I feel it a privilege to mingle my voice with my brethren in
testifying to the truth of the work of the last days, although, if it
were left to my own choice, I suppose I should very seldom speak to
the congregation of the people, and I expect that if the Lord were to
call upon me as He did upon Moses, I should do as Moses did—plead with
him for a mouthpiece. Nevertheless, if I can say anything to comfort
or encourage the Saints, or to strengthen their faith, it is my duty
to do so, for I conceive that none have the right to conceal in their
own bosoms the light and truth with which the Lord has blessed
them, but that it is the duty of the Latter-day Saints, and of all
people on the earth, to make known the good they possess that all may
be benefited and blessed thereby.
Jesus said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which
go in thereat; because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." He also said, "And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
Eternal life is what we are all anxious to obtain. All the children of
men on the face of the whole earth are anxious to secure to themselves
an eternal existence in the great hereafter. Even those who have but a
limited idea of the principles of the gospel look and hope for a
beatitude or heaven hereafter, where they may dwell eternally in peace
and happiness, free from the power of Satan, sin, and death. All the
people of Christendom, and perhaps all the generations of men, have at
some time in their lives felt the spirit of the living God convicting
them of sin, and they have felt a desire to learn how they might
secure to themselves eternal lives in the presence of God.
We read that God created man upright, but that he has sought out many
inventions. This is especially true in regard to religious matters.
Instead of walking according to the precepts and commandments of God
as taught by His servants holding the Holy Priesthood, they have done
as the Prophet foretold—taught for the commandments of God the
precepts of men. More particularly is this the case in our day and
generation, when the Lord has again revealed Himself and has opened up
the dispensation of the fullness of times. We find a great many
religious views, notions, and opinions upon the face of the earth at
the present time; but in the absence of truth there is little
difference among them, for they are all wrong. But when the truth is
revealed it is necessary that mankind should pause, listen, and
investigate, that they may learn whether that which is proclaimed as
truth be so or not, and if it be, embrace it, and walk continually
according to its precepts, that they may obtain that exaltation in the
presence of the Father and Son which all so earnestly desire. What
does it matter to me how eloquent the preacher may be, how beautiful
the theory, or how nice the principles that are laid before me, if
they are not true? Why should I attach any importance to, or
circumscribe my faith and feelings by that which is not true, because
it is beautiful or plausible, or because my fathers for hundreds of
years before me have considered it sacred? When the word of God, the
truth from high Heaven, has come, why not repudiate that which is
false although contravening my early prejudices and the traditions of
my fathers before me? I know of no reason why we should cling to the
traditions of the fathers, more especially when we are told by the
oracles of God that we have inherited lies from them. We find this to
be true when we investigate, even with regard to the scriptures; for
by the aid of the principles now made manifest through the revelations
of the Lord Jesus, we can understand them as we never understood them
before. Why? Because we have the light of truth, and we see from the
standpoint possessed by the prophets and Jesus and his apostles;
hence the scriptures open up to our minds a new and entirely different
field to that we possessed while under the guidance of
teachers who have not come from God, neither hold the power of the
Holy Priesthood.
This is a great wonder to some. They cannot understand the difference
between the Latter-day Saints and the Christian world. Say they:
"There are a great many sectarian churches in the world, and you
Mormons are only one added to the list." But this is not so; the
principles of truth are not sectarian in their character. Are not the
Mormons a sect? No. They are the church of the living God—the Church
of the Firstborn; they are they who have come out from the world, as
Jesus and his followers did in their generation. This people have been
touched with the light of truth; they have received the testimony of
Jesus, and know for themselves the truth of the holy gospel they have
embraced. Having been made participants in the knowledge of God,
through the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, they speak with
assurance of these things, and not as they speak who only believe and
hope.
