I am happy to have the opportunity of meeting with the brethren and to
talk over the affairs pertaining to the kingdom of God in this
Conference. We are engaged in a work in which all of us are
interested, individually and collectively. It is a work that differs
from any thing else that exists at the present time on the face of the
earth, and in many respects it differs from anything that ever has
existed. I do not know that we are in any wise responsible for this,
or for the position in which we find ourselves. The circumstances with
which we are surrounded are not, particularly or specially, of
our own making, nor the principles in which we believe. We have an
abiding faith, as we heard referred to this morning, in certain
principles which have emanated from the heavens; and we find ourselves
on the earth at this particular time, in this peculiar dispensation,
and engaged in a work that is dependent, I was going to say,
altogether upon the Almighty, and which is part and parcel of that
program which existed in his mind before the world rolled into
existence.
There have been different dispensations existing in the various ages
of time, as the purposes of God have rolled on in relation to this
earth; all of them, more or less, partook of the same principles that
have been revealed unto us, that is so far as the Gospel is concerned,
but all of them more or less differing.
The first command given to man was to be fruitful, to multiply and
replenish the earth; in other words, an earth had been created, and it
was necessary, as it had been brought into existence and man placed
upon it, that his seed should be propagated, that there might be
bodies prepared for spirits to inhabit, that they together might
accomplish certain purposes, in the designs of God, pertaining to the
creation of the earth.
By and by we find the people departing from the principles of truth,
from the laws of the Gospel, repudiating the fear of God, grieving his
Holy Spirit and incurring his displeasure. Then a flood came and the
inhabitants of the world, with the exception of a very few, were swept
from it, after the Gospel had been preached to all who then lived and
all had had an opportunity to believe in and obey it. A few of them
did so and lived in the fear of God, and, according to the revela tions
which we have, they were translated and caught up, they had a separate
existence from those who lived upon the earth, and occupied the
position of translated beings and were necessarily governed by other
laws than the denizens of the earth. This was one peculiarity of the
dispensation before the flood. Then came the flood, which many people,
unacquainted with things as they existed in the bosom of God and with
his purposes and designs, consider was a great cruelty, an act of
tyranny, evincing a spirit of outrage and oppression upon the
inhabitants of the world. Skeptics reason in this manner sometimes,
the only reason of their caviling being that they do not understand
God or his laws and designs in relation to the earth and the
inhabitants that live upon it, and being ignorant of these things they
are not competent judges as to the fitness of things generally, and
the course pursued by the Almighty in relation to the inhabitants of
the earth, hence they arrive at all kinds of foolish conclusions. The
fact is there were certain ideas connected with the destruction of the
world that were good, proper and merciful. Mankind had committed unto
them certain powers, among which was the power to perpetuate their
own species, of which they could not according to the laws of nature
be deprived while living. And they had a certain agency of their own,
which they could act upon, and the people who were destroyed in the
flood had departed from the laws of God. Man has a dual being, not
only a body or mortal tabernacle, but a spirit, and that spirit
existed before he came here; and if men before the flood had been
allowed to go on in their iniquities, and if, with every thought and
imagination of their hearts, which were all unlawful and evil, they had been allowed to perpetuate that kind of existence, of course
God would have had very little to do with the operations of the earth
and the inhabitants thereof, it would therefore have been unjust to
the spirits created by our Father in the eternal worlds to force them
to come and inhabit the degenerated bodies which they must have
received from such characters as the generation drowned in the flood;
and hence God took away their agency by destroying them from the face
of the earth, because they were prostituting their powers to an
improper use and not only injuring themselves by defying the law of
God, but also inflicting an evil upon unborn generations by perverting
their own existence and by their powers of procreation entailing
misery upon millions of spirits that had a just right to look for
protection from their Father. The Almighty therefore took this awful
method to redress this aggravated wrong and he had a right to do it.
