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I pray that the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon us throughout the remainder of our conference as it has been upon the brethren who have already spoken. The gathering of the Latter-day Saints in conference makes very important occasions. They are for the transaction of business and the giving of instructions, that the people may receive frequently the true sound, that the keynote may be given to them, and that the Latter-day Saints may enjoy the Holy Spirit so that they can always discern the truth, and then they are not easily deceived in regard to doctrine and principle pertaining to the plan of life and salvation.
The revelation requires particularly that the Elders upon whose shoulders rest the responsibilities of the kingdom should meet together frequently. In general conference we gather twice a year, in stake conferences four times a year; and at these gatherings all business is transacted, and it is done by common consent. Every member of the Church is entitled to a voice in the transaction of Church business, whether in the quorums of the Priesthood, in the gatherings of the people in wards and in stakes, or as a whole Church.
No man is held in position in this Church who has not the fellowship of the people; and men in this Church never lose the fellowship of the people so long as they do right. For the Latter-day Saints have the Holy Ghost as their companion, and the Holy Ghost comprehends, not only doctrine and principle, but men; so that men who are called to preside over us are read of the Holy Ghost. If they have weaknesses, the Saints discover them; and they have confidence in men in proportion to their integrity to the cause. If men live their religion, the people love them and listen to them. If men do not live according to their professions, they lose caste among the people.
It is singular that the Latter-day Saints can discern so carefully and particularly the conditions of one another, and how readily they will detect error, false doctrine, or evil that may arise, or be presented among the people by false teachers. Every Latter-day Saint is entitled to the presence of the Holy Spirit, to give him understanding and wisdom, and no Latter-day Saint need to be led astray by false teachers; for the Spirit of the Lord being their companion, they are entitled to comprehend the truth and to detect error, and to know their status before the Lord day by day.
But in order to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord as our Heavenly Father has designed we should do, it is really necessary that we should serve the Lord, that we should honor Him and keep His commandments, that we should be very careful in our lives, and that our hearts should not be set upon the things of this world, but that we should seek to lay up treasures in heaven. The way treasures are laid up in heaven, as I understand it, is by men doing day by day the good that opens up before them--laboring to improve and to elevate society.
If society is corrupted by the spirit of lying, then it is the duty of every man who bears the Priesthood and every person who has embraced the truth to operate against the spirit of lying, and to teach truth. If there is a spirit of infidelity afflicting the people, then every man should be nerved against infidelity, and labor to promote faith in the hearts of the people. For it is not possible to please God without faith. It is not possible to please our Heavenly Father without the spirit of truth and honesty, of virtue and uprightness.
The source of happiness to mankind, we are told in the Scriptures, is the favor of God. If we please Him, He will favor us. I presume that every Latter-day Saint under the sound of my voice to-day has had experience enough to know that the favor of the Lord is not upon us when we do wrong. I take it that we have all done wrong enough to know this. I take it also that we have all done well and wrought righteousness enough to know that the favor of heaven is upon us when we do right. Why shall we do wrong? Why shall we not listen to the counsels of our Heavenly Father and do right all the time? Why is it that we are not doing right constantly?
Is there any power given to Satan to compel us to do wrong? Is there any power given to Satan to compel us to break the Sabbath day and not to keep it holy? Is power given to Satan that he can compel us to be unvirtuous, unjust, or untruthful? I have never found it so in my experience. I have never been compelled to do wrong. What wrong I have done I have done with my eyes open. I have known what was right, I have known what was wrong. I have been thoroughly taught by my parents and by my brethren; I have been taught by the conscience that the Lord has placed within me, and when that conscience has been lighted by the spirit and power of God, I have been able to comprehend very easily what was wrong and what was right.
I do declare in all soberness before this vast congregation this morning, that every man has been graciously endowed by our Heavenly Father with the power to do His mind and will. Every man in a normal condition has the power to do right. When the Gospel has been taught us, we have exercised our reason and judgment. When the Scriptures have been expounded to us we have believed them. Men sent of the Lord and commissioned to teach and expound the Scripture have taught us that it was necessary that we should believe in God our Father, who dwells in the heavens; and we have been willing to listen and to treasure up the truth that they taught us, and to believe it.
