The Power of Faith

I have never attended a conference since I have been a member of this Church—now nearly sixty years—at which I have refused, when called upon by the proper authority and the Spirit of God, to speak and to bear my testimony according to the light that I had in me, and I disliked to pass over this conference without saying something. I have been in poor condition for public speaking, having had a severe cold upon my lungs during the past week, which has prevented me from doing almost any kind of business. ¶

I have been deeply interested in the testimonies of the servants of God who have addressed us during this conference. They have laid before us many great truths. My mind rests upon the subject of faith. Faith is the first principle of the Gospel. What is faith? Paul, in writing to the Hebrews, undertakes to explain it. He says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;” and to prove this he goes on to tell what different men accomplished through faith. (See xi chap. of Hebrews.) I look upon faith as one of the most important principles that God ever revealed to man. Here we have four temples in these mountains, and hundreds of people are laboring in them. Who for? Both for the living and the dead. Why do they labor for the dead? Have they ever seen the resurrection of the dead? No, except by vision or revelation. But they have faith in it, and as an evidence of that faith they perform this work. They look forward to the resurrection and eternal judgment, to the celestial kingdom and the great blessings which God has revealed for the salvation and exaltation of the children of men. They do this by faith, and it is by this power that they have accomplished what they have during the last sixty years. By faith this tabernacle has been built these temples have been reared, and these people have been gathered from the nations of the earth. Thousands of Elders have been called, not from colleges, but from the various occupations of life, and sent forth into the world to preach the Gospel without money and without price. Now for many years they have gone forth and preached this Gospel. Men have listened to them, and some spirit or power has convinced them that the testimony which these Elders have borne was true. These humble men of God have gone forth and said: “The fullness of the everlasting Gospel has been revealed by the administration of angels; the Lord has raised up prophets and inspired men; He has organized the Church on the earth as it was in the days of Jesus Christ and the Apostles; we have brought you this Gospel; hearken to it, and we promise you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will receive our testimony, repent of your sins, go down into the water and be baptized for the remission of your sins, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, that shall bear record and witness unto you that what we say is true.” What has been the result of this? Thousands have believed that testimony and proved that it was true. These Elders labored by faith; they traveled by faith; they worked by faith. It was faith that sustained them all the way through. They traveled without purse and scrip, and through their faith the God of heaven fed and clothed them, and opened the way before them. This has been the case now for sixty years. And many people believed the testimony of these simple men. They repented of their sins, were baptized for the remission of them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; they received that Holy Ghost, and it bore testimony to them of the truths of the Gospel. ¶

Brethren and sisters, it is by faith that you are here today, gathered from the nations of the earth. By that power you have been sustained, until you have accomplished these things that are now before you in your history. We ought to look at these things as they are. We ought to have faith, not only in what is past but in what is to come. It is by faith that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead. Our forefathers are in the spirit world. They died without the Gospel. They never saw the face of a prophet or an apostle. They laid down their bodies, and their spirits went into the spirit world. There they have listened to the Gospel of Christ. Jesus taught the Gospel in the spirit world while His body lay in the tomb. Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and those Elders of Israel who have been martyred and who have died for the word of God and testimony of Jesus have gone to preach this Gospel there. Spirits in prison have received their testimony. The prison doors have been opened. These spirits will come forth in the morning of the resurrection, and they will receive these blessings and glories, the same as if they had heard and received the Gospel in the flesh. And these Latter-day Saints have built these temples and gone to work in them with just as much assurance of the truth of these things as though it had been sounded in their ears by the trump of the archangel of God. They have had this faith, and they will not be disappointed. ¶

That is the condition the Latter-day Saints are in today. As to opposition, we may expect that, because the arch-enemy has labored against the work of God in all ages of the world. But we have reason to rejoice and to be thankful to our Heavenly Father that we are as well as we are today before Him. I want the Latter-day Saints to bear in mind that the ancient patriarchs and prophets spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the truth. The Lord has said just what He meant, and meant what He said. The word of the Lord will never fall unfulfilled. If you want to know what is coming to pass, read the revelations of God in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon and in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The revelations of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith are glorious revelations. What the Lord promised in the commencement of this work has been fulfilled to the very letter up to the present. So it will continue. We should lay these things to heart. ¶

There has been a good deal said with regard to our temporal affairs. That is all right. What the brethren have said concerning our temporal condition is of importance to us. I still am of the opinion that inasmuch as Zion is going to be built up on the earth, it is the mind and will of God that we should do something for ourselves. We ought to cultivate the earth. We ought not to wait for the world to come and plant and dig our potatoes, or plant and harvest our wheat, or to build railroads and carry them on. The Presidency of the Church have shouldered a very heavy load connected with this sugar factory. Why should we not make sugar? Utah sends a very great amount every year out of the Territory for sugar. This should not be. The soil is here and the talent is here to raise beets and to make sugar. Why should not the Latter-day Saints do this and keep their money at home? Is there any sin in this? Not at all; the more of these things we would do, the better, I think, the Lord would be pleased with us. I know there has been quite a feeling one way or another, because we have burdened ourselves with these labors. But it is our duty to try to get the Latter-day Saints to cultivate the earth and to produce what they eat and drink and what they wear. We have tried to do this. It is true, it cost a great deal to establish the sugar plant, and the Church had to shoulder a great measure of responsibility in connection with it, in order to carry it out. I do not think we have done wrong in that. When I go before my Father in heaven I am willing to bear my part of the responsibility, because if there is anything on earth that I was ever moved upon by the Spirit to do it was to unite in that enterprise with my brethren. I believe it is our duty to manufacture what we use, as far as we can, at home. We refer to these temporal things because they are and always will be connected with us. ¶