Why, our stockraisers act upon that principle a good deal. I was
talking to one of them a little while ago who had a large flock of
sheep, and he told me that he had got some better stock, and was going
to kill off the poor ones in order that he might raise only good stock
and a better breed than he then had. I suppose that God had as much
right to do this as sheep raisers and cattle raisers have, and thus by
cutting off that wicked generation from the earth he deprived them of
the privilege of propagating their own species. And what then? Oh,
they were all damned. No, they were not quite, yes they were in part
and partly not. God understands all these things and manages matters
according to the counsel of his will, and hence he provided a way
whereby the people who were then drowned, who would not listen to
God's law and who had departed entirely from the precepts of Jehovah,
might hereafter have a chance of obeying the laws of life and
salvation. Well, were they not all tee-totally doomed to go and be
roasted in flames forever and ever. Not quite; for we read that Jesus,
when he was put to death in the flesh, was quickened in the spirit, by
which he went and preached to the spirits in prison that sometime were
disobedient in the days of Noah, when once the long-suffering of God
waited upon them in those days. Hence we see that instead of being
eternally damned, Jesus went to preach the Gospel of life and
salvation to those whom God, in the days of Noah, swept off by the
flood, in order that he might introduce another state of things, and
try to raise up a people who would listen to his laws and obey his
precepts.
The Scriptures say that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in
prison, the same as he had preached to others on the earth. What did
he preach? Do the Scriptures say what he came to preach? Yes, they say
"he came to preach the Gospel to the poor, to bind up the
brokenhearted, to set at liberty those who were bound, and to open
the prison doors to the captive." That is what he came to do, and he
did it.
We are not connected with a something that will exist only for a few
years, some of the peculiar ideas and dogmas of men, some nice theory
of their forming; the principles that we believe in reach back into
eternity, they originated with the Gods in the eternal worlds, and
they reach forward to the eternities that are to come. We feel that we
are operating with God in connection with those who were, with those
who are, and with those who are to come.
We find that after the days of Noah an order was introduced called the
patriarchal order, in which every man managed his own family affairs,
and prominent men among them were kings and priests unto God, and
officiated in what is known among us as the Priesthood of the Son of
God, or the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Man began again
to multiply on the face of the earth, and the heads of families became
their kings and priests, that is, the fathers of their own people, and
they were more or less under the influence and guidance of the
Almighty. We read, for instance, in our revelations pertaining to
these matters, of a man called Melchizedek, who was a great high
priest. We are told that "there were a great many high priests in his
day, and before him and after him;" and these men had communication
with God, and were taught of him in relation to their general
proceedings, and acknowledged the hand of God in all things with which
they were associated. Noah and his descendants for a length of time,
did that which was right in the sight of God to a very great extent,
but by and by they departed from his law, and Abraham was raised up as
a special agent in the hand of the Almighty to disseminate correct
principles among the people, and as a medium through which God would
communicate intelligence and blessings to the human family. He went
through a very rigid course of discipline, and was tried in almost
every possible way, until, finally, he was called upon to offer up his
son; and then, when he attempted to do that, and the Lord had fully
proved him, the Lord said—"I know that Abraham fears me, that, he has
not withheld his only son from me, and I know that he will command his
children after him to fear my name." After God had tried Abraham, he
took him on to a mountain and said unto him—"Lift up thine eyes
eastward and westward, and southward and northward, for to thee and
thy seed after thee will I give this land; and in thee and in thy seed
shall all the families of the earth be blessed." That was a great
blessing, and it placed Abraham in a most prominent and important
position before God, before the people, and before the world. Now,
although God made that promise unto Abraham, yet Stephen, who lived
some two thousand years afterwards, said that "God gave him none
inheritance in that land, no not so much as to set his foot on, yet he
promised that he would give it to him and to his seed after him."
There was something peculiar about all these men—being in possession
of the everlasting Priesthood, which is without beginning of days or
end of years, they measured things with the eye of the Almighty, by
the principle of faith, by the knowledge and intuition which the Spirit
of God gave them, and the revelations which it imparted, and they felt
like one of old who said—"When a man dies shall he live again? All the
days of my life to my appointed time will I wait until the change
come." Inspired by the Spirit of the living God, in possession of the
principles of revelation, holding the keys of the everlasting
Priesthood, which unlocked the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they
looked forward and backward, and felt that they were a part of the
great program which God designed to accomplish in regard to the
earth. It was not for the immediate possession of some temporary
good; not for the grasping of something that they could hold for the
time being that they were anxious; but they were after riches,
exaltations, glory and blessings that would continue "while life or
thought or being lasts or immortality endures."
