We are again met, in our Annual Conference, for the purpose of hearing
the words of life, and of being instructed in the various duties and
responsibilities that rest upon us, and that we, as Latter-day Saints,
may be taught principles pertaining to our holy faith, and be
instructed in the duties devolving upon us in the various positions
that we occupy; that by a unity of faith, purpose and action, we may
be able to accomplish something that will promote truth, advance the
interests of Zion and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the
earth.
We are told that it is not in man to direct his steps, and we stand
here in a peculiar position under the guidance and direction of the
Almighty. The Lord has seen fit to reveal unto us the everlasting
Gospel, and we have been enabled, by the grace of God, to appreciate
that message of life which he has communicated unto us, and we have
been gathered from the nations of the earth under the influences and
auspices of that Gospel. We are gathered here for the accomplishment
of certain objects relative both to ourselves and others, the great
leading principle of which is—to help to fulfil the designs that
existed in the mind of the Almighty before the world was, relative to
the earth and humanity; and I presume that that exhortation which was
made eighteen hundred years ago to certain Saints, would be just as
applicable to us today as it was to them. They were exhorted
to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints."
That, no doubt, sounded very strange to them in that day and age of
the world; they had had Jesus among them, he had preached his Gospel
unto them; the light of eternal truth had been made manifest, and they
had participated in the blessings of the Gospel; and yet, under these
peculiar circumstances, blessed, as it were, with the light of
revelation, with Apostles in their midst, with a complete Church
organization, with everything that was calculated to enlighten,
instruct and lead them on in the path of righteousness, they were told
to contend earnestly for that faith once delivered to the Saints.
It seems that in the different ages of the world in the past, there
has existed, as there does today, a species of self-righteousness,
self-complacence, a reliance upon the wisdom, intelligence and virtue
of man. In that day the Scribes and Pharisees, the lawyers and
doctors, the great Sanhedrin, the pious men, thought they were the
peculiar elect of God, and that wisdom would die with them. Jesus came
among them and told them very many unpalatable truths; among others,
that they were "whited walls and painted sepulchres; that they
appeared fair on the outside, but inwardly there was nothing but
rottenness and dead men's bones." He told them that for a pretence
they made long prayers; not that they had any reference to God at all,
for God had very little to do with them. They did it, he told them, in
order that "they might be heard of men." They made broad their
phylacteries (that is a species of writing which they bound on all
their garments), with certain passages of Scripture. They made them
very broad, that they might be considered extra pure, virtuous and
holy. Jesus called these very pure, holy, virtuous people, painted
sepulchres.
But there is something else associated with these matters very
peculiar. Jesus taught the principles of life and salvation—the
everlasting Gospel. He introduced men into the kingdom of God; he
organized a pure Church, based upon correct principles, according to
the order of God. Men were baptized into that Church; they had hands
laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and they received
it. They had among them Apostles and Prophets, Pastors and Teachers,
Evangelists and inspired men. The Church enjoyed among themselves the
gift of tongues, visions, prophecy; the sick were healed, the blind
received their sight, the deaf heard, and the lame leaped for joy; the
visions of heaven were unfolded to their view, and they had a
knowledge of many things pertaining to eternity; and yet, with all
their light, intelligence and blessings, with all their Apostles, with
the fulness of the Gospel in their midst, they were advised to contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. The Lord has
revealed to us many blessings, and I sometimes think that we hardly
appreciate the light of truth which has been developed, the glory that
is connected with the Gospel which has been restored, the light of
revelation which has been communicated, the position that we occupy in
relation to God, angels, our posterity and our progenitors, the hope
that the Gospel has implanted in the bosom of every faithful
Latter-day Saint, which blooms with immortality and eternal life; and
sometimes, when exposed to the various trials with which we are
encompassed, to the opprobrium and reproach frequently heaped upon us
by ignorant and evil disposed persons, some of us, perhaps,
think that our religion is something like that with which we are
surrounded. We sometimes forget our prayers, responsibilities, duties
and covenants, and we give way in many instances to things which have
a tendency to darken the mind, becloud the understanding, weaken our
faith, and deprive us of the Spirit of God. We forget the pit whence
we were dug, and the rock from which we were hewn, and it is necessary
that we should reflect on the position that we occupy, upon the
relationship we sustain to God, to each other and to our families,
that our minds may be drawn back again to the God who made us—our
Father in the heavens, who hears our prayers, and who is ready at all
times to supply the wants of his faithful Saints. And it is sometimes
necessary that we should reflect upon the position we hold in relation
to the earth on which we live, to the existence that we had before we
came here, and to the eternities to come. We should not be sluggish
and dull and careless and indifferent; but as the ancient Saints were
exhorted, so let us exhort you today—contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the Saints.
