One thing has been made very obvious to my mind during this Conference
and that is the assurance and confidence expressed by every speaker,
in God and his work, which nothing of an earthly nature could impart;
although simple to the believer, this may be a mystery to those who do
not comprehend the Gospel of Jesus. A certain truth in Scripture has
been fully exemplified in the experience and teachings of those who
have addressed us, namely: "If we receive the witness of men, the
witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he
hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath
the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a
liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."
This is as true today as it was eighteen hundred years ago. Hence our
young men, who have embraced and have gone forth to preach the
principles of eternal truth contained in the Gospel, seek unto the
Lord their God for wisdom, guidance and instruction, as you have heard
them relate during this Conference; and the spirit of revelation has
rested upon them so that they not only understood their own position
and relationship to God and the holy Priesthood as Elders in Israel,
but they understood also, to a certain degree, the position of the
people of the world among whom they traveled, the po sition of the
Church and Kingdom of God which they represented, their own
relationship to it, and the fulfilment of all the promises of God
relating to his people. This unbounded, fearless confidence is not
created in men by what are called natural causes, for the confidence
which exists and is common among men ebbs and flows, as prosperity or
adversity affects their varied interests.
Here are comparatively a few people in the valleys of Utah who are
talking of seeing a kingdom set up, not only in these mountains but
which shall rule over the whole earth, that like a little stone hewn
out of the mountains without hands, shall become a great nation and
fill the whole earth. They look for this with an unwavering, unshaken
confidence. They had confidence in this when they were driven from
Kirtland, in Ohio; when they were driven from Jackson County, in
Missouri; and from Nauvoo, in Illinois and they had as much confidence
in it when they were struggling here for a very existence, and did not
know where the next mouthful of bread should come from. Their
confidence did not fail them when armies came up against them to
destroy them, and the power and influence of the United States were
arrayed against them. There is a certain unchanging, fixed principle
in the bosoms of the Elders of Israel that God is at the helm, and that no power, no reverses, no influence that can be brought
to bear against the kingdom of God will withstand its onward progress,
but its course is onward until the kingdoms of this world shall become
the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and he shall reign with
universal empire, and the kingdoms, and the greatness of the kingdoms
under the whole heavens will be given to the Saints of the Most High
God. It is impossible to make the Saints swerve in the least from this
feeling. It is in them a principle of life, vitality and revelation.
The Hon Ben. McCullough, one of the Peace Commissioners, on being told
by President Young "that we were in the hands of the Lord and he would
take care of us," replied, "that he believed in powder and ball more
than in the interference of God." President Young informed him "that
there was a God in Israel, who would take care of this His people,"
and said, "we ask no odds of your power, your powder and ball, or your
armies." What has become of the men that composed that army? The
majority of them have gone to their own place, and those that have not
are on their way there.
How different it is among the nations; look at the position of Poland
and Russia, and then notice the critical state of the political
affairs of other nations—France, England, Austria, Prussia, to say
nothing of the smaller European nations, of Japan and China, or of the
United States, of Mexico and of the various powers of North and South
America. The whole world seems to be in throes, and either actually at
war or involved in complicated difficulties that threaten their
disruption or overthrow. What is the matter? Politicians, rulers and
statesmen, are afraid that some calamity is going to overspread their
respective nations; and kings and emperors do not know how soon their
thrones will be toppled over, how soon their kingdoms will be shaken
to their very foundations, they do not know how soon they will be
denationalized—how soon universal terror, war, bloodshed, and
devastation will spread their appalling consequences among them. The
light of the Spirit of God is withdrawn from them and they cannot see
their way. They are tremulous because of the present political
complications; they know not God, but "their hearts fear because of
those things that are coming on the earth." Without revelation they
can only look upon things upon natural principles and dread the
result. We know what will be the final ultimatum of the work in which
we are engaged, and also what will be the fate of those who make war
against it, and of the nations who reject the Gospel when it is sent
to them.
God is managing the affairs of all nations, and He has made known his
will and pleasure to his servants the Prophets; He has given unto them
the Everlasting Gospel, which they have received by the principle of
revelation, and can by that means draw aside the curtain of futurity,
and contemplate events as they are rolling forth, and understand the
designs of Jehovah in relation to them; and these men have been sent
forth to tell the people of all nations the things that are coming on
them.
The Elders of this Church, my brethren here all around me, have been
bearing testimony of these things for over thirty years; we have
visited the people in their houses, in their villages and cities, have
preached to them in their halls, in their streets and market places,
and combated their various notions and traditions which were not of
God, presenting unto them the principles of eternal truth which God
has imparted unto us by revelation. We have also told them
that their kingdoms would be overthrown, and their nations would be
destroyed, and that God would speedily arise and shake terribly the
earth. This has been proclaimed to the people throughout the length
and breadth of the United States, Great Britain and her dependencies,
to France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Islands of the Sea; the world
has had to listen to it, and the nations have looked upon it as an
idle song. Now when these things which we have predicted are beginning
to come to pass among the nations their knees wax feeble; they are
troubled and dismayed because of the complexities and difficulties
which are everywhere closing in around them.
