabbath day. These services belong to the ward. They belong also to the stake, and to the Church, and to those who are designated as officials in these particular positions.
Sometimes brethren have felt that they had a mission and a gift, and I believe that men do; I believe that some men have greater faith than others. I believe according to our living and our conduct and our service in the work of the Lord, so will our faith increase in the healing of the sick, and in other ordinances. But we should understand the limit of our jurisdiction and ministry. The brethren of the ward should not go to their neighbor wards. They should not be sent for; it is not necessary. And we should jealously be prepared ourselves for what is required in our own wards, in our own stakes. Baptisms, confirmations, the blessing of children, ordinations, and so forth, are all taken care of in order. The house of God is a house of order, so that it is not necessary for ns to be moving about from place to place, from ward to ward. It sometimes occurs that brethren are inclined to make merchandise of their ministry, which is not proper to be done. All who are authorized should administer to the sick and wait upon them gratuitously; it is not proper that we should make merchandise of that ordinance.
Presidents of stakes and bishops of wards and officials throughout the Church should be advised that they ought not to send abroad for help. We send for physicians, and for attorneys, and men in worldly affairs, whose jurisdiction extends everywhere; but in our Church affairs each ward and each stake, as a rule, is provided with all officials that are necessary for the performance of the ordinances required in the Church, and to officiate in the Priesthood, to anoint with oil, to bless the sick, and to pray God for their restoration.
These ordinances belong with the people where they live. As a rule we would not expect the elders who are officials in a ward, or the brethren who labor in a stake, to follow the example of the general authorities of the Church, for their jurisdiction reaches all over the world, while your jurisdiction extends only to where you are called. Men are called also to officiate in certain positions, such as stake positions, and as members of general boards for the Sunday Schools, for the Mutual Improvement Associations, for the Relief Societies, and the like, and when that is the case they are designated, they are appointed and set apart for the special ministry and labor, and they have their peculiar and marked responsibilities resting upon them in connection with these auxiliary organizations. We would not expect brethren in the missionary field to assume to enter into wards, nor branches, baptizing, confirming, blessing children, ordaining, and the like, only in the ministry that really belongs to them. And though the general authorities of the Church, the Twelve and others, have ample authority in all stakes and missions everywhere in the world, yet the discipline of the Church is so carefully straight that when we go into wards and stakes, and missions, we always labor in harmony with those who preside. We observe order in the official acts that are required at our hands, and we work in harmony with the people, with the common consent of all concerned. We do not want the brethren that labor at home and whose field is not quite so broad as ours, to feel that we are at liberty to do as we please; that is, except we please to do exactly what is right. The Twelve are subordinate to the counsels of the presidency of the Church, are under their direction and counsel, and we never outrage order and discipline. The chief authorities of the Church should be models in all these things, and every consideration and care should be taken by us that we receive the approval of the Lord, the approval of the Spirit of the Lord, and in the hearts of the people. We work harmoniously with the First Presidency, and we are controlled, submissive, obedient, listen to counsel, and labor in harmony with the mind and will of the Lord.
I am delighted to make this little talk before you leading brethren of the stakes of Zion, for we have had occasion to consider this matter. As I say, we have found occasionally a brother who is out of order—not very many; it does not frequently occur; but it occurs sometimes, as referred to in the remarks of the President this morning. There are people who sometimes get curious ideas in their minds, ideas that are not tenable, and that are not proper. Men sometimes get the thought that it is their duty to regulate the Church, and to set it in order, and to regulate the authorities of the Church, and the organization of the Church. These instances occur occasionally, not very frequently. I thank the Lord that we discover, when we look over the Church, that the brethren quite generally know where they belong; they know their field, they know their homes, they know their limitations; and the presiding authorities in wards, in quorums, in the stakes and in the missions, know what is required of them. They are learning lessons; and we are learning lessons all the time. Men are called to fill positions in missions, in stakes, and in wards, and are frequently changed; hence new men are brought into the field, and they are not always supplied by their predecessors with the information that has been in their home offices. Consequently we have to continue to teach, instruct and exhort them, answer their questions and train them in the ministry that is entrusted to them. But there is growth and development, and we discover that the Church, as spoken of yesterday by the President, is in its very best condition, for the reason that we have been in long training. We have been born and reared among the Saints, and we have been in the ministry and have had great experience, and our questions have been answered. The doctrines of the Church are comprehended and thoroughly understood by these brethren who preside over us. When we gather with this body of men, with these trained brethren, tried brethren, general authorities of the Church, associated with the Presidency ; and then we go to the fields, we go to the stakes, we go to the wards, we find the very choicest and most model men have been chosen and are employed. The same is true of our sisters in the Relief Societies, in the Primary Associations, and in the Religion Class work. Our brethren and sisters are thus being well trained. In the quorums and classes of the Priesthood they are being more thoroughly trained now than ever in the Church, and these trainings, lessons, instructions, and experiences tend to establish the Latter-day Saints. But there is, no doubt, room for improvement, and always will be.
I want to emphasize one fact, and I want to read this scripture now, my text, in order to close my remarks, so that the brethren will bear in mind and notice how reasonable and consistent is this doctrine.
You will find something about the same principle included also in the 5th chapter of St. James, in the New Testament. And you will find the doctrine, also, in regard to the healing of the sick, contained in the 17th. 18th and 19th chapters of
III Nephi. Read them at your leisure, for they are very choice, and pertain to the ministry of the Lord in the flesh. Here is what the Lord says in our day:
“And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy, and the ciders of the Church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name; and if they die they shall die unto me, and if they live they shall live unto me.”
The Lord does not expect us all to die when we are taken sick; that is quite well understood. Generally we are healed, and I suppose that each person in this congregation, almost without exception, could bear strong testimony to their own healing, and some very many times healed from serious sickness, remarkable healings.
“Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that' have not hope of a glorious resurrection. And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them; and they that die not in me, woe unto them, for their death is bitter. And again it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.’
If they have not fatal sickness they may be healed; if they have fatal sickness they will die. They have been doing so, and you and I will do the same, one time.
“He that hath faith to see shall see; lie who hath faith to hear shall hear; the lame who have faith to leap shall leap; and they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become my sons; and inasmuch as they break not mv laws, thou shalt bear their infirmities.”
Many there are that are infirm in their hearing, faulty in their seeing and otherwise, and if they will but serve the Lord and keep His commandments they shall become the sons of God. They have that power, though they may not be able to overcome all their infirmities, and with them we must bear. You must bear with my infirmities, and I must bear with yours, for they will abide with us if we have not faith to be healed. We want the brethren bearing the Priesthood in every ward in Zion to be a little jealous to take care of the employment that is furnished them there in their office as teachers, and in administering to the sick; don’t let the people send abroad, and don’t make merchandise of your ministry. Attend to the ordinance of the healing of the sick in your own ward, and the ministering to them, and laying on of hands. It should be done in order; it should not be done offensively, but properly and rightly done, in a manner that no one need take exception to. I want to make the declaration that there are elders sufficient, and high priests, and seventies and patriarchs, and other brethren bearing the Melchizedek Priesthood, in every ward in Zion, for all the laying on of hands that is required ; and the Lord is just as near to one ward as another. He is near at hand to every one of us. If our faith is not quite so strong as our neighbor’s, we should cultivate it, and we should have the experience and the practice. We don’t send to a neighbor ward for somebody to administer the Sacrament for us, do we ? Nor yet to baptize, nor to confirm, nor to ordain, nor to bless children, or perform any of those ordinances. It is not necessary to do so. If the sick want the brethren who are general authorities, and who are traveling, if you can put the sick in their way so that you don’t do them a hardship, they are always willing to bless the sick; and quite generally, almost invariably the sick are healed under the hands of the elders. This Church is remarkable therefor.
Though there may be among us some that are a little careless and indifferent, they are always aroused in case of sickness, in case of death and hardships and trial. They are aroused at once to seek the Lord, and they want the help of those who are faithful and worthy. They want the assistance of the Holy Priesthood, and they appeal to us, and you know, my brethren, you that are here today, that the Lord has answered the prayers of His servants, and the sick have been healed and there have been some very remarkable healings. Sight has been restored to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and health to the sickly and the afflicted, and there is not a man on this stand, I presume, who has not been healed. I presume I have been generally as healthy as any man upon the stand here, but I have had the assistance of the Lord to help me on occasions when I have needed to be healed, and I have been healed very remarkably, and instantly, under the hands of brethren over whom I presided in the Southern States, and in our own state, and on different occasions. And so it has been with you. The sick have been healed under our hands. They have been restored and this is the experience of every family. I don’t have to refer you to any one family where the sick have been healed, for it is manifest in every family; in every home. No family is so far away out on the borders but what they have been found, and the sick have been administered to, and they have been healed. Yet we who have been healed, who have received these remarkable manifestations, will pass away after a while, when the sickness is final and fatal, and death has been appointed unto us, and it will not be appointed to us until the time we are required to pass away.
I took occasion to talk on this subject last Sunday in Davis Stake, and there were some remarkable cases there of the sick that I had been acquainted with and that were healed, such as Brother John R. Barnes who, like King Hezekiah, has been given a lease of life of about fifteen or eighteen years, and with prospects of living no one can tell how much longer, when he was at the point of death. And also the late President John W. Hess of Davis County. It fell to my lot to go and ordain him a patriarch when he was thought to be lying on his death bed, that he should take the office with him. He arose from his bed and blessed his numerous family, as I understand, almost every soul of them, and then he went from ward to ward and blessed the people in whole, all that would gather to hear him. He raised his hands and put blessings upon their heads after he had been at the point of death. We want to bear these things in mind and acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and when we offer up prayers and acknowledgments to the Lord, let us gratefully remember the good that we have received at His hands. Don’t let us forget, don’t let us lose our faith, don’t let us wander from the straight and narrow path that leads to life, but be sons of God, serve and honor Him with all our might, mind and strength, to our latest day.
May the blessings of the Lord be upon gathered Israel, upon the people in these valleys, these splendid valleys, and upon the presiding officers in the Church, that they may be blessed, that they may be healed when they are afflicted, and have the same experiences that we have had before, be healed and restored, that our lives may be perpetuated and extended, while the Lord finds it profitable for us to live. God bless you. The Lord bless these brethren, presiding brethren that have come up here, and who come up twice a year to worship the Lord and receive instructions. God bless you, my brethren. God bless the brethren in all the wards and stakes in Zion; and the Lord bless our sisters in their labor and ministry as ministering angels, those that have been chosen and have sustained the work of the Lord, and have joined with their husbands and brothers in carrying forward the work of the Lord in the heat of the day. They have borne a great responsibility. They have borne the sons of men, the souls of men in this earth, and have builded up the kingdom. They are entitled to all honor and credit and blessing.
We pray, Father, that Thy Spirit may rest abundantly upon these gathered people, and upon all Zion, and upon the honest in heart, the conscientious throughout the earth, the friends of the Latter-day Saints, those that have the courage to speak a good word in our favor, for we deserve it, we need it, and are entitled to enjoy it. May the blessings of the Lord be upon us always, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS.
The Gospel again revealed, the same in all ages—The Bible a “measuring stick”—The fruits of “Mormonism” prove its divinity—The Gospel manifests the mercy and justice of God—New revelation confirmed by. the old Scriptures—The glorious principle of salvation for the dead.
This certainly is an awe-inspiring sight, to see this large building filled to its capacity, hundreds of people being obliged to stand.
I can say that I never in my experience was able to see more clearly the beauties of the Gospel, to feel its truth more keenly, or to realize more fully its saving power than at the present time. I rejoice exceedingly in the knowledge which I have of the Gospel, in the testimony I have of its truth, in the blessings which I have received therein. The Gospel which the Lord has revealed to us, through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is the same that was instituted before the foundations of the world, and has in it the power of God unto salvation, unto all those who will receive it and obey its laws and precepts. It is the same Gospel which was revealed by the Lord to Father Adam and to Enoch, and to Moses, Abraham, and others of His prophets. It is the same that was taught by our Savior, and His disciples of the primitive church. The Scriptures tell us, “There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” and the Apostle Paul, in addressing his epistle to the Galatians, declared that “though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ‘As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” The deduction which I draw from these declarations is that, though there are many religious denominations, there is but one true Gospel, and that scriptural doctrine is one of the strongest evidences of the true Gospel.
Our elders go out into the world with the Scriptures, the Bible, as the measuring stick recognized by all Christians, remembering the saying of the prophets, “to the law and to the testimony, for if they speak not according to these it is because there is no light in them.” They teach the doctrines which the Lord has revealed to us in these last days, and they bring 'forth the Bible, and invite men and women to a comparison, and it is discovered that the doctrines taught by the elders of Israel are identical with those taught by Paul and his associate apostles, and by the Savior Himself. These comparisons accompanied by the Spirit of the Lord, have the result of convincing and converting many honest souls, numbered by the thousands, who have been willing to forsake their sins, their former faith, their friends, their occupations and all for the Gospel’s sake. On the other hand, our elders, by a study of these truths, and comparison of them with the Scriptures, have had their testimony strengthened and established, so that such a thing as one of these elders being led to embrace any one of the religions of the world is almost unknown in the entire history and experience of the Church, in the preaching of the Gospel, and there have been many thousands of elders engaged in that work.
There can only be one true Gospel of the Redeemer, according to the Scriptures, having in it the power of God unto salvation, and we have strong evidences that the Gospel which we teach is that particular Gospel. On one occasion the Savior gave a test by which false prophets might be discerned; said He:
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. * * * Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
We have in the New Testament the teachings of Jesus and of His disciples, who are recognized by all good Christians as good trees, figuratively speaking, and the fruit borne by them is good fruit, and we prove to the world that these fruits and the fruits of “Mormonism,” so-called, are identical. It only requires an investigation to reach this conclusion, an unbiased, unprejudiced, sincere investigation. Finding that the fruits of the Gospel, as taught by the Latter-day Saints, are good, we must accept the tree which bore them as being a good tree.
The Gospel has not always been upon the earth; it has been here in part at times, and sometimes, perhaps, wholly from the earth, the authority to preach it, and to administer its ordinances, having been taken away. In view of the fact, recognized by men and women of the world everywhere, that millions of our Father’s children have lived when the Gospel was not upon the earth, who have died without a knowledge of the truth, without a knowledge of God, without a knowledge of the Savior; for religionists to teach the doctrine that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary to salvation, and then deny the provision which God has made for the salvation of those who have never known of the Gospel, to teach that all those who do not confess Him, on any count whatever, are lost and damned, such teaching is a heresy abominable in the sight of God, and of honest, thoughtful men and women. Through the teaching of such doctrines many, no doubt, have been led in to infidelity and atheism, and others have been made to think of God our Father as a monster of injustice and without mercy, rather than the loving, merciful Father that He is.
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is founded upon the rock of revelation, Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone, as it has been predicted that it would be. The superstructure is composed of truth, eternal truth, and righteous principles. There is no shade of evil, or deception in it, and it will withstand the winds, the rains and floods of vituperation, of vilification, of falsehood and persecution, with which it may be assailed, because it is founded upon the rock. God is at the helm in this great work, and He has made provision for the salvation of all His children who will be saved. There are no inconsistencies in the plan of life and salvation as it has been revealed to us, and it all tends to glorify our Father in heaven, demonstrates His divine attributes, and proves that He is a just, a merciful and a loving Father; for, notwithstanding that millions have died without a knowledge of the truth, there are provisions made that they shall hear and have the privilege of obeying it.
The Scriptures tell us that, “until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.” The Gospel of the Master is the law by which all mankind must and shall be judged, and of necessity it must be taught unto all mankind or they could not be judged by it.
This Gospel having been revealed to us from the Lord direct, not given of men through their wisdom, and what they could glean from the Holy Scriptures, it is to us the known truth. It is not founded upon the Bible, that was not the source of inspiration of the Prophet Joseph. When occasion arises, as it often does, in regard to the interpretation of certain Scripture, because many plain and precious truths have been taken from the Scriptures, as the prophets declared they would be, and because of mistranslations, we go to the Word of the Lord as it has been revealed to us, and learn the truth, and then refer to the scripture of the Bible and reconcile that scripture with the known truth, and we are not in darkness, but constantly in the light. So that the Gospel, as we have received it, adjusts apparent discrepancies of the Scriptures, and makes plain the way of life. We understand what was meant by Jesus going, while His body was in the tomb, and preaching to the spirits in prison, as Peter says, “For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
And so with the ordinances of the Gospel. Faith is necessary unto salvation, a condition, and yet it is not the only condition, for the laws and ordinances of the Gospel must be obeyed.
“We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel,” and not without; and, “we believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are, first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost;”
These are but the first principles. Priesthood, endowments, sealings, etc., are necessary to salvation, and the Gospel provides that these ordinances shall be administered in behalf of the dead, by proxy. It is for this purpose that temples are built by the Latter-day Saints, genealogies of the dead procured, and the ordinances performed, the same for the dead as for the living. If when the Gospel is preached to those who are dead, they accept of it. and the vicarious work done for them, the work done will be binding and of force, and we become “saviors upon Mt. Zion” through having done that work. If the dead reject the work done for them, it will be of non-effect for their salvation, just as the atonement of our Savior redeems us from our sins if we accept Him and His atonement, and obey Him, but if we reject Him, and what He has done for us, that which He has done for us, so far as atoning for our individual sins is concerned, profits us nothing. Even when we have received these ordinances our salvation is not secured, we must go on to perfection, adding to our faith virtue, virtue being a condition necessary to salvation; and to virtue knowledge, knowledge being another condition; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity, which latter is the pure love of Christ. We have the promise of the Lord that if these things be in us, and abound, our minds will not be barren or unfruitful of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know whom is life eternal.
God help us to be true and faithful to these principles, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“An Easter Song” was rendered by the choir, Rose Smithen and Carl Samuelson sang the duets.
The Gospel again revealed, the same in all ages—The Bible a “measuring stick”—The fruits of “Mormonism” prove its divinity—The Gospel manifests the mercy and justice of God—New revelation confirmed by. the old Scriptures—The glorious principle of salvation for the dead.
This certainly is an awe-inspiring sight, to see this large building filled to its capacity, hundreds of people being obliged to stand.
I can say that I never in my experience was able to see more clearly the beauties of the Gospel, to feel its truth more keenly, or to realize more fully its saving power than at the present time. I rejoice exceedingly in the knowledge which I have of the Gospel, in the testimony I have of its truth, in the blessings which I have received therein. The Gospel which the Lord has revealed to us, through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is the same that was instituted before the foundations of the world, and has in it the power of God unto salvation, unto all those who will receive it and obey its laws and precepts. It is the same Gospel which was revealed by the Lord to Father Adam and to Enoch, and to Moses, Abraham, and others of His prophets. It is the same that was taught by our Savior, and His disciples of the primitive church. The Scriptures tell us, “There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” and the Apostle Paul, in addressing his epistle to the Galatians, declared that “though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ‘As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” The deduction which I draw from these declarations is that, though there are many religious denominations, there is but one true Gospel, and that scriptural doctrine is one of the strongest evidences of the true Gospel.
Our elders go out into the world with the Scriptures, the Bible, as the measuring stick recognized by all Christians, remembering the saying of the prophets, “to the law and to the testimony, for if they speak not according to these it is because there is no light in them.” They teach the doctrines which the Lord has revealed to us in these last days, and they bring 'forth the Bible, and invite men and women to a comparison, and it is discovered that the doctrines taught by the elders of Israel are identical with those taught by Paul and his associate apostles, and by the Savior Himself. These comparisons accompanied by the Spirit of the Lord, have the result of convincing and converting many honest souls, numbered by the thousands, who have been willing to forsake their sins, their former faith, their friends, their occupations and all for the Gospel’s sake. On the other hand, our elders, by a study of these truths, and comparison of them with the Scriptures, have had their testimony strengthened and established, so that such a thing as one of these elders being led to embrace any one of the religions of the world is almost unknown in the entire history and experience of the Church, in the preaching of the Gospel, and there have been many thousands of elders engaged in that work.
There can only be one true Gospel of the Redeemer, according to the Scriptures, having in it the power of God unto salvation, and we have strong evidences that the Gospel which we teach is that particular Gospel. On one occasion the Savior gave a test by which false prophets might be discerned; said He:
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. * * * Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
We have in the New Testament the teachings of Jesus and of His disciples, who are recognized by all good Christians as good trees, figuratively speaking, and the fruit borne by them is good fruit, and we prove to the world that these fruits and the fruits of “Mormonism,” so-called, are identical. It only requires an investigation to reach this conclusion, an unbiased, unprejudiced, sincere investigation. Finding that the fruits of the Gospel, as taught by the Latter-day Saints, are good, we must accept the tree which bore them as being a good tree.
The Gospel has not always been upon the earth; it has been here in part at times, and sometimes, perhaps, wholly from the earth, the authority to preach it, and to administer its ordinances, having been taken away. In view of the fact, recognized by men and women of the world everywhere, that millions of our Father’s children have lived when the Gospel was not upon the earth, who have died without a knowledge of the truth, without a knowledge of God, without a knowledge of the Savior; for religionists to teach the doctrine that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary to salvation, and then deny the provision which God has made for the salvation of those who have never known of the Gospel, to teach that all those who do not confess Him, on any count whatever, are lost and damned, such teaching is a heresy abominable in the sight of God, and of honest, thoughtful men and women. Through the teaching of such doctrines many, no doubt, have been led in to infidelity and atheism, and others have been made to think of God our Father as a monster of injustice and without mercy, rather than the loving, merciful Father that He is.
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is founded upon the rock of revelation, Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone, as it has been predicted that it would be. The superstructure is composed of truth, eternal truth, and righteous principles. There is no shade of evil, or deception in it, and it will withstand the winds, the rains and floods of vituperation, of vilification, of falsehood and persecution, with which it may be assailed, because it is founded upon the rock. God is at the helm in this great work, and He has made provision for the salvation of all His children who will be saved. There are no inconsistencies in the plan of life and salvation as it has been revealed to us, and it all tends to glorify our Father in heaven, demonstrates His divine attributes, and proves that He is a just, a merciful and a loving Father; for, notwithstanding that millions have died without a knowledge of the truth, there are provisions made that they shall hear and have the privilege of obeying it.
The Scriptures tell us that, “until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.” The Gospel of the Master is the law by which all mankind must and shall be judged, and of necessity it must be taught unto all mankind or they could not be judged by it.
This Gospel having been revealed to us from the Lord direct, not given of men through their wisdom, and what they could glean from the Holy Scriptures, it is to us the known truth. It is not founded upon the Bible, that was not the source of inspiration of the Prophet Joseph. When occasion arises, as it often does, in regard to the interpretation of certain Scripture, because many plain and precious truths have been taken from the Scriptures, as the prophets declared they would be, and because of mistranslations, we go to the Word of the Lord as it has been revealed to us, and learn the truth, and then refer to the scripture of the Bible and reconcile that scripture with the known truth, and we are not in darkness, but constantly in the light. So that the Gospel, as we have received it, adjusts apparent discrepancies of the Scriptures, and makes plain the way of life. We understand what was meant by Jesus going, while His body was in the tomb, and preaching to the spirits in prison, as Peter says, “For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
And so with the ordinances of the Gospel. Faith is necessary unto salvation, a condition, and yet it is not the only condition, for the laws and ordinances of the Gospel must be obeyed.
“We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel,” and not without; and, “we believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are, first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost;”
These are but the first principles. Priesthood, endowments, sealings, etc., are necessary to salvation, and the Gospel provides that these ordinances shall be administered in behalf of the dead, by proxy. It is for this purpose that temples are built by the Latter-day Saints, genealogies of the dead procured, and the ordinances performed, the same for the dead as for the living. If when the Gospel is preached to those who are dead, they accept of it. and the vicarious work done for them, the work done will be binding and of force, and we become “saviors upon Mt. Zion” through having done that work. If the dead reject the work done for them, it will be of non-effect for their salvation, just as the atonement of our Savior redeems us from our sins if we accept Him and His atonement, and obey Him, but if we reject Him, and what He has done for us, that which He has done for us, so far as atoning for our individual sins is concerned, profits us nothing. Even when we have received these ordinances our salvation is not secured, we must go on to perfection, adding to our faith virtue, virtue being a condition necessary to salvation; and to virtue knowledge, knowledge being another condition; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity, which latter is the pure love of Christ. We have the promise of the Lord that if these things be in us, and abound, our minds will not be barren or unfruitful of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know whom is life eternal.
God help us to be true and faithful to these principles, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“An Easter Song” was rendered by the choir, Rose Smithen and Carl Samuelson sang the duets.
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY.
The Power of God and the power of man—Illustrative anecdotes—Prejudice against the miraculous—What doubt leads to—The marvelous work and wonder—Individual testimony the strength of the Church.
There is an old saying to the effect that men are but children of a larger growth. I was reminded of this saying yesterday morning when President Smith declared that there are men, a few. in this community, who would fain have us believe that the power of God is no greater than the power of man.
One Sunday evening, in the Eighteenth ward of this city, while I was bishop there, a Primary Association conference was in progress, and among the exercises was the teaching, by one of the sisters, of a class of little children. She gathered them around her upon the stand and related to them, in the presence of the congregation, the beautiful story of the Savior feeding the multitude. After the meeting had dispersed, one of the mothers, going home with her little boy, put him through a course of questions in order to ascertain what he remembered of the lesson that had been taught.
“What has Sister Pyper been telling you?” the mother asked. The boy answered, “She taught us about the Savior feeding the people.” “How many people were there?” she inquired. “Five thousand,” he replied. “What did He feed them with?” “With five loaves of bread and two fishes.” The mother then said, “Well now, how do you suppose He could do that? How could He feed a great multitude, five thousand people, with only five loaves of bread and two fishes?” The little fellow was thoughtful for a moment, and then exclaimed, “Well, I don’t believe those in the middle got any.” (Laughter.)
That boy evidently believed, with some of our “children of a larger growth,” that God is no more powerful than man. he sought a scientific solution of a miraculous problem, and solved it in his own way.
But all children are not of that kind. My experience with little boys and girls teaches me that as a rule they recognize that there is a vast difference between the power of God and the power of man. It is comparatively easy for them to accept the miraculous; they do not have the prejudice against it that some men and women have. I recall another anecdote, which I have related before, that will illustrate this phase of my subject.
In the Salt Lake Theatre, many years ago, John B. Gough, the great temperance orator, was delivering a lecture, in the course of which he deprecated the practice of endeavoring to simplify the Bible so that children could understand it. Said he, “Let them read the Bible just as it is, and they will understand it; they comprehend things much more quickly than we give them credit for.” He illustrated the point with this story. Two little boys, one named Johnny and the other Billy, were playing in the dooryard. Johnny had a knife and was sitting on the doorstep whittling a stick. Billy, who had just caught a fly, came up to Johnny with the fly between his thumb and finger, remarking “What a funny thing a fly is!” See what lots of legs he’s got; and every time I blow him he buzzes.” Here he blew on the fly and put it up to his ear to hear it buzz. “I wonder how God made him,” mused Billy. And the great orator paused long enough in his narrative to say: “Many a learned man has asked the same question, and could not answer it. ” “But,” he added, “Johnny had an idea of how God made the fly. He went on whittling his stick, and said, ‘Well, Billy, God don’t make flies like men make houses; when he wants flies He says, ‘Let there be flies,’ and then there is flies.” (Laughter.)
“That little boy,” said Mr. Gough, “had been reading the Bible, and he believed what he read, and understood it; it was plain to him that the power of God is greater than the power of man. He had read that beautiful lesson presented at the very beginning of the book of Genesis, ‘And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”
When man wants light he must strike a match, or press a button, or turn a switch, or rub two pieces of wood together as do the Indians, in order to create a flame. But when God wants light, He has only to say, Let there be light, and there is light. Nay, He would not have to do even so much as that, for God Himself is Light, dwells in the midst of light, in the midst of eternal burnings, and He would only have to appear, and darkness would flee away.
We children, we men and women, who for the time being have to learn like little boys and girls, by crude and primitive methods—we are told that the time will come when, as the reward of obedience, of continued faithfulness, our bodies shall be filled with light, our eyes be single to the glory of God. But we approach that condition gradually. We are learning how to do things, little by little. We do them now in inferior ways; but our Heavenly Father has learned how to do them in a masterful way. Then why should we seek to drag Him down, and deny His power to do things that we are not able to do ? Where is the logic of it?
Why this prejudice against the miraculous? Why should any man or woman, and particularly any Latter-day Saint, take ground of opposition against miracles, and try to relegate them to the domain of the mythical? Where will it stop, if you give way to the spirit of skepticism? Allow yourselves to think that Christ never walked upon the water, that He never roused Lazarus from the slumber of death, that He never did a miracle, never brought a dead world to life by the shedding of His blood as a ransom for sinners—encourage these doubts and where will they land you? Where will they lead to? They will lead you to reject the Redeemer of the world; they will lead you to deny, as many do, that such a man as Jesus of Nazareth ever, lived. Continue giving way to doubt, and you will end by doubting your own existence—as many do already.
If there were no ancient miracles, there have been no modem miracles. If the wonderful works of the Son of God are myths, then this whole fabric of “Mormonism” crumbles to the ground, it has no foundation, for it is based upon miracles, ancient and modern, and was intended to be based upon them.
How do I know that Joseph Smith ever lived? How do I know that he was a prophet of God ? Is it because my parents knew him—because they told me he was a prophet? How many of you ever saw the Prophet Joseph Smith ? How many here know, by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, that such a man lived and labored and died? There are two men upon this stand, perhaps others, but I know two who, as little boys, saw the Prophet Joseph—"three, 'four, five,” someone behind me says. These five are President Joseph F. Smith, President Francis M. Lyman, Patriarch Angus M. Cannon, Elder William
W. Riter, and Elder Nymphus Murdock. There may be others, but it does not matter—I am not trying to make it cumulative. This is the point: How do I know that Joseph Smith ever lived? Is it because these brethren saw him ? I have respect for their testimony; it is one of the elements of my own testimony concerning this man. But if I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet—and I do know it—it is because God has shown it to me, by the power of His Spirit, the spirit of revelation. That is how I know it, and that is how you know it. We know it by miraculous manifestation, or we don’t know it at all. We are dependent upon the miraculous for what we know of all such things. Then why should we want to tear out from under our feet the foundations upon which we stand?
Seven hundred years before the birth of the Savior a prophet declared, in relation to the last days, that a work should be done among men by the Almighty, even a marvelous work and a wonder, and the wisdom of the wise should perish, and the understanding of the prudent should be hid. What fulfils this prediction but “Mormonism,” God’s great work of the last days, founded upon marvels and wonders? Can you conceive of anything more wonderful than the opening of the heavens at a time when men denied revelation, denied the visitation of angels, and declared that the world would never have any more of them; when it had lost its knowledge of the true God and virtually ruled Him out of His own universe? Can you conceive of anything more marvelous than the opening of the heavens and the appearance, the personal appearance, of God, the Father and the Son, to Joseph Smith, then a little boy between fourteen and fifteen years Of age? There is the first marvel of “Mormonism,” there is the beginning of the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prediction concerning the marvelous work and wonder.
At first Joseph’s testimony was met with scoffing, and he was denounced as a rogue, as an imposter. All sorts of evil stories were circulated concerning him, in order to break down his testimony. “It’s all of the devil,” said a Methodist minister, to whom he told his story— told it in a simple, child-like way, declaring that God had appeared to him in vision, and had talked with Him. The boy never deviated from that declaration, and as a man he died by it and died for it.
Gradually the world is beginning to concede that Joseph Smith was at least sincere, that he really imagined that he saw and heard, and one great, wise man has capped the climax of worldly wisdom, in its efforts to explain away Joseph Smith, by asserting that these wonderful manifestations, the coming of God the Father and the Son, the coming of the Angel Moroni, the coming of John the Baptist and of Peter, James and John, bringing back the powers of the priesthood and the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, that these were all hallucinations, resulting from an epileptic fit! Was there ever a more striking illustration of the fulfilment of prophecy— “The wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid”?
We know that Joseph Smith’s testimony is true; we know it by the Holy Ghost; and that is the strength of this Church. It is not the sagacity of its leaders, it is not its members, that constitutes its strength. We are only a handful in the midst of many millions. The strength of this Church is in the testimony possessed by every man and woman belonging to it, that it is indeed the work of God.
Testimonies are of two kinds, direct and indirect, positive and negative. Persecution testifies indirectly of the truth. “All things bear record of me,” the Lord says. We only have to look around upon the manifestations of nature, and we see and hear them testifying of the Creator. Every thing made proclaims its maker, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, and who use them for those purposes.
I was once conversing with a gentleman who expressed' an earnest desire that the Latter-day Saints should co-operate with those rich philanthropists who are endeavoring to colonize the poor Jews of Christian countries—to move them out of the large cities—to make farmers and artisans of a people who have been peddlers, merchants, and money changers 'for centuries. One of these colonies, by the way, is in central Utah, near the town of Gunnison. This gentleman said to me, “I recognize the ‘Mormon’ people as the greatest colonizers in the world, and I wonder why you don’t see the necessity of co-operating with such men as Baron Hirsch, who has spent millions of wealth endeavoring to colonize these Jews, but has failed thus far, because of his lack of knowledge and experience in colonizing methods. Why don’t you Latter-day Saints co-operate with him, he to provide the millions, you to furnish the experience?” And he added, “You could make a stipulation that every Jew you helped to colonize should become a Latter-day Saint.” (Laughter.) “See how that would build up your Church.”
I answered Mr. Davenport—that was the gentleman’s name—in substance as follows: “You remind me of a conversation I once had in the
Eastern States, while upon my first mission. I was asked, “Why don’t you “Mormon” elders fly for higher game? Why do you always preach to the poor and the lowly? Why don’t you get up among the high and the mighty? Take Henry Ward Beecher, for instance”—he was then alive, the great pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle—“convert him and his whole congregation would flock in after him; and just see how that would build up your Church!” I said to Mr. Davenport, “That is not God’s way of building up His church. The Lord declared by an ancient prophet, ‘I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion and give you pastors after mine own heart.” I explained the great problem of the dispersion and gathering of Israel, whereby the blood of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the blood that believes, with spirits answering to that blood, who have been dispersed for a wise purpose among all nations, are now being recalled and brought together in a great movement called “The Gathering,” preparatory to the building of the New Jerusalem and the glorious coming of the Lord.” And I added, “God is not anxious for great congregations. He is not desirous that the Jews, or any other people, should make a bargain with Him and join His Church-as a business proposition.”
The suggestion reminded me of that scene in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” where poor old Shylock stands before the court, condemned 'for having conspired against the life of a citizen of Venice, and the judge decrees in effect: “Half of your goods are confiscate to the merchant Antonio, whose life you sought, and half are confiscate to the state of Venice, whose laws you have outraged; and, moreover, the court decides that you shall straightway become a Christian.” (Laughter.)
Christians are not made by judicial decisions, nor are Latter-day Saints converted by legislative enactment or by commercial bargaining. There is but one way to make a Latter-day Saint. A man must have faith in God, he must repent of his sins, he must have his sins washed away by baptism at the hands of one having divine authority to administer sacred ordinances; he must have hands laid upon him for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and by that testimony he will know that this is God’s work, and become a full fledged Latter-day Saint. This is the strength of the Church—that every man, woman and child who has obeyed the Gospel knows for himself or herself that it is God’s truth, God’s work. This is the rock upon which Christ founded His Church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Amen.
The Power of God and the power of man—Illustrative anecdotes—Prejudice against the miraculous—What doubt leads to—The marvelous work and wonder—Individual testimony the strength of the Church.
There is an old saying to the effect that men are but children of a larger growth. I was reminded of this saying yesterday morning when President Smith declared that there are men, a few. in this community, who would fain have us believe that the power of God is no greater than the power of man.
One Sunday evening, in the Eighteenth ward of this city, while I was bishop there, a Primary Association conference was in progress, and among the exercises was the teaching, by one of the sisters, of a class of little children. She gathered them around her upon the stand and related to them, in the presence of the congregation, the beautiful story of the Savior feeding the multitude. After the meeting had dispersed, one of the mothers, going home with her little boy, put him through a course of questions in order to ascertain what he remembered of the lesson that had been taught.
“What has Sister Pyper been telling you?” the mother asked. The boy answered, “She taught us about the Savior feeding the people.” “How many people were there?” she inquired. “Five thousand,” he replied. “What did He feed them with?” “With five loaves of bread and two fishes.” The mother then said, “Well now, how do you suppose He could do that? How could He feed a great multitude, five thousand people, with only five loaves of bread and two fishes?” The little fellow was thoughtful for a moment, and then exclaimed, “Well, I don’t believe those in the middle got any.” (Laughter.)
That boy evidently believed, with some of our “children of a larger growth,” that God is no more powerful than man. he sought a scientific solution of a miraculous problem, and solved it in his own way.
But all children are not of that kind. My experience with little boys and girls teaches me that as a rule they recognize that there is a vast difference between the power of God and the power of man. It is comparatively easy for them to accept the miraculous; they do not have the prejudice against it that some men and women have. I recall another anecdote, which I have related before, that will illustrate this phase of my subject.
In the Salt Lake Theatre, many years ago, John B. Gough, the great temperance orator, was delivering a lecture, in the course of which he deprecated the practice of endeavoring to simplify the Bible so that children could understand it. Said he, “Let them read the Bible just as it is, and they will understand it; they comprehend things much more quickly than we give them credit for.” He illustrated the point with this story. Two little boys, one named Johnny and the other Billy, were playing in the dooryard. Johnny had a knife and was sitting on the doorstep whittling a stick. Billy, who had just caught a fly, came up to Johnny with the fly between his thumb and finger, remarking “What a funny thing a fly is!” See what lots of legs he’s got; and every time I blow him he buzzes.” Here he blew on the fly and put it up to his ear to hear it buzz. “I wonder how God made him,” mused Billy. And the great orator paused long enough in his narrative to say: “Many a learned man has asked the same question, and could not answer it. ” “But,” he added, “Johnny had an idea of how God made the fly. He went on whittling his stick, and said, ‘Well, Billy, God don’t make flies like men make houses; when he wants flies He says, ‘Let there be flies,’ and then there is flies.” (Laughter.)
“That little boy,” said Mr. Gough, “had been reading the Bible, and he believed what he read, and understood it; it was plain to him that the power of God is greater than the power of man. He had read that beautiful lesson presented at the very beginning of the book of Genesis, ‘And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”
When man wants light he must strike a match, or press a button, or turn a switch, or rub two pieces of wood together as do the Indians, in order to create a flame. But when God wants light, He has only to say, Let there be light, and there is light. Nay, He would not have to do even so much as that, for God Himself is Light, dwells in the midst of light, in the midst of eternal burnings, and He would only have to appear, and darkness would flee away.
We children, we men and women, who for the time being have to learn like little boys and girls, by crude and primitive methods—we are told that the time will come when, as the reward of obedience, of continued faithfulness, our bodies shall be filled with light, our eyes be single to the glory of God. But we approach that condition gradually. We are learning how to do things, little by little. We do them now in inferior ways; but our Heavenly Father has learned how to do them in a masterful way. Then why should we seek to drag Him down, and deny His power to do things that we are not able to do ? Where is the logic of it?
Why this prejudice against the miraculous? Why should any man or woman, and particularly any Latter-day Saint, take ground of opposition against miracles, and try to relegate them to the domain of the mythical? Where will it stop, if you give way to the spirit of skepticism? Allow yourselves to think that Christ never walked upon the water, that He never roused Lazarus from the slumber of death, that He never did a miracle, never brought a dead world to life by the shedding of His blood as a ransom for sinners—encourage these doubts and where will they land you? Where will they lead to? They will lead you to reject the Redeemer of the world; they will lead you to deny, as many do, that such a man as Jesus of Nazareth ever, lived. Continue giving way to doubt, and you will end by doubting your own existence—as many do already.
If there were no ancient miracles, there have been no modem miracles. If the wonderful works of the Son of God are myths, then this whole fabric of “Mormonism” crumbles to the ground, it has no foundation, for it is based upon miracles, ancient and modern, and was intended to be based upon them.
How do I know that Joseph Smith ever lived? How do I know that he was a prophet of God ? Is it because my parents knew him—because they told me he was a prophet? How many of you ever saw the Prophet Joseph Smith ? How many here know, by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, that such a man lived and labored and died? There are two men upon this stand, perhaps others, but I know two who, as little boys, saw the Prophet Joseph—"three, 'four, five,” someone behind me says. These five are President Joseph F. Smith, President Francis M. Lyman, Patriarch Angus M. Cannon, Elder William
W. Riter, and Elder Nymphus Murdock. There may be others, but it does not matter—I am not trying to make it cumulative. This is the point: How do I know that Joseph Smith ever lived? Is it because these brethren saw him ? I have respect for their testimony; it is one of the elements of my own testimony concerning this man. But if I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet—and I do know it—it is because God has shown it to me, by the power of His Spirit, the spirit of revelation. That is how I know it, and that is how you know it. We know it by miraculous manifestation, or we don’t know it at all. We are dependent upon the miraculous for what we know of all such things. Then why should we want to tear out from under our feet the foundations upon which we stand?
Seven hundred years before the birth of the Savior a prophet declared, in relation to the last days, that a work should be done among men by the Almighty, even a marvelous work and a wonder, and the wisdom of the wise should perish, and the understanding of the prudent should be hid. What fulfils this prediction but “Mormonism,” God’s great work of the last days, founded upon marvels and wonders? Can you conceive of anything more wonderful than the opening of the heavens at a time when men denied revelation, denied the visitation of angels, and declared that the world would never have any more of them; when it had lost its knowledge of the true God and virtually ruled Him out of His own universe? Can you conceive of anything more marvelous than the opening of the heavens and the appearance, the personal appearance, of God, the Father and the Son, to Joseph Smith, then a little boy between fourteen and fifteen years Of age? There is the first marvel of “Mormonism,” there is the beginning of the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prediction concerning the marvelous work and wonder.
At first Joseph’s testimony was met with scoffing, and he was denounced as a rogue, as an imposter. All sorts of evil stories were circulated concerning him, in order to break down his testimony. “It’s all of the devil,” said a Methodist minister, to whom he told his story— told it in a simple, child-like way, declaring that God had appeared to him in vision, and had talked with Him. The boy never deviated from that declaration, and as a man he died by it and died for it.
Gradually the world is beginning to concede that Joseph Smith was at least sincere, that he really imagined that he saw and heard, and one great, wise man has capped the climax of worldly wisdom, in its efforts to explain away Joseph Smith, by asserting that these wonderful manifestations, the coming of God the Father and the Son, the coming of the Angel Moroni, the coming of John the Baptist and of Peter, James and John, bringing back the powers of the priesthood and the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, that these were all hallucinations, resulting from an epileptic fit! Was there ever a more striking illustration of the fulfilment of prophecy— “The wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid”?
We know that Joseph Smith’s testimony is true; we know it by the Holy Ghost; and that is the strength of this Church. It is not the sagacity of its leaders, it is not its members, that constitutes its strength. We are only a handful in the midst of many millions. The strength of this Church is in the testimony possessed by every man and woman belonging to it, that it is indeed the work of God.
Testimonies are of two kinds, direct and indirect, positive and negative. Persecution testifies indirectly of the truth. “All things bear record of me,” the Lord says. We only have to look around upon the manifestations of nature, and we see and hear them testifying of the Creator. Every thing made proclaims its maker, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, and who use them for those purposes.
I was once conversing with a gentleman who expressed' an earnest desire that the Latter-day Saints should co-operate with those rich philanthropists who are endeavoring to colonize the poor Jews of Christian countries—to move them out of the large cities—to make farmers and artisans of a people who have been peddlers, merchants, and money changers 'for centuries. One of these colonies, by the way, is in central Utah, near the town of Gunnison. This gentleman said to me, “I recognize the ‘Mormon’ people as the greatest colonizers in the world, and I wonder why you don’t see the necessity of co-operating with such men as Baron Hirsch, who has spent millions of wealth endeavoring to colonize these Jews, but has failed thus far, because of his lack of knowledge and experience in colonizing methods. Why don’t you Latter-day Saints co-operate with him, he to provide the millions, you to furnish the experience?” And he added, “You could make a stipulation that every Jew you helped to colonize should become a Latter-day Saint.” (Laughter.) “See how that would build up your Church.”
I answered Mr. Davenport—that was the gentleman’s name—in substance as follows: “You remind me of a conversation I once had in the
Eastern States, while upon my first mission. I was asked, “Why don’t you “Mormon” elders fly for higher game? Why do you always preach to the poor and the lowly? Why don’t you get up among the high and the mighty? Take Henry Ward Beecher, for instance”—he was then alive, the great pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle—“convert him and his whole congregation would flock in after him; and just see how that would build up your Church!” I said to Mr. Davenport, “That is not God’s way of building up His church. The Lord declared by an ancient prophet, ‘I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion and give you pastors after mine own heart.” I explained the great problem of the dispersion and gathering of Israel, whereby the blood of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the blood that believes, with spirits answering to that blood, who have been dispersed for a wise purpose among all nations, are now being recalled and brought together in a great movement called “The Gathering,” preparatory to the building of the New Jerusalem and the glorious coming of the Lord.” And I added, “God is not anxious for great congregations. He is not desirous that the Jews, or any other people, should make a bargain with Him and join His Church-as a business proposition.”
The suggestion reminded me of that scene in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” where poor old Shylock stands before the court, condemned 'for having conspired against the life of a citizen of Venice, and the judge decrees in effect: “Half of your goods are confiscate to the merchant Antonio, whose life you sought, and half are confiscate to the state of Venice, whose laws you have outraged; and, moreover, the court decides that you shall straightway become a Christian.” (Laughter.)
Christians are not made by judicial decisions, nor are Latter-day Saints converted by legislative enactment or by commercial bargaining. There is but one way to make a Latter-day Saint. A man must have faith in God, he must repent of his sins, he must have his sins washed away by baptism at the hands of one having divine authority to administer sacred ordinances; he must have hands laid upon him for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and by that testimony he will know that this is God’s work, and become a full fledged Latter-day Saint. This is the strength of the Church—that every man, woman and child who has obeyed the Gospel knows for himself or herself that it is God’s truth, God’s work. This is the rock upon which Christ founded His Church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Amen.
ELDER GEORGE ALBERT SMITH.
It is observed that from one end of this great auditorium to the other all heads are uncovered. The sisters have voluntarily removed their hats so we are confronted by a sea of intelligent faces, instead of feathers and ribbons. Aunt Emmeline Wells, President of the Relief Society, sets the example. The members of the Tabernacle choir, who have found it difficult to take care of their millinery, have conformed to this custom of the Church. The President desires me to make this comment, and say that the universal observance of this custom is very much appreciated by the General Authorities of the Church.
The choir rendered the anthem, “Mighty Jehovah, Accept Our Praises;” A. Clyde Crawford sang the bass solo.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith.
Adjourned until 2 p. m.
It is observed that from one end of this great auditorium to the other all heads are uncovered. The sisters have voluntarily removed their hats so we are confronted by a sea of intelligent faces, instead of feathers and ribbons. Aunt Emmeline Wells, President of the Relief Society, sets the example. The members of the Tabernacle choir, who have found it difficult to take care of their millinery, have conformed to this custom of the Church. The President desires me to make this comment, and say that the universal observance of this custom is very much appreciated by the General Authorities of the Church.
The choir rendered the anthem, “Mighty Jehovah, Accept Our Praises;” A. Clyde Crawford sang the bass solo.
Benediction was pronounced by Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith.
Adjourned until 2 p. m.
OVERFLOW MEETING.
An overflow' session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall, adjoining the Tabernacle, at 10 a. m., Sunday, April 5th, 1914. The services were presided over by Elder Anthony W. Ivins.
The Murray ward choir provided the musical numbers, under direction of Wm. F. Robinson, and an orchestra conducted by Wm. N. Morris.
The orchestra played while the congregation was assembling.
The choir and orchestra rendered the hymn, “Come, dearest Lord, descend and dwell.”
Elder Ferdinand F. Hintze offered the opening prayer.
The choir sang the anthem, “The Palms,” with orchestra and organ accompaniment.
An overflow' session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall, adjoining the Tabernacle, at 10 a. m., Sunday, April 5th, 1914. The services were presided over by Elder Anthony W. Ivins.
The Murray ward choir provided the musical numbers, under direction of Wm. F. Robinson, and an orchestra conducted by Wm. N. Morris.
The orchestra played while the congregation was assembling.
The choir and orchestra rendered the hymn, “Come, dearest Lord, descend and dwell.”
Elder Ferdinand F. Hintze offered the opening prayer.
The choir sang the anthem, “The Palms,” with orchestra and organ accompaniment.
ELDER REY L. PRATT.
(President of Mexican Mission.)
I am very happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting with you in conference this morning, and I trust that the few moments I occupy in speaking to you I may be inspired with the Spirit of the Lord. I desire an interest in your sympathy, and in your faith and prayers, that the Lord may inspire me in whatever I may say.
I am truly thankful that I had the privilege of attending our meetings yesterday, and listening to the words of inspiration that flowed from the lips of those who addressed us. I was particularly interested in the remarks of our beloved President, and in the reports that he gave of the excellent conditions that exist in the Church. It made me glad, it made me feel that the work is rolling onward, and it gave me an assurance that truly the words uttered by Jesus to Peter upon that memorable occasion when he asked his disciples “Whom do men say that I am?” were being fulfilled. I would like to read to you this morning what the Savior said to Peter on that occasion, and comment a little on what I believe to be the fulfillment of those words in what we are witnessing:
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Phillippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men sav that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but mv Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:13-18.)
I reflected yesterday, in listening to the report of the President, on the fact that it seemed from the very incipiency of this work, in this day and age in which we live, that the gates of hell, in a measure, have been against this work. It seems as though most all the powers that could be brought to bear have been used in the effort to retard the progress of this work in this age. This Church has been organized, in fulfillment of the words of the Savior, upon the rock of revelation, and the gates of hell, and all the powers of men that can be combined and brought to bear against this work, will not be able to retard its progress. We heard from the lips of our President, yesterday, that the Church is in a better condition than it ever has been since it was organized. There are more people living in accordance with the doctrines and commandments of the Gospel, as they are taught to us, than ever before; and the quorums of the priesthood are more united in performing their duty, in extending and proclaiming the word to those who know not the truth, than they ever have been in the past. This is very gratifying.
Now, my brethren and sisters, it seems that great powers have been brought to bear to retard this work, to bring to naught the work of the Lord, from the moment that the Prophet Joseph Smith announced to his friends, and to the world, that he had received a vision in which he had seen the Father and the Son, and in which he had been commanded to organize the Church as it was organized by the Savior anciently. Persecution followed him until the day he was martyred, and persecution pursued the Church from place to place, until the Saints were driven across the plains to these valleys of the mountains. Not only persecutions of wicked men were brought to bear against this people, but the Saints were brought face to face with persecutions, as it were, of the elements. It is said that the trail of our people across the plains could be traced by the graves of their loved ones, so many perished by the way; and then, of course, there were the hardships incident to redeeming the desert and laying the foundations of a new state. But notwithstanding all these things, the Church has come off triumphant, and the work has progressed, and is progressing today in the world more than it ever before has done. My testimony and firm belief is that it will continue to progress more and more.
The work being done in the missions today, particularly in the mission that I have been engaged in, I can testify is very encouraging, and the people seem to be very desirous of hearing the truth concerning “Mormonism.” Thus, notwithstanding the fact that the world is in a condition of disbelief in regard to the old isms they have before believed in, it seems to me that more than ever before is the way open to the elders of our Church to teach the Gospel to the people.
Now; brethren and sisters, there are conditions that exist today, at home, that have to be met, and we must not believe, as I view it, that the persecutions that have been brought to bear upon us formerly will cease. Conditions confront us today that are different from those that confronted our fathers, and those who crossed the oceans and plains, and came to these valleys and subdued them, and made it possible for us to live here in peace and quietude, even in luxury, enjoying all the blessings of the Lord. There are conditions that we, particularly the younger people, have to encounter that are just as terrible, just as potent in their influence to drag down the Church of Christ, and to bring to naught His purposes in the earth, as were the persecutions and influences that were brought to bear against our fathers. We must not flatter ourselves that we are immune to those temptations and persecutions. We should realize that we are surrounded, all the time, by the influences of the evil one; and it is only those that will set their faces as flint against evil that will triumph in the end. The Savior said that those who endure to the end shall be saved; and those who do not keep the commandments of the Lord will fall by the wayside. The decree has gone forth, and it will be fulfilled, that this Church will not be left to another people, and that this kingdom will increase, and go on to perfection; and the very gates of hell shall have no power or influence to overthrow the Church. Yet there is a possibility of some of us so far forgetting ourselves that we will slip out, and be left behind.