The religion of the everlasting gospel did not originate with any man
or any set of men. It is wide as the world and originated with the
Great Eloheim. It is a plan ordained by him before the world was for
the salvation and redemption of the human family. It is a thing that
men, in various dispensations, under the influence and inspiration of
the Almighty, have possessed more or less; and it is to that that we
are indebted for all the knowledge, and the light, and all the
intelligence in relation to eternity. The gospel which you have
received you received not of man, neither by man, but on the same
principle as they received it in former days—by the revelation of
Jesus Christ, by the communication of God to man, and any religion
that has not this for its foundation amounts to nothing, and any
superstructure built upon any other foundation will fade and vanish
away like the baseless fabric of a vision, and leave not a wreck
behind.
One of old in speaking of these things said: If any man build with
wood, or hay, or stubble, or anything perishable, the day would come
when it would be burned up and there would be left neither root nor
branch. But we, as eternal beings, associated with an eternal God,
having a religion that leads to that God, are desirous, as the
ancients were, to know something about him, to be brought into
communication with him, to fulfil the measure of our creation and our
destiny on the earth, and to help the Lord to bring to pass those
things that he designed from before the foundation of the world, in
regard to the human family. God has designed to redeem the earth
whereon we live. Mankind were placed on this earth for a certain
purpose, and however erratic, foolish and visionary the course of man
may have been, the Almighty has never altered his purpose, never
changed his designs nor abrogated his laws; but with one steady,
undeviating course from the time the morning stars first sang together
for joy, until the earth shall be redeemed from under the curse and
every creature in heaven and on the earth shall be heard to say:
"Blessing and glory, honor and power, might, majesty and dominion be
ascribed unto Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb forever;"
and throughout all the successive ages that have been and that will
be, his course is one eternal round. He has had one object in view,
and that object will be accomplished in regard to man and the
earth whereon he lives. The only question with us is whether we will
cooperate with God, or whether we will individually work out our own
salvation or not; whether we will individually fulfil the various
responsibilities that devolve upon us or not; whether we will attend
to the ordinances that God has introduced or not; for ourselves to
begin with, for our families, for the living and for the dead. Whether
we will cooperate in building temples and administering in them;
whether we will unite with the Almighty, under the direction of his
holy priesthood, in bringing to pass things that have been spoken of
by the holy prophets since the world was; whether we will contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. These things
rest with us to a certain extent. God has communicated to the
Latter-day Saints principles that the world are ignorant of, and being
ignorant of them they know not how to appreciate our feelings. They
call good evil, light darkness, error truth, and truth error, because
they have not the means of seeing the difference between one and the
other. "But you are a chosen people, a royal generation, a holy
priesthood," separate and set apart by the Almighty for the
accomplishment of his purposes. God has ordained among you presidents,
apostles, prophets, high priests, seventies, bishops and other
authorities; they are of his appointment, empowered and directed by
him, under his influence, teaching his law, unfolding the principles
of life, and are organized and ordained expressly to lead the people
in the path of exaltation and eternal glory. The world know nothing
about these things—we are not talking to them today, they cannot
comprehend them. Their religion teaches them nothing about any such
things—they are simply a phantasm to them. They have not any
revelation, they do not profess it. All that they have is their Bible
given by ancient men of God, who spoke as they were moved upon by the
Holy Ghost. They repudiate the Holy Ghost, not in name, but in
reality. Many of them are very sincere; we give them credit for that.
