Remarks

Beloved hearers, having been absent during the early part of this Conference, attending to the funeral of a near relative, I realize that I am suffering under a double bereavement by the loss of the precious instruction that has been given during the sessions of this conference. I was much cheered to hear President Woodruff this morning say that it was one of the best that he had ever attended. I realize by personal acquaintance with my brethren of the Presidency and Twelve Apostles that in their instructions to you they would be earnest, fervent, full of intelligence, and that you would be fed with the bread of life. ¶

I wish to say, in attestation of the discourse I listened to this morning by President George Q. Cannon that I feel a most hearty concurrence in and sympathy with the serious importance of the instructions that were given to the people. The principles and doctrines of the everlasting Gospel, which have been given to us in the years that are past, have brought many of the Saints to a period approaching manhood in the Gospel, by which we have reason to I look for and expect more thorough going and more faithful attention to, and consideration of, the doctrines of the Gospel and Priesthood than we could expect years ago. It is true that by bringing new members into our gathering they partake, to a greater or less degree, of the increased intelligence which the older members possess, and this fact renders it all the more important that the older members should be living up to the full standard and pattern of their holy faith, so that they who come later shall find themselves associating with those who are of greater faith, more extended knowledge, and who are able to assist them forward in the way of life and godliness. ¶

It is important for us that we do not permit any of the pernicious influences that are working among us, whether from the pretension of false prophets or false christs, or whatever may be imposed upon the people publicly or privately, to diminish our strength and faith in the least degree. All these tendencies should serve to arouse in us an increasing energy and fidelity, leading us to seek God more and more, that we may contend individually and collectively against all these evil influences that are brought in among us. We cannot cease our watchfulness; we must not lay down our armor; we are under the necessity of watching unto prayer constantly. We cannot sit down and take it easy in these matters, lest the adversary, in a moment we think not, get advantage of us; for although present necessities may not seem to be bringing us to a test, there is coming a time when we shall all be brought to the standard of measurement and weight, to know whether we bear the seal of the everlasting Gospel’s requirements, and are accounted worthy for such advancement, for such gifts and blessings, for such trust of power and influence as shall enable us to give proof of our faithfulness. There is no time for us to waste in these things; and while we are thus delving in the way of life, and are made subject to “booms,” to oppressions and hard times, as they are called, and to divisions of party feelings because of politics, we have great need, in order to stand successfully and squarely in all these matters, of that measure of the Spirit that shall enable us under every circumstance to act the part of a Latter-day Saint, and not, as is sometimes said of us, to act more gentilish than the Gentiles themselves. ¶

It is expected of men who have attained to maturity in life that they will accomplish careful, difficult and intricate labors which younger ones cannot be expected to do. We are supposed to be so far advanced in the knowledge of God, in the power of the Priesthood, and in the understanding of the truth, that none of these things shall move us. Whether a man is of one party or another party, he should understand that what he is doing ought to be for the interest of the whole. There should be no sectional narrow minded contrivances for the benefit of the few, to the injury of the whole. These are some of the finer works that the Elders used anciently to tell us of. We have heard the Presidency in former times tell us how that we had to be made very fine and put through the finest of screens to become fit for the Master’s use. Now is the time for us to be looking to it, to cease all strife and contention and put down everything of the kind. There should be nothing allowed in the political arena that can hurt the faith of any brother or sister or prevent them from sitting down together at the table of the Lord’s supper and partaking of that ordinance in the most worthy and acceptable manner. Is this the case with us? If it is not, how far are we off from it, and how much work have we to do with ourselves to obtain that status and remain there? For be it known that unless we maintain the unity of the faith and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, we are not the Lord’s neither shall we be able to find Him when we shall most need Him. We have to maintain our fellowship with the heavens complete, or in a trying hour we may find ourselves without God in the world. We have then to be on the alert continually, that no spirit no machination of man or Satan can have power to turn us from the right way of the Lord. ¶

The Lord has very great designs concerning this people, just so fast as He can bring us up to realize them. Now, my brethren, when everything is quiet and still, and there is no particular demand made of us, we all seem to be very much united. But how often is it the case that something comes up and we find that we are a revelation to ourselves directly? We find within us a spirit or frame of mind different from what we previously entertained brought out by something that we had not before experienced. We are being made subject to changes and vicissitudes in all the trials of life, as much as mortal men and women can be made subject to; and I will venture to quote the saying of the Savior in a revelation to us in these last days, that all things that can be shaken shall be shaken. Then who is he that has got his lamp trimmed and burning? Who is he that has got that measure of faith for himself that under every trying circumstance be can go to the lord and find grace and help in every time of need, to enable him to conform his feelings, faith and fellowship to the conditions that surround him? This is a period of revelation. It is a battle that is being carried on, not with steel nor with any carnal weapons, but it is the silent peaceful and powerful work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in the hearts of those whom we can prevail upon to become subject to the same, to change us from our naturally selfish inclinations, desires and designs into the ways and purposes of the true and living God; and the way to do that is that we daily keep his commandments, hearken to the words of wisdom, and continually live by every precept that proceedeth from the mouth of God. We are yet a great way from the perfection of the Lord. ¶