I wish to appeal to the young folks, and ask, after we have had the examples of those who have crossed the plains, and subdued the desert, and endured the hardships incident to settling these valleys, shall we lie down before the temptations that stare us in the face ? Shall we allow the influence of Babylon to come among us, and destroy that which our fathers built up in our behalf? or shall we, the younger generation, set our faces' as flint against the temptations of the evil one, that are ever present wherever the people of this earth dwell? Shall we resist temptation, and make it possible for us to continue with the body of the Church, that will not be overpowered by the influences of the world, or be overwhelmed by any wicked influence or power under the sun? I know there are harmful conditions existing here that have to be met. I have had the privilege, for the last few months, of laboring among the young folks in this city, visiting in the stake where I reside, as a home missionary, and I have seen that the young people have great obstacles thrown in their path, and great temptations to overcome. I constantly feel it my duty to raise my voice against the possibility of the young people yielding to those temptations and evils. The parents should know all the conditions that surround the young 'folks, and they should throw a safeguard around their children, our young people, and set their faces against the evils of the day, and help them to overcome these conditions.
I pray for the youth of Zion. I pray that they may have power to overcome the obstacles in their paths, and be able to keep themselves unspotted from the sins of the world and the generation in which we live. Wrong conditions are every day apparent, they are every day with us. It is our privilege and duty to live near unto the Lord, and to have His Spirit always to be with us, to guide us in the ways of all truth. I have often had occasion to make promise to those in the world who embraced our principles and became connected with this Church, that if they will live according to the dictates of the Spirit that they are entitled to, and that they receive at their baptism, there is no power in or out of the world that can take them out of this Church. It is only the men and women who forget themselves, and who live so that the Spirit of God leaves them, that the powers of evil can successfully assail and break down their faith, and cause them to do those things that result in loss of blessings that they would otherwise be entitled to.
I bear my testimony that I know this work is true. I know that Joseph Smith was raised up in this day and generation for the special purpose of organizing the Church in its purity and fulness, and it exists today just as the church existed when our Savior established and organized it, when He came in the meridian of time. I know positively that those who have guided the Church from the days of Joseph Smith the Prophet until the present day have been prophets, seers and revelators unto the Church. I bear testimony that the power of God unto salvation is in the Gospel we have received. We should live in accordance with the teachings that we receive from day to day, 'from the living oracles that we have among us. The Lord can conduct this work without the use of the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, or any other book. He has seen fit to provide us with these books and records, for a wise purpose, but we should not restrict ourselves -to the letter of the word, but should endeavor to live according to the Spirit of the Gospel, and according to the spirit of the instructions that we receive from those who are placed in authority over us, whom the Lord has placed in our midst to tell us what to do.
I have a testimony that this work will continue to progress, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I know these things beyond the question of a doubt, and it is a great consolation to me. I thank the Lord for the privilege of going into the world and teaching the Gospel to people that are sitting in darkness. The Savior said, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness, and then shall the end come.’’ God is a just God, and he designs to judge the world by this gospel, and he will not judge them unless they have had the privilege of hearing it.
In Mexico, where I have been engaged in missionary work, there are millions of people that have not the slightest conception of what “Mormonism” is; in fact they have no conception of what true Christianity means; therefore, how can they believe Christ taught and lived as He did unless these things are taught unto them? The missionary work in the world is a grand, and great, and glorious work, and it is our privilege to prepare ourselves, as young men and women, to do this work in the world. I believe firmly that all those that have this desire in their heart will have the privilege of carrying the Gospel into the world. I can promise all young men and women, that if they will accept humbly, and perform thankfully the duties of the missionary, that there is no labor in their lives that will give them more joy. They will not desire any earthly recompense if they will labor faithfully and humbly, because the very act Of doing good unto others, bringing people from a state of darkness into light, is sufficient recompense for the time and trouble spent in performing this missionary work.
I do not desire, my brethren and sisters, to prolong my remarks, as there are others who will address you; but I desire to say again that I am happy to be here, and that I am happy to have had the privilege of bearing my testimony to you. I hope I will remain firm and faithful in this testimony,' and that we all will do likewise, and go on to perfection in this great gospel of progression, and eventually be saved in the kingdom of our Father in heaven, is the prayer I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The anthem, “Grant us Peace,” was rendered, the solos, etc., by Ada Russell, Lucy Brown, Manasseh Smith, and John Tucker.
(President of Mexican Mission.)
I am very happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting with you in conference this morning, and I trust that the few moments I occupy in speaking to you I may be inspired with the Spirit of the Lord. I desire an interest in your sympathy, and in your faith and prayers, that the Lord may inspire me in whatever I may say.
I am truly thankful that I had the privilege of attending our meetings yesterday, and listening to the words of inspiration that flowed from the lips of those who addressed us. I was particularly interested in the remarks of our beloved President, and in the reports that he gave of the excellent conditions that exist in the Church. It made me glad, it made me feel that the work is rolling onward, and it gave me an assurance that truly the words uttered by Jesus to Peter upon that memorable occasion when he asked his disciples “Whom do men say that I am?” were being fulfilled. I would like to read to you this morning what the Savior said to Peter on that occasion, and comment a little on what I believe to be the fulfillment of those words in what we are witnessing:
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Phillippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men sav that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but mv Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:13-18.)
I reflected yesterday, in listening to the report of the President, on the fact that it seemed from the very incipiency of this work, in this day and age in which we live, that the gates of hell, in a measure, have been against this work. It seems as though most all the powers that could be brought to bear have been used in the effort to retard the progress of this work in this age. This Church has been organized, in fulfillment of the words of the Savior, upon the rock of revelation, and the gates of hell, and all the powers of men that can be combined and brought to bear against this work, will not be able to retard its progress. We heard from the lips of our President, yesterday, that the Church is in a better condition than it ever has been since it was organized. There are more people living in accordance with the doctrines and commandments of the Gospel, as they are taught to us, than ever before; and the quorums of the priesthood are more united in performing their duty, in extending and proclaiming the word to those who know not the truth, than they ever have been in the past. This is very gratifying.
Now, my brethren and sisters, it seems that great powers have been brought to bear to retard this work, to bring to naught the work of the Lord, from the moment that the Prophet Joseph Smith announced to his friends, and to the world, that he had received a vision in which he had seen the Father and the Son, and in which he had been commanded to organize the Church as it was organized by the Savior anciently. Persecution followed him until the day he was martyred, and persecution pursued the Church from place to place, until the Saints were driven across the plains to these valleys of the mountains. Not only persecutions of wicked men were brought to bear against this people, but the Saints were brought face to face with persecutions, as it were, of the elements. It is said that the trail of our people across the plains could be traced by the graves of their loved ones, so many perished by the way; and then, of course, there were the hardships incident to redeeming the desert and laying the foundations of a new state. But notwithstanding all these things, the Church has come off triumphant, and the work has progressed, and is progressing today in the world more than it ever before has done. My testimony and firm belief is that it will continue to progress more and more.
The work being done in the missions today, particularly in the mission that I have been engaged in, I can testify is very encouraging, and the people seem to be very desirous of hearing the truth concerning “Mormonism.” Thus, notwithstanding the fact that the world is in a condition of disbelief in regard to the old isms they have before believed in, it seems to me that more than ever before is the way open to the elders of our Church to teach the Gospel to the people.
Now; brethren and sisters, there are conditions that exist today, at home, that have to be met, and we must not believe, as I view it, that the persecutions that have been brought to bear upon us formerly will cease. Conditions confront us today that are different from those that confronted our fathers, and those who crossed the oceans and plains, and came to these valleys and subdued them, and made it possible for us to live here in peace and quietude, even in luxury, enjoying all the blessings of the Lord. There are conditions that we, particularly the younger people, have to encounter that are just as terrible, just as potent in their influence to drag down the Church of Christ, and to bring to naught His purposes in the earth, as were the persecutions and influences that were brought to bear against our fathers. We must not flatter ourselves that we are immune to those temptations and persecutions. We should realize that we are surrounded, all the time, by the influences of the evil one; and it is only those that will set their faces as flint against evil that will triumph in the end. The Savior said that those who endure to the end shall be saved; and those who do not keep the commandments of the Lord will fall by the wayside. The decree has gone forth, and it will be fulfilled, that this Church will not be left to another people, and that this kingdom will increase, and go on to perfection; and the very gates of hell shall have no power or influence to overthrow the Church. Yet there is a possibility of some of us so far forgetting ourselves that we will slip out, and be left behind.
I wish to appeal to the young folks, and ask, after we have had the examples of those who have crossed the plains, and subdued the desert, and endured the hardships incident to settling these valleys, shall we lie down before the temptations that stare us in the face ? Shall we allow the influence of Babylon to come among us, and destroy that which our fathers built up in our behalf? or shall we, the younger generation, set our faces' as flint against the temptations of the evil one, that are ever present wherever the people of this earth dwell? Shall we resist temptation, and make it possible for us to continue with the body of the Church, that will not be overpowered by the influences of the world, or be overwhelmed by any wicked influence or power under the sun? I know there are harmful conditions existing here that have to be met. I have had the privilege, for the last few months, of laboring among the young folks in this city, visiting in the stake where I reside, as a home missionary, and I have seen that the young people have great obstacles thrown in their path, and great temptations to overcome. I constantly feel it my duty to raise my voice against the possibility of the young people yielding to those temptations and evils. The parents should know all the conditions that surround the young 'folks, and they should throw a safeguard around their children, our young people, and set their faces against the evils of the day, and help them to overcome these conditions.
I pray for the youth of Zion. I pray that they may have power to overcome the obstacles in their paths, and be able to keep themselves unspotted from the sins of the world and the generation in which we live. Wrong conditions are every day apparent, they are every day with us. It is our privilege and duty to live near unto the Lord, and to have His Spirit always to be with us, to guide us in the ways of all truth. I have often had occasion to make promise to those in the world who embraced our principles and became connected with this Church, that if they will live according to the dictates of the Spirit that they are entitled to, and that they receive at their baptism, there is no power in or out of the world that can take them out of this Church. It is only the men and women who forget themselves, and who live so that the Spirit of God leaves them, that the powers of evil can successfully assail and break down their faith, and cause them to do those things that result in loss of blessings that they would otherwise be entitled to.
I bear my testimony that I know this work is true. I know that Joseph Smith was raised up in this day and generation for the special purpose of organizing the Church in its purity and fulness, and it exists today just as the church existed when our Savior established and organized it, when He came in the meridian of time. I know positively that those who have guided the Church from the days of Joseph Smith the Prophet until the present day have been prophets, seers and revelators unto the Church. I bear testimony that the power of God unto salvation is in the Gospel we have received. We should live in accordance with the teachings that we receive from day to day, 'from the living oracles that we have among us. The Lord can conduct this work without the use of the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, or any other book. He has seen fit to provide us with these books and records, for a wise purpose, but we should not restrict ourselves -to the letter of the word, but should endeavor to live according to the Spirit of the Gospel, and according to the spirit of the instructions that we receive from those who are placed in authority over us, whom the Lord has placed in our midst to tell us what to do.
I have a testimony that this work will continue to progress, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I know these things beyond the question of a doubt, and it is a great consolation to me. I thank the Lord for the privilege of going into the world and teaching the Gospel to people that are sitting in darkness. The Savior said, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness, and then shall the end come.’’ God is a just God, and he designs to judge the world by this gospel, and he will not judge them unless they have had the privilege of hearing it.
In Mexico, where I have been engaged in missionary work, there are millions of people that have not the slightest conception of what “Mormonism” is; in fact they have no conception of what true Christianity means; therefore, how can they believe Christ taught and lived as He did unless these things are taught unto them? The missionary work in the world is a grand, and great, and glorious work, and it is our privilege to prepare ourselves, as young men and women, to do this work in the world. I believe firmly that all those that have this desire in their heart will have the privilege of carrying the Gospel into the world. I can promise all young men and women, that if they will accept humbly, and perform thankfully the duties of the missionary, that there is no labor in their lives that will give them more joy. They will not desire any earthly recompense if they will labor faithfully and humbly, because the very act Of doing good unto others, bringing people from a state of darkness into light, is sufficient recompense for the time and trouble spent in performing this missionary work.
I do not desire, my brethren and sisters, to prolong my remarks, as there are others who will address you; but I desire to say again that I am happy to be here, and that I am happy to have had the privilege of bearing my testimony to you. I hope I will remain firm and faithful in this testimony,' and that we all will do likewise, and go on to perfection in this great gospel of progression, and eventually be saved in the kingdom of our Father in heaven, is the prayer I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The anthem, “Grant us Peace,” was rendered, the solos, etc., by Ada Russell, Lucy Brown, Manasseh Smith, and John Tucker.
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD.
(President of Northwestern States Mission.)
The majority of men and women in the world arc perfectly willing to go to heaven, if they can go on their own terms. We discovered from the report of President Smith, yesterday, that there are some also in the Church who would like to go on their own terms, who would like to lay aside some of the requirements the Lord has made and substitute their own notions, and they believe that their ideas of what they ought to do are as good as what the Lord has given. We missionaries are constantly under the necessity of showing men and women in the world that the wisest forms of worship devised by the wisdom of men are woefully inefficient, and not to be compared with the terms given by Him who has the right to make the requirements.
I have undertaken to illustrate the necessity of strict and absolute obedience to the requirements of the Lord, by appealing to the knowledge of men and women with respect to the necessity of yielding obedience to the laws of the land, or complying technically with the terms of a will. If I shall inherit a property granted or left to me by my father, grandfather, or any one who has a right to will or deed, or give to me anything that he possesses, you who are acquainted with matters of this character know that if one is possessed of property, he has a perfect right to state the terms upon which his children or descendants shall inherit the property; and you know also that if you wish to inherit such interests as are left to you in a will you must strictly and absolutely comply with the terms of that will, or you cannot inherit.
I take it that if there is any hope in the human heart of a hereafter, of a life beyond this, of a heaven, of a place of progress, it has to come through the revelations of God to man, largely revealed in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. While others have had some faith that there is a hereafter, we have been given positive and absolute assurance, by the demonstrations given in the power manifest both in the preaching and in the miracles, so called, in the life of Jesus Christ. There are better evidences to believe that what He said is true, than to believe the statements of any man. He spoke not only with authority, but acted as possessed with power such as no man has ever exhibited while upon the earth. I say that if we shall inherit salvation, a life beyond this, a glory, it shall be through the wonderful and wise provisions instituted by the Lord Himself.
If we believe the Scriptures, we shall accept the statement of John, that “in the beginning was the Word,” and by the Word was the world made, “and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” In other words, that Jesus Christ, under the direction of His Father, was the organizer and builder of this world; that out of the elements that existed in space, He, the great Master, compounded, produced and materialized this substantial world upon which you and I live; that we are indebted to Him, and to our Father in heaven, for this life that we are enjoying, the bodies that we have, the beautiful world that we
inhabit. We sometimes wonder where our heaven will be, that is, the people of the world wonder. We Latter-day Saints have no reason to doubt where our heaven will be, for the Lord has made known to us, that this splendid world that has been provided for us will ultimately be redeemed, having obeyed the laws of its being, and become celestialized, the home of celestial beings; so that if we shall ever come into heaven, or heavenly conditions, it will be, ultimately, upon this redeemed world. Jesus Christ has been the organizer and the builder of It, possessed with power to do all that.
Sometimes I am astonished at the expressions of men professing to believe in Jesus Christ, and His claim to be the Son of God, when they doubt that He had the power to turn water into wine, and create and materialize a few loaves and fishes. When I think of their objection, I think of the splendid world that has been produced by the wonderfully marvelous power, ability, and knowledge such as Jesus Christ exhibited. If Jesus had planted a vine, and waited until the little grape had developed and had absorbed from nature those particular ingredients necessary to produce the wine, it would have been considered no miracle. Or if he had sown a few bushels of grain, and waited until they had matured and materialized, it would have been considered no miracle to have gathered it and made bread to feed the multitude. But where did all that bread come from? Where do the millions of bushels of wheat that are raised in these valleys come from? Who brought it here? All the pioneers did was to bring a little seed. Where do the millions of gallons of wine that are produced come from? No man produced it. It was in the elements, and the seed possessed the power to abstract or draw from the soil, and from the atmosphere those particular elements that are everywhere in attendance, provided by the great all-wise Providence. Those instruments, those seeds, had the power to extract from nature her resources, and produce, after a season, the wine or the bread, through that life activity drawing from nature’s resources to feed man and beast. Who do you suppose gave to the vine its power to work this miracle in nature? Who do you suppose organized the kernel of grain, gave it the power to draw from nature those component parts necessary to make more grain? Why, the Creator. Do you not suppose that He who organized this splendid world knew of plant life? The Scriptures tell us that even the herbs of the field before they grew were organized, prepared to live in this world; and He who organized it also organized the plant life, and animal life, and assigned to each its place and sphere. He who did it, who organized the vegetable life, the tree, and the kernel of grain, reserved to Himself the power to work this miracle independent of the vine or the kernel of grain. And when I look into the splendid world organized by His superior power, with all its beauty and all is variety of life, and then listen to the objections of some short-sighted individual who doubts His ability, after organizing such a splendid world, to produce a little wine or produce bread, to me it is almost ridiculous.
When I think of this, I also think of the objections made on the part of those who doubt that there is a God in all the universe, and hold that nature happens to produce these results by some chance or other, or in a mysterious or peculiar way known only to nature, that she assumes to act in that particular way. When I think of some of those who have traveled around the world, and some who have not gone out of their own counties, trying to discover if perchance God will be seen manifest in some state or nation, or somewhere else in this world, I wonder at their ignorance of the position that they occupy when they deny that there is a great and mighty Creator. If you have traveled around the world and have not discerned Him, and have not found satisfactory evidences of His existence, or manifestations of His presence in this world, you yet are not entitled to say He is not. If you are properly informed, you will know that this is but one of the smallest of all the worlds, and that it belongs to what is known as our solar system, comprising many worlds revolving around the sun. We had better, perhaps, go out to our big brother Jupiter, that is so much larger than our world, in an effort to find evidences of God. If we failed to find Him there, we might endeavor to explore the sun, the great ruling, controlling world in our system, that our astronomers tell us is so much larger than our earth that it would take upwards of three million worlds like this to make one the size of the sun. And then, if our finite minds failed to find sufficient evidences of God in that, should we be entitled to say that He is not? No! Let us look still higher, and we will discover there are fifty millions of suns in the view of man, like unto our sun, one rising above the other in majesty and power. There are suns so great it would take ten thousand the size of ours to make one like unto those mighty suns, and then if we still had not been able to satisfy ourselves, or discover sufficient evidences of the creative power of God, are we then entitled to assume that we have not found evidences of His existence? No, for with all the power you might have to discover these, you might justifiably conclude that there are innumerable millions of worlds that man cannot see. If a man started out to reach the nearest of those worlds outside of our solar system, they are so far away that it would require over four years, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, the rate that light travels, before he would reach any of them; and if he tried to search further in the universe, it would take unlimited millions of years, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. It would be about as easy for him to find the extent of the universe as it would for him, if he were traveling up the Mississippi Valley in an airship, far above the earth, to discover a mustard seed hidden in that valley.
For a puny man, able to travel only a little way around this world, to assume to be so great, so wise and so mighty that he can declare that God is not, reduces him to such an insignificant atom, so little, so small, that he, if he could only see himself, would be utterly disgusted with his supposed wisdom. The wisest and greatest men in science have always been the humblest. It was Sir Isaac Newton, who had advanced further than most men, who humbly said, I have been but as a child playing upon the sea shore; and have succeeded in discovering a few puny pebbles and shells, but the mighty ocean lies before me unexplored. The great man is the humble man, and he knows that he don’t know it all. When men begin trying to discover, as they say, the origin of life upon this world, they manifest the lack of sufficient reasoning power, they should remember that in the midst of this creation there are worlds infinitely older than ours. It is absurd to try to account for the origin of life on our earth, just as absurd as it would be to come to Salt Lake City to find evidences of the earliest existence of human life upon the American continent. We would naturally begin such research in those places where people lived before they came to this city. likewise in the mighty universe, we would have to go to those worlds that are older than ours to discover some Of those secret wonders of nature that we try to discover on this earth. In the meantime, would it not be wise for us to listen to the words of those who are better informed than we are, to obtain information upon conditions in the worlds that existed prior to the organization of this world? Surely it would be wise to listen to some of their suggestions and advice with respect to these matters.
There are men who are forming all sorts of schemes for their own salvation and exaltation; but I assert that Jesus Christ had the right to designate the way by which you and I may inherit the salvation that we desire, and that we may have eternal life and being upon another world, or this world, we are indebted to His wise and wonderful provisions. He has a right to say what I shall do; and if I shall inherit I must obey absolutely that which He has required. I am not dictator in the case; I have no right to demand the estate. As before remarked, perchance my father, or my grand father, leaving an estate, leaving a will decreeing upon what terms I may inherit, may have specified some terms that I do not like, but I cannot inherit unless I shall comply technically and strictly with the terms Of the will. And so, though I may feel that there are some things in the Gospel that I do not understand, or that to me might seem unnecessary, or undesirable, I have no right to absolve them, or lay aside the terms provided by the one who has the right to specify what should be followed. Yet many assume to say we do not know whether these are the correct terms or not. There are numerous churches, each contending they have the correct plan. They arrogate the right, and they are interpreting according to their own will, and adding to the confusion. How eminently necessary it is that the true will may be made known, and all of its terms made perfectly clear and plain. After all the evidences of doubt which have gathered around this will, through the notions and interpretations of men, how important are the words of the Master, coming direct, ringing through the courts of glory, to us anew, giving the exact terms of that will, making it plain, clear of all doubt, and specifying with certainty what the requirements are. And if I discover the terms of the will (I am speaking as an illustration), can I legally inherit property without I comply with those terms on my own part? No; I must find some legally appointed judge, who has the right and authority to administer on that will, and I must go to him in a judicial court, and there comply with the terms of the will, and have the judge certify that I have done it, and by his decree that I have complied with the terms legally, he may give me title to the property. Seeking to evade those proceedings would not give me title nor claim.
Just so it is with men and women in the world with respect to the words prescribed by Jesus Christ, the terms by which they may inherit eternal life and the blessings of heaven, the beautiful and splendid celestial world that He is providing for us. I must not only know what the words of the will are, but I must find the legally appointed servants of God who have the right and the authority to administer the terms of that will. I cannot do it by finding some man who claims a right without divine appointment. I must find those who are legally appointed and rightfully constituted as the delegated authorities of heaven. I assert to the world, to all churches and to all men, that here has been restored and established the authority of the holy priesthood, the only men delegated by God to administer the terms of this will to man. In the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the rightfully constituted and delegated authorities. These bearers of this priesthood can trace through the hands of one, two, or three men the authority that has come upon them directly from Peter, James, and John, who received their divine appointment under the administration of Jesus Christ Himself. I cannot get legal title to these blessings and ignore this priesthood established by God. I. shall discover, too, that I will not be able to do anything that the Lord has required at my hands without compliance with His way, His terms. If I undertake to produce electricity, and abridge some of the essential things necessary to its production, will I get electricity? If in the realm of chemistry, I undertake to ignore some of the well known and established principles by which I shall produce certain chemical results, will I get the results? So on the farm, if I neglect to use some of the methods well known to be necessary in the cultivation of the soil, shall I get the results? or in any field of activity? No. Law rules and principles govern everywhere; and I will discover that there are rules, laws, and principles, with respect to men, that have been divinely established, and not formulated out of caprice. Jesus Christ said, “I came not to do my own will, but the will of the father who sent me.” The law that He announced and established, was under the direction of the Father, and so even the Father could not abridge it, or make it null and void. He complied with it Himself, and through compliance with it became God. Jesus is the Christ, and you and I will discover that it is necessary for us to comply strictly with His law in order that we may inherit.
I suppose there are some in the Church who will excuse themselves, and say on account of some good they do, “I am a pretty good man, I go to meeting, I look after the sick; but I smoke once in a while, I drink a little, I take a glass of beer sometimes, I pay a little tithing, one hundred dollars a year, I think that is pretty good, I will come out all right.” By such conduct we excuse ourselves, trying to deceive ourselves by only partly complying. There is a scripture that is not thoroughly understood, wherein Jesus said, If ye fail in the least of these, ye are guilty of breaking the whole. Now I want to say what appeals to me with respect to that matter. I do not think that if a man keeps two-thirds of the commandments of the Lord that he is as bad off as the man that is not keeping any. There are those who assert that all roads lead to heaven. But there are many roads that lead to Salt Lake City, or to New York, and no matter which road you take, it will bring you there. I am perfectly agreed with my friends that every man that does some good, that good will take him so far on the way toward the goal of salvation, part of the way. Some of us get just about one-half the way, some of us two-thirds; but until we get to the goal we do not get what we are seeking for. We discover that all men who do good are led toward God. Nevertheless, I must comply with each and every requirement made if I wish to attain eternal life. While there may be many other ways that lead into a place, I cannot enter only by the straight and narrow gate; and I must pass muster before I enter and meet all the requirements and conditions. If I have gone two-thirds of the way, there is just that much less for me to do; and there is just that much encouragement for the man or woman until they comply with all, but they do not get the desired results. Just as in the case of the electricity, I may comply with two-thirds of the requirements to produce electricity; I may comply with nine-tenths, but I do not get it until I have complied with all. I am just that much nearer the goal, but I don’t get the result until I comply strictly and absolutely with the law. So I say again that it is necessary that I shall be a strict observer in this regard.
Jesus did not require anything that was unnecessary, in one single thing. How can I expect to inherit the place promised by obedience to the law of tithing, except I keep that law? I am deceiving myself if I am only a tithe payer on account. The grand and glorious principle is that I am an honest tithe payer, and that I pay the full tenth. And the greatest asset is in the training of the man and the woman that are found complying with this principle, better and greater than possessing much land in. these splendid valleys. While the world may build splendid cities, and railroads, and accomplish other enterprises of a wonderful character, they may be morally weak. The greatest asset of this Church today is the splendid manhood and womanhood this Church is building, the training and perfecting of men and women through obedience to the Gospel. I appeal to you, my brethren and sisters, that you shall not treat lightly a single requirement made, and that we shall be strict observers Of those obligations enjoined upon us. We deceive ourselves if we think we can get the results, the promised blessings, except we comply with the laws on which they are predicated.
The Lord bless us and give us strength and courage to comply with these requirements, not minimize one of them, but so live faithfully in the observance of our part in the stewardship over which we preside, that it can truly be said of us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” Nevertheless, never shall we hear these words, in time or eternity, until we have been faithful, strictly and absolutely, according to the requirements. God bless us to have faith in these things, and enable us to live so that we will comply even with that which we have not yet seen, that may be required, and trust the promises that have been made by Him whose promises never fail, I ask, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
(President of Northwestern States Mission.)
The majority of men and women in the world arc perfectly willing to go to heaven, if they can go on their own terms. We discovered from the report of President Smith, yesterday, that there are some also in the Church who would like to go on their own terms, who would like to lay aside some of the requirements the Lord has made and substitute their own notions, and they believe that their ideas of what they ought to do are as good as what the Lord has given. We missionaries are constantly under the necessity of showing men and women in the world that the wisest forms of worship devised by the wisdom of men are woefully inefficient, and not to be compared with the terms given by Him who has the right to make the requirements.
I have undertaken to illustrate the necessity of strict and absolute obedience to the requirements of the Lord, by appealing to the knowledge of men and women with respect to the necessity of yielding obedience to the laws of the land, or complying technically with the terms of a will. If I shall inherit a property granted or left to me by my father, grandfather, or any one who has a right to will or deed, or give to me anything that he possesses, you who are acquainted with matters of this character know that if one is possessed of property, he has a perfect right to state the terms upon which his children or descendants shall inherit the property; and you know also that if you wish to inherit such interests as are left to you in a will you must strictly and absolutely comply with the terms of that will, or you cannot inherit.
I take it that if there is any hope in the human heart of a hereafter, of a life beyond this, of a heaven, of a place of progress, it has to come through the revelations of God to man, largely revealed in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. While others have had some faith that there is a hereafter, we have been given positive and absolute assurance, by the demonstrations given in the power manifest both in the preaching and in the miracles, so called, in the life of Jesus Christ. There are better evidences to believe that what He said is true, than to believe the statements of any man. He spoke not only with authority, but acted as possessed with power such as no man has ever exhibited while upon the earth. I say that if we shall inherit salvation, a life beyond this, a glory, it shall be through the wonderful and wise provisions instituted by the Lord Himself.
If we believe the Scriptures, we shall accept the statement of John, that “in the beginning was the Word,” and by the Word was the world made, “and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” In other words, that Jesus Christ, under the direction of His Father, was the organizer and builder of this world; that out of the elements that existed in space, He, the great Master, compounded, produced and materialized this substantial world upon which you and I live; that we are indebted to Him, and to our Father in heaven, for this life that we are enjoying, the bodies that we have, the beautiful world that we
inhabit. We sometimes wonder where our heaven will be, that is, the people of the world wonder. We Latter-day Saints have no reason to doubt where our heaven will be, for the Lord has made known to us, that this splendid world that has been provided for us will ultimately be redeemed, having obeyed the laws of its being, and become celestialized, the home of celestial beings; so that if we shall ever come into heaven, or heavenly conditions, it will be, ultimately, upon this redeemed world. Jesus Christ has been the organizer and the builder of It, possessed with power to do all that.
Sometimes I am astonished at the expressions of men professing to believe in Jesus Christ, and His claim to be the Son of God, when they doubt that He had the power to turn water into wine, and create and materialize a few loaves and fishes. When I think of their objection, I think of the splendid world that has been produced by the wonderfully marvelous power, ability, and knowledge such as Jesus Christ exhibited. If Jesus had planted a vine, and waited until the little grape had developed and had absorbed from nature those particular ingredients necessary to produce the wine, it would have been considered no miracle. Or if he had sown a few bushels of grain, and waited until they had matured and materialized, it would have been considered no miracle to have gathered it and made bread to feed the multitude. But where did all that bread come from? Where do the millions of bushels of wheat that are raised in these valleys come from? Who brought it here? All the pioneers did was to bring a little seed. Where do the millions of gallons of wine that are produced come from? No man produced it. It was in the elements, and the seed possessed the power to abstract or draw from the soil, and from the atmosphere those particular elements that are everywhere in attendance, provided by the great all-wise Providence. Those instruments, those seeds, had the power to extract from nature her resources, and produce, after a season, the wine or the bread, through that life activity drawing from nature’s resources to feed man and beast. Who do you suppose gave to the vine its power to work this miracle in nature? Who do you suppose organized the kernel of grain, gave it the power to draw from nature those component parts necessary to make more grain? Why, the Creator. Do you not suppose that He who organized this splendid world knew of plant life? The Scriptures tell us that even the herbs of the field before they grew were organized, prepared to live in this world; and He who organized it also organized the plant life, and animal life, and assigned to each its place and sphere. He who did it, who organized the vegetable life, the tree, and the kernel of grain, reserved to Himself the power to work this miracle independent of the vine or the kernel of grain. And when I look into the splendid world organized by His superior power, with all its beauty and all is variety of life, and then listen to the objections of some short-sighted individual who doubts His ability, after organizing such a splendid world, to produce a little wine or produce bread, to me it is almost ridiculous.
When I think of this, I also think of the objections made on the part of those who doubt that there is a God in all the universe, and hold that nature happens to produce these results by some chance or other, or in a mysterious or peculiar way known only to nature, that she assumes to act in that particular way. When I think of some of those who have traveled around the world, and some who have not gone out of their own counties, trying to discover if perchance God will be seen manifest in some state or nation, or somewhere else in this world, I wonder at their ignorance of the position that they occupy when they deny that there is a great and mighty Creator. If you have traveled around the world and have not discerned Him, and have not found satisfactory evidences of His existence, or manifestations of His presence in this world, you yet are not entitled to say He is not. If you are properly informed, you will know that this is but one of the smallest of all the worlds, and that it belongs to what is known as our solar system, comprising many worlds revolving around the sun. We had better, perhaps, go out to our big brother Jupiter, that is so much larger than our world, in an effort to find evidences of God. If we failed to find Him there, we might endeavor to explore the sun, the great ruling, controlling world in our system, that our astronomers tell us is so much larger than our earth that it would take upwards of three million worlds like this to make one the size of the sun. And then, if our finite minds failed to find sufficient evidences of God in that, should we be entitled to say that He is not? No! Let us look still higher, and we will discover there are fifty millions of suns in the view of man, like unto our sun, one rising above the other in majesty and power. There are suns so great it would take ten thousand the size of ours to make one like unto those mighty suns, and then if we still had not been able to satisfy ourselves, or discover sufficient evidences of the creative power of God, are we then entitled to assume that we have not found evidences of His existence? No, for with all the power you might have to discover these, you might justifiably conclude that there are innumerable millions of worlds that man cannot see. If a man started out to reach the nearest of those worlds outside of our solar system, they are so far away that it would require over four years, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, the rate that light travels, before he would reach any of them; and if he tried to search further in the universe, it would take unlimited millions of years, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. It would be about as easy for him to find the extent of the universe as it would for him, if he were traveling up the Mississippi Valley in an airship, far above the earth, to discover a mustard seed hidden in that valley.
For a puny man, able to travel only a little way around this world, to assume to be so great, so wise and so mighty that he can declare that God is not, reduces him to such an insignificant atom, so little, so small, that he, if he could only see himself, would be utterly disgusted with his supposed wisdom. The wisest and greatest men in science have always been the humblest. It was Sir Isaac Newton, who had advanced further than most men, who humbly said, I have been but as a child playing upon the sea shore; and have succeeded in discovering a few puny pebbles and shells, but the mighty ocean lies before me unexplored. The great man is the humble man, and he knows that he don’t know it all. When men begin trying to discover, as they say, the origin of life upon this world, they manifest the lack of sufficient reasoning power, they should remember that in the midst of this creation there are worlds infinitely older than ours. It is absurd to try to account for the origin of life on our earth, just as absurd as it would be to come to Salt Lake City to find evidences of the earliest existence of human life upon the American continent. We would naturally begin such research in those places where people lived before they came to this city. likewise in the mighty universe, we would have to go to those worlds that are older than ours to discover some Of those secret wonders of nature that we try to discover on this earth. In the meantime, would it not be wise for us to listen to the words of those who are better informed than we are, to obtain information upon conditions in the worlds that existed prior to the organization of this world? Surely it would be wise to listen to some of their suggestions and advice with respect to these matters.
There are men who are forming all sorts of schemes for their own salvation and exaltation; but I assert that Jesus Christ had the right to designate the way by which you and I may inherit the salvation that we desire, and that we may have eternal life and being upon another world, or this world, we are indebted to His wise and wonderful provisions. He has a right to say what I shall do; and if I shall inherit I must obey absolutely that which He has required. I am not dictator in the case; I have no right to demand the estate. As before remarked, perchance my father, or my grand father, leaving an estate, leaving a will decreeing upon what terms I may inherit, may have specified some terms that I do not like, but I cannot inherit unless I shall comply technically and strictly with the terms Of the will. And so, though I may feel that there are some things in the Gospel that I do not understand, or that to me might seem unnecessary, or undesirable, I have no right to absolve them, or lay aside the terms provided by the one who has the right to specify what should be followed. Yet many assume to say we do not know whether these are the correct terms or not. There are numerous churches, each contending they have the correct plan. They arrogate the right, and they are interpreting according to their own will, and adding to the confusion. How eminently necessary it is that the true will may be made known, and all of its terms made perfectly clear and plain. After all the evidences of doubt which have gathered around this will, through the notions and interpretations of men, how important are the words of the Master, coming direct, ringing through the courts of glory, to us anew, giving the exact terms of that will, making it plain, clear of all doubt, and specifying with certainty what the requirements are. And if I discover the terms of the will (I am speaking as an illustration), can I legally inherit property without I comply with those terms on my own part? No; I must find some legally appointed judge, who has the right and authority to administer on that will, and I must go to him in a judicial court, and there comply with the terms of the will, and have the judge certify that I have done it, and by his decree that I have complied with the terms legally, he may give me title to the property. Seeking to evade those proceedings would not give me title nor claim.
Just so it is with men and women in the world with respect to the words prescribed by Jesus Christ, the terms by which they may inherit eternal life and the blessings of heaven, the beautiful and splendid celestial world that He is providing for us. I must not only know what the words of the will are, but I must find the legally appointed servants of God who have the right and the authority to administer the terms of that will. I cannot do it by finding some man who claims a right without divine appointment. I must find those who are legally appointed and rightfully constituted as the delegated authorities of heaven. I assert to the world, to all churches and to all men, that here has been restored and established the authority of the holy priesthood, the only men delegated by God to administer the terms of this will to man. In the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the rightfully constituted and delegated authorities. These bearers of this priesthood can trace through the hands of one, two, or three men the authority that has come upon them directly from Peter, James, and John, who received their divine appointment under the administration of Jesus Christ Himself. I cannot get legal title to these blessings and ignore this priesthood established by God. I. shall discover, too, that I will not be able to do anything that the Lord has required at my hands without compliance with His way, His terms. If I undertake to produce electricity, and abridge some of the essential things necessary to its production, will I get electricity? If in the realm of chemistry, I undertake to ignore some of the well known and established principles by which I shall produce certain chemical results, will I get the results? So on the farm, if I neglect to use some of the methods well known to be necessary in the cultivation of the soil, shall I get the results? or in any field of activity? No. Law rules and principles govern everywhere; and I will discover that there are rules, laws, and principles, with respect to men, that have been divinely established, and not formulated out of caprice. Jesus Christ said, “I came not to do my own will, but the will of the father who sent me.” The law that He announced and established, was under the direction of the Father, and so even the Father could not abridge it, or make it null and void. He complied with it Himself, and through compliance with it became God. Jesus is the Christ, and you and I will discover that it is necessary for us to comply strictly with His law in order that we may inherit.
I suppose there are some in the Church who will excuse themselves, and say on account of some good they do, “I am a pretty good man, I go to meeting, I look after the sick; but I smoke once in a while, I drink a little, I take a glass of beer sometimes, I pay a little tithing, one hundred dollars a year, I think that is pretty good, I will come out all right.” By such conduct we excuse ourselves, trying to deceive ourselves by only partly complying. There is a scripture that is not thoroughly understood, wherein Jesus said, If ye fail in the least of these, ye are guilty of breaking the whole. Now I want to say what appeals to me with respect to that matter. I do not think that if a man keeps two-thirds of the commandments of the Lord that he is as bad off as the man that is not keeping any. There are those who assert that all roads lead to heaven. But there are many roads that lead to Salt Lake City, or to New York, and no matter which road you take, it will bring you there. I am perfectly agreed with my friends that every man that does some good, that good will take him so far on the way toward the goal of salvation, part of the way. Some of us get just about one-half the way, some of us two-thirds; but until we get to the goal we do not get what we are seeking for. We discover that all men who do good are led toward God. Nevertheless, I must comply with each and every requirement made if I wish to attain eternal life. While there may be many other ways that lead into a place, I cannot enter only by the straight and narrow gate; and I must pass muster before I enter and meet all the requirements and conditions. If I have gone two-thirds of the way, there is just that much less for me to do; and there is just that much encouragement for the man or woman until they comply with all, but they do not get the desired results. Just as in the case of the electricity, I may comply with two-thirds of the requirements to produce electricity; I may comply with nine-tenths, but I do not get it until I have complied with all. I am just that much nearer the goal, but I don’t get the result until I comply strictly and absolutely with the law. So I say again that it is necessary that I shall be a strict observer in this regard.
Jesus did not require anything that was unnecessary, in one single thing. How can I expect to inherit the place promised by obedience to the law of tithing, except I keep that law? I am deceiving myself if I am only a tithe payer on account. The grand and glorious principle is that I am an honest tithe payer, and that I pay the full tenth. And the greatest asset is in the training of the man and the woman that are found complying with this principle, better and greater than possessing much land in. these splendid valleys. While the world may build splendid cities, and railroads, and accomplish other enterprises of a wonderful character, they may be morally weak. The greatest asset of this Church today is the splendid manhood and womanhood this Church is building, the training and perfecting of men and women through obedience to the Gospel. I appeal to you, my brethren and sisters, that you shall not treat lightly a single requirement made, and that we shall be strict observers Of those obligations enjoined upon us. We deceive ourselves if we think we can get the results, the promised blessings, except we comply with the laws on which they are predicated.
The Lord bless us and give us strength and courage to comply with these requirements, not minimize one of them, but so live faithfully in the observance of our part in the stewardship over which we preside, that it can truly be said of us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” Nevertheless, never shall we hear these words, in time or eternity, until we have been faithful, strictly and absolutely, according to the requirements. God bless us to have faith in these things, and enable us to live so that we will comply even with that which we have not yet seen, that may be required, and trust the promises that have been made by Him whose promises never fail, I ask, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
In standing in your presence, brethren and sisters, I do so in the hope that through the blessings of the Lord I may discharge this duty acceptably to my Father in heaven, and to the good and blessing of all those who are gathered together in this' meeting of the general conference. My heart has been made glad in listening to the words that have been spoken to us by President Rey L. Pratt, of the Mexican mission, and by President Melvin J. Ballard of the Northwestern States Mission. The words of one of the inspired writers have been forcibly impressed upon my mind. The doctrine that has been taught unto us this morning is not the doctrine of the men who have been teaching us. It is the doctrine of our Father in heaven; and the only way whereby men can understand and know the truth of the doctrine, is by receiving and testing the principles that have been expounded. When the Redeemer of men tarried in the flesh and undertook to teach men the way of salvation, He could only make them a promise of this character. He was looked upon as an imposter. Men did not believe that it was possible for one of so lowly an origin to be the Great Redeemer and deliverer for whom they had been looking for ages. His words have been in my mind. He could only say to them: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.”
My brethren and sisters, I thank the Lord that in my own experiences I have demonstrated the truth of this announcement made ages ago, and I take it that every Latter-day Saint, every missionary, every man, and every woman, who have taken upon them the name of the Redeemer of the world, in the way that has been appointed by the great law giver, have had like experiences, and they have learned the absolute truth of these things because they have lived in harmony with the principles of the Gospel. They have had evidences come to them by the divine aid of the Holy Spirit that have swept away all doubt, and that have made them know in very deed, that the doctrines that they have attempted to put into practice are necessary and constitute the saving principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been greatly impressed, my brethren and sisters, with the manifestations of that spirit of kindness and forgiveness, that is taught in the Gospel, through meeting quite recently in Arizona, many of our people who have been expelled from their homes in Mexico. I found among them a wonderful spirit of forbearance. It has been marvelous to me to listen to their words of kindness, and the manner in which they defend the people who are responsible for their expulsion from their homes at the present time.
While sitting here, listening to the words of President Pratt, in relation to the persecution and opposition that have been brought to bear against the work of God, I could not help but think of one very remarkable and unexpected testimony concerning our vitality and wonderful growth that I heard from one of our faith, many years ago, when I was laboring abroad as a missionary. Our indifference at times gives cause for fear that we ourselves, here at home, under Gospel influences, and under the guidance of those who have been authorized to teach and instruct in the way of salvation, we, ofttimes do not appreciate the marvelous manifestations of the divine favor of our Creator. The matter to which I have made reference occurred in a lecture that was delivered by a man who has been world-renowned in his time, Charles H. Bradlaugh one occupying a position among the British people similar to that that has been occupied by Robert G. Ingersol in America. I was at one time invited, with other missionaries, to attend a lecture delivered by this noted man in the city of Bristol. His theme was “Is Christianity a Persecuting Religion?” He gave abundant evidence of being familiar with the religious history of the world, particularly those portions of religious history that have been made during periods of persecution. It is sad thing to know that there have been dreadful deeds committed in the name of religion. Those who have professed to be ministers of the gospel have ruthlessly murdered their fellowmen in the name of the lowly Nazarene. In the name of the Being of all beings who has ever lived upon this earth who has stood for peace, who has been the embodiment of forbearance, and charity, and love. Who has taught the doctrine that we have heard announced in this conference, that when we are smitten upon one cheek we should turn the others also. In His name so-called religious teachers have been guilty of some of the most dreadful deeds that blacken the pages of history. Possibly there have been men in times past who have felt that they were doing God’s service when they persecuted those who did not see and understand, and believe as they understood. This noted lecturer was familiar with all such pages of history, and he brought to the attention of the gentlemen who were gathered together to hear him, many very dreadful stories. An opportunity was given at the close of the lecture for those who were present, to propound questions, among others a young man arose and asked if it was not true that in the commencement of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ He stood practically alone, and that He was from the ranks of the lowly, and that those who gave attention to His testimony were drawn from the same ranks; that He and they were without power; that they were few in number and were without worldly influence, and also without wealth. The answer was that was the condition. Then this question was propounded. “Was there not arrayed against this lowly individual, and the people who had been drawn to Him from the ranks of the poor, who, like Himself, were without power and influence, the might of the great Roman empire, and was it not the decree and the determination of those who were in authority to crush out the religion of the Nazarene, and to destroy those who had given allegiance to Him?” The answer was frankly given, that that was the condition. Then the young man asked, “How do you account for the preservation of the early Christian Church in the face of this deadly opposition, if there be no God; if there was no hand of providence extended over them how is it that they were preserved? It is the story o>f the world that when great strength and might is arrayed against weakness, weakness must give way, and be destroyed, and that strength and might prevail. How is it those early Christians were not destroyed?” I was very interested in the question. I wondered how it could be answered, because a very wonderful story of remarkable preservation has been written concerning the early Christian church. When Mr. Bradlaugh arose to make answer, he said, “Young man, away out in the western part of America there can be found a people who have had similar experiences to those of the early Christians, a people who have had arrayed against them the might of one of the mightiest of nations, a people who have had arrayed against them the religious prejudices of all other peoples, and yet in spite of all opposition, in spite of this prejudice and religious hate, that people have made remarkable headway, and the history that they have written during recent years is more remarkable than anything that has been written concerning the early Christian Church. I speak, he said, of the ‘Mormon’ Church of Utah. Do you think that because of their preservation there is any evidence that the power of God has been extended over them, and that the great being whom you worship as Father and God, who created this earth upon which we dwell, has had His hand made manifest in their preservation?” Of course there went forth from that gathering of people, when this statement was made, a titter of laughter. Who was there in that gathering that could say that the great God was interested in the “Mormon” people? Who was there that could feel that because their wonderful history paralleled the history of the early Christians that there was a living God who had decreed that they should be preserved, just as those early Christians had been preserved, until the work that our Father had designed in the meridian of time had been by them fully accomplished? In my judgment it was not wisdom for me at the time to take any part in the discussion, as I was a guest of the chairman of that meeting, and in fact had been informed that discussion was not permitted. A question could be propounded and the answer would be given according to the view point of the lecturer. When the answer was given by the lecturer the question was closed. In my soul on the occasion named, there came a very great joy, my brethren and sisters, I was filled with happiness to know that when one of those men of the world, who was well posted in history, and who was recognized intellectually as a giant among men, when such a man sought for a religion and people to parallel the history of early Christians, he found my people. He brought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the attention of the audience, and bore record that our history was the history that paralleled the story of the early persecution and opposition to the Church of Christ in the meridian of time.
I thank God that the same forces are in operation today that operated in that day, that the same Being has revealed the everlasting Gospel that planted His Gospel in the meridian of time, and that He has established this work in this our dispensation with a great promise, a promise that has been so often sounded in our ears, the promise that never in this age shall the cause of truth be overcome, or given to another people. God has planted this glorious work. He cries to men, He cries to you and to me to test the doctrines, of His Gospel. He does not demand anything of any one of us beyond our power, only that we shall, in a spirit of humility, with a feeling of proper anxiety in our souls, seek to know the truth, and give those things that He has revealed an honest, fair test. The Lord God of heaven has Himself pledged to every man, and to every woman who will thus seek to understand the truth, the promise that he or she shall discover it. This knowledge is not to come by means of scientific discovery, or by the ideas that have taken possession Of men in these latter times, educationally; but in the only way that God has ever given, that is, by the revelation of the Lord God to the individual, through the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, thereby dispelling darkness through the power of the Holy Ghost, that truth may burst into the soul, and that the human mind may be lit up by the inspiration and power of God, and be made to know that God lives, that He is our Father, and that He has in very deed revealed the way of salvation.
To my soul this knowledge has come; I desire to repent, and to have faith and confidence in my Father in heaven, and I bear record of the truth of this work. This work that He has commanded shall be heralded among the nations. That responsibility has come unto us, that we shall go to every nation and to every kindred and to every tongue and to every people, sounding the message of the Gospel, and calling men to repentance, and point out to all the way of everlasting life. Every soul who has tested the message has been made to know the truth, and in that manner the knowledge of this work, its truth and power, has come to me. I bear this record, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.
The anthem, “Gog and Magog,” was rendered.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
In standing in your presence, brethren and sisters, I do so in the hope that through the blessings of the Lord I may discharge this duty acceptably to my Father in heaven, and to the good and blessing of all those who are gathered together in this' meeting of the general conference. My heart has been made glad in listening to the words that have been spoken to us by President Rey L. Pratt, of the Mexican mission, and by President Melvin J. Ballard of the Northwestern States Mission. The words of one of the inspired writers have been forcibly impressed upon my mind. The doctrine that has been taught unto us this morning is not the doctrine of the men who have been teaching us. It is the doctrine of our Father in heaven; and the only way whereby men can understand and know the truth of the doctrine, is by receiving and testing the principles that have been expounded. When the Redeemer of men tarried in the flesh and undertook to teach men the way of salvation, He could only make them a promise of this character. He was looked upon as an imposter. Men did not believe that it was possible for one of so lowly an origin to be the Great Redeemer and deliverer for whom they had been looking for ages. His words have been in my mind. He could only say to them: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.”
My brethren and sisters, I thank the Lord that in my own experiences I have demonstrated the truth of this announcement made ages ago, and I take it that every Latter-day Saint, every missionary, every man, and every woman, who have taken upon them the name of the Redeemer of the world, in the way that has been appointed by the great law giver, have had like experiences, and they have learned the absolute truth of these things because they have lived in harmony with the principles of the Gospel. They have had evidences come to them by the divine aid of the Holy Spirit that have swept away all doubt, and that have made them know in very deed, that the doctrines that they have attempted to put into practice are necessary and constitute the saving principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been greatly impressed, my brethren and sisters, with the manifestations of that spirit of kindness and forgiveness, that is taught in the Gospel, through meeting quite recently in Arizona, many of our people who have been expelled from their homes in Mexico. I found among them a wonderful spirit of forbearance. It has been marvelous to me to listen to their words of kindness, and the manner in which they defend the people who are responsible for their expulsion from their homes at the present time.