That is all right, but they do not understand our principles, views,
or ideas. They could not do as we have done; they could not trust in
God as our Elders do. Their ideas are more material. Ask any of them
to go to the ends of the earth, as these Elders have done, without
purse or scrip, trusting in God, would they do it? No, they would not,
they would see the gospel damned first, and then they would not. They
do not understand the principle by which we are actuated, we have done
it and we will do it again, and we will keep doing it; we believe in a
living God, in a living religion, in the living, vital, eternal
principles which God has communicated; this is the reason why we act
as we do, why we talk and believe as we do. Men are not supposed to
understand our principles. The Scripture says that no man knows the
things of God but by the Spirit of God. And how are they to get that?
Just as you got it. And how was that? By repenting of your sins, being
baptized in the name of Jesus for their remission; by having hands
laid upon you by those having authority for the reception of the Holy
Ghost. This is the way God appointed in former days, this is the way
he has appointed in our day.
And what brought you here? Why the light of revelation—the light of
truth, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of God. That is what
brought you here. The Gospel you received you received not of
men, but by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and consequently how can
men outside comprehend these things? They cannot do it, it is beyond
their reach. They can reason on natural principles; they have their
own peculiar ideas, but they cannot comprehend the Latter-day Saints.
"Mormonism" is an enigma to the world. Why, the United States have
been trying to solve the problem of "Mormonism" for years and years;
but with all their sagacity and intelligence they have not made it out
yet; and they never will. Philosophy cannot comprehend it; it is
beyond the reach of natural philosophy. It is the philosophy of
heaven, it is the revelation of God to man. It is philosophical, but
it is heavenly philosophy, and beyond the ken of human judgment,
beyond the reach of human intelligence. They cannot grasp it, it is as
high as heaven, what can they know about it? It is deeper than hell,
they cannot fathom it. It is as wide as the universe, it extends over
all creation. It goes back into eternity and forward into eternity. It
associates with the past, present and future; it is connected with
time and eternity, with men, angels, and Gods, with beings that were,
that are and that are to come.
The Saints of God in all ages had the kind of faith that we have
today. You Latter-day Saints know it, but other men do not. They will
talk about their nonsense, their ideas and theories, and call it the
religion of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, I am quite
willing they should enjoy their notions. It is all right; we would not
interfere with them if we could. Our feelings in regard to that are
just the same as the Lord's. And what are his? His ideas are not bound
in a nutshell, there is nothing contracted about the Almighty. He
makes his sun shine on the evil and on the good; he sends his rain on
the just and on the unjust. He is liberal, free, generous,
philanthropic, full of benevolence and kindness to the human family,
and he hopes and desires that all men may be saved, and he will save
them all as far as they are capable of being saved. But he desires
that his people shall contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the Saints, that as immortal beings they may act in unison with the
Almighty, that they may be inspired by the principle of revelation;
that they should comprehend something of their dignity and manhood; of
their relationship to eternity, to the world that we live in as it is
and as it will be, and to the worlds that are to come. The Lord has no
such idea as some of these narrow, contracted sectarian people have
that we read of. They remind me of a prayer of a man I once heard of,
who in his prayer said: "Lord bless me and my wife, my son John and
his wife, us four and no more, amen." I do not believe in any such
thing as that. I think the world on which we live was organized for a
certain purpose. I think that man was made for a certain purpose, and
so do you as Latter-day Saints. We think that the spirit of man,
possessing a body, will through the medium of the everlasting Gospel,
be exalted; and that man, inasmuch as he is faithful, will, by and by,
be associated with the Gods in the eternal worlds; and while we plant
and sow and reap, and pursue the common avocations of life, as other
men do, our main object is eternal lives and exaltations; our main
object is to prepare ourselves, our posterity and our progenitors for
thrones, principalities and powers in the eternal worlds.
