I have listened with peculiar interest to the remarks made by our
missionaries. Their remarks are truly cheering, and are a faithful
index to the feelings and spirit which have influenced them during
their absence from us.
I was more particularly struck with the remarks of some who said that
they hardly knew what doctrines to preach when they first arrived at
the fields of their labor, and others hardly knew that baptism was
necessary for the remission of sins. These young men were untaught,
untutored, yet the spirit of the Gospel dwelt in them; it was born in
them, and they have been reared under its influence to a greater or
less degree, yet apparently they knew it not. How unlike the
missionaries of other churches is this? They must be educated
classically and theologically, and then they go forth to preach to a
credulous world systematically a mass of inconsistent and
contradictory doctrines—which they call the Gospel.
These missionaries of ours felt very much as I did on one occasion
when I first landed in Germany. I was dropped from the coach on the
side walk; I could not tell them where I wanted to stop, for I did not
know myself, and, thought I, I may as well stop in one place as
another. I could not tell anybody what I wanted for I did not
know what I wanted. I did not remain in that situation long until I
found a way to get to an hotel, where I was soon forced, by the
pressure of circumstances around me and the cravings of my appetite,
to make known my wants, designs and purposes in the language of the
people among whom I was cast. In like manner our young men go out to
preach the Gospel; and although they have lived under the influence of
the Spirit of the Gospel all their days, yet they find themselves
unable at first to delineate only the principles and laws of
salvation; but the spirit that is in them soon bursts asunder the
fetters that seem to bind them, and they launch forth into a field of
intelligence hitherto unexplored by them, and are enabled, in a short
time, not only to be filled with a flood of light and truth, but to
attain unto a power of utterance that astonishes themselves and their
friends. God is in all this; He laid the foundation of this Church and
He dwells in the hearts of his servants, and He, by the power of his
spirit, originates and gives power to utter the thoughts He wishes to
communicate to mankind through His servants. When we trust in Him
every obstacle is removed from our path.
When listening to these young brethren, my heart has burned within me
with gratitude and joy; I was reminded forcibly of the days of my
youth, when I went forth with others to proclaim the same Gospel and
was brought into many narrow and tight places. The Lord will always
open our way if we are faithful, and allow us a field of operation
that will be adequate to all our wants, conditions and circumstances.
Those missionaries who go abroad to labor for the building up of Zion
leave their families behind them, and they were particularly charged
not to beg of the poor on their missions means to send home to feed
their families, and that whatever they might gain by the voluntary
contributions of the people among whom they might labor, over and
above that which would be necessary for their immediate wants, should
be dedicated to the immigration of the poor—to bring home the sheaves
they had been enabled to reap. Their families are here, and have not
harvested in abundance of the temporal comforts of the earth, but they
have managed to live along from hand to mouth. There were
contributions and subscriptions made last year to aid the families of
our absent missionaries, but how many of them have been faithfully and
frankly paid in and how many remain yet unpaid, I am not prepared to
say, but, it has been suggested to me that there are still many
delinquents who did really feel liberal, but have not since found a
convenient time to honor that liberal feeling by paying in what they
have subscribed.
It is not too late yet, and the wants of the families of our
missionaries have not abated. If we subscribe and promise to pay a
certain amount to the Missionary Fund, we are under the strongest
obligations to pay that amount, as much so as if we had contracted a
debt with the merchants and had promised to pay it at a certain time.
When we put our names to a document to sustain the servants of God and
promise a certain amount to this end, I consider that we are under a
greater obligation than we would be by any common business of life,
because here is a promise made to the servants of God and virtually to
heaven that we will do so and so to sustain heaven's cause. I would
not thank anybody for a loaf of bread after I am dead and gone; I want
it while I am living to sustain me and brace me up that I may have
strength to do good. Benefits and favors that are deferred
amount to little more than a vexation—they can hardly be said to be a
blessing; then do not turn your intended benefits into a vexation to
vex those whose hearts and whole time are employed in traveling
abroad to preach the Gospel, and to gather the poor Saints up to Zion.
