Remarks

I shall require the assistance of the congregation this afternoon in order that I may make myself heard and speak of those things which will do good. I feel my dependence upon the Lord for His Spirit and for strength to do my duty on this occasion. We have had a variety of subjects treated upon during our meetings, ten of the Twelve Apostles having addressed you, each of them having spoken upon one or more different subjects—all of interest to the people, and it is necessary that these things should be weighed carefully by us, that our coming together may not be in vain. ¶

The Tabernacle Choir. ¶

There are a few things which I would like to call to your attention. One thing is the concert that is to be given here this evening by the Tabernacle Choir. Perhaps many of the Latter-day Saints are not aware of the fact that it is through the proceeds of these concerts that Brother Evan Stephens and the Choir are able to meet their legitimate and necessary expenses—and the expenses of so large a choir are by no means inconsiderable. They have their music to procure, and many other expenses attending their labors; and they raise means to meet those expenses by giving to the people their delightful music. It is through practice and indefatigable labor that they have attained the proficiency which they have reached, by which, as you are away, they went to the World’s Fair last summer, and if justice had been done them they would undoubtedly have carried away the first prize as the best singers in competition with all those contestants from the United States and from foreign countries. Without being an authority on the subject, my decision was rendered on the spot that the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir carried off the first prize at the Fair, but they were awarded second. Having said this much, I invite this whole congregation to be present this evening, no matter what it costs. It will not cost you a great deal, and you will get your money’s worth, if you love music. If you don’t love music, you ought to come here and get a little of the love of it stirred up within you. ¶

Sunday School and Y. M. M. I. A. Normal Classes. ¶

I suppose the Latter-day Saints are generally aware of the fact that we have Sabbath schools, which are of vast importance to our children, and which are necessary for the good of our youth. It is requisite at this advanced stage of our proceedings and experience that men and women should have opportunity of becoming qualified for the labor and duty of Sabbath school instructors. For this purpose we have established the Brigham Young Academy at Provo a normal class, to which Sunday school teachers may go and receive instruction from the best intelligence and under the best rules that we know of, by which they may become qualified to more efficiently and effectively teach the children in the Sabbath schools. To meet the expenses of this normal class in the Brigham Young Academy provisions have been made by the Sunday school authorities. ¶

There are also Mutual Improvement Associations organized throughout the land. In these associations many a young man has received that impetus in the work of the Lord which has made of him in after life a successful minister of the Gospel to the nations of the earth. Your sons who attend these associations will give you pride and joy when they are called to go out to the world to preach the Gospel, because having attended these associations and qualified themselves to preach the Gospel, they go out prepared to meet the errors and traditions of men, and to advocate the principles of the Gospel with power and in the demonstration of the Spirit of God. They do themselves and the cause which they represent honor; they do their parents honor; and they do honor to the associations in which they have received their preparation. Yet these associations are comparatively in their incipiency and much more labor is necessary to make them more effective in the education and qualification of our young men for this work. In order that we may the better teach our young men in regard to these matters, we have also established a normal class in the Brigham Young Academy at Provo, where today there are in attendance from sixty to ninety young men, from all parts of the country, taking a ten weeks’ course of instruction, that they may go home and become in turn teachers to the young men of the associations to which they belong. But, unfortunately for the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, we have not been so successful as the Sunday school have been in collecting means for the payment of the expenses of teaching this large class of our young brethren; and it has been agreed by the General Superintendency that fifty cents a year shall be required of every member of the associations in order to pay for this and for other expenses connected with publishing the record books, certificates and circular letters which are necessary. The object in referring to this matter here is to say, before the President of the Church (who is also the General Superintendent of the Y. M. M. I. A.) and the Twelve Apostles, and the Presidents of Stakes and Bishops, as well as those who are associated more directly with the mutual improvement work, that we expect to collect from the members of these associations the sum of fifty cents a year from each one, in order that we may meet our legitimate expenses; as the choir have to have means to meet their expenses so do we to meet ours; in getting theirs they give you music and enjoyment; we help to educate your sons. So with the Sunday schools. What benefit do the people receive from these sources? Can you compute the value of these institutions in dollars and cents? You cannot; and yet it costs you very little, while you are preparing a corps of intelligent and valiant men and women for this good work by the little contribution required. So you are preparing your sons to be ministers of the Gospel, defenders of the faith, and exponents of the principles of life and salvation to the world by merely contributing this insignificant sum of fifty cents per year. Parents ought to urge their children to be faithful to this little duty; and children who are not able to furnish themselves ought to ask their parents to assist them, that we may not allow these interests to be uncared for and not sustained while they are such means of benefit to the whole people of the Church. ¶

