It is a very great privilege to be Saints of the most high God, and it
is of much more importance than many of us sometimes comprehend. It is
a great privilege to have God for our father and friend. And then
while we have God for our father and friend, on the other hand, we
ought to be the friends of God. It is said of Abraham, that he was the
friend of God, and we, the Latter-day Saints, ought to be the friends
of God, and to take pleasure and delight in doing his will; for we are indebted to him for every blessing which we enjoy, whether
pertaining to this earth or to the heavens, to the life that now is or
to the life that is to come. Many of these truths are not known in the
world, for the simple reason that they have not been taught, nor are
there any people outside of the Priesthood of this Church who are
capable of teaching men the principles of life, the principles of
salvation, the principles of exaltation and eternal lives. And the
reason why they are not capable of teaching them is, because they do
not understand them themselves. And no man can teach correctly
principles which he does not himself comprehend. It was upon this
ground that Jesus in his day said: "If the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall into the ditch." Also quoting the words of the Apostle:
"The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." And if we
do not find out, we Latter-day Saints, how to approach God, as has
been referred to by a previous speaker, and how to call upon him
acceptably and to approach him as our Father, and to feel that we are
his children, and to take pleasure in calling upon him, and to
cultivate His Holy Spirit; if we do not do this, nor comprehend these
principles, we have indeed made slow progress in the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God.
God has restored the Gospel for the purpose of bringing life and
immortality to light; and without the knowledge of the Gospel there is
no knowledge of life and immortality; for men cannot comprehend these
principles only as they are made known unto them, and they cannot be
revealed only through the medium of the Gospel, and through obedience
to the laws of salvation associated therewith. And hence as the Gospel
emanates from God, and as that is the great medium of salvation,
through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, God said in former
times to his former-day Apostles, and also in latter days to his
latter-day Apostles, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature." He sent them with a message that was fraught with
greater blessings than anything that could be conferred upon mortals.
And hence when the heavens were opened and the Father and Son appeared
and revealed unto Joseph the principles of the Gospel, and when the
holy Priesthood was restored and the Church and kingdom of God
established upon the earth, there were the greatest blessings bestowed
upon this generation which it was possible for man to receive. If they
could comprehend it, it was the greatest blessing which God could
confer upon humanity. Then he sent his servants forth to proclaim this
Gospel to the nations of the earth, and he is now sending them forth
to preach the Gospel of the Son of God, to deliver the testimony that
he has given unto us. And, speaking for the Priesthood, have we done
it? We have, and we have done it in the name of Israel's God; and he
has been with us and I know it. And with regard to praying, if we had
not known how to pray we should have been in a bad position many a
time, regarding both temporal and spiritual things. But we learned to
call upon him, and he has heard us and has come to our help in time of
need. Is it not a great privilege and blessing to have a Father of
this kind to approach. Let us look at it. Jesus tried in his day to
get the people to comprehend one thing—to ask and receive. It is a
simple thing. Seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be
opened to you. For he that asketh receiveth, etc. Do you believe it?
If you do, go and try it, and see whether God lives or not, and you
will know for yourselves. It was said in former times, "We know that
God lives." How do you know? Because we received the things which we
asked at his hands. In one place the people are told. You receive not
because you ask not; and our Heavenly Father upbraids them for not
asking. The Lord declares, I have plenty; I own all things, the gold
and the silver are mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are
mine. Now if you are prepared to use them properly, he is prepared to
give them to you. He enquires, If a son ask for bread, would you give
him a stone? The little child when it is hungry, asks its mother for a
piece of bread and butter; the mother would not think of picking up a
stone and handing it to the child; but she gives the little one
something to eat to satisfy its hunger. And when the child is hungry
it will come again and ask for more. After this kind of reasoning the
Savior then said to those around him, if you who are evil know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in
heaven give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Let us try then to
have confidence in God, as our children have confidence in us. They
will come to us and say, Papa, can I have a new hat? Mamma, can I have
some new shoes? Papa, please give me five cents to buy candy. If you
can you like to gratify their little wants. Our Father feels just the
same towards us. But suppose they were to ask you for a razor? "That
would be dangerous," you would say. "Why, child, I don't want to give
you that." And then when you want things of no use to you, and your
Father knows that it would not be good for you—although he does not
tell you so, he does not give them to you because they would be
injurious.