While sitting here, listening to the words of President Pratt, in relation to the persecution and opposition that have been brought to bear against the work of God, I could not help but think of one very remarkable and unexpected testimony concerning our vitality and wonderful growth that I heard from one of our faith, many years ago, when I was laboring abroad as a missionary. Our indifference at times gives cause for fear that we ourselves, here at home, under Gospel influences, and under the guidance of those who have been authorized to teach and instruct in the way of salvation, we, ofttimes do not appreciate the marvelous manifestations of the divine favor of our Creator. The matter to which I have made reference occurred in a lecture that was delivered by a man who has been world-renowned in his time, Charles H. Bradlaugh one occupying a position among the British people similar to that that has been occupied by Robert G. Ingersol in America. I was at one time invited, with other missionaries, to attend a lecture delivered by this noted man in the city of Bristol. His theme was “Is Christianity a Persecuting Religion?” He gave abundant evidence of being familiar with the religious history of the world, particularly those portions of religious history that have been made during periods of persecution. It is sad thing to know that there have been dreadful deeds committed in the name of religion. Those who have professed to be ministers of the gospel have ruthlessly murdered their fellowmen in the name of the lowly Nazarene. In the name of the Being of all beings who has ever lived upon this earth who has stood for peace, who has been the embodiment of forbearance, and charity, and love. Who has taught the doctrine that we have heard announced in this conference, that when we are smitten upon one cheek we should turn the others also. In His name so-called religious teachers have been guilty of some of the most dreadful deeds that blacken the pages of history. Possibly there have been men in times past who have felt that they were doing God’s service when they persecuted those who did not see and understand, and believe as they understood. This noted lecturer was familiar with all such pages of history, and he brought to the attention of the gentlemen who were gathered together to hear him, many very dreadful stories. An opportunity was given at the close of the lecture for those who were present, to propound questions, among others a young man arose and asked if it was not true that in the commencement of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ He stood practically alone, and that He was from the ranks of the lowly, and that those who gave attention to His testimony were drawn from the same ranks; that He and they were without power; that they were few in number and were without worldly influence, and also without wealth. The answer was that was the condition. Then this question was propounded. “Was there not arrayed against this lowly individual, and the people who had been drawn to Him from the ranks of the poor, who, like Himself, were without power and influence, the might of the great Roman empire, and was it not the decree and the determination of those who were in authority to crush out the religion of the Nazarene, and to destroy those who had given allegiance to Him?” The answer was frankly given, that that was the condition. Then the young man asked, “How do you account for the preservation of the early Christian Church in the face of this deadly opposition, if there be no God; if there was no hand of providence extended over them how is it that they were preserved? It is the story o>f the world that when great strength and might is arrayed against weakness, weakness must give way, and be destroyed, and that strength and might prevail. How is it those early Christians were not destroyed?” I was very interested in the question. I wondered how it could be answered, because a very wonderful story of remarkable preservation has been written concerning the early Christian church. When Mr. Bradlaugh arose to make answer, he said, “Young man, away out in the western part of America there can be found a people who have had similar experiences to those of the early Christians, a people who have had arrayed against them the might of one of the mightiest of nations, a people who have had arrayed against them the religious prejudices of all other peoples, and yet in spite of all opposition, in spite of this prejudice and religious hate, that people have made remarkable headway, and the history that they have written during recent years is more remarkable than anything that has been written concerning the early Christian Church. I speak, he said, of the ‘Mormon’ Church of Utah. Do you think that because of their preservation there is any evidence that the power of God has been extended over them, and that the great being whom you worship as Father and God, who created this earth upon which we dwell, has had His hand made manifest in their preservation?” Of course there went forth from that gathering of people, when this statement was made, a titter of laughter. Who was there in that gathering that could say that the great God was interested in the “Mormon” people? Who was there that could feel that because their wonderful history paralleled the history of the early Christians that there was a living God who had decreed that they should be preserved, just as those early Christians had been preserved, until the work that our Father had designed in the meridian of time had been by them fully accomplished? In my judgment it was not wisdom for me at the time to take any part in the discussion, as I was a guest of the chairman of that meeting, and in fact had been informed that discussion was not permitted. A question could be propounded and the answer would be given according to the view point of the lecturer. When the answer was given by the lecturer the question was closed. In my soul on the occasion named, there came a very great joy, my brethren and sisters, I was filled with happiness to know that when one of those men of the world, who was well posted in history, and who was recognized intellectually as a giant among men, when such a man sought for a religion and people to parallel the history of early Christians, he found my people. He brought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the attention of the audience, and bore record that our history was the history that paralleled the story of the early persecution and opposition to the Church of Christ in the meridian of time.
I thank God that the same forces are in operation today that operated in that day, that the same Being has revealed the everlasting Gospel that planted His Gospel in the meridian of time, and that He has established this work in this our dispensation with a great promise, a promise that has been so often sounded in our ears, the promise that never in this age shall the cause of truth be overcome, or given to another people. God has planted this glorious work. He cries to men, He cries to you and to me to test the doctrines, of His Gospel. He does not demand anything of any one of us beyond our power, only that we shall, in a spirit of humility, with a feeling of proper anxiety in our souls, seek to know the truth, and give those things that He has revealed an honest, fair test. The Lord God of heaven has Himself pledged to every man, and to every woman who will thus seek to understand the truth, the promise that he or she shall discover it. This knowledge is not to come by means of scientific discovery, or by the ideas that have taken possession Of men in these latter times, educationally; but in the only way that God has ever given, that is, by the revelation of the Lord God to the individual, through the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, thereby dispelling darkness through the power of the Holy Ghost, that truth may burst into the soul, and that the human mind may be lit up by the inspiration and power of God, and be made to know that God lives, that He is our Father, and that He has in very deed revealed the way of salvation.
To my soul this knowledge has come; I desire to repent, and to have faith and confidence in my Father in heaven, and I bear record of the truth of this work. This work that He has commanded shall be heralded among the nations. That responsibility has come unto us, that we shall go to every nation and to every kindred and to every tongue and to every people, sounding the message of the Gospel, and calling men to repentance, and point out to all the way of everlasting life. Every soul who has tested the message has been made to know the truth, and in that manner the knowledge of this work, its truth and power, has come to me. I bear this record, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.
The anthem, “Gog and Magog,” was rendered.
ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS.
May the blessings of heaven go with you, my brethren and sisters, as you disperse from this meeting. Believe in the Lord.
Believe that He is, and that we are His children. Believe in Him as the Creator of the universe, the heavens above us and the earth upon which we dwell. Let us put our trust in Him. Cry to Him continually. Pray to Him in your fields that the harvest may be abundant; as you attend your flocks and herds, that there may be increase ; as you transact the business of your stores and counting houses, or whatever vocation the Lord has given you to labor in, let that labor be performed in His name, and with faith in Him. He does control the destinies of men and of nations. His kingdom will come and His will be done upon earth as it is in heaven. Every man and woman who have put their trust in Him, who have taken upon them the name of His only begotten Son, the Redeemer of the world, and entered into covenant that they will serve Him and keep His commandments, if they keep those covenants shall be brought back into His presence and be crowned with glory, immortality and everlasting life, and shall be redeemed from death.
I pray the blessings of the Lord upon our brethren and sisters who have furnished this splendid musical program, and all others of His people who are here, and those who are away from us. May God’s blessing be with His Church everywhere, I pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.
The anthem, “Hosannah,” was rendered.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Roscoe W. Eardley.
May the blessings of heaven go with you, my brethren and sisters, as you disperse from this meeting. Believe in the Lord.
Believe that He is, and that we are His children. Believe in Him as the Creator of the universe, the heavens above us and the earth upon which we dwell. Let us put our trust in Him. Cry to Him continually. Pray to Him in your fields that the harvest may be abundant; as you attend your flocks and herds, that there may be increase ; as you transact the business of your stores and counting houses, or whatever vocation the Lord has given you to labor in, let that labor be performed in His name, and with faith in Him. He does control the destinies of men and of nations. His kingdom will come and His will be done upon earth as it is in heaven. Every man and woman who have put their trust in Him, who have taken upon them the name of His only begotten Son, the Redeemer of the world, and entered into covenant that they will serve Him and keep His commandments, if they keep those covenants shall be brought back into His presence and be crowned with glory, immortality and everlasting life, and shall be redeemed from death.
I pray the blessings of the Lord upon our brethren and sisters who have furnished this splendid musical program, and all others of His people who are here, and those who are away from us. May God’s blessing be with His Church everywhere, I pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.
The anthem, “Hosannah,” was rendered.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Roscoe W. Eardley.
SECOND OVERFLOW MEETING.
Another meeting of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall, at 2 p. m., at which Elder Heber J. Grant presided.
The Ogden Tabernacle choir furnished the musical service, under direction of Joseph Ballantyne, Samuel Whitaker, organist.
Lillian Scott and the choir sang, “There is a green hill far away.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Hugh J. Cannon.
Robert Binnie and the choir sang “Nazareth.”
Another meeting of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall, at 2 p. m., at which Elder Heber J. Grant presided.
The Ogden Tabernacle choir furnished the musical service, under direction of Joseph Ballantyne, Samuel Whitaker, organist.
Lillian Scott and the choir sang, “There is a green hill far away.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Hugh J. Cannon.
Robert Binnie and the choir sang “Nazareth.”
ELDER CHARLES H. HART.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
A few months ago the men of this nation, having an income of three thousand dollars per annum or more, were engaged in the duty of listing, under oath, their income during the months preceding, their worldly blessings, and I thought that if we of the Church were to list, under the same circumstances, and with the same obligation resting upon us, to make a true and complete inventory, all the blessings which have come to us from “Mormonism,” that the schedule would indeed be a lengthy and imposing one. We would have to list, to begin with, I presume, a correct idea of deity, which has come to us from “Mormonism,” even in the first revelation to the Prophet Joseph, as mentioned in the meeting this morning, a knowledge of Deity such as set forth in the sermon of Elder B. H. Roberts, reproduced in the Deseret News last evening. I shall not undertake in the time I have at my disposal to go into details in reference to that subject, but just refer in a general way to the matters that are elucidated and set forth in that splendid talk. So we would have to credit to “Mormonism” a new volume of scripture, even the Book of Mormon, a book attested by the direct testimony of twelve credible witnesses, unimpeached and unimpeachable, competent witnesses altogether trustworthy, and attested by strong internal evidences. The work of the great sculptor attests itself. The work of the great artist likewise, or of the great poet. So the work of the great prophet speaks for itself. There are some things that cannot be fabricated in this world, and a volume of holy writ is one of those things that cannot be produced by fraud or deception. This morning as Elder O. F. Whitney mentioned the efforts to account for “Mormonism,” I thought of similar accusations made against Christianity, and the way such arguments have been met. One writer argues thus:
“Upon the theory that Christ was a mythical person, the result of the fancy and fairy stories of His disciples after His death, then we must conclude that the leader of the greatest movement for the converting, purifying, inspiring and uplifting of the race which the world has ever known is the prophet of myth, fancy, over-wrought imagination and pious deception. If this be true then it is also true that error is better than truth and the race moves upward under the beneficent influence of falsehood. But this is absurd, and the theory which forces such conclusions must be rejected.”
There would be listed also the Doctrine and Covenants, a modem volume of scripture. And in this connection, we might also note the fact that to “Mormonism” is due the belief, in modem times, in revelation, discarding the notion as expressed by one that “God is an absentee Deity, sitting idly since the first creation morn on the outside of His world watching it go without concern.” The truth is that in all ages of the world, the progress of mankind has been guided and led by revelation, revelation that came not prematurely nor tardily, but just at the right time to be in advance of and lead the progress of mankind. And just as it was necessary for the Old Testament Scriptures to be supplemented by the revelations of the New, so it was likewise necessary for the revelations of the Jewish scriptures to be supplemented by the revelations contained in the Book of Mormon, the volume of Nephite scripture, and this Book of Covenants, containing modern revelations. As the information to the followers of Moses was not sufficient to guide those of the Christian dispensation, so the light of the Christian dispensation obscured as it had been through the centuries that had elapsed, was not sufficient for the guidance of the children of our Father in modern times.
There would be placed also in your schedule another volume of scripture, small, but nevertheless important, the Pearl of Great Price, giving some ancient but very important information concerning the universe, and concerning God’s purposes in peopling this world of ours. That book is also well established, so well established that meddlesome priests cannot overthrow it. As well might the birds peck at the foundations of our magnificent granite-built temple to undermine it as for meddlesome priests to undertake to overthrow “Mormonism” by trying to pry out any of its foundation stones. The result of such an effort, recently, as in all by-gone years, has been that “Mormonism” appears stronger than ever before. Just as the story goes of the resident of the cyclone district building a rock fence six feet wide and four feet high. He gave as the explanation for such dimensions if the cyclone turned it over, it would be two feet higher than before. And so in our experiences, whenever any of the foundation principles of “Mormonism” are turned over, they are discovered to be many feet higher than they were before.
And so the Church organization has been declared by a learned professor of one of our great universities to be one of the great and strong organizations of the world.
There would be listed also the authorized officers of this organization, men not accomplishing things by their own power or taking credit to themselves for work accomplished through them, but receiving power from, and giving credit to the Father, whose work it is and under whose guidance they labor.
And to “Mormonism” should be credited also the right idea in reference to authority or priesthood, placing affairs pertaining to the kingdom of our Father, religious affairs, upon the same well known plan that our earthly affairs are placed upon, no principle being better understood or as generally acted upon in this world of ours, in either business or governmental affairs than that one cannot be an agent of the principal without the authorization or the ratification of the principal. And so we recognize this truth as an important principle, that no man can take this honor upon himself save he be called of God as was Aaron, recognizing also the words of the Savior, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you; that ye shall go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” As indicated by the remarks of the brethren during this conference, the result of these added volumes of scripture is to not do away with the Bible, but to supplement and make its precious parts more plain and more emphatic. And as the result of this splendid organization and the priesthood operating in the offices appointed by the Almighty, the fruits of “Mormonism” are good indeed.
We heard yesterday some vital statistics, which only took a few minutes to read. But do we realize the import of some of those important vital statistics given by President Smith in reference to the birth rate? Do you know the significance of that little figure as to the birthrate in our Church, of 37 per thousand. Do you know that in England and Wales, when they had reached the very high water-mark of high birth rate in those lands, in the year 1876, since which time the rate has been steadily declining at a very rapid rate, that then the birth rate stood at that time a few points below that of the Church for the year 1913, the birth rate of England and Wales in the year 1876 being 36.3 as against 37 as given by President Smith as for the Church for last year?
On this same subject, to indicate its importance, let me refer to the remarks of the Archbishop of York, in his presidential address given at the church congress, held Oct. 1, 1912, in which he said: “There is a serious and steady decline in the birth rate of the people,” and, “we are confronted by a formidable national danger.” Likewise, the Bishop of London, in his address of Oct. 12, 1911, says: “It is proved as completely as anything can be that the cause for this (referring to the declining birthrate) is a deliberate limitation of families,” the cause of which he puts down to the “miserable doctrine of comfort.” He intimates that the cure is to live the simpler, harder life our fathers lived when they made Britain what it is today.” Also Father Bernard Vaughan, in a speech given by him July 14, 1908, referred to wives refusing the privilege of motherhood for numerous things mentioned by him, among them being: wishing to avoid being bored with the nursery; because there was no room in their flat; because they were not strong enough to bear what they did not like to bear, etc. When that condition arrived, he said, it was time to “read the riot act,” an expression peculiarly English. Also Dr. C. J. Trimble, upon the same subject, declared that the declining birth rate as a national catastrophe, and called it social suicide. In our Church statistics there is this consequence, if you notice, that while there is a high birth rate there is a low death rate. And writers upon this subject, as for instance, the one in the Nineteenth Century magazine for February last, say that as a rule where there is a high birth rate there is invariably a high death rate, and conversely, with a low birth rate as a rule there is a low death rate. The justification which some have for the low birth rate is to secure a low death rate. But here this rule does not work in the Church, for while we have a high birth rate there is a very low death rate.
Time will not permit to inventory all the things that can be credited to “Mormonism.” You in making up your list might include all that has been said during the conference by the presidency of the Church and the council of the Twelve up to this good time, and all that shall be said peculiar to “Mormonism” during the balance of these conference meetings, and then the half will not be told. There will be much afterwards to add to your account of the spiritual and temporal blessings which “Mormonism” has brought unto men, and you may not undertake to make any fine distinctions in drawing the line between the temporal and the spiritual, because some of them you shall find in the twilight zone, and you can no more separate them than you can take any point of time and say this is where daylight ceases and that where darkness begins.
You can give “Mormonism” credit for its people being a frugal, industrious people, a God-fearing, a faith-promoting, a child-rearing, home-building, colonizing people, a people of honesty and integrity and of general worth as citizens of this country of ours,—a people who stand for temperance. The Church stands for settling things in the right way, and until a question is settled right it is not settled; and we might bear that in mind in connection with the courageous and splendid talk of Elder Grant yesterday on the temperance question, and we should realize, to begin with, that it will take manhood, courage and determination to settle the saloon question as it should be settled, and until that question is settled right it is not settled at all. As the poet says :
"However the battle is ended.
Though proudly the victor comes,
With fluttering flags and prancing steeds
And echoing roll of drums,
Till the truth proclaims the motto--
In letters of living light,
No question is ever settled
Until it is settled right.
Through the heel of the strong oppressor,
May grind the weak in the dust
And the voices of fame with one acclaim
May call him great and just,
Let those who applaud take warning,
And keep this motto in sight, No question is ever settled.
Until it is settled right.
“Let those who have failed take courage,
Though the enemy seems to have won.
Though his ranks are strong, if he be in the wrong,
The battle is not yet done;
For sure as the morning follows
The darkest hour of the night,
No question is ever settled,
Until it is settled right.
“O man bowed down with labor, O woman young yet old,
O heart oppressed in the toiler's breast
And crushed by the power of gold,
Keep on with your weary battle
Against triumphant might,
No question is ever settled,
Until it is settled right.”
To conclude the line of thought that I started with, in this income schedule, of which we have been speaking, one may deduct certain expenses, taxes, interests, etc., the draw-backs, so to speak, in order to get your net assets; so when you get your list completed of the benefits that have come to you from “Mormonism,” charge up or deduct will you, for the purpose of ascertaining your net income from “Mormonism” all the possible drawbacks. Charge up against it, if you please, what you have paid for tithing, if you think that a burden or loss. If it is not to your pleasure, a joy and a profit to make these payments, then deduct them from your schedule. Likewise your missionary effort and expenditures in that direction. Still you shall find there is a large net asset to you from the Gospel, if you are living up to your privileges, if you are incorporating into your lives all the good things that you are entitled to take from “Mormonism,” making them a part of your lives. By the way, our missionary system would have to be listed as one of the best sustained efforts at altruism upon a large scale, considering the number of people, that the world in all its history has ever seen.
May the Lord assist us to appreciate the good that the Gospel has conferred upon us, and will confer upon us, if we are willing that it shall come into our lives and bless us with its sublime teachings and its life-giving principles and precepts, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
A few months ago the men of this nation, having an income of three thousand dollars per annum or more, were engaged in the duty of listing, under oath, their income during the months preceding, their worldly blessings, and I thought that if we of the Church were to list, under the same circumstances, and with the same obligation resting upon us, to make a true and complete inventory, all the blessings which have come to us from “Mormonism,” that the schedule would indeed be a lengthy and imposing one. We would have to list, to begin with, I presume, a correct idea of deity, which has come to us from “Mormonism,” even in the first revelation to the Prophet Joseph, as mentioned in the meeting this morning, a knowledge of Deity such as set forth in the sermon of Elder B. H. Roberts, reproduced in the Deseret News last evening. I shall not undertake in the time I have at my disposal to go into details in reference to that subject, but just refer in a general way to the matters that are elucidated and set forth in that splendid talk. So we would have to credit to “Mormonism” a new volume of scripture, even the Book of Mormon, a book attested by the direct testimony of twelve credible witnesses, unimpeached and unimpeachable, competent witnesses altogether trustworthy, and attested by strong internal evidences. The work of the great sculptor attests itself. The work of the great artist likewise, or of the great poet. So the work of the great prophet speaks for itself. There are some things that cannot be fabricated in this world, and a volume of holy writ is one of those things that cannot be produced by fraud or deception. This morning as Elder O. F. Whitney mentioned the efforts to account for “Mormonism,” I thought of similar accusations made against Christianity, and the way such arguments have been met. One writer argues thus:
“Upon the theory that Christ was a mythical person, the result of the fancy and fairy stories of His disciples after His death, then we must conclude that the leader of the greatest movement for the converting, purifying, inspiring and uplifting of the race which the world has ever known is the prophet of myth, fancy, over-wrought imagination and pious deception. If this be true then it is also true that error is better than truth and the race moves upward under the beneficent influence of falsehood. But this is absurd, and the theory which forces such conclusions must be rejected.”
There would be listed also the Doctrine and Covenants, a modem volume of scripture. And in this connection, we might also note the fact that to “Mormonism” is due the belief, in modem times, in revelation, discarding the notion as expressed by one that “God is an absentee Deity, sitting idly since the first creation morn on the outside of His world watching it go without concern.” The truth is that in all ages of the world, the progress of mankind has been guided and led by revelation, revelation that came not prematurely nor tardily, but just at the right time to be in advance of and lead the progress of mankind. And just as it was necessary for the Old Testament Scriptures to be supplemented by the revelations of the New, so it was likewise necessary for the revelations of the Jewish scriptures to be supplemented by the revelations contained in the Book of Mormon, the volume of Nephite scripture, and this Book of Covenants, containing modern revelations. As the information to the followers of Moses was not sufficient to guide those of the Christian dispensation, so the light of the Christian dispensation obscured as it had been through the centuries that had elapsed, was not sufficient for the guidance of the children of our Father in modern times.
There would be placed also in your schedule another volume of scripture, small, but nevertheless important, the Pearl of Great Price, giving some ancient but very important information concerning the universe, and concerning God’s purposes in peopling this world of ours. That book is also well established, so well established that meddlesome priests cannot overthrow it. As well might the birds peck at the foundations of our magnificent granite-built temple to undermine it as for meddlesome priests to undertake to overthrow “Mormonism” by trying to pry out any of its foundation stones. The result of such an effort, recently, as in all by-gone years, has been that “Mormonism” appears stronger than ever before. Just as the story goes of the resident of the cyclone district building a rock fence six feet wide and four feet high. He gave as the explanation for such dimensions if the cyclone turned it over, it would be two feet higher than before. And so in our experiences, whenever any of the foundation principles of “Mormonism” are turned over, they are discovered to be many feet higher than they were before.
And so the Church organization has been declared by a learned professor of one of our great universities to be one of the great and strong organizations of the world.
There would be listed also the authorized officers of this organization, men not accomplishing things by their own power or taking credit to themselves for work accomplished through them, but receiving power from, and giving credit to the Father, whose work it is and under whose guidance they labor.
And to “Mormonism” should be credited also the right idea in reference to authority or priesthood, placing affairs pertaining to the kingdom of our Father, religious affairs, upon the same well known plan that our earthly affairs are placed upon, no principle being better understood or as generally acted upon in this world of ours, in either business or governmental affairs than that one cannot be an agent of the principal without the authorization or the ratification of the principal. And so we recognize this truth as an important principle, that no man can take this honor upon himself save he be called of God as was Aaron, recognizing also the words of the Savior, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you; that ye shall go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” As indicated by the remarks of the brethren during this conference, the result of these added volumes of scripture is to not do away with the Bible, but to supplement and make its precious parts more plain and more emphatic. And as the result of this splendid organization and the priesthood operating in the offices appointed by the Almighty, the fruits of “Mormonism” are good indeed.
We heard yesterday some vital statistics, which only took a few minutes to read. But do we realize the import of some of those important vital statistics given by President Smith in reference to the birth rate? Do you know the significance of that little figure as to the birthrate in our Church, of 37 per thousand. Do you know that in England and Wales, when they had reached the very high water-mark of high birth rate in those lands, in the year 1876, since which time the rate has been steadily declining at a very rapid rate, that then the birth rate stood at that time a few points below that of the Church for the year 1913, the birth rate of England and Wales in the year 1876 being 36.3 as against 37 as given by President Smith as for the Church for last year?
On this same subject, to indicate its importance, let me refer to the remarks of the Archbishop of York, in his presidential address given at the church congress, held Oct. 1, 1912, in which he said: “There is a serious and steady decline in the birth rate of the people,” and, “we are confronted by a formidable national danger.” Likewise, the Bishop of London, in his address of Oct. 12, 1911, says: “It is proved as completely as anything can be that the cause for this (referring to the declining birthrate) is a deliberate limitation of families,” the cause of which he puts down to the “miserable doctrine of comfort.” He intimates that the cure is to live the simpler, harder life our fathers lived when they made Britain what it is today.” Also Father Bernard Vaughan, in a speech given by him July 14, 1908, referred to wives refusing the privilege of motherhood for numerous things mentioned by him, among them being: wishing to avoid being bored with the nursery; because there was no room in their flat; because they were not strong enough to bear what they did not like to bear, etc. When that condition arrived, he said, it was time to “read the riot act,” an expression peculiarly English. Also Dr. C. J. Trimble, upon the same subject, declared that the declining birth rate as a national catastrophe, and called it social suicide. In our Church statistics there is this consequence, if you notice, that while there is a high birth rate there is a low death rate. And writers upon this subject, as for instance, the one in the Nineteenth Century magazine for February last, say that as a rule where there is a high birth rate there is invariably a high death rate, and conversely, with a low birth rate as a rule there is a low death rate. The justification which some have for the low birth rate is to secure a low death rate. But here this rule does not work in the Church, for while we have a high birth rate there is a very low death rate.
Time will not permit to inventory all the things that can be credited to “Mormonism.” You in making up your list might include all that has been said during the conference by the presidency of the Church and the council of the Twelve up to this good time, and all that shall be said peculiar to “Mormonism” during the balance of these conference meetings, and then the half will not be told. There will be much afterwards to add to your account of the spiritual and temporal blessings which “Mormonism” has brought unto men, and you may not undertake to make any fine distinctions in drawing the line between the temporal and the spiritual, because some of them you shall find in the twilight zone, and you can no more separate them than you can take any point of time and say this is where daylight ceases and that where darkness begins.
You can give “Mormonism” credit for its people being a frugal, industrious people, a God-fearing, a faith-promoting, a child-rearing, home-building, colonizing people, a people of honesty and integrity and of general worth as citizens of this country of ours,—a people who stand for temperance. The Church stands for settling things in the right way, and until a question is settled right it is not settled; and we might bear that in mind in connection with the courageous and splendid talk of Elder Grant yesterday on the temperance question, and we should realize, to begin with, that it will take manhood, courage and determination to settle the saloon question as it should be settled, and until that question is settled right it is not settled at all. As the poet says :
"However the battle is ended.
Though proudly the victor comes,
With fluttering flags and prancing steeds
And echoing roll of drums,
Till the truth proclaims the motto--
In letters of living light,
No question is ever settled
Until it is settled right.
Through the heel of the strong oppressor,
May grind the weak in the dust
And the voices of fame with one acclaim
May call him great and just,
Let those who applaud take warning,
And keep this motto in sight, No question is ever settled.
Until it is settled right.
“Let those who have failed take courage,
Though the enemy seems to have won.
Though his ranks are strong, if he be in the wrong,
The battle is not yet done;
For sure as the morning follows
The darkest hour of the night,
No question is ever settled,
Until it is settled right.
“O man bowed down with labor, O woman young yet old,
O heart oppressed in the toiler's breast
And crushed by the power of gold,
Keep on with your weary battle
Against triumphant might,
No question is ever settled,
Until it is settled right.”
To conclude the line of thought that I started with, in this income schedule, of which we have been speaking, one may deduct certain expenses, taxes, interests, etc., the draw-backs, so to speak, in order to get your net assets; so when you get your list completed of the benefits that have come to you from “Mormonism,” charge up or deduct will you, for the purpose of ascertaining your net income from “Mormonism” all the possible drawbacks. Charge up against it, if you please, what you have paid for tithing, if you think that a burden or loss. If it is not to your pleasure, a joy and a profit to make these payments, then deduct them from your schedule. Likewise your missionary effort and expenditures in that direction. Still you shall find there is a large net asset to you from the Gospel, if you are living up to your privileges, if you are incorporating into your lives all the good things that you are entitled to take from “Mormonism,” making them a part of your lives. By the way, our missionary system would have to be listed as one of the best sustained efforts at altruism upon a large scale, considering the number of people, that the world in all its history has ever seen.
May the Lord assist us to appreciate the good that the Gospel has conferred upon us, and will confer upon us, if we are willing that it shall come into our lives and bless us with its sublime teachings and its life-giving principles and precepts, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER JOS. S. GEDDES
(President of Oneida Stake.)
My beloved brethren and sisters, I presume many of you would be better acquainted with my father than you are with me, a remark I am led to make after the introduction I have had. My father was one of the early pioneers, one who labored upon the foundation of this beautiful temple. I feel very proud of my father and my mother. When my father was about 14 years of age, he listened to the’ testimony of two humble elders in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He became their fast friend, and a convert to the doctrine. When he went home to acquaint his parents of what he had done, the door was closed in his face; thus demonstrating and proving what the Master said, “He that will not leave father and mother, houses and lands, wives and children for My sake is not worthy of Me.” I feel to praise the Lord every day that I live that my father, then a boy, had integrity to stand for the Church, and to stand by the testimony that God the eternal Father had given unto him. I feel that I cannot live long enough in the world to repay my father and mother for what they have done for me, and I feel what little time I have to labor here upon the earth that I want to devote my life and labors and all the Lord has blessed me with, and all He may bless me with in the future, for the upbuilding of His kingdom.
I do not believe in long sermons. I believe that actions speak so much louder than words that we can scarcely hear what we say when placed in comparison with what we do. I remember one of our returned elders, Elder Heber Q. Hale, who has now been placed as president of one of the newly organized stakes, in Boise, Idaho. In giving his report he said he had been away from home upwards of three years, and the greatest sermon he had preached while away was one without words. When he landed in Germany, some of the elders warned him about what he should say and do, especially what he should do, because he could not yet say much. So, when a cup of tea was placed before him, he could not tell the good lady he did not drink tea; he could not explain the reason why. The tea was finally removed, and a cup of coffee placed instead thereof. He could not tell why he did not drink that. Neither could he tell why he did not drink the beer, when that was placed by his plate; but he thus preached one of the most powerful discourses that he preached while upon his mission, and it was one without words, for within a few days Brother Hale had the privilege of leading that good lady and all her family into the waters of baptism.
I remember while in the Southern States a little incident that happened In my own experience, if you will pardon a reference to it. After traveling nearly all day without food, we of course were hungry, and we began to try to get entertainment for the night. We overtook a gentleman, and he offered entertainment at his home. We discovered, however, before long, that he was somewhat under the influence of liquor. We did not mind that so much, because we were hungry, and wanted to get a night’s entertainment. Before we reached his home, he warned us against his good wife, she did not like the “Mormons.” We did not care so much about that, because we had been used to that kind of treatment. He put us into a little room to wait until supper was ready. After supper was made ready, he came and led us across a long piazza, and took us, I think, into one of the old plantation mansions that was used in slavery times, for the dining room was a very narrow, long hall, with a simple table that I think they used years ago in the times of slavery. Seated away on the other end was his good lady and a plate next to hers for him. And down at the other end were two places for the “Mormon” elders. We did not say much, but we preached just the same. Finally the good lady noticed that we did not drink out of the little white cup and saucer. Finally she whispered to her husband. Said he to us: “Don’t you gentlemen drink tea?” “No, sir.” “What will you take; will you have a cup of coffee?” “No, sir, we do not drink coffee.” “Will you have a glass of wine or beer?” “No, sir, we do not drink wine or beer.” Then the good lady spoke up and said, “John, I wish you were more like these men.” The ice was broken; the sermon had been preached. This lady was a teacher, teaching hygiene to her students, which offered us a splendid opportunity to explain why we did not use these things. Arrangements had been made for the husband to go and get a neighbor to come and stay with her while he went to the club. After supper, the good lady said, “John, you need not go for our neighbor; I am not afraid of such men as these.” She took us into her parlor and entertained us royally until about 11 o’clock while the husband was off at the club.
Another incident. A young man was working one time out in a railroad camp. You who have been there will perhaps appreciate the kind of people who are generally found there. But before this young man was allowed to go, his father said: “Son, you may go provided you will always remember who you are, and what your father and mother have done for you.” He consented and went, and of course there were all kinds of talk, profanity, swearing, chewing tobacco, drinking, telling vulgar stories and such like things. The boss, however, noticed one boy who seemed to be different to all the others. One Sunday, one of the number who had been used to speaking, mounted a table and began to tell all about the “Mormons,” and President Brigham Young. Some of them knew this boy was a “Mormon” and they began to twit him— “Will you stand for that? Why don’t you defend yourself and your people?” Perhaps the boy had never preached in his life. They brought him up to the front, and when the boss saw the boy he said: “What! and is he a ‘Mormon ?’ and is it his people you have been talking about? Get down, sir, off that table; you don’t need to tell me these people are such a people. If he is a ‘Mormon’ would to the Lord you were all ‘Mormons.’ Come down, sir!” The boy had defended his people as Jesus defended Himself when John the Baptist having been cast into prison sent messengers to inquire if he was really the Christ or whether they should look for another. The Savior did not boast at all, who He was, but He merely referred to His life and His labors, and He said, “This will testify to John who I am and what I am.”
“Now, I feel, my brethren and sisters, that my time is about up. I am interested in the work of the Lord. My stake is located in southern Idaho. The northern boundary of Utah is our southern line. We are bounded on the south by the Benson stake, on the west by the Malad, on the north by the Pocatello and Bannock, and on the east by the Bear Lake stake; so you see Oneida is located on the map directly in the center of the earth, and all the important stakes are close by and paying tribute to it (laughter).
We are trying to teach our people the ways of the Lord. We are taking up a labor with our priesthood. We feel that there is no labor that is equally important, or more important than the one devolving upon the teachers, whose duty it is, according to what the Lord says, to be with the Church always and to strengthen them, and to see that no iniquity abounds, no evil speaking, no lying nor backbiting, and that everybody attends to their duties. What a wonderful responsibility! I used to think the Bishop was the biggest man in all the Church, but I have about concluded that he is not half so big a man as the elder or the teacher, whose duty it is to see that no iniquity abounds in the Church. There is not much left for the Bishop to do.
I, too, was wonderfully impressed with the discourse of Brother Heber J. Grant yesterday. I stand for prohibition individually. I believe that it will extend to the county, to the state, and to the nation, and it should be world-wide.
I have always maintained that it was a reflection upon Latter-day Saints that saloons should exist in any of our cities or towns.
May the Lord bless Israel. May the Lord bless our fathers and our mothers, whose locks are growing grey, and though they may have a few failings, their integrity, their life’s labors stand out in such bold relief to me that I cannot see their failings. The Lord has a wonderful crown of righteousness for our fathers and our mothers, though they may have their weaknesses, and I feel that in order for us to be half as good as our fathers and our mothers, we must be twice as good as we are.
May the Lord bless us. May we be the salt of the earth. We are trying to teach our people that they should live such a life that no man holding a portion of the priesthood could walk down the sidewalk unless he blesses somebody, not in what we shall say, but the very influence that he bears, everybody pointing to him, “There is a man of God; there is a good man.” And so we can let our light so shine that all men may see our good works, and God our Eternal Father will be glad of it.
May we all prove true to the trust. May we feel that we are living today, and while our fathers have fought the good fight, have filled their course, and have done a marvel and a wonder, yet today the responsibility rests upon you and me. How are we making good ? is the question. I feel there never was a time in the history of the Church when it needed stronger men and stronger women than it does today, because of the thousand and one temptations coming in so many ways that our fathers and mothers did not know of. Lucifer in the last days is set loose upon the Latter-day Saints, and his temptations are so nearly like the genuine. There is such duplicity that it is going to deceive the very elect, if it were possible.
The Lord bless us, I ask, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“When I can read by title clear,” was sung by Bessie Blair, Lillian Scott and choir.
(President of Oneida Stake.)
My beloved brethren and sisters, I presume many of you would be better acquainted with my father than you are with me, a remark I am led to make after the introduction I have had. My father was one of the early pioneers, one who labored upon the foundation of this beautiful temple. I feel very proud of my father and my mother. When my father was about 14 years of age, he listened to the’ testimony of two humble elders in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He became their fast friend, and a convert to the doctrine. When he went home to acquaint his parents of what he had done, the door was closed in his face; thus demonstrating and proving what the Master said, “He that will not leave father and mother, houses and lands, wives and children for My sake is not worthy of Me.” I feel to praise the Lord every day that I live that my father, then a boy, had integrity to stand for the Church, and to stand by the testimony that God the eternal Father had given unto him. I feel that I cannot live long enough in the world to repay my father and mother for what they have done for me, and I feel what little time I have to labor here upon the earth that I want to devote my life and labors and all the Lord has blessed me with, and all He may bless me with in the future, for the upbuilding of His kingdom.
I do not believe in long sermons. I believe that actions speak so much louder than words that we can scarcely hear what we say when placed in comparison with what we do. I remember one of our returned elders, Elder Heber Q. Hale, who has now been placed as president of one of the newly organized stakes, in Boise, Idaho. In giving his report he said he had been away from home upwards of three years, and the greatest sermon he had preached while away was one without words. When he landed in Germany, some of the elders warned him about what he should say and do, especially what he should do, because he could not yet say much. So, when a cup of tea was placed before him, he could not tell the good lady he did not drink tea; he could not explain the reason why. The tea was finally removed, and a cup of coffee placed instead thereof. He could not tell why he did not drink that. Neither could he tell why he did not drink the beer, when that was placed by his plate; but he thus preached one of the most powerful discourses that he preached while upon his mission, and it was one without words, for within a few days Brother Hale had the privilege of leading that good lady and all her family into the waters of baptism.
I remember while in the Southern States a little incident that happened In my own experience, if you will pardon a reference to it. After traveling nearly all day without food, we of course were hungry, and we began to try to get entertainment for the night. We overtook a gentleman, and he offered entertainment at his home. We discovered, however, before long, that he was somewhat under the influence of liquor. We did not mind that so much, because we were hungry, and wanted to get a night’s entertainment. Before we reached his home, he warned us against his good wife, she did not like the “Mormons.” We did not care so much about that, because we had been used to that kind of treatment. He put us into a little room to wait until supper was ready. After supper was made ready, he came and led us across a long piazza, and took us, I think, into one of the old plantation mansions that was used in slavery times, for the dining room was a very narrow, long hall, with a simple table that I think they used years ago in the times of slavery. Seated away on the other end was his good lady and a plate next to hers for him. And down at the other end were two places for the “Mormon” elders. We did not say much, but we preached just the same. Finally the good lady noticed that we did not drink out of the little white cup and saucer. Finally she whispered to her husband. Said he to us: “Don’t you gentlemen drink tea?” “No, sir.” “What will you take; will you have a cup of coffee?” “No, sir, we do not drink coffee.” “Will you have a glass of wine or beer?” “No, sir, we do not drink wine or beer.” Then the good lady spoke up and said, “John, I wish you were more like these men.” The ice was broken; the sermon had been preached. This lady was a teacher, teaching hygiene to her students, which offered us a splendid opportunity to explain why we did not use these things. Arrangements had been made for the husband to go and get a neighbor to come and stay with her while he went to the club. After supper, the good lady said, “John, you need not go for our neighbor; I am not afraid of such men as these.” She took us into her parlor and entertained us royally until about 11 o’clock while the husband was off at the club.
Another incident. A young man was working one time out in a railroad camp. You who have been there will perhaps appreciate the kind of people who are generally found there. But before this young man was allowed to go, his father said: “Son, you may go provided you will always remember who you are, and what your father and mother have done for you.” He consented and went, and of course there were all kinds of talk, profanity, swearing, chewing tobacco, drinking, telling vulgar stories and such like things. The boss, however, noticed one boy who seemed to be different to all the others. One Sunday, one of the number who had been used to speaking, mounted a table and began to tell all about the “Mormons,” and President Brigham Young. Some of them knew this boy was a “Mormon” and they began to twit him— “Will you stand for that? Why don’t you defend yourself and your people?” Perhaps the boy had never preached in his life. They brought him up to the front, and when the boss saw the boy he said: “What! and is he a ‘Mormon ?’ and is it his people you have been talking about? Get down, sir, off that table; you don’t need to tell me these people are such a people. If he is a ‘Mormon’ would to the Lord you were all ‘Mormons.’ Come down, sir!” The boy had defended his people as Jesus defended Himself when John the Baptist having been cast into prison sent messengers to inquire if he was really the Christ or whether they should look for another. The Savior did not boast at all, who He was, but He merely referred to His life and His labors, and He said, “This will testify to John who I am and what I am.”
“Now, I feel, my brethren and sisters, that my time is about up. I am interested in the work of the Lord. My stake is located in southern Idaho. The northern boundary of Utah is our southern line. We are bounded on the south by the Benson stake, on the west by the Malad, on the north by the Pocatello and Bannock, and on the east by the Bear Lake stake; so you see Oneida is located on the map directly in the center of the earth, and all the important stakes are close by and paying tribute to it (laughter).
We are trying to teach our people the ways of the Lord. We are taking up a labor with our priesthood. We feel that there is no labor that is equally important, or more important than the one devolving upon the teachers, whose duty it is, according to what the Lord says, to be with the Church always and to strengthen them, and to see that no iniquity abounds, no evil speaking, no lying nor backbiting, and that everybody attends to their duties. What a wonderful responsibility! I used to think the Bishop was the biggest man in all the Church, but I have about concluded that he is not half so big a man as the elder or the teacher, whose duty it is to see that no iniquity abounds in the Church. There is not much left for the Bishop to do.
I, too, was wonderfully impressed with the discourse of Brother Heber J. Grant yesterday. I stand for prohibition individually. I believe that it will extend to the county, to the state, and to the nation, and it should be world-wide.
I have always maintained that it was a reflection upon Latter-day Saints that saloons should exist in any of our cities or towns.
May the Lord bless Israel. May the Lord bless our fathers and our mothers, whose locks are growing grey, and though they may have a few failings, their integrity, their life’s labors stand out in such bold relief to me that I cannot see their failings. The Lord has a wonderful crown of righteousness for our fathers and our mothers, though they may have their weaknesses, and I feel that in order for us to be half as good as our fathers and our mothers, we must be twice as good as we are.
May the Lord bless us. May we be the salt of the earth. We are trying to teach our people that they should live such a life that no man holding a portion of the priesthood could walk down the sidewalk unless he blesses somebody, not in what we shall say, but the very influence that he bears, everybody pointing to him, “There is a man of God; there is a good man.” And so we can let our light so shine that all men may see our good works, and God our Eternal Father will be glad of it.
May we all prove true to the trust. May we feel that we are living today, and while our fathers have fought the good fight, have filled their course, and have done a marvel and a wonder, yet today the responsibility rests upon you and me. How are we making good ? is the question. I feel there never was a time in the history of the Church when it needed stronger men and stronger women than it does today, because of the thousand and one temptations coming in so many ways that our fathers and mothers did not know of. Lucifer in the last days is set loose upon the Latter-day Saints, and his temptations are so nearly like the genuine. There is such duplicity that it is going to deceive the very elect, if it were possible.
The Lord bless us, I ask, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“When I can read by title clear,” was sung by Bessie Blair, Lillian Scott and choir.
ELDER WALTER P. MONSON.
(President of Eastern States Mission.)
I am truly happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting with you, and partaking of the sweet influence, the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, which has characterized the various meetings and the teachings of this conference. To one who has been away in the world, striving to gain an audience of those who do not know the Lord, no sweeter joy can come into his life than to look into the faces of his brethren and sisters, in such vast numbers as we have at this conference. These conferences have always been well attended, which is merely an expression of the integrity of heart of this people, who have made covenants with our Heavenly Father. For the true Latter-day Saint to come to conference twice a year, besides attending to his duties and services in his ward, and in the stake of Zion where he lives, is a privilege wherein our souls find a sweet expression.
When I look into your faces, I realize that there is a soul to this vast meeting, which is of a higher order than, perhaps, that of any individual in the congregation. We all have our faults and failings, but not all have the same faults. When we consider the virtues of each individual here today, I want to say that the aggregate will make a character and soul to this meeting typifying, to an extent, the life, soul, and character of our Lord and Master. There is virtue in the heart of each one who has sought communication with his Heavenly Father, by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. We hold a position in the world I sometimes think, that is not fully realized by us as Latter-day Saints. When I looked over the morning meeting in the Tabernacle, and look over this congregation today, I see many brethren holding the priesthood, whose wives and children will be partakers of that priesthood with them, and it causes my heart to rejoice. I wonder, Do we really sense the obligation placed upon us, when the priesthood was conferred upon us, or do we look upon priesthood as merely a calling, an honor and not one of service? I do not believe that the Lord has given the priesthood for no purpose. There are certain requirements in that priesthood which we are called upon to magnify. When your sons and husbands go out and face a wicked world, raise up their voices in declaring that the heavens have been opened, and the Gospel has been restored in its infinite purity, I tell you, my brethren and sisters, there is an inspiration to me that is not equaled by anything else that I have beheld in my life. You have young men in the Eastern States Mission, and it seems that the powers of the adversary are arrayed against the work. There are lecturers talking for money and for effect, trying to poison the minds of the people against this work.
Our position in this world, my brethren and sisters, is not one of destruction; it is the most constructive work that was ever inaugurated. God has called upon us, not only to go and preach the Gospel, that it might be said that we have fulfilled a two, three, or five years’ mission, but that we have labored in the service of the Most High to bring souls unto God. It has been a joy to me to go and herald this Gospel to the world, to lift my voice in defense of what I know is right, what God has revealed unto me. I should be untrue to every sacred sentiment of my heart were I to say, when a call comes to me, that there are others much healthier than I. who are better prepared with this world’s goods, better able from an educational standpoint to bear witness of the divinity of this work. I must be true to every true sentiment of my heart.
God has not given us priesthood that we may only go to our classes and answer “present” once a week. There may be some, perhaps, who have this idea concerning their calling in the priesthood. We are that “peculiar people, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,” because we are called upon to bear this Gospel unto the world. At the time that great tragedy was committed by Cain, the first capital criminal, the Lord asked him, “Where is thy brother?” he answered, “Am I my 'brother’s keeper.” We have sufficient examples in holy writ to show that it is the duty of every individual child of our Heavenly Father, who has received testimony of the truth, to bear witness unto his neighbors. It is not necessary to go into the world, cross the seas, or into some foreign country to warn another, nor to magnify your priesthood and calling; but it is equally our duty right here at home, here where charity, the love of human souls, can be increased in the hearts of the children of men.
The Lord, in speaking through His Prophet Ezekiel, says:
“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 shall 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.”
We have also in modern revelation, as contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, wherein the Lord says that every one who is warned must warn his neighbor. Does it not appear to you, then, that I am my brother’s keeper? An individual who would forsake that responsibility, and partake of the spirit that was manifest by Cain on the occasion that I have mentioned, I tell you that he is not acting according to the spirit of the Gospel, or the word of the Lord. We have imposed upon us a great obligation in “bearing the vessels of the Lord” before the world, even though this life may be spent away from friends and relatives, the comforts of home, and pleasant surroundings. President Geddes has told us he respected his father because he had shown that he was willing to leave father and mother, houses and lands, wife and children, for the Gospel’s sake. There is something in such a nature that is devoutly to be admired.
When I think upon the release which came to my predecessor, President Ben E. Rich, it fills my heart with joy to know that that valiant defender of the faith received his release from God, our Heavenly Father. If it is pleasing unto Him, and I have found favor in the eyes of the Lord, through the sincerity of my heart, I hope that my release may come as President Rich’s came. I am interested in this work. My heart is in it, my all. I have laid all on the altar of sacrifice, to go into the world to proclaim this Gospel of life and salvation.
Upon one occasion the question was asked the Lord and Master by the Pharisees who came unto him tauntingly: “Master, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar or no?” The Master, with diplomacy, yet with wisdom and inspiration, said: “Bring me a penny.” And as He took the penny, and held it in His hand He said “Whose is this image and superscription ?” And they said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Casar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When I look into your countenances, I see the image, the superscription of God. We are simple coin current that is passing, doing good that we could not otherwise do. We have come forth from the mint of the Gods, and passed current, and done the good that was designed in our coming to this earth, then we shall return and be redeemed. I sincerely trust that we will look upon the doing of these things as a sacred obligation we owe to mankind.
I have much to be thankful for. My father, who was a jailer, had the privilege of hearing the Gospel preached through prison bars, where there were three elders incarcerated for the testimony of Jesus. Their audience was one boy, 19 years of age. He went to the head jailer and told him that those men were not wicked, as they had been accused, and the result was that the elders were released. Two of them are still living, the other has gone to his reward.
My brethren and sisters, I know that the Gospel is true. I do not know how I can find words to express the gratitude in my heart for being born and raised under the covenant, and to my Heavenly Father for the testimony which has been given me. I hope to always remain true to it. Perhaps I could make you understand what the Gospel means to me when I tell you how I feel when I look into the aged face of my dear old mother, when I comprehend the loving affection that she extended to me in my childhood. When retiring at night she would have me kneel at her side and taught me to pray to my Heavenly Father to guide and teach me in my boyhood days. When I went upon my first mission, she enjoined me in these words: “Always keep your eye on the First Presidency of the Church; where these men lead you must follow.” That principle has been burned deep in my nature, by the loving words of that mother. If you could understand what my father and my mother have done for me, you would understand how I regard the Gospel. The influence and teaching of my father and mother have placed me in a position to appreciate the blessings of the Gospel. I want to say that my earthly father has not been more kind to me, though he was the embodiment of affection, than has my Heavenly Father, whose merciful blessings that have been given unto me from time to time, are priceless. When I look upon the sacrifice that was made by my father in leaving his home in the old country, and walking across the plains a humble Norwegian boy, who could not say a word of English, and then realize that he has raised a family of 26 children, I feel that I want to praise the Lord all the days of my life for such parentage.
The priesthood which has been given unto us is most sacred, and I feel that when we understand the full import of our calling we will be more diligent, and more faithful, and the question will never pass our lips, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
I desire to read to you a passage of modern scripture:
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson, that 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. Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints and to fight against God. We have learned by sad experience, that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen. 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, reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; and that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death; let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy sceptre an unchanging sceptre of righteousness and truth, and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever.”
O what a magnificent key to those who hold the authority of the holy priesthood! How many of the inhabitants of Zion have the patience and love that they should have toward those who may have sinned, some young man or young woman who may have gone into by and forbidden paths. Have we oppressed, or has unrighteous dominion been exercised in such cases? Or has there been mercy and love extended to such to keep them within the bonds of the covenant? I tell you, my brethren and sisters, there is much required of us who have made covenants with our Heavenly Father.
May God’s blessings rest upon us all, that when we shall look back upon our lives we may feel a sense of satisfaction, having appreciated the truths that have been revealed from heaven. When we shall be brought to stand before the great Judge, to account for the deeds done in the body, may it be said of us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” May this be our happy lot, and that we may enter into the glory of the celestial abode, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mrs. Agnes Warner and the choir sang “Gospel Restoration.”
(President of Eastern States Mission.)
I am truly happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting with you, and partaking of the sweet influence, the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, which has characterized the various meetings and the teachings of this conference. To one who has been away in the world, striving to gain an audience of those who do not know the Lord, no sweeter joy can come into his life than to look into the faces of his brethren and sisters, in such vast numbers as we have at this conference. These conferences have always been well attended, which is merely an expression of the integrity of heart of this people, who have made covenants with our Heavenly Father. For the true Latter-day Saint to come to conference twice a year, besides attending to his duties and services in his ward, and in the stake of Zion where he lives, is a privilege wherein our souls find a sweet expression.
When I look into your faces, I realize that there is a soul to this vast meeting, which is of a higher order than, perhaps, that of any individual in the congregation. We all have our faults and failings, but not all have the same faults. When we consider the virtues of each individual here today, I want to say that the aggregate will make a character and soul to this meeting typifying, to an extent, the life, soul, and character of our Lord and Master. There is virtue in the heart of each one who has sought communication with his Heavenly Father, by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. We hold a position in the world I sometimes think, that is not fully realized by us as Latter-day Saints. When I looked over the morning meeting in the Tabernacle, and look over this congregation today, I see many brethren holding the priesthood, whose wives and children will be partakers of that priesthood with them, and it causes my heart to rejoice. I wonder, Do we really sense the obligation placed upon us, when the priesthood was conferred upon us, or do we look upon priesthood as merely a calling, an honor and not one of service? I do not believe that the Lord has given the priesthood for no purpose. There are certain requirements in that priesthood which we are called upon to magnify. When your sons and husbands go out and face a wicked world, raise up their voices in declaring that the heavens have been opened, and the Gospel has been restored in its infinite purity, I tell you, my brethren and sisters, there is an inspiration to me that is not equaled by anything else that I have beheld in my life. You have young men in the Eastern States Mission, and it seems that the powers of the adversary are arrayed against the work. There are lecturers talking for money and for effect, trying to poison the minds of the people against this work.
Our position in this world, my brethren and sisters, is not one of destruction; it is the most constructive work that was ever inaugurated. God has called upon us, not only to go and preach the Gospel, that it might be said that we have fulfilled a two, three, or five years’ mission, but that we have labored in the service of the Most High to bring souls unto God. It has been a joy to me to go and herald this Gospel to the world, to lift my voice in defense of what I know is right, what God has revealed unto me. I should be untrue to every sacred sentiment of my heart were I to say, when a call comes to me, that there are others much healthier than I. who are better prepared with this world’s goods, better able from an educational standpoint to bear witness of the divinity of this work. I must be true to every true sentiment of my heart.
God has not given us priesthood that we may only go to our classes and answer “present” once a week. There may be some, perhaps, who have this idea concerning their calling in the priesthood. We are that “peculiar people, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,” because we are called upon to bear this Gospel unto the world. At the time that great tragedy was committed by Cain, the first capital criminal, the Lord asked him, “Where is thy brother?” he answered, “Am I my 'brother’s keeper.” We have sufficient examples in holy writ to show that it is the duty of every individual child of our Heavenly Father, who has received testimony of the truth, to bear witness unto his neighbors. It is not necessary to go into the world, cross the seas, or into some foreign country to warn another, nor to magnify your priesthood and calling; but it is equally our duty right here at home, here where charity, the love of human souls, can be increased in the hearts of the children of men.
The Lord, in speaking through His Prophet Ezekiel, says:
“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 shall 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.”
