There is an opposition to the Lord having on the earth a people,
called by his name and doing his will. It has been so from the
beginning. The Lord never had a people who were received with open
arms by the world, admired, cherished and respected; on the contrary
they have been persecuted or totally destroyed from off the earth. The
wicked have invariably prevailed over the good; it might almost be
said that the first bad man killed the first good man. The Latter-day
Saints have had the same experience to pass through, and when a time
of comparative peace has come around, as it has sometimes, they are
apt to ask, "What is the matter? Have we lost our faith, that the
Adversary should thus let us alone?" There will come a time, however,
in the history of the Saints, when they will be tried with peace,
prosperity, popularity and riches.
The world look with terror toward that period when the Lord's purposes
in regard to building Temples predominates, when universal peace is
established, and the scepter of righteousness is wielded. The world
would not like any religious power to predominate on the earth, and
rightly, too, considering the tyranny and despotism that have marked
the history of religious rule. We find, in days past, that various
religious influences have swayed the scepter in a most unrighteous
manner, made captive the human will, and men have been forced to yield
submission to the most oppressive measures. The religious wars
have been more terrible in their effects, caused more bloodshed and
sorrow, than all the others put together. A gradual but sure relief
from religious rule and dictation has been brought about, until the
nations of the earth are made free. No wonder, then, that the people
look with ill favor upon any one religious element gaining ascendancy
over the other. As the old staying goes, "A burnt child dreads the
fire."
In this country there is no religious power predominating, but now
that the kingdom of God is established this opposition is brought
about and is felt even to a greater extent than before. The world is
jealous of its growing power and, hence, its bitter and unrelenting
opposition. So opposed have men been to the increase and spread of
religion as a political power that in many places no person holding a
religious office has been permitted to hold a position of trust or
profit under the government. It was for this same reason that the name
of God is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States. The
Puritan Fathers suffered from religious oppression, and rather than be
made to bow the head or the knee when mentioning the name of Jesus
Christ, or being compelled to place the cross on their churches, as
was and is still customary with the Roman Catholic church, they sought
elsewhere that toleration they could not obtain in their native land;
but singular to say, after the lapse of time, when the colonies were
founded, they were unwilling to accord unto others of different faiths
to their own, that religious freedom for which they themselves had
forsaken fatherland, and expelled from the colonies all who differed
with them in a religious point of view.
Besides this intolerance there is another reason why religion has
become so distasteful to many people, and why the nations have
eschewed religion from their councils. Because these teachers and
professors of religion are without the knowledge of God, and their
ideas and doctrines have been so far different to the written word,
that reasonable people say, "Humbug!" and fly to the other extreme
and become infidels. After witnessing the strife and variety of forms,
and being unable to gain assurance from such sources respecting the
realities of the future, they say, "We don't know anything about it;
we'll live good moral lives and all will be well."
The greatest difficulty the elders have to contend with in the world
is this wide-spreading infidelity, brought about by the assumptions of
so called religious teachers. Now, the Lord has restored his Holy
Priesthood, his mind and will—the glorious Gospel which is "the power
of God unto salvation," and fearful of losing what power they hold
over the minds of men, these self-elected teachers and priests have
combined to oppose it. Now, in order to understand the principles of
the true and everlasting Gospel, we must look at them by the spirit of
God, for "the things of God knoweth no man except by the spirit of
God." A man cannot understand the things of man with the spirit of a
horse or an ox; then how can a man understand the things of God except
by the spirit of God—a higher grade of intelligence. By that Spirit,
the Bible, with all its apparent inconsistencies, is made plain to the
human mind. People have misconstrued, have turned the truth into lies
and perverted the Gospel of Christ. When a Latter-day Saint has
conformed to the ordinances of the Gospel and received the Holy Ghost,
the Bible has seemed a new book to him, although, in his
childhood he may have perused its pages over and over again. The light
and intelligence of the Spirit has beamed upon his understanding, so
as to enable him to form a just and correct conception of its sacred
truths.
Through the great variety of forms, systems and creeds, infidelity has
been brought about. The true plan, as revealed to the Latter-day
Saints, is sufficiently ample to save all men, but the plans and
creeds of men are not ample to any great extent, even if they were
true. Take the Catholics, for instance; they consign to perdition all
but themselves, contrary to the meaning of the term Catholic, which is
universal; but they have become sectarian. The plan designed in our
pre-existent state has been ignored, but in this dispensation it has
been restored and we can see wherein it is ample to provide for the
salvation of the children of men. It is to be preached to all nations,
and those who will accept it may be redeemed and exalted. Then why
should people be afraid of the government of God? It is bound to come
and rule. When it is established in its greatness, glory and power it
will be the most efficient and complete government on the face of the
earth. People are afraid of the government of God, even some Mormons
(I will not say Latter-day Saints), lest some man or men get undue
authority. Some persons in the Church think that an Apostle or a
Bishop has no right to interfere in temporal things; that their
business alone is to look after the spiritual affairs, and their
temporal affairs they can attend to themselves. It is very possible
some of these men understand financial matters better than the
servants of the Lord; but it should not be forgotten that the spirit
of God and the Holy Priesthood will qualify men for all positions of
life. People can, through these agencies, acquire superior
intelligence to administer in the things of this world, and it must be
done before the eternal riches are conferred upon this people, because
the light of heaven is superior to that of the world. The kingdoms of
this earth are to become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. I
look for this government to come through the Holy Priesthood, and to
exercise power in temporal, political and all other things—a
government that will extend to all men their rights and privileges.
