Remarks

Beloved hearers, I rejoice greatly in the opportunity that is given us in this Conference. The testimony that has been given by the brethren who have spoken has been so varied and diversified that it would seem as if every inquiring mind must have found something that he could take home to himself and feel that he had been fed, edified and enlightened in the knowledge of the truth. The growth of the work of God in these latter days brings to us from day to day such new developments of experience as to call forth also corresponding instructions suited to our every condition; so that as varied as our circumstances are, or may be, we get line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, for all the conditions through which we are brought to pass; and it brings to those who are truly living their religion increased testimonies of the truth. Those who were in the world living honestly before God according to the light they had prior to the revelations of the present dispensation by the Prophet Joseph, were in a position of justification. Nevertheless, there was a constant yearning for something more, which we did not yet possess; and in looking around and trying to find that something else which would satisfy the human soul, we could not find it among our fellows. They who claimed to be our teachers had it not to give to us. We were told we must not pry into mysteries, and that what had been revealed and laid down was all they had the right, or the power, to offer us. ¶

When this Gospel came to us and we were permitted to look into it; when our near kinsmen came and told us that God had raised up a Prophet, that He had given new revelations, that He had revealed a record called the Book of Mormon, behold, what did we find? We found that in searching these principles thus revealed, there was that which satisfied this hungering and thirsting that we had after something more. We found that in giving obedience unto these principles there was given us in turn from the heavens a testimony that made us to know, and that verified the word of the Lord wherein He had promised that if any man would render obedience to those doctrines he should know, and that knowledge should be increased. We commenced thus searching, and in that search we have been successful to find that which satisfies the soul, even the most intelligent among mankind, when they apply humbly at the feet of Jesus for the knowledge of the truth and the testimonies of His Spirit. Finding a fulfillment of His promises at the very threshold of our search into the order of the kingdom of God, we were thus satisfied, thus fed, thus strengthened, and led to feel that for these testimonies we could offer ourselves, all that we were and had, and lay our lives upon the altar, for the knowledge which God had thus given unto us. This was the solid and satisfying start that we made in our search for the truth. And oh! what blessing it gave to the repentant sinner to know that by going down into the water and coming forth out of the water, under the hands of one authorized of God, his sins were forgiven and remitted; and further, to receive by the laying on of hands that gift of the Holy Ghost which should abide with him. It abode with us, and led us from knowledge to knowledge, from faith to faith, increasing our light, and it has been growing brighter and brighter, as the faithful can all testify to this day. ¶

With the knowledge of every new principle our joy has been increased, our cup has been filling up; and if we have been active laborers in the ministry, our influence and power have been increasing and extending, not merely with our fellow men on the earth, but with the heavens, so that the blessings and favor, intelligence and revelation to which the Saints are entitled, have been increasing and growing brighter and brighter until the present time. The great and grand object with us is that they shall by our faithful lives grow brighter still until the perfect day, when what we now see in part we shall then see in full, and when we, having placed our evil propensities under our feet and triumphed over them by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and by our testimony, shall obtain the crown in the kingdom of our God. The pathway to this is through obedience to every principle that has been revealed, and that shall be revealed, making it a part of our lives and practice. ¶

The Lord graciously told the brethren in the early days that “the Priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers, for ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and your lives have been hid from the world with Christ in God.” What a glorious development! What! the Priesthood come down from the days of the ancients, through the dark and bloody channels of war and rumors of war, crusades and persecutions? Yes, certainly. It is evident the eye of God has been over us, and the eyes of His angels have watched over the continuation of the fathers down through the generation that have come unto us. This is shown by the very fact that the Lord has cared for a lineage which has given you and me the right to the Holy Priesthood, and has awakened our souls to trace back that lineage as far as it can be discovered by records, or dreams, or visions, or revelations, or by the Urim and Thummim, until we go back with our labors on that lineage, and thus return the only grateful acknowledgement we can make to them for being our fathers and mothers and giving us such honorable birth, and at such a period of time, when the Priesthood is revealed again, and that we can receive blessings of untold worth, that we never ourselves shall know the full value of, until we overcome this mortality, put on immortality and enter into the exaltation which is promised unto the faithful. ¶

Speaking concerning the testimony of Elder Lyman about those who have sought to rise up and appear to the world as having a right to the Presidency. They claim to have obeyed all the revelations which were given to the Prophet Joseph. The Prophet received the word of the Lord that it was our duty in Nauvoo to build a temple, which, said He, “my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name.” Yet concerning those who make the claim to being the only true Latter-day Saints on earth, we have not heard even of their undertaking to build a temple; while we have built half a dozen of them. I need not stop to talk about that. We are on the road to exaltation, in intelligence, in fellowship with the angels and with the just made perfect, and are already made partakers in some measure of the powers of the world to come. ¶