We have also in modern revelation, as contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, wherein the Lord says that every one who is warned must warn his neighbor. Does it not appear to you, then, that I am my brother’s keeper? An individual who would forsake that responsibility, and partake of the spirit that was manifest by Cain on the occasion that I have mentioned, I tell you that he is not acting according to the spirit of the Gospel, or the word of the Lord. We have imposed upon us a great obligation in “bearing the vessels of the Lord” before the world, even though this life may be spent away from friends and relatives, the comforts of home, and pleasant surroundings. President Geddes has told us he respected his father because he had shown that he was willing to leave father and mother, houses and lands, wife and children, for the Gospel’s sake. There is something in such a nature that is devoutly to be admired.
When I think upon the release which came to my predecessor, President Ben E. Rich, it fills my heart with joy to know that that valiant defender of the faith received his release from God, our Heavenly Father. If it is pleasing unto Him, and I have found favor in the eyes of the Lord, through the sincerity of my heart, I hope that my release may come as President Rich’s came. I am interested in this work. My heart is in it, my all. I have laid all on the altar of sacrifice, to go into the world to proclaim this Gospel of life and salvation.
Upon one occasion the question was asked the Lord and Master by the Pharisees who came unto him tauntingly: “Master, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar or no?” The Master, with diplomacy, yet with wisdom and inspiration, said: “Bring me a penny.” And as He took the penny, and held it in His hand He said “Whose is this image and superscription ?” And they said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Casar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When I look into your countenances, I see the image, the superscription of God. We are simple coin current that is passing, doing good that we could not otherwise do. We have come forth from the mint of the Gods, and passed current, and done the good that was designed in our coming to this earth, then we shall return and be redeemed. I sincerely trust that we will look upon the doing of these things as a sacred obligation we owe to mankind.
I have much to be thankful for. My father, who was a jailer, had the privilege of hearing the Gospel preached through prison bars, where there were three elders incarcerated for the testimony of Jesus. Their audience was one boy, 19 years of age. He went to the head jailer and told him that those men were not wicked, as they had been accused, and the result was that the elders were released. Two of them are still living, the other has gone to his reward.
My brethren and sisters, I know that the Gospel is true. I do not know how I can find words to express the gratitude in my heart for being born and raised under the covenant, and to my Heavenly Father for the testimony which has been given me. I hope to always remain true to it. Perhaps I could make you understand what the Gospel means to me when I tell you how I feel when I look into the aged face of my dear old mother, when I comprehend the loving affection that she extended to me in my childhood. When retiring at night she would have me kneel at her side and taught me to pray to my Heavenly Father to guide and teach me in my boyhood days. When I went upon my first mission, she enjoined me in these words: “Always keep your eye on the First Presidency of the Church; where these men lead you must follow.” That principle has been burned deep in my nature, by the loving words of that mother. If you could understand what my father and my mother have done for me, you would understand how I regard the Gospel. The influence and teaching of my father and mother have placed me in a position to appreciate the blessings of the Gospel. I want to say that my earthly father has not been more kind to me, though he was the embodiment of affection, than has my Heavenly Father, whose merciful blessings that have been given unto me from time to time, are priceless. When I look upon the sacrifice that was made by my father in leaving his home in the old country, and walking across the plains a humble Norwegian boy, who could not say a word of English, and then realize that he has raised a family of 26 children, I feel that I want to praise the Lord all the days of my life for such parentage.
The priesthood which has been given unto us is most sacred, and I feel that when we understand the full import of our calling we will be more diligent, and more faithful, and the question will never pass our lips, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
I desire to read to you a passage of modern scripture:
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson, that 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. Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints and to fight against God. We have learned by sad experience, that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen. 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, reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; and that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death; let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy sceptre an unchanging sceptre of righteousness and truth, and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever.”
O what a magnificent key to those who hold the authority of the holy priesthood! How many of the inhabitants of Zion have the patience and love that they should have toward those who may have sinned, some young man or young woman who may have gone into by and forbidden paths. Have we oppressed, or has unrighteous dominion been exercised in such cases? Or has there been mercy and love extended to such to keep them within the bonds of the covenant? I tell you, my brethren and sisters, there is much required of us who have made covenants with our Heavenly Father.
May God’s blessings rest upon us all, that when we shall look back upon our lives we may feel a sense of satisfaction, having appreciated the truths that have been revealed from heaven. When we shall be brought to stand before the great Judge, to account for the deeds done in the body, may it be said of us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” May this be our happy lot, and that we may enter into the glory of the celestial abode, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mrs. Agnes Warner and the choir sang “Gospel Restoration.”
ELDER LUCIUS N. MARSDEN.
(President of Parowan Stake.)
My brethren and sisters, it is truly a pleasure for me to speak to you a few moments upon this occasion. I trust that the few moments I occupy that I may be inspired by that same spirit which has been with our brethren during our conference, arid during this meeting. I appreciate very much that our stake has been recognized during this conference; not that I wish to appear before you, but Parowan Stake is one of the older stakes of Zion. While it is one of the old stakes, I am only new in the work. I am pleased to report to you that we have a lot of good brethren and sisters in the Parowan stake of Zion, and it is a pleasure to work among them.
I am pleased to meet with you in our general conferences, from time to time, and partake of the spirit which prevails at these gatherings. I might mention one thing, about the only thought that I wish to speak about, and that is a thing that prevails to some extent in our stake. It is that, in traveling through the stake and getting acquainted with the people, I notice we are not studying the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, as much as we should do. You know we have been told the glory of God is intelligence. I believe that through the study of these books we will gain much intelligence. I believe that it is a great mistake for families in our community to refrain from studying these books. We are now advocating the study of these church works in our stake, and I trust that our talk will not be in vain. I noticed Elder George Albert Smith’s remarks in yesterday’s meeting, that he mentioned' this same thing, and I take it, my brethren and sister, that we are not the only stake making this regrettable mistake.
Progression and advancement in a financial way are all right, but we have too many brethren and sisters in our stake that pay little or no attention to becoming familiar with the principles of the Gospel. Many go to their labors from day to day and think but little about studying the principles of life and salvation, and I think that should be regarded as most important. It has been said, “What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” This is in my opinion, my brethren and sisters, a most important question. I trust that it will be the effort of every stake presidency and of every bishop in the Church, where these conditions prevail, to try and better the conditions in this regard.
My testimony is that the Gospel is true; that the Savior came upon this earth and sacrificed His life, and made salvation possible to all. I sometimes think that we hardly appreciate that great fact.
Let us investigate the principles of the Gospel. Study the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. I do not know of any better way to get the spirit of our office and calling than to study up these principles, and try to live in accordance therewith. May God bless us in all our efforts, I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
(President of Parowan Stake.)
My brethren and sisters, it is truly a pleasure for me to speak to you a few moments upon this occasion. I trust that the few moments I occupy that I may be inspired by that same spirit which has been with our brethren during our conference, arid during this meeting. I appreciate very much that our stake has been recognized during this conference; not that I wish to appear before you, but Parowan Stake is one of the older stakes of Zion. While it is one of the old stakes, I am only new in the work. I am pleased to report to you that we have a lot of good brethren and sisters in the Parowan stake of Zion, and it is a pleasure to work among them.
I am pleased to meet with you in our general conferences, from time to time, and partake of the spirit which prevails at these gatherings. I might mention one thing, about the only thought that I wish to speak about, and that is a thing that prevails to some extent in our stake. It is that, in traveling through the stake and getting acquainted with the people, I notice we are not studying the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, as much as we should do. You know we have been told the glory of God is intelligence. I believe that through the study of these books we will gain much intelligence. I believe that it is a great mistake for families in our community to refrain from studying these books. We are now advocating the study of these church works in our stake, and I trust that our talk will not be in vain. I noticed Elder George Albert Smith’s remarks in yesterday’s meeting, that he mentioned' this same thing, and I take it, my brethren and sister, that we are not the only stake making this regrettable mistake.
Progression and advancement in a financial way are all right, but we have too many brethren and sisters in our stake that pay little or no attention to becoming familiar with the principles of the Gospel. Many go to their labors from day to day and think but little about studying the principles of life and salvation, and I think that should be regarded as most important. It has been said, “What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” This is in my opinion, my brethren and sisters, a most important question. I trust that it will be the effort of every stake presidency and of every bishop in the Church, where these conditions prevail, to try and better the conditions in this regard.
My testimony is that the Gospel is true; that the Savior came upon this earth and sacrificed His life, and made salvation possible to all. I sometimes think that we hardly appreciate that great fact.
Let us investigate the principles of the Gospel. Study the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. I do not know of any better way to get the spirit of our office and calling than to study up these principles, and try to live in accordance therewith. May God bless us in all our efforts, I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER HEBER J. GRANT.
David Starr Jordan’s writings confirming value of the Word of Wisdom—Card playing denounced.
I might incidentally remark that our clocks are both five minutes too fast. I thought I would give you this information to save your time and prevent you looking at them so often, as it is my intention to speak until four by our clocks, which will leave five minutes for prayer and singing.
Some of the remarks made today have called to my mind a subject upon which I had no intention of speaking. I hold in my hand a little book written by David Starr Jordan, “The Strength of Being Clean.” The retail price, I believe, is thirty-five cents, but if you purchase the book, one hundred copies at a time you can get it for twenty-five cents. I have given away at least a couple of hundred copies.
There are many people who, if the servants of the Lord preach to them year after year, what is said has no particular effect upon them. But these same people, if they receive advice of some man of worldly wisdom, immediately follow it. I remember going to Sanpete county and preaching a sermon upon the Word of Wisdom. Subsequently I learned that a good sister who heard my sermon was taken sick and wired. for a doctor to come from Salt Lake City, by special engine, and it cost her several hundred dollars to learn from this doctor that she was drinking too much tea, and unless she quit, would be sure to die. She accepted his advice and got well. Had she listened to my advice which would have cost her nothing, she would have saved several hundred dollars, to say nothing about being in perfect harmony with the teachings of the Lord, as revealed in the Word of Wisdom. We sing more than we do any other hymn, “We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter days.” I recommend that some of the Saints add, “provided he doesn't guide us to keep the word of wisdom."
I have been much pleased with the book, “The Strength of Being Clean.” I understand that President Joseph F. Smith says it is one of the strongest ever written by a nonmember of the Church in vindication of the Word of Wisdom. Mr. Jordan was for years the President of the Leland-Stanford, Jr., University of California. The Latter-day Saints should be grateful to this great educator, one of the greatest in our country, for writing a book which confirms the teachings of Joseph Smith, the Prophet; an “ignoramus” in the estimation of many people.
Mr. Jordan says:
“It is vulgar to like poor music, to read weak books, to feed on sensational newspapers, to trust to patent medicines, to find amusement in trashy novels, to enjoy vulgar theaters, to find pleasure in cheap jokes, to tolerate coarseness and looseness in any of its myriad forms.* * *
It is the hope of civilization that our republic may outgrow the toleration of vulgarity, but that is still a long way in the future.* * *
“A form of vulgarity is profanity. This is the sign of a dull, coarse, unrefined nature. * * *
‘‘Alcohol gives a feeling of warmth or vigor or exhilaration, when the real warmth or vigor or exhilaration does not exist. Tobacco gives a feeling of rest which is not restfulness. The use of opium seems to intensify the imagination, giving its clumsy wings a wonderous power of flight. It destroys the sense of time and space, but it is in time and space alone that man has his being. Cocaine gives a strength which is not strength. Strychnine quickens the motor response which follows sensation. Coffee and tea, like alcohol, enable one to borrow from his future store of force for present purposes, and none of these make any provision for paying back the loan.
“People who borrow and do not pay back, are classed among the dishonest. The Lord has loaned us our bodies, and it is our duty to return them to Him when the battle of life is ended, without their having been polluted by our breaking His commandments.
“One and all these various drugs tend to give the impression of a power or a pleasure, or an activity, which we do not possess. One and all their function is to force the nervous system to lie. One and all the result of their habitual use is to render the nervous system incapable of ever telling the truth. One and all their supposed pleasures are followed by a reaction of subjective pains as spurious and as unreal as the pleasures which they follow. Each of them, if used to excess, brings in time insanity, incapacity, and death. With each of them, the first use makes the second easier. To yield to temptation makes it easier to yield again. The weakening effect on the will is greater than the injury to the body. In fact, the harm alcoholic and similar excesses do to the body is wholly secondary. It is the visible reflex of the harm already done to the nervous system.”
I heard that a non-“Mormon” banker in Salt Lake said he would be willing to employ a gentile boy who drank or smoked, but he would not think of employing a “Mormon” boy who did these things, because he had been taught better all his life and would, therefore, be violating the teachings of his parents, and his Church, as well as his own conscience. A young man who did this, he did not wish in his bank. “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” If we could implant this teaching in the hearts of our children it would be a magnificent lesson.
We, as a people have been told not to play cards. Ever since I can remember, the Presidency of the Church and others have been writing and talking against card playing. Many fathers and mothers say, “Oh, there is no harm in cards,” and they let their children play. Recently a daughter of mine, and her cousin went to a social gathering at a Latter-day Saint home, and they’ were the only ones who did not play cards. Upon another occasion, this same daughter was again in a Latter-day Saint home, and in the room where she was, when refreshments were served, she was the only one who did not drink tea or coffee. Again I say, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” It is a serious thing for parents to set examples before their children contrary to the commandments of the Lord and instructions of His servants, no matter how insignificant they may think these commandments are. While card playing may be considered harmless, yet it is a very serious matter to the young man or young woman who indulges this habit in disobedience to the instructions of parents or the servants of the Lord. It is well for parents to teach their children obedience,, both by precept and example.
Quoting again from Mr. Jordan:
“It is not for you to seek pleasure and strength in drugs, whose only function is to deceive you, whose gifts of life are not so real as your own face in the glass.
“A man ought to be stronger than anything that can happen to him. He is the strong man who can say no. He is the wise man who, for all his life, can keep mind and soul and body clean.
“ ‘I know of no more encouraging fact,’—says Thoreau, ‘than the ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. It is something to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful. It is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. This morally we can do.’ ”
“So far as the drink of the drunkards is concerned, prohibition does not prohibit. But to clean up a town, to free from corrosion, saves men, and boys and girls, too, from vice, and who shall say that moral sanitation is not as much the duty of the community as physical sanitation?
“The city of the future will not permit the existence of slums, and dives and tippling-houses. It will prohibit their existence for the same reason that it now prohibits pig-pens and dung-heaps and cesspools. For where all these things are, slums and cesspools. saloons and pig-pens, there the people grow weak and die.”
Lo and behold! I have got through, and it is not yet four o’clock. The Lord bless you. Amen.
Walter Stevens and the choir sang, “See now the altar.”
Benediction was pronounced by Elder John M. Young.
David Starr Jordan’s writings confirming value of the Word of Wisdom—Card playing denounced.
I might incidentally remark that our clocks are both five minutes too fast. I thought I would give you this information to save your time and prevent you looking at them so often, as it is my intention to speak until four by our clocks, which will leave five minutes for prayer and singing.
Some of the remarks made today have called to my mind a subject upon which I had no intention of speaking. I hold in my hand a little book written by David Starr Jordan, “The Strength of Being Clean.” The retail price, I believe, is thirty-five cents, but if you purchase the book, one hundred copies at a time you can get it for twenty-five cents. I have given away at least a couple of hundred copies.
There are many people who, if the servants of the Lord preach to them year after year, what is said has no particular effect upon them. But these same people, if they receive advice of some man of worldly wisdom, immediately follow it. I remember going to Sanpete county and preaching a sermon upon the Word of Wisdom. Subsequently I learned that a good sister who heard my sermon was taken sick and wired. for a doctor to come from Salt Lake City, by special engine, and it cost her several hundred dollars to learn from this doctor that she was drinking too much tea, and unless she quit, would be sure to die. She accepted his advice and got well. Had she listened to my advice which would have cost her nothing, she would have saved several hundred dollars, to say nothing about being in perfect harmony with the teachings of the Lord, as revealed in the Word of Wisdom. We sing more than we do any other hymn, “We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter days.” I recommend that some of the Saints add, “provided he doesn't guide us to keep the word of wisdom."
I have been much pleased with the book, “The Strength of Being Clean.” I understand that President Joseph F. Smith says it is one of the strongest ever written by a nonmember of the Church in vindication of the Word of Wisdom. Mr. Jordan was for years the President of the Leland-Stanford, Jr., University of California. The Latter-day Saints should be grateful to this great educator, one of the greatest in our country, for writing a book which confirms the teachings of Joseph Smith, the Prophet; an “ignoramus” in the estimation of many people.
Mr. Jordan says:
“It is vulgar to like poor music, to read weak books, to feed on sensational newspapers, to trust to patent medicines, to find amusement in trashy novels, to enjoy vulgar theaters, to find pleasure in cheap jokes, to tolerate coarseness and looseness in any of its myriad forms.* * *
It is the hope of civilization that our republic may outgrow the toleration of vulgarity, but that is still a long way in the future.* * *
“A form of vulgarity is profanity. This is the sign of a dull, coarse, unrefined nature. * * *
‘‘Alcohol gives a feeling of warmth or vigor or exhilaration, when the real warmth or vigor or exhilaration does not exist. Tobacco gives a feeling of rest which is not restfulness. The use of opium seems to intensify the imagination, giving its clumsy wings a wonderous power of flight. It destroys the sense of time and space, but it is in time and space alone that man has his being. Cocaine gives a strength which is not strength. Strychnine quickens the motor response which follows sensation. Coffee and tea, like alcohol, enable one to borrow from his future store of force for present purposes, and none of these make any provision for paying back the loan.
“People who borrow and do not pay back, are classed among the dishonest. The Lord has loaned us our bodies, and it is our duty to return them to Him when the battle of life is ended, without their having been polluted by our breaking His commandments.
“One and all these various drugs tend to give the impression of a power or a pleasure, or an activity, which we do not possess. One and all their function is to force the nervous system to lie. One and all the result of their habitual use is to render the nervous system incapable of ever telling the truth. One and all their supposed pleasures are followed by a reaction of subjective pains as spurious and as unreal as the pleasures which they follow. Each of them, if used to excess, brings in time insanity, incapacity, and death. With each of them, the first use makes the second easier. To yield to temptation makes it easier to yield again. The weakening effect on the will is greater than the injury to the body. In fact, the harm alcoholic and similar excesses do to the body is wholly secondary. It is the visible reflex of the harm already done to the nervous system.”
I heard that a non-“Mormon” banker in Salt Lake said he would be willing to employ a gentile boy who drank or smoked, but he would not think of employing a “Mormon” boy who did these things, because he had been taught better all his life and would, therefore, be violating the teachings of his parents, and his Church, as well as his own conscience. A young man who did this, he did not wish in his bank. “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” If we could implant this teaching in the hearts of our children it would be a magnificent lesson.
We, as a people have been told not to play cards. Ever since I can remember, the Presidency of the Church and others have been writing and talking against card playing. Many fathers and mothers say, “Oh, there is no harm in cards,” and they let their children play. Recently a daughter of mine, and her cousin went to a social gathering at a Latter-day Saint home, and they’ were the only ones who did not play cards. Upon another occasion, this same daughter was again in a Latter-day Saint home, and in the room where she was, when refreshments were served, she was the only one who did not drink tea or coffee. Again I say, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” It is a serious thing for parents to set examples before their children contrary to the commandments of the Lord and instructions of His servants, no matter how insignificant they may think these commandments are. While card playing may be considered harmless, yet it is a very serious matter to the young man or young woman who indulges this habit in disobedience to the instructions of parents or the servants of the Lord. It is well for parents to teach their children obedience,, both by precept and example.
Quoting again from Mr. Jordan:
“It is not for you to seek pleasure and strength in drugs, whose only function is to deceive you, whose gifts of life are not so real as your own face in the glass.
“A man ought to be stronger than anything that can happen to him. He is the strong man who can say no. He is the wise man who, for all his life, can keep mind and soul and body clean.
“ ‘I know of no more encouraging fact,’—says Thoreau, ‘than the ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. It is something to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful. It is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. This morally we can do.’ ”
“So far as the drink of the drunkards is concerned, prohibition does not prohibit. But to clean up a town, to free from corrosion, saves men, and boys and girls, too, from vice, and who shall say that moral sanitation is not as much the duty of the community as physical sanitation?
“The city of the future will not permit the existence of slums, and dives and tippling-houses. It will prohibit their existence for the same reason that it now prohibits pig-pens and dung-heaps and cesspools. For where all these things are, slums and cesspools. saloons and pig-pens, there the people grow weak and die.”
Lo and behold! I have got through, and it is not yet four o’clock. The Lord bless you. Amen.
Walter Stevens and the choir sang, “See now the altar.”
Benediction was pronounced by Elder John M. Young.
OUTDOOR MEETING.
A meeting was held in front of the Bureau of Information, at 2 p. m. Elder Benjamin Goddard presided.
The Thirty-first ward choir rendered the musical selections; H. E. Dewsnup, conductor.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, “Come, come ye Saints.”
Elder James T. Simpkins offered the opening prayer.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, “Oh! ye mountains high.”
A meeting was held in front of the Bureau of Information, at 2 p. m. Elder Benjamin Goddard presided.
The Thirty-first ward choir rendered the musical selections; H. E. Dewsnup, conductor.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, “Come, come ye Saints.”
Elder James T. Simpkins offered the opening prayer.
The choir and congregation sang the hymn, “Oh! ye mountains high.”
ELDER BENJAMIN GODDARD.
(President of Bureau of Information.)
My brethren and sisters, I do not think any of us anticipated this morning that the weather would permit of an open-air meeting. The Lord, however, has been very good to us, especially in view of the fact that it is impossible to accommodate you in the Tabernacle or in the Assembly Hall, and other available halls are too far distant.
We are very glad that you are willing to come here, and to stand and enjoy the service that has been appointed for your benefit by President Smith. Our brethren who have been called to address you, come before you in all humility and meekness, relying upon your faith and sustaining influence, and prayers that the Lord will bless us in our gathering together.
I suggest to you one thought, in connection with our meeting here, and the other assemblies that are being held on this block. The work of the Lord in the latter days had a very small beginning. The Church was organized in 1830, with six members. The growth has been steady and sure since then. The work spread from city to city, from state to state, until subsequently the Gospel was carried to distant lands, and now, in fulfillment of prophecy, our elders are going forth, carrying the message unto all nations, in accordance with the Master’s injunction that “this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached as a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” The growth of our work in other lands has also been slow, but just as sure, and our membership has increased year by year, until today we are assured that the Church is permanently established in the earth.
God has indeed fulfilled His word. I desire to read one passage from Daniel 2nd chap., with reference to the work of the Lord in the latter day, “And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.” Having this in mind, permit me to impress upon you the permanency of this work. I had the honor last evening of attending a mission reunion. When that particular mission was first opened, one elder labored alone in that land for several years, proclaiming the Gospel, bearing his testimony, but finding none to accept the truth. Afterwards, two elders labored there, but years passed before the truth entered permanently into the hearts of the people. At the present time, on that little island of the sea, we have a membership of five thousand people. Elders have continued laboring there, year after year, and last evening in the gathering referred to, when elders who had labored in that land amongst the natives were asked to join in song, they met on the stand, fifty strong, young men and old men, filled with faith, earnest in the work, having a testimony of the truth, and as they stood there, singing the songs of Zion, the remark was made, “If, in the Providence of the Almighty, it were necessary for every elder now in that missionary field to be removed, here is a force of men strong enough to man the mission, who would readily respond to the call, and, in an exigency. would take hold of the work in that far distant land.”
This is but an illustration of all other missions that have been established under the inspiration of the Almighty. I, therefore, rejoice with you in these evidences of the permanency of this work. God has established it and will sustain it. It “shall never be destroyed, nor be given to another people.” We are engaged in this work, it belongs to the Saints, and the Lord has raised up prophets to direct it and has given unto them the inspiration of His Spirit. In this audience, are men of almost every nationality, women almost from every country, who are here by virtue of the work that has been done in their respective lands by elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I pray that God will bless us in this gathering. I ask you to join in praying that the Lord will bless these speakers, and sustain them, for they have not come of their own will, but because a servant of God has said, “the people on the outside cannot be taught this afternoon, unless you go out to them, the buildings being Crowded to their utmost capacity.” They are here in response to that call, and I bespeak for them your kind attention and your prayerful assistance.
(President of Bureau of Information.)
My brethren and sisters, I do not think any of us anticipated this morning that the weather would permit of an open-air meeting. The Lord, however, has been very good to us, especially in view of the fact that it is impossible to accommodate you in the Tabernacle or in the Assembly Hall, and other available halls are too far distant.
We are very glad that you are willing to come here, and to stand and enjoy the service that has been appointed for your benefit by President Smith. Our brethren who have been called to address you, come before you in all humility and meekness, relying upon your faith and sustaining influence, and prayers that the Lord will bless us in our gathering together.
I suggest to you one thought, in connection with our meeting here, and the other assemblies that are being held on this block. The work of the Lord in the latter days had a very small beginning. The Church was organized in 1830, with six members. The growth has been steady and sure since then. The work spread from city to city, from state to state, until subsequently the Gospel was carried to distant lands, and now, in fulfillment of prophecy, our elders are going forth, carrying the message unto all nations, in accordance with the Master’s injunction that “this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached as a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” The growth of our work in other lands has also been slow, but just as sure, and our membership has increased year by year, until today we are assured that the Church is permanently established in the earth.
God has indeed fulfilled His word. I desire to read one passage from Daniel 2nd chap., with reference to the work of the Lord in the latter day, “And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.” Having this in mind, permit me to impress upon you the permanency of this work. I had the honor last evening of attending a mission reunion. When that particular mission was first opened, one elder labored alone in that land for several years, proclaiming the Gospel, bearing his testimony, but finding none to accept the truth. Afterwards, two elders labored there, but years passed before the truth entered permanently into the hearts of the people. At the present time, on that little island of the sea, we have a membership of five thousand people. Elders have continued laboring there, year after year, and last evening in the gathering referred to, when elders who had labored in that land amongst the natives were asked to join in song, they met on the stand, fifty strong, young men and old men, filled with faith, earnest in the work, having a testimony of the truth, and as they stood there, singing the songs of Zion, the remark was made, “If, in the Providence of the Almighty, it were necessary for every elder now in that missionary field to be removed, here is a force of men strong enough to man the mission, who would readily respond to the call, and, in an exigency. would take hold of the work in that far distant land.”
This is but an illustration of all other missions that have been established under the inspiration of the Almighty. I, therefore, rejoice with you in these evidences of the permanency of this work. God has established it and will sustain it. It “shall never be destroyed, nor be given to another people.” We are engaged in this work, it belongs to the Saints, and the Lord has raised up prophets to direct it and has given unto them the inspiration of His Spirit. In this audience, are men of almost every nationality, women almost from every country, who are here by virtue of the work that has been done in their respective lands by elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I pray that God will bless us in this gathering. I ask you to join in praying that the Lord will bless these speakers, and sustain them, for they have not come of their own will, but because a servant of God has said, “the people on the outside cannot be taught this afternoon, unless you go out to them, the buildings being Crowded to their utmost capacity.” They are here in response to that call, and I bespeak for them your kind attention and your prayerful assistance.
ELDER ANDREW JENSON.
(Assistant Historian.)
My brethren and sisters and friends, outdoor preaching, is not my forte, but I will do the best I can. I have a reputation of being a rapid speaker, but rapidity is scarcely what is needed on this occasion. What I desire just now is the Spirit of God to assist me, and a full volume of voice, in order that I may make those hear who stand far in the rear. I also trust that the elements will favor us, and that the rain will not pour down upon us from the clouds hanging at this moment so threatening overhead.
I was deeply impressed when we sang our opening hymn, “Come, come, ye Saints,” as it reminded me of an event that took place 48 years ago. I crossed the plains and mountains in 1866 with an ox train, which brought me together with a number of other emigrants from the Missouri river to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. I feel thankful to the Lord now that I came to Utah in 1866. Had my coming been delayed till the following year, I would not have had the experience of traveling all the way across the plains with ox teams, for in 1867 the Union Pacific Railroad had been built for a distance of 300 miles westward from the Missouri river. The next year (1868) that road had been built two-thirds of the way across the plains and mountains, and overland travel with ox teams was abandoned altogether in 1869. Since, then, immigrants have come to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in railway trains.
But this song, “Come, come ye Saints,” as well as the other one we sang today, “O, ye mountains high,” we sang again and again on the plains in 1866 as we trudged along on our weary way toward this city, living part of the time on half rations. We longed for Zion, and we sang these songs of Zion with great earnestness and feeling. I do not think the late William Clayton, who composed the song, “Come, come ye Saint,” could have had more of the spirit of it than we had, who sang it nineteen years later.
I have often reflected upon what God has done for this people—the Latter-day Saints—not only in the growth of the community, as was referred to by Brother Goddard in his opening speech, but upon the experiences they have had in the countries or places in which they have dwelt since the Church was first organized. I have often explained : “How marvelous are the works of the Almighty!”
The Lord in the beginning wanted His people to become closely associated together as a community or a religious body. The Church was only a few months old when a commandment was given through the Prophet Joseph Smith for the Saints to gather together, and the Lord gave a promise by revelation that He would give them a land which they could call their own, a land of inheritance. This was nothing new. The Children of Israel many centuries ago, were likewise given such a land, a land of promise. We even are told in the Holy Scripture that Abraham, when living childless in Chaldea, was commanded to leave his native country and journey to a strange land, which the Lord would give him and his posterity. Abraham had no son at that time; his son, Isaac, the child of promise, being born afterwards.
I refer to this for the purpose of showing you that the gathering together of the people of God is an old doctrine. We also have the City of Enoch as an example. But in the dispensation in which we live we find this recorded that the Lord, in 1831, pointed out Jackson County, Missouri, as a gathering place for His Saints. Western Missouri was at that time almost uninhabited, but it was a beautiful country, abounding with meadows and woodland, and fertile as any lands in the great West, and when Sidney Rigdon was commanded by revelation to make a description of it, he utterly failed. The land was so beautiful that the pen picture he attempted to draw of it did not begin to do justice to it. The Latter-day Saints settled in that country, and everything looked promising with them for two or three years. About 1500 members of the Church gathered into Jackson County during the years 1831, 1832 and 1833, and began to cultivate the soil; they also established a printing office, opened a store, built mills, and made other improvements, and conditions seemed to indicate that they would flourish and prosper. But in the midst of their prosperity the Lord predicted for them through the Prophet Joseph Smith “much tribulation,” and when this prophecy commenced to be fulfilled, the Saints began to move into less desirable and poorer counties.
I pass over the short sojourn of our people in Clay County, on the opposite side of the Missouri river, into which they were driven in 1833 by the Jackson County mob. The Saints had not lived there very long when prospects for trouble were again in plain sight. The Missourians told the Saints substantially this: “You cannot live here. We do not want you to stay in Clay County.” “But,” said they, pointing to a country lying about 60 miles in a northeasterly direction, “yonder is a prairie country. If you are willing to go out there and settle by yourselves, you are welcome ; there we will not molest you.” To accept of this offer was apparently the best the Saints could do under the circumstances. The country suggested was a naked prairie, and the Missourians did not think at that time that the prairies of Missouri could produce much. Nevertheless, the Saints went in and settled what soon became Caldwell County. And what happened? Of course these things are recorded in Church history, and are not altogether new to you; suffice it to say, that in two or three years the Saints numbered as many thousands in Caldwell County, and the adjoining county of Daviess, as they had numbered hundreds in Jackson County; and lo and behold, the prairies of Caldwell County seemed to become even more productive than the rich, fertile lands in Jackson County, or Clay County. This was one of the Saints’ early experiences; in trusting the Lord. They learned this lesson, that when God chooses to pour down the blessings of heaven upon His people, He can do so anywhere, no matter where they live—in a timber country, a prairie country, or a desert.
You know what happened after the Saints began to prosper in Caldwell County. When the Missourians saw how our people progressed. how they had built up the beautiful little city of Far West, and even commenced the erection of a Temple there, Gov. Boggs took sides with the mob against the “Mormons,” which resulted in their expulsion from Missouri in 1838 and 1839.
What happened next? The Latter-day Saints, now numbering nearly 15,000 people in Missouri alone, had to seek a new home. But where could they go? They had scarcely anything but their bare hands to depend upon. Many of them were indeed glad to escape from Missouri with nothing but the clothes they wore on their backs, and many of them had to trudge on foot for 200 miles, some nearly 300 miles, before they could reach the border of the State and cross over the Mississippi river into Illinois. The people of the town of Quincy were kind to our people. Their hearts were touched because of the sufferings the exiles had endured. They called meetings and contributed clothing and food for the sufferers. But the Saints did not want to live on charity, or remain in this helpless condition. The authorities of the Church, the spiritual and temporal leaders of the people, therefore, cast their eyes around to find a country where they could locate a new Stake of Zion. About fifty miles above Quincy there was a little, struggling village called Commerce. Several attempts had been made to settle the place, but they had failed, though the people who tried it came from the East well supplied with everything necessary to establish a colony; they had plenty of teams, agricultural implements, and everything that was necessary for founding a settlement. But instead of building up the contemplated city of Commerce on the banks of the river, they built up a grave yard, in fact, an extensive cemetery, on the side hill. The place was so unhealthful, that malarial diseases broke out, and laid the people low; hence they had become discouraged and wanted to move away. And when the Latter-day Saints sent a committee to look at the country, these older settlers were perfectly willing to sell out for a song; their great desire was to get away from the unhealthful place.
What could the Saints naturally expect in Commerce? If healthy, well-to-do people could not make a success there, what would become of the poor exiles who came from Missouri bleeding and poverty-stricken? But the Saints relied upon God Almighty; the same God who had sustained them in Caldwell, and changed that country from a naked prairie to well cultivated fields, still ruled and controlled the elements; our brethren had confidence in Him and knew that He could remove the curse from Commerce and make it habitable for His Saints, if He chose to do so. I shall not enter into details, but simply remind you of the fact that where these people from the East, well provided with everything needed, could not build a village, the Saints in six years built up a beautiful city which, at one time, had nearly 20,000 inhabitants.
In the midst of that city they built a beautiful Temple and erected many other good and substantial buildings. Those who visit Nauvoo today will find that the best buildings there now are those erected by the Latter-day Saints seventy years ago.
I refer to these things, my brethren and sisters, to show what wonders God has wrought. Although He allows the sun to shine upon the wicked and good alike, and permits the rain to fall all over the earth, there is a difference, a signal difference, between a people who disobey God’s will, and a people who will serve Him and keep His commandments. He can lead them into any country, poor or fertile, and bless that country for their sake, and make it fit for their habitation.
Continuing my story, let me direct your attention to more recent events. The Saints lived in Nauvoo six or seven years. While there, the mob killed our Prophet and Patriarch; and when the wicked saw that the death of these men had not destroyed the work of God, they became more furious than ever, and did not rest until they had driven about 20,000 Saints into the wilderness, far beyond the borders of civilization The people of Illinois witnessed the exiled Saints disappear on the prairies of Iowa, going toward the land of the setting sun.
Those were perilous times, my brethren and sisters. The exodus of the Latter-day Saints from Nauvoo, and their experiences in the wilderness for a number of years before they arrived in this Valley, forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of the world. With tears in their eyes the Saints, as they went westward, frequently looked back toward their beautiful Nauvoo. Some of them wept like the Children of Israel, when Nebuchednezzar took them captives into Babylon. The Latter-day Saints were not captives, but they had been despoiled of their homes, like the Israelites were in the days of their captivity.
What happened next? The Latter-day Saints came into the wilderness, into the Great American Desert. It was not even the prairies of Caldwell now. It was not even an unhealthful Commerce. The soil in their eastern homes was comparatively fertile, but in this Great American Desert, to which they now had come, everything was absolutely barren and forbidding. Before the pioneers of 1847 arrived here, a few mountaineers, acquainted with the valleys of the Great Salt Lake, told President Brigham Young that it was folly for him to think for one moment of locating white people in this valley, where a few straggling bands of Indians of the lowest grade could not get a living from the soil. Were it not for the fish found in the Utah Lake, the Timpanogas river, and other mountain streams, and what game they could find in the mountains, these natives would perish through starvation. And of course white people could not subsist on that kind of fare. The mountaineers were united in saying that nothing that would sustain life could grow in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. One of the trappers who heard that President Brigham Young was coming to this desert country with a colony of whites, promptly informed him that it did not rain in the regions of the Great Salt Lake between April and October, and consequently breadstuffs could not be raised.
But the pioneers of 1847, relying upon the Lord, sang with cheerful hearts, “Come, come ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, But with joy wend your way.” * * * We’ll find the place which God for us prepared, far away in the West.”
The first thing the pioneers did after their arrival on this ground upon which we now stand, was to raise their hands toward heaven and dedicate the land for the gathering of the Saints. They, no doubt, remembered when praying, how they had been driven from their homes in Jackson County; how they had been robbed of their possessions in Clay, Caldwell and Daviess counties, Missouri, and how they had been driven from their homes in Hancock County, Illinois, into the wilderness, into the desert; and now they importuned at the throne of grace for special blessings upon the desert lands.
From the little beginning by the “Mormon” pioneers in 1847, we have now these valleys filled with Latter-day Saints. I have traveled in many parts of the world and seen many countries, but I will say this to you, that this valley is one of the prettiest spots on earth. A greater transfiguration than that which has taken place in this valley since the pioneer days can scarcely be imagined; in fact, I think it has no equal in any part of the world I know of no other place where you can ascend to a certain height, as you can here, as for instance to the top of Ensign Peak, or perhaps to the top of the Capitol building now being erected, and behold such a beautiful city, with such lovely surroundings as here. Behold the valley as it lies stretched out before you surrounded with grand and picturesque mountains and with the Great Salt Lake on the west; and I defy any one who has traveled to mention a landscape more beautiful and delightful, or a valley more fertile than the one we have here, which until recently was a part of the Great American desert.
What has the Lord wrought? A miracle ! It is not altogether the water. It is true we have learned the art of irrigation here, something that our people did not need on the prairies of Caldwell or in Illinois. But we believe that our Father in heaven had compassion upon His persecuted 'people. In connection with the work of the pioneers in their home-making, irrigating, planting and building, God was kind to them and commanded the earth by His power to yield forth in abundance to sustain the lives of His persecuted people. From the little handful that came here in 1847, we have grown to nearly half a million, in Utah, Idaho and the surrounding country. The 724 wards or settlements, which are now inhabited by (the Latter-day Saints, represent in part the result of the little beginning made by those persecuted people who were not permitted to possess their homes in the States of Illinois or Missouri.
We who came here later, and those who have been born here, discover, as we open our eyes to take in the situation, that we are located in one of the most desirable lands upon the face of the earth, and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving to God and to our parents, who "builded better than they knew.” I was a little white-haired boy when I first came to this valley with my parents, they having embraced the Gospel in a foreign land and brought their family here. And what does this mean to me. Happiness, prosperity and possibilities. I have also been the means of bringing into the world a family of children, sons and daughters, who when they opened their eyes in the world, here, found themselves with their parents in a goodly land, in a land of Prophets and Apostles, in the midst of a God-fearing people, and in a land that is blessed above all other lands upon the face of the earth.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I shall simply refer to one point more in proof of what I am saying, and then I am through. I visited Palestine a few years ago, and you know Palestine is the country known at one time as a land flowing with milk and honey, figuratively speaking. I traveled through that country from the heights of Galilee down to the lower regions around the Dead Sea; I visited most of the little valleys of Judea and Samaria, and I know pretty well the location of the most interesting points in that country. But Palestine is not a country today about which you can say it flows with milk and honey. What has happened? What has caused the change when that land is no longer a blessed country; it cannot today sustain half the inhabitants who dwell there. It is not only a question of a seven years famine: it would be famine continuously, if the inhabitants could not get bread from Poland, Russia, or some other country where corn and food is more plentiful than in Palestine. The land is defiled, because of the inhabitants thereof, because “they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting covenant.” Palestine apparently is under a curse, but that curse will be taken away when the sons and daughters of Zion, or the Children of Israel, on their return from their long dispersion, shall sing praises to their God, and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, like in the days of old.
And the same can be said about the waste places of Zion in our own day. The beautiful Nauvoo, that was once the largest city in the State of Illinois, larger than Chicago or Springfield, the State capital, at the time the Saints lived in Illinois, is today a little, neglected village. What has happened? Icarians, frugal German colonists and others who have tried to build up a city there have failed in their attempts. Nauvoo has gone down completely and like the curse that has rested on the land of Canaan for centuries, so it seems as though a curse rests upon Nauvoo and its surroundings today. The Lord has not forgotten that once there lived in that place a God-fearing people, who were driven away by mobs. Men who did not fear God took away from the Saints of the Most High their inheritances, and the curse is upon the land to this day, the same as the land of Palestine. At least, that is the impression I had when I visited Nauvoo a number of years ago, and something similar could be said of the change that has come to those parts of Missouri where the Saints once dwelt.
In conclusion I thank God for our mountain home. I appreciate God’s blessings upon us here, not only as manifested in the numerical growth of the Church, but in the blessings that have come to the soil upon which we dwell, upon the land which has been dedicated as a land of Zion and a home for the Saints. God grant that these beautiful valleys may always continue a land of Zion to the Latter-day Saints, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Edna Evans sang, “Kind words are sweet tones of the heart."
(Assistant Historian.)
My brethren and sisters and friends, outdoor preaching, is not my forte, but I will do the best I can. I have a reputation of being a rapid speaker, but rapidity is scarcely what is needed on this occasion. What I desire just now is the Spirit of God to assist me, and a full volume of voice, in order that I may make those hear who stand far in the rear. I also trust that the elements will favor us, and that the rain will not pour down upon us from the clouds hanging at this moment so threatening overhead.
I was deeply impressed when we sang our opening hymn, “Come, come, ye Saints,” as it reminded me of an event that took place 48 years ago. I crossed the plains and mountains in 1866 with an ox train, which brought me together with a number of other emigrants from the Missouri river to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. I feel thankful to the Lord now that I came to Utah in 1866. Had my coming been delayed till the following year, I would not have had the experience of traveling all the way across the plains with ox teams, for in 1867 the Union Pacific Railroad had been built for a distance of 300 miles westward from the Missouri river. The next year (1868) that road had been built two-thirds of the way across the plains and mountains, and overland travel with ox teams was abandoned altogether in 1869. Since, then, immigrants have come to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in railway trains.
But this song, “Come, come ye Saints,” as well as the other one we sang today, “O, ye mountains high,” we sang again and again on the plains in 1866 as we trudged along on our weary way toward this city, living part of the time on half rations. We longed for Zion, and we sang these songs of Zion with great earnestness and feeling. I do not think the late William Clayton, who composed the song, “Come, come ye Saint,” could have had more of the spirit of it than we had, who sang it nineteen years later.
I have often reflected upon what God has done for this people—the Latter-day Saints—not only in the growth of the community, as was referred to by Brother Goddard in his opening speech, but upon the experiences they have had in the countries or places in which they have dwelt since the Church was first organized. I have often explained : “How marvelous are the works of the Almighty!”
The Lord in the beginning wanted His people to become closely associated together as a community or a religious body. The Church was only a few months old when a commandment was given through the Prophet Joseph Smith for the Saints to gather together, and the Lord gave a promise by revelation that He would give them a land which they could call their own, a land of inheritance. This was nothing new. The Children of Israel many centuries ago, were likewise given such a land, a land of promise. We even are told in the Holy Scripture that Abraham, when living childless in Chaldea, was commanded to leave his native country and journey to a strange land, which the Lord would give him and his posterity. Abraham had no son at that time; his son, Isaac, the child of promise, being born afterwards.
I refer to this for the purpose of showing you that the gathering together of the people of God is an old doctrine. We also have the City of Enoch as an example. But in the dispensation in which we live we find this recorded that the Lord, in 1831, pointed out Jackson County, Missouri, as a gathering place for His Saints. Western Missouri was at that time almost uninhabited, but it was a beautiful country, abounding with meadows and woodland, and fertile as any lands in the great West, and when Sidney Rigdon was commanded by revelation to make a description of it, he utterly failed. The land was so beautiful that the pen picture he attempted to draw of it did not begin to do justice to it. The Latter-day Saints settled in that country, and everything looked promising with them for two or three years. About 1500 members of the Church gathered into Jackson County during the years 1831, 1832 and 1833, and began to cultivate the soil; they also established a printing office, opened a store, built mills, and made other improvements, and conditions seemed to indicate that they would flourish and prosper. But in the midst of their prosperity the Lord predicted for them through the Prophet Joseph Smith “much tribulation,” and when this prophecy commenced to be fulfilled, the Saints began to move into less desirable and poorer counties.
I pass over the short sojourn of our people in Clay County, on the opposite side of the Missouri river, into which they were driven in 1833 by the Jackson County mob. The Saints had not lived there very long when prospects for trouble were again in plain sight. The Missourians told the Saints substantially this: “You cannot live here. We do not want you to stay in Clay County.” “But,” said they, pointing to a country lying about 60 miles in a northeasterly direction, “yonder is a prairie country. If you are willing to go out there and settle by yourselves, you are welcome ; there we will not molest you.” To accept of this offer was apparently the best the Saints could do under the circumstances. The country suggested was a naked prairie, and the Missourians did not think at that time that the prairies of Missouri could produce much. Nevertheless, the Saints went in and settled what soon became Caldwell County. And what happened? Of course these things are recorded in Church history, and are not altogether new to you; suffice it to say, that in two or three years the Saints numbered as many thousands in Caldwell County, and the adjoining county of Daviess, as they had numbered hundreds in Jackson County; and lo and behold, the prairies of Caldwell County seemed to become even more productive than the rich, fertile lands in Jackson County, or Clay County. This was one of the Saints’ early experiences; in trusting the Lord. They learned this lesson, that when God chooses to pour down the blessings of heaven upon His people, He can do so anywhere, no matter where they live—in a timber country, a prairie country, or a desert.
You know what happened after the Saints began to prosper in Caldwell County. When the Missourians saw how our people progressed. how they had built up the beautiful little city of Far West, and even commenced the erection of a Temple there, Gov. Boggs took sides with the mob against the “Mormons,” which resulted in their expulsion from Missouri in 1838 and 1839.
What happened next? The Latter-day Saints, now numbering nearly 15,000 people in Missouri alone, had to seek a new home. But where could they go? They had scarcely anything but their bare hands to depend upon. Many of them were indeed glad to escape from Missouri with nothing but the clothes they wore on their backs, and many of them had to trudge on foot for 200 miles, some nearly 300 miles, before they could reach the border of the State and cross over the Mississippi river into Illinois. The people of the town of Quincy were kind to our people. Their hearts were touched because of the sufferings the exiles had endured. They called meetings and contributed clothing and food for the sufferers. But the Saints did not want to live on charity, or remain in this helpless condition. The authorities of the Church, the spiritual and temporal leaders of the people, therefore, cast their eyes around to find a country where they could locate a new Stake of Zion. About fifty miles above Quincy there was a little, struggling village called Commerce. Several attempts had been made to settle the place, but they had failed, though the people who tried it came from the East well supplied with everything necessary to establish a colony; they had plenty of teams, agricultural implements, and everything that was necessary for founding a settlement. But instead of building up the contemplated city of Commerce on the banks of the river, they built up a grave yard, in fact, an extensive cemetery, on the side hill. The place was so unhealthful, that malarial diseases broke out, and laid the people low; hence they had become discouraged and wanted to move away. And when the Latter-day Saints sent a committee to look at the country, these older settlers were perfectly willing to sell out for a song; their great desire was to get away from the unhealthful place.
What could the Saints naturally expect in Commerce? If healthy, well-to-do people could not make a success there, what would become of the poor exiles who came from Missouri bleeding and poverty-stricken? But the Saints relied upon God Almighty; the same God who had sustained them in Caldwell, and changed that country from a naked prairie to well cultivated fields, still ruled and controlled the elements; our brethren had confidence in Him and knew that He could remove the curse from Commerce and make it habitable for His Saints, if He chose to do so. I shall not enter into details, but simply remind you of the fact that where these people from the East, well provided with everything needed, could not build a village, the Saints in six years built up a beautiful city which, at one time, had nearly 20,000 inhabitants.
In the midst of that city they built a beautiful Temple and erected many other good and substantial buildings. Those who visit Nauvoo today will find that the best buildings there now are those erected by the Latter-day Saints seventy years ago.
I refer to these things, my brethren and sisters, to show what wonders God has wrought. Although He allows the sun to shine upon the wicked and good alike, and permits the rain to fall all over the earth, there is a difference, a signal difference, between a people who disobey God’s will, and a people who will serve Him and keep His commandments. He can lead them into any country, poor or fertile, and bless that country for their sake, and make it fit for their habitation.
Continuing my story, let me direct your attention to more recent events. The Saints lived in Nauvoo six or seven years. While there, the mob killed our Prophet and Patriarch; and when the wicked saw that the death of these men had not destroyed the work of God, they became more furious than ever, and did not rest until they had driven about 20,000 Saints into the wilderness, far beyond the borders of civilization The people of Illinois witnessed the exiled Saints disappear on the prairies of Iowa, going toward the land of the setting sun.
Those were perilous times, my brethren and sisters. The exodus of the Latter-day Saints from Nauvoo, and their experiences in the wilderness for a number of years before they arrived in this Valley, forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of the world. With tears in their eyes the Saints, as they went westward, frequently looked back toward their beautiful Nauvoo. Some of them wept like the Children of Israel, when Nebuchednezzar took them captives into Babylon. The Latter-day Saints were not captives, but they had been despoiled of their homes, like the Israelites were in the days of their captivity.
What happened next? The Latter-day Saints came into the wilderness, into the Great American Desert. It was not even the prairies of Caldwell now. It was not even an unhealthful Commerce. The soil in their eastern homes was comparatively fertile, but in this Great American Desert, to which they now had come, everything was absolutely barren and forbidding. Before the pioneers of 1847 arrived here, a few mountaineers, acquainted with the valleys of the Great Salt Lake, told President Brigham Young that it was folly for him to think for one moment of locating white people in this valley, where a few straggling bands of Indians of the lowest grade could not get a living from the soil. Were it not for the fish found in the Utah Lake, the Timpanogas river, and other mountain streams, and what game they could find in the mountains, these natives would perish through starvation. And of course white people could not subsist on that kind of fare. The mountaineers were united in saying that nothing that would sustain life could grow in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. One of the trappers who heard that President Brigham Young was coming to this desert country with a colony of whites, promptly informed him that it did not rain in the regions of the Great Salt Lake between April and October, and consequently breadstuffs could not be raised.
But the pioneers of 1847, relying upon the Lord, sang with cheerful hearts, “Come, come ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, But with joy wend your way.” * * * We’ll find the place which God for us prepared, far away in the West.”
The first thing the pioneers did after their arrival on this ground upon which we now stand, was to raise their hands toward heaven and dedicate the land for the gathering of the Saints. They, no doubt, remembered when praying, how they had been driven from their homes in Jackson County; how they had been robbed of their possessions in Clay, Caldwell and Daviess counties, Missouri, and how they had been driven from their homes in Hancock County, Illinois, into the wilderness, into the desert; and now they importuned at the throne of grace for special blessings upon the desert lands.
From the little beginning by the “Mormon” pioneers in 1847, we have now these valleys filled with Latter-day Saints. I have traveled in many parts of the world and seen many countries, but I will say this to you, that this valley is one of the prettiest spots on earth. A greater transfiguration than that which has taken place in this valley since the pioneer days can scarcely be imagined; in fact, I think it has no equal in any part of the world I know of no other place where you can ascend to a certain height, as you can here, as for instance to the top of Ensign Peak, or perhaps to the top of the Capitol building now being erected, and behold such a beautiful city, with such lovely surroundings as here. Behold the valley as it lies stretched out before you surrounded with grand and picturesque mountains and with the Great Salt Lake on the west; and I defy any one who has traveled to mention a landscape more beautiful and delightful, or a valley more fertile than the one we have here, which until recently was a part of the Great American desert.
What has the Lord wrought? A miracle ! It is not altogether the water. It is true we have learned the art of irrigation here, something that our people did not need on the prairies of Caldwell or in Illinois. But we believe that our Father in heaven had compassion upon His persecuted 'people. In connection with the work of the pioneers in their home-making, irrigating, planting and building, God was kind to them and commanded the earth by His power to yield forth in abundance to sustain the lives of His persecuted people. From the little handful that came here in 1847, we have grown to nearly half a million, in Utah, Idaho and the surrounding country. The 724 wards or settlements, which are now inhabited by (the Latter-day Saints, represent in part the result of the little beginning made by those persecuted people who were not permitted to possess their homes in the States of Illinois or Missouri.