The Latter-day Saints to-day believe in God our Heavenly Father, and that we are in reality His children; that He is our head, and that we are indebted to Him for life and being upon this earth. He has laid down the plan of life by which we may be saved and brought back into His presence, by which we may become as He is, and inherit His power, His greatness, His authority, and the riches of eternity. He has made all these things plain to us, and He has sent into the world His Son, our Elder Brother, to be our Savior. We had come in a fallen condition. Adam came and fell that we might be. By that fall came death, and by death our tabernacles are placed in the grave, returned to mother earth, there to remain until the resurrection, and the resurrection was brought to pass by the death and suffering of the Son of God.
Our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, shed His blood for our sins--not for His own, for He was immaculate and without blemish--and He laid down His life that you and I should be redeemed from that death which had come upon us because of the fall of Adam. By His death are we redeemed. By His blood are we cleansed from the conditions of the fall. For Jesus broke the bonds of death; and as all men are consigned to the grave because of the fall of Adam, in like manner are all men raised from the grave through the suffering and death of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
Every human being that has been given a tabernacle upon this earth will have that tabernacle resurrected, and will enter into it again and appear before God to be judged for the deeds done in the body. In likeness of the death and burial and resurrection of the Son of God, the Lord has arranged in the plan of life that we should lay our bodies in the watery grave, and that as He came forth out of the grave to newness of life, so should we come from the watery grave into newness of life, and to walk no more after the ways of men.
It is required that we should not be of the world. We should not be like the world. As in times past we were sinners and transgressors, and were thoughtless and indifferent in regard to the principles of life and salvation, now these principles should be our theme, now we should love them. Where before we sought to lay up treasures on earth, now we should seek to lay up treasures in heaven.
Our chief object should be the accomplishment of God's purposes upon the earth. We should not live for the building of railroads and the development of mines and farms, and the building of houses, etc. Whatever we do of this kind should be done with the view of accomplishing the purposes of the Lord in the earth, and for making man happy, and bringing about that joy that was intended in our being upon the earth. As Adam fell that we might come to the earth and obtain tabernacles, so we have come to the earth that we might have joy in the presence of our Father who dwells in Heaven. That is the design of our Father and the object of our being.
Therefore, our hearts must not be set upon the things of this world. But if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all other things that are necessary for us our Father will add unto us. Though He may not accomplish it this year He will do some of it this year, and some next year, till finally we will inherit all things.
But in order that we may have relief from our sins and come back into the presence of God, it is necessary not only that we should believe and be baptized, but that we should repent also. Following the doctrine of faith in God is the doctrine of repentance, as Peter declared on the day of Pentecost unto those who had slain the Savior or had consented to His death. They were gathered in great numbers, and many were convinced under the instructions of the inspired Apostle of God. They were pricked in their hearts, and said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter answered them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." What a glorious promise that was to the people on that day.
If it was the truth in the days of Peter, I say it is the truth to-day. If it was necessary then that a man should repent of his sins, and should humble himself before the Lord, and enter into the waters of baptism for the remission of sins, and receive the Holy Ghost, in order that he might please God and know His mind and will, I say it is the same to-day. The Gospel given then is the Gospel given to-day; for the Gospel revealed to us is that given by Jesus Christ Himself. And He has given to us the Holy Ghost, that precious gift that was so valuable in those days and that would remind and bring to the attention of the followers of the Savior all that He had taught them, and show them things to come.
Now, we have these books that were spoken of yesterday--the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants--and they are very valuable. But I say this Church could not run an hour with all the books that were ever published. It is not possible to run the Church of God with books. It must be by the living oracles of God. It must be by the men who are authorized by the Son of God Himself to stand at the head of the people and to teach them.
You cannot organize a ward, you cannot organize a quorum, you cannot do one thing in building up a kingdom of God, only by the living oracles. You must have them all the time. Where a church has not the living oracles; where a church has not men who speak as one having authority, as Jesus spoke, I say that there is not the Church of God. There must be the men of God; there must be the Apostleship; there must be the Priesthood; there must be the organization of the Church in all its perfection and power. That is what God has revealed to us, and it is the reason that this work has prospered.
Has it ever grown less? No. If there has been a falling away of one, has there not been an addition of a hundred? The Church has increased and grown right straight along, and there are people by tens of thousand in these valleys who know the Gospel is true. If any man has received the Gospel of Jesus Christ and has lived it, he knows the Gospel is true. That knowledge is a part of the work. It is a part of the principles that men should know of the doctrine. You take every assertion of the doctrine laid down by the Son of God and you will find that He makes it positive. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
He did not say, "you may," or "perhaps you will obtain that precious boon;" but He said, "ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." When the Son of Man Himself was questioned by the Jews, who wanted to know why He came to teach them when He was not an educated man and had not been finished in the schools of the day, he said, "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."