Card-Playing. ¶

Brother M. W. Merrill referred yesterday to the subject of card-playing. I desire not to prolong the meeting by going over this subject again, but merely to refer to it by way of emphasizing, if I can, that which he said. I want to tell you a circumstance that I heard of. I think the person is in this house who told me, and I shall therefore be very careful to tell you only what I heard from that person, for fear I might be charged with overstating matters. This person is aged, reliable, and a good Latter-day Saint. I am not going to tell you whether it was a woman or a man; at all events, I shall no tell you if I can help it, though it may slip out. This person told me that he or she went to Manti to attend to some Temple work. While at Manti she (laughter) or he was stopping at a house where a number of other people were stopping who had gone to Manti for a similar purpose that my informant had gone for. After supper, a number having gathered together, the question arose, “What shall we do to pass the time?” And it was determined that the best and most profitable, the most intellectual and useful expenditure of the time, from then until three o’clock the next morning, was to sit down at the tables and play cards. A gentleman whose wife was at a distant settlement in order that she might be present to enjoy this game of cards, had sent all the way to her home and invited her to come by rail and take a hand in it. My informant was invited to play also, but refused, but was there and witness the others’ enjoyment until a late hour and finally retired to bed, but was informed the next day that this party had kept up their card-playing until three o’clock in the morning. ¶

Here is an instance of people who have gone to administer in the ordinances of the House of God for their dead, occupying their time in the worse than idle habit of playing cards. I say that this was an evil. I say that evil will grow out of such practices as this; and I say that every Latter-day Saint, whether he goes to the Temple or stays at home, ought to constitute himself a teacher in relation to this matter, and set his face like a flint against this evil and pernicious practice. The best you can say of it is that there is no good in it, except to kill time; and if people have time which they can murder in this manner, they have more leisure on their hands that ever I have. I call it the murder of time; and not only so, but the murder of the spirituality of men and women that engage in such a practice. Its natural tendency is to evil, and not to good. I asked one person what good there was in it, and I was told, “Oh, it killed time!” This is the only virtue that I have ever yet heard in regard to card-playing. I do not signalized card-playing as a pernicious thing in contradistinction to other practices that simply tend to consume time, to waste precious moments and to dull the sensibilities of the head and the heart. Anything that ends to a morbid desire for that which is not beneficial is a sin in the sight of God, and it ought to be cried down, whatever it is. It is no more card-playing than it is checker-playing, if checker-playing is indulged in to the wasting of time. Perhaps the one is as pernicious as the other, although I have not noticed in my life the same tendency to evil in playing checkers for amusement as there is in playing cards. As I understand it takes four or more to make a good party at card-playing, and they get to cheating one another and practicing fraud in order to win. You cannot do that in checkers. I know a little about checkers myself. I protest against every practice that has no better recommendation for it than the wasting of precious time. I pronounce it wrong. And I say to the Latter-day Saints that idleness is one of those things set down in the revelations of God to this Church as evil, which we should not indulge in, “for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer,” and “the idler shall not have place in the Church, except he repents and mends his ways.” Card-playing creates idleness, and worse than that. Much might be said to show you the great danger there is of people who indulge in this practice being led from step to step until they become gamblers—and worse than that; for one crime leads to another, and when men get started upon the road of crime, however small the beginning, they go with accelerated speed the longer they continue in that path, until they fall finally into utter ruin. ¶

