My brethren and sisters, I am pleased to meet you in this General
Conference, and although it is a great task to undertake to speak to
so large an audience, I am willing to undertake my part if you will
give me your faith and prayers, and the Lord will bless me with His
Spirit. The work that engages our attention is more remarkable than
any work that the Lord has ever commenced upon the earth. The
determination of our Heavenly Father that this work shall stand
forever, that it shall not be taken from the earth nor be given to
another people, is one of its important features. And I sometimes fear
that we do not feel as ambitious, as energetic to do our part, to bear
the responsibility that he designs to come upon our shoulders, that we
are not as careful as we ought to be in observing his laws and
requirements; that we do not appreciate them and prize them as we
ought to. If we did we would not sin; if we did we would every day of
our lives seek to know the mind and will of the Father; to have His
Spirit to be present with us, prompting and inspiring and urging us
forward to the accomplishment of the purposes of the Lord. We forget
the early love of the Gospel. We are too much swallowed up, perhaps,
in the making of a living, in obtaining the comforts of this life and
a little more of this world's goods. We ought to labor; we ought to be
industrious; we ought to seek to gather from the elements means that
would sustain us, to clothe us, to build our habitations, and to
enable us materially to build up the kingdom of God. But as the spirit
and body are one, and grow together, sympathizing with each other, the
spirit giving life to the body, without which the body cannot live at
all, so it should be with us in regard to the things of the kingdom.
The Spirit of the Lord should be first, the life, the energy that
should propel us to the performance of our temporal duties. In
cultivating the earth, in buying and selling, in caring for the wealth
of the world, our object should be to supply our necessities, to make
ourselves comfortable, to keep us alive, to keep us in good condition;
but the chief part of our lives should be used in works of
righteousness, of charity, seeking to improve the spiritual condition
of man, to develop the intellectual man, to develop the moral man, and
to gain favor with our heavenly Father; and to lay up treasures in
this life that can be taken hence with us. We are not ambitious enough
to excel in doing good. We are ambitious enough to excel in obtaining
wealth—and yet I do not know that it ought to be called wealth. President
Taylor gave a very nice explanation of true wealth yesterday. Quoting
from the revelation of God to us which says, "He that hath eternal
life is rich," and applying those words to our late Brother, Orson
Pratt, he said, pointing to his remains, "There lies the body of a
rich man." We all know that Brother Pratt was not rich in this world's
goods, but it can be safely said of him, that he is rich—rich in the
things of God. What he has done and accomplished is more than all the
wealth of the world, the gold and the silver, the diamonds and
precious stones, the houses and lands, and the cattle on a thousand
bills; for he has earned the title of a son of God, and he cannot be
robbed of it, having been true to the end and faithful to his latest
breath.
Well now, what of worldly wealth, what of houses and lands, flocks and
herds? They bring care and responsibility and trouble, that is if we
have too much of them, and if we do not use them properly and rightly.
If a man is endowed with the Holy Ghost; if he has first and foremost
the kingdom of God and the righteousness of our heavenly Father, let
wealth flow unto him as it may, he will use it properly; he
will remember the poor, he will pay his tithing, he will give
liberally for the building of Temples, for the supporting of the
families of missionaries, and for the building up of home industries.
The more wealth a man has, the better if he has the Spirit of God to
guide him in its use. The kingdom of God must be built up with means.