"But," say they who have not embraced the truth, "we do not know
whether that which you say is true or not." Suppose you do not, that
does not make the truth false, and I can tell you how you may find it
out. Repent of your sins, go forth into the waters of baptism, eschew
evil, learn to do well, seek after the Lord your God with full purpose
of heart, and you can obtain a testimony as we have done—you may learn
to know God and Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. This is
the only principle upon which you can obtain that knowledge which you
so much desire. Many a person will say—"If I only knew these things
were so, I would be with you heart and hand." I have told you how you
can find out. You cannot be healed of your leprosy of sin unless you
comply with the requirements of the gospel. When Naaman came to the
prophet Elisha to learn what he should do to be healed of his leprosy,
he went away in a rage because he was simply told to wash himself in
the river Jordan. But his servants came near and said unto him—"My
father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou
not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, wash
and be clean?" Then the Syrian went and did as he was commanded, and
he was made whole. So it is with us all, we must comply with the
requirements of heaven before we can receive its blessings. We need
not expect to be cleansed from sin and made meet receptacles for the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost, unless we yield obedience to the gospel,
because this is the way appointed of God, our heavenly Father, for
bringing us to a knowledge of the truth. Be honest, then, before God,
and when you are pricked to the heart, and feel that what is called
"Mormonism" may be true, follow up that feeling until you come to
understanding, and then obey the gospel, and receive the Holy Ghost,
which will give you a full knowledge of those things necessary for
your salvation and exaltation hereafter. If the Lord had commanded you
to do some great thing—to go to the ends of the earth or some other
different undertaking—would you not have done it? How much more
willing should you be to comply with these small things when they are
for your own good? Eschew evil, repent of your sins, and walk in the
ways of truth and righteousness, for they are the ways of peace and
wisdom.
It is wisdom in us to pursue a course in this, our earthly probation,
that will secure to us eternal life in the world to come. It
is our privilege to do so; we are here for this express purpose. The
God who reigns in heaven is the father of our spirits and the God and
Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and we may become heirs of
Him and joint heirs with Jesus Christ by complying with the
requirements of the gospel that He has revealed. How plain and simple
is the way of life if we will but open our ears to hear, our eyes to
see, and our hearts to understand. God has revealed it; He has opened
up the dispensation of the fulness of times, which will embrace within
its purview all other dispensations since the world began. In this
dispensation will be revealed the keys of the resurrection, which will
enable men to go forth clothed with power to raise and bring forth the
dead. The Lord has commenced this great work; we are engaged in it;
and it will go forth until it covers the whole earth. The foundation
of that kingdom which shall endure forever and ever is laid. The
principles of the kingdom have gone forth, and have touched the hearts
of many of the children of men—one of a city and two of a family—and
they have been brought together from the nations of the earth to the
valleys of the mountains, as was foretold by the prophets thousands of
years ago.
Jesus told the Jews that Abraham saw his day and rejoiced in it. They
queried with Him as to how he—not fifty years old—could know anything
about Abraham, who had been dead so long. Jesus said—"Before Abraham
was I am." This seemed to puzzle the Jews; they did not understand the
principle of pre-existence and that Jesus, who was then clothed with
flesh, had possessed an existence in the spirit world, that he was the
firstborn of many sons, and had been born before Abraham in the
spirit. Jesus understood it, and once in a while, as in that case, he
spoke upon the principle. The Jews prided themselves on serving the
God of their father Abraham, but Jesus told them that the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not the God of the dead but of the
living, thus teaching them plainly the principles of the resurrection.
I will now say a few words with regard to partaking of the sacrament.
This ordinance was instituted by our Savior, and his followers were
commanded to partake of it in remembrance of Him. But how many of us
partake of it regardless of Him in commemoration of whose death it is
administered! I have seen some of the Saints take the cup very
irreverently—blessed and consecrated as it is—and drink to quench
their thirst. I do not suppose that such persons think any more about
our Lord and Savior than they do when drinking on ordinary occasions.
To say the least of such conduct, it is highly improper and
irreverent. I have seen brethren and sisters partake of the sacrament
with their gloves on, and in a very careless attitude, stretching out
the left hand. You should always put forth the right hand when taking
either the bread or the cup; and you should take off your hats if you
have them on, and partake of the consecrated emblems with reverence,
and remember that you do it in commemoration of the death, sufferings,
and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will yet
rule and reign on this earth, King of kings and Lord of lords. Would I
partake of the sacrament with my hat or gloves on? No; I would take
them off, and let my soul ascend in prayer and thanksgiving to my
heavenly Father that I had been permitted to partake of the ordinance of the House of God.
I am happy in believing that I am associated with a people in the
majority of whose minds such feelings and desires predominate, and to
whom the few hints I have dropped will be sufficient in regard to the
carelessness to which I have referred. We have the principles of
eternal life in our midst, and we practice them in our lives, and when
the world witness the good actions of this people, it should be a
testimony that they are of God. I say it is a testimony to the world
of the truths of High Heaven revealed through this people, and it will
bring this generation to judgment unless they listen to and obey the
principles we teach. Do I know that? I do. The world may scout at it,
and say things that are calculated to hurt our feelings, but that will
not alter the truth. We offer the words of eternal life to the people,
and if they will receive them they are welcome, but if they will not
our testimony will prove unto them a savor of death unto death,
instead of life unto life.