Now, I say that the Latter-day Saints have received the doctrine and have done the will of God, and they know of the doctrine. They have gathered together and they have built temples and are laboring for the salvation of this world to-day as no other people on this earth are doing, and as no other people can do; for there is no other people that has the gospel. All of them have some truth. It would be a miserable system of salvation if no truth were in it.
But I say if you were to take nine-tenths of the truths and try to make up man's salvation, you would fail. You must have the whole truth or the system is not complete and perfect. I speak with all due respect of the religious denominations of the world. I have the same profound respect for every denomination that I ask them to grant me: for I am pleased to have people christian in their feeling and to have them believe in Jesus Christ. It is much better than to have them infidel.
But when you find the Church that has the authority of God, with whom God is laboring all the time, you will see men who stand up like men with authority and with power, and not as the scribes and pharisees. We do know of what we teach, and we have hundreds of thousands of people to-day that can bear us witness. Would I dare stand before this congregation if it were not full of people who know that what I say is true? Thousands here would hold up their right hands, and take a solemn oath if it were necessary, that they know this is the Gospel that Jesus has established; that it is His Church and that His purposes are being fulfilled in the earth.
What have we left our homes for? Had we no need to come up here? Only to do the will of the Lord. The spirit of this work gathers the people. We never took up an argument with the people to convince them that they need to come here. Why, in many instances we have to try and quiet their nerves and keep them from gathering, in order that the Church abroad may be strong enough to sustain the Elders in the missionary field. I have thought we have depleted our missions more than we ought to have done. I am not questioning my brethren who preside over me and have directed these affairs; but these have been the sentiments of my heart, that we have allowed the people to gather more rapidly than was wise in view of the desire to spread aborad the principles of eternal truth in the world.
Now, we stand before the world and are willing to be questioned, in private and in public; and we say to the world, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; repent of your sins, and be baptized for the remission of those sins, and you shall obtain a remission of sins and an entrance into the kingdom of God, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost, and shall know of the doctrine. Then everything will be new to you; for you will see as the world do not see. Although we mingle with the world and the world are amongst us, do they see, and feel, and understand and believe as we do? No; but there is a magic something about the Latter-day Saints that the world admire.
There is a feeling, a spirit and an influence over the country where the Later-day Saints dwell, that wins people and draws their affections and their attention, and they love to be among us. We are possibly the most remarkable people to-day in the world; only a little handful, but looked upon as an important people in these United States, attracting more attention perhaps than any other section of the country. This is because the Lord is with us. He is over-ruling and moving among the nations of the earth. It is not what He is accomplishing here alone, by His people; but He is moving upon the spirits of men, softening their hearts and preparing the way for the Gospel to be introduced throughout the world and the people to be gathered from among all nations. Then we say, welcome!
What a welcome was given here yesterday, and will be again to-night! What a welcome is always given in this beautiful building! a building erected so many years ago, and yet is up to the times to-day, and will be for the next hundred years. And so are our temples, and yet the foundations of these buildings were laid when we were in our infancy and in our poverty, and they have been completed by the power of God upon His people. All His works will be fulfilled and accomplished just the same. We are gaining strength and power, and although there has been a great deal of bitterness towards the Latter-day Saints, the Lord is softening the hearts of the people, and will continue to do so in the future and make it possible for His Church to be thoroughly established.
We are having a breathing spell now. We have spread over all this inter-mountain region, not only in the United states, but into Canada and into Mexico; and we are going east and west, and spreading in every direction, and gaining strength and power. And these United States will be the better for the Latter-day Saints that are in it; for where the Latter-day Saints go, though they may not be perfect, yet there is a spirit and an influence with them that will attract the world.
We are told indeed of prominent men in the world who are looking to Utah with a view of coming here to make their homes, having the idea that their children can grow up in purity here as they cannot in the rest of the world. Oh! that this is true--that the Latter-day Saints may be pure, and that the pure of the world may come in upon us who desire to preserve their families in purity, and be welcome among us; and we will teach them the truth, and if they do not want it, if they cannot live it, then let them square their lives by the very best doctrines and principles that they can receive and live up to.
This is my testimony before this vast assembly this morning. May God bless us, and bless this conference and labors of the Elders, past and future; that we may be fully fed, thoroughly instructed and advised by our Heavenly Father in regard to the principles that are necessary for us to give more careful attention to in the future than we have done in the past, so that we may be indeed Latter-day Saints, full of faith, and worthy of the favor and blessing and protection of the Lord. I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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