We who came here later, and those who have been born here, discover, as we open our eyes to take in the situation, that we are located in one of the most desirable lands upon the face of the earth, and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving to God and to our parents, who "builded better than they knew.” I was a little white-haired boy when I first came to this valley with my parents, they having embraced the Gospel in a foreign land and brought their family here. And what does this mean to me. Happiness, prosperity and possibilities. I have also been the means of bringing into the world a family of children, sons and daughters, who when they opened their eyes in the world, here, found themselves with their parents in a goodly land, in a land of Prophets and Apostles, in the midst of a God-fearing people, and in a land that is blessed above all other lands upon the face of the earth.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I shall simply refer to one point more in proof of what I am saying, and then I am through. I visited Palestine a few years ago, and you know Palestine is the country known at one time as a land flowing with milk and honey, figuratively speaking. I traveled through that country from the heights of Galilee down to the lower regions around the Dead Sea; I visited most of the little valleys of Judea and Samaria, and I know pretty well the location of the most interesting points in that country. But Palestine is not a country today about which you can say it flows with milk and honey. What has happened? What has caused the change when that land is no longer a blessed country; it cannot today sustain half the inhabitants who dwell there. It is not only a question of a seven years famine: it would be famine continuously, if the inhabitants could not get bread from Poland, Russia, or some other country where corn and food is more plentiful than in Palestine. The land is defiled, because of the inhabitants thereof, because “they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting covenant.” Palestine apparently is under a curse, but that curse will be taken away when the sons and daughters of Zion, or the Children of Israel, on their return from their long dispersion, shall sing praises to their God, and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, like in the days of old.
And the same can be said about the waste places of Zion in our own day. The beautiful Nauvoo, that was once the largest city in the State of Illinois, larger than Chicago or Springfield, the State capital, at the time the Saints lived in Illinois, is today a little, neglected village. What has happened? Icarians, frugal German colonists and others who have tried to build up a city there have failed in their attempts. Nauvoo has gone down completely and like the curse that has rested on the land of Canaan for centuries, so it seems as though a curse rests upon Nauvoo and its surroundings today. The Lord has not forgotten that once there lived in that place a God-fearing people, who were driven away by mobs. Men who did not fear God took away from the Saints of the Most High their inheritances, and the curse is upon the land to this day, the same as the land of Palestine. At least, that is the impression I had when I visited Nauvoo a number of years ago, and something similar could be said of the change that has come to those parts of Missouri where the Saints once dwelt.
In conclusion I thank God for our mountain home. I appreciate God’s blessings upon us here, not only as manifested in the numerical growth of the Church, but in the blessings that have come to the soil upon which we dwell, upon the land which has been dedicated as a land of Zion and a home for the Saints. God grant that these beautiful valleys may always continue a land of Zion to the Latter-day Saints, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Edna Evans sang, “Kind words are sweet tones of the heart."
ELDER GERMAN E. ELLSWORTH.
(President of Northern States Mission.)
My brethren and sisters, I am pleased to have the privilege of addressing you for a short time, upon the principles of the Gospel which are near and dear to the hearts of all Latter-day Saints. I am not afraid that I cannot occupy the time, but I do tremble when I appear before an audience for fear I might not be an instrument in the hands of God in conveying to them the bread of life. So, I pray that the Spirit of our Father shall be with us here to-day, and shall be with what I shall be led to say to you, that your time may not be spent in vain, and that I will not be abjudged guilty of wasting your time.
There has been reference made to the great “Go-to-Church Movement,” that is to be inaugurated in this city on the 26th of April, if I am informed correctly. That movement, like many other great things, was started in Chicago. The first “Go-to-Church” day was February the first, this year. It was estimated that over a million people who were not churchgoing people found themselves inside of some church building on that day. We were invited with the rest of the churches, by circular letter, to join in the movement to induce people to go to church. We were likewise asked to pay for some advertising in the paper, since the big papers of that city were giving much space to move the people to attend services on that day. We forwarded our check, together with the ad. that we desired run in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One month after the movement was over we received a communication from the chairman of the committee reading:
“Dear Sir: In closing up the matter pertaining to the “Go-to-Church Sunday” campaign. I find among the papers your check, which is enclosed herewith. The advertisement which you ordered was not run because the committee voted that it should be excluded on the grounds that your organization was neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish.”
This committee was made up of representative ministers of eighteen different churches including Jews, Catholics and Protestants.
If the Latter-day Saints in this city, of this State are treated in a like manner, you will not be permitted to participate in the great movement which has received such hearty support in this conference. Some may say we are Protestants in every sense of the word, protesting against all churches in all the earth. But, I prefer to state it in another way. Instead of protesting against Catholic and Protestant denominations, or against the Jews, we carry a message of peace, and a proclamation to the world that God our Father has again revealed Himself, and the true character of His Son, to the children of men. We have been commissioned to proclaim that revelation to all the world, not as a protest against the doctrines they are teaching, but in love and peace, even the love that Christ felt for the people who really believed in Him and His true character, when He walked with His disciples. We have been authorized to proclaim the wonderful work that God has established in the earth. I thank God that we do not "belong to the Catholic denomination or to any of the denominations who have received their authority if they have at all, from the Catholic Church. I thank God, likewise, that my lot is not cast among the Jews of this day, but that I am favored to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He has established His Church in the earth for the salvation of all men Who will believe in Him and keep His commandments, and prepare themselves to enjoy all that He has promised to the faithful.
I was especially impressed with one reference made by President Joseph F. Smith today, in connection with the great work of the Latter-day Saints, and that was, in regard to the salvation for the dead. Latter-day Saints, as you know, believe that not only those who hear and obey the Gospel of Jesus while they live in the earth shall be saved, but all mankind who have ever lived upon the earth, or who now live, or who ever will live upon the earth, shall have an equal chance to hear the name of Christ, to hear the Gospel of Jesus taught, and have a chance to accept or reject the same. Thus the love of Christ is shown more beautifully than ever man has taught it before. His love and His Gospel is proclaimed to all earth’s inhabitants, reaching not only the living but the dead, also. Three weeks ago, in the city of Chicago, at least five different churches taught a similar doctrine to their congregations, under the headings of “A Second Chance,” or “The Dead shall hear the Voice of God,” or “Greater Love of Christ.” Thus you can see how the leaven of the Gospel is taking possession of the hearts of the people of the earth. I rejoice in it, and shall rejoice more when they shall look for the true authority to administer in the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, when they shall seek men who have the right to go into the waters of baptism and say in all truth: “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” That they cannot say today, for they have not been commissioned, they have not been ordained; they have no right to say unto the people that they have been so ordained; they have no right to baptize men and women into the Church of Christ, for He has not so designated them.
Latter-day Saints sometimes think that they are doing all there is to be done concerning the salvation of the dead. But when I look around in this great nation of ours, and see how the leaven of the Gospel is working, I am almost lead to proclaim that “the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light,” for the people of the world are doing a marvelous work connected with the salvation of the children of our Father. Many have had planted in their hearts the love of God and the love of their fellow men, reaching not only to the living but to the dead. They do not recognize their efforts as a work for the salvation of the dead, but such it is nevertheless. Since the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, and the Prophet Elijah has come, the hearts of the children have been turned toward their dead relatives. While they have not understood that there shall be baptism for their dead kindred, they feel that they should gather their names and genealogies and record them in books. I sometimes believe that they have done that work better than we have done it, using better books and spending more money for that purpose.
There was not much done, however, of a permanent nature, in this nation, looking to the gathering of genealogies, until after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. There were few organizations with this object in view, but one is really surprised to see in the great libraries of the nation the work now being done. I have some items here that I gathered a few weeks ago in visiting one of the greatest genealogical libraries in the world, and I would like to give part of them for the consideration of the Latter-day Saints. I believe that we are interested in this subject more vitally than any other people in the earth; because we have more light on the subject. We have a better reason for gathering genealogies of the dead than any other people in the world. They gather it for decency sake, as one genealogist put it, while we do it in the spirit of saviors to the dead. They do it from personal pride, and the spirit that a man who cannot trace his genealogy is like a mongrel among stock, who had no pedigree. One librarian told me all decent people now a days know who their parents are, likewise their grandparents, and great-grandparents, because the world over, respectable people keep sacredly such records, and as soon as possible, publish them in good books for generations yet unborn.
One of the first organizations of that character established in this country, is entitled, “The New England Historical and Genealogical Society,” organized in the year 1844. just eight years after the coming of Elijah. They gave this reason for establishing this organization: “There is no work of the kind in the country, and one seems to be much needed, for the period has arrived when an awakened and great interest is felt in this country in the pursuit of genealogical research.” With the exception of one or two small or minor organizations having for their object the gathering of genealogies; the work was limited to this one organization. But following the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, when Wilford Woodruff said in his dedicatorial prayer that he had turned the last key turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers in this earth, praying God to hasten the great day of the salvation of the dead, a number of such organizations have been established. I have the names of seven genealogical periodicals that are now published. After 1893, it seems that the great movement began in earnest. I will read a list of the organizations and periodicals that were established immediately after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple:
“The Newbury Library,” in Chicago, one of the largest of its kind in the world, was organized in November, 1893. A large and active organization for genealogical work was inaugurated November 1893, entitled, “The Genealogical Society of New Hampshire.” “The Mayflower Descendants,” was organized in 1894. The “Virginia Magazine of Historical Biographies,” in 1894. “The Colonial Order,” in 1894 “The Military Order of Foreign Wars,” in 1894. “The National Society of New England,” in 1895. “The Colonial Society,” in 1895. The “National Society of Children of American Revolution.” in 1895. “The American Historical Register,” in 1895. “The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania,” in 1895. “The Genealogical Society of Syracuse, New York,” in 1895. “The Mayflower Descendants Quarterly,” in 1898. “Old Northwest Society of Columbia,” in 1899. “Medford Historical Record of Massachusetts,” in 1898. “Devon Record Society,” in 1904. “Maryland Historical Magazine,” in 1906. “New England Family History,” in 1907. and “Massachusetts Magazine Quarterly,” in 1908. Probably there have never been, in such a short period in the world’s history, so many societies organized for gathering together names and genealogies. As I said before, they have some other objects, but the great object as understood by the Latter-day Saints, is that some day the people of the earth may go to the House of the Lord, and, with these records, gathered by the children of the world, at great expense of time and means, perform a work for their dead relatives. When they meet those relatives on the other side, they can say that they had worked to secure the salvation of those who had no chance to hear the word of God in this life.
Truly the Lord has turned the hearts of the children to their parents, and the hearts of our forefathers who are dead have been turned to us. I believe that they are near us, and that they are trying their best to influence us to do that which will open the prison doors, and give them a chance to enter into a broader life and grander work which will prepare us and them for greater happiness in the life to come; this is the greater love that is moving the living and the dead.
I rejoice in my testimony of the Gospel. I thank God for the privilege that I have had in the mission field, of laboring with thousands of your missionary sons and daughters. I know that the mothers and fathers of Zion are the true nobility of the earth. They have noble sons and daughters who are not afraid to proclaim to the world, under inspiration of the Spirit of God, that God lives, and His Son Jesus is the Savior of the world. I would like to say, my brethren and sisters, that we have every reason to hold up our heads and rejoice, because of the testimony that God has given us, because of the revelations of his Son that have come into our hearts, that He is the Savior of the world and Redeemer of mankind, and that the hour is come when the living and the dead shall hear His voice and receive salvation through His wonderful love.
I ask the peace and blessings of heaven to be upon us. May the spirit of this great work, not only for the salvation of the dead, but the salvation of the living, take possession of us. May we be diligent, even as diligent as the world is, in recording the genealogies of our friends and relatives in books, so we shall be able to trace our ancestry in written records away back to the beginning, and find that we all have come from a noble race of sires. May God grant us His peace and favor, and may He prosper Zion, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
(President of Northern States Mission.)
My brethren and sisters, I am pleased to have the privilege of addressing you for a short time, upon the principles of the Gospel which are near and dear to the hearts of all Latter-day Saints. I am not afraid that I cannot occupy the time, but I do tremble when I appear before an audience for fear I might not be an instrument in the hands of God in conveying to them the bread of life. So, I pray that the Spirit of our Father shall be with us here to-day, and shall be with what I shall be led to say to you, that your time may not be spent in vain, and that I will not be abjudged guilty of wasting your time.
There has been reference made to the great “Go-to-Church Movement,” that is to be inaugurated in this city on the 26th of April, if I am informed correctly. That movement, like many other great things, was started in Chicago. The first “Go-to-Church” day was February the first, this year. It was estimated that over a million people who were not churchgoing people found themselves inside of some church building on that day. We were invited with the rest of the churches, by circular letter, to join in the movement to induce people to go to church. We were likewise asked to pay for some advertising in the paper, since the big papers of that city were giving much space to move the people to attend services on that day. We forwarded our check, together with the ad. that we desired run in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One month after the movement was over we received a communication from the chairman of the committee reading:
“Dear Sir: In closing up the matter pertaining to the “Go-to-Church Sunday” campaign. I find among the papers your check, which is enclosed herewith. The advertisement which you ordered was not run because the committee voted that it should be excluded on the grounds that your organization was neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish.”
This committee was made up of representative ministers of eighteen different churches including Jews, Catholics and Protestants.
If the Latter-day Saints in this city, of this State are treated in a like manner, you will not be permitted to participate in the great movement which has received such hearty support in this conference. Some may say we are Protestants in every sense of the word, protesting against all churches in all the earth. But, I prefer to state it in another way. Instead of protesting against Catholic and Protestant denominations, or against the Jews, we carry a message of peace, and a proclamation to the world that God our Father has again revealed Himself, and the true character of His Son, to the children of men. We have been commissioned to proclaim that revelation to all the world, not as a protest against the doctrines they are teaching, but in love and peace, even the love that Christ felt for the people who really believed in Him and His true character, when He walked with His disciples. We have been authorized to proclaim the wonderful work that God has established in the earth. I thank God that we do not "belong to the Catholic denomination or to any of the denominations who have received their authority if they have at all, from the Catholic Church. I thank God, likewise, that my lot is not cast among the Jews of this day, but that I am favored to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He has established His Church in the earth for the salvation of all men Who will believe in Him and keep His commandments, and prepare themselves to enjoy all that He has promised to the faithful.
I was especially impressed with one reference made by President Joseph F. Smith today, in connection with the great work of the Latter-day Saints, and that was, in regard to the salvation for the dead. Latter-day Saints, as you know, believe that not only those who hear and obey the Gospel of Jesus while they live in the earth shall be saved, but all mankind who have ever lived upon the earth, or who now live, or who ever will live upon the earth, shall have an equal chance to hear the name of Christ, to hear the Gospel of Jesus taught, and have a chance to accept or reject the same. Thus the love of Christ is shown more beautifully than ever man has taught it before. His love and His Gospel is proclaimed to all earth’s inhabitants, reaching not only the living but the dead, also. Three weeks ago, in the city of Chicago, at least five different churches taught a similar doctrine to their congregations, under the headings of “A Second Chance,” or “The Dead shall hear the Voice of God,” or “Greater Love of Christ.” Thus you can see how the leaven of the Gospel is taking possession of the hearts of the people of the earth. I rejoice in it, and shall rejoice more when they shall look for the true authority to administer in the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, when they shall seek men who have the right to go into the waters of baptism and say in all truth: “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” That they cannot say today, for they have not been commissioned, they have not been ordained; they have no right to say unto the people that they have been so ordained; they have no right to baptize men and women into the Church of Christ, for He has not so designated them.
Latter-day Saints sometimes think that they are doing all there is to be done concerning the salvation of the dead. But when I look around in this great nation of ours, and see how the leaven of the Gospel is working, I am almost lead to proclaim that “the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light,” for the people of the world are doing a marvelous work connected with the salvation of the children of our Father. Many have had planted in their hearts the love of God and the love of their fellow men, reaching not only to the living but to the dead. They do not recognize their efforts as a work for the salvation of the dead, but such it is nevertheless. Since the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, and the Prophet Elijah has come, the hearts of the children have been turned toward their dead relatives. While they have not understood that there shall be baptism for their dead kindred, they feel that they should gather their names and genealogies and record them in books. I sometimes believe that they have done that work better than we have done it, using better books and spending more money for that purpose.
There was not much done, however, of a permanent nature, in this nation, looking to the gathering of genealogies, until after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. There were few organizations with this object in view, but one is really surprised to see in the great libraries of the nation the work now being done. I have some items here that I gathered a few weeks ago in visiting one of the greatest genealogical libraries in the world, and I would like to give part of them for the consideration of the Latter-day Saints. I believe that we are interested in this subject more vitally than any other people in the earth; because we have more light on the subject. We have a better reason for gathering genealogies of the dead than any other people in the world. They gather it for decency sake, as one genealogist put it, while we do it in the spirit of saviors to the dead. They do it from personal pride, and the spirit that a man who cannot trace his genealogy is like a mongrel among stock, who had no pedigree. One librarian told me all decent people now a days know who their parents are, likewise their grandparents, and great-grandparents, because the world over, respectable people keep sacredly such records, and as soon as possible, publish them in good books for generations yet unborn.
One of the first organizations of that character established in this country, is entitled, “The New England Historical and Genealogical Society,” organized in the year 1844. just eight years after the coming of Elijah. They gave this reason for establishing this organization: “There is no work of the kind in the country, and one seems to be much needed, for the period has arrived when an awakened and great interest is felt in this country in the pursuit of genealogical research.” With the exception of one or two small or minor organizations having for their object the gathering of genealogies; the work was limited to this one organization. But following the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, when Wilford Woodruff said in his dedicatorial prayer that he had turned the last key turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers in this earth, praying God to hasten the great day of the salvation of the dead, a number of such organizations have been established. I have the names of seven genealogical periodicals that are now published. After 1893, it seems that the great movement began in earnest. I will read a list of the organizations and periodicals that were established immediately after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple:
“The Newbury Library,” in Chicago, one of the largest of its kind in the world, was organized in November, 1893. A large and active organization for genealogical work was inaugurated November 1893, entitled, “The Genealogical Society of New Hampshire.” “The Mayflower Descendants,” was organized in 1894. The “Virginia Magazine of Historical Biographies,” in 1894. “The Colonial Order,” in 1894 “The Military Order of Foreign Wars,” in 1894. “The National Society of New England,” in 1895. “The Colonial Society,” in 1895. The “National Society of Children of American Revolution.” in 1895. “The American Historical Register,” in 1895. “The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania,” in 1895. “The Genealogical Society of Syracuse, New York,” in 1895. “The Mayflower Descendants Quarterly,” in 1898. “Old Northwest Society of Columbia,” in 1899. “Medford Historical Record of Massachusetts,” in 1898. “Devon Record Society,” in 1904. “Maryland Historical Magazine,” in 1906. “New England Family History,” in 1907. and “Massachusetts Magazine Quarterly,” in 1908. Probably there have never been, in such a short period in the world’s history, so many societies organized for gathering together names and genealogies. As I said before, they have some other objects, but the great object as understood by the Latter-day Saints, is that some day the people of the earth may go to the House of the Lord, and, with these records, gathered by the children of the world, at great expense of time and means, perform a work for their dead relatives. When they meet those relatives on the other side, they can say that they had worked to secure the salvation of those who had no chance to hear the word of God in this life.
Truly the Lord has turned the hearts of the children to their parents, and the hearts of our forefathers who are dead have been turned to us. I believe that they are near us, and that they are trying their best to influence us to do that which will open the prison doors, and give them a chance to enter into a broader life and grander work which will prepare us and them for greater happiness in the life to come; this is the greater love that is moving the living and the dead.
I rejoice in my testimony of the Gospel. I thank God for the privilege that I have had in the mission field, of laboring with thousands of your missionary sons and daughters. I know that the mothers and fathers of Zion are the true nobility of the earth. They have noble sons and daughters who are not afraid to proclaim to the world, under inspiration of the Spirit of God, that God lives, and His Son Jesus is the Savior of the world. I would like to say, my brethren and sisters, that we have every reason to hold up our heads and rejoice, because of the testimony that God has given us, because of the revelations of his Son that have come into our hearts, that He is the Savior of the world and Redeemer of mankind, and that the hour is come when the living and the dead shall hear His voice and receive salvation through His wonderful love.
I ask the peace and blessings of heaven to be upon us. May the spirit of this great work, not only for the salvation of the dead, but the salvation of the living, take possession of us. May we be diligent, even as diligent as the world is, in recording the genealogies of our friends and relatives in books, so we shall be able to trace our ancestry in written records away back to the beginning, and find that we all have come from a noble race of sires. May God grant us His peace and favor, and may He prosper Zion, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER SAMUEL O. BENNION.
(President of Central States Mission.)
I sincerely trust, my brethren and sisters, that I shall have an interest in your faith and prayers. I have been suffering with a severe cold, and have not recovered sufficient to speak clearly. I hope and pray that the Lord will strengthen my voice, and that the time allotted to me shall not be considered wasted, but that our gathering here this afternoon will be a spiritual feast, and that we shall continue to enjoy the splendid spirit that has prevailed. I rejoice in the Gospel of the Redeemer of the world. I have been permitted to take a part in the ministry of the Son of God, and have been able to bear testimony to thousands of the children of men who have not learned to love the Lord as have the Latter-day Saints, neither have become acquainted with the fulness of the Gospel that the Lord has revealed.
The “Mormon” people have been maligned; men’s minds have been turned against them, as the result of missionary work done by emissaries of the adversary, who have taught the people of the world things that are not true, and have been active in discouraging anything that would lead people to think favorably of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the Latter-day Saints. I had occasion to listen to the recital of a story, a few days ago, by a lady who had been teaching school, in this country, who had gone into one of the States of the Union and was giving an address, the subject being, “Mormonism, and Life among the Mormons.” She led her audience to believe that the “Mormons” in Utah have no educational system at all, that they are an ignorant class of people, that they are not making any effort to enlighten the minds of the children in that land called Utah; and many other things that would create enmity in the minds of people. A gentleman, from Utah, who had listened to the discourse, asked her concerning the school systems in Utah, the rank of this State of ours as among other states; pinning her down to prove what she had said. She was surrounded by about twenty ministers, and they were all anxious that she should defend her statement, but she could not do it. Afterwards, she sought that gentleman and asked him not to make a report of it, for she wanted to go back to Utah, where she had some very dear friends. This is only one instance out of many, in which audiences are misinformed.
I tell you there are very many good men and good women in the world. They don’t live perfect lives, it is true, but they are honorable, so far as men of the world are concerned. It is a trick of the* adversary to keep men and women from investigating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If they could have the veil drawn from their eyes, and could see this country of ours, the great commonwealth that has been established here, as one of the results of the appearance of the Father and the Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith, they would be led to more carefully investigate the history of the “Mormons.” We rejoice that we are not afraid of the truth, we are not afraid to have our true history investigated and read by all the men and women of the earth. We desire them to understand what we are doing, that it takes money, that it takes self-sacrifice all the time to keep this latter-day work before the people. It is cheerfully done, without any hope of remuneration in this life. Men lay down their lives for the testimony of Jesus, for the witness of the truth that they bear, inviting men to read and investigate. We do not baptize people without giving them a chance to investigate the Gospel that we preach. We declare that the Gospel is for the living and for the dead, and that they must receive the Gospel of the Redeemer before they can enter into the presence of our God; that the Lord does not save any man in ignorance, but that man must be enlightened ; that they will not be consigned to an everlasting torment, until they have had the privilege of receiving or rejecting the Gospel of the Redeemer of the world.
A lady came to Independence, Missouri, to visit us, and she told me that she had belonged to a certain church all her life, was baptized into it when a child. She had believed it was the Church of God, and had enjoyed herself many times in the meetings of that congregation, etc. She said that two Elders, some two or three years ago, had visited her home and they had left a few tracts and books for her to read, and had borne their testimony that the doctrines stated therein were of the Lord, and included His Gospel and she read them. She had buried her father and husband, and often wondered if she would meet them again. In one of the tracts it was declared that the Gospel had been preached by the Christ to those that are dead. She became interested, and began to study, and, in the course of two years, she was converted to the Gospel. She came to me and said: “I have found a cousin of mine, that I never knew until a short time ago, who has a book containing names of eight thousand of my dead kindred, on my father’s side. Originally they landed in Jamestown with the early settlers of this country. I feel that I cannot rest until I have commenced the work of redemption for them, until the Temple work has been begun in their behalf, until I have been an instrument for their redemption.” This Gospel plan gave her new life, told her she had something great to live for; and she was so happy she felt like weeping, because of this glorious result of the visit of these two Elders.
Most men will accept the truth when they understand it. Take any man in general and preach something to him absolutely contrary to his views and he will resent it, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, and emphatically declare that he doesn’t believe it. But when he is calmly reasoned with, and shown wherein his views can be bettered, he will read and listen, and eventually, the leaven of the Gospel enters his soul. How many men and women gathered from the different parts of the earth are witness of this. Ofttimes the, mother of a family receives the Gospel first, and she never ceases to labor with her loved ones until she gets them into the Church. Occasionally it is the daughter, sometimes it is the son, or father, and they also labor with their loved ones, relatives and neighbors, to get them to become members of the Church. We are witnesses of this, hundreds who are here on these grounds today. Honest hearted men accept the truth when it is presented to them, when prejudice has been allayed. We must make friends and acquaintances first, and then they understand our true motives, and the spirit of prejudice that has been planted by Lucifer will be allayed, and he shall not have power always to deceive the children of men.
My brethren and sisters, we need make no apology for anything the Lord has revealed. In very deed He appeared to Joseph Smith, revealed Himself, spoke to him as one man speaks to another, said to him, “These denominations have a form of godliness, but they have not the power thereof.” Why should He not appear to men today as much as at any time in the history of this world? He appeared to Moses. All people, who are Christians, and many who are not, naturally believe that. He loves His children today as much as He did then. The world’s inhabitants have increased, and the works of God are growing greater, and so His love must be greater than in any period of the world’s history. As the men and women come and go through this Temple Block, from one season to another, and are shown through these buildings, and go back to their homes, and are met by the Elders of Israel and the Sisters of Zion who bear their testimony to them, prejudice shall be allayed, and men and women will acknowledge the truth, and seek after their dead, and the work for the glory of God shall be consummated and fulfilled. The Lord bless us. 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.
The benediction was pronounced by Elder Joshua H. Paul.
(President of Central States Mission.)
I sincerely trust, my brethren and sisters, that I shall have an interest in your faith and prayers. I have been suffering with a severe cold, and have not recovered sufficient to speak clearly. I hope and pray that the Lord will strengthen my voice, and that the time allotted to me shall not be considered wasted, but that our gathering here this afternoon will be a spiritual feast, and that we shall continue to enjoy the splendid spirit that has prevailed. I rejoice in the Gospel of the Redeemer of the world. I have been permitted to take a part in the ministry of the Son of God, and have been able to bear testimony to thousands of the children of men who have not learned to love the Lord as have the Latter-day Saints, neither have become acquainted with the fulness of the Gospel that the Lord has revealed.
The “Mormon” people have been maligned; men’s minds have been turned against them, as the result of missionary work done by emissaries of the adversary, who have taught the people of the world things that are not true, and have been active in discouraging anything that would lead people to think favorably of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the Latter-day Saints. I had occasion to listen to the recital of a story, a few days ago, by a lady who had been teaching school, in this country, who had gone into one of the States of the Union and was giving an address, the subject being, “Mormonism, and Life among the Mormons.” She led her audience to believe that the “Mormons” in Utah have no educational system at all, that they are an ignorant class of people, that they are not making any effort to enlighten the minds of the children in that land called Utah; and many other things that would create enmity in the minds of people. A gentleman, from Utah, who had listened to the discourse, asked her concerning the school systems in Utah, the rank of this State of ours as among other states; pinning her down to prove what she had said. She was surrounded by about twenty ministers, and they were all anxious that she should defend her statement, but she could not do it. Afterwards, she sought that gentleman and asked him not to make a report of it, for she wanted to go back to Utah, where she had some very dear friends. This is only one instance out of many, in which audiences are misinformed.
I tell you there are very many good men and good women in the world. They don’t live perfect lives, it is true, but they are honorable, so far as men of the world are concerned. It is a trick of the* adversary to keep men and women from investigating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If they could have the veil drawn from their eyes, and could see this country of ours, the great commonwealth that has been established here, as one of the results of the appearance of the Father and the Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith, they would be led to more carefully investigate the history of the “Mormons.” We rejoice that we are not afraid of the truth, we are not afraid to have our true history investigated and read by all the men and women of the earth. We desire them to understand what we are doing, that it takes money, that it takes self-sacrifice all the time to keep this latter-day work before the people. It is cheerfully done, without any hope of remuneration in this life. Men lay down their lives for the testimony of Jesus, for the witness of the truth that they bear, inviting men to read and investigate. We do not baptize people without giving them a chance to investigate the Gospel that we preach. We declare that the Gospel is for the living and for the dead, and that they must receive the Gospel of the Redeemer before they can enter into the presence of our God; that the Lord does not save any man in ignorance, but that man must be enlightened ; that they will not be consigned to an everlasting torment, until they have had the privilege of receiving or rejecting the Gospel of the Redeemer of the world.
A lady came to Independence, Missouri, to visit us, and she told me that she had belonged to a certain church all her life, was baptized into it when a child. She had believed it was the Church of God, and had enjoyed herself many times in the meetings of that congregation, etc. She said that two Elders, some two or three years ago, had visited her home and they had left a few tracts and books for her to read, and had borne their testimony that the doctrines stated therein were of the Lord, and included His Gospel and she read them. She had buried her father and husband, and often wondered if she would meet them again. In one of the tracts it was declared that the Gospel had been preached by the Christ to those that are dead. She became interested, and began to study, and, in the course of two years, she was converted to the Gospel. She came to me and said: “I have found a cousin of mine, that I never knew until a short time ago, who has a book containing names of eight thousand of my dead kindred, on my father’s side. Originally they landed in Jamestown with the early settlers of this country. I feel that I cannot rest until I have commenced the work of redemption for them, until the Temple work has been begun in their behalf, until I have been an instrument for their redemption.” This Gospel plan gave her new life, told her she had something great to live for; and she was so happy she felt like weeping, because of this glorious result of the visit of these two Elders.
Most men will accept the truth when they understand it. Take any man in general and preach something to him absolutely contrary to his views and he will resent it, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, and emphatically declare that he doesn’t believe it. But when he is calmly reasoned with, and shown wherein his views can be bettered, he will read and listen, and eventually, the leaven of the Gospel enters his soul. How many men and women gathered from the different parts of the earth are witness of this. Ofttimes the, mother of a family receives the Gospel first, and she never ceases to labor with her loved ones until she gets them into the Church. Occasionally it is the daughter, sometimes it is the son, or father, and they also labor with their loved ones, relatives and neighbors, to get them to become members of the Church. We are witnesses of this, hundreds who are here on these grounds today. Honest hearted men accept the truth when it is presented to them, when prejudice has been allayed. We must make friends and acquaintances first, and then they understand our true motives, and the spirit of prejudice that has been planted by Lucifer will be allayed, and he shall not have power always to deceive the children of men.
My brethren and sisters, we need make no apology for anything the Lord has revealed. In very deed He appeared to Joseph Smith, revealed Himself, spoke to him as one man speaks to another, said to him, “These denominations have a form of godliness, but they have not the power thereof.” Why should He not appear to men today as much as at any time in the history of this world? He appeared to Moses. All people, who are Christians, and many who are not, naturally believe that. He loves His children today as much as He did then. The world’s inhabitants have increased, and the works of God are growing greater, and so His love must be greater than in any period of the world’s history. As the men and women come and go through this Temple Block, from one season to another, and are shown through these buildings, and go back to their homes, and are met by the Elders of Israel and the Sisters of Zion who bear their testimony to them, prejudice shall be allayed, and men and women will acknowledge the truth, and seek after their dead, and the work for the glory of God shall be consummated and fulfilled. The Lord bless us. 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.
The benediction was pronounced by Elder Joshua H. Paul.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
In the tabernacle.
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The Tabernacle choir sang the anthem, “Judge me, O God, and plead by cause.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Charles H. Hyde.
The choir sang the anthem, “When the Son of Man shall come.” Solos rendered by Esther S. Davis and Horace S. Ensign.
In the tabernacle.
Conference was resumed at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order.
The Tabernacle choir sang the anthem, “Judge me, O God, and plead by cause.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Charles H. Hyde.
The choir sang the anthem, “When the Son of Man shall come.” Solos rendered by Esther S. Davis and Horace S. Ensign.
ELDER DAVID O. M’KAY.
"The religion worth having”—A religion that fits men for the life struggle—An army of over 100,000 teachers in the Church—Qualifications necessary to success in teaching—Powerful influence of the teacher’s personality.
It is written that “he who governs well leads the blind, but he that teaches gives them eyes.” I should like to say a word this afternoon to the Church teachers who are supposed to be giving “eyes to the blind.” I pray that the same inspiration that has actuated this conference thus far may be present with us this afternoon in rich abundance.
In a thoughtful little work entitled “The Religion Worth Having,” Thomas Nixon Carver has given several sociological marks of what he considers the true church. Among other things I find this comparison:
“Everyone is familiar with the intense struggle for existence that is carried on among the trees of the forest. It is asserted that the struggle is so intense and the issue of life and death is so sharply drawn among the young pines of a thicket, that the cutting of an. inch from the top of one of them will doom it to ultimate extinction. Even that slight difference puts it at a disadvantage, and it never regains what was lost, but falls farther and farther behind and is eventually killed by its less unfortunate rivals. Now let us imagine,” he continues, “that these trees were conscious beings and capable of having a religion. Let us suppose farther that one set of trees possessed a religion which stimulated growth and helped them in the struggle for soil and light, while another possessed a religion which retarded growth and hindered in the struggle, is there any doubt as to which of these religions would ultimately dominate the forest? Those trees which happen to possess the religion which helped them would survive, and those which happen to possess the kind of religion which hinders them would perish, and their religion would perish with them.” “The issues of life and death,” he continues, "is never so sharply drawn among human beings as among the trees of the forest, but in the long run the results appear to be very much the same,” and then “If that be true it will follow that the religion which best fits men for the struggle with the forces of the world, which enables them to survive in this struggle, will eventually be left in possession of the world."
I am grateful for membership in a church whose religion fits men for the struggle with the forces of the world, and which enables them to survive in this struggle. One of these acting forces is the responsibility of teaching, and the opportunity afforded for so many to share this responsibility. There are others, too, just as effective. For example, much might be said about the accomplishment of the Church in enabling men to get dominion over the forces of nature, in other words, the efficiency, of the Church to supply the material needs of mankind. Though this phase of our religion is glorious to contemplate, and will establish in the minds of thinking men the superiority of this divine organization over the man-made organizations, I shall merely mention it as one of the many commendable features which fit our men in the struggle with nature’s forces. Neither shall I dwell upon the social efficiency nor the opportunities which the men and women in the various organizations have of exerting an influence upon the young people and upon their associates. I might say. however, in passing, that since I came into this building this afternoon, my attention has been called to an illustration of the efficiency of the stake organization in reaching the young people. A note was passed to me just as I entered, giving a new plan adopted in one of our leading stakes of controlling the exercises and the amusements of all the young people in that stake. All organizations have agreed to close evening entertainments at an early hour in the night, that nothing in that stake should be in operation after 10 o'clock. One young man who first rebelled against the rule, but later favored it, said in answer to the question, “Well, what do you think of this new rule?” “Why,” he replied, “I have this to say, all my meanness in the past was done after 10 o’clock at night.” But of the social efficiency I am not going to say anything this afternoon, merely mention it and suggest that anybody who will give thought to it, and examine the divine organization, and the opportunity that men and women have of controlling their young people as social beings, will be convinced of the efficacy and superiority of the Church in this regard. But I said I would like to draw attention to the teaching force of the Church.
Luther once said: “Count it one of the highest virtues upon earth to educate faithfully the children of others which so few, and scarcely any, do their own.” The obligation of teaching is placed by the Church first upon the parents. Fathers and mothers are accepted absolutely as teachers and the responsibility thereof has been placed upon them by divine command. But beside these there is an army of men and women, and boys and girls, who have accepted the responsibility of teaching. In the priesthood quorums alone the number runs into the thousands. Among these there are selected not a few thousand to act as instructors of the youth. There are, approximately, six thousand such officers and teachers in the quorums; over one thousand teaching the high priests; over fifteen hundred teaching the seventies; over fifteen hundred teaching the elders, and so on to the priests, teachers and deacons, making a total of over six thousand officers and teachers. With them should be numbered the thousands of young men and young women associated with the mothers of the Relief Society who, too, have joined the ranks of teachers. Indeed the last report shows that there are over fifty-six thousand officers and teachers in the various auxiliary organizations of the Church, not including the ward teachers. Of course, some of these teachers of the quorums are also ward teachers, so the latter cannot be counted without duplication. Neither does the number 56,000 include the vast army of all the men and boys who have been ordained to the priesthood, every one of whom has the responsibility of teaching his fellowmen. If you include all who hold the priesthood, and to that number add mothers and young men and young women in the Relief Society, the Sunday Schools, the Mutuals, the Primary, and the Religion Class, you have an army of over one hundred thousand teachers who have the privilege of working or taking upon themselves what Luther calls “the highest virtue upon earth.” Several years ago while attending a conference such as this, I heard President Smith deliver a sermon bearing on the importance of the office of teacher, in which he, too, emphasized the responsibility and virtue of this great calling. “The church needs,” he concluded in substance, “efficient men and women who will be teachers of our children.”
Now I ask you—for I have the time merely to make the suggestion—in furnishing opportunity for so many to get the development that comes to the true teacher, think what the Church is doing in enabling this army of teachers as individuals to become strong in the battle against the forces of the world? First, it places upon them the obligation of teaching their fellow men by example; and there is no better safe-guard placed upon an honest man or a sincere woman. Second, it develops the divine attribute of love for others. Jesus said to one of His apostles, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” “Yea Lord, Thou knowest I love Thee.” “Feed my lambs.” Before He gave the divine injunction to Peter and the others to teach, He preceded it by the necessary qualification of love, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” We shall not discuss now, what “these” signifies, but the significance is deeper than some of us think. But love should precede the responsibility of feeding those lambs. These hundred thousand must have in their hearts the love of teaching, the love of fellow men; and these officers who sit before me who call the young men and young women into this service, should ask them their willingness, their acceptance of this responsibility, impressing upon those so called the necessity of developing the divine attribute of love.
Then there is a third requirement; viz., purity of life. I cannot imagine a boy who has soiled himself teaching, successfully, purity to boys. I cannot imagine a man who has doubt in his mind about the existence of God, teaching impressively the existence of a Deity to young boys and girls. He cannot do it. If he act the hypocrite and attempt so to teach, what he is will speak louder than what he says; and that is the danger, fathers and mothers, of getting doubting men as teachers of your children. The poison sinks into the little beings, and unconsciously they become sick in spirit, because of the poison which the man in whom they have confidence has insidiously instilled into their souls. But the thought of any of this army’s attempting to teach the youth faith in God, when they haven’t it is irreconcilable with consistency, if not indeed unthinkable. So the third qualification is purity of life and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Finally, it gives them an opportunity to serve their fellow men, therein magnify the calling which has come to them, and indeed prove that they are real disciples of Christ. “Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my children, ye have done it unto Me.” Thus the principle, the divine principle of service, is instilled in their minds.
Now I ask you to think of the effect upon society, if every one of these teachers, every one, will succeed in influencing only one other to love, to have that same purity of life, and that same desire to serve fellow men as he has. It means, at once, that there would be two hundred thousand such men and women in this community. And such a consummation is not idealistic or imaginative; it is a condition that can come, that ought to be. One hundred thousand men and women who keep the word of wisdom as faithfully as the three times sixty-six stake presidencies keep it or the three times seven hundred twenty-four bishoprics, just as faithfully as the members of the general boards, just as faithfully as the officers throughout the Church. That is what it means; think what it contemplates!
God help our teachers to feel the responsibility that comes to them, and to remember that responsibility is not measured alone by what they do, but by the opportunities that have come to them to know good from evil. Oh, how mighty then becomes the responsibility of a teacher.
Not long ago I noticed a young girl in her teens put forth a special effort to accost the little boy that was by my side. I did not know her, cannot call her name today, but I could see she wanted to recognize that boy, and I noticed that he was glad when he saw her to reciprocate or to return her salutation. As we passed I said, “Who is she?” “She is my religion class teacher.” “What is her name?” “I don’t know what her name is, but oh, she is a dandy!” He used an incorrect word, evidently did not know its true meaning, but the significance he gave the word I knew, and the expression on his face I read, and in my heart I thanked the young girl for the influence she has over that boy. Only in her teens, but what that girl will say to him in his religion class he will accept as gospel truth; what she does in her life he will emulate; and that young girl carries the responsibility, in a way, of molding my boy’s character; and the one hundred thousand in this Church carry the same responsibility.
Well might the prophet say then:
"Oh 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; for behold the field is white all ready to harvest and Io! he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perish not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; and faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.”
May these things be in you and abound, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"The religion worth having”—A religion that fits men for the life struggle—An army of over 100,000 teachers in the Church—Qualifications necessary to success in teaching—Powerful influence of the teacher’s personality.
It is written that “he who governs well leads the blind, but he that teaches gives them eyes.” I should like to say a word this afternoon to the Church teachers who are supposed to be giving “eyes to the blind.” I pray that the same inspiration that has actuated this conference thus far may be present with us this afternoon in rich abundance.
In a thoughtful little work entitled “The Religion Worth Having,” Thomas Nixon Carver has given several sociological marks of what he considers the true church. Among other things I find this comparison:
“Everyone is familiar with the intense struggle for existence that is carried on among the trees of the forest. It is asserted that the struggle is so intense and the issue of life and death is so sharply drawn among the young pines of a thicket, that the cutting of an. inch from the top of one of them will doom it to ultimate extinction. Even that slight difference puts it at a disadvantage, and it never regains what was lost, but falls farther and farther behind and is eventually killed by its less unfortunate rivals. Now let us imagine,” he continues, “that these trees were conscious beings and capable of having a religion. Let us suppose farther that one set of trees possessed a religion which stimulated growth and helped them in the struggle for soil and light, while another possessed a religion which retarded growth and hindered in the struggle, is there any doubt as to which of these religions would ultimately dominate the forest? Those trees which happen to possess the religion which helped them would survive, and those which happen to possess the kind of religion which hinders them would perish, and their religion would perish with them.” “The issues of life and death,” he continues, "is never so sharply drawn among human beings as among the trees of the forest, but in the long run the results appear to be very much the same,” and then “If that be true it will follow that the religion which best fits men for the struggle with the forces of the world, which enables them to survive in this struggle, will eventually be left in possession of the world."
I am grateful for membership in a church whose religion fits men for the struggle with the forces of the world, and which enables them to survive in this struggle. One of these acting forces is the responsibility of teaching, and the opportunity afforded for so many to share this responsibility. There are others, too, just as effective. For example, much might be said about the accomplishment of the Church in enabling men to get dominion over the forces of nature, in other words, the efficiency, of the Church to supply the material needs of mankind. Though this phase of our religion is glorious to contemplate, and will establish in the minds of thinking men the superiority of this divine organization over the man-made organizations, I shall merely mention it as one of the many commendable features which fit our men in the struggle with nature’s forces. Neither shall I dwell upon the social efficiency nor the opportunities which the men and women in the various organizations have of exerting an influence upon the young people and upon their associates. I might say. however, in passing, that since I came into this building this afternoon, my attention has been called to an illustration of the efficiency of the stake organization in reaching the young people. A note was passed to me just as I entered, giving a new plan adopted in one of our leading stakes of controlling the exercises and the amusements of all the young people in that stake. All organizations have agreed to close evening entertainments at an early hour in the night, that nothing in that stake should be in operation after 10 o'clock. One young man who first rebelled against the rule, but later favored it, said in answer to the question, “Well, what do you think of this new rule?” “Why,” he replied, “I have this to say, all my meanness in the past was done after 10 o’clock at night.” But of the social efficiency I am not going to say anything this afternoon, merely mention it and suggest that anybody who will give thought to it, and examine the divine organization, and the opportunity that men and women have of controlling their young people as social beings, will be convinced of the efficacy and superiority of the Church in this regard. But I said I would like to draw attention to the teaching force of the Church.
Luther once said: “Count it one of the highest virtues upon earth to educate faithfully the children of others which so few, and scarcely any, do their own.” The obligation of teaching is placed by the Church first upon the parents. Fathers and mothers are accepted absolutely as teachers and the responsibility thereof has been placed upon them by divine command. But beside these there is an army of men and women, and boys and girls, who have accepted the responsibility of teaching. In the priesthood quorums alone the number runs into the thousands. Among these there are selected not a few thousand to act as instructors of the youth. There are, approximately, six thousand such officers and teachers in the quorums; over one thousand teaching the high priests; over fifteen hundred teaching the seventies; over fifteen hundred teaching the elders, and so on to the priests, teachers and deacons, making a total of over six thousand officers and teachers. With them should be numbered the thousands of young men and young women associated with the mothers of the Relief Society who, too, have joined the ranks of teachers. Indeed the last report shows that there are over fifty-six thousand officers and teachers in the various auxiliary organizations of the Church, not including the ward teachers. Of course, some of these teachers of the quorums are also ward teachers, so the latter cannot be counted without duplication. Neither does the number 56,000 include the vast army of all the men and boys who have been ordained to the priesthood, every one of whom has the responsibility of teaching his fellowmen. If you include all who hold the priesthood, and to that number add mothers and young men and young women in the Relief Society, the Sunday Schools, the Mutuals, the Primary, and the Religion Class, you have an army of over one hundred thousand teachers who have the privilege of working or taking upon themselves what Luther calls “the highest virtue upon earth.” Several years ago while attending a conference such as this, I heard President Smith deliver a sermon bearing on the importance of the office of teacher, in which he, too, emphasized the responsibility and virtue of this great calling. “The church needs,” he concluded in substance, “efficient men and women who will be teachers of our children.”
Now I ask you—for I have the time merely to make the suggestion—in furnishing opportunity for so many to get the development that comes to the true teacher, think what the Church is doing in enabling this army of teachers as individuals to become strong in the battle against the forces of the world? First, it places upon them the obligation of teaching their fellow men by example; and there is no better safe-guard placed upon an honest man or a sincere woman. Second, it develops the divine attribute of love for others. Jesus said to one of His apostles, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” “Yea Lord, Thou knowest I love Thee.” “Feed my lambs.” Before He gave the divine injunction to Peter and the others to teach, He preceded it by the necessary qualification of love, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” We shall not discuss now, what “these” signifies, but the significance is deeper than some of us think. But love should precede the responsibility of feeding those lambs. These hundred thousand must have in their hearts the love of teaching, the love of fellow men; and these officers who sit before me who call the young men and young women into this service, should ask them their willingness, their acceptance of this responsibility, impressing upon those so called the necessity of developing the divine attribute of love.
Then there is a third requirement; viz., purity of life. I cannot imagine a boy who has soiled himself teaching, successfully, purity to boys. I cannot imagine a man who has doubt in his mind about the existence of God, teaching impressively the existence of a Deity to young boys and girls. He cannot do it. If he act the hypocrite and attempt so to teach, what he is will speak louder than what he says; and that is the danger, fathers and mothers, of getting doubting men as teachers of your children. The poison sinks into the little beings, and unconsciously they become sick in spirit, because of the poison which the man in whom they have confidence has insidiously instilled into their souls. But the thought of any of this army’s attempting to teach the youth faith in God, when they haven’t it is irreconcilable with consistency, if not indeed unthinkable. So the third qualification is purity of life and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Finally, it gives them an opportunity to serve their fellow men, therein magnify the calling which has come to them, and indeed prove that they are real disciples of Christ. “Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my children, ye have done it unto Me.” Thus the principle, the divine principle of service, is instilled in their minds.
Now I ask you to think of the effect upon society, if every one of these teachers, every one, will succeed in influencing only one other to love, to have that same purity of life, and that same desire to serve fellow men as he has. It means, at once, that there would be two hundred thousand such men and women in this community. And such a consummation is not idealistic or imaginative; it is a condition that can come, that ought to be. One hundred thousand men and women who keep the word of wisdom as faithfully as the three times sixty-six stake presidencies keep it or the three times seven hundred twenty-four bishoprics, just as faithfully as the members of the general boards, just as faithfully as the officers throughout the Church. That is what it means; think what it contemplates!
God help our teachers to feel the responsibility that comes to them, and to remember that responsibility is not measured alone by what they do, but by the opportunities that have come to them to know good from evil. Oh, how mighty then becomes the responsibility of a teacher.
Not long ago I noticed a young girl in her teens put forth a special effort to accost the little boy that was by my side. I did not know her, cannot call her name today, but I could see she wanted to recognize that boy, and I noticed that he was glad when he saw her to reciprocate or to return her salutation. As we passed I said, “Who is she?” “She is my religion class teacher.” “What is her name?” “I don’t know what her name is, but oh, she is a dandy!” He used an incorrect word, evidently did not know its true meaning, but the significance he gave the word I knew, and the expression on his face I read, and in my heart I thanked the young girl for the influence she has over that boy. Only in her teens, but what that girl will say to him in his religion class he will accept as gospel truth; what she does in her life he will emulate; and that young girl carries the responsibility, in a way, of molding my boy’s character; and the one hundred thousand in this Church carry the same responsibility.
Well might the prophet say then:
"Oh 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; for behold the field is white all ready to harvest and Io! he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perish not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; and faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.”
May these things be in you and abound, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR.
Example of faithful men and women an inspiration to others—Progression evident, but opportunity for further improvement—Saints should not need to be admonished to live aright.
In my travels in the various stakes of Zion, meeting with the people in their conferences, and in talking and discussing matters with presidents of stakes. I think I have discovered, to a very large degree, the truth of the remarks made at this conference regarding the growth and development of the Church. I believe, most sincerely, that we are today better prepared to serve the Lord and keep His commandments in the spirit and understanding thereof, than ever before in the-history of the Church. I believe this condition is due to many causes, chief among them the fact that we are led and directed by the Spirit of the Lord. It is due also to the fact that we have the experience of the past to profit by, and the inspiration of those who have gone before, to direct us. It is due largely, as we have heard, to the efficiency of those who are called and appointed to stand as presidents of stakes and counselors, members of high councils, bishops and bishops’ counselors, and in various other callings in the priesthood, and in the various organizations of the Church. These men and women—for we have organizations for our sisters— are presided over by those who have faith, who are true to the gospel principles, who have within them the spirit of the Gospel and a testimony of the truth. They are imparting these principles to the people and encouraging them in keeping the commandments of the Lord. I also feel that the visits that are made by the presiding brethren in the various stakes and wards aid to a large degree in this direction of development and growth among the people.
We are advancing, we are gaining in knowledge, in wisdom, and in power. This is as it should be, and as it will always be in the church and kingdom of our Father; for there must be progression, there must be advancement. Knowledge will be poured down upon this people and the Lord will make known unto us from time to time, through revelation, and the spirit of inspiration. many things that are for our good, when we are prepared and ready to receive them. I speak generally of the Church; but notwithstanding all our advancement, increase of faith and diligence, there is still great room for improvement. There are many among us who are not living up to their duties, accepting their callings and magnifying them as they should do. There are many among us who fall short and fail in various ways in keeping the commandments of the Lord to that extent of which they are capable. It is of this class that I desire to speak, and to say something this afternoon that will perhaps be helpful to them. I desire to read a few verses from section fifty-eight of the Doctrine and Covenants, beginning with the twenty-sixth verse:
“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.”
I consider this a very important passage of scripture. While we have among us, as we have heard, one hundred thousand teachers who are instructing the people and directing them in the Gospel, nevertheless we should keep in mind this truth, that there is much that we can do individually as members of the Church without the necessity of being taught by our instructors. The Lord expects it of us. Tt ought not be necessary for the teachers to come into my home to teach me the law of tithing. It Should not be necessary for them to come to me and inv family and teach us the word of wisdom. It should not be necessary for them to call upon us to teach us the necessity of prayer, or of fasting, or any other of these simple and fundamental principles of the Gospel. We ought to know enough from what we have constantly been taught and the knowledge we have from our natural understanding of the scriptures as we are guided by the Spirit of the Lord to do these things without being taught or commanded more than to follow the general commandment as it is written in the scriptures. While it is necessary, of course, that the teachers visit in the homes of the people, to see that there is no iniquity in the Church, no back-biting, fault finding, no envy, no strife, and that all the members do their duty, yet I say we should so live that when they come to us to teach us, we can tell them with a clear conscience that we are performing these labors and accepting these principles with an eye single to the glory of God. I feel this to be our duty as members in the Church. It should not be necessary that we be continually taught and admonished in these simple truths in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ought to so prepare ourselves through study and through faith, through observance of the law of the Gospel, through attendance at meetings and the magnifying of our callings generally, to know what the Lord expects at our hands without the necessity of someone telling us.