I wish the brethren and sisters, the Elders particularly, could be stirred up to search the scriptures and to find out something more of the character of the Lord; for if we cannot find Him out personally, we can learn very much of His character by reading the sacred word of God that is left for us. As we say of one another, “We do not know you personally, but we have come to know you by reputation,” so we can learn, in the word of God, if we will study it, much of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish we had more desire to study these things. I am thankful that this disposition is increasing in the Sunday schools, the theological classes, and among the Elders, and that they are also studying the principles of our church history. Great is the mystery of godliness, said one anciently, and it is just as mysterious now. Some men are going nearly crazy over trying to reconcile some of the scriptures. The Apostle Peter said Paul had written epistles, “in which are some things hard to be understood.” There are scriptures that are difficult to be understood, unless we can obtain the light of the Holy Spirit to shine upon our understandings. ¶

We are apt to read over a great many scriptures just as we walk over portions of these valleys and mountains, in which are lying, perhaps within a few inches of our feet, treasures of gold, silver and other precious metals, and it only needs a little stirring of the soil to find where the great deposits of this wealth are, where the rich pockets of gold are treasured up, and the veins of silver are waiting to be gathered out. It is so with the scriptures. There are many passages that we read over hastily and do not comprehend, which, if we would stop and search other scriptures relating to them, we would often find wonderful developments of truth in their explanations. In the early days of the Church the Lord instructed the Elders to meet together and expound His scriptures to one another, that they might comprehend them and be built up in their holy faith, which they did. ¶

When the Savior was upon the earth and had His apostles with Him, there were some that adhered very closely to Him. They learned things of Him which others did not get, or if they did they have not left them on record for us. John, the beloved disciple, continued much with the Savior. He was very fond of being in His company. At the last supper he sat next to Him, and laid his head upon His breast. The Lord was fond of him, insomuch that he was called the beloved disciple, and he, being familiar with the Savior, obtained many precious items of revelation, choice sayings and parables that the others did not get. The evangelists Matthew and Mark wrote many things that the Savior and other brethren did, but there were some things omitted by them which are contained in Luke’s and more particularly in John’s writings. Indeed so strong and mutual were their attachments that when the Savior was about to leave the earth He gave John the insuperable blessing that he should not die, but that he should tarry till He, Christ, should come. History tells us that John was placed in a caldron of boiling oil and came out unhurt. We have no authentic account of his death or burial. The Savior said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is it to thee?” When he was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos, working in the mines, he received the wonderful revelation, contained in the Bible, in which he saw a character riding upon a white horse, and his name was, “The Word of God.” (Rev. xix, 13.) In writing his Gospel and giving some account of this being, John says, ¶

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” ¶

This is the description of the coming of the Savior in the flesh. This character in the beginning was the One by whom the world was created. “Without Him was not anything made that was made.” Before He was tabernacled in the flesh He did His mighty works in creating the earth with all its inhabitants, fish, fowls, beast and man; teaching Enoch to build a city, then translating it for him and his people. He destroyed the wicked with a flood; established Noah and his race, then educated a righteous people, delivered them from oppression by miraculous providences through the Red Sea and made them a powerful nation. Moses, whom Jehovah had employed to do so many of his wondrous works, asked the Lord to show him concerning “this Heaven and this earth.” ¶

The Lord has not thought proper to reveal unto us much of the vastness of His heavenly works; but He once received Moses into His presence on the mountain and showed him “concerning this heaven and this earth,” and there gave him the revelation concerning the creation of the earth and the seven days’ work and commanded him to write it. In this interview he was a personage of spirit. He also showed Himself unto the brother of Jared, Mohonri Moriancumr, and informed him that His body of spirit was just the figure that His body of flesh should be when born of woman. ¶