There is nothing of more value to me than the principles of eternal
truth; than the principles of eternal lives; eternal salvation, and
eternal exaltations in the kingdom of God; but then it is for us to
comprehend it, for if we do not comprehend it, no matter how great the
truths, they cannot benefit us. We frequently think a little more of a
nice span of horses, or a nice wagon, or a favorite cow, and such
things, than we do of God's work, as our boys sometimes get attached
to a few marbles, thinking that they are everything, and they do not
like to leave their marbles to obey father or mother; and God finds us
about the same. We get a few dollars, or a farm, and a little stock,
and a few other things; and we cannot afford to neglect these; we
cannot afford to take time to pray, nor to listen to the voice of
Father, we are so busy playing marbles. And occasionally when we play
marbles among the dollars, we try to cheat one another, as boys
sometimes do at marbles, and try to take advantage one of another. I
never like to see boys cheat, and never like to see men cheat at their
kind of marbles. Our feelings and affections get placed on wrong
things. We are here to build up Zion, and to establish the kingdom of
God. The kingdom of what? The kingdom of God. Then if it is the
kingdom of God, it is not the kingdom of man, originating or belonging
to man. It came not of man nor from man, it came from God, and we are
indebted to him for it; and we are indebted to him for all the light and all the intelligence we have. For the life we have, for the
pure air we breathe, for the use of our bodies and our reason, for the
food and raiment we eat and wear, and in fact, for everything we have
and enjoy, both of a temporal and spiritual nature. All these things
God gave us. We did not have them; we did not grow them. You may have
planted the corn and plowed it; but I think the Scripture tells us
that Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God that gives
the increase. It is so in our farming or anything else. If we have
good crops, it is through the blessings of the Almighty that we
receive them, and if he did not give them to us, then we should go
without. He could send an army of crickets or grasshoppers, or a
great hailstorm, sweeping away the fruits of our labors, and in that
event, whose would they be? I think it very foolish to quarrel over
marbles; I think it foolishness in men to seek after the things of
this world and place their affections on them. I see men, and I have
seen a great many men in my time, grasping after the world, and they
sometimes will succeed in gathering considerable together; and when
they have gathered it, they would fold their arms and say, "Soul take
thine ease; eat, drink and be merry, for I have much good laid up in
store; I am not dependent on any man, soul, take thine ease." That man
hears a little whisper; the finger of God is laid upon him, and this
whisper says, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of
thee; and then, whose shall these things be that thou possessest? Who
shall have them then! O, I will leave them to my children! But
somebody may cheat them out of it. It is a very difficult thing for
people to leave things for their children, and have things done just
as they wish, there being so many people to interrupt and grasp after
this world's goods righteously or unrighteously. What a fool to gather
large possessions, and now to only occupy a few feet of mother earth.
And that brain once so busy, is now slumbering, decaying in the tomb,
and worms are reveling within its chambers. And those limbs that were
active and energetic and full of life, are now helpless and powerless.
And what of these things? I have sometimes, in speaking on matters of
this kind, related my own experience when a boy. I have dreamed, for
instance, of being very rich, but I would say in my dream, I am afraid
I am dreaming; I am afraid when I awake I shall not find my treasures;
but I'll try to hide them and make them secure. In the morning I would
hunt for my treasure, but never could find it. You will find, every
one of you, that, naked you came into the world, and naked you will
return; you can take nothing pertaining to this world with you, not if
you were to possess the whole earth. If you possess any portion of
this earth by right or title or authority, you will have to get it from
God, and you will have to get it when the earth shall be renewed.
Abraham had great promises of lands, so had Isaac and Jacob. And what
did Abraham have? We are told by Stephen, who lived many generations
after him, that God had promised Abraham that he should have this
land; but nevertheless he gave him no inheritance in it, not so much
as to set his foot on. Notwithstanding the promise of the Lord to him
respecting his possessing that land, he had to buy a place in which to
bury his wife, and in which he himself should be buried. And
yet, did God's promise fail? No, he will yet possess that land and his
seed with him, and the promise be literally fulfilled. While it is
proper for us to seek after everything that is right and honorable, on
the other hand it is quite as right and very proper that we should set
God before us all the time and render obedience to his law, so that we
may acquire an eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God. God is now
establishing his kingdom upon the earth. If it is the kingdom of God,
and he is establishing it, he expects us to be subject to his law, and
to be governed by it, and to keep his commandments.
What then shall we do? We will do everything which God requires at our
hands. Have we families? We will try to train them up in the fear of
God. Have we wives? We will treat them as we would angels of God, and
be their protectors and guardians and make them comfortable and happy.