How glorious it was after that Elijah had come and revealed this ancient order of things concerning the fathers and the children in the Temple at Kirtland, in pursuance of what the Prophet Malachi had said he would do, before the great and terrible day of the Lord! How our fathers that have gone before have turned unto us! And so have we turned as children unto our fathers, to love them and to seek after them, and to know that we cannot be made perfect without them, nor they without us. It is a glorious work. People come into the Church and gather with the Saints almost from the antipodes. They have received the Holy Ghost, and what does it do? It makes them just as one of the Apostles anciently said: “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” They naturally incline after the lineage of their fathers; and if they have not obtained it, they persevere until they find one who shall teach, instruct and lead them along unto eternal life. If they cannot find their lineage, they feel afflicted and distressed and cut off in their parts. This is that feeling which comes upon the people when they receive the Holy Spirit that makes them to cry, Abba, Father. They want to know the spirit of the fathers and the doctrines of the Gospel revealed unto them. We have great reason to rejoice in God, who has revealed these things. Soon after the Prophet Elijah appeared in the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph was led to teach us the doctrine of baptism for the dead. ¶

Oh, what a world of labor that has given us! What a joy it has imparted to us! Many felt that they would die cheerfully if they could give to their fathers and mothers who where dead the blessings that they enjoyed in the Church of Christ? Yet there are many who have not yet put off the ways of the Gentiles, and have not come to this sensibility. We have only just begun with this labor, and perhaps some of us have not begun just right. I recollect when the Prophet Joseph first revealed the baptism for the dead, some when down to the river and were baptized, men for women and women for men. But the Lord soon gave to the Prophet Joseph to organize and systematize the whole thing, and so He will about this order of the fathers being turned and united, bound and sealed to the children, and the children to the fathers; and we will yet have the privilege of seeing our generations connected back. If we continue on and inherit eternal life, we shall see them connected clear back, no doubt, to ancient Noah and to our more ancient Father Adam. In the early days of tribulation in the Church the Lord encouraged the brethren by telling them that they were laying the foundation of a great and mighty work. I recollect how it used to cheer us up in the midst of our persecutions. ¶

If we are living correctly before the Lord, our testimonies increase, our light grows clearer and clearer, and we are strengthened in the way of righteousness and truth. I testify that during the past year I have realized more abundantly the freedom of the Holy Spirit, more blessing and manifestation of the power of God among the people, than before. The blessings in the increased flow of the Spirit that have come upon them since the dedication of the Temple in this city has been like an endowment of the whole people. Brethren and sisters, cling to it. Be diligent in keeping the commandments of God, abiding in the covenants, seeking to do good, and in your temporal things to provide for your wants, and not depend upon falling Babylon. If prophecy is fulfilled in us today, what about that prophecy that says that a great cry shall come up from Babylon, “and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more?” Brother Brigham tried incessantly to persuade us to establish home industries here; provide our own boots and shoes, and our own clothing; and he talked to the sisters about making their own hats, instead of sending our money abroad as we have done for everything that we wanted. We have been like a carcass with eagles gathered around. They have found that we are a good people to trade with. We have had the credit of keeping our promises, and we have earned a character in the East as being a people that have the fewest number of bad debts of any territory or state in the West. They love to come and deal with us, persuading us to buy this, that and the other. If we would be constrained to make our own boots, shoes and clothes, and patronize home productions, we could soon get the balance of trade on to the other columns of our ledgers. Why cannot the Latter-day Saints take this as a piece of counsel from the authorities of the Church? Let us also raise our own provisions. There is no part of the broad land of Zion that yields better wheat, better grain of nearly all kinds, better potatoes, or better fruit. We were renowned from ocean to ocean for our choice fruit until the worms and insects got into it and made it undesirable; but if we will turn to the Lord with all our hearts and put away our wrong dealing wherein we strew our wrong dealing wherein we strew our ways to strangers He will turn away the destroyer for our sakes, and will make everything again to bloom and prosper for us. Then the merchants from abroad will be able to say that nobody buys their goods, because we will have the goods of our own manufacture. ¶

What did the angel of the Lord who brought the Gospel through the midst of heaven to every nation, kindred, tongue and people say? He said, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Do we not see that His judgments are spreading destruction all around us? But we have not yet had to taste much of them. He has been uncommonly merciful unto us, making our fields to abound with plenty, and giving us to rest in peace here. His judgments are in the earth, and in all our calculations we ought to remember this. ¶

Let us keep in mind the parable of the rich man, whose ground brought forth plentifully, and who thought to build larger barns to hold his produce. He said within himself, “Soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” What was the result? The Lord said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” We should be frugal and enterprising; provide for our necessities and for those who may come to us, and become an independent people. We can do it if we will. All these necessaries come out of the earth. It is the farmer that should be the independent man; get up and cultivate his land in the season thereof, and at his convenience he can read his newspapers and his books. There is no branch of human labor that gives a man such a variety of exercise for all his faculties as does that of good agriculture. The farmer is the man that should be encouraged. The miners could not dig the mountains down nor open the bowels of the earth if they had not bread to eat. The gold and silver would have to lay there till eternity came and went if they did not have the victuals to eat and clothes to wear. President Young was sensible and wise in this. He told us if we would raise the bread and dinner, others would come and do the uncertain work of digging down the hills. ¶

My brethren and sisters, this our great work, as I have said, opens new methods of conduct, new features of corresponding doctrine and precept to guide us. If we but keep our lamps trimmed and the Holy Ghost burning in us to give us understanding in all our ways, the pathway of our feet will grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. May the Lord grant this to be the common lot of His people, and the particular lot of every man and woman that will take the revelations of divine truth for the light of their counsel, keep the commandments and covenants they have made diligently and faithfully to the end; God will help us according to His own good pleasure, to accomplish the work He has assigned unto us. Amen. ¶