Remarks

It is always a pleasure to me to have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints, and I rejoice in being present here today. I have rejoiced in the counsels, that have been given, and I earnestly desire that while I may stand before you this afternoon I may have the benefit of your faith and prayers to assist me in speaking. I rejoice exceedingly in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been revealed in this day, and I earnestly desire that I may be able, in connection with the rest of the Latter-day Saints, to so order my life that my mind may never become darkened, that I may never depart from the truth, or break any of the covenants which I have made with the Lord. I earnestly wish to know the mind and will of my Heavenly Father and to have the ability and strength of character to carry the same out in my life. I have this same desire for all of the Latter-day Saints. I appreciate fully the fact that in proportion to our diligence, faithfulness and humility in keeping the commandments of God, He will bless us and assist us in our labors; and it is the duty of every one to seek earnestly of the Lord to learn His ways. ¶

When I heard Brother Merrill this morning say that he had met many of the Latter-day Saints who thought it was not obligatory upon them to teach their children the plan of salvation, and to baptize them when eight years of age, but who proposed to allow their children to grow to years of accountability and then to present to them the Gospel and allow them to receive or reject it—I could not help but feel that all such individuals placed their judgment and their ideas as superior to the commandments of God; that they lacked faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that they did not have an abiding testimony of the divinity of the work in which they are engaged. A man who has a testimony that we are engaged in the work of God values that testimony more than life itself; and I believe I am safe in saying that the most earnest desire of every true Latter-day Saint is that his children may grow up in the nurture and the admonition of the Gospel, keeping the commandments of God, so that they may be saved in His kingdom. It is simply absurd to imagine that if a child has the seed of falsehood and evil sown in its mind through life, you will at once be able to sow in that mind one crop of truth and have it bring forth a harvest of truth. I remember remarking recently at a conference that we would look upon a farmer as a natural born idiot who would call upon everybody who passed his farm to throw in a few seeds of weeds, to do this for a period of twenty-one years, and then expect he could sow a crop of grain and expect to get a good harvest. I may know the multiplication table, and my wife may also, but I cannot on that account expect my children to be born with a knowledge of the multiplication table in their heads. I may know that the Gospel is true, and my wife may know it; but I do not imagine for one moment that my children will be born with this knowledge. We receive a testimony of the Gospel by obeying the laws and ordinances thereof; and our children will receive that knowledge exactly the same way; and if we do not teach them, and they do not walk in the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, they will never receive this knowledge. I have heard people say that their children were born heirs to all the promises of the new and everlasting covenant, and that they would grow up in spite of themselves with a knowledge of the Gospel. I want to say to you that this is not a true doctrine, and it is in direct opposition to the commandment of our Heavenly Father. We find that it is laid down to the Latter-day Saints, not as an entreaty, but as a law, that they should teach their children: ¶

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion or in any of her Stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living god, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands when eight years old; the sin be upon the heads of the parents; ¶

For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her Stakes which are organized; ¶

And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands, ¶

And they shall also teach their children to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord. ¶

And the inhabitants of Zion shall, also, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ¶

And the inhabitants of Zion, also, shall remember their labor, in all faithfulness; for the idler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord. ¶

Now, I the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity; but their eyes are full of greediness. ¶

These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them. ¶

And again: ¶

“Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled? I command, and man obeys not. I revoke, and they receive not the blessings. Then they say in their hearts, This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But woe unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.” ¶

The Lord has given us a commandment that we shall teach our children the principles of the Gospel and have them baptized when they are eight years of age. If we fail to keep this commandment, the blessings that are promised to us by the Lord will be revoked, and we will have mourning and sorrow in seeing our children grow up without a desire to serve God; and in after years, when we endeavor to instil into the minds the principles of the Gospel, we will make a failure of it. It is boasted by the Catholics that if they can have the training of a child until it is twelve years of age, they will defy the world to turn that child from Catholicism. If we do our duty in teaching our children the principles of the Gospel, we ought to be able to defy the world to turn them away from the truth, if the Catholics can defy the world to turn them away from error. Every father who loves the Gospel is ready and willing to go to the ends of the earth to preach it, and one of the greatest joys that any man can have is to be found in bringing souls to a knowledge of the truth. It ought to be a greater joy to us to train our children in the plan of salvation, realizing that by so doing we will be able to save and exalt them in the kingdom of God. May the Lord bless you. Amen. ¶