Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending a meeting here, which, to
me, was filled with riches—with treasures of good. Today we have met
in the capacity of a General Conference—the Thirty-first Annual
Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thirty
years ago today, the Church was organized with six members. And we
will occupy this day in serving the Lord by instructing and
encouraging each other, and by testifying of the things the Lord has
revealed to us.
Some may suppose that I have the business of the Conference
prearranged, but such is not the case. I seldom take thought for
tomorrow upon such subjects. When morning comes, I try and be
prepared for the business the Lord manifests should be done. I came
here in that mind this morning, and knew no more about the manner in
which this Conference will be conducted, with regard to its details,
than you do, until I came here. Since I came into the house, my
feelings and the circumstances have prompted me to say that we will
hear further testimony from the brethren. Yesterday, several in the
body of the house had the privilege of speaking; and this forenoon I
wish to have the Twelve, the Seventies, and the High Priests give us
five or ten minutes' sermons from the stand.
I can testify to you, as I have to many congregations of Saints and
sinners, that the Lord has revealed his will from the heavens,
bestowed the holy Priesthood upon the children of men, and made us
the happy partakers thereof. Most, if not all, assembled here this
morning have felt the Divine influence of the Holy Ghost shed
forth in their hearts: it has awakened them out of their sleep and out
of their ignorance, and begun to teach them eternal things. This work
is true. The Lord has bestowed the holy Priesthood upon the children
of men, by which alone they can be prepared to enter into the
celestial kingdom of our God.
How many Gods there are, and how many places there are in their
kingdoms, is not for me to say; but I can say this, which is a source
of much comfort, consolation, and gratification to me: Behold the
goodness, the long-suffering, the kindness, and the strong parental
feeling of our Father and God in preparing the way and providing the
means to save the children of men—not alone the Latter-day Saints—not
those alone who have the privilege of the first principles of the
celestial law, but to save all. It is a universal salvation—a
universal redemption. Do not conclude that I am a Universalist, as the
term is generally understood, although that doctrine is true in part,
like the doctrines or professions of all professing Christians. As was
stated yesterday by one of those who spoke, when he was a Methodist,
he enjoyed a portion of the Spirit of the Lord. Hundreds of those now
present have had a like experience in a greater or less degree, before
they joined this Church. Then, when we inquire who will be saved, I
answer, All will be saved, as Jesus said, when speaking to the
Apostles, except the sons of perdition. They will be saved through the
atonement and their own good works, according to the law that is given
to them. Will the heathen be saved? Yes, so far as they have lived
according to the best light and intelligence they had; but not in the
celestial kingdom. Who will not be saved? Those who have received the
truth, or had the privilege of receiving it, and then re jected it.
They are the only ones who will become the sons of perdition, go into
everlasting punishment, and become angels to the Devil.
The Priesthood the Lord has again bestowed upon those who will receive
it, is for the express purpose of preparing them to become proficient
in the principles pertaining to the law of the celestial kingdom. If
we obey this law, preserve it inviolate, live according to it, we
shall be prepared to enjoy the blessings of a celestial kingdom. Will
any others? Yes, thousands and millions of the inhabitants of the
earth who would have received and obeyed the law that we preach, if
they had had the privilege. When the Lord shall bring again Zion, and
the watchmen shall see eye to eye, and Zion shall be established,
saviors will come upon Mount Zion and save all the sons and daughters
of Adam that are capable of being saved, by administering for them. Is
not this pleasing? Is it not gratifying? Is it not a consoling feeling
and influence upon the mind of every intelligent being? Our former
views were that the majority of the inhabitants of the earth would not
be saved in any kind of a kingdom of glory, but would inherit a
kingdom of damnation. Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you, that where I am ye may be also." In other words, "I go
to prepare a place for you who have received and obeyed the celestial
law, which I have committed to you." The celestial is the highest of
all. The telestial and terrestrial are also spoken of; and how many
more kingdoms of glory there are is not for me to say. I do not know
that they are not innumerable. This is a source of great joy to me.
One of the brethren, yesterday, felt so rejoiced, under like
reflections, that he said he could pray for the devils in hell,
if it would do any good. It is not for us to pray for them, because
they have become sons of perdition. You may pray for your
persecutors—for those who hate you, and revile you, and speak all
manner of evil of you, if they do it ignorantly; but if they do it
understandingly, justice must take its course in regard to them; and
except they repent, they will become sons of perdition. This is my
testimony.
The vision given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon is the greatest
vision I ever knew given to the children of men, incorporating more in
a few pages than any other revelation I have any knowledge of. "This
is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore
record unto us," state Joseph and Sidney, "That he came into the
world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins
of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all
unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved whom the Father
had put into his power and made by him; Who glorifies the Father, and
saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who
deny the Son after the Father has revealed him. Wherefore he saves all
except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment."
Will the Methodists be saved? Yes. Will other sects? Yes. I think you
could not now find an Elder in this Church who would rise up in a
congregation and tell you that John Wesley is weltering in hell. Have
the Elders ever preached such a doctrine? Yes, some of them have
preached that all the Reformers, from the days of Christ and the
Apostles until Joseph Smith received the Priesthood, must be damned. I
do not think that you could now hear such doctrine from any of them.
There is a chance for those who have lived and for those who now live.
The Gospel has come. Truth and light and righteousness are sent forth
into the world, and those who receive them will be saved in the
celestial kingdom of God. And many of those who, through ignorance,
through tradition, superstition, and the erroneous precepts of the
fathers, do not receive them, will yet inherit a good and glorious
kingdom, and will enjoy more and receive more than ever entered into
the heart of man to conceive, unless he has had a revelation.
My heart is comforted. I behold the people of God, that they have been
hunted, cast out, driven from the face of men. The powers of earth and
hell have striven to destroy this kingdom from the earth. The wicked
have succeeded in doing so in former ages; but this kingdom they
cannot destroy, because it is the last dispensation—because it is the
fulness of times. It is the dispensation of all dispensations, and
will excel in magnificence and glory every dispensation that has ever
been committed to the children of men upon this earth. The Lord will
bring again Zion, redeem his Israel, plant his standard upon the
earth, and establish the laws of his kingdom, and those laws will
prevail. No law can issue from man or from any body of men to govern
and control in eternal things; consequently, those laws must come from
heaven to govern and control both Saint and sinner, believer and
unbeliever, and every character upon the earth; and they will be
issued according to the capacity, knowledge, and mode of life of the
people to whom they are promulgated.
I will now call upon the brethren in the stand to speak, and let you
have our testimony, strength, and faith, as we have received yours
yesterday.
God bless you! Amen.