I feel to rejoice myself that we are as well off as we are. There has never been a period when we have been any better off than we are today. I look back to the days when we came here. We found a barren desert. The man that led us here was Brigham Young. He was a prophet, seer and revelator. He was never destitute of revelation from the day that I first knew him until his body was laid in the tomb. He was a great man—a man of God. We see the result of his work here. He was our architect, so to speak. He fulfilled his mission in a great and wonderful manner, and when he laid his body down he went to mingle with his brethren and the Gods. ¶

The Gospel of Christ is true. The Zion of God is true. We are here in fulfillment of the revelations and visions of the ancient patriarchs and prophets. Read Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets, and see what they said. We came here by the revelations of God. Many of the brethren felt it hard to leave our beautiful Nauvoo and to go to the mountains. Had we not done this, some of the revelations of God would have fallen unfulfilled. I say to the Latter-day Saints, have faith. Let us have faith in the promises and revelations of God. Do you comprehend what is manifest in the earth today? The seeds of destruction are everywhere. The judgments of God are beginning to go forth. But who acknowledges the hand of God in these things? I rejoice that the cloud of darkness is being lifted from the eyes of our countrymen in regard to the Latter-day Saints, and that they are manifesting kindness towards us. Speaking of our visit East, I confess it was marvelous in my eyes to see how different these things are today to what they have been in the past. They begin to see that the people in the mountains of Israel are white men, and that they have some talent. I thank God for these things. I thank Him for the kindness we have received at the hands of the friends of our nation. My prayer to God is that His blessings may rest upon our nation and upon the leaders thereof, and that the spirit of liberty, of law, of righteousness and of truth may rest upon all American citizens and everybody that dwells under this great government. It is one of the greatest governments God ever raised upon the earth. What has it been raised up for? That in the midst of it the Lord might establish His Zion and His work. ¶

Brethren and sisters, let us be true and faithful to our duties and to our God. Let us look forward to the exaltation and the blessings that God has in store for those who keep His commandments. Every man will be judged according to the deeds done in the body. There are laws celestial, laws terrestrial, and laws telestial. We speak of the celestial glory and of the heavenly hosts. Who are the heavenly hosts? They are those who have tabernacled on this earth, been faithful to God, and passed behind the veil. And they are interested in the welfare of the inhabitants of the earth. They are interested in the salvation of the human family. They have labored for it in the flesh; they do so today in the spirit world. These are the people we look to by faith. We are here upon a mission. We are trying to fulfil that mission. I hope we may be true and faithful to it. ¶

I am thankful before the Lord for the blessings that I have enjoyed in this conference and for the testimonies I have heard from these Apostles. They speak as men having authority, inspired by the Spirit of God, and they speak the truth. Many of our friends that have labored with us have passed away. We ourselves shall pass away in our time. I may say that if it had not been for the prayers of these thousands of Latter-day Saints, I today should have been mingling with my brethren in the spirit world. I know that I have been preserved by the prayers of my brethren and sisters, and I am still with you. I feel very weak, and hardly qualified to magnify my calling as an Apostle, as the leader of the people of Israel; in fact, no man is, only as moved upon by the power of God. What little time I may, stay here I hope my heart will not be set on the riches of this world, but on doing the will of God and uniting with my brethren in bearing off the great work and responsibility resting upon us. If we will do this, all will be right. When we get the other side of the veil, we shall know something. We now work by faith. We have the evidence of things not seen. The resurrection, the eternal judgment, the celestial kingdom, and the great blessings that God has given in the holy anointings and endowment in the temples, are all for the future, and they will be fulfilled, for they are eternal truths. We will never while in the flesh, with this veil over us, fully comprehend that which lies before us in the world to come. It will pay any man to serve God and to keep His commandments the few days he lives upon the earth. With regard to our position before we came here, I will say that we dwelt with the Father and with the Son, as expressed in the hymn, “O my Father,” that has been sung here. That hymn is a revelation, though it was given unto us by a woman—Sister Snow. There are a great many sisters have the spirit of revelation. There is no reason why they should not be inspired as well as men. We dwelt in the presence of God before we came here, and we have been sent here upon a mission, and I do not want to live any longer myself than I can magnify that calling. What benefit is it to any man to dwell here and to miss the object for which he was sent, even eternal life? Therefore, it does not pay any man to sin. When a man sins it is because he yields to the enemy, not because the devil has power over him irrespective of his agency. The devil is laboring for the destruction of the human family. But the Gospel is sent into the world to save them. ¶

Brethren and sisters, God bless you. I am glad to meet with you and to have a little time to speak to you. I hope and trust we may be true and faithful to the end of our days, that we may be satisfied when we get through with our work; that our hearts may not be set upon anything that perisheth, but that we may do what we can to build up Zion and bring forth salvation to mankind as far as we have the opportunity while we dwell in the flesh. God bless us and guide us all in our work, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. ¶