The Lord has promised that the time shall come when every man shall be his own teacher, that is, he will know because of righteous living what to do. He will be so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that he will be guided and directed in doing right without the necessity of someone coming into his home to set it in order. Now is a good time for us to begin. Let every man set his house in order, and see that his family is taught the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that they keep the word of wisdom; that they abstain from the use of strong drink, from the use of tea, from the use of coffee, tobacco and other stimulants and narcotics which tend to destroy and to break down rather than to build up the system. Let them teach in their homes faith in God—for we all know it is necessary that faith should be taught among the people. I believe, of course, that in this regard we are far ahead of any other people in the world. We have greater faith because we have a better understanding of the truth, and because we are to a greater extent striving to keep the commandments of the Lord. But I am impressed with an expression of the Savior’s. I think it is found in the eighteenth chapter of Luke. Speaking of the latter times, in one of His discourses He said to the people: “When the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?” I think the proper answer to the question is that if He finds faith on the earth it will not be to any great extent; and I believe that the condition in the world today proves that this is what He had in mind. But we should be faithful, we should have knowledge, we should have understanding and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us, and walk uprightly and justly before the Lord, and keep the commandments as they have been given to us. This is our duty as it is recorded here in the fifty-ninth section: “Wherefore I give unto them [that is the people] a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all they might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve Him.” This is our duty as Latter-day Saints. This is the great commandment and if we will put into practice this commandment which has been reiterated unto us in this dispensation, and love our neighbors as ourselves, we need have no fear regarding our salvation.
I pray that when we go to our homes we will remember the things we have heard and put into practice the teachings that have been imparted and will yet be imparted here during the conference. I hope we will also carry these instructions to those who are not so fortunate as we are, and are not here to be fed the words of eternal life, and teach them, that faith may abound in the hearts of the people, and truth prevail among them, that we may stand united as one body, worshiping the Lord and keeping His commandments, because we love to do so. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
At the conclusion of his remarks Elder Smith read the report of the auditing committee, so that those unable to attend the session on Monday, the 6th, at the time of transaction of other business, should have the privilege of hearing it. The report appears in full in statement of proceedings on April 6th.
A soprano solo, from Stephens' “Ode to the Pioneers,” was sung by Edna Anderson.
Example of faithful men and women an inspiration to others—Progression evident, but opportunity for further improvement—Saints should not need to be admonished to live aright.
In my travels in the various stakes of Zion, meeting with the people in their conferences, and in talking and discussing matters with presidents of stakes. I think I have discovered, to a very large degree, the truth of the remarks made at this conference regarding the growth and development of the Church. I believe, most sincerely, that we are today better prepared to serve the Lord and keep His commandments in the spirit and understanding thereof, than ever before in the-history of the Church. I believe this condition is due to many causes, chief among them the fact that we are led and directed by the Spirit of the Lord. It is due also to the fact that we have the experience of the past to profit by, and the inspiration of those who have gone before, to direct us. It is due largely, as we have heard, to the efficiency of those who are called and appointed to stand as presidents of stakes and counselors, members of high councils, bishops and bishops’ counselors, and in various other callings in the priesthood, and in the various organizations of the Church. These men and women—for we have organizations for our sisters— are presided over by those who have faith, who are true to the gospel principles, who have within them the spirit of the Gospel and a testimony of the truth. They are imparting these principles to the people and encouraging them in keeping the commandments of the Lord. I also feel that the visits that are made by the presiding brethren in the various stakes and wards aid to a large degree in this direction of development and growth among the people.
We are advancing, we are gaining in knowledge, in wisdom, and in power. This is as it should be, and as it will always be in the church and kingdom of our Father; for there must be progression, there must be advancement. Knowledge will be poured down upon this people and the Lord will make known unto us from time to time, through revelation, and the spirit of inspiration. many things that are for our good, when we are prepared and ready to receive them. I speak generally of the Church; but notwithstanding all our advancement, increase of faith and diligence, there is still great room for improvement. There are many among us who are not living up to their duties, accepting their callings and magnifying them as they should do. There are many among us who fall short and fail in various ways in keeping the commandments of the Lord to that extent of which they are capable. It is of this class that I desire to speak, and to say something this afternoon that will perhaps be helpful to them. I desire to read a few verses from section fifty-eight of the Doctrine and Covenants, beginning with the twenty-sixth verse:
“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.”
I consider this a very important passage of scripture. While we have among us, as we have heard, one hundred thousand teachers who are instructing the people and directing them in the Gospel, nevertheless we should keep in mind this truth, that there is much that we can do individually as members of the Church without the necessity of being taught by our instructors. The Lord expects it of us. Tt ought not be necessary for the teachers to come into my home to teach me the law of tithing. It Should not be necessary for them to come to me and inv family and teach us the word of wisdom. It should not be necessary for them to call upon us to teach us the necessity of prayer, or of fasting, or any other of these simple and fundamental principles of the Gospel. We ought to know enough from what we have constantly been taught and the knowledge we have from our natural understanding of the scriptures as we are guided by the Spirit of the Lord to do these things without being taught or commanded more than to follow the general commandment as it is written in the scriptures. While it is necessary, of course, that the teachers visit in the homes of the people, to see that there is no iniquity in the Church, no back-biting, fault finding, no envy, no strife, and that all the members do their duty, yet I say we should so live that when they come to us to teach us, we can tell them with a clear conscience that we are performing these labors and accepting these principles with an eye single to the glory of God. I feel this to be our duty as members in the Church. It should not be necessary that we be continually taught and admonished in these simple truths in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ought to so prepare ourselves through study and through faith, through observance of the law of the Gospel, through attendance at meetings and the magnifying of our callings generally, to know what the Lord expects at our hands without the necessity of someone telling us.
The Lord has promised that the time shall come when every man shall be his own teacher, that is, he will know because of righteous living what to do. He will be so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that he will be guided and directed in doing right without the necessity of someone coming into his home to set it in order. Now is a good time for us to begin. Let every man set his house in order, and see that his family is taught the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that they keep the word of wisdom; that they abstain from the use of strong drink, from the use of tea, from the use of coffee, tobacco and other stimulants and narcotics which tend to destroy and to break down rather than to build up the system. Let them teach in their homes faith in God—for we all know it is necessary that faith should be taught among the people. I believe, of course, that in this regard we are far ahead of any other people in the world. We have greater faith because we have a better understanding of the truth, and because we are to a greater extent striving to keep the commandments of the Lord. But I am impressed with an expression of the Savior’s. I think it is found in the eighteenth chapter of Luke. Speaking of the latter times, in one of His discourses He said to the people: “When the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?” I think the proper answer to the question is that if He finds faith on the earth it will not be to any great extent; and I believe that the condition in the world today proves that this is what He had in mind. But we should be faithful, we should have knowledge, we should have understanding and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us, and walk uprightly and justly before the Lord, and keep the commandments as they have been given to us. This is our duty as it is recorded here in the fifty-ninth section: “Wherefore I give unto them [that is the people] a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all they might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve Him.” This is our duty as Latter-day Saints. This is the great commandment and if we will put into practice this commandment which has been reiterated unto us in this dispensation, and love our neighbors as ourselves, we need have no fear regarding our salvation.
I pray that when we go to our homes we will remember the things we have heard and put into practice the teachings that have been imparted and will yet be imparted here during the conference. I hope we will also carry these instructions to those who are not so fortunate as we are, and are not here to be fed the words of eternal life, and teach them, that faith may abound in the hearts of the people, and truth prevail among them, that we may stand united as one body, worshiping the Lord and keeping His commandments, because we love to do so. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
At the conclusion of his remarks Elder Smith read the report of the auditing committee, so that those unable to attend the session on Monday, the 6th, at the time of transaction of other business, should have the privilege of hearing it. The report appears in full in statement of proceedings on April 6th.
A soprano solo, from Stephens' “Ode to the Pioneers,” was sung by Edna Anderson.
ELDER JAMES E. TALMAGE.
Phenomenal nature of these great Conferences — Simplicity of our teachings—Oratory and eloquence— People who tire of sound doctrine— Vagaries of higher criticism—The Latter-day Saints accept the Bible as the word of God—The Philosophical Society of Great Britain, a Christian organization—The miracles of the Bible believed in by leaders among men—Not unscientific to accept the simple Gospel of Christ.
These great gatherings of the Church have come to be looked upon as a very remarkable phenomenon. It is indeed something to be wondered at, that men and women in such great numbers will leave their employment and at very considerable sacrifice of time and money come up from the stakes both near and afar off, twice a year, to this appointed place, the block upon which stands the great house of the Lord, and remain in session for three or more days, receiving instructions and admonition, and occasionally good and well intended rebuke, in order that they may be the better fitted for their duties as professing Latter-day Saints. It cannot be that curiosity brings them here, for the many decades through which this custom has continued must have abolished the element of novelty. Nor do I think the people come to be entertained, certainly not to be amused. It is true we have the privilege of listening to music of the very highest order—music of prayer and praise; and great shall be the blessing that shall come to every one of our talented singers and musicians who are so ready and willing to use their God-given gift in praise and worship. We do not come to be impressed by pulpit oratory. There is none of the attractiveness of oratorical display about the addresses that are delivered from this stand. I have rejoiced many times and do now rejoice, that our public speaking in the Church of Jesus Christ is devoid of those characteristics usually classed under the name of oratory. Oratory too often means little more than the sounding of brass and the tinkling of cymbals to tickle the ears. I do rejoice, however, in the eloquence of those who speak under the influence of the Spirit of God. Oratory is addressed to the ears; eloquence given of God, to the heart. I cannot conclude otherwise than that our people thus come together so willingly and so eagerly because they receive something worth the coming. They find it pays them to come; they go away satisfied. If they went otherwise they would be less inclined to come back again, and we know that every recurrence of the conference, both at the April and at the October season is marked by the gathering of these great concourses of people who have come up from all parts of the land of Israel. I feel that they come to hear the word of God, proclaimed in its simplicity; and it is the simplicity of the word that pleases the people, and that carries it home to their hearts. I call to mind that it was predicted by the inspired apostle of old that the day would come when people would tire of simplicity, and would look for something other than the eloquence of truth. Paul in writing to his beloved son in Christ, as he called him, Timothy, admonished him as to his duties; and as I read in the fourth chapter of the second epistle that passed between these two worthy ministers of Christ, Paul said:
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of thy ministry."
Who can doubt that this prediction has seen fulfillment and that the fact of its fulfillment is apparent today? Many there be who will no longer endure sound doctrine, but turn away after fables that tickle their ears and please their fancy, and demand of them none of that self-denial, sacrifice and earnest effort so characteristic of the requirements made of those who have taken upon themselves the name of Christ.
Our attention was called in the opening session of this conference to the dangers of our being led astray by those who would make believe that the very word of God itself is a fable, a collection of myths and legends, meaning not what it says but what men may fancy or would suppose. There be men who have arrogated to themselves the claim of superiority, who pronounce themselves higher critics of the scriptures of Almighty God, and proclaim that the scriptures mean not what they say. Right glad am I that my people are pleased with sound doctrine; that the wholesome food of the Gospel is still sweet in their mouths. There are some who would make it appear that it is today an evidence of inferior perception to accept the word of God for just what it professes to be, and that one is not up with the times unless he can read between the lines and unless he can perceive the metaphorical and the figurative in the Holy Scriptures. There are parts of the Bible that are plainly figurative; but no one who can read can be in doubt as to when a figure is used, and as to when the plain truth is declared in the simplest of language. Parables there are, and of great value are the lessons set forth thereby. But there is no parable, there is no metaphor in the plain declarations of the scriptures as to what is the price of salvation.
I don’t believe the Latter-day Saints are influenced by these vagaries of the so-called higher criticism of the scriptures. I believe our people stand upon the platform of the word of God as it has been delivered unto them through the mouths of men who have been empowered and directed to declare it unto them. But there are some, particularly of our younger people, who perhaps are inclined to believe that it is a little superior to profess doubt as to the truth and plain meaning of the Holy Scriptures. To them let me say, it is not the leaders in thought in the world today who are doubting the scriptures, and reading into them a meaning that was never intended. The majority of the really great men, great thinkers, men who have influence amongst their fellows, accept the scriptures in their literalness and simplicity.
There is now in existence a society known as the Philosophical Society of Great Britain. It embraces not only subjects of the King of England, but men in many other nations. It is known also by another name, given in honor of the late Empress Queen who was its patron for many years, The Victoria Institute. Upon its rolls you will find the names of many of the leading scientists of the world, philosophers, literary men, theologians. The conditions attendant upon membership in that great association are precise. The first is that the candidate shall be a man or woman of recognized ability. The second is that he shall be without reservation a Christian, believing that Jesus Christ was in very truth the Son of God, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He lived as the scriptures declare He did, that He did suffer death and that He did literally come forth from the tomb, an immortalized Being. And that society whose president today is the Lord Chancellor of England, whose honorary president and patron is the King, declares that it has no time to go over the ground again and thresh the old straw and winnow the old chaff of infidelity, or of questions that arise respecting the integrity of the Holy Scriptures. Men who will not accept Christ as the Redeemer of mankind can have no place there; and yet I am told that it belittles one in the eyes of learned men to accept the plain and simple declarations of the scriptures with respect to the mission of the divine Son of God.
I have been told that no really great mind can believe for a moment in the actuality of the miracles recorded in the New Testament, particularly those attributed to the Christ Himself. Yet that body of men, amongst whom are some of the most prominent of the leaders of men in the world, have but recently put themselves upon record. The subject of the miracles of the New Testament has been investigated scientifically, and according to the accepted canons of analysis, and the report unanimously adopted and put noon record by the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, is that the miracles of the Testament from that of Cana in Galilee to the greatest miracle of all, the coming forth of the Christ from the tomb on the resurrection morn, are attested by evidence that is as trustworthy and in every way as acceptable as the evidence attesting any event of past history; and the Philosophical Society of Great Britain declares its acceptance of the miracles of the Bible as the very manifestation of the power of God. Those men are not above saying that because they can’t perform such miracles, no such miracles were ever performed; but they proclaim that to say they cannot understand them is no argument that they did not take place. I am inclined to accept the opinions of such men as those before the opinions of little-great men who seek to stir up doubt in the minds of those who believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ. Most pernicious is the effect that such have upon children and young people of immature powers who cannot analyze for themselves and who follow their teachers and are impressed by those who instruct them in more things than the mere subjects which are set down on the program.
Young Latter-day Saints. I say unto you as I have said before, it is not unscientific to believe in God, the very Eternal Father, nor in Jesus Christ as the one and only Redeemer of mankind. It is not unphilosophical to accept the scriptural record of His birth, of His life, of His death, of His resurrection. I have met men of science and philosophy in many lands, and have discussed the scriptures with them, and I testify to you I never yet have had to take a back seat nor to bow my head because of the principles which I profess to believe, nor because I was a Latter-day Saint. I have found the teachings of my Church, which is your Church and the Church of Jesus Christ, to be abreast of the very best of scientific conception, discovery and teaching of the day. Beware of these who come telling you that you are behind the times in accepting the faith of your fathers.
I am most happy to add my testimony to those to which we have listened in the course of this conference. most grateful that the Lord has been with us in these meetings, and I recognize in it a fulfillment of His glorious promise while He lived in the flesh when He declared: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst.” He has been in the congregations of the Saints who have assembled here, and the result is inspiration in the words of those who have spoken and who have instructed us. While perchance we have heard nothing that is strictly novel or new, nothing that we may not have heard before, we have been reminded of those things that are most precious pertaining to the duties that shall save—the neglect of which shall condemn. I rejoice with my brethren who have already expressed their joy that the Gospel revealed unto man fits man to his environment and enables him to meet the exigencies of the present day. Its scriptures are not alone the scriptures of the past but those of the very day in which we live.
Is it not strange that this people who a few years ago were severely arraigned and criticized because in their declaration of faith they said, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly,” should now be criticized because of their literal acceptance of that volume of holy writ. We accept it for what it is. We believe that other scriptures are necessary, and we affirm that other scriptures have been written, and that yet others shall be written; but the Church of Jesus Christ stands for the integrity of the Holy Bible, and defends it against the attacks and the assaults of those who would make you believe that it is but a compilation of fairy stories that pleased the people in by-gone centuries, but that are not adapted to the greater and higher development of the present day. The Bible and other scriptures given of God will always be up to date in their fundamental principles, and other scriptures will be given as occasion may require, to meet the condition of the advancing years. Let us go hence with the spirit of the conference burning in our hearts, that we may shed light and warmth in our homes and impart it unto those who have not been privileged to meet with us here. We are simple minded enough, child-like enough, thank God, to believe that He meant what He said when He spoke of old, and that He means what He says when He speaks today. God be with you. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, “Oh, beauty of holiness.”
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Joseph E. Cardon.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m., Monday, April 6th.
Phenomenal nature of these great Conferences — Simplicity of our teachings—Oratory and eloquence— People who tire of sound doctrine— Vagaries of higher criticism—The Latter-day Saints accept the Bible as the word of God—The Philosophical Society of Great Britain, a Christian organization—The miracles of the Bible believed in by leaders among men—Not unscientific to accept the simple Gospel of Christ.
These great gatherings of the Church have come to be looked upon as a very remarkable phenomenon. It is indeed something to be wondered at, that men and women in such great numbers will leave their employment and at very considerable sacrifice of time and money come up from the stakes both near and afar off, twice a year, to this appointed place, the block upon which stands the great house of the Lord, and remain in session for three or more days, receiving instructions and admonition, and occasionally good and well intended rebuke, in order that they may be the better fitted for their duties as professing Latter-day Saints. It cannot be that curiosity brings them here, for the many decades through which this custom has continued must have abolished the element of novelty. Nor do I think the people come to be entertained, certainly not to be amused. It is true we have the privilege of listening to music of the very highest order—music of prayer and praise; and great shall be the blessing that shall come to every one of our talented singers and musicians who are so ready and willing to use their God-given gift in praise and worship. We do not come to be impressed by pulpit oratory. There is none of the attractiveness of oratorical display about the addresses that are delivered from this stand. I have rejoiced many times and do now rejoice, that our public speaking in the Church of Jesus Christ is devoid of those characteristics usually classed under the name of oratory. Oratory too often means little more than the sounding of brass and the tinkling of cymbals to tickle the ears. I do rejoice, however, in the eloquence of those who speak under the influence of the Spirit of God. Oratory is addressed to the ears; eloquence given of God, to the heart. I cannot conclude otherwise than that our people thus come together so willingly and so eagerly because they receive something worth the coming. They find it pays them to come; they go away satisfied. If they went otherwise they would be less inclined to come back again, and we know that every recurrence of the conference, both at the April and at the October season is marked by the gathering of these great concourses of people who have come up from all parts of the land of Israel. I feel that they come to hear the word of God, proclaimed in its simplicity; and it is the simplicity of the word that pleases the people, and that carries it home to their hearts. I call to mind that it was predicted by the inspired apostle of old that the day would come when people would tire of simplicity, and would look for something other than the eloquence of truth. Paul in writing to his beloved son in Christ, as he called him, Timothy, admonished him as to his duties; and as I read in the fourth chapter of the second epistle that passed between these two worthy ministers of Christ, Paul said:
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of thy ministry."
Who can doubt that this prediction has seen fulfillment and that the fact of its fulfillment is apparent today? Many there be who will no longer endure sound doctrine, but turn away after fables that tickle their ears and please their fancy, and demand of them none of that self-denial, sacrifice and earnest effort so characteristic of the requirements made of those who have taken upon themselves the name of Christ.
Our attention was called in the opening session of this conference to the dangers of our being led astray by those who would make believe that the very word of God itself is a fable, a collection of myths and legends, meaning not what it says but what men may fancy or would suppose. There be men who have arrogated to themselves the claim of superiority, who pronounce themselves higher critics of the scriptures of Almighty God, and proclaim that the scriptures mean not what they say. Right glad am I that my people are pleased with sound doctrine; that the wholesome food of the Gospel is still sweet in their mouths. There are some who would make it appear that it is today an evidence of inferior perception to accept the word of God for just what it professes to be, and that one is not up with the times unless he can read between the lines and unless he can perceive the metaphorical and the figurative in the Holy Scriptures. There are parts of the Bible that are plainly figurative; but no one who can read can be in doubt as to when a figure is used, and as to when the plain truth is declared in the simplest of language. Parables there are, and of great value are the lessons set forth thereby. But there is no parable, there is no metaphor in the plain declarations of the scriptures as to what is the price of salvation.
I don’t believe the Latter-day Saints are influenced by these vagaries of the so-called higher criticism of the scriptures. I believe our people stand upon the platform of the word of God as it has been delivered unto them through the mouths of men who have been empowered and directed to declare it unto them. But there are some, particularly of our younger people, who perhaps are inclined to believe that it is a little superior to profess doubt as to the truth and plain meaning of the Holy Scriptures. To them let me say, it is not the leaders in thought in the world today who are doubting the scriptures, and reading into them a meaning that was never intended. The majority of the really great men, great thinkers, men who have influence amongst their fellows, accept the scriptures in their literalness and simplicity.
There is now in existence a society known as the Philosophical Society of Great Britain. It embraces not only subjects of the King of England, but men in many other nations. It is known also by another name, given in honor of the late Empress Queen who was its patron for many years, The Victoria Institute. Upon its rolls you will find the names of many of the leading scientists of the world, philosophers, literary men, theologians. The conditions attendant upon membership in that great association are precise. The first is that the candidate shall be a man or woman of recognized ability. The second is that he shall be without reservation a Christian, believing that Jesus Christ was in very truth the Son of God, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He lived as the scriptures declare He did, that He did suffer death and that He did literally come forth from the tomb, an immortalized Being. And that society whose president today is the Lord Chancellor of England, whose honorary president and patron is the King, declares that it has no time to go over the ground again and thresh the old straw and winnow the old chaff of infidelity, or of questions that arise respecting the integrity of the Holy Scriptures. Men who will not accept Christ as the Redeemer of mankind can have no place there; and yet I am told that it belittles one in the eyes of learned men to accept the plain and simple declarations of the scriptures with respect to the mission of the divine Son of God.
I have been told that no really great mind can believe for a moment in the actuality of the miracles recorded in the New Testament, particularly those attributed to the Christ Himself. Yet that body of men, amongst whom are some of the most prominent of the leaders of men in the world, have but recently put themselves upon record. The subject of the miracles of the New Testament has been investigated scientifically, and according to the accepted canons of analysis, and the report unanimously adopted and put noon record by the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, is that the miracles of the Testament from that of Cana in Galilee to the greatest miracle of all, the coming forth of the Christ from the tomb on the resurrection morn, are attested by evidence that is as trustworthy and in every way as acceptable as the evidence attesting any event of past history; and the Philosophical Society of Great Britain declares its acceptance of the miracles of the Bible as the very manifestation of the power of God. Those men are not above saying that because they can’t perform such miracles, no such miracles were ever performed; but they proclaim that to say they cannot understand them is no argument that they did not take place. I am inclined to accept the opinions of such men as those before the opinions of little-great men who seek to stir up doubt in the minds of those who believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ. Most pernicious is the effect that such have upon children and young people of immature powers who cannot analyze for themselves and who follow their teachers and are impressed by those who instruct them in more things than the mere subjects which are set down on the program.
Young Latter-day Saints. I say unto you as I have said before, it is not unscientific to believe in God, the very Eternal Father, nor in Jesus Christ as the one and only Redeemer of mankind. It is not unphilosophical to accept the scriptural record of His birth, of His life, of His death, of His resurrection. I have met men of science and philosophy in many lands, and have discussed the scriptures with them, and I testify to you I never yet have had to take a back seat nor to bow my head because of the principles which I profess to believe, nor because I was a Latter-day Saint. I have found the teachings of my Church, which is your Church and the Church of Jesus Christ, to be abreast of the very best of scientific conception, discovery and teaching of the day. Beware of these who come telling you that you are behind the times in accepting the faith of your fathers.
I am most happy to add my testimony to those to which we have listened in the course of this conference. most grateful that the Lord has been with us in these meetings, and I recognize in it a fulfillment of His glorious promise while He lived in the flesh when He declared: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst.” He has been in the congregations of the Saints who have assembled here, and the result is inspiration in the words of those who have spoken and who have instructed us. While perchance we have heard nothing that is strictly novel or new, nothing that we may not have heard before, we have been reminded of those things that are most precious pertaining to the duties that shall save—the neglect of which shall condemn. I rejoice with my brethren who have already expressed their joy that the Gospel revealed unto man fits man to his environment and enables him to meet the exigencies of the present day. Its scriptures are not alone the scriptures of the past but those of the very day in which we live.
Is it not strange that this people who a few years ago were severely arraigned and criticized because in their declaration of faith they said, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly,” should now be criticized because of their literal acceptance of that volume of holy writ. We accept it for what it is. We believe that other scriptures are necessary, and we affirm that other scriptures have been written, and that yet others shall be written; but the Church of Jesus Christ stands for the integrity of the Holy Bible, and defends it against the attacks and the assaults of those who would make you believe that it is but a compilation of fairy stories that pleased the people in by-gone centuries, but that are not adapted to the greater and higher development of the present day. The Bible and other scriptures given of God will always be up to date in their fundamental principles, and other scriptures will be given as occasion may require, to meet the condition of the advancing years. Let us go hence with the spirit of the conference burning in our hearts, that we may shed light and warmth in our homes and impart it unto those who have not been privileged to meet with us here. We are simple minded enough, child-like enough, thank God, to believe that He meant what He said when He spoke of old, and that He means what He says when He speaks today. God be with you. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem, “Oh, beauty of holiness.”
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Joseph E. Cardon.
Conference adjourned until 10 a. m., Monday, April 6th.
THIRD DAY.
Conference was resumed in the Tabernacle, at 10 a. m., Monday, April 6th; President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
The 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.
Prayer was offered by Elder Lars P. Overson.
The congregation sang the hymn:
The Spirit of God, like a fire is burning!
The latter-day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning,
And angels are coming to visit the earth.
Conference was resumed in the Tabernacle, at 10 a. m., Monday, April 6th; President Joseph F. Smith presiding.
The 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.
Prayer was offered by Elder Lars P. Overson.
The congregation sang the hymn:
The Spirit of God, like a fire is burning!
The latter-day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning,
And angels are coming to visit the earth.
PRESIDENT SEYMOUR B. YOUNG
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I copy the following incident, from the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
“In February, 1841, the City Council of Nauvoo, established and organized an institution of learning, to be known as the University of the City of Nauvoo, to be under the control and management of a Board of Trustees, consisting of a Chancelor, a Registrar, and 25 Regents, which board shall be a Body Corporate, and Political, with perpetual successors.
“These officers shall be known as the Chancelor, and Regents of the University, of the City of Nauvoo. These Regents of the University, will have the general supervision of all matters educational, from the common school, up to the highest branches of a most liberal collegiate course. The Regency, will establish a regular system of education, and advance the pupil from Teacher to Professor, until the regular graduation is accomplished, and the education of the pupil is completed.”
Daniel H. Wells, though not a member of the Church at that time, was appointed one of the regents of this University, thus exemplifying, the good judgment of the Prophet, in his selection, recognizing talent and ability outside of the members of the Church.
Thus early was proposed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the leading brethren of Nauvoo, the grade system for schools, centered around a magnificent university, which would have done credit to any community. Although the prophet’s life was taken, and the Saints driven from Nauvoo, before this university could be completed, the plans and ideas were remembered by President Brigham Young, and his brethren, and were perfected in Great Salt Lake City. In 1850 the University of Desert was successfully started, which institution increased in growth and magnitude, until it culminated and stands today, a noble monument of learning to the people of Utah, as the “U. of U,” one of the greatest in the intermountain region.
About two years ago, Elder Burrel Chandler, of Saint George Stake, wrote a letter to President Joseph F. Smith, enquiring as to the number of nations of the earth, who had received the Gospel, and I had the pleasure, by invitation of the President, to answer the letter. The following are the prominent nations of the earth who have received the Gospel:
United States of America, (meaning our Republic); also Old Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, Finland, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Hindostan, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, (including Ireland, Scotland and Wales), the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, South Africa. Turkey. Samoa, Tahiti, or the Society Islands, Belgium, Rumania, Egypt, Iceland, Bulgaria, Japan and Greece.
The Book of Mormon has been translated into the following national and tribal languages:
First published
1 English 1830
2. Danish 1851
3. French 1852
4. German 1852
5. Italian 1852
6. Welsh 1852
7. Hawaiian 1855
8 Swedish 1878
9. Spanish 1881
10. Maori 1889
11. Dutch 1890
12. Samoan 1903
13. Tahitian 1904
14. Turkish 1905
15. Japanese 1909
The Book of Mormon has also been translated, but not yet published, in Hindostanee, Modern Jewish, and Greek.
Of all the recent translations of this sacred volume, the Japanese translation has been considered, I believe, the most difficult. During the administration of President Lorenzo Snow, a mission was organized and appointed to Japan, and Apostle Heber J. Grant was assigned to the presidency of that mission. He, with his fellow missionaries. arrived in that land and established the mission, and Elder Grant remained there a couple of years or more, as president of the mission. On his release from that labor, to return home, he left as the mission president. Elder Horace S. Ensign, who in his turn, presided for two years. On Brother Ensign’s release from that mission, the presidency was given to Elder Alma O, Taylor, who labored there nine and one-half years, and during his presidency, the Book of Mormon was translated into the Japanese language. Brother Taylor informed me that because of the magnitude of the labor of translation he found it necessary to devote his energies almost entirely to acquiring the language as nearly perfect as possible, in order to enable him to properly undertake the great work; and that he called to his aid some of the best scholars of the nation, to assist in the construction, and proof-reading, before its publication, succeeding thus in getting it as near correctly translated as it was possible to do.
The progress and advancement of the Church is undeniable. The success of the Prophet Joseph in translating the Book of Mormon, from the records committed to him by the Nephite prophet, is beyond question, and no successful contradiction has ever been raised against the truth of that record, or its faithful and correct translation from the reformed Egyptian, as represented by the character of the hieroglyphics found upon the plates. I quote from the Book of the Prophet Mormon. chapter 9, verses 32 and 33, as follows:
“And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge, of that which is called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by 11s according to our manner of speech.”
In First Nephi, 1st chapter, 2nd and 3rd verses, we also read:
"Yea, I make a record in the language of mv father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians, and I know that the record which I make is true, and I make it with mine own hand.”
Without fear of contradiction, it may be truly said that the Prophet Joseph became a successful translator, being assisted in this work by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord. and. by earnest study and application on his part. He was not only enabled to translate the Book of Mormon, from the reformed Egyptian, but also to translate the Book of Abraham, as found in the Pearl of Great Price, a volume edited and compiled by Apostle F. D. Richards, which Pearl of Great Price has been and is accepted as one of the text books of the Church. The writings of Moses, another of the Books contained in this sacred volume, was “revealed to Joseph, the Seer, in December. 1830.” The Book of Abraham was translated by Joseph Smith, the Seer, from ancient records that were found in the catacombs of Egypt entitled, “the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt.” This is a quotation from the record called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus. Although, recently. a minister of a Christian Church has presumed to criticise adversely, especially this Book of Abraham, his efforts have only induced a more careful, perusal and more thorough study of this valuable work, which has brought an increase of testimony of its divinity to the mind and heart of every true Latter-day Saint. Let me say here that the statements of the critics he selected, consisting of professed scientific Egyptologists, has done this minister no credit, as they have not agreed, but have rendered diverse and contradictory opinions as to the interpretation of the picture plates published in connection with the Book of Abraham, by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
During a recent visit here of General Washington Gardner, the Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic of the United States. I had the pleasure of meeting that gentleman on several occasions. and by his invitation accompanied him to Fort Douglas, with other members of the Utah division of the Garnd Army. During our short visit to the post, General Gardner became acquainted with the commanding officer at the post, and some of his associates, and also was received and featured here by different political and local organizations. I noticed, on the occasions when he was as an honored guest of these societies, when refreshments were offered to him. in the shape of cigars, wine, or strong drink of any kind, he invariably refused such things. After we had passed out of one of the gatherings. I said to him, “You never smoke. General?” “Never, never smoked a cigar in my life.” “I notice that you also refused wine, or strong drink?” “I never drink wine, or beer, or liquor of any kind, nor use tobacco in any shape or form.” I was exceedingly gratified by his statements on this matter, and I felt to congratulate him in the abstemious life that he had led. I attribute his excellent physical condition, and bodily health, as a result of his proper habits of life. He seemed to be a perfect embodiment of a soldier and a gentleman. He requested that I arrange, if possible, a meeting for him with President Smith. I was enabled to do this, through the courtesy of President Smith, and when we left the president’s office by the general’s request, I conducted him to President Brigham Young’s grave. General Gardner said that he recognized in the great pioneer of the “Mormon” people a very able general, a man of marked ability, displayed in leading his people to this land, then a desert, and the success that they have achieved in establishing great cities and communities in this distant mountain region. He also requested me to furnish him some literature of the Church. I made this request known to President Smith, and he said, “Select the text books of the Church, in as nice form as you can find them, and bring them to the office:" this was done and in the books he placed his autograph. The selection consisted of the Old and New Testaments, King James’ translation—in an elegant cover of limp Morocco; the Book of Covenants, combining also the Pearl of Great Price; and the Book of Mormon, in similar binding. In these three volumes President Smith placed his autograph, and when I presented the books from President Smith to General Gardner he expressed himself as much delighted with the present. He added, “As soon as I return home,' or as soon as I have the opportunity, I pledge you my ward I will read these books and note their contents’ carefully. I wish you would return my sincere thanks to President Smith, and to your people generally, for the kindness they have shown to me since my arrival here in Utah. And," said he. “I never have received, in any state of the Union, a reception so grand, so heartily tendered, or more acceptable to me, as I have here in Utah, and especially in Salt Lake City. The large number of school children who appeared in the parade, and the numbers you have enrolled in your schools, is a revelation to me of your great prospects for the future.”
I bear my testimony to you today, my brethren and sisters, that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God. The Lord designated him as the Prophet of the last dispensation, and committed to him the keys of His kingdom. He stands as the president, prophet, seer and revelator of this the dispensation of the fulness of times. Although he suffered a martyr’s death, many years ago, the work of the Lord has continued in the hands of the able men who have been inspired by the same prophetic ministry, and today our leaders are inspired and blest with the spirit of their calling and mission. I testify to you that “Mormonism” is true, and that the glory of God’s Kingdom will be realized; and. if the people are faithful, they will be partakers of the excellent results that shall come to them by keeping the commandments of the Lord. God bless you forever, my brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I copy the following incident, from the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
“In February, 1841, the City Council of Nauvoo, established and organized an institution of learning, to be known as the University of the City of Nauvoo, to be under the control and management of a Board of Trustees, consisting of a Chancelor, a Registrar, and 25 Regents, which board shall be a Body Corporate, and Political, with perpetual successors.
“These officers shall be known as the Chancelor, and Regents of the University, of the City of Nauvoo. These Regents of the University, will have the general supervision of all matters educational, from the common school, up to the highest branches of a most liberal collegiate course. The Regency, will establish a regular system of education, and advance the pupil from Teacher to Professor, until the regular graduation is accomplished, and the education of the pupil is completed.”
Daniel H. Wells, though not a member of the Church at that time, was appointed one of the regents of this University, thus exemplifying, the good judgment of the Prophet, in his selection, recognizing talent and ability outside of the members of the Church.
Thus early was proposed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the leading brethren of Nauvoo, the grade system for schools, centered around a magnificent university, which would have done credit to any community. Although the prophet’s life was taken, and the Saints driven from Nauvoo, before this university could be completed, the plans and ideas were remembered by President Brigham Young, and his brethren, and were perfected in Great Salt Lake City. In 1850 the University of Desert was successfully started, which institution increased in growth and magnitude, until it culminated and stands today, a noble monument of learning to the people of Utah, as the “U. of U,” one of the greatest in the intermountain region.
About two years ago, Elder Burrel Chandler, of Saint George Stake, wrote a letter to President Joseph F. Smith, enquiring as to the number of nations of the earth, who had received the Gospel, and I had the pleasure, by invitation of the President, to answer the letter. The following are the prominent nations of the earth who have received the Gospel:
United States of America, (meaning our Republic); also Old Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, Finland, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Hindostan, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, (including Ireland, Scotland and Wales), the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, South Africa. Turkey. Samoa, Tahiti, or the Society Islands, Belgium, Rumania, Egypt, Iceland, Bulgaria, Japan and Greece.
The Book of Mormon has been translated into the following national and tribal languages:
First published
1 English 1830
2. Danish 1851
3. French 1852
4. German 1852
5. Italian 1852
6. Welsh 1852
7. Hawaiian 1855
8 Swedish 1878
9. Spanish 1881
10. Maori 1889
11. Dutch 1890
12. Samoan 1903
13. Tahitian 1904
14. Turkish 1905
15. Japanese 1909
The Book of Mormon has also been translated, but not yet published, in Hindostanee, Modern Jewish, and Greek.
Of all the recent translations of this sacred volume, the Japanese translation has been considered, I believe, the most difficult. During the administration of President Lorenzo Snow, a mission was organized and appointed to Japan, and Apostle Heber J. Grant was assigned to the presidency of that mission. He, with his fellow missionaries. arrived in that land and established the mission, and Elder Grant remained there a couple of years or more, as president of the mission. On his release from that labor, to return home, he left as the mission president. Elder Horace S. Ensign, who in his turn, presided for two years. On Brother Ensign’s release from that mission, the presidency was given to Elder Alma O, Taylor, who labored there nine and one-half years, and during his presidency, the Book of Mormon was translated into the Japanese language. Brother Taylor informed me that because of the magnitude of the labor of translation he found it necessary to devote his energies almost entirely to acquiring the language as nearly perfect as possible, in order to enable him to properly undertake the great work; and that he called to his aid some of the best scholars of the nation, to assist in the construction, and proof-reading, before its publication, succeeding thus in getting it as near correctly translated as it was possible to do.
The progress and advancement of the Church is undeniable. The success of the Prophet Joseph in translating the Book of Mormon, from the records committed to him by the Nephite prophet, is beyond question, and no successful contradiction has ever been raised against the truth of that record, or its faithful and correct translation from the reformed Egyptian, as represented by the character of the hieroglyphics found upon the plates. I quote from the Book of the Prophet Mormon. chapter 9, verses 32 and 33, as follows:
“And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge, of that which is called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by 11s according to our manner of speech.”
In First Nephi, 1st chapter, 2nd and 3rd verses, we also read:
"Yea, I make a record in the language of mv father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians, and I know that the record which I make is true, and I make it with mine own hand.”
Without fear of contradiction, it may be truly said that the Prophet Joseph became a successful translator, being assisted in this work by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord. and. by earnest study and application on his part. He was not only enabled to translate the Book of Mormon, from the reformed Egyptian, but also to translate the Book of Abraham, as found in the Pearl of Great Price, a volume edited and compiled by Apostle F. D. Richards, which Pearl of Great Price has been and is accepted as one of the text books of the Church. The writings of Moses, another of the Books contained in this sacred volume, was “revealed to Joseph, the Seer, in December. 1830.” The Book of Abraham was translated by Joseph Smith, the Seer, from ancient records that were found in the catacombs of Egypt entitled, “the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt.” This is a quotation from the record called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus. Although, recently. a minister of a Christian Church has presumed to criticise adversely, especially this Book of Abraham, his efforts have only induced a more careful, perusal and more thorough study of this valuable work, which has brought an increase of testimony of its divinity to the mind and heart of every true Latter-day Saint. Let me say here that the statements of the critics he selected, consisting of professed scientific Egyptologists, has done this minister no credit, as they have not agreed, but have rendered diverse and contradictory opinions as to the interpretation of the picture plates published in connection with the Book of Abraham, by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
During a recent visit here of General Washington Gardner, the Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic of the United States. I had the pleasure of meeting that gentleman on several occasions. and by his invitation accompanied him to Fort Douglas, with other members of the Utah division of the Garnd Army. During our short visit to the post, General Gardner became acquainted with the commanding officer at the post, and some of his associates, and also was received and featured here by different political and local organizations. I noticed, on the occasions when he was as an honored guest of these societies, when refreshments were offered to him. in the shape of cigars, wine, or strong drink of any kind, he invariably refused such things. After we had passed out of one of the gatherings. I said to him, “You never smoke. General?” “Never, never smoked a cigar in my life.” “I notice that you also refused wine, or strong drink?” “I never drink wine, or beer, or liquor of any kind, nor use tobacco in any shape or form.” I was exceedingly gratified by his statements on this matter, and I felt to congratulate him in the abstemious life that he had led. I attribute his excellent physical condition, and bodily health, as a result of his proper habits of life. He seemed to be a perfect embodiment of a soldier and a gentleman. He requested that I arrange, if possible, a meeting for him with President Smith. I was enabled to do this, through the courtesy of President Smith, and when we left the president’s office by the general’s request, I conducted him to President Brigham Young’s grave. General Gardner said that he recognized in the great pioneer of the “Mormon” people a very able general, a man of marked ability, displayed in leading his people to this land, then a desert, and the success that they have achieved in establishing great cities and communities in this distant mountain region. He also requested me to furnish him some literature of the Church. I made this request known to President Smith, and he said, “Select the text books of the Church, in as nice form as you can find them, and bring them to the office:" this was done and in the books he placed his autograph. The selection consisted of the Old and New Testaments, King James’ translation—in an elegant cover of limp Morocco; the Book of Covenants, combining also the Pearl of Great Price; and the Book of Mormon, in similar binding. In these three volumes President Smith placed his autograph, and when I presented the books from President Smith to General Gardner he expressed himself as much delighted with the present. He added, “As soon as I return home,' or as soon as I have the opportunity, I pledge you my ward I will read these books and note their contents’ carefully. I wish you would return my sincere thanks to President Smith, and to your people generally, for the kindness they have shown to me since my arrival here in Utah. And," said he. “I never have received, in any state of the Union, a reception so grand, so heartily tendered, or more acceptable to me, as I have here in Utah, and especially in Salt Lake City. The large number of school children who appeared in the parade, and the numbers you have enrolled in your schools, is a revelation to me of your great prospects for the future.”
I bear my testimony to you today, my brethren and sisters, that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God. The Lord designated him as the Prophet of the last dispensation, and committed to him the keys of His kingdom. He stands as the president, prophet, seer and revelator of this the dispensation of the fulness of times. Although he suffered a martyr’s death, many years ago, the work of the Lord has continued in the hands of the able men who have been inspired by the same prophetic ministry, and today our leaders are inspired and blest with the spirit of their calling and mission. I testify to you that “Mormonism” is true, and that the glory of God’s Kingdom will be realized; and. if the people are faithful, they will be partakers of the excellent results that shall come to them by keeping the commandments of the Lord. God bless you forever, my brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
On one occasion a woman brought her two sons into the presence of the Christ, and asked for them an appointment from the Master. that one might sit upon His right hand and the other upon His left when He should come in His kingdom. Jesus inquired of these candidates for this high honor if they were able to drink of the cup that He must drink of, and be baptized with the baptism which He must be baptized with, and they expressed confidence in their ability to do that. He finally told them that they should indeed have that honor, but to say who should sit upon His right hand and upon His left was not His to give, but it should be given to those who should be appointed of God His Father. The course pursued by these two brethren and their mother greatly incensed the rest of the disciples, and I presume they made their vexation known, whereupon Christ called them all into His presence, and He said unto them:
“Ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
“But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
"And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant;
“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (St. Matt. 20:25-28.)
This circumstance and these instructions connected with it mark off in sharp contrast the nature of the kingdom of the Christ and the kingdoms of this world. In one is the mastery by domination, of rule by what men call “effective government,” which rests on force; in the other, in the kingdom of the Christ, is pre-eminence through service and the rule of what men call “moral government,” which has for its high principles, rule through knowledge, persuasion, love. One is the authority of force; the other is the authority of persuasion. The one ministers to pride, in him who exercises it, the other begets true meekness.
On another occasion one came to the Messiah and would know what was the greatest commandment, and the Christ made a reply which in effect set forth that love of God and love of man were the two great commandments on which hung all the law and all the prophets; indeed, the Master blended them into one great and first law of the kingdom of heaven, circumscribing all other laws. It is pretty generally recognized that love of man and love of God is most effectively, and perhaps only effectively, expressed in terms of service for man and service for God. Yet we should be reminded by the saying of Paul that God is not worshiped by men’s hands, as if He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath; so that about the only way in which men can effectively express their love for God is through service to the children of God, to men.
Of late my labors as one of the assistant historians in the Church have led me over the field where the membership of the Church of Christ are seen rendering great service to each other and to the world; and it seems to me that we all today may be instructed and encouraged by contemplation of some of that service that the Church in days past has rendered unto the children of men.
I observe, in my historical work, that some hand has so shaped the destinies of the Latter-day Saints that they, have been very much employed in rendering service to each other, and to the world. Of course, the reception of the great truths that God revealed in the early days of the Church to the Prophet and his associates, as soon as the Church was organized, and the Priesthood began to take on something like regular form, and began the exercise of its functions, there was first of all the duty of making proclamation of those things that had been received, the Gospel, to those by whom the Saints were surrounded, and the organization of the first few branches of the Church took place. Then, in obedience to this principle of service, a mission to the Lamanites was projected, and a number of brethren, headed by Oliver Cowdery, began the missionary work of the Church, being sent first to the Lamanites, the remnants of the old races of the land. They began their westward journey, visiting Indian tribes by the way, until they reached Kirtland, where they halted, conditions being favorable to build up a church, and then continued their mission to the frontiers of the United States, where there had been gathered many thousands of the remnants of the land, and to them they made their appeal with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, thus rendering service in the work of the ministry to that fallen people.
Meantime, western Missouri had been designated by revelation as the place for the gathering of the Saints, and to this point the Saints in the East began moving. The Colesville branch moved bodily, and those who had means in that branch very generously assisted those who had no means to make that very great journey overland from New York by way of Kirtland, to the frontiers of the United States, then in western Missouri. So that they found it necessary to bear each other’s burdens and to ’assist each other in this first effort at gathering to the center place of Zion.
After three years the inhabitants of western Missouri rose up against the Saints and expelled them from Jackson county, twelve hundred men, women and children, stripped of their possessions and compelled to bivouac on the Missouri bottoms in an inclement season of the year. Appeal was made to the eastern branches to give service to these unfortunate brethren and sisters, and to relieve them in their distress. Men were called upon to make a march from the eastern branches to western Missouri to do what they could to reinstate these exiles to their lands and to their homes. And thus these circumstances contributed to bringing to pass the service of one part of the people of God to the other part who were in distress.
Five years later a mightier uprising took place against the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, and this time, instead of twelve hundred being exiled, between twelve and fifteen thousand were dispossessed of their lands, and exiled; and in these circumstances the Saints were again called upon to make sacrifices for and to assist each other in bearing these heavy burdens that had come upon them by reason of their persecutions. There were, during that period of time, some wonderful men developed, men who acquired wisdom by reason of the experiences forced upon them. Those were days of education, these experiences led to the development of the future leaders in Israel, who, by and by, were going to take part in a still greater exodus than that which had taken place from Mississippi six or seven years after this expulsion from Missouri, a still greater expulsion took place, expatriation, in fact, from the confines of the United States, about twenty thousand people were this time exiled from the State of Illinois and the surrounding states, and compelled to begin that wonderful march westward, which is the astonishment of our age in its great achievement, in the wisdom manifest in conducting the great exodus; under the inspired leadership of the apostles of God that great body of people were converted into an industrial column, which marched through the state of Iowa, and under circumstances the most discouraging, demonstrated its power to be self-sustaining, and by its industry and mutual sacrifices Israel was preserved, though in his tents and in traveling wagon trains. It is one of the most wonderful spectacles of American history, this community on wheels, yet held together in solidarity, and effectiveness of working power, keeping up a system of government which protected the community in its rights, and preserved them as an orderly people. The wonder of that will grow more and more as we become further and further removed from it, and look upon it from a true perspective, and realize its mighty achievements.
Finally, coming to the frontiers of the United States, there was the stretch of a thousand miles of wilderness, through which this great people must be brought. The pioneer company made its dash into the wilderness and led the way, and established itself here in these mountains. No sooner established here than it began the work of carrying out the great covenant that had been made in the temple of God, among the leaders of this people, before their departure from the City Beautiful, on the banks of the Father of Waters—Nauvoo; a covenant which bound those entering into it never to cease their efforts until every faithful member of the Church who desired to gather to the new home—yet to be founded—never to cease their efforts until every member of the Church desiring it, should be brought to the new gathering place of the Church. And this covenant the people kept, and through about eight or ten years the work of gathering that remnant from the banks of the Missouri continued until I believe the covenant of the people of God was kept, and kept by sacrifice, kept by continuous, unselfish service, which bore record of the love of God that was in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints of that period.
While doing this wonderful thing of transplanting a great people from the East through a thousand miles of wilderness to the West, the work of preaching the Gospel to the world was still cheerfully carried on. No sooner had the nucleus been established in this Salt Lake and adjoining valleys, than the Church seemed to be awakened, especially in the year 1849, to that responsibility that always rests upon the Church of Christ, viz., to make known the truths of the Gospel to other people; for when this Gospel was restored to the earth in the new dispensation, it came with the spirit that was in the mission of that angel who restored it, of whom it is said, when describing his advent to the earth in the last days, .he came “having the everlasting Gospel, which was to be preached to every nation and kindred and tongue and people,” and I say, no sooner had the feet of our people been planted in these valleys than an awakening seemed to come to the Church, and a very wonderful thing happened, and a very great manifestation was given to the world, of the existence of the love of God in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, by their willingness to serve their fellow men. The year 1849 is perhaps in many respects the most wonderful year of our experience. Judge ye of it as I outline what was begun in that year. At the October conference of 1849, Brother Charles
C. Rich, one of the Twelve Apostles, was called to join Amasa Lyman, already in California, to assist him in gathering up and locating the Latter-day Saints upon the Pacific coast, and to institute discipline in their midst, and so far as possible hold them together in groups until a gathering place could be established convenient for them. Before these two brethren completed their mission they made the purchase of the San Bernardino ranch of between 80,000 and 100,000 acres of the choicest part of southern California. The presiding brethren in Zion-here designed that there should be established a line of settlements, of which the one upon the coast would be the terminus, and from that through the eight hundred miles between here and there should be a line of settlements established, which would afford a line of travel that should be shorter and safer than the one across the plains, through the great tribes of Indians inhabiting those plains.
That same conference appointed an apostle to carry the Gospel to the people of France, Elder John Taylor received the appointment. His work extended also into Germany, and before his return he superintended the translation and the publication of the Book of Mormon, both into the French and into the German language.
At that same conference, October, 1849, Lorenzo Snow was called to establish the work in Italy. He was successful in his mission, and the work extended from there to Switzerland, and acting under the advice of his fellow apostles in England, missionaries under his direction were sent to India, and the work began in that distant land.
In addition to this that great apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Erastus Snow, was sent to the Scandinavian people, and he established a mission in that land and had translated the Book of Mormon into that language. That mission has been continuous and fruitful from that day until the present time.
That year, also, Addison Pratt, after being taken up here to the summit of what, to me, is a sacred mountain, Ensign Peak, where he received the holy ordinances of the house of God, he returned upon his mission to the islands of the sea. It is possible in this hurried survey that I may have omitted some of the missions that started in that year of grace, 1849, but if I have I will beg leave to print them in the record of this conference.
[Elder Orson Pratt had been sent to England in 1848 to take charge of the British Mission. The October conference of 1849 appointed Elder Franklin D. Richards to join him in his ministry, so that these appointments are connected with the period here considered. Elder Pratt held the presidency of the British Mission from August, 1848, to January, 1851. As Elder Richards arrived in England in March, 1850, Elder Pratt had his assistance about ten months, and during the presidency of Orson Pratt, aided by Elder Richards to the extent of time noted, the Millennial Star increased in circulation from 3,700 to 22,000; 5,000 were emigrated from the British Mission to America, and 21,000 were brought into the Church.]
I merely wanted to call your attention to enough that was done at that time, to show you what great service the Church of Christ was giving to the world by sending these apostles, strong in the Spirit of God, and in their labors reflecting the spirit of the mission of their Master, in carrying the message that had been given to the Church, to all the nations of the earth. I select this year in which to point out these things to you because it stands in such marked contrast to the spirit of the world manifested at that particular time; and what the spirit of the world would lead men to do under the circumstances in which these men wrought out their service for their fellow men and for God.