This is what we are after, and what the ancient Saints were after. This is what Adam, Noah, Enoch, Abraham and the Prophets were
after, that they might fulfil their destiny on the earth, and, as one
of the old Prophets said, "stand in their lot in the end of days,"
when the books should be opened, when the great white throne should
appear and he who sits upon it, before whose face the heavens and the
earth fled away; that we and they, and they and we might be prepared,
having fulfilled the measure of our creation on the earth, to
associate with the intelligences that exist in the eternal worlds; be
admitted again to the presence of our Father, whence we came, and
participate in those eternal realities which mankind, without
revelation, know nothing about. We are here for that purpose; we left
our homes for that purpose; we came here for that purpose; we are
building temples for that purpose; we are receiving endowments for
that purpose; we are making covenants for that purpose; we are
administering for the living and the dead for that purpose, and all
our objects, and all our aims, like the object and aim of inspired men
in former days, are altogether with reference to eternal realities as
well as to time. We have a Zion to build up, and we shall build it. We
shall build it. WE SHALL BUILD IT. No power can stop it. God has
established his kingdom, it is in his hands, and no influence, no
power, no combination of whatever kind it may be can stop the progress
of the work of God. You Latter-day Saints know very well that you have
not received a cunningly devised fable, concocted by the wisdom,
ingenuity, talent or caprice of man. All of you who comprehend the
Gospel comprehend this; you all, male and female, if you are living
your religion, know this. Men of old knew it as well as you; and by
and by we expect to live and associate with them, with Patriarchs,
Prophets and men of God, who had faith in him, the accomplishment of
his purposes in former times, and we are contending for the faith
which they possessed. For instance old Moses and Elias, you know, came
to Peter, James, John and Jesus while they were on the mount. They did
not think they were very old fogies that it was not worth while to
listen to; but said they, "Let us make three tabernacles, one for
thee, one for Moses and one for Elias. It is good to be here, why
here is old Moses, and old Elias." Who was Moses? A man who had the
ancient Gospel in former times. Who was Elias? A man who had the
ancient Gospel in former times. They came and administered unto Jesus,
and his Apostles would have liked to stay with them forever. But they
could not do it at that time.
Then again we read of John on the Isle of Patmos. You know he was in
vision, and the Lord revealed unto him many great things, and there
was a personage appeared, one of the old Prophets that used to be led
around probably by a marshal. John thought he was an angel, and he was
about to fall down and worship him after he had unfolded to him the
glories of eternity. "But," says he, "do not do it." "Why?" "Because I
am one of thy fellowservants, the Prophets; I am one of those old
fellows that used to have to wander about in my day in sheepskins and
goatskins. The priests, hypocrites, &c., of that day persecuted me;
but now I am exalted, and have come to minister unto you John."
While the world was wrapped in superstition, ignorance and darkness,
the angels of God came and ministered to Joseph Smith, and unfolded to
him the purposes of God and made known his designs. Joseph told
it to the people, and through this means you are gathered together as
you are today. What did men, the best of them, know about the Gospel,
or about Apostles or Prophets, when the Prophet Joseph made his
appearance? Nothing at all, and yet there have been good men. Old John
Wesley, for instance, in his day, was very anxious to see something of
this kind, but he could not see it. Says he—
"From chosen Abraham's seed,
The old apostles choose,
O'er isles and continents to spread
The dead reviving news."
He would have been glad to see something of that kind, but he could
not. It was reserved for Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints; it
was reserved for our day. Well, then, what will we do? Fulfil the
measure of our creation; go to work and redeem those men who had not
the Gospel, be baptized for them, as the Scriptures tell us, and bring
them up, for they without us cannot be made perfect, neither can we
be made perfect without them. And we will fulfil and accomplish the
purposes of God, and bring to pass the things which were spoken of by
the Prophets.
This is what we are after, and we shall accomplish it, and no man can
stop it, no organization, no power, no authority, for God is at the
helm, and his kingdom is onward, onward, onward, and it will continue,
and grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world shall become
the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.
May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus. Amen.