From the loins of Abraham a great many great Prophets, seers,
revelators, men of God, kings, princes and authorities descended; and
they raised up a nation that was powerful in its day and generation.
But they, like others, finally departed from the laws of God and from
the principles of eternal truth, and then the power of the Melchizedek
Priesthood was withdrawn from them, and the law was added because of
transgression, and although they became a numerous, great, wealthy,
wise and intelligent people, yet they lost for a long time the power,
intelligence, life and light of revelation which the Gospel imparts.
Then came the time when Jesus appeared on the earth. He was "a lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world," and he came to
accomplish things which had been planned by the Almighty before the
world was. He was the Being to whom the antediluvians, and Abraham,
and Isaac and Jacob, and the Prophets, Patriarchs and those who were
filled with the Spirit of God and the light of revelation referred to,
and to whom they looked; to him pointed all their sacrifices and the
shedding of the blood of bulls and goats, heifers, lambs, &c. Jesus
introduced the Gospel, and if the people would have received and
obeyed the principles which he taught, the kingdom of God would have
been established, the dispensation of the fullness of times brought
in, and in the Temple at Jerusalem the baptisms for the dead would
have gone on, and the redemption of the living and the dead would have
proceeded. But the people could not receive the teachings of Jesus.
Here was a dis pensation different from any of the others.
There was an Elias to come, who was to turn the hearts of the children
to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; and
when it was asked Jesus—"Art thou the Elias which was to come, or do
we look for another?" it was told them, "This is he if ye can receive
it." But they could not, and consequently they beheaded John the
Baptist and crucified Jesus, and it was declared that not one stone of
their magnificent Temple should be left upon another without being
thrown down, which was literally fulfilled, and the ground upon which
it stood was ploughed over. Jesus told his disciples that when they
saw "Jerusalem encompassed about with armies they were to flee to the
mountains." One of the Prophets, in speaking of the affairs that were
then to take place, said that a certain power should arise which
should make war with and prevail against the Saints, and that that
power should seek to change the times and the laws, and that they
should be given into his hand, for a time, and times and the dividing
of times. Very well, these things have taken place.
We now turn our attention to this continent, and find that God
transplanted a people who were of the seed of Abraham, from Palestine
to this continent. Here they passed through all kinds of vicissitudes
and changes, sometimes abounding in iniquity and vice, at other times
full of virtue; sometimes they acknowledged the hand of God, and at
other times disregarded it; sometimes they were chastened by the
Almighty, and at other times permitted to go on in their iniquities.
At one time there was a people on this continent who lived for nearly
two hundred years in the fear of God, under the direction of his spirit, governed by the laws of the Gospel, and they had all
things common among them, and we are informed that there never was a
more united, happy and prosperous people upon the face of the earth.
These are some of the changes that have taken place here. And now, we
are living in another age and under other circumstances. The world is
waxing old; myriads of people have lived upon it, generation after
generation have come and gone, some good, some bad, some very wicked,
some very righteous; some pure and holy, others to the contrary,
embracing every kind, and all the peculiar phases that have been
developed by the human family. They have come into existence and they
have died, and what of them? What of the good and what of the bad?