The year 1849, you remember, was the year of the gold discovery in California. A Mormon, albeit, not a very faithful one by that time, but nevertheless a Mormon elder (Samuel Brannan), taking a vial of gold dust in one hand, and swinging his hat with the other, rushed down the streets of San Francisco, crying, “Gold! gold! gold from the American River!” His cry of gold in a few days emptied San Francisco. Lawyers left their offices, merchants left their business, physicians left their patients, in a mad rush for the American River at the magic cry of “Gold” and pretty soon that cry of “Gold” echoed and re-echoed, not only through the states of our own nation, but even in foreign lands, and presently the world witnessed a mad rush from every direction and from nearly all lands, for the gold fields of California. They went in various ways, some of them by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, leaving the Atlantic and crossing the isthmus to the Pacific, and coming up the coast to San Francisco Bay. Others came overland; some of them went by the northern route. Bear River Valley and Fort Hall. About twenty thousand of them, in the summer of 1849, passed through our then little frontier village of Salt Lake City. But while the world was thus going mad in this rush for gold, and all seemed bound for the golden shores of California, here in these new frontier settlements of ours, where we were so near the new “Eldorado,” the Church of Christ was sending men eastward, not for gold, but seeking the souls of men and the salvation and redemption of the world!
Does it not stand out in marked contrast, this difference between the selfish spirit that moves men and the Spirit of God that moves the servants of God in the accomplishment of His work? And we give in our history this magnificent proof that this little people at that time, robbed and peeled repeatedly of all they possessed, and while yet making their weary way to these valleys, a thousand miles from the frontiers of our country, yet they gave this magnificent evidence of love of God that was in their hearts, and that kind of work, that manifestation of love of God, through service to man, has been going on in various degrees from that time until the present time. There has never been a time, there has never been years of dearth, when the Church of Christ has not given that kind of service to the inhabitants of the earth, that evidence of love of God and love of man.
In the first years of our experience in these mountains—Pardon me, please; I have formed that habit of calling these things “ours,” although, of course, they were happening before I was born, but I have lived so much in these things that it seems to me that I have been a member of the Church from the day it was organized until now, and so you must pardon me if, unwittingly, I identify myself with these movements.
Well, through the first years of our experience, then, as a Church, in bringing the people from foreign lands and from our own land to these mountains, the method at first was to bring them to the Missouri frontiers, to purchase cattle and wagons in the east, and then giving to the companies men of more or less experience to pilot them to the valleys of the mountains. In 1860, however, a circumstance happened to change that system, and widened, as you will see in a moment, widened the field for service unto the people of God. In that year, 1860, Brother Joseph W. Young, a nephew of President Young, a man of rare skill and ability as a plains captain, took a train of twenty-nine wagons from our valley after freight, and made the journey to the Missouri River and back again the same season, with the same teams. It occurred to President Young that if Joseph W. Young could successfully do that, it could be done by others and in other years as well as in 1860. The poor who were desirous of coming to Zion could be sent for from these valleys and brought back by the same teams. The community had more teams and wagons than it had money to expend for this purpose, and therefore this new system of emigrating the poor from the Missouri frontiers was inaugurated. Brother Joseph W. Young preached on the stand after his return, early in October of the year 1860—he preached a discourse on what he called “A Treatise on Ox-Teamology,” or the art of so treating cattle that they would be able to make a journey to the Missouri River and back again without materially injuring them. And so from then until the advent of the railroad into our valley the work of bringing the immigrating poor was carried on in that manner; and the amount of it, when you come to group it together, is really surprising. Listen: In 1861 two hundred wagons with four yoke of oxen to the wagon, divided into four companies, with about two hundred and fifty men performed the service, in the year 1861. In 1862, two hundred and sixty-two wagons were sent to the frontier, divided into six companies; there were two hundred and ninety-three men, two thousand eight hundred and eighty oxen, the trains taking with them the provisions necessary both for the journey to the east and the return journey with the emigrants to the west.
In 1863, three hundred and eighty-four wagons, divided into ten companies, were sent to the Missouri River; there were four hundred and eighty-eight men, three thousand six hundred and four oxen. Ten captains were necessary to conduct the trains.
In 1864 one hundred and seventy wagons were sent, one thousand seven hundred and seventeen oxen, and two hundred and seventy-seven men were engaged in that service that year.
In 1865, as a consequence of local conditions, no teams were sent east, but in 1866 three hundred and ninety-seven wagons were sent, and sixty-two more wagons were authorized to be purchased when the trains arrived in the East. There were four hundred and fifty-six teamsters, and forty-nine guardsmen, mounted, with eighty-nine horses, one hundred and thirty-four mules, three thousand and forty-two oxen. In addition to that, a relief train had to be sent to meet the incoming emigrants.
In 1867, no ox teams were sent to the East, but in 1868 an extraordinary effort was made to gather the poor. Seventy thousand dollars was raised in this community to help gather the poor, and five hundred wagons, in ten companies, went to the railroad terminus, and that year about four thousand of poor Saints, chiefly from the British Isles, were brought across the mountains and into this city.
This service was rendered, not for earthly reward, but was gratuitous service to fellow men, service to the poor, who needed the help. In those years when this little community was engaged in that great, generous work, the people in foreign nations wanting lands were brought from afar to lands wanting hands, and from that emigration hundreds and thousands, redeemed from poverty and the workshops of the old world, were brought here and made the land owners in the new west, in the commonwealth of Utah.
I want to halt long enough to pay just a little tribute of appreciation to this kind of service. Rough service it was, involving exposure to storms and to fatigue and danger, to nights of watchfulness, to exposure from Indian attacks, to constant labor day by day, to exposure to inclement seasons and hardships, that brought many of those who rendered this high service to God and fellow men to a crippled and decrepit, premature old age. I want to express my gratitude, as one who received benefits from this kind of service, rendered by this noble body of men who year after year gave their service that the poor might be gathered, and to say that this service has been and is as acceptable, in my judgment, to Almighty God as the more genteel service, if you please to regard it so, of preaching the Gospel among the nations of the earth. Every service that is rendered to humanity in the name of God is holy service in the sight of God, no matter how rough it may be, or how uncouth may be those who render it. And I want to say a word for that brave band of men who were the plains captains during these days—noble men they were, generals in their sphere, wise and courageous and worthy of all honor in the Church of the Christ, loved of God, blessed of Him, because they gave forth evidence that they loved God and loved fellow men, and gave the best of evidence of the fact in that they served, at great self-sacrifice and in the midst of constant danger—their fellow men and God.
Not only was the Church in these years called upon for that kind of service, but the Church, at least the citizens of Utah—and in the years of which I am speaking they constituted the Church, because we were nearly all “Mormons” in those days, and the citizenship of our territory was practically “Mormon;” so when we say citizens in those days we mean the Church, practically. Well, they were not only called upon to do the kind of service just described, but they were called upon also to do other service, namely, to protect themselves and each other against the wrath and jealousy and savagery of the Indian tribes by whom they were surrounded. When the outbreak came which marked the beginning of what is called in our annals the “Black Hawk War,” the people appealed to the governor of the state, and through the governor of the state and the Indian agents—at that time Colonel O. H. Irish and Colonel F. H. Head— these agents appealed to the United States military authorities, for assistance. When Colonel Irish made the application to the authorities at Camp Douglas he was told by the officer commanding that if the disturbances were away from the mail routes and the telegraph lines he had no authority to render the assistance. In the other case the officer commanding, when appealed to by Colonel Head, said he would refer it to the military authorities in the east, and at that time General Sherman was in command of the western department. When the question was put up to him he answered that the people must depend upon themselves to make the Indians behave at Salina. And so, not being granted the assistance and protection properly asked for, we had to rely upon our own people—the Latter-day Saints—to aid each other. According to the report that was made by Colonel John
R. Winder to the commanding general of the Utah militia, and which finally Adjutant General H. B. Clawson presented to the secretary of war, when asking for reimbursement for this service—according to those reports five hundred men were called into the field against the Indians for three months, in 1865. In 1866 two thousand five hundred men were called, many of them from the northern counties, to go to the assistance of the southern counties, and they served for six months. In 1867, one thousand five hundred were called into the service, also for six months. This is the kind of service that the counties in the north were called upon to render to the brethren in distress in the south. The aggregate of this service, as computed by soldier service generally, amounted to $1,121,000. The legislature memorialized Congress for an appropriation of $1,500,000 to cover these expenses. We petitioned, and have pleaded for this measure of justice, but so far in vain; and so we will have to charge it up to the account of service unrewarded, so far as this world is concerned, service given willingly and involving great risks on the part of those who gave it, for the assistance of fellow men of the household of faith.
Well, of course—I beg your pardon, I had no idea so much time had elapsed—but let me, in conclusion, make this brief application of all this, for surely there would be no reason of speaking of it if one did not have an application for it. Briefly, then, in conclusion; the days of emigrating the poor by means of ox teams, the days of furnishing the teams and the drivers and the supplies for that service, are past; the days of fighting the Indians are past; but the obligation of service to the world continues to rest upon the Church of Christ. The form of the service may have changed, but the need of it and the obligation of it remain. I tell you what we have been trying to do among our quorums of seventies, we have been preaching with more or less earnestness the necessity of seventies making sacrifice for the work of God. Of course, the Saints are making very great sacrifice in the way of means and the service of men in preaching the Gospel abroad. But what we need, in my judgment, for the mission fields of the world, is men of more mature years, men of experience, to go upon second and third missions, in order to “age up” somewhat the various missions of the Church, and to give a more seasoned ministry to the world, and thereby also a more effective ministry. This will involve our seventies in making sacrifices, but if we make sacrifices for the work of God, be assured the work is worthy of all that we can give to it in the way of sacrifice and service, and we want to keep the record of our service to fellow men up to as high a standard of efficiency and largeness as it has been in the past. The Lord bless you. Amen.
The hymn commencing “Ye simple souls who stray, was sung, as a tenor solo, by John W. Summerhays.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
On one occasion a woman brought her two sons into the presence of the Christ, and asked for them an appointment from the Master. that one might sit upon His right hand and the other upon His left when He should come in His kingdom. Jesus inquired of these candidates for this high honor if they were able to drink of the cup that He must drink of, and be baptized with the baptism which He must be baptized with, and they expressed confidence in their ability to do that. He finally told them that they should indeed have that honor, but to say who should sit upon His right hand and upon His left was not His to give, but it should be given to those who should be appointed of God His Father. The course pursued by these two brethren and their mother greatly incensed the rest of the disciples, and I presume they made their vexation known, whereupon Christ called them all into His presence, and He said unto them:
“Ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
“But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
"And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant;
“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (St. Matt. 20:25-28.)
This circumstance and these instructions connected with it mark off in sharp contrast the nature of the kingdom of the Christ and the kingdoms of this world. In one is the mastery by domination, of rule by what men call “effective government,” which rests on force; in the other, in the kingdom of the Christ, is pre-eminence through service and the rule of what men call “moral government,” which has for its high principles, rule through knowledge, persuasion, love. One is the authority of force; the other is the authority of persuasion. The one ministers to pride, in him who exercises it, the other begets true meekness.
On another occasion one came to the Messiah and would know what was the greatest commandment, and the Christ made a reply which in effect set forth that love of God and love of man were the two great commandments on which hung all the law and all the prophets; indeed, the Master blended them into one great and first law of the kingdom of heaven, circumscribing all other laws. It is pretty generally recognized that love of man and love of God is most effectively, and perhaps only effectively, expressed in terms of service for man and service for God. Yet we should be reminded by the saying of Paul that God is not worshiped by men’s hands, as if He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath; so that about the only way in which men can effectively express their love for God is through service to the children of God, to men.
Of late my labors as one of the assistant historians in the Church have led me over the field where the membership of the Church of Christ are seen rendering great service to each other and to the world; and it seems to me that we all today may be instructed and encouraged by contemplation of some of that service that the Church in days past has rendered unto the children of men.
I observe, in my historical work, that some hand has so shaped the destinies of the Latter-day Saints that they, have been very much employed in rendering service to each other, and to the world. Of course, the reception of the great truths that God revealed in the early days of the Church to the Prophet and his associates, as soon as the Church was organized, and the Priesthood began to take on something like regular form, and began the exercise of its functions, there was first of all the duty of making proclamation of those things that had been received, the Gospel, to those by whom the Saints were surrounded, and the organization of the first few branches of the Church took place. Then, in obedience to this principle of service, a mission to the Lamanites was projected, and a number of brethren, headed by Oliver Cowdery, began the missionary work of the Church, being sent first to the Lamanites, the remnants of the old races of the land. They began their westward journey, visiting Indian tribes by the way, until they reached Kirtland, where they halted, conditions being favorable to build up a church, and then continued their mission to the frontiers of the United States, where there had been gathered many thousands of the remnants of the land, and to them they made their appeal with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, thus rendering service in the work of the ministry to that fallen people.
Meantime, western Missouri had been designated by revelation as the place for the gathering of the Saints, and to this point the Saints in the East began moving. The Colesville branch moved bodily, and those who had means in that branch very generously assisted those who had no means to make that very great journey overland from New York by way of Kirtland, to the frontiers of the United States, then in western Missouri. So that they found it necessary to bear each other’s burdens and to ’assist each other in this first effort at gathering to the center place of Zion.
After three years the inhabitants of western Missouri rose up against the Saints and expelled them from Jackson county, twelve hundred men, women and children, stripped of their possessions and compelled to bivouac on the Missouri bottoms in an inclement season of the year. Appeal was made to the eastern branches to give service to these unfortunate brethren and sisters, and to relieve them in their distress. Men were called upon to make a march from the eastern branches to western Missouri to do what they could to reinstate these exiles to their lands and to their homes. And thus these circumstances contributed to bringing to pass the service of one part of the people of God to the other part who were in distress.
Five years later a mightier uprising took place against the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, and this time, instead of twelve hundred being exiled, between twelve and fifteen thousand were dispossessed of their lands, and exiled; and in these circumstances the Saints were again called upon to make sacrifices for and to assist each other in bearing these heavy burdens that had come upon them by reason of their persecutions. There were, during that period of time, some wonderful men developed, men who acquired wisdom by reason of the experiences forced upon them. Those were days of education, these experiences led to the development of the future leaders in Israel, who, by and by, were going to take part in a still greater exodus than that which had taken place from Mississippi six or seven years after this expulsion from Missouri, a still greater expulsion took place, expatriation, in fact, from the confines of the United States, about twenty thousand people were this time exiled from the State of Illinois and the surrounding states, and compelled to begin that wonderful march westward, which is the astonishment of our age in its great achievement, in the wisdom manifest in conducting the great exodus; under the inspired leadership of the apostles of God that great body of people were converted into an industrial column, which marched through the state of Iowa, and under circumstances the most discouraging, demonstrated its power to be self-sustaining, and by its industry and mutual sacrifices Israel was preserved, though in his tents and in traveling wagon trains. It is one of the most wonderful spectacles of American history, this community on wheels, yet held together in solidarity, and effectiveness of working power, keeping up a system of government which protected the community in its rights, and preserved them as an orderly people. The wonder of that will grow more and more as we become further and further removed from it, and look upon it from a true perspective, and realize its mighty achievements.
Finally, coming to the frontiers of the United States, there was the stretch of a thousand miles of wilderness, through which this great people must be brought. The pioneer company made its dash into the wilderness and led the way, and established itself here in these mountains. No sooner established here than it began the work of carrying out the great covenant that had been made in the temple of God, among the leaders of this people, before their departure from the City Beautiful, on the banks of the Father of Waters—Nauvoo; a covenant which bound those entering into it never to cease their efforts until every faithful member of the Church who desired to gather to the new home—yet to be founded—never to cease their efforts until every member of the Church desiring it, should be brought to the new gathering place of the Church. And this covenant the people kept, and through about eight or ten years the work of gathering that remnant from the banks of the Missouri continued until I believe the covenant of the people of God was kept, and kept by sacrifice, kept by continuous, unselfish service, which bore record of the love of God that was in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints of that period.
While doing this wonderful thing of transplanting a great people from the East through a thousand miles of wilderness to the West, the work of preaching the Gospel to the world was still cheerfully carried on. No sooner had the nucleus been established in this Salt Lake and adjoining valleys, than the Church seemed to be awakened, especially in the year 1849, to that responsibility that always rests upon the Church of Christ, viz., to make known the truths of the Gospel to other people; for when this Gospel was restored to the earth in the new dispensation, it came with the spirit that was in the mission of that angel who restored it, of whom it is said, when describing his advent to the earth in the last days, .he came “having the everlasting Gospel, which was to be preached to every nation and kindred and tongue and people,” and I say, no sooner had the feet of our people been planted in these valleys than an awakening seemed to come to the Church, and a very wonderful thing happened, and a very great manifestation was given to the world, of the existence of the love of God in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, by their willingness to serve their fellow men. The year 1849 is perhaps in many respects the most wonderful year of our experience. Judge ye of it as I outline what was begun in that year. At the October conference of 1849, Brother Charles
C. Rich, one of the Twelve Apostles, was called to join Amasa Lyman, already in California, to assist him in gathering up and locating the Latter-day Saints upon the Pacific coast, and to institute discipline in their midst, and so far as possible hold them together in groups until a gathering place could be established convenient for them. Before these two brethren completed their mission they made the purchase of the San Bernardino ranch of between 80,000 and 100,000 acres of the choicest part of southern California. The presiding brethren in Zion-here designed that there should be established a line of settlements, of which the one upon the coast would be the terminus, and from that through the eight hundred miles between here and there should be a line of settlements established, which would afford a line of travel that should be shorter and safer than the one across the plains, through the great tribes of Indians inhabiting those plains.
That same conference appointed an apostle to carry the Gospel to the people of France, Elder John Taylor received the appointment. His work extended also into Germany, and before his return he superintended the translation and the publication of the Book of Mormon, both into the French and into the German language.
At that same conference, October, 1849, Lorenzo Snow was called to establish the work in Italy. He was successful in his mission, and the work extended from there to Switzerland, and acting under the advice of his fellow apostles in England, missionaries under his direction were sent to India, and the work began in that distant land.
In addition to this that great apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Erastus Snow, was sent to the Scandinavian people, and he established a mission in that land and had translated the Book of Mormon into that language. That mission has been continuous and fruitful from that day until the present time.
That year, also, Addison Pratt, after being taken up here to the summit of what, to me, is a sacred mountain, Ensign Peak, where he received the holy ordinances of the house of God, he returned upon his mission to the islands of the sea. It is possible in this hurried survey that I may have omitted some of the missions that started in that year of grace, 1849, but if I have I will beg leave to print them in the record of this conference.
[Elder Orson Pratt had been sent to England in 1848 to take charge of the British Mission. The October conference of 1849 appointed Elder Franklin D. Richards to join him in his ministry, so that these appointments are connected with the period here considered. Elder Pratt held the presidency of the British Mission from August, 1848, to January, 1851. As Elder Richards arrived in England in March, 1850, Elder Pratt had his assistance about ten months, and during the presidency of Orson Pratt, aided by Elder Richards to the extent of time noted, the Millennial Star increased in circulation from 3,700 to 22,000; 5,000 were emigrated from the British Mission to America, and 21,000 were brought into the Church.]
I merely wanted to call your attention to enough that was done at that time, to show you what great service the Church of Christ was giving to the world by sending these apostles, strong in the Spirit of God, and in their labors reflecting the spirit of the mission of their Master, in carrying the message that had been given to the Church, to all the nations of the earth. I select this year in which to point out these things to you because it stands in such marked contrast to the spirit of the world manifested at that particular time; and what the spirit of the world would lead men to do under the circumstances in which these men wrought out their service for their fellow men and for God.
The year 1849, you remember, was the year of the gold discovery in California. A Mormon, albeit, not a very faithful one by that time, but nevertheless a Mormon elder (Samuel Brannan), taking a vial of gold dust in one hand, and swinging his hat with the other, rushed down the streets of San Francisco, crying, “Gold! gold! gold from the American River!” His cry of gold in a few days emptied San Francisco. Lawyers left their offices, merchants left their business, physicians left their patients, in a mad rush for the American River at the magic cry of “Gold” and pretty soon that cry of “Gold” echoed and re-echoed, not only through the states of our own nation, but even in foreign lands, and presently the world witnessed a mad rush from every direction and from nearly all lands, for the gold fields of California. They went in various ways, some of them by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, leaving the Atlantic and crossing the isthmus to the Pacific, and coming up the coast to San Francisco Bay. Others came overland; some of them went by the northern route. Bear River Valley and Fort Hall. About twenty thousand of them, in the summer of 1849, passed through our then little frontier village of Salt Lake City. But while the world was thus going mad in this rush for gold, and all seemed bound for the golden shores of California, here in these new frontier settlements of ours, where we were so near the new “Eldorado,” the Church of Christ was sending men eastward, not for gold, but seeking the souls of men and the salvation and redemption of the world!
Does it not stand out in marked contrast, this difference between the selfish spirit that moves men and the Spirit of God that moves the servants of God in the accomplishment of His work? And we give in our history this magnificent proof that this little people at that time, robbed and peeled repeatedly of all they possessed, and while yet making their weary way to these valleys, a thousand miles from the frontiers of our country, yet they gave this magnificent evidence of love of God that was in their hearts, and that kind of work, that manifestation of love of God, through service to man, has been going on in various degrees from that time until the present time. There has never been a time, there has never been years of dearth, when the Church of Christ has not given that kind of service to the inhabitants of the earth, that evidence of love of God and love of man.
In the first years of our experience in these mountains—Pardon me, please; I have formed that habit of calling these things “ours,” although, of course, they were happening before I was born, but I have lived so much in these things that it seems to me that I have been a member of the Church from the day it was organized until now, and so you must pardon me if, unwittingly, I identify myself with these movements.
Well, through the first years of our experience, then, as a Church, in bringing the people from foreign lands and from our own land to these mountains, the method at first was to bring them to the Missouri frontiers, to purchase cattle and wagons in the east, and then giving to the companies men of more or less experience to pilot them to the valleys of the mountains. In 1860, however, a circumstance happened to change that system, and widened, as you will see in a moment, widened the field for service unto the people of God. In that year, 1860, Brother Joseph W. Young, a nephew of President Young, a man of rare skill and ability as a plains captain, took a train of twenty-nine wagons from our valley after freight, and made the journey to the Missouri River and back again the same season, with the same teams. It occurred to President Young that if Joseph W. Young could successfully do that, it could be done by others and in other years as well as in 1860. The poor who were desirous of coming to Zion could be sent for from these valleys and brought back by the same teams. The community had more teams and wagons than it had money to expend for this purpose, and therefore this new system of emigrating the poor from the Missouri frontiers was inaugurated. Brother Joseph W. Young preached on the stand after his return, early in October of the year 1860—he preached a discourse on what he called “A Treatise on Ox-Teamology,” or the art of so treating cattle that they would be able to make a journey to the Missouri River and back again without materially injuring them. And so from then until the advent of the railroad into our valley the work of bringing the immigrating poor was carried on in that manner; and the amount of it, when you come to group it together, is really surprising. Listen: In 1861 two hundred wagons with four yoke of oxen to the wagon, divided into four companies, with about two hundred and fifty men performed the service, in the year 1861. In 1862, two hundred and sixty-two wagons were sent to the frontier, divided into six companies; there were two hundred and ninety-three men, two thousand eight hundred and eighty oxen, the trains taking with them the provisions necessary both for the journey to the east and the return journey with the emigrants to the west.
In 1863, three hundred and eighty-four wagons, divided into ten companies, were sent to the Missouri River; there were four hundred and eighty-eight men, three thousand six hundred and four oxen. Ten captains were necessary to conduct the trains.
In 1864 one hundred and seventy wagons were sent, one thousand seven hundred and seventeen oxen, and two hundred and seventy-seven men were engaged in that service that year.
In 1865, as a consequence of local conditions, no teams were sent east, but in 1866 three hundred and ninety-seven wagons were sent, and sixty-two more wagons were authorized to be purchased when the trains arrived in the East. There were four hundred and fifty-six teamsters, and forty-nine guardsmen, mounted, with eighty-nine horses, one hundred and thirty-four mules, three thousand and forty-two oxen. In addition to that, a relief train had to be sent to meet the incoming emigrants.
In 1867, no ox teams were sent to the East, but in 1868 an extraordinary effort was made to gather the poor. Seventy thousand dollars was raised in this community to help gather the poor, and five hundred wagons, in ten companies, went to the railroad terminus, and that year about four thousand of poor Saints, chiefly from the British Isles, were brought across the mountains and into this city.
This service was rendered, not for earthly reward, but was gratuitous service to fellow men, service to the poor, who needed the help. In those years when this little community was engaged in that great, generous work, the people in foreign nations wanting lands were brought from afar to lands wanting hands, and from that emigration hundreds and thousands, redeemed from poverty and the workshops of the old world, were brought here and made the land owners in the new west, in the commonwealth of Utah.
I want to halt long enough to pay just a little tribute of appreciation to this kind of service. Rough service it was, involving exposure to storms and to fatigue and danger, to nights of watchfulness, to exposure from Indian attacks, to constant labor day by day, to exposure to inclement seasons and hardships, that brought many of those who rendered this high service to God and fellow men to a crippled and decrepit, premature old age. I want to express my gratitude, as one who received benefits from this kind of service, rendered by this noble body of men who year after year gave their service that the poor might be gathered, and to say that this service has been and is as acceptable, in my judgment, to Almighty God as the more genteel service, if you please to regard it so, of preaching the Gospel among the nations of the earth. Every service that is rendered to humanity in the name of God is holy service in the sight of God, no matter how rough it may be, or how uncouth may be those who render it. And I want to say a word for that brave band of men who were the plains captains during these days—noble men they were, generals in their sphere, wise and courageous and worthy of all honor in the Church of the Christ, loved of God, blessed of Him, because they gave forth evidence that they loved God and loved fellow men, and gave the best of evidence of the fact in that they served, at great self-sacrifice and in the midst of constant danger—their fellow men and God.
Not only was the Church in these years called upon for that kind of service, but the Church, at least the citizens of Utah—and in the years of which I am speaking they constituted the Church, because we were nearly all “Mormons” in those days, and the citizenship of our territory was practically “Mormon;” so when we say citizens in those days we mean the Church, practically. Well, they were not only called upon to do the kind of service just described, but they were called upon also to do other service, namely, to protect themselves and each other against the wrath and jealousy and savagery of the Indian tribes by whom they were surrounded. When the outbreak came which marked the beginning of what is called in our annals the “Black Hawk War,” the people appealed to the governor of the state, and through the governor of the state and the Indian agents—at that time Colonel O. H. Irish and Colonel F. H. Head— these agents appealed to the United States military authorities, for assistance. When Colonel Irish made the application to the authorities at Camp Douglas he was told by the officer commanding that if the disturbances were away from the mail routes and the telegraph lines he had no authority to render the assistance. In the other case the officer commanding, when appealed to by Colonel Head, said he would refer it to the military authorities in the east, and at that time General Sherman was in command of the western department. When the question was put up to him he answered that the people must depend upon themselves to make the Indians behave at Salina. And so, not being granted the assistance and protection properly asked for, we had to rely upon our own people—the Latter-day Saints—to aid each other. According to the report that was made by Colonel John
R. Winder to the commanding general of the Utah militia, and which finally Adjutant General H. B. Clawson presented to the secretary of war, when asking for reimbursement for this service—according to those reports five hundred men were called into the field against the Indians for three months, in 1865. In 1866 two thousand five hundred men were called, many of them from the northern counties, to go to the assistance of the southern counties, and they served for six months. In 1867, one thousand five hundred were called into the service, also for six months. This is the kind of service that the counties in the north were called upon to render to the brethren in distress in the south. The aggregate of this service, as computed by soldier service generally, amounted to $1,121,000. The legislature memorialized Congress for an appropriation of $1,500,000 to cover these expenses. We petitioned, and have pleaded for this measure of justice, but so far in vain; and so we will have to charge it up to the account of service unrewarded, so far as this world is concerned, service given willingly and involving great risks on the part of those who gave it, for the assistance of fellow men of the household of faith.
Well, of course—I beg your pardon, I had no idea so much time had elapsed—but let me, in conclusion, make this brief application of all this, for surely there would be no reason of speaking of it if one did not have an application for it. Briefly, then, in conclusion; the days of emigrating the poor by means of ox teams, the days of furnishing the teams and the drivers and the supplies for that service, are past; the days of fighting the Indians are past; but the obligation of service to the world continues to rest upon the Church of Christ. The form of the service may have changed, but the need of it and the obligation of it remain. I tell you what we have been trying to do among our quorums of seventies, we have been preaching with more or less earnestness the necessity of seventies making sacrifice for the work of God. Of course, the Saints are making very great sacrifice in the way of means and the service of men in preaching the Gospel abroad. But what we need, in my judgment, for the mission fields of the world, is men of more mature years, men of experience, to go upon second and third missions, in order to “age up” somewhat the various missions of the Church, and to give a more seasoned ministry to the world, and thereby also a more effective ministry. This will involve our seventies in making sacrifices, but if we make sacrifices for the work of God, be assured the work is worthy of all that we can give to it in the way of sacrifice and service, and we want to keep the record of our service to fellow men up to as high a standard of efficiency and largeness as it has been in the past. The Lord bless you. Amen.
The hymn commencing “Ye simple souls who stray, was sung, as a tenor solo, by John W. Summerhays.
ELDER J. GOLDEN KIMBALL.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
President Smith desired me to read this letter, signed by James M. Kirkham, chairman of the Utah Development League:
President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah:
Dear Brother Smith: Referring to the clean town contest which I talked with you about, the committee who has this matter in charge is trying to create a spirit among all the cities and towns of this state to clean up and beautify their homes and surroundings. To do this a clean town contest has been planned. Although the Utah Development league, which consists of a central organization of all the commercial clubs of the state, are taking the lead in the matter, we hope to bring into active service in this campaign all the different societies and civic clubs, schools, agricultural clubs, and those who have in charge the city beautiful movement and vacant lot campaign.
I do not know of a greater service that can be done the state than this movement properly carried out. The scoring of the different towns will be done by some person from outside the state in order that there can be no question of favoritism.
Of the 100 points about 65 will be for sanitary conditions, while the remaining 35 points will be for, physical conditions. This movement can be successful only by the united -co-operation of every one.
The fly crusade will be part of the general scheme in the state-wide clean up.
Each town will be asked to arrange for a suitable prize for the cleanest back yard, stables, corrals and general surroundings, also prizes for the most beautiful flower garden and lawns, etc. We hope to create civic pride even among those who are now leaders and in this way arouse the dormant people who have not taken part in a movement of this kind before.
The state board of health is responsible for the statement that several hundred deaths could be prevented if proper sanitary conditions existed. Besides this there is the misery and suffering of many people who do not die but who become subject to sickness because of contagious diseases.
The towns of the state will be divided into five classes according to the population, the suitable prizes will be given to each city in its class that scores the highest.
Commencing with April 11th many of the largest towns have planned for a whole week of clean up. Wednesday, April 15th. which is Arbor Day will be set aside as a special day in this movement. Governor William Spry will issue a proclamation to that effect. Mayor Park and leaders in other cities will issue similar proclamations asking the people that they hold meetings and programs, emphasizing the importance of a general clean up throughout the state.
This week will be the beginning oi what we hope will be a general clean up program to be carried on throughout the year. The value of cleanliness I shall not presume to discuss, because you know that cleanliness is a part of Godliness.
I want to assure you that any assistance you can give us in the way oi indorsing this movement and saying something to emphasize its importance when you have an opportunity will be greatly appreciated.
Very truly,
In behalf of the Committee.
James M. Kirkham,
Chairman.
I am very thankful this morning, notwithstanding the condition of my physical body, that I have been busily engaged! cleaning up my own door-yard. I could not get the boy to do it, so I got busy and did it myself. (Laughter.) I am pretty near dead tired as a result of it; but I am grateful, for this suggestion to the Latter-day Saints, as to the “Clean town Contest.”
In our beautiful Utah many of the homes and farms are old fashioned. There is very little intense farming. Some people declare that nearly everybody is slipshod, barns, houses, outbuildings are fast going to ruin. The front yards are weedgrown, the fences down and hid by weeds, no flowers, no lawns, no vegetable gardens, no family orchards, and if there is, the trees are old, sickly and neglected. The fact is, no more beautiful valley, no better place has God’s people ever found. No people-have been more greatly favored during last year, as to climate. The past winter has been unexecuted, it has been just lovely. There is no need to go to California, or to the East, North, or South. I have made enquiries, and am posted. As the saying is, we have all countries and climates “skinned to death.”
What we need is old time enthusiasm. We should make a strong appeal to the rising generation and get the boys and girls to use their heads, and go to work with their hands. We need practical education, ambition, push. The whole family ought to work, none should be ashamed of work, but all should roll up their sleeves and dig. The key of success is: “We’re not afraid of work.” There should be no aged father or mother bent with hard work, who could say: Our boys and girls are educated so much that they go away from the home and farm. The ranch and farm just about keep me and the old lady now that the children are gone. We appeal to their children to give them a lift occasionally. Let the cry go out to all, and create a desire among the citizens of our cities and towns to clean up and beautify the old homesteads and surroundings. Certain' it is that some of our homes, outbuildings and fences need whitewashing awfully bad.
I visited my mother’s home town in Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1884, and I found there was no home, no outbuilding, no fence that was not painted, or whitewashed.
Now, brethren and sisters, awake, and make a good try-out in following this suggestion. No greater blessing can come to this people than a thorough and general cleansing of homes and surroundings.
The Lord bless you all. Amen.
The congregation sang the hymn:
There is beauty all around,
When there’s love at home;
There is joy in ev’ry sound,
When there's love at home.
Peace and plenty here abide,
Smiling sweet on ev’ry side,
Time doth softly, sweetly glide,
When there’s love at home.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder George C. Parkinson.
Conference adjourned until 2p.m.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
President Smith desired me to read this letter, signed by James M. Kirkham, chairman of the Utah Development League:
President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah:
Dear Brother Smith: Referring to the clean town contest which I talked with you about, the committee who has this matter in charge is trying to create a spirit among all the cities and towns of this state to clean up and beautify their homes and surroundings. To do this a clean town contest has been planned. Although the Utah Development league, which consists of a central organization of all the commercial clubs of the state, are taking the lead in the matter, we hope to bring into active service in this campaign all the different societies and civic clubs, schools, agricultural clubs, and those who have in charge the city beautiful movement and vacant lot campaign.
I do not know of a greater service that can be done the state than this movement properly carried out. The scoring of the different towns will be done by some person from outside the state in order that there can be no question of favoritism.
Of the 100 points about 65 will be for sanitary conditions, while the remaining 35 points will be for, physical conditions. This movement can be successful only by the united -co-operation of every one.
The fly crusade will be part of the general scheme in the state-wide clean up.
Each town will be asked to arrange for a suitable prize for the cleanest back yard, stables, corrals and general surroundings, also prizes for the most beautiful flower garden and lawns, etc. We hope to create civic pride even among those who are now leaders and in this way arouse the dormant people who have not taken part in a movement of this kind before.
The state board of health is responsible for the statement that several hundred deaths could be prevented if proper sanitary conditions existed. Besides this there is the misery and suffering of many people who do not die but who become subject to sickness because of contagious diseases.
The towns of the state will be divided into five classes according to the population, the suitable prizes will be given to each city in its class that scores the highest.
Commencing with April 11th many of the largest towns have planned for a whole week of clean up. Wednesday, April 15th. which is Arbor Day will be set aside as a special day in this movement. Governor William Spry will issue a proclamation to that effect. Mayor Park and leaders in other cities will issue similar proclamations asking the people that they hold meetings and programs, emphasizing the importance of a general clean up throughout the state.
This week will be the beginning oi what we hope will be a general clean up program to be carried on throughout the year. The value of cleanliness I shall not presume to discuss, because you know that cleanliness is a part of Godliness.
I want to assure you that any assistance you can give us in the way oi indorsing this movement and saying something to emphasize its importance when you have an opportunity will be greatly appreciated.
Very truly,
In behalf of the Committee.
James M. Kirkham,
Chairman.
I am very thankful this morning, notwithstanding the condition of my physical body, that I have been busily engaged! cleaning up my own door-yard. I could not get the boy to do it, so I got busy and did it myself. (Laughter.) I am pretty near dead tired as a result of it; but I am grateful, for this suggestion to the Latter-day Saints, as to the “Clean town Contest.”
In our beautiful Utah many of the homes and farms are old fashioned. There is very little intense farming. Some people declare that nearly everybody is slipshod, barns, houses, outbuildings are fast going to ruin. The front yards are weedgrown, the fences down and hid by weeds, no flowers, no lawns, no vegetable gardens, no family orchards, and if there is, the trees are old, sickly and neglected. The fact is, no more beautiful valley, no better place has God’s people ever found. No people-have been more greatly favored during last year, as to climate. The past winter has been unexecuted, it has been just lovely. There is no need to go to California, or to the East, North, or South. I have made enquiries, and am posted. As the saying is, we have all countries and climates “skinned to death.”
What we need is old time enthusiasm. We should make a strong appeal to the rising generation and get the boys and girls to use their heads, and go to work with their hands. We need practical education, ambition, push. The whole family ought to work, none should be ashamed of work, but all should roll up their sleeves and dig. The key of success is: “We’re not afraid of work.” There should be no aged father or mother bent with hard work, who could say: Our boys and girls are educated so much that they go away from the home and farm. The ranch and farm just about keep me and the old lady now that the children are gone. We appeal to their children to give them a lift occasionally. Let the cry go out to all, and create a desire among the citizens of our cities and towns to clean up and beautify the old homesteads and surroundings. Certain' it is that some of our homes, outbuildings and fences need whitewashing awfully bad.
I visited my mother’s home town in Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1884, and I found there was no home, no outbuilding, no fence that was not painted, or whitewashed.
Now, brethren and sisters, awake, and make a good try-out in following this suggestion. No greater blessing can come to this people than a thorough and general cleansing of homes and surroundings.
The Lord bless you all. Amen.
The congregation sang the hymn:
There is beauty all around,
When there’s love at home;
There is joy in ev’ry sound,
When there's love at home.
Peace and plenty here abide,
Smiling sweet on ev’ry side,
Time doth softly, sweetly glide,
When there’s love at home.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder George C. Parkinson.
Conference adjourned until 2p.m.
CLOSING SESSION.
In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smtih called the meeting to order.
The congregation sang the hymn:
Redeemer of Israel, our only delight,
On whom for a blessing we call,
Our shadow by day, and our pillar by night,
Our King, our Deliv’rer, our all!
Prayer was offered by Elder Wm. H. Richards.
A bass solo, “Within this sacred dwelling,” was sung by A. L. Newberg.
In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m.
President Joseph F. Smtih called the meeting to order.
The congregation sang the hymn:
Redeemer of Israel, our only delight,
On whom for a blessing we call,
Our shadow by day, and our pillar by night,
Our King, our Deliv’rer, our all!
Prayer was offered by Elder Wm. H. Richards.
A bass solo, “Within this sacred dwelling,” was sung by A. L. Newberg.
ELDER RULON S. WELLS.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
My brethren and sisters, I feel my dependence upon the Lord this afternoon, more than I ever did before, it seems to me, and I sincerely hope that the Lord will favor me with His Spirit to say a few beneficial words while I stand before you.
I have rejoiced exceedingly in the spirit of this conference. It has been to me faith-promoting. When President Smith was speaking at the opening session, I recognized the spirit of inspiration which rested upon him. The high standard, that has been raised up in this dispensation of the Lord’s providences unto His people, is something worthy of consideration by all the peoples of the earth. It seems to me that in the life of our Redeemer the example was set for all mankind, and whereas we may fall short of those perfections which were illustrated in His divine life, nevertheless we have a standard raised up by which we are to be measured. In order that we may approach His perfections, the Gospel has been delivered to the children of men, and in it we have been admonished to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. No one realizes more than I do myself the weaknesses by which we are beset at every hand. Sometimes we hear one say that we ought not to preach anything that we do not practice. It seems to me that that is not altogether correct, but I do endorse the doctrine that we ought not to preach anything that we do not try to do, even though we may not completely succeed in coming to that degree of excellence. We should preach Christ and Him crucified. We should preach the excellence of His life, whether or not we are able to come up to His standard completely. We are living in a world of sin. We are exposed to the temptations of the world. We have our weaknesses and our imperfections. Nevertheless we have delivered unto us the power of God unto salvation, and that power of God is the Gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and obedience to that will perfect us in our lives. Nevertheless there is sin in the world, and none of us are perfect. We have our weaknesses and our imperfections, but we ought not to glory in them. We ought not to think that they are justified, or that we are justified in doing anything that is wrong. We are only in the right attitude when we are engaged in the fight against sin.
It is a great warfare that is being carried on in this world. It is the power of God versus the power of the adversary. It is truth versus error. It is righteousness against sin; and only he has his feet planted in the straight and narrow way that is striving and endeavoring to overcome his weaknesses and imperfections. Neither ought we to judge one another, and think because some one may not be as near perfect as we consider ourselves to be, that he is therefore lost. Each man and each woman, each child of God has his own battle to fight. They have their own environment in which they move. They have the particular training that they have received from their parents. Some have had greater advantages than others; and we are not in a position to judge any one. We are scarcely able to judge even ourselves. But we ought to be engaged in fighting sin, at the same time being full of love and charity towards all men, whether they be sinners or not. All men are to a certain degree sinners; and this question of sin is to be regarded pretty much in the same light as we regard sickness and disease. We may loathe and hate sin and yet be full of love and charity towards the sinner, just as we may loathe and despise disease and pain, and at the same time be full of love and charity towards those who are afflicted; and our purpose should be to bring relief both to the sinner and to the afflicted.
There is an analogy between these two propositions, between sin and sickness. In each case, in both cases, it is required that they should have proper treatment. In the case of a man or a woman who has been afflicted with some bodily ailment, what a splendid thing it is to call someone in who is skilled in the art of bringing relief, some physician or doctor who can bring relief to suffering humanity. It is also essential and requisite that those who are afflicted with sin should have relief brought to them; and what a blessed service it is when we can render relief, bring restoration unto a state of righteousness to him that is afflicted with sin. There are a great many maladies both physical and spiritual. The Lord, however, has given a remedy for every evil, for every affliction. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a panacea for every affliction of the soul of man. We ought to practice and obey that Gospel, apply it to everything in our lives, that we may be healed from the afflictions of sin. The whole world lieth in sin, under the bondage of sin, and we are not relieved from that bondage until we shall overcome evil, even the sins with which we are afflicted. If the Gospel be applied to each and every one of us, and we obey its principles, its precepts, it will heal us spiritually, and finally bring us back into the presence of God, sound and whole, and free every whit from all the contagions and diseases of sin that are found in the world today.
My brethren and sisters, I realize that the moments here are very precious so I will close, and in conclusion let me bear my testimony that I know that this Gospel, which has been restored in the day and age in which we live, through the instrumentality of the prophet Joseph Smith, has within it the power of God to heal the sick, to heal the afflicted, whether it be from sin or from . sickness. I pray the Lord that He will guide us by His Holy Spirit, and finally bring us back into His presence, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
My brethren and sisters, I feel my dependence upon the Lord this afternoon, more than I ever did before, it seems to me, and I sincerely hope that the Lord will favor me with His Spirit to say a few beneficial words while I stand before you.
I have rejoiced exceedingly in the spirit of this conference. It has been to me faith-promoting. When President Smith was speaking at the opening session, I recognized the spirit of inspiration which rested upon him. The high standard, that has been raised up in this dispensation of the Lord’s providences unto His people, is something worthy of consideration by all the peoples of the earth. It seems to me that in the life of our Redeemer the example was set for all mankind, and whereas we may fall short of those perfections which were illustrated in His divine life, nevertheless we have a standard raised up by which we are to be measured. In order that we may approach His perfections, the Gospel has been delivered to the children of men, and in it we have been admonished to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. No one realizes more than I do myself the weaknesses by which we are beset at every hand. Sometimes we hear one say that we ought not to preach anything that we do not practice. It seems to me that that is not altogether correct, but I do endorse the doctrine that we ought not to preach anything that we do not try to do, even though we may not completely succeed in coming to that degree of excellence. We should preach Christ and Him crucified. We should preach the excellence of His life, whether or not we are able to come up to His standard completely. We are living in a world of sin. We are exposed to the temptations of the world. We have our weaknesses and our imperfections. Nevertheless we have delivered unto us the power of God unto salvation, and that power of God is the Gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and obedience to that will perfect us in our lives. Nevertheless there is sin in the world, and none of us are perfect. We have our weaknesses and our imperfections, but we ought not to glory in them. We ought not to think that they are justified, or that we are justified in doing anything that is wrong. We are only in the right attitude when we are engaged in the fight against sin.
It is a great warfare that is being carried on in this world. It is the power of God versus the power of the adversary. It is truth versus error. It is righteousness against sin; and only he has his feet planted in the straight and narrow way that is striving and endeavoring to overcome his weaknesses and imperfections. Neither ought we to judge one another, and think because some one may not be as near perfect as we consider ourselves to be, that he is therefore lost. Each man and each woman, each child of God has his own battle to fight. They have their own environment in which they move. They have the particular training that they have received from their parents. Some have had greater advantages than others; and we are not in a position to judge any one. We are scarcely able to judge even ourselves. But we ought to be engaged in fighting sin, at the same time being full of love and charity towards all men, whether they be sinners or not. All men are to a certain degree sinners; and this question of sin is to be regarded pretty much in the same light as we regard sickness and disease. We may loathe and hate sin and yet be full of love and charity towards the sinner, just as we may loathe and despise disease and pain, and at the same time be full of love and charity towards those who are afflicted; and our purpose should be to bring relief both to the sinner and to the afflicted.
There is an analogy between these two propositions, between sin and sickness. In each case, in both cases, it is required that they should have proper treatment. In the case of a man or a woman who has been afflicted with some bodily ailment, what a splendid thing it is to call someone in who is skilled in the art of bringing relief, some physician or doctor who can bring relief to suffering humanity. It is also essential and requisite that those who are afflicted with sin should have relief brought to them; and what a blessed service it is when we can render relief, bring restoration unto a state of righteousness to him that is afflicted with sin. There are a great many maladies both physical and spiritual. The Lord, however, has given a remedy for every evil, for every affliction. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a panacea for every affliction of the soul of man. We ought to practice and obey that Gospel, apply it to everything in our lives, that we may be healed from the afflictions of sin. The whole world lieth in sin, under the bondage of sin, and we are not relieved from that bondage until we shall overcome evil, even the sins with which we are afflicted. If the Gospel be applied to each and every one of us, and we obey its principles, its precepts, it will heal us spiritually, and finally bring us back into the presence of God, sound and whole, and free every whit from all the contagions and diseases of sin that are found in the world today.
My brethren and sisters, I realize that the moments here are very precious so I will close, and in conclusion let me bear my testimony that I know that this Gospel, which has been restored in the day and age in which we live, through the instrumentality of the prophet Joseph Smith, has within it the power of God to heal the sick, to heal the afflicted, whether it be from sin or from . sickness. I pray the Lord that He will guide us by His Holy Spirit, and finally bring us back into His presence, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER JOSEPH W. M’MURRIN.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I trust, my brethren and sisters, that the few words I utter upon this occasion, may be directed by the same good spirit that has been so abundantly manifest in the remarks that have been made by the brethren who have been called to speak to the people, in the various sessions of this general conference.
As I was coming up Main Street on Saturday morning, on my way to attend the opening session of the conference, I joined a brother who was also wending his way towards this Tabernacle. He smilingly said to me, “Well, brother Joseph, I suppose we are going to have the very best conference that has ever been held.” These words of the brother referred to, brought to my mind remarks that were made in my hearing, by one of the counselors in a stake presidency, at a stake conference that I attended a few months ago. He declared in that meeting that he felt the stake conference, then convened, was one of the best they had ever held. After making this statement, he said that when he returned from Salt Lake City after attending the October conference last year, his family wanted to know what kind of a conference had been held, and how he had enjoyed himself. His answer was, “It was the best conference I have ever attended.” Then the young people in the home laughed and said, “Why, father, you have made that statement after every conference you have ever attended.” I was made glad, my brethren and sister's, when I listened to that declaration. This man was a man of years and of long experience. He was engaged in teaching the Gospel when I was a little child, a man under whose direction I had come in my Sunday School studies in the days of my boyhood; I was made glad in my soul that after all the years of experience which he had had in the Church, that the doctrines of the Gospel were still so sweet that he could say, after more than a half a century of experience, and after being in attendance again and again at conference meetings for about that length of time—for he has been in regular attendance at these conferences, and he is sitting in this congregation this afternoon—that this last conference was the best one in his experience. I would not be at all surprised if he were to report when he has opportunity that he has again attended the best conference he had ever attended. I do not know that one conference is really better than another; but there is something to be very grateful for, that at every conference we always have a spirit of joy and always feel that we have reason for great happiness. We feel fully satisfied with the sound of the Gospel, the principles and doctrines of the Gospel that are expounded in our hearing at these gatherings and at other times even though we may have heard them frequently before, they are always fresh, they are always satisfying, and always fill us with gratitude, thanksgiving and praise.
I attended a conference recently, my brethren and sisters, where the stake president reported that an earnest effort had been made by the ward teachers within the confines of that stake during the nine months of the year that had then passed away, to carry the Gospel to the homes of the people resident within the stake. The brethren engaged in this labor had been instructed to visit all the people, not only the Latter-day Saints but to visit the people who were not of our faith. If non-members of the Church cared to hear anything in relation to the principles of the Gospel, the teachers were to expound the Gospel to them. If they did not want the Gospel, but desired to unite with the people in civic movements, or in other good directions in which all the people unite, to talk with them in relation to such matters. The president reported that these teachers were well received and as a result of their ministry in thus visiting the homes of the people, there had been over forty adult baptisms in that stake during nine months. I thought that was a very remarkable and commendable report; it was something for the brethren who had engaged in the labor to feel exceedingly proud of. You know it has been written in the revelations that have come from our Father in heaven in this latter dispensation, that if a man were to spend his entire lifetime in the preaching of the word of the Lord, and the result of his ministry should be the salvation of one soul, how great would be his joy with that soul in the kingdom of God. I believe in this doctrine. I have had some experience in the preaching of the Gospel, and now and then have discovered that the
Lord has so used me in teaching the way of salvation, that the hearts of men have been touched, and a few have been brought to investigate the great message that has been revealed from on high for the salvation of the human family. I know whenever such information has come to me it has filled my soul with that joy that passes all understanding.
At another conference that I attended not long ago I heard the stake president report the labors of missionaries something after the manner of the report that was made by President Smith, regarding these Church activities. This president reported that in the stake of Zion over which he presided they had been utilizing the Seventies and the Elders in the preaching of the Gospel, and that an earnest home missionary labor had been accomplished. These missionaries had gone among the people much in the same manner as our missionaries go abroad in the various missions of the world. They had literature to deliver to the people. They held cottage meetings, and other meetings, as they had opportunity. They taught the principles of the Gospel at the fireside, and wherever they could make an opening, and in that stake of Zion the report was made that there had been between forty and fifty baptisms of adult persons, individuals that were actual converts from indifference, from the religious follies that are in the world, to the truth as it has been revealed.
I mention these matters for the purpose, my brethren and sisters, of drawing the attention of men who hold responsible and presiding positions in the quorums of the Holy Priesthood, and particularly to those who preside in the quorums of the seventy, to the possibility of having souls here at home, that they may be alive to the opportunity that abounds on every hand for missionary labor in the stakes of Zion. We have a great missionary field right here at our doors. Men and women in large numbers have been drawn from the various nations of the earth by the mysterious providences of our Father in heaven, and have located in the wards and stakes of Zion. We should feel that we are under responsibility to carry the principles of the Gospel to all these people who are not of the faith. We should be constantly on the alert and anxious to formulate plans, under proper direction, and proper authority, for the spreading of the word of the Lord, that those who are here within our gates may hear the sound of the Gospel and have no opportunity in the future, either in this time, or in the life that is to come, to rise up in judgment against us and say, that notwithstanding the precious truth that had been committed into our care, and the nearness of these men to many who hold the priesthood, no effort had been made to convert them. I heard a stake president say that a neighbor, a man resident within his stake, who was visited when upon his death-bed by elders of the Church and heard something in relation to the principles of the Gospel, he wanted, then, to know how it was— if the story relative to the restoration of the Gospel that was being told was true, if the heavens had been opened, if holy angels had come with divine authority and had conferred that authority upon men, and his neighbors held that authority—how it was that they had not exerted themselves long before to make him acquainted with that fact. He appeared, according to the report of this president, to be concerned about the matter. He seemed to feel that possibly the story was true, that God had revealed Himself; that the message of the everlasting Gospel had been committed to men upon the earth; and he was in distress because he was conscious of the fact that he would not have opportunity to receive that message, as he was then upon his death-bed. Of course we do not know what his feelings might have been under other circumstances ; but we really ought to know that the giving of the authority of the Holy Priesthood is most precious, and that with that authority is a very grave responsibility. Men should be earnestly engaged in seeking to bring to pass righteousness, of their own volition, by virtue of the agency with which God has blessed them, acting and laboring always under the authority of those who preside in the local subdivisions of the Church. I am very glad to know that there has been an unusual effort, during recent years, to utilize more fully the labors of the Seventies and other men who hold this precious authority in the preaching of the word of the Lord at home. I trust that there is a disposition on the part of all these men to recognize local authority; that there are none of them graduates in the sense that has been spoken of during this conference, but that they are all students, that they are all ambitious to learn the things of God, that they are all anxious to utilize the information that may come to them as the result of research and study for the advantage and well being of their fellows. For it is for this purpose that we have been given authority. For this purpose God has called us to His ministry, and He has laid upon our shoulders the responsibility of carrying the message of the Gospel to all men.
