Remarks

I think we should be very grateful to the Lord, who has strengthened President Woodruff and enabled him to speak to us this morning. He has endeavored to portray to us the importance of the work that is entrusted to us as Latter-day Saints. We are required to preach the Gospel, and we are all preachers of the Gospel; and as we heard from President Cannon, no other religious body has such a large percentage of ministers. Every man who has a wife is a minister of the Gospel, and is just as subject to be called upon to preach the Gospel at home and abroad as the Apostles. The Priests and Teachers, of the Lesser Priesthood, are also ministers of the Gospel. They are required to labor in the midst of gathered Israel, to teach them concerning the principles of life to see that there is no iniquity in the Church, and that all the members of the Church do their duty. ¶

The Latter-day Saints are expected to be a peculiar people, because of their lives and examples; and they are expected to preach the Gospel by example, if they are not always called upon to preach by precept. Every person who has named the name of Jesus Christ should feel the vital importance of preaching the Gospel by example, and it will have much more effect, it will be much more telling, than anything that can be said; for if we be all preachers of the Gospel and theorize beautifully, and yet are not workers and devoted followers of the Savior, our preaching will be in vain. The strength of the testimony of our President, and of his Counselors and the Elders who stand up from time to time to preach the Gospel, is in the presence of the Holy Ghost and by its power, and that is only enjoyed in answer to our devotion and to their correct lives. ¶

Latter-day Saints should be peculiar because of their temperance. They should be peculiar because of their prayerfulness. They should be remarkable because of their obedience to the requirements of the Lord; and there is an opportunity just before us now to emphasize our obedience and our willingness to answer to the requirements of the Lord, and that is in building the Salt Lake Temple—the greatest temple that has been built in this generation, and one that has become world-renowned. There is perhaps not a building in the world today that excited greater curiosity in the minds of the people of the world than does this Temple standing upon this block. Last April, when it was decided by the people to put forth all the effort and means necessary to complete that Temple by the 6th of April next, it was thought that it could be completed with about one hundred thousand dollars, or a little more; but that action was taken by the Conference without previously obtaining correct estimates in regard to the amount that was necessary for its completion, and instead of requiring one hundred thousand dollars to finish the work, it has been found to require about three hundred thousand dollars. It will take a stupendous effort upon the part of the latter-day Saints to finish that work and have it so that it may be dedicated without any indebtedness hanging over it. No doubt the Latter-day Saints are able to do it if they are determined in their own minds what each person ought to give for that purpose, and what each can afford to give. I am impressed that Israel will have to make apparently a little sacrifice in order to accomplish that work. For it will be very pleasing to President Woodruff, who has been preserved all these years, to participate in the dedication of that building. Every man should take stock of his ability, and then should be generous in judging himself; for if we judge ourselves rightly and perform the part that can justly be required of us, we will not be judged; but we will be judged if we do not judge ourselves in regard to these things. Times are somewhat close in money matters; but I believe, with the good crop that the Lord has blessed the people with this year, that if the farmers, the mechanics and the merchants will only put forth a generous hand, the hands of Bishop Winder will be fortified with means to meet his obligations. I know that the very first week after April Conference he was in straits for money, and has been measurably so, I presume, ever since, although some has been coming in. We will always feel the blessings of the Lord upon us in this direction. Temple building is one of the choicest works that has ever been required of the Saints, and this of all temples that have been built in our generation. It seems to me that it will bring us great credit to have it beautiful and well finished, and then there is the privilege that will be granted to us to go into that house at its dedication. A meeting was held of the Presidency and Apostles a short time ago, and it was decided that the dedicatory services of that Temple should be so conducted that every Latter-day Saint found worthy to go into that Temple should have the privilege of participating in those exercises, and that they should be held from day to day until all Israel shall have a chance to enter into those sacred walls and partake of the spirit and blessing of God that shall attend the dedication of that great building. When we go in there, I believe that we will feel freer in our spirits if we have finished and paid for the building, and every one who steps into that house to participate in the services will feel that he or she has done something towards the accomplishment of that work. But I wonder if there will not be Latter-day Saints who will come up here very anxious (and possibly the foremost of all) to get into that building who have done nothing. It ought not to be. Everyone who has a desire to participate in the dedication of that building, and afterwards in the labors that will be allowed therein for our salvation and for the salvation of our kindred, should feel that he has done something that is worthy of him, according to his ability, for the accomplishment of that important work. I speak of this in the presence of assembled Israel, for I feel that it is necessary. I know that throughout Zion there is a widespread feeling of anxiety to go into that house and to participate in its dedication, and the feeling should be just as widespread—and wider possibly than our ability to come to the dedication—for the completion of that building, that there shall be nothing in the way of its acceptance by the Lord. ¶