Confusion reigns over the face of the whole earth. Look at the
combinations and warfare being waged one against another; capital
against labor, and labor against capital, there are thousands of broad
acres lying uncultivated, and yet men are going without bread to eat.
We hear of organizations parading the streets, with banners on which
are inscribed the words, "Give us Bread, Labor or Blood!" There should
be no strikes for higher wages—no strife between capital and labor.
The labor of men should command a subsistence, and if everything is
regulated, as it would be under the government of God, there would be
no hard times, no complaints, no strikes, no warfare.
There is plenty of unoccupied land in this country and any man can get
a piece of it. "But," says one, "I have no team, nor seed to plant,
and no money with which to buy either. What can I do?" You can take up
a piece of land, get your citizenship papers; and the moment you do
so, you have the right to file upon it, and have two or three years in
which to pay for the land. No other person can go to the Land Office
and take that land away from you. In order to get a start, you can work for your neighbor and for your labor get the privilege of
using his team, plough and seed, and afterwards attend to it yourself.
You have then bread enough for yourself and family for one year. A
man, by this course, forms the nucleus of his prosperity, wealth and
comparative independence. Subsequently he gathers around him the
comforts of life; he gets a cow, a pig or two, and a few chickens.
This position in life is much more self-reliant and independent than
employment by the day, week or the month in cities or overcrowded
business centers. There, when a day's labor stops, the supply stops:
but when you have your own source of supply, and your labor
temporarily fails, you still have plenty of grain, and other produce
of the farm by which you can get along.
President Young gave more houses to the poor than all the societies in
the world, and laid the foundation of a great nation—a kingdom—even
the kingdom of God. All these stakes of Zion are strengthening with
the saints of God. Is it the outsiders who come here to Utah that
build up the country? No; the material prosperity of Zion is alone
attributable to the labors of the Saints, guided and directed by the
Almighty. It is they who are to be found in the nooks and corners—in
all directions—wherever there is a spring or a bit of land—building
up, making the earth bring forth its products, and strengthening and
enlarging the borders of Zion. It does my heart good to see the
settlements extending, even to the remote corners of the Territory.
Besides, this class of the Latter-day Saints, who are branching out
and developing remote sections of the country, are generally the most
faithful, hardworking and industrious of the community. Some of the
people think that the Lord is not showing the signs of his coming;
they get disheartened; they expect to see some great apostle come from
heaven with the mysteries of the Kingdom. Now the church and kingdom
of God is to be built up by our practical efforts. Industry should be
employed in Zion, and the labor of the people ought to be put to the
best possible practical use. This has everything to do with the
kingdom of God, and this is where we require revelations of God—to
teach us how to build up his temporal work. We do not raise feed
enough for our teams; we do not cultivate as much as we ought, and do
not know how to cultivate that that we have. All these things should
be known, as they tend to the building up of the kingdom of God. We
require intelligence to guide the cultivating hand. I contend it is
building up God's kingdom to make a yard of cloth, to build
schoolhouses, to cultivate the earth, and to practically apply every
conceivable plan of life necessary for our common subsistence; and in
order to accomplish these things we must have intelligence that comes
from heaven—that is, if we desire to exceed our fellows. Until we
know how to properly accomplish and apply all these things, the Lord
will never hand over to us the riches of the earth. As it is we have
not sufficient of the Spirit of the Lord to entitle us to this great
blessing. As soon as he finds out he has got a people who will hold
what he gives, he will bestow it, and when he knows that they will
apply it to his glory. Why could not we establish the United Order
among the people? Because we did not know how to do so, and I have not
seen a man who knew how, and for the reason that we were not prepared
to receive it. When the Lord finds he has a people who will not give them over to the devil and waste them, then he will bestow
the eternal riches, but this will not be done, and cannot be done
consistently, until he has a people who will use them for the glory of
his kingdom.
I think the Saints are on the road of improvement. Their labors are
being directed to the welfare of Zion; but there is yet a great deal
of unemployed labor that can be made available to that end. We should
open up new industries, when others fail to employ all the material at
command. When one branch is overdone, open up another and thereby find
the means of employment for those in need of it. It has been thought
that labor-saving machinery and railroads have injured us. It is not
so; men should go at something else, and so keep on, constantly
turning our attention to something that will pay better and accomplish
more.
The time will come when the thread will be cut, but I think we could
live if the thread were cut tomorrow. We can produce everything,
except perhaps what are called the luxuries; still we would suffer
much inconvenience. There are a great many things we would have to do
without, and if the thread were cut we would have to do a great many
things that we now neglect to do. We should not be forever dependent
on Babylon. Call them little things if you please, but they are as
essential to the building up of the kingdom as they are to any other
kingdom on the earth. Wickedness is permitted only to try men and
women—to prove their integrity. If we could have learned and
accomplished all things just as well in the spirit world as here on
the earth, do you think the Lord would have sent us to this world of
sorrow and wickedness? Jesus had to pass through these ordeals, in
order to get an exaltation. Then let us apply our labors to the
circumstances and requirements which surround us, and serve God—if we
believe there is a God—and use all our abilities for the
accomplishment of his purposes, that we may pass on to glory, and
exaltation in his kingdom, which may God grant. Amen.
- Daniel H. Wells