Round-Dancing. ¶

I am going to preach another little discourse in regard to round dancing. I have been out in the country lately, visiting the conferences, and at one place I understood that the President of the Stake had finally concluded that the Presidency of the Church had let up with regard to their objection to round dancing, and he had actually gone and danced in that way himself. Wherever I have been, the Presidents of Stakes have enquired of me as to what is the wish of the Presidency of the Church with regard to this practice of round dancing; for they say that in the parties in Salt Lake City and those held int he theater, round dancing is all the rage, and “is it possible for us to prevent this practice here when it prevails so much at headquarters?” The question is, have the Presidency of the Church let up on this matter, and do they counsel the people now to round-dance all they please? Now, I do not suppose that any more evil would grow out of two innocent persons dancing a waltz (if innocent persons do such a thing), than would out of the playing of a game of cards. Two or three persons might sit down and play a game of cards and no evil come out of it, for that once; but if they indulged in it until they became infatuated with it, then it results in harm and may lead to destruction. So in relation to round-dancing; people become infatuated with it. It is a practice, to say the least of it, out of which nothing can possibly come calculated to ameliorate the condition of mankind or to elevate the moral standard of men and women. Therefore, the Latter-day Saint ought not to tread where no good can be found. We ought not to cross the line from our own ground on to that of the adversary; for when we do we place ourselves in his power and he will take advantage of us if he can. I think I may safely say here, speaking as I do in the presence of the authorities of the Church, that the First Presidency do not encourage, do not endorse, and do not recommend round-dancing. On the contrary, they deprecate it. They are sorry that some of our young people desire it and will indulge in it in spite of counsel; and we hope and pray that the day will come when they will pay stricter attention to the counsels of men who have experience, and whose only desire is the welfare of the youth of Zion. We do not give you counsel with a view of curtailing your legitimate enjoyment. We would rather increase your enjoyment in every proper way. But this is not something that will add to your enjoyment ultimately, because the tendency of it is toward passion, lust and immorality. Some may call me an old fogy for making this declaration; but I have been young myself, and have passed through the stages of youth, as many are passing through them today. I have had an experience perhaps that some of my younger friends have not; and I say, without fear of successful contradiction, that round-dancing is an evil, because, if for nothing else, there is no good in it. Further than that, it is wrong because evil may come out of it, and often very great evil, too. As a result of this familiar contact of men and women in the dance, their native modesty, and that respectful regard for each other, and proper decorum which should exist between men and women, are broken down. They become familiar with each other’s touch and feelings in such a way as to lead on to greater evil. Therefore, I say it is an evil in Zion. And I think I can say, as speaking the minds of the Presidency of the Church on this subject, that we deprecate it, and wish that it did not exist among us, and we would like you to curtail it as much as you can and if possible stop it. We do not want you to be unwise in this matter. A skillful horse trainer who has a fractious horse does not draw the reins tight all at once, but he pulls up gently, guiding and directing and, so far as possible, steering clear of the obstructions in the road, until in time he is successful in quieting his fractious animal and getting it under control. Deal gently with the youth. Act cautiously and warily with them, and kindly withal; for it is our love, for them that causes us to speak in this way. We want to save and exalt the youth of Zion, and bring them back into the presence of God. Therefore we talk this way. We say to the Presidents of Stakes, to the High Councils, to the Bishops, to the presidents of Seventies and the Seventies, to the High Priests, and to the Elders in Israel, set an example in these matters that I have referred to, and wield an influence where you labor that will be felt for good. It is necessary that this should be done. ¶