Money is necessary in some instances with us today. I presume the
Trustee-in-Trust finds money very necessary to supply certain
materials in the building of Temples; and the men working on them need
some money to procure some of the necessaries of life, and probably,
in some instances, the unnecessaries of life. Money is necessary to
supply these demands, and we cannot very well get along without it,
not as well as we could when there was none here. But it is not
necessary that a man should be contaminated with wealth. If wealth
necessarily contaminated and destroyed life or destroyed man, what
should we say of our Father who dwells in heaven, for His wealth is
boundless. The wealth of the world is only borrowed for a little
season. The wealth of our millionaires does not belong to them in
reality, it is not theirs, not a dollar of it; they are entitled to
use and to enjoy the benefit of it; in other words, they are stewards
over it for the present time. If the wealth they possess were theirs,
they would take it with them; they would not divide it among their
friends, they would take it with them. That is, that amount which they
hold to in this world. They would still cling to it tenaciously if it
were possible to take it with them. Of course, I except that which
they distribute before hand; and I am not sure but what to me would be
less generous in the distribution of that wealth even to their
children if they could take it with them. But they know they cannot do
this, hence they divide it as they see fit before they are released
from their stewardship. These means are necessary. God has made this
earth. He put in every vein of gold and silver and iron and precious
metal, etc. He has given fertility to the earth; and he has done these
things by His own power. And He has a right to say what shall be done
with them. He has a right to say to us, when you cultivate the earth,
"I require you to give me one tenth of all that is produced, and the
nine-tenths you are welcome to use for your own support, and for the
accomplishment of my purposes. But I require this of you as an
acknowledgement that you are using the earth that belongs to me."
Why should the Lord require this? There is a philosophical reason for
it, there is a philosophical reason why He should require us to have
faith in Him, He being the owner of the earth has the right to direct
and control in regard to it, and to all who come upon it, hence it is
necessary that we should have faith in Him. For He is the foundation
of life, the fountain of intelligence, the fountain of knowledge, of
happiness, of joy; and He knows exactly what is good for us. He knows
every particle of experience that we pass through, that is necessary
for us. And this earth has been brought together and arranged
according to eternal principles, eternal laws, by which other worlds
have been made, and by which other worlds will yet be made, that are
behind us, that will follow this earth. The Lord is well acquainted
with these things; and the revelation of the Gospel is intended to
give unto us knowledge in regard to these eternal laws, that
we may go parallel with them, walk with them and by them, in order
that we may be saved—saved from sin and sorrow, saved from death,
saved from destruction, saved from evil, and be blessed and rewarded
for our fidelity and faithfulness to those laws.
In the first place, God requires us to have faith in Him, because it
is not possible to please Him without faith. If we do not have faith
in Him, we will not listen to Him, we will not accept His word, we
will not be led and counseled by Him, hence it is necessary that this
principle should be and abide with the Latter-day Saints.
It is necessary, too, that we repent and turn away from sin, and work
righteousness. I would to the Lord that all Israel had thus worked up
to this day, from the time we embraced the Gospel, that we had done
right from that time until now, that our sins should all be forgiven
us. We cannot have our sins forgiven, and continue in sin. That would
not be rational; it would not be philosophical. We will find that
every requirement that God has made upon us tends to direct us in the
strait and narrow path. But when I consider the organization of the
kingdom of God, the Priesthood that he has restored to us, crowned
with the First Presidency and the Apostleship, giving to us every
quorum in the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods, setting all things
in order; and requiring every man and woman to be prayerful morning
and evening, and to remember our secret prayers; to pay our tithing;
to build Temples; to perform missions; to partake of the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper every Sabbath day—and the various duties that are
required of the several quorums of Priesthood: it does seem to me that
the Lord has been well acquainted with man's situation and necessities
here, to arrange so many safeguards and provisions, for caring for the
people, looking after them, and feeling after them, directing them,
counseling and advising them, and holding them to the strait and
narrow way into which they have been led by faith. And not only do
they need to be planted in the strait way, but it is necessary that
all those requirements be made upon them, and that they listen to
them, and heed them in order that they may be kept in that way through
life. For there is another power in the world that is working
assiduously and faithfully, by night and day, to destroy the children
of men and defeat the will of God, and to thwart His plans. And it is
the business of that power to destroy man, to turn him from the
service of God to the service of the Evil One. And hence the necessity
of all this carefulness, these detailed plans and regulations urged in
the Gospel of Christ, to keep men in the strait and narrow path. And
with all this, some of Israel will go over the wall, they cannot be
kept in. They will break out in spite of all the guards and bulwarks
thrown around them. And the Spirit of the Lord which we received when
we embraced the Gospel, and that was intended to be with us always, is
grieved and driven from us because of our want of fidelity and
humility, and because of our carelessness in the observance of the
laws of God.