That which is good tends to exalt us and to increase in us knowledge,
power, understanding, and everything worth possessing, while that
which is evil tends to destruction, and if its practice be persisted
in it will lead to dissolution and even the loss of our own identity.
This is the reward of the wicked; as the prophet has said, "The
wicked will come to a full stop," but the blessing of the righteous is
the same as that pronounced upon Abraham—to their increase there will
be no end. This is the blessing conferred upon the Saints in their
ordinations and endowments under the authority of the Holy Priesthood
of the Son of God—the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is without
beginning of years or end of days, without father, without mother,
without descent, eternal, in the Heavens. That authority and
priesthood have been again restored to the earth, and men are once
more empowered to administer in the ordinances of the holy gospel.
There is no authority of the kind upon the face of the earth except
through that channel. None of the sects and denominations of the world
possess that authority. It has not existed upon the earth for many
hundreds of years. Do I know that this is true? I do, and you may
obtain that knowledge upon the same principle that I obtained it—by
working righteousness and obeying the ordinances of the gospel as
appointed by Jehovah. Has not the Lord a right to prescribe the method
by which we may approach Him; and, when He has done it, shall we scout
at the idea and say some other way will do as well? Verily, no other
way will answer as well. Let us, therefore, take heed how we prescribe
a path for the Lord to walk in, or subvert the ways of truth which the
Lord has revealed for the guidance of the children of men. We have no
right to do it. It is for us who have received this knowledge to walk
therein with fearfulness and trembling, and yet with joyful hearts,
seeking to the Lord to guide and direct our steps, that we may always
have His spirit to be with us to enable us to endure to the end, that
we may make sure of our salvation in the world to come, and inherit
thrones, dominions, and exaltations in the presence of the Father and
the Son.
How few there are of all who have been on the face of the earth that
will find eternal lives?—for strait is the gate and narrow the way
that leads thereto. It is the privilege of the children of men to
attain to this if they will be obedient to the require ments of the gospel. But in this they can exercise their volition. They have
been clothed upon with a tabernacle taken from the dust of the earth,
and have become subject to the power of sin and death. They have come
to pass through an earthly probation in order to be tempted and to
prove whether they would be carried away by the wiles of Satan, and
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, or whether, faithful to their
trust, their integrity, and their God, they would endure the trials of
this life, and come forth in the resurrection clothed upon with
immortality and eternal lives.
The world say we are exclusive because we do not hold communion or
fellowship with the Sectarians. How can we do so when they scorn us
and say we are a poor, ignorant, deluded set of people, without
knowledge or intelligence? How can we, when we know that they and
their leaders are blind, and that they will all fall into the ditch
unless they repent of their evil deeds? We send forth our Elders to
the nations of the earth to proclaim the principles of the gospel to
the people, and to plead with them to turn from their evil ways, that
they may be redeemed from the sin and iniquity which, like a flood,
are overwhelming the nations. Yet, they call us uncharitable because
we will not fellowship them. Far from being uncharitable, we exercise
more charity than all the Christian world put together, for whilst
they consign to perdition all who have not obeyed the gospel as they
preach it, we believe that the great majority of all people who have
ever lived on the face of the earth will be saved, and will enjoy a
far greater glory than they ever anticipated. In this we are sustained
by the testimony of the Scriptures, for the Apostle tells us that
Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison who were disobedient in
the days of Noah, that they might live according to God in the spirit
and be judged according to men in the flesh. If they who died
disobedient to the gospel, having heard and rejected its principles,
could be administered to by the Savior of the world, how much more
reasonable is it to suppose that they who have lived according to the
light they possessed, but yet died without a knowledge of the gospel,
can enjoy the same privilege? How much more consistent it is to
suppose this; and the dispensation of the fullness of times has opened
up these great principles to the understandings of the Latter-day
Saints. Do not say, then, that we are uncharitable. We believe not
only that they who have died without the gospel may be saved, but we
believe that they who rejected the gospel, who were disobedient in the
days of Noah may be saved also.
We have become the happy recipients of this knowledge, the knowledge
that leads to life and exaltation in the presence of our Father,
through yielding obedience to the gospel He has revealed in our day.