I will not confine my remarks to delinquents, but I will say the door
is open still, for we have men in the field in foreign countries, who
are pouring out their souls in testimony, and they are engaged day and
night in this Work, while their families are dependent upon the
bounties of the Latter-day Saints at home. Every man and woman who is
disposed to contribute with a heart willing to build up the Kingdom of
God, there will be an opportunity for you to do so before this
Conference shall come to a close; and let us remember that inasmuch as
we do it to one of the least of God's people we do it unto our Father
who is in heaven. From the Scriptures it appears that the Lord is
disposed to receive any favor shown to His servants as though it had
been done to himself, and he will so acknowledge it in a future day
when the faithful ones would seem to have forgotten all about it, for
they will say, "When saw we thee an hungered," etc., and He will
answer them, saying, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of
these my servants, ye did it unto me. Ye have sustained my cause yet it
is your own cause, for all things are yours," etc.
Now some persons may begin to narrow up their feelings, and to cherish
in their hearts murmurings because God in his providence and in his
mercy and kindness, may begin to pour upon this man and upon that man
blessings by which he accumulates wealth, and by which he is made
comfortable and happy; they are en vious and jealous; now, if all
things are ours, is there not a time when some of God's people will
begin to inherit some of them? Yes. There must be a beginning to
inherit all things. If we envy those that are really beginning to
participate a little in the inheritance of all things, is not this a
strong presumptive evidence within ourselves that we are not heirs to
all things, neither are we willing that our brethren should be.
When a man of God is blessed from on high and shall begin to gather
around him means sufficient to place him beyond the reach of immediate
want, God hath done it—God hath blessed that person—and every Saint
will feel thankful to see his brethren so prospered and blessed of the
Lord, feeling encouraged that his time will come sometime if he
continues faithful. Instead of being jealous of the prosperity of
those whom the Lord delights to bless and murmur in our hearts against
our brethren and against the Lord, let us learn to be contented with
that which is assigned to us, and wait patiently until the Lord shall
in his mercy and kindness bless us more abundantly. I do not know any
better way to hasten on our day of great blessings than to be liberal
in our feelings and labor with all our might to lift up and encourage
those who are bowed down, and to sustain the Priesthood of God.
The Lord sees us all and knows what our feelings are—the very thoughts
and intents of our hearts are laid bare before Him, and when He sees
that we are prepared to endure great earthly blessings, do you think
that any trifling circumstance will cause him to delay and wait and
put us off and make us wait for his blessings, the same as we make
some of the missionaries wait, until their families suffer before we
hand out to them what we have promised to give? God knows the
time when to bless and the individual to bless; and when the time
comes for His blessings to descend copiously upon this or that
individual, they will come. Do you want your day to come when you can
be comfortable and have about all you can desire, just hand out to
this Missionary Fund liberally, and consider that one evidence more
that your time is drawing nigh when you also shall be greatly
blessed.
I will not occupy a great deal of time. I bear my testimony, brethren
and sisters, that this is the Kingdom of God, and I have labored
according to what little ability the Lord has given me to sustain it
and to regulate and keep in order, as far as my wisdom, knowledge and
understanding would allow me, the things pertaining to this kingdom
and to the Saints of God where I have been called to labor. I love
this Cause, I love my brethren and fellow laborers in it; I love to
speak upon the principles of the Gospel—in short, I love everything
that is connected with the welfare of the Saints. Brethren and sisters
you have my best wishes, and my prayers by day and night are that God
may shield his chosen ones as the apple of his eye.
If there is any confidence to be placed in dreams, I do not know, but
I will tell one. [Voice in the stand: "Is there any fun in it?"] There
is a little fun in it. I thought I saw a mighty car coming down from
the mountains in the East, and it appeared as big as this Tabernacle.
I thought it was going to run over and crush everything to pieces; it
appeared to be coming in contact with a house up there, and it
appeared as though it would roll right over it and grind it into
powder, but it just happened to miss it, and it came on towards the
City, and by the time it reached the City it had dwindled down to a
common-sized wagon; when I examined it more closely, I discovered that
it was nothing but a load of firewood coming into the City.
May God bless his people. Amen.