Secret Societies. ¶

There is another little thing I want to speak upon. It is in relation to a subject that has been repeatedly brought to the attention of the Presidency, and especially to my attention while I have been attending the conferences in the outer Stakes for the last few weeks. Last night, after meeting, a good brother approached me. I trust he is here, because I want to talk to him. He is an eminent man, in some respects. He has been on missions, I believe, and has borne many responsibilities at one time and another in the Church. He put into my hand a copy of the constitution and by-laws of a certain society which is seeking to enlist the Latter-day Saints as its members. When he spoke to me about it, I saw in a moment that he was thoroughly imbued with the idea that to join this secret association was the proper thing for Latter-day Saints to do. I read it in his countenance and saw it down deep in his heart. This alarmed me. I have been alarmed a little about it a good many times, from the representations that have come to us in relation to this matter. I could read you the principles laid down in the constitution of this particular association, but I do not wish to name it, because I wish to make no distinctions, nor to antagonize one against another. I do not consider one better or worse than another. For my part I held this position: that as for me and my house, we have enlisted to serve God, and I have come to the conclusion long since that it is impossible for me to serve God and Mammon. I cannot carry water on both shoulders without spilling some of it. I cannot wear the yoke of Christ and the yoke of Belial at the same time, and call the yoke of Christ easy and His burden light. Some of these articles in this constitution are most excellent. There are no better contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, simply because they are taken directly from the Gospel. They are: peace on earth and good will to men, charity, forgiveness, longsuffering, patience, love unfeigned, kindness one towards another, every effort to be exerted to prevent brethren from going to law one with another, and to settle their difficulties between themselves. They have a chaplain, and a lecturer or preacher, and among other things it is the duty of the chaplain to be present and open the meetings and officiate in all the burial services of the members of the association. I suppose that these are some things that are common to all these secret organizations. It is no harm for any one to believe in all these good things. President Woodruff has been preaching these very same principles for some sixty years, and he has at no time advised you to join a secret association in order that you may be taught these principles or that you may the better practice them. He has taught that these are the commandments of God to the people, and that it is their duty to observe these precepts, and that, too, without taking an oath to become associated with any secret society. But one of the provisions of this constitution requires that each member of this secret association shall stand by the principles of the association unto death. That is pretty strong. Suppose, for instance, an Elder of the Church has entered into this association and has taken upon himself this covenant and something should arise which should be derogatory to his interests as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what position would he be in? He would be under the necessity of either violating his covenants with the Church or the oath that he had taken in that secret society. He would prove himself in either case a traitor. Therefore, it is better that we should not mix up with these entangling alliances. I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, that the Almighty has established in this Church every principle necessary for the salvation, for the happiness, prosperity, development and growth, both in temporal and spiritual things, of the children of God; and we have no need to go outside to find these. In connection with this, I want to read a word or two from the revelations of God to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith: ¶

Otherwise Satan seeketh to turn their hearts away from the truth, that they become blinded and understand not things which are prepared for them. ¶

Wherefore a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken. ¶

And he who breaketh it shall lose his office and standing in the church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption. ¶

Behold, this is the preparation wherewith I prepare you, and the foundation, and the ensample which I give unto you, whereby you may accomplish the commandments which are given you. ¶

That through my providence, notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, that the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world. ¶

This is the purpose that God had in view in establishing this Church and calling you from darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel, that His “church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world,” in which the foundation is laid of every provision necessary to be carried out for the feeding and clothing of the poor, the protection of the weak, and the administering of comfort and cheer unto the widows and fatherless, the destitute and sick. All these provisions have been amply established in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and there is not a soul within the pale of the Church upon the earth that needs to go and seek succor or comfort from the world, whereby he enters into covenant and agreement with the world that he may find protection, or assistance, or means for his burial. Cannot the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bury its own dead who unfortunately lack the means for their own burial? Are we so poor that we cannot look after our members under such circumstances? Have we ever deserted the widow and the fatherless when they have made application for assistance? Have we turned our back upon the poor, the imprisoned, and upon those that were afflicted, when they were faithful and worthy members in the Church? Never, to my knowledge; and we never will. It is wrong to join these associations. By doing it you place upon yourselves burdens and you put bands around your necks by which others will lead you whithersoever they will; and you are no longer free to serve God as men and women ought to be who are made free by the liberty of the Gospel of Christ. ¶

Personality of God. ¶

I have one more subject in mind, though it may be unnecessary to speak of it before this congregation, or to dignify those who are in error by mentioning them here; but when you take into consideration the fact that these very men who are advocating error and false doctrine, and finding sympathizers in the Church, and Elders in Israel, men who have been on missions, you may see the propriety of referring to them here. They have got their thoughts fixed on one idea, which they have followed to an extreme, and they have formulated a plan by which they suppose they have defined how God can be three Persons and yet one Person, and they tell you all about it by publishing a series of pamphlets. Taking the scriptures for a standard, they try to show that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are one Person, as well as being one in attributes. If you will indulge me just a few moments, I desire to call your attention to a few things that are written with regard to this matter, and then I trust there will be no necessity of talking about it any more. Those who are indulging in this fallacy ought to be guided by the Holy Spirit, by common sense and by the judgment of men who have had experience in the Church, and forsake their error and folly, call in their pernicious publications, and cease to try to lead away the unwary and the ignorant. In the first place, I will read a few words from the Second Lecture on Faith in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

“We here observe that God is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell; who is omnipotent, omnipresent [that is, not in person, but by His power and spirit], and omniscient: without beginning of days or end of life; and that in him every good gift and every good principle dwell; and that he is the Father of lights; in him the principle of faith dwells independently, and he is the object in whom the faith of all other rational and accountable beings center for life and salvation.” ¶