What of the righteous and what of the unrighteous? What of their
standing before God, and what of the nations that have existed, that
do exist and that will exist? These are things, which, as intelligent,
immortal beings, demand our consideration. And what of us as part of
them? We need to reflect, and it is proper that we should understand
something in relation to these things. We have our part to perform. We
find ourselves in the world in this day and age, which is that which
was spoken of by Paul—"the dispensation of the fulness of times, when
God would gather together all things in one, whether they be things in
the heavens or things on the earth." There is something very
remarkable, very peculiar in that expression. What the gathering is in
the heavens it is not for us to say at the present time; what the
gathering is on the earth we have some little idea of from the things
with which we are associated. There is a peculiarity about it. As I
said before, we find ourselves living in this day, and we are called
upon to perform a certain work in connection with the economy and
designs of God pertaining to the earth we live on, pertaining to
ourselves, to our progenitors and to the whole human family that have
existed upon the face of the earth. We are here to do a certain work
which God has set us to do, and, as I have said, we have had very
little to do in bringing about the matter. We did not originate it. We
talk sometimes about Joseph Smith, he did not originate it. He told us
about a great many things that we talk about, and unfolded many
principles unto us. But how did he know them? God called him and set
him apart as he called Noah in his day, and as he called Enoch,
Abraham and Moses in their day, and as he called the Prophets and
Jesus in their day, as he called Nephi, Lehi, Moroni and Alma in their
day upon this continent. He has called us, and has introduced to our
view certain principles, and we have been learning these principles
gradually. The first thing was to get baptized, a very simple affair,
a very little thing, nevertheless it was an ordinance of God, he
appointed it, and we went and were baptized. Then we had hands laid
upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and we partook more or
less of its influence, according to our faithfulness and diligence in
keeping the commandments of God.
We had not anything to do with originating this work; neither had
Joseph Smith, neither had Oliver Cowdery, nor Brigham Young, nor any
of the Twelve, nor the first Council, nor the Bishops, nor any other
man living. God has his work to perform, and at the proper time and in
his own way he will fulfill his own purposes and build up his
kingdom. He commenced it at his own time, and he called Joseph Smith
and gave him revelation. He told him about the ancient history of the
people of this continent and enabled him to translate it, he gave him
a key to all these things. He could not have done it without any more
than you or I could. He was indebted to God, just as much as you and I
are, and so were his brethren who were with him. Joseph Smith had many
revelations, but who gave them to him, by what spirit and intelligence
were they unfolded and communicated to his mind? God revealed them to
him, he obeyed the behests of Jehovah. When God called him and set him
apart he was obedient, just the same as you and I were. When the
Elders of Israel came forth to preach the everlasting Gospel we obeyed
it and, through obedience, we obtained the Spirit of God, and that
brought us into the position which we occupy at the present time.
And now about the gathering, who understood anything about it? The
ancient Prophets prophesied about it, but what did we know about it,
or what do the world today know about it? Nothing, only as it has
been revealed. If God had not revealed it we should have been as
ignorant as the rest of mankind are. And so we should about our
sealings, and the covenants that men and women make with one another,
that the fools around us do not comprehend; they think we are fools,
but we know they are; that is the difference between us. We know they
are ignorant, brutish, foolish and know not God nor his laws, nor the
principles of truth; but we know something about these things, because
God has revealed them to us.
We heard this morning that this was a time in which to build Tem ples,
and you know that we are now engaged in a work of that kind. Why are
we thus engaged? Is it for our sakes only? God forbid. The Gospel that
we preach is not for ourselves only. We have not preached it these
many years that we might make money by it. I have traveled a great
many thousands of miles to preach this Gospel without purse and
without scrip, and I see many men around and before me who have done
the same thing. Was it for ourselves? No. Was it because it was
pleasant? No, but God had revealed certain principles to us pertaining
to the salvation of the world in which we live; he had committed a
dispensation of the Gospel to us, and it was woe unto us if we
preached not that Gospel, whether we liked it or not. But we did like
it, and we went forth in the name of Israel's God, and God went with
us and sanctioned our testimony by his Spirit, and by the gift of the
Holy Ghost. We could not have done these things or I will acknowledge
that I could not, neither could any of my brethren, unless God had
been with us, we had not sufficient faith and intelligence; but God
imparted his Spirit, his intelligence and the gift of the Holy Ghost
to the Elders of Israel, and they went forth bearing precious seed,
the seed of eternal life, and they came again rejoicing and bringing
their sheaves with them, and here they are gathered into the garner.
