If the congregation can bear with me a few minutes I have a few
reflections to offer with regard to our religion. It is a matter that
should occupy the attention of the wise, the good and the noble. When
we converse, in public or private, on the religion we profess, we are
apt to regard it as something strange, new; something unheard of
before, and as being unworthy of the attention of the wise and to be
passed by by the great and noble. These reflections I have, and I
presume others have them. Why is it so? The question can be readily
answered by saying that the natural man is at enmity with God. That
fallen nature in everyone is naturally opposed, inherently, through
the fall, to God and to His Kingdom, and wants nothing to do with
them. Is there anything connected with our religion that is derogatory
to the character of the most refined? No, there is not. Though
there may be good morals taught in the world our religion strengthens
that which is good and adds to it, and is calculated to benefit everyone.
It reaches after every condition of the human family from the
time that Adam came to the earth to the latest of his posterity, no
matter where they are. It calls upon those who are now here in the
flesh and commends itself to the good. Are the nations wise? Admit
that they are, what would the Gospel of the Son of God do for them?
Make them wiser. Are the people good? O yes, we say they are. What
would the Gospel do for them? Make them better. It will add virtue to
virtue, knowledge to knowledge, holiness to holiness, godliness to
godliness, brotherly kindness to brotherly kindness, charity to
charity and every qualification calculated to ennoble, benefit and
exalt the intelligence that is now upon the earth, even into the
presence of our Father. Now we possess intelligence as nations, as
individuals, as rulers and as ruled, as ministers, as speakers, as
preachers and as people. We belong to that family that is crowned with
intelligence, the highest there is in the eternities.
Is there anything in our religion that should startle the nations of
the earth? No, there is not, not the least thing in the world. And yet
we talk about it as though the people would be struck with wonder if
we should tell them what it is. Why it is nothing more than to receive
the things of God—the knowledge that God possesses, and by which He
has been crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives; the
knowledge that is possessed by the angels and by those who live in the
presence of the Father; to receive of that knowledge, to dispense it
to others, and through this to acquire every qualification necessary
to prepare us to enter again into His presence. Is there anything very
starting about this? No, there is not. Not alluding to anything that
has been said here, we always talk and feel as though there is
something or other about the Gospel of the Son of God that the people
cannot bear. What is it? Truth. "What caused the Latter-day Saints to
embrace the Gospel?" is a question that has been asked your humble
servant many times. The answer is very obvious and clear—because it
is true. The very reason why I embraced the Gospel is because it
contained all truth. Is there anything so startling about this to
men and women, intelligent beings, who are fashioned after the very
image, and who are the children of our Father and God, whom we worship
and who sits enthroned in yonder heavens and who rules, governs and
controls all things? I pause upon this; He controls all that He can
control. He will not control you and myself in our own agency; but He
will control and govern and bring forth the results of our acts, let
them be good or evil.
We are the offspring of that Being, each and every one of us, no
matter who we are. If we go to the West, East, North or South or to
the uttermost parts of the earth, and gather up the human family and
bring them here, they are the offspring of that Being we worship as
God. Is this very strange? Is this anything that should be very
startling to the minds of any people on the face of the earth? I ask
you, my brethren and sisters, is there anything so very strange in
this? And yet, perhaps, the most of us who are now here in this room
today, mingle with those who fear not God nor regard His word in the
least, and we would almost be ashamed to acknowledge that we
are professors of religion, that we are Latter-day Saints, that we
believe in Jesus Christ, that we have been baptized for the remission
of our sins and that we believe in the ordinances of the House of God.
How is it with each and every one of you on this point?
We see the inhabitants of the earth are filled with intelligence. Look
at the progress made during the past few years in the sciences, and
perhaps we may say, in some particulars, in the arts; but especially
in the sciences. From whom has this knowledge been obtained? Has man,
of himself, searched out the improvements by which the human race is
now so much benefited and blessed? No, he has not. Where did he get
it? It came from Him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift,
no matter what it is, if it be to make any one of these my sisters
excel as a wise and discreet housekeeper even that knowledge comes
from Him. We have received our lives and everything that tends to life
and salvation, to truth and holiness; everything pertaining to the
things of God, in the heavens, on the earth, all mechanism, every
improvement that is made has its source with God.
Now what is there about our religion that should be very startling? We
say we have progressed; so we have. We say the religion we have
embraced will increase and extend on the earth. This I believe myself,
but whether we shall be benefited by it or not depends entirely upon
our faithfulness to it. Do you think the Lord Almighty will reveal the
great improvements in the arts and sciences which are being constantly
made known and will not revive a pure religion? If any man imagines
that with the mighty strides which the sciences have been making for a
few years past, there will be no improvement in religion that man is
vain in his imagination. God will improve the religion of the nations
of the earth in proportion to the improvement made in the sciences.
This is true whether you believe it or not. The Lord has commenced the
work, and it is a marvelous one.
Let me ask my brethren and sisters around me, Can you tell when the
first carding machine was brought to America? Do you remember, my aged
brethren and sisters, when you used to have to card your cotton and
wool and tow by hand? Yes, many of you, Americans, remember it; (it is
not so with our foreign brethren;) but some of the Americans here can
remember when there was no such thing on the continent of America as a
carding machine. Yet now look into the houses of the poorest sisters
we have and see the crockery, and fine linen with which they can
spread and adorn their tables! How was it seventy years ago? It is
only a little over a hundred years since they first made crockery in
England, and since I can remember the people used to eat off wooden
plates. But see the advancement and improvement the Lord has conferred
on the children of men, and then say if you think He is not going to
improve their morals and their religion. It is a mistaken idea to
suppose that He will not. He will improve us in every sense of the
word, in every trait of life, and bring us up to the wisdom He designs
to bestow upon His children here on the earth. If we reject this truth
and knowledge we shall go back to ignorance. Let the inhabitants of
the earth join hands now to obliterate this people called Latter-day
Saints and their religion from the earth, and they will go to
heathenism; but let them favor, foster, nourish and cherish them, and
the sciences will ad vance with double strides from what they
have hitherto. These are a few of my reflections.
As to the morals of the world, I have said it a great many times and
still say that there are just as good men and women on the earth in
other societies and communities as we have here, as far as they
understand; and we are after such ones.
Now, my brethren and sisters, be encouraged, and if you meet with a
gentleman, do not say, "well, I think he does not profess religion,
and it will not do for me to say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,"
but take a pride in acknowledging the Savior. Train and educate
yourselves until you will take a pride in acknowledging God the Author
of all. Take a pride in the religion that makes you pure and holy, and
that produces in the heart of every individual who embraces it a
feeling to be truthful in every word he speaks, to be honest in every
act he performs, in all his dealings with his neighbors. Take a pride
in this and fear not the wicked.
I have often said, and I can say it now in truth, there is not a
wicked man on the face of the earth but what reveres a pure servant of
God. They may not acknowledge it with their organs of speech, but in
their hearts, sentiments, and feelings they revere such a character.
When they see a pure and holy man or woman, say they, "I wish I was as
good as you are." Then let us take a pride in acknowledging our
religion and living it, by being virtuous, true and good in
everything, and then take pride in educating your minds until you can
conquer and control yourselves in everything. Educate your children in
all the knowledge the world can give them. God has given it to the
world, it is all His. Every true principle, every true science, every
art, and all the knowledge that men possess, or that they ever did or
ever will possess is from God. We should take pains and pride to
instill this knowledge into the minds of our neighbors, and our
brethren, and rear our children so that the learning and education of
the world may be theirs, and that virtue, truth and holiness may crown
their lives that they may be saved in the Kingdom of God.
May the Lord help us to do so. Amen.