I spoke somewhat in regard to the ambition that Latter-day Saints
should have, which I think has somewhat cooled in the Elders of
Israel. If it was in the obtaining of a good country; if in colonizing Arizona, for instance, we had found an admirable country like
Illinois, like Ohio and the Mississippi Valley and the Middle States
that are watered by the rains and the dews of heaven, if we had found
a country like that in Arizona or Western Colorado, or in Southeastern
Utah, in Southern Idaho, in Eastern Nevada or Western Wyoming, broad
acres inviting people to come in and take up large farms, we would be
ambitious enough. There are railroads that are being built in the
country; we are ambitious enough to take contracts and work in their
construction. The Latter-day Saints cannot be charged with being
idlers, but on the contrary, they are working themselves to death, in
many instances. They are not a slothful people, if they were they
never would have been satisfied with this country, and subdued it as
they have. The spirit of the Lord has prompted them to industry. But
it seems to me that our desire to work carries us to such an extent
that we have little time to devote to the performance of our religious
duties. We have not been so prompt in attending to our prayers, and to
our meetings; our time and attention seem to be absorbed in getting
teams and wagons, horses and lands, and clothing and food for
ourselves and families. In early times we did not take our meals so
regularly; food was not so plentiful, neither was it so easily
obtained, consequently we did not get the variety nor so much of it as
we do today. Circumstances have changed; and as the earth answers to
the labors of the husbandman, we put on better clothing, we set our
tables more sumptuously, and our homes are altogether better
furnished. We eat more and drink more; we eat extravagantly and we
drink to excess of things that are proper to be taken, and of things
that are improper and should not be indulged in.
This is not right, and the Lord is not pleased with those who do it.
And it is the duty of every one bearing the holy Priesthood, to make
his voice heard against extravagance and evil. But first of all let
him see that he himself is free from that which he would denounce in
others. He should himself observe the law which God has revealed as to
what we should eat and what we should drink. The Lord knows exactly
what men should do and how they should live in order to obtain
happiness, the realization of which is the object or life. There are a
variety of ways in which men seek happiness, which, however, result in
their sorrow. But there is no sorrow to be found or experienced in
keeping the commandments of God. It is true, we may have to face
death, and perhaps meet it; we may suffer from the loss of property,
and have to endure persecution; but when we suffer such experience by
reason of our rendering service to God, it promotes eternal joy in the
soul of man. Our mission as Elders should be from now on to vie with
each other in doing the works of righteousness, and in living humble
and pure lives. In this we will find wealth and joy, and I desire to
say to you that the Elder, the Priest, Teacher or Deacon—and the term
Elder covers every man bearing the Melchizedek Priesthood—who neglects
these things, will be found sorrowing; he will be found mourning;
that, he did not fill his mission—and every man is on a mission upon
whose head the hands of the servants of God have been placed,
conferring upon him the holy Priesthood; all such persons are
missionaries. And we should not wait to be called to the Old
Country or elsewhere, or to be set apart as Home Missionaries, or to
be Bishops or Presidents of Stakes, High Councilors, etc. For I say
unto you that every man who has received any portion of the Priesthood
is a missionary; and the salvation of the world, to a certain extent,
rests upon his shoulders. And the man who neglects his duty will see a
day of sorrow for his neglect.
Then, I exhort you, my brethren, as your fellow laborer, and as a
servant of the Lord, to be diligent in observing to keep the
commandments of God, to magnify the holy Priesthood that the Lord,
through his servants, has placed upon you. We are expected to be
saviors, working in conjunction with our elder brother, Jesus, and
also in conjunction with our deceased friend and brother, Apostle
Orson Pratt, who has gone to continue his labors in another sphere.