What for? For ourselves? No, we are, or ought to be co-workers with
God in the accomplishment of his purposes in relation to the world in
which we live, and people that have lived before us, and those that
shall come after us. The principles which we are in possession of
emanated from God. The Priesthood which God has revealed emanated and originated with the Gods in the eternal worlds; it is the
principle by which they are governed and by which God governs all
things which exist, and we, as the servants of God, acknowledge the
hand of God in all these things. Can I preach, do I have any
intelligence? God imparted it. Can my brethren preach? have they
intelligence? God imparted it. Did Joseph Smith or Brigham Young have
intelligence? God imparted it. Have we been delivered at various times,
and has the hand of God been manifested in our behalf? Yes, or we
could not have been here today, the powers of darkness would have
prevailed against us, the enemies of Zion would have put their feet
upon our necks, and would have trampled us to the dust of death long
ago. We talk about the intelligence that has been manifested in
connection with this work. Where did it come from? It came from God.
As you heard this morning, God, in answer to the prayers of thousands,
has inspired his servants and has given them intelligence to carry on
his work, and it has been carried on under the influence, guidance and
direction of the Spirit of God. Without that none of us could have
done anything more than the rest of mankind. Who led us? God. Who has
sustained us here? God, and who will continue to sustain us? The
Almighty. These fools who think they can trample under foot the
servants of God, and overthrow the kingdom of God are reckoning
without their host, they are pushing against the buckler of the Great
Jehovah, and they will find that he will put a hook into their nose
and lead them in a path they know not of. Israel will rise and shine,
and the power of God will rest upon his people, and the work that he
has commenced will roll forth "until the kingdoms of this world shall
become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and he shall rule for
ever and ever." The purposes of God are not going to be thwarted by
the folly, vanity and ignorance of men; and as we had very little to
do with introducing these things, we have really very little to do
with carrying them on. Somebody was speaking this morning, in
reference to certain men who thought that, if they left the Church,
the work would not go on; that is perfectly ridiculous. There are
certain things that have to be accomplished in the economy of God, and
no man or combination of men can stop them, no influence that the world
can exert can hinder them, for God is at the helm, and he will roll
forth his own work. Hear it, you men of the world, you cannot go
further than God will let you, any more than the Latter-day Saints
can. It is in God's work that we are engaged. There is nothing really
selfish about our operations when we come right down to the bottom of
the work; for we are all engaged with God, and with the spirits of
just men made perfect, and with the Priesthood that have existed
before us, and with the intelligences that surround the throne of God;
with all these intelligences we are united in the grand work of
rolling forth the designs and purposes of God. You do not have the
Latter-day Saints only to fight against, but you have to fight all the
just and good who have lived and died on the earth, and who live
again; and besides these you have to fight with God and his angels and
the intelligences who surround his throne.
As Latter-day Saints, we are sometimes apt to think that we must look
after ourselves individually. We are a good deal like the man who, when praying, said—"God bless me and my wife, my son John
and his wife, us four and no more, amen." There was no philanthropy,
benevolence or kind feeling towards the rest of mankind there, and too
many of us feel a good deal in the same way. As Latter-day Saints we
ought to feel—and when we feel right we shall feel—that we are the
representatives of God upon the earth, that we are engaged in building
up his kingdom; that we are living in an age when God designs to
accomplish certain purposes, and we are desirous of cooperating with
him in that labor, and it is our mission to help to save the living,
to redeem the dead and to bring to pass the things spoken of by the
Prophets. This is the position that we occupy, and a great many things
have yet to be introduced before these things can be accomplished.
We are commencing to build Temples, and hence, as I said before, our
dispensation differs from others which have preceded it. It is kind of
a time for settling up accounts. You know when a man goes to work on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, he keeps account of
what he does, and when Saturday comes it is a kind of settling-up day.
It is so with us, it is so with the world, our day is a kind of
settling-up day. The Elders have been forth and gathered together a
few of the people to whom they have preached; others are gathering,
and now we, at home here, are engaged in building Temples. What for,
for ourselves? Yes. For somebody else? Yes. For our friends who have
lived? Yes. For other people's friends who have lived? Yes, and to
feel after all nations who have lived, for we are interested in the
welfare of all the peoples who have ever existed on this earth, and
like God, we are feeling after them with a fatherly, kind, generous
and philanthropic feeling. That is why we are building our Temples,
that is why men are called upon to labor upon these Temples, for we
desire to enter therein and to officiate and administer for the living
and the dead.