Who would have thought a little while ago, that these United
States—one of the best Governments under the heavens if properly
administered—could have been reduced to their present critical
position; who would have thought a little while ago that all the
ingenuity, skill, talent, power and wealth that exist in the North and
South would be brought to bear against each other for their mutual
destruction? Yet it is so. We hear statement after statement,
testimony after testimony, of their sanguinary contests; of rapine,
murders, burnings, desolation, bloodshed, starvation, weeping,
mourning, and lamentation, until the recital has become sickening to
hear, as the Prophet said, "It should become a vexation to hear the
report." All this is confirmatory to us of that spirit of revelation
which the Lord has planted in our bosoms; and we now begin to
understand why we feel as we do. We are selected out from among the
nations that the Lord may place his name among us. He has called upon
us and we have listened to his voice and obeyed the testimony of his
servants. Jesus says: "But he that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear
his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of
strangers."
Like some of old a few of us had been waiting to see the salvation of
Israel, and our eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord. It is true
we are but a handful compared with the great mass of mankind, for we
have been gathered out from among the nations, "One of a city, and two
of a family." A few of those who have obeyed the voice of the servants
of God have remained faithful and many have not. "When the net is
thrown into the sea, it gathers in of every kind," good and bad; and
hence we find a continual hewing and scoring, and admonition from the
servants of God, who are striving with all their might to lead the
people in the paths of righteousness, that they may learn to fear the
Lord always. When we are under the operation and influence of the
Spirit of God we feel good and happy and joyous, and desirous to do
right; but when that Spirit is withdrawn from us and we are left to
ourselves, then we are apt to waver, and quiver, and fear lest all is
not right, that is a few do this, but the great majority of this
people have the word of life abiding in them, and it is daily growing
in them, and spreading and increasing like a well of water springing
up to everlasting life, and their souls are like a well-tuned harp,
when they are touched by the spirit of inspiration there is a kindred
chord in their bosoms, they vibrate to the touch, and they are filled
with sacred melody. And then there are some among us who do not care a great deal about the things of God; like some of the ancient
Israelites they have learned the language of strangers, and have
become blinded by the God of this world, and go to the mines to
worship a golden calf, and sell themselves to the devil. We are told
that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the
children of light. I think that is true, the children of light act
very foolishly in some things. Although we can seemingly grasp
eternity, and revel in divine things, yet it appears that we cannot
understand how to take care of some of the first and plainest
interests of life, rendering it necessary for the President to place
guardians over us in the persons of Bishops to take care that we do
not throw our bread away and have to starve a great part of the year,
to watch us lest we wantonly trample under foot the common necessaries
of life when we have them around us, and destroy them the same as the
beasts of the field would. The Latter-day Saints ought to be able to
take care of themselves; men that are talking of possessing thrones,
principalities, and powers, of becoming kings and priests unto God
ought to know how to take care of enough wheat to supply the wants of
themselves and their families.
While we are trying to sustain ourselves let us do right to everybody
else, and as you have been told, treat the stranger with kindness and
liberality, and let us not make fools of ourselves, and rob ourselves
and families, but let us take a proper, wise, and judicious course, for
this kingdom will be built up temporally as well as spiritually. We
talk of becoming like God. What does he do? He governs this and other
worlds, regulates all the systems and gives them their nations and
revolutions; He preserves them in their various orbits, and governs
them by unerring, unchangeable laws, as they traverse the immensity of
space. In our world he gives day and night, summer and winter,
seedtime and harvest. He adapts man, the beasts of the field, the
fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea, to their various climates
and elements. He takes care of and provides for, not only the hundreds
of millions of the human family, but the myriads of beasts, fowls and
fishes. He feeds and provides for them day by day, giving them their
breakfast, dinner and supper. He takes care of the reptiles and other
creeping things, and feeds the myriads of animalculae, which crowd
earth, air, and water. His hand is over all and His providence sustains
all. "The hairs of our head are numbered, and a sparrow cannot fall to
the ground without our heavenly Father's notice; He clothes the lilies
of the valleys and feeds the ravens when they cry."
"His wisdom's vast and knows no bound,
A deep where all our thoughts are drowned."
We would be like him! Be kings and priests unto God and rule with him,
and yet we are obliged to have guardians placed over us to teach us
how to take care of a bushel of wheat. We are far behind, but we have
time for improvement; and I think we shall have to make some important
changes for the better in our proceedings, before we become like our
Father who dwells in the heavens.
There has been something said about men turning away from the Church
of Christ. If a man has not the witness in himself, he is not governed
by the principles of eternal truth, and the sooner such people leave
this Church the better.
There is one thing I pray for as much as anything else, perhaps I do
not do it understandingly, that is, that those who will not be subject
to the law of God and observe his commandments, but will rebel against God and against his truth and Priesthood may be removed from
our midst and have no place with us. For such persons can never build
up the Kingdom of God, nor aid in accomplishing his purposes upon the
earth, and the sooner we are rid of them the better; and it matters
little what draws them away. If we have drank of that water which the
Savior spoke of to the woman of Samaria; if we have laid hold of the
rod of iron, and con tinue to cling to it; if we adhere to the
principles of righteousness, and pray unto God and keep his
commandments continually, we shall have His Spirit at all times to
discern between good and evil, and we shall always know the voice of
the good shepherd, and cleave to the principles of righteousness.
May God help us to keep his commandments, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.