And then, as was remarked, we will dedicate our houses and lands to
God, and ourselves to God, and our wives and children and everything
we have, and feel that we are the children of God and our offspring
with us. Again, if I was a woman, I would try to treat my husband
right and to make a heaven of my home, and would try to make
everything pleasant around me. You husbands now and then quarrel with
your wives, and you wives quarrel with your husbands, and you wives
sometimes quarrel with one another; I will say cease such folly, and
have another kind of feeling; and treat everybody not as they always
treat us, for that would not always be right; but let us do unto all
men as we would have them do unto us. A man came to Jesus on one
occasion, and asked him, which was the greatest commandment. The
Savior answered him: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first
and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." Can we do that? It is sometimes hard work, is
it not? We too frequently feel we would rather put two dollars in our
own pocket than one in our neighbor's, do we not? We would rather have
two or three cows than that our neighbor should have one? Is not this
the kind of feeling? "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The
law—some of us talk about law sometimes; we cannot get enough of it
in the Church, therefore we want to go outside for it. I have known,
for instance, men to go to law over water difficulties, and they would
fee the lawyers liberally, and then, of course, the streams would flow
in rich abundance, and there would be plenty of water for everybody.
[Laughter]. I remember when a little boy, seeing a somewhat curious
picture. Two farmers were quarreling over or disputing the ownership
of a cow; and one had her by the horns, the other had her by the tail.
In order to settle the difficulty they secured the services of one of
these peacemakers of the law, and his love for his fellow man was so
great that while they pulled at either end of the cow, he sat between
them quietly milking her. [Laughter]. In case of difficulty, for
difficulties will arise sometimes, would it not be better for us to
attend to the milking of the cow ourselves; and go to the Lord for His
guidance and manifest feelings of liberality and kindness towards our
fellow men, towards all men? What, would you do so with Gentiles? Yes; it would be a pity if we could not do that. Why, we are
told that the Lord "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Let us try to
be like him. We do not want much association with them; we do not want
to take counsel at their hands; we do not want to be influenced by
them; we do not want them to teach our children while they are seeking
to destroy us and to induce legislation against us, and are doing
everything they can to injure us. We will say, Father, these are thy
children as well as we are; we ask thee to put a hook in their jaws,
so that they cannot go any further than thou shalt permit them; and
the balance of their conduct we will strive to endure. Make us worthy
to be acceptable in thy sight; and if thou seest fit to let them stir
up any commotion, we will try to bear it, because we believe it will
be overruled for our good and for the advancement of thy cause in the
earth. Would I hurt them? No, if I were to see one of them hungry, I
would feed him; if I were to see them naked, I would clothe them; but
I would not give them my daughters to wife, neither would I let them
teach my children to lead them down to death. I want those to teach my
children and the children of this people who will lead them in the
paths of life. But treat everybody well, and do what is right to
everybody, and cultivate the spirit of kindness towards all. And when
you see somebody's cattle in somebody's grain, feel sufficient
interest in his welfare to go and drive them out; and try to promote
the welfare of your neighbors and make them feel as comfortable as you
can, and God will bless us, and we will bless one another.
And we will build our Temples; and what will we do with them?
Administer in them. And then we will spread the Gospel to the nations,
and teach our children the principles of intelligence and set before
them good examples. And let every father of a family feel that he
would not want his wife or wives or children to see him perform an act
that he would not have them do; and thus be prepared to say: Follow me
as I follow Christ. Let us live together in peace and union and
cultivate the Spirit of God, and sustain those who are placed to
preside over us. You have a President of the Stake, pray for him that
he may comprehend correct principles and draw near to God, and bring
down his blessings upon him. Pray for Brother Richards, and pray for
us. Here is Brother Woodruff, a faithful man; so are the balance of
us; so are many of you, good, faithful men. Well, sustain all
honorable people. We need praying for; we are all alike: we are all of
that class of whom the old lady was talking when she said: "We are all
poor, miserable, independent sinners." We all need assistance, and we
should bear with one another. And while we are seeking to do right in
many instances, let us be kind and charitable and long-suffering in
the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of the Gospel.
Brethren, God bless you; Sisters, God bless you and God bless your
institutions. Be diligent and faithful in observing the laws of God,
and the peace and blessing of God will be with you. I pray my heavenly
Father to bless this people, and to bless these lands, and all that
pertains to you, that your habitations may be habitations of peace,
that your children may grow up full of light and truth, and become no table men and women in Israel, whose names shall be known
among the honorable of the earth. Zion is onward; let us progress
along with her, and the men who at present affect to despise us
because we are so small, will by and by dread us because of our unity
and power. While the finger may be pointed in scorn at a "Mormon"
today, by and by it will be said that such and such a man was born in
Zion, for we are men and women of integrity and fidelity; that will be
the case with our posterity, who will rise up and call us blessed. And
they will esteem it the greatest honor that could be conferred upon
them, so far as the honor of this world is concerned, to have been
born in Zion; because we purpose living in such a way, that while the
world generally will grow worse and worse, our conduct will be of that
nature that we shall command the admiration of honorable men as well
as the favor of our Heavenly Father. God bless you. Amen.