Not only should we have this feeling in relation to its completion, but also as to our preparation to go into that house, so that when we go there we will have settled all our quarrels, all our difficulties, all our hardness of heart, bitterness, jealousy and heartburnings, and that we may never do another evil thing in our lives after we have gone through that building. That is the condition the Latter-day Saints ought to be in. Our examples should be just as perfect as they can be in human nature. As I have said, the Latter-day Saints should be remarkable for their temperance; and saloons and gambling houses and everything of that kind should be left to those who are not of our faith. We ought to refrain from everything that is forbidden in the law of God. Then we ought to do everything that the Lord requires of us. We have been a lifetime now in training, in experience, in trial, in preaching the Gospel, and in our labors at home, until the Latter-day Saints today ought to be looked upon by the world as a remarkable people for their fidelity to their faith. We claim to have the only true Gospel—the Gospel that was taught by the Son of God Himself. If this position of ours is correct (and we claim that every man and woman belonging to the Church has a testimony that is true), what manner of men ought we to be? Ought we to be drinking, gambling, profane, neglecting our prayers? No, indeed. Through all Israel the Latter-day Saints ought to be remarkable to strangers who travel in their midst because of their devotion to the requirements of the Gospel, their faithfulness as husbands, their fidelity and virtue as wives, their devotion and obedience as children. And all the Latter-day Saints being devoted to the cause of God and in their attendance at worship, our houses of worship should be filled constantly on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day should be regarded as holy in the midst of the Latter-day Saints; that if there were excursion trains to the Lake, pleasure-seeking and pleasure-enjoying in the land of Zion, it could be known that these things were not supported or indulged in by the Latter-day Saints. But there is carelessness in this direction. We do not murder, we do not rob, we do not steal; we are not guilty of these grosser things, but we are careless and indifferent in those little things. There is an indifference in regard to the worship of the Lord, in regard to family prayer and in regard to the sacrament on the Sabbath day. A larger percentage of the people are thoughtless in regard to these sacred ordinances. It ought to be in our hearts a constant thought and care in preparing ourselves that we can partake of the sacrament, and that we can fellowship together. The First Presidency do this. The Twelve Apostles do this. We fellowship, we meet, we counsel, and we report to each other, and renew our faith and fellowship for one another. We also partake of the sacrament together, as time and opportunity offer, and counsel together for the good of Israel. So it ought to be with all the leading quorums. The Presidents of stakes should meet together; High Councils should meet together, and they should counsel together for the interests of their stakes. Bishops of wards, with their counselors should meet together in solemn council and consult over the affairs of their wards and the condition of their people, so that they can at any moment report the percentage of faithful and devoted Latter-day Saints in their bishopric. This labor ought to be take up and followed more faithfully than it has been. Then everything that will tend to the advancement, improvement and encouragement of the people in the wards and in the Stakes should have consideration at the hands of leading men; and if evils exist among the people, such as intemperance, profanity, neglect of the Word of Wisdom or of prayer, and a disregard of the sacrament on the Sabbath day or of the law of tithing, there ought to be energetic, faithful laborers among the people, correcting them, counselling them, so that they may be thoroughly fitted and prepared for the responsibilities that rest upon them. The Lord seems to have understood, in the organization of His Church and the revelation of the Gospel ordinances, that it would take great and careful labor to save the people and to preserve them from the evils of mortality, that do so easily beset them. Hence He has arranged that every faithful man in entitled to the Priesthood. Now, I want to know if an Elder in Israel cannot take care of himself. Is it necessary that a teacher should be on my track? Is it necessary that my president or my neighbor should always be upon my heels to try and keep me sober, honest, virtuous, or from doing wrong? I understand that every man should take care of himself, and should be a savior for himself. I understand that God requires of us to be the workers of righteousness and to bring to pass much righteousness individually. The power is within us. The knowledge and the authority are given to us that enable us to do this. Every man who has attained to the Melchizedek Priesthood should have the strength and power of God to do His will, and to be an upright man, and one that, instead of needing to be taught, is a teacher and an exemplar in the midst of the people. God requires that of you, my brethren, and we will be brought to an account sooner or later. I grieve sometimes over my own conduct and weaknesses, when I know that I must account for my folly; and I do repent, and I make reformation, and I am anxious to make all the reformation that is necessary for my salvation; and every Elder in Israel certainly can be as good as I can be. We can do what is right. We can tell the truth. We can be honest, virtuous, just, merciful and forgiving. This is what is required of us. I can set a good example before the people among whom I travel. This is required of me; but I say it is not required of me any more than it is of the deacon. Any man that has had the hands of God’s servants upon his head and has received a portion of His Holy Priesthood, is required to be an exemplary man; and an exemplary man is a man who sets good examples, and not bad ones. The Lord has given us the Priesthood for our salvation. It is the power of God, and we ought to exercise it; and then when people of the world come into the borders of the Latter-day Saints, they will find them most exemplary. They may believe they are deluded, simple and foolish, but they will find them consistent in their lives, upright and exemplary in all things. This should be the record of the Latter-day Saints throughout the world. I want to make that record. I know President Woodruff and his Counselors make that record; and these Apostles make that record, and the Seventies, the High Priests and the Elders ought to make it. ¶

