Discourse

He bore testimony to the increased faith and good works of the Latter-day Saints. He could endorse, in that regard, the statements made by Elder Taylor. Recently he had been on a trip as far south as St. George. He had seen the people leave their vocations and turn out to meetings, filling the halls where they were held to overflowing. This was a result of the opposition directed against the Church. History thus repeats itself; opposition to those whose cause is right only serves to strengthen them and render them more resolute. Before the present phase of things set in, not a few of the Saints had apparently forgotten the purpose for which they gathered from the lands of their nativity. Opposition had caused many of them to return to their first love, and to increase their affection for the truth. If the Saints desired the things of the world in place of the righteousness of the kingdom of God; if they can labor to that end, they can gain their object, but it requires energy to accomplish this. But if this endeavor absorbs the interest that should be taken in the things of the kingdom, they will languish spiritually, on the same principle that the things of this world can be obtained by blending every energy toward their attainment. Some people, however, seem to think that the things of God can be obtained without effort. This is erroneous. We must earn what we obtain. In ministering among the people it is found that where people do not live their religion blessings are slow to come, because the laws upon which they are predicated have not been fulfilled. In instances where the laws of the Gospel have been lived up to, faith could be exercised by the ministering servants of God, and the desired results follow. In this Church, one man is not dependent upon another for light and for a testimony of the truth of the Gospel. Were it not for this fact, our position would indeed appear hopeless. All are entitled to the revelation of the Holy Spirit to guide them in their several spheres as much as the President of the Church is to obtain revelation for the guidance of the community as an entirety. But this inestimable blessing can only be attained and enjoyed by making the necessary effort. ¶

Some men go into the world and instead of preaching the pure principles of the Gospel as revealed from heaven, ridicule and tear down the religions of the day. The effect of this is to induce persecution. Men who tear down the religious houses (theories) of the day before depicting a better dwelling and inviting them within, are simply persecuted for their own want of wisdom and not for the truth’s sake. Those who claim to have faith and charity and do not sustain those pretensions with works in harmony with such professions; they are spiritually dead, and only fit to be lopped off from the religion's tree, which will be the more healthy by being thus denuded. The trouble that will come upon the Saints will be so overwhelming that nothing but the power of God will enable them to endure. He who does not live so as to enjoy it will inevitably fall by the way. He who keeps the commandments of God has no reason to fear, no matter what may transpire. ¶