I pray that the priesthood may feel this obligation more and more right here at home, and that there may not be found in any ward, or in any stake of Zion, any person not a member of the Church who can justly say, now or hereafter, that we have not appreciated our responsibility, and that we have not sought to magnify our calling in seeking after the souls of men in the fear of the Lord. May we so utilize our time and powers that have been committed unto us, that all men shall' be left without excuse, and that we ourselves shall be received in due time by our Father in heaven with the plaudit, “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.” God bless us, and help us to be faithful and true to the covenants we have made, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
A soprano solo, “Thy will be done,” was sung by Sister Josie Hinckley.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I trust, my brethren and sisters, that the few words I utter upon this occasion, may be directed by the same good spirit that has been so abundantly manifest in the remarks that have been made by the brethren who have been called to speak to the people, in the various sessions of this general conference.
As I was coming up Main Street on Saturday morning, on my way to attend the opening session of the conference, I joined a brother who was also wending his way towards this Tabernacle. He smilingly said to me, “Well, brother Joseph, I suppose we are going to have the very best conference that has ever been held.” These words of the brother referred to, brought to my mind remarks that were made in my hearing, by one of the counselors in a stake presidency, at a stake conference that I attended a few months ago. He declared in that meeting that he felt the stake conference, then convened, was one of the best they had ever held. After making this statement, he said that when he returned from Salt Lake City after attending the October conference last year, his family wanted to know what kind of a conference had been held, and how he had enjoyed himself. His answer was, “It was the best conference I have ever attended.” Then the young people in the home laughed and said, “Why, father, you have made that statement after every conference you have ever attended.” I was made glad, my brethren and sister's, when I listened to that declaration. This man was a man of years and of long experience. He was engaged in teaching the Gospel when I was a little child, a man under whose direction I had come in my Sunday School studies in the days of my boyhood; I was made glad in my soul that after all the years of experience which he had had in the Church, that the doctrines of the Gospel were still so sweet that he could say, after more than a half a century of experience, and after being in attendance again and again at conference meetings for about that length of time—for he has been in regular attendance at these conferences, and he is sitting in this congregation this afternoon—that this last conference was the best one in his experience. I would not be at all surprised if he were to report when he has opportunity that he has again attended the best conference he had ever attended. I do not know that one conference is really better than another; but there is something to be very grateful for, that at every conference we always have a spirit of joy and always feel that we have reason for great happiness. We feel fully satisfied with the sound of the Gospel, the principles and doctrines of the Gospel that are expounded in our hearing at these gatherings and at other times even though we may have heard them frequently before, they are always fresh, they are always satisfying, and always fill us with gratitude, thanksgiving and praise.
I attended a conference recently, my brethren and sisters, where the stake president reported that an earnest effort had been made by the ward teachers within the confines of that stake during the nine months of the year that had then passed away, to carry the Gospel to the homes of the people resident within the stake. The brethren engaged in this labor had been instructed to visit all the people, not only the Latter-day Saints but to visit the people who were not of our faith. If non-members of the Church cared to hear anything in relation to the principles of the Gospel, the teachers were to expound the Gospel to them. If they did not want the Gospel, but desired to unite with the people in civic movements, or in other good directions in which all the people unite, to talk with them in relation to such matters. The president reported that these teachers were well received and as a result of their ministry in thus visiting the homes of the people, there had been over forty adult baptisms in that stake during nine months. I thought that was a very remarkable and commendable report; it was something for the brethren who had engaged in the labor to feel exceedingly proud of. You know it has been written in the revelations that have come from our Father in heaven in this latter dispensation, that if a man were to spend his entire lifetime in the preaching of the word of the Lord, and the result of his ministry should be the salvation of one soul, how great would be his joy with that soul in the kingdom of God. I believe in this doctrine. I have had some experience in the preaching of the Gospel, and now and then have discovered that the
Lord has so used me in teaching the way of salvation, that the hearts of men have been touched, and a few have been brought to investigate the great message that has been revealed from on high for the salvation of the human family. I know whenever such information has come to me it has filled my soul with that joy that passes all understanding.
At another conference that I attended not long ago I heard the stake president report the labors of missionaries something after the manner of the report that was made by President Smith, regarding these Church activities. This president reported that in the stake of Zion over which he presided they had been utilizing the Seventies and the Elders in the preaching of the Gospel, and that an earnest home missionary labor had been accomplished. These missionaries had gone among the people much in the same manner as our missionaries go abroad in the various missions of the world. They had literature to deliver to the people. They held cottage meetings, and other meetings, as they had opportunity. They taught the principles of the Gospel at the fireside, and wherever they could make an opening, and in that stake of Zion the report was made that there had been between forty and fifty baptisms of adult persons, individuals that were actual converts from indifference, from the religious follies that are in the world, to the truth as it has been revealed.
I mention these matters for the purpose, my brethren and sisters, of drawing the attention of men who hold responsible and presiding positions in the quorums of the Holy Priesthood, and particularly to those who preside in the quorums of the seventy, to the possibility of having souls here at home, that they may be alive to the opportunity that abounds on every hand for missionary labor in the stakes of Zion. We have a great missionary field right here at our doors. Men and women in large numbers have been drawn from the various nations of the earth by the mysterious providences of our Father in heaven, and have located in the wards and stakes of Zion. We should feel that we are under responsibility to carry the principles of the Gospel to all these people who are not of the faith. We should be constantly on the alert and anxious to formulate plans, under proper direction, and proper authority, for the spreading of the word of the Lord, that those who are here within our gates may hear the sound of the Gospel and have no opportunity in the future, either in this time, or in the life that is to come, to rise up in judgment against us and say, that notwithstanding the precious truth that had been committed into our care, and the nearness of these men to many who hold the priesthood, no effort had been made to convert them. I heard a stake president say that a neighbor, a man resident within his stake, who was visited when upon his death-bed by elders of the Church and heard something in relation to the principles of the Gospel, he wanted, then, to know how it was— if the story relative to the restoration of the Gospel that was being told was true, if the heavens had been opened, if holy angels had come with divine authority and had conferred that authority upon men, and his neighbors held that authority—how it was that they had not exerted themselves long before to make him acquainted with that fact. He appeared, according to the report of this president, to be concerned about the matter. He seemed to feel that possibly the story was true, that God had revealed Himself; that the message of the everlasting Gospel had been committed to men upon the earth; and he was in distress because he was conscious of the fact that he would not have opportunity to receive that message, as he was then upon his death-bed. Of course we do not know what his feelings might have been under other circumstances ; but we really ought to know that the giving of the authority of the Holy Priesthood is most precious, and that with that authority is a very grave responsibility. Men should be earnestly engaged in seeking to bring to pass righteousness, of their own volition, by virtue of the agency with which God has blessed them, acting and laboring always under the authority of those who preside in the local subdivisions of the Church. I am very glad to know that there has been an unusual effort, during recent years, to utilize more fully the labors of the Seventies and other men who hold this precious authority in the preaching of the word of the Lord at home. I trust that there is a disposition on the part of all these men to recognize local authority; that there are none of them graduates in the sense that has been spoken of during this conference, but that they are all students, that they are all ambitious to learn the things of God, that they are all anxious to utilize the information that may come to them as the result of research and study for the advantage and well being of their fellows. For it is for this purpose that we have been given authority. For this purpose God has called us to His ministry, and He has laid upon our shoulders the responsibility of carrying the message of the Gospel to all men.
I pray that the priesthood may feel this obligation more and more right here at home, and that there may not be found in any ward, or in any stake of Zion, any person not a member of the Church who can justly say, now or hereafter, that we have not appreciated our responsibility, and that we have not sought to magnify our calling in seeking after the souls of men in the fear of the Lord. May we so utilize our time and powers that have been committed unto us, that all men shall' be left without excuse, and that we ourselves shall be received in due time by our Father in heaven with the plaudit, “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.” God bless us, and help us to be faithful and true to the covenants we have made, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
A soprano solo, “Thy will be done,” was sung by Sister Josie Hinckley.
ELDER CHARLES H. HART.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I have enjoyed very much, and I have no doubt you have also, the timely instructions of this conference, and I trust that we appreciate the importance of the many valuable things already given unto us. Yesterday, at one of the overflow meetings, I made the assertion without argument that we had in our missionary system one of the best sustained efforts of altruism upon a large scale, considering the number of people that the world in all its history has ever seen. I thank Brother Roberts for making the argument supporting today, the statement thus made yesterday.
Some one has said that the kingdom of heaven is not for the most learned but for the best, and that the best is the most unselfish; that loving, constant, continuous and voluntary self-sacrifice for the good of others is the glory of man.
We might emphasize for a moment another phase of that splendid chapter of service that was so ably reviewed today by Elder B. H. Roberts, and that is the effect which that service has had upon the individuals participating therein, and also upon their posterity as well as upon those whom they served. The result of the efforts of the brethren in making that sacrifice in going from Kirtland to Missouri in Zion’s camp but enabled them and others to perform in a better way that other sacrifice, that other great journey which they were to make from Missouri to Illinois; and their experience in making that migration enabled them to perform in a better way the higher sacrifice which they were to later make in moving from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains. And the experiences of the brethren in making that journey across the wilderness of a thousand miles enabled them to perform in a splendid way that service of colonization which was so well performed up and down this chain of mountain valleys, and which has made of the “Mormon” people, the world’s foremost colonizers. In looking over the audience today and seeing here and there individuals whom I know have made a sublime sacrifice for the good of the Church and for the good of others, I felt how insignificant is anything that I have performed for the Church.
The Lord, in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, said: “Wherefore be not weary in well doing, for you are laying the foundation of a great work; and behold, from things that are small proceedeth that which is great.” I am a great believer in the truth that none of these acts of loving service and sacrifice can be performed without there being a permanent reward, permanent results left.
In enumerating today, the effort put forth in driving the oxen, I thought also of that other service where men really performed the part of oxen in hitching themselves to the hand-carts and making the same journey across the plains. Perhaps they thought in making that wonderful sacrifice that there would be no results except their passage to the mountains and yet an impress has been left upon their children and upon their children’s children that time will not efface. I have heard strong men and strong women say that when they contemplated the grand sacrifice of their father or mother, in making that hand-cart journey across the plains, they felt that there was no sacrifice too great for them to make for the Church; that if they were to live many years, and be able to crowd into each day a hundred times more good than they were now accomplishing that still they would be unworthy of that father and mother who had the faith and the courage to perform that wonderful work. Many of these acts of heroism, the fruitage of this wonderful service for others, have never been written. Occasionally we hear of some of these instances. I was with our state superintendent of schools, who was recently called home, in the last journey that he made to St. George, and heard his last speech and testimony. He told of his father, a convert from that same Scandinavian country to which Brother Erastus Snow was called, indeed his people were converts of the preaching of brother Erastus Snow. Superintendent Nelson told the story of how his father waded the Sevier river during high water, having for his protection a rope tied about his body, and held for his protection by one of his sons upon the shore; in order to carry a letter containing the money for the education of his son to the post office upon the other side of the river.
I was impressed as a boy in reading of how Leonidas, at the pass of Thermopolae with his little band of Spartans, had withstood a whole army and how he probably would have succeeded permanently had it not been for a traitor in showing the enemy a secret pass around the one guarded. I was likewise impressed with the legendary hero Horatius who, at the bridge, kept back the Etruscan hordes; but I have been more thrilled in reading of some of the heroic services of our own boys in connection with this pioneer work, of the sublime service performed by those three boys who carried across the Sweetwater those same hand-cart people who were too emaciated, who were too much enfeebled by starvation and who were too poorly clad to venture into the ice cold water. Those boys carried, one by one, that large company of hand-cart people across that freezing river with its ice floes. There are only a few of these heroic acts that have been put into print. Many of the things performed by the pioneer fathers and by their pioneer children have not yet been written; but an impress has been left upon the world by these services of self-sacrifice, and from things which are small proceedeth that which is great. It has been particularly true in this missionary service. The tracts, in the wrecked vessel, have not been permanently destroyed, but they have been washed upon the shore to dry. and have been read by the inhabitants of the land, preparing them for other Gospel messages to come. The text announced before the meeting was broken up, the chance text announced has found root and has borne fruitage. The scrap of paper, containing a portion of a sermon, rolling upon the desert, has been picked up and converts made to the Church. The missionaries have not been able to reap the harvest in the evening of their morning's planting, and generally they have not expected it. We should not be impatient of results nor expect to find, at once, the fruitage, of our labors. If we had the history of those who have been converted to the Church, we would have in almost each instance a sublime story reading almost like a romance, of how a single word struck home and brought them into the Church, and of the sacrifices they made in order to live their religion and to gather to Zion. Those examples in the lives of the people have been impressed upon their children and will be upon their children’s children.
May the Lord bless us and help us to appreciate the importance of serving in this cause, of realizing, with the revelation, that indeed we are laying the foundation of a great work, and that it is an honor to take part in this work, and that from things that are small proceedeth that which is great, or as the great poet has expressed it, “Behold, on what a slender thread hang everlasting things.” That has been true with the Gospel in the past, and no doubt will be in the future. These examples of patience and endurance and of devotion for the good of others will not be lost to the world by any means. I have heard great men testify as to the impression that a very small but faithful act had upon them. The constant offering of the fast day donation, a very small offering taken to the fast meeting yet the constancy of some faithful devoted brother in making, in his poverty, the simple offering, not once or twice but each succeeding fast day, year after year, has left an impression upon strong men.
May the Lord bless us and help us in our work of devoting our time, our lives if necessary, for the welfare and good of others, I pray in the names of Jesus. Amen.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
I have enjoyed very much, and I have no doubt you have also, the timely instructions of this conference, and I trust that we appreciate the importance of the many valuable things already given unto us. Yesterday, at one of the overflow meetings, I made the assertion without argument that we had in our missionary system one of the best sustained efforts of altruism upon a large scale, considering the number of people that the world in all its history has ever seen. I thank Brother Roberts for making the argument supporting today, the statement thus made yesterday.
Some one has said that the kingdom of heaven is not for the most learned but for the best, and that the best is the most unselfish; that loving, constant, continuous and voluntary self-sacrifice for the good of others is the glory of man.
We might emphasize for a moment another phase of that splendid chapter of service that was so ably reviewed today by Elder B. H. Roberts, and that is the effect which that service has had upon the individuals participating therein, and also upon their posterity as well as upon those whom they served. The result of the efforts of the brethren in making that sacrifice in going from Kirtland to Missouri in Zion’s camp but enabled them and others to perform in a better way that other sacrifice, that other great journey which they were to make from Missouri to Illinois; and their experience in making that migration enabled them to perform in a better way the higher sacrifice which they were to later make in moving from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains. And the experiences of the brethren in making that journey across the wilderness of a thousand miles enabled them to perform in a splendid way that service of colonization which was so well performed up and down this chain of mountain valleys, and which has made of the “Mormon” people, the world’s foremost colonizers. In looking over the audience today and seeing here and there individuals whom I know have made a sublime sacrifice for the good of the Church and for the good of others, I felt how insignificant is anything that I have performed for the Church.
The Lord, in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, said: “Wherefore be not weary in well doing, for you are laying the foundation of a great work; and behold, from things that are small proceedeth that which is great.” I am a great believer in the truth that none of these acts of loving service and sacrifice can be performed without there being a permanent reward, permanent results left.
In enumerating today, the effort put forth in driving the oxen, I thought also of that other service where men really performed the part of oxen in hitching themselves to the hand-carts and making the same journey across the plains. Perhaps they thought in making that wonderful sacrifice that there would be no results except their passage to the mountains and yet an impress has been left upon their children and upon their children’s children that time will not efface. I have heard strong men and strong women say that when they contemplated the grand sacrifice of their father or mother, in making that hand-cart journey across the plains, they felt that there was no sacrifice too great for them to make for the Church; that if they were to live many years, and be able to crowd into each day a hundred times more good than they were now accomplishing that still they would be unworthy of that father and mother who had the faith and the courage to perform that wonderful work. Many of these acts of heroism, the fruitage of this wonderful service for others, have never been written. Occasionally we hear of some of these instances. I was with our state superintendent of schools, who was recently called home, in the last journey that he made to St. George, and heard his last speech and testimony. He told of his father, a convert from that same Scandinavian country to which Brother Erastus Snow was called, indeed his people were converts of the preaching of brother Erastus Snow. Superintendent Nelson told the story of how his father waded the Sevier river during high water, having for his protection a rope tied about his body, and held for his protection by one of his sons upon the shore; in order to carry a letter containing the money for the education of his son to the post office upon the other side of the river.
I was impressed as a boy in reading of how Leonidas, at the pass of Thermopolae with his little band of Spartans, had withstood a whole army and how he probably would have succeeded permanently had it not been for a traitor in showing the enemy a secret pass around the one guarded. I was likewise impressed with the legendary hero Horatius who, at the bridge, kept back the Etruscan hordes; but I have been more thrilled in reading of some of the heroic services of our own boys in connection with this pioneer work, of the sublime service performed by those three boys who carried across the Sweetwater those same hand-cart people who were too emaciated, who were too much enfeebled by starvation and who were too poorly clad to venture into the ice cold water. Those boys carried, one by one, that large company of hand-cart people across that freezing river with its ice floes. There are only a few of these heroic acts that have been put into print. Many of the things performed by the pioneer fathers and by their pioneer children have not yet been written; but an impress has been left upon the world by these services of self-sacrifice, and from things which are small proceedeth that which is great. It has been particularly true in this missionary service. The tracts, in the wrecked vessel, have not been permanently destroyed, but they have been washed upon the shore to dry. and have been read by the inhabitants of the land, preparing them for other Gospel messages to come. The text announced before the meeting was broken up, the chance text announced has found root and has borne fruitage. The scrap of paper, containing a portion of a sermon, rolling upon the desert, has been picked up and converts made to the Church. The missionaries have not been able to reap the harvest in the evening of their morning's planting, and generally they have not expected it. We should not be impatient of results nor expect to find, at once, the fruitage, of our labors. If we had the history of those who have been converted to the Church, we would have in almost each instance a sublime story reading almost like a romance, of how a single word struck home and brought them into the Church, and of the sacrifices they made in order to live their religion and to gather to Zion. Those examples in the lives of the people have been impressed upon their children and will be upon their children’s children.
May the Lord bless us and help us to appreciate the importance of serving in this cause, of realizing, with the revelation, that indeed we are laying the foundation of a great work, and that it is an honor to take part in this work, and that from things that are small proceedeth that which is great, or as the great poet has expressed it, “Behold, on what a slender thread hang everlasting things.” That has been true with the Gospel in the past, and no doubt will be in the future. These examples of patience and endurance and of devotion for the good of others will not be lost to the world by any means. I have heard great men testify as to the impression that a very small but faithful act had upon them. The constant offering of the fast day donation, a very small offering taken to the fast meeting yet the constancy of some faithful devoted brother in making, in his poverty, the simple offering, not once or twice but each succeeding fast day, year after year, has left an impression upon strong men.
May the Lord bless us and help us in our work of devoting our time, our lives if necessary, for the welfare and good of others, I pray in the names of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER LEVI EDGAR YOUNG.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
This has been a magnificent conference and I am grateful that I have been able to hear almost every sermon delivered from this stand. I have been impressed with the words of every servant of God who has spoken, and my testimony is that the Lord has been with this people in the past, and has been with them in this conference, and is with them today.
I have just finished the reading of a book which is to me one of the marvelous works of the twentieth century, namely, “The Truth of Religion,” by Adolph Eucken, of the University of Jena in Germany. It is a work for which Professor Eucken was awarded the Nobel prize in 1908, and has been pronounced by leading universities of Germany, as well as the Imperial Scientific Society of Germany, as one of the most marvelous contributions to religious thought in the history of the race. In this book Professor Eucken has made a marvelous deduction to the effect that' the world, during the twentieth century, will wend its way back to a belief in Jesus the Christ, and that, when the purer Gospel of Christ comes again to the hearts of men, that Gospel will express itself through a magnificent co-operative institution, which shall be known as a church of the Most High. In other words, Professor Eucken has, unconsciously, given us the great thought that we have been bearing testimony to for nearly one hundred years, namely, that the principles of Jesus Christ, and that the great plan of God for His children, will find expression through a splendid organization of men who are acting harmoniously with one another, and are keeping their souls tuned to God and the infinite.
During this conference the great theme, seemingly, has been the testimony that Jesus the Christ has lived, and has brought life to the world, salvation, and redemption, through the Gospel plan of salvation, and I have rejoiced in this great message. It was only recently declared by a fellow worker of mine, and a classmate at Columbia University, that if Dr. William James, of Harvard College, had come to Utah before he died, he would have found a society that, above all other human societies, illustrates better the theory of pragmatism, brought out by that great psychologist than any other society on the earth today. William James before he died,—and he is recognized as the greatest American philosopher that we have had—declared that there must be a splendid belief in God, that this idea of man’s relationship to Deity must come back again, as it is after all the most potential and the greatest influence for morality that has ever been given to the human race. When men learn that their institutions— their economic, civic, political, social and ethical institutions—must be in accord with some divine belief in man’s power and his relationship to God, then men will have a truer religion, a better outlook on life, and men will begin to grow into their greater power of intellectual and ethical development.
This book, in a sense, has been an exposition of great fundamentals of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although unconsciously done. It is my firm belief and testimony that the intelligent of the world are today turning their faces to the light, by virtue of the hunger of their souls. Philosophy of man will never satisfy the longing that is natural to the human being, will never satisfy that longing for God, ‘and for a knowledge of man’s relationship to his Creator. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most magnificent example—I mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we understand it, and as we know it to be true—is the most magnificent example of what modern sociologists in their philosophy declare to be high-minded and critical intellectual type of philosophy. Professor Franklin Henry Gidding. who over a year ago spoke from this pulpit, declared that he believes that the American people will yet raise up a fine type of critical intellectual mind. By this he means men who know life, men who understand life in its bigness and its gloriousness, and by understanding it live life according to the majesty of their divine beings.
It is my testimony, and I take always the deepest pleasure in giving it, that the Prophet Joseph was a type of the critical, intellectual mind which is the dream of some philosophers; that type of mind, that wishes truth and works for truth, and is open to truth, knowing that truth is power and that power is intelligence. I say this here because I do not wish the Prophet Joseph Smith misunderstood, though he had no formal schooling. That is why I believe he rose to be such a magnificent character before the world. His mind was never injured by some little or petty pedagogical principle that would have warped his being. The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands for truth in its reality; it stands for truth in its ideality, and takes that stand which Professor Eucken has announced, in that book which received the world’s prize, that for a religion to become permanent it must make for righteousness, and righteousness in religion will come when every man, woman and child shall realize his own personal responsibility to his God. and will place himself before his Maker as one who believes in the divinity of his own soul. Therefore I believe the time will come when there will be a monument, a gracious and great monument, reared to the Prophet Joseph Smith; and on that monument a sentence something like this will be inscribed: “To the memory of Joseph Smith, who was the agent of God to open the heavens to the children of men and give the meaning of the Godhead and man’s relationship to his God.” Amen.
(Of the First Council of Seventy.)
This has been a magnificent conference and I am grateful that I have been able to hear almost every sermon delivered from this stand. I have been impressed with the words of every servant of God who has spoken, and my testimony is that the Lord has been with this people in the past, and has been with them in this conference, and is with them today.
I have just finished the reading of a book which is to me one of the marvelous works of the twentieth century, namely, “The Truth of Religion,” by Adolph Eucken, of the University of Jena in Germany. It is a work for which Professor Eucken was awarded the Nobel prize in 1908, and has been pronounced by leading universities of Germany, as well as the Imperial Scientific Society of Germany, as one of the most marvelous contributions to religious thought in the history of the race. In this book Professor Eucken has made a marvelous deduction to the effect that' the world, during the twentieth century, will wend its way back to a belief in Jesus the Christ, and that, when the purer Gospel of Christ comes again to the hearts of men, that Gospel will express itself through a magnificent co-operative institution, which shall be known as a church of the Most High. In other words, Professor Eucken has, unconsciously, given us the great thought that we have been bearing testimony to for nearly one hundred years, namely, that the principles of Jesus Christ, and that the great plan of God for His children, will find expression through a splendid organization of men who are acting harmoniously with one another, and are keeping their souls tuned to God and the infinite.
During this conference the great theme, seemingly, has been the testimony that Jesus the Christ has lived, and has brought life to the world, salvation, and redemption, through the Gospel plan of salvation, and I have rejoiced in this great message. It was only recently declared by a fellow worker of mine, and a classmate at Columbia University, that if Dr. William James, of Harvard College, had come to Utah before he died, he would have found a society that, above all other human societies, illustrates better the theory of pragmatism, brought out by that great psychologist than any other society on the earth today. William James before he died,—and he is recognized as the greatest American philosopher that we have had—declared that there must be a splendid belief in God, that this idea of man’s relationship to Deity must come back again, as it is after all the most potential and the greatest influence for morality that has ever been given to the human race. When men learn that their institutions— their economic, civic, political, social and ethical institutions—must be in accord with some divine belief in man’s power and his relationship to God, then men will have a truer religion, a better outlook on life, and men will begin to grow into their greater power of intellectual and ethical development.
This book, in a sense, has been an exposition of great fundamentals of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although unconsciously done. It is my firm belief and testimony that the intelligent of the world are today turning their faces to the light, by virtue of the hunger of their souls. Philosophy of man will never satisfy the longing that is natural to the human being, will never satisfy that longing for God, ‘and for a knowledge of man’s relationship to his Creator. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most magnificent example—I mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we understand it, and as we know it to be true—is the most magnificent example of what modern sociologists in their philosophy declare to be high-minded and critical intellectual type of philosophy. Professor Franklin Henry Gidding. who over a year ago spoke from this pulpit, declared that he believes that the American people will yet raise up a fine type of critical intellectual mind. By this he means men who know life, men who understand life in its bigness and its gloriousness, and by understanding it live life according to the majesty of their divine beings.
It is my testimony, and I take always the deepest pleasure in giving it, that the Prophet Joseph was a type of the critical, intellectual mind which is the dream of some philosophers; that type of mind, that wishes truth and works for truth, and is open to truth, knowing that truth is power and that power is intelligence. I say this here because I do not wish the Prophet Joseph Smith misunderstood, though he had no formal schooling. That is why I believe he rose to be such a magnificent character before the world. His mind was never injured by some little or petty pedagogical principle that would have warped his being. The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands for truth in its reality; it stands for truth in its ideality, and takes that stand which Professor Eucken has announced, in that book which received the world’s prize, that for a religion to become permanent it must make for righteousness, and righteousness in religion will come when every man, woman and child shall realize his own personal responsibility to his God. and will place himself before his Maker as one who believes in the divinity of his own soul. Therefore I believe the time will come when there will be a monument, a gracious and great monument, reared to the Prophet Joseph Smith; and on that monument a sentence something like this will be inscribed: “To the memory of Joseph Smith, who was the agent of God to open the heavens to the children of men and give the meaning of the Godhead and man’s relationship to his God.” Amen.
BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY.
"Mormonism” not an “easy” religion.—Obedience and endurance requisites of Christ’s followers.—A sensible communism, the United Order.
Our conference has been one, I know, that all who have attended have had occasion to thoroughly enjoy. The world has been looking in years past for an easy religion, and wherever religion has been made easy enough it has usually found some converts, although as a rule that kind of religion does not hold converts very long. But “Mormonism” is not that kind of religion. We have heard, and in a very splendid manner too, of the amount of service that is extended by the members and officers of the Church in the way of helping one another and helping mankind. All of this is true. The Gospel is something that partakes of the spirit of helpfulness, rendering assistance in some way or other, even though it be through sacrifice, to those whom we are associated with, and to those to whom we are sent; but we ought not to forget this further fact that this Gospel is an exacting religion. It demands of me and you that we shall prepare ourselves, and that we shall work out our salvation. In the scheme of things, it is not appointed in the principles of the Gospel that man can be saved except by his own exertion. The tendency today in the world is to make religion easy for everybody.
I rejoice in the thought that the world is growing better in so many ways; that we have good hospitals, good schools; that we have so many things that are helpful and that go to assist, especially the poorer classes. All that is good; we have more of that as a people in proportion to our numbers, far more than any other people in the world; but I want to impress upon your minds, in the moment or two that I stand before you, this fact: That this is not an easy religion. “Blessed and holy are they who come up out of much tribulation.” Don’t forget that. And they did not do it themselves; the honor and glory of it was not to themselves, but they had washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb. He was their Savior. He it was they had held to, as to the iron rod; and it was through the trouble and trial, the sweat, and experience in every form that they gained knowledge, and added line upon line and precept upon precept. Every day and every year they so lived that they became molded a little more into the likeness of the Son of God Himself; We may think that we can vote and by passing laws, by the initiative or referendum or some other way, vote this’ man and the other man into beds of ease and into flowery places, and all will come without his effort. If it should, he would not be fit to receive it. You can’t bless your own son and help him unless he is willing to help himself. It can’t be done. You can’t bless a body of people unless they are willing to help themselves. The Lord helps those, and only those, who help themselves. He can’t help a man who won’t help himself. A man who will not say, “Yes, I am willing to go down into the waters of baptism,” but refuses to go, the Lord can’t help that man any further on that principle. He must help himself. You must work out your own salvation in fear and trembling before the Lord.
Let us remember that we have got a whole lot to do ourselves, every individual for himself—not only to help others, but to help ourselves as well.
I know people think that we are advancing, and we are advancing, until ultimately the United Order will be realized. There are at work influences in the world—and they are appointed of the Lord, I believe,—which are making for righteousness, and which will make for a communism, for a building up of a society that will make it easier for the Lord’s plan to be established, namely, the United Order. We are not ready for that yet, but it will come; but remember this, that when it does come, the individual man, the individual woman, must save himself or herself, must develop and grow and become like unto the Master. There is no other way, except only through hard, bitter, and sore experience. You will not get it any other way; it will not come so easy.
I remember hearing a story told of a brother down in St. George, when they tried, in a small way, the United Order there. Some of the people had taken care of their grapes and made a little home made wine; but this brother had not. He had been careless and negligent. When the Order came, the wine was shared out, passed around, and each one took his share; and I remember the story of him saying: “Hey! This order is a fine thing”—he was an English brother; he says, “I tell you, I could wish this were come twenty years since.” Of course he would have been drinking somebody else’s wine and living off of somebody else’s labor twenty years before that, if it had come. Salvation does not come that way. The United Order will not bring things that way. It does not mean a long table and every one eating the same kind of food, and every one living in the same kind of house. The United Order when it does come, I think, will mean individuality, personal effort, personal salvation, with you in your stewardship, me in mine, every man appointed in his place to work in his stewardship. Then the surplus will go for those who are not so well situated, and who need help. They will be taken and directed, “Here, my brother, you take this little plot of ground,” or “You take this little part of business. Here is means enough for-you and you develop it, make it grow, keep it out of debt, and work at it.” And then he will develop it, don’t you see? But if, according to the idea of some of our friends, that all you need to do is to divide and to keep on dividing, why of course they could wish that kind of a thing were here a long while before.
Lay not that flattering unction to your souls that there is any other way to gain salvation, in the kingdom of God, except by rising, when you fall. You stumble, of course; we all do; but rise up again, my brother, press on, persevere in labor, in toil, in earnestness, in diligence, in the sweat of thy face, doing thy part, toiling, persevering; press on and on; add line upon line, and precept upon precept; gain intelligence and knowledge, and making this person—you, me, the individual person, year by year, a little more like unto the Master, the Son of God. So shall we progress and become like Him; and only so, whether in the United Order or any other way. God bless you. Amen.
"Mormonism” not an “easy” religion.—Obedience and endurance requisites of Christ’s followers.—A sensible communism, the United Order.
Our conference has been one, I know, that all who have attended have had occasion to thoroughly enjoy. The world has been looking in years past for an easy religion, and wherever religion has been made easy enough it has usually found some converts, although as a rule that kind of religion does not hold converts very long. But “Mormonism” is not that kind of religion. We have heard, and in a very splendid manner too, of the amount of service that is extended by the members and officers of the Church in the way of helping one another and helping mankind. All of this is true. The Gospel is something that partakes of the spirit of helpfulness, rendering assistance in some way or other, even though it be through sacrifice, to those whom we are associated with, and to those to whom we are sent; but we ought not to forget this further fact that this Gospel is an exacting religion. It demands of me and you that we shall prepare ourselves, and that we shall work out our salvation. In the scheme of things, it is not appointed in the principles of the Gospel that man can be saved except by his own exertion. The tendency today in the world is to make religion easy for everybody.
I rejoice in the thought that the world is growing better in so many ways; that we have good hospitals, good schools; that we have so many things that are helpful and that go to assist, especially the poorer classes. All that is good; we have more of that as a people in proportion to our numbers, far more than any other people in the world; but I want to impress upon your minds, in the moment or two that I stand before you, this fact: That this is not an easy religion. “Blessed and holy are they who come up out of much tribulation.” Don’t forget that. And they did not do it themselves; the honor and glory of it was not to themselves, but they had washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb. He was their Savior. He it was they had held to, as to the iron rod; and it was through the trouble and trial, the sweat, and experience in every form that they gained knowledge, and added line upon line and precept upon precept. Every day and every year they so lived that they became molded a little more into the likeness of the Son of God Himself; We may think that we can vote and by passing laws, by the initiative or referendum or some other way, vote this’ man and the other man into beds of ease and into flowery places, and all will come without his effort. If it should, he would not be fit to receive it. You can’t bless your own son and help him unless he is willing to help himself. It can’t be done. You can’t bless a body of people unless they are willing to help themselves. The Lord helps those, and only those, who help themselves. He can’t help a man who won’t help himself. A man who will not say, “Yes, I am willing to go down into the waters of baptism,” but refuses to go, the Lord can’t help that man any further on that principle. He must help himself. You must work out your own salvation in fear and trembling before the Lord.
Let us remember that we have got a whole lot to do ourselves, every individual for himself—not only to help others, but to help ourselves as well.
I know people think that we are advancing, and we are advancing, until ultimately the United Order will be realized. There are at work influences in the world—and they are appointed of the Lord, I believe,—which are making for righteousness, and which will make for a communism, for a building up of a society that will make it easier for the Lord’s plan to be established, namely, the United Order. We are not ready for that yet, but it will come; but remember this, that when it does come, the individual man, the individual woman, must save himself or herself, must develop and grow and become like unto the Master. There is no other way, except only through hard, bitter, and sore experience. You will not get it any other way; it will not come so easy.
I remember hearing a story told of a brother down in St. George, when they tried, in a small way, the United Order there. Some of the people had taken care of their grapes and made a little home made wine; but this brother had not. He had been careless and negligent. When the Order came, the wine was shared out, passed around, and each one took his share; and I remember the story of him saying: “Hey! This order is a fine thing”—he was an English brother; he says, “I tell you, I could wish this were come twenty years since.” Of course he would have been drinking somebody else’s wine and living off of somebody else’s labor twenty years before that, if it had come. Salvation does not come that way. The United Order will not bring things that way. It does not mean a long table and every one eating the same kind of food, and every one living in the same kind of house. The United Order when it does come, I think, will mean individuality, personal effort, personal salvation, with you in your stewardship, me in mine, every man appointed in his place to work in his stewardship. Then the surplus will go for those who are not so well situated, and who need help. They will be taken and directed, “Here, my brother, you take this little plot of ground,” or “You take this little part of business. Here is means enough for-you and you develop it, make it grow, keep it out of debt, and work at it.” And then he will develop it, don’t you see? But if, according to the idea of some of our friends, that all you need to do is to divide and to keep on dividing, why of course they could wish that kind of a thing were here a long while before.
Lay not that flattering unction to your souls that there is any other way to gain salvation, in the kingdom of God, except by rising, when you fall. You stumble, of course; we all do; but rise up again, my brother, press on, persevere in labor, in toil, in earnestness, in diligence, in the sweat of thy face, doing thy part, toiling, persevering; press on and on; add line upon line, and precept upon precept; gain intelligence and knowledge, and making this person—you, me, the individual person, year by year, a little more like unto the Master, the Son of God. So shall we progress and become like Him; and only so, whether in the United Order or any other way. God bless you. Amen.
PATRIARCH HYRUM G. SMITH.
I, too, my brethren and sisters, rejoice in the spirit of this conference, in the instructions that have been given; and can bear my testimony that I know the Lord has been with us, by His Holy Spirit, to indite the same. I know that the Lord is pleased with those who work, not only for themselves but for others. I rejoice in having the privilege to do my part in the work of salvation. I rejoice in the testimonies that have come to me, concerning the means and opportunity for salvation. I believe in the plan of redemption that has been made known in these last days unto the Latter-day Saints. I know from my experience, and from the testimony that has come to me, through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, that it is the true plan of life and salvation, and all of those who will accept the same, and obey the principles thereof, will gain that eternal salvation which we are all working for. That is my testimony.
I rejoice in the privilege of associating with the men whom the Lord has called in this present time, to stand at the head of this great work. I pray that the spirit of the Lord will be with them; and may His blessings be with all Israel, and those especially who are called to responsible places in the work of the Lord.
I have rejoiced in the songs of praise that have been sung in this conference. I have rejoiced in the testimonies that have been borne. My heart has been touched with the words of kindness concerning those who have devotedly labored for our welfare; and that the young and rising generation are receiving such splendid opportunities for progress in this present time. I would like to exhort the youth of Zion to follow more closely in the footsteps of these men and women who have gone before us, who have diligently labored, and truly have eaten their bread by the sweat of their brow, who have incessantly toiled in these valleys of the mountains, and have cleared away the roughness thereof, so that their children are now rejoicing in the productive gardens, and beauties of these valleys, and the fruits of the land. I would like to exhort the younger people that when we are gathering and gamering the fruits that we are now enjoying, that we will not forget the Lord, nor our parents.—those who have so toiled for us that these blessings have been made comparatively easy. I believe, as our beloved bishop has said, that only those who do work, are entitled to receive the blessing, and that we ought not to think of gaining a salvation in ease.
I am grateful to have the privilege of going about in the stakes of Zion, visiting and getting acquainted with those whom the Lord has called into responsible places in the midst of His people. My particular mission has called me to associate with men who are the fathers of this people, who have won their places and standing in the Church through constant and persistent labor. They are the men whom the Lord has chosen, whom He has honored with responsibility, who. aft/w their labors ar~ almost at an end. have been allowed to step up and take seats of honor and comparative ease. I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, that wre have men in our midst who can stand up in the congregations of Israel and testify that, through all these years of toil and labor, the Lord has been with them, and that the honor and glory is not theirs, but is the glory and the work of the Lord.
May His Spirit be with these honorable men and women; sustain them in their callings and responsibilities; that in the end they may triumph in the glory of the Lord. May His work in the earth triumph; and when He comes in His glory, I trust He will be pleased with us, and that He will not put off that glorious day upon our account; but that we, through the inspiration, received in the lessons of life that He has given to us, will be accepted as His chosen children, that we may not turn away from that responsibility but live up to it, keeping every precept, accepting every truth and living in very deed as His children.
The Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters; may you take to your homes the admonitions and exhortations imparted at this conference; that you parents may teach your children the truths of the Gospel, and not come under condemnation for neglect thereof. May the youth of Israel, the young and rising generation of today, listen to the teachings of their parents, and heed the admonitions of those who are called into responsible places in the Holy Priesthood. May the blessings of heaven attend you all, my brethren and sisters, especially those to whom responsibility has come, that the work of the Lord may triumph, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I, too, my brethren and sisters, rejoice in the spirit of this conference, in the instructions that have been given; and can bear my testimony that I know the Lord has been with us, by His Holy Spirit, to indite the same. I know that the Lord is pleased with those who work, not only for themselves but for others. I rejoice in having the privilege to do my part in the work of salvation. I rejoice in the testimonies that have come to me, concerning the means and opportunity for salvation. I believe in the plan of redemption that has been made known in these last days unto the Latter-day Saints. I know from my experience, and from the testimony that has come to me, through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, that it is the true plan of life and salvation, and all of those who will accept the same, and obey the principles thereof, will gain that eternal salvation which we are all working for. That is my testimony.
I rejoice in the privilege of associating with the men whom the Lord has called in this present time, to stand at the head of this great work. I pray that the spirit of the Lord will be with them; and may His blessings be with all Israel, and those especially who are called to responsible places in the work of the Lord.
I have rejoiced in the songs of praise that have been sung in this conference. I have rejoiced in the testimonies that have been borne. My heart has been touched with the words of kindness concerning those who have devotedly labored for our welfare; and that the young and rising generation are receiving such splendid opportunities for progress in this present time. I would like to exhort the youth of Zion to follow more closely in the footsteps of these men and women who have gone before us, who have diligently labored, and truly have eaten their bread by the sweat of their brow, who have incessantly toiled in these valleys of the mountains, and have cleared away the roughness thereof, so that their children are now rejoicing in the productive gardens, and beauties of these valleys, and the fruits of the land. I would like to exhort the younger people that when we are gathering and gamering the fruits that we are now enjoying, that we will not forget the Lord, nor our parents.—those who have so toiled for us that these blessings have been made comparatively easy. I believe, as our beloved bishop has said, that only those who do work, are entitled to receive the blessing, and that we ought not to think of gaining a salvation in ease.
I am grateful to have the privilege of going about in the stakes of Zion, visiting and getting acquainted with those whom the Lord has called into responsible places in the midst of His people. My particular mission has called me to associate with men who are the fathers of this people, who have won their places and standing in the Church through constant and persistent labor. They are the men whom the Lord has chosen, whom He has honored with responsibility, who. aft/w their labors ar~ almost at an end. have been allowed to step up and take seats of honor and comparative ease. I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, that wre have men in our midst who can stand up in the congregations of Israel and testify that, through all these years of toil and labor, the Lord has been with them, and that the honor and glory is not theirs, but is the glory and the work of the Lord.
May His Spirit be with these honorable men and women; sustain them in their callings and responsibilities; that in the end they may triumph in the glory of the Lord. May His work in the earth triumph; and when He comes in His glory, I trust He will be pleased with us, and that He will not put off that glorious day upon our account; but that we, through the inspiration, received in the lessons of life that He has given to us, will be accepted as His chosen children, that we may not turn away from that responsibility but live up to it, keeping every precept, accepting every truth and living in very deed as His children.
The Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters; may you take to your homes the admonitions and exhortations imparted at this conference; that you parents may teach your children the truths of the Gospel, and not come under condemnation for neglect thereof. May the youth of Israel, the young and rising generation of today, listen to the teachings of their parents, and heed the admonitions of those who are called into responsible places in the Holy Priesthood. May the blessings of heaven attend you all, my brethren and sisters, especially those to whom responsibility has come, that the work of the Lord may triumph, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
AUDITORS’ REPORT.
The annual report of the Auditing Committee of the Church was read by Elder Anthony W. Ivins as follows:
The undersigned Church Auditing Committee, having completed their 1913 audit of the books and accounts of the Trustee-in-Trust and of the Presiding Bishopric, hereby beg leave to report that we have made a careful and searching examination of the receipts and disbursements of the funds of the Church as disclosed by the books of the respective offices and find them in a most excellent condition. They not only disclose a full, frank and intelligent statement of every item of receipt and expenditure, but they also manifest the exercise of careful business methods, coupled with a broad, charitable, Christian-like spirit in the management of the tithing and other income of the Church. It therefore affords us much pleasure to certify to you and to the Latter-day Saints that we have nothing but commendation for the integrity and ability with which these trust funds have been handled by the First Presidency and the Presiding Bishopric.
Very respectfully submitted,
W. W. Riter,
Henry H. Rolapp,
John C. Cutler,
Joseph S. Wells,
Heber Scowcroft,
Auditing Committee.
After the reading, Elder John W. Hart moved to accept and file the report. Embodied in the motion was also a vote of thanks for the committee who do this work of auditing, without compensation. Elder Seymour B. Young seconded the motion, which was thereupon put by Elder Ivins and unanimously carried.
The annual report of the Auditing Committee of the Church was read by Elder Anthony W. Ivins as follows:
The undersigned Church Auditing Committee, having completed their 1913 audit of the books and accounts of the Trustee-in-Trust and of the Presiding Bishopric, hereby beg leave to report that we have made a careful and searching examination of the receipts and disbursements of the funds of the Church as disclosed by the books of the respective offices and find them in a most excellent condition. They not only disclose a full, frank and intelligent statement of every item of receipt and expenditure, but they also manifest the exercise of careful business methods, coupled with a broad, charitable, Christian-like spirit in the management of the tithing and other income of the Church. It therefore affords us much pleasure to certify to you and to the Latter-day Saints that we have nothing but commendation for the integrity and ability with which these trust funds have been handled by the First Presidency and the Presiding Bishopric.
Very respectfully submitted,
W. W. Riter,
Henry H. Rolapp,
John C. Cutler,
Joseph S. Wells,
Heber Scowcroft,
Auditing Committee.
After the reading, Elder John W. Hart moved to accept and file the report. Embodied in the motion was also a vote of thanks for the committee who do this work of auditing, without compensation. Elder Seymour B. Young seconded the motion, which was thereupon put by Elder Ivins and unanimously carried.
Elder Heber J. Grant presented the names of 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.
Anthon H. Lund, as First Counselor in the First Presidency.
Charles W. Penrose, 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, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and James E. Talmage.
Hyrum G. Smith, as Presiding Patriarch of the Church.
The Counselors in the First Presidency, 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, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and August W. Lund, Assistant Historians.
As members of the General Church Board of Education: Joseph F. Smith, Willard Young, Anthon H. Lund, George H. Brimhall, Rudger Clawson, Charles W. Penrose, Horace H. Cummings, Orson F. Whitney, and Francis M. Lyman.
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, Willard Young, and C. N. Jensen.
Auditing committee: William W. Riter, Henry H. Rolapp, John C. Cutler, Heber Scowcroft and Joseph S. Wells.
Tabernacle choir: 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.
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.
Joseph F. Smith, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Anthon H. Lund, as First Counselor in the First Presidency.
Charles W. Penrose, 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, Heber J. Grant, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Anthony W. Ivins, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and James E. Talmage.
Hyrum G. Smith, as Presiding Patriarch of the Church.
The Counselors in the First Presidency, 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, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and August W. Lund, Assistant Historians.
As members of the General Church Board of Education: Joseph F. Smith, Willard Young, Anthon H. Lund, George H. Brimhall, Rudger Clawson, Charles W. Penrose, Horace H. Cummings, Orson F. Whitney, and Francis M. Lyman.
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, Willard Young, and C. N. Jensen.
Auditing committee: William W. Riter, Henry H. Rolapp, John C. Cutler, Heber Scowcroft and Joseph S. Wells.
Tabernacle choir: 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.
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 ANTHONY W. IVINS.
My brethren and sisters: I rejoice in the blessings of this conference. I thank the Lord that now that we are about to conclude its meetings, another chapter in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been written, gone into history. We can never live the past six months over again. Our works, individually, and collectively, as individuals and a Church have been performed, and we now begin a new era. Six months hence we shall meet together again; I pray the Lord that when that time comes it may be said, as it has been truthfully said, now, that we have continued on the road of progression in which the Church has been traveling from the day of its inception in 1830, until now. So, my brethren and sisters, may the work of the Lord grow. May it continue to spread. May the voice of the elders of Israel be heard in every land and clime, bearing witness of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph, and the restoration of the Gospel in this dispensation for the redemption of the covenant people of the Lord. May the blessing of the Lord go with you to your homes, be with you in your avocations; may it be with your families and all that pertains to you, I pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.
My brethren and sisters: I rejoice in the blessings of this conference. I thank the Lord that now that we are about to conclude its meetings, another chapter in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been written, gone into history. We can never live the past six months over again. Our works, individually, and collectively, as individuals and a Church have been performed, and we now begin a new era. Six months hence we shall meet together again; I pray the Lord that when that time comes it may be said, as it has been truthfully said, now, that we have continued on the road of progression in which the Church has been traveling from the day of its inception in 1830, until now. So, my brethren and sisters, may the work of the Lord grow. May it continue to spread. May the voice of the elders of Israel be heard in every land and clime, bearing witness of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph, and the restoration of the Gospel in this dispensation for the redemption of the covenant people of the Lord. May the blessing of the Lord go with you to your homes, be with you in your avocations; may it be with your families and all that pertains to you, I pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH.
CLOSING REMARKS.
I feel quite certain that the spirit and feeling and earnest desires which have been made manifest during the meetings of this conference, are all pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. I am satisfied that He has approved the words that have been spoken, the counsels that have been given, and the admonitions that have been offered to the people of the Lord. In conclusion, I desire simply to say: God bless all Israel, and may the Lord especially bless those on whom rests the responsibility of presiding in the various organizations of the Church, and especially those on whom rests the very great responsibility of presiding over the stakes of Zion, the presidents and their counselors, and the members of the various high councils of the sixty-five stakes of Zion; all the bishops and their counselors, in the seven hundred and twenty-four wards organized in the Church, as well as those who are presiding over the various branches of the Church and over all the missions in the world. The Lord bless them; give them wisdom, judgment, discernment, purity of heart, and power of government and of counsel, that they may be potent in the guiding of the affairs of the Church in all the departments of the Church in which they are concerned and over which they are called to preside. The Lord bless our auxiliary organizations, and those who stand as presidents and directors in them, that they may also accomplish very much in the direction of their labors for the good of the youth of Zion and of the children of the Saints. God bless you, my brethren and sisters, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Announcement was made that the daily organ recitals will be resumed on May 1st.
The 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.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Charles F. Middleton.
Conference adjourned for six months.
Prof. Evan Stephens conducted the singing of the choir and congregation at the Conference meetings in the Tabernacle, except as noted, and Prof. John J. McClellan played the accompaniments, interludes, etc., on the great organ, assisted by Tracy Y. Cannon.
The stenographic reports of the discourses were taken by Elders Franklin W. Otterstrom and Frederick E. Barker; Gladys Barker, and Clarence Cramer.
Duncan M. McAllister,
Clerk of Conference
CLOSING REMARKS.
I feel quite certain that the spirit and feeling and earnest desires which have been made manifest during the meetings of this conference, are all pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. I am satisfied that He has approved the words that have been spoken, the counsels that have been given, and the admonitions that have been offered to the people of the Lord. In conclusion, I desire simply to say: God bless all Israel, and may the Lord especially bless those on whom rests the responsibility of presiding in the various organizations of the Church, and especially those on whom rests the very great responsibility of presiding over the stakes of Zion, the presidents and their counselors, and the members of the various high councils of the sixty-five stakes of Zion; all the bishops and their counselors, in the seven hundred and twenty-four wards organized in the Church, as well as those who are presiding over the various branches of the Church and over all the missions in the world. The Lord bless them; give them wisdom, judgment, discernment, purity of heart, and power of government and of counsel, that they may be potent in the guiding of the affairs of the Church in all the departments of the Church in which they are concerned and over which they are called to preside. The Lord bless our auxiliary organizations, and those who stand as presidents and directors in them, that they may also accomplish very much in the direction of their labors for the good of the youth of Zion and of the children of the Saints. God bless you, my brethren and sisters, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Announcement was made that the daily organ recitals will be resumed on May 1st.
The 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.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder Charles F. Middleton.
Conference adjourned for six months.
Prof. Evan Stephens conducted the singing of the choir and congregation at the Conference meetings in the Tabernacle, except as noted, and Prof. John J. McClellan played the accompaniments, interludes, etc., on the great organ, assisted by Tracy Y. Cannon.
The stenographic reports of the discourses were taken by Elders Franklin W. Otterstrom and Frederick E. Barker; Gladys Barker, and Clarence Cramer.
Duncan M. McAllister,
Clerk of Conference