That is the kind of men we should be when we go into that Temple. I want to go into the Temple next April. I pray for that, and I am watching and guarding myself, and trying to prepare myself, that when I go in there there shall be nothing faulty in my being or in my spirit; that I shall feel well towards the Latter-day Saints, and that the Latter-day Saints shall feel well towards me. I want your full fellowship, that when you hear that the Apostles have gone into the Temple of the Lord, the faith, the fellowship and the blessing of all Israel will go in there with Brother Lyman, so that there will be nothing in the world to hinder him from enjoying the full flow of the spirit and power of God. And that should be the case with all the brethren—not only the Presidency and the Apostles, but all the quorums, and also all the sisters; that the power of God may be manifested, and that there shall be no division of sentiment, no bitterness of feeling in the hearts of the people, that will check the free flow and presence of the spirit and power of God. Let us remember now for the next six months, and reform wherever it is necessary; purify our bodies and our spirits, and prepare ourselves that there shall be nothing in the way of our going into that sacred house. Not only then should we reform. You know we sometimes take occasion at New Year and other times to make reformation; but I believe it is a suitable time for us to repent every day. Make the reformation that is necessary today, not waiting for any other time or opportunity. When we bow before the Lord morning and evening, we should tell Him all our failings and weaknesses, and ask Him to make us strong and enable us to perform our duties, that we may be acceptable to Him, and that we may obtain all that it is possible for us to obtain in this life. We do not expect to live forever in our present condition; but there are many answers to our prayers that are within our reach if we will but live for them. The sick may be healed, and in many other ways we may be blessed of the Lord in our families, if we have open communication with the Lord. President Woodruff and all the brethren have an altar. Every family should meet together morning and evening around the family altar, and their prayers should ascend to the Lord, and if they are worthy, those prayers are heard. The heavens are always open above such family circles and to such prayers. The Lord is anxious to bless us; in fact, He does bless us, much more, I think, than we are entitled to. I think He advances His blessings and gives them to us on credit very frequently, and we ought to meet Him with our faithfulness and fidelity, so that His blessings may be still increased upon us, until we will be in open communion, by the Spirit of God, with our Father who dwells in heaven, and be so settled and established in the principles of the Gospel that we will be unshaken. Then we will have a power with us that will encircle our children, and that will keep them from gambling, from profanity, from corruption, and that will establish in their hearts the love of the Lord and of His principles—a love of sacred temples and of the holy labors that have to be done therein for the salvation of men. Then we shall be proud of them and pleased with them, and they will bring honor to us; and when we are weak and feeble, tottering toward the grave—when our feet stumble and slip, we shall have some around us that are so firmly established that they can come to our rescue and help us, if we happen to need it. ¶

God bless Israel, that their hearts may be open and free, and their hands ready and willing to accomplish this great work that is just ahead of us and them, that we may be fully prepared to enter into that sacred house, and to do everything else in the future that God requires of us as His Saints, that we may have salvation and exaltation in His celestial kingdom, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