Herein we differ with the Sectarian world. We differ also in our
Church organization. In the Sectarian churches they place bishops at
the head. I do not know that it matters, when they are altogether
wrong; but I mention this to show that it is not the order of God. In
His Church there is—firstly, Apostles, and afterwards helps of various
kinds, the Bishops being those who administer in temporal things, and
belonging to the lesser Priesthood. The Sectarians, however, do not
understand the two orders of Priesthood—the Melchizedek and Aaronic.
They substitute one thing for another—such, for instance, as
sprinkling and pouring for baptism. They have perverted the principles of truth, and changed the ordinances of the gospel, and if the
Lord does not hold them in derision now He will by and by, for He is
not the author of such confusion. He has established His kingdom and
has set His house in order, and has conferred His authority upon His
servants, and told them to go forth and administer in the ordinances
of salvation for the edification of the true and living Church. Then
let us have respect to these things and live our religion, shun all
associations with the wicked and ungodly, and walk faithfully before
the Lord our God all our days, that we may be entitled to dwell in
that holy city whose streets will be paved with gold and whose maker
and founder is God.
This is especially applicable to our young people, for Satan uses the
wicked and ungodly to allure them into forbidden paths, and to
captivate their hearts by fine dresses, nice deportment, smooth
speeches, lively manners, and so on. I would say to my young sisters,
that one of these boys or Elders, who is ready to stand forth for the
defense of Israel, to go and preach to the nations, work in the
canyon, or do anything he may be required to do, though he may be
dressed in homespun and appear rather uncouth, is worth more than a
thousand smooth-tongued, hypocritical deceivers, who seek your society
only to lead you astray. Be careful, my young sisters, of the
associations you form, and do not let your minds be captivated by the
giddy and worthless, or the first thing you know you will wake up in
darkness, having made shipwreck of your faith through forsaking the
ordinances of the House of God. How can you who have received these
ordinances go and fellowship such persons and their practices? If you
associate with the wicked and ungodly you will cut yourselves off from
eternal lives and exaltation in the presence of our Father, for the
wicked can never lead you there—no, never. As far as they lead you it
will be in the ways of misery, death, and destruction. Parents should
be careful to preserve their children in the ways of truth and
righteousness, and in the purity of our most holy faith, that they may
be faithful in their day and generation.
If I were in the place of a great many of our young men, I would not
go out on the road to different places, as many of them do, just for
the sake of earning a little money. They too often fall into vile
company, and learn to profane the name of the Deity. There is too much
of it here in the midst of the Saints. I am sorry to say that some who
profess to be Latter-day Saints so far forget themselves as to use the
name of the Lord in vain, thus breaking the commandment, which says,
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain." Instead of the
brethren being so heedless, thoughtless, and reckless as to profane
the name of the Lord, they should hold it in the highest reverence. I
would say to all, never speak irreverently of baptism or of any of the
ordinances of the House of God. I have heard people, if they happened
to fall into the water, say that they were baptized, and they would
laugh over it and speak very irreverently. All such things tend to
evil. Do not indulge in such levity. I remember once, before I was in
the Church, being at a party given by one of my neighbors. One of the
guests was a Latter-day Saint Elder. He said he was anxious to dance
off some of his superstition and sectarianism. It chanced that they
had a very poor fiddler and a very poor fiddle, and the strings kept
breaking. This Elder, thinking, I suppose, to tickle our ears,
who were not in the Church, proposed that we should lay hands on the
fiddle. How do you suppose it struck upon my mind? Said I to
myself—"You are a poor, miserable hypocrite; you do not believe your
religion, and you blaspheme against God by professing to do so." That
man's name was William Smith, and although a brother of the Prophet
Joseph, and one of the Twelve Apostles, he has gone into darkness. Yet
I have heard him speak when he had the spirit of the Lord with him,
and I have been much pleased with his remarks. But by persisting in
such an irreverent course a man's mind is gradually darkened, and, if
not forsaken, it will finally lead to his overthrow and destruction.
I speak these things by way of exhortation to my young brethren and
sisters that they may not depart nor go astray from light and
knowledge, but seek after that which is good continually, and so order
their course as to be blameless before the Lord their God. I would not
wish to make men offenders for a word. God is merciful, and we can
forgive our brethren and sisters as long as they manifest a desire to
do good. Let us try to be a pattern worthy the imitation of all,
through our lives, be more perfect in our intercourse one with
another, and do nothing offensive in the sight of God, but live so
that we may ever have the guidance of His holy Spirit, which is my
prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
- Daniel H. Wells