When did Brother Pratt allow his mind to be idle? He exercised it
continually in the right direction; he labored and studied; the bent
of his ambition lay in searching the Scriptures, ancient and modern,
and seeking to become acquainted with the Lord. Hence he became
profound in knowledge, a man possessing the true riches, a servant of
the living God, who has gone to reap his reward—gone from his sorrow,
from his weariness and from his labors in this life, and, as was
remarked yesterday, he will find his quorum, he will find his place
therein, and will abide with the saved, exalted and redeemed and those
who have "fought the good fight and kept the faith." May this be said
of us! But if it is said, it will be because we labor better in the
future than we have done in the past.
Let every man look into his own heart! Let every man ask himself this
question: Has this tongue of mine been used to the very best
advantage? Have I spoken words of counsel to my neighbor? Have I
taught my wives, my children, my brothers and my sisters as I ought?
Has my mouth always been willing to give forth counsel to the world?
Have I shrunk from bearing testimony of the truth? If you have in the
past do not do it in the future. This life is not very long. We are
only here for a little while. We are here to obtain experience. That
is the object of our being, and the Lord has revealed unto us the
Gospel, and we should be faithful. When we look over the world and
find it teeming with millions of people who have not a knowledge of
the truth—and many of them just as honest as we are in their worship,
but they know not the truth, they have not sought after it, and in
some instances they have been so educated and so prejudiced, and have
taken error for truth, until they do not know the truth when they hear
it—what a boon it is to us that God has given us a spirit by which we
may know the truth and not be deceived! What a great gift and boon
this is, and it ought to make us good husbands, good wives, good
parents, good children, good neighbors, good men and women, laboring
for the salvation of the human family.
We cannot be Saints without the spirit of the Lord. And as I said
before in regard to these ordinances and requirements, they all tend
in their particular place and time to keep us in the strait and narrow
path. Hence upon the Sabbath we partake of the sacrament, and thus
renew our covenants with the Lord, we fellowship each other, and we
ask the Father to forgive the sins of the past and desire to have His Spirit to be with us in the future. This we do every Sabbath
day, prayers every morning, prayers every night, prayers secretly
every day of our lives; and when this is the case with the Latter-day
Saints, when they partake of the sacrament worthily, and do not eat
and drink condemnation to their own souls, there will be less sickness
and less quarrels among us, and the spirit of the Lord will brood over
Zion.
I have thought that if we as Elders of Israel would seek to obtain a
knowledge as to why these principles are given to us and their force
and effect upon us, we could then explain them better to our families
than we can today. But we have been satisfied by receiving a portion
of the spirit of the Lord. We have not progressed as we should; we
have yielded obedience to the ordinance of baptism, but we have not
gone forward as we ought to have done. Possibly we have gathered with
the Saints into these valleys, but individually we have settled down
more or less to follow the ways of the world, to the making of means,
to the cultivation of our farms, etc. We send our children to school,
it is true; but there is not that system of education, there is not
that training and teaching of the sons by the mothers that ought to
be. We have grown more or less careless regarding these things; we
have become somewhat wrapped up in the things of the world. But I tell
you that every Elder in Israel ought to feel like saying, "Father, use
me as thou wilt. Give me power to magnify my calling and Priesthood,
so that when contagious diseases come into the land I may look unto
Thee for help." By observing the Word of Wisdom, I believe that many of
the calamities which come upon us as families could be averted; not
that we would live forever; but I do believe that many would be saved
unto us that are taken away because of our want of faith and because
we break the laws which have been revealed unto us. When a man is
doing right he has remarkable courage. You know it is said that sin
makes cowards of us all. Now, the man that would approach the Father
should not be a coward. In approaching the throne of grace, we should
do so with humility, but with frankness, asking in faith, believing
that the Lord will give.
Take my exhortation, my brethren and sisters, and observe the laws of
the Lord; become acquainted with them, practice them in your lives,
and let your time be employed from this day henceforth in observing
the laws of God, that we may have His salvation and blessing in this
life and exaltation in the life to come. May the Lord bless you.
Amen.
- Francis M. Lyman