Again, in the Seventh Lecture on Faith: ¶

“All these sayings put together give as clear an account of the state of the glorified saints as language could give—the works that Jesus had done they were to do, and greater works than those which he had done among them should they do, and that because he went to the Father. He does not say that they should do these works in time; but they should do these works in time; but they should do greater work, because we went to the Father. He says in the 24th verse: ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.’ These sayings, taken in connection, make it very plain that the greater works which those that believed on his name were to do were to be done in eternity, where he was going and where they should behold his glory. He had said, in another part of his prayer, that he desired of his Father that those who believed on him should be one in him, as he and the Father were one in each other. ‘Neither pray I for these (the Apostles) alone, but for them also who should believe on me through their words, that they all may be one,’ that is, they who believed on him through the apostles’ words, as well as the apostles themselves, ‘that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee; that they also may be one in us.’” ¶

Here is the language of the Savior himself, quoted by the Prophet Joseph, distinctly setting forth a principle that your minds cannot be blinded upon, if you will only open your eyes and your understanding to this saying. How can the Apostles become one in Christ as Christ and God are one, if Christ and God are one person? Can the Twelve Apostles become one person? And how can all they that believe on the words of the Apostles also become one with the Apostles in Christ as Christ is with God, if God and Christ are one person? Of course, the absurdity appears at once. I do not need to multiply words in regard to this matter, because every child ought to know better than that because Christ is God because of the Spirit and the Son, because of the flesh, therefore that He and the Father are one person, or body, and the Holy Ghost is one in them, and they three are only one being. Strange as it may seem to you, this is the doctrine advocated by men who profess to be Elders in the Church. ¶

In conclusion upon this matter, I want to read the positive word of the Lord, that cannot be denied. You may twist the scriptures as you please; but if you believe the truth and are willing to be guided by it, you will have to come back to this that I shall read to you, and then it will clear up all mystery from your minds with relation to the personality of the Father and the Son. Joseph Smith, on April 2nd, 1843, declared as follows: ¶

“The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as mans; the Son also.” ¶

Then how are you going to get them into one person? President Cannon says this agrees with what Paul says. Of course; it agrees with all the scriptures of divine truth, and with every manifestation of God to man since the beginning of the world to the present time. Then the Prophet says: ¶

“But the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.” ¶

When Joseph Smith, a boy of 14 years of age, went out into the woods to ask the Lord to guide him into the right church, he knelt down and prayed, and after he was delivered from the power of the adversary, who tried to destroy him, two heavenly personages appeared before him. One of these personages, pointing to the other, and calling Joseph by name, said, “This is my beloved Son; hear him.” Here were two distinct persons—the Father and the Son, each with a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Father bearing testimony of the Son, not only to Joseph Smith, but through Joseph Smith to all the world of mankind. These are truths, and you need not care what you read about the Father and the Son being one. Of course, they are one—in attributes. They are one in love, one in knowledge, one in mercy, one in power, one in all things that make them united and powerful, glorious and great, because in them is perfected all truth, and virtue, and all righteousness. But they are two persons, as much as my father and I are two person. Yet there is unto us but one living and true God. Paul says: ¶

“There be gods many, and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” ¶

And Jesus Christ says: ¶

“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” ¶

That alone should be enough to dispel from the mind of every intelligent man and woman the fallacy that the Father and the Son are not two beings. ¶

Let us seek for the knowledge of life eternal. Let us work out our salvation in fear and trembling before our Father, and be faithful to the end. Remember that you have enlisted in this work for time and for all eternity. There is no backing out of it, no falling away from it, except in sin, and then comes the penalty of transgression. But if you expect exaltation; if you expect fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, kindred and friends; if you expect glory, intelligence and endless lives, you must get them in God’s work; for nowhere outside can you get them. Therefore, let every sympathy and interest be centered in this cause, and this alone. Let the world go. Let it have its secret combinations, and let it have its own way; but let us preach the Gospel to them and show them a better way, and that men can only become one when they are Christ’s. They can never be united until they do become Christ’s; but when they become Christ’s, then they can be one with the Father and with the Son, as the Father and the Son are one. God grant that we may come to this knowledge, and be faithful to the end. Amen. ¶