"Well, but it takes a little money." Oh, does it? Never mind, the gold
and the silver are the Lord's, the cattle on a thousand hills are his,
and we shall get a little of his gold and silver, and in using it in
building temples to the name of the Lord we are taken into partnership
with him, we unite with God, and with the angels, and with the spirits
of just men made perfect, with the priesthood that existed anciently
and with the Gods. We all unite together for the accomplishment of
God's purposes, and we will feel after the inhabitants of the earth.
If people are foolish around us we cannot help that; let them go on
and exhibit their folly, God will take care of us, he is as much
interested about us as we are, and a good deal more, and he is as much
concerned about the rolling forth of this work as we are, and a good
deal more. The ancient Nephites who lived on the earth, those men of
God who, through faith, wrought righteousness, accomplished a good
work and obtained exaltation, are as much interested in the welfare of
their descendants as we are, and a good deal more; and Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, and those ancient men of God who once lived on the earth,
and who yet live, are as much interested in the accomplishment of
God's purposes as we are, and a good deal more. Well, then, what have
we to do? Why to fulfill the duties devolving upon us as they come
along day by day, and to introduce every principle that is calculated
to save the living and redeem the dead. We are not alone in
these things, others are operating with us, I mean all the men of God
who ever lived, and they are as much interested as we are, and a good
deal more, for they know more, and "they without us cannot be made
perfect," neither can we be perfected without them. We are building
temples for them and for their posterity, and we are going to operate
in these temples, as we have done heretofore, for their welfare and
for the welfare of their posterity. And then they are operating for us
behind the veil with God and the intelligences which surround his
throne; and there is a combination of earthly beings and of heavenly
beings, all under the influence of the same priesthood, which is an
everlasting priesthood, and whose administrations are effective in
time and in eternity. We are all operating together, to bring about
the same things and to accomplish the same purposes.
Well then, what shall we do? We will build the temples. And don't you
think we shall feel a little better while we are doing it? I think we
shall, for while we are so doing we shall have the approbation of God
our Heavenly Father, and of all good men who have ever lived, and we
may need this by and by when we get through this world. These Gentiles
do not need anything of this kind, they are all going to heaven anyhow;
but we want to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when
we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations. I want
friends behind the veil. I want to be the friend of God and God to be
my friend; I want to help to roll forth the Kingdom of God and to
build up the Zion of the Most High, and I want to see my brethren
engaged in the same work, and we will do it. In the name of Israel's
God we will do it.
We talk about the Order sometimes, well, we will do that too. What,
would you? Yes, to be sure I would, or anything else that God wants of
me. I am on hand, that is my feeling about these things. Well, but is
there not a good many weaknesses to see? I think there is, don't you
think there is about you? Just examine yourselves and then answer the
question whether you have not a good many weaknesses. I think there
are a great many things among us that we ought to be ashamed of. We
are covetous, grasping and grinding; there is not enough human
sympathy, brotherhood and kindly feeling among us. Every man in Zion
ought to feel that in every other he has a brother and a friend, and
not a ravenous character who would grasp everything that he has and
grind him to the dust of the earth. I want liberality, generosity,
kindness and the love of God within us, and flowing around us like
wells of water springing up unto everlasting life. These are the
principles by which we ought to be actuated and governed. Let the
potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth, God
will take care of his own affairs and manage them his own way. Zion is
onward, her progress cannot and will not be retarded, I will prophesy
it in the name of Israel's God. It is onward, onward, onward, until
the purposes of God shall be accomplished, until the towers of Zion
shall arise, until her temples shall be built, until the living shall
be saved, until the dead shall be redeemed, and until "the knowledge
of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."
Let us, then, cleave to righteousness and truth, lay aside our folly,
vanity and nonsense, our egotism, ignorance and covetousness and
everything that is wicked, sinful, narrow and contracted, and let us
feel that we are servants of God, engaged in rolling forth his
kingdom and accomplishing his purposes upon the earth.
May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus. Amen.