He not only had this name, “The Word of God,” but He had other titles. By searching the Scriptures we find some twenty or thirty of them. But in speaking of this, He said to Moses, (Exodus vi, 3,) “Your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom I revealed myself, knew me by the name of Almighty God, but by my name Jehovah they did not know me.” At different times He told Israel that He was Jehovah until He came and dwelt in the flesh. Then He was the Son of God—the Christ. It is said concerning Him by one of the ancient prophets (Isaiah ix, 6) that “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the EVERLASTING FATHER, the Prince of Peace.” These were a few of the names that were given to Him besides some that John saw—such as the Word of God, King of kings and Lord of lords. Now this name of Father is a wonderful name. It is over this that some of the brethren stumble, and they get very erroneous ideas concerning the Savior. One man has worried at it until he has nearly worried himself out of the Church, and it was thought he would have gone to the asylum because of his incongruous ideas over it. What is it to be a father? We understand generally the term father to mean one who becomes the parent of children. The fact that he is endowed with power to procreate his species by the blessing of God enables him to become a father. There is a beginning to his fatherhood. As John said, “In the beginning was the Word.” There was a beginning to the creation of the earth. There is a beginning to the creation of a man’s family. But that is not the only sense of a father. A father when taken in a more general sense signifies something more, according to the Scriptures. Joseph said to his brethren, (Genesis xlv, 18,) “He [God] hath made me a father to Pharaoh.” Why? Because he had given him the power, the wisdom and the understanding to lay up food during the seven years of plenty, so that he saved not only Egypt, but enabled Pharaoh and Egypt to save the nations around by letting them have food to eat in their terrible necessities. In the Scriptures Satan is called the father of lies, the father of deceit, of misrepresentation, contention and strife. George Washington is called the father of this nation, by his skill, his warlike prowess and the readiness to stand at the head of his people, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, and he so became the father of our country. Just so we may say concerning others. As for instance the man who discovered the control of lightning. Although Franklin brought it down from heaven in safety, yet it was left for Professor Morse to be the father of telegraphy and otherwise communicate intelligence by it around the world. Mr. Watt was the father of steam power, by discovering its elasticity and applying it to mechanics as motive power. So with the Prophet Brigham Young. He was the father of Utah, because under God he led the people and established them here, to become a Territory or state, and made it possible for many others to come and live here. We see, by the foregoing, the meaning of a father in this general and broad sense, is a creator, a controller, a manager. Hence it was that the Prophet Isaiah said concerning the Lord Jesus, He shall be called, “the Everlasting Father.” The Prophet Mosiah (Book of Mormon, fifteenth chapter, verses 2, 3 and 4,) has told us that because of the Spirit He was the Father, and because of His having been born in the flesh, He was the son, and therefore He is called the very Eternal Father of Heaven and earth, which really means that He was the very eternal Creator of Heaven and earth. In the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth. Thus when we get an understanding of the things of God and comprehend them, some of the difficult sayings of the Scripture become plain and easy to be understood. If we turn to the first chapter of John’s revelation, and sixth verse, we find that great glory and dominion will be given unto Him “Who hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” So we see that He does not assume to be the Father of all, but He was the Father of heaven and earth, and was to make men kings and priests unto Himself and His Father, knowing that He and His Father were two persons, as is distinctly maintained in all the Scriptures. By this we can see that as we read the Scriptures we read over great and descriptions of knowledge, just as when we uncover the mines we find great treasures of wealth. The mines, when they are found, are not pure gold or silver, but other materials have to be brought together to put with them—what they call fluxing materials—to separate the pure metal from the dross, and to bring out the genuine article fit for market. So if we search the Scriptures we find the principles described and the instructions given by which we are enabled to understand these truths in a similar way, and to comprehend the difference between the truth and the error. ¶

I wish the brethren would study the Scriptures more and encourage those that do it. Study them as you would study the analysis of any material thing, and you would find treasures of knowledge and understanding, and that they are simple and plain, comforting the heart, satisfying to the mind and food for the soul. It is given unto us in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants section cxxi, 23-33 what we may find if we can only obtain the Holy Spirit. We shall find that we have great latitude for study and for research, and for blessing and knowledge in the word of God. The revelation says that: ¶

“God shall give unto you knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now; which our forefathers waited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, and which their minds were pointed to by the angel as held in reserve for the fulness of that glory—a time to come in which nothing shall be withheld; whether there shall be one God or many Gods, they shall be manifest; all thrones, and dominions, principalities and powers shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and also it there be bounds set to the heavens, or to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon or stars, all the times of their revolutions, all the appointed days, months and years, and all the days of their days, months and years, and all their glory, laws and set times shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times according to that which was ordained in the midst of the councils of the eternal God of all other Gods before this world was, that shall be reserved until the finishing and the end thereof when every man shall enter into His eternal presence and into his immortal rest.” ¶

Is there not a field of exploration that is worth the talent of anybody who has the disposition and purpose to keep the commandments of God and so live that they can receive of His Spirit? I know there are many in these days that are very technical, very stickish, asking questions requiring a good deal of hair splitting argument and I want to say to you that it is not best to dally upon those things that are unprofitable, but search the principles of the Gospel and study them by the light of the Holy Spirit. When you cannot see and understand what you want, try, by the grace of God, to get that measure of Spirit which will throw the light, the more than calcium light, upon the subject, and so get to comprehend it. But remember, brethren and sisters, these things have to be held in righteousness. We have to hold the truth in righteousness, or else we cannot grow in Christ, or in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ our living head. ¶

May the Lord bless us with His Spirit to enrich us with the knowledge of the truth; but above all to establish in us a determined purpose that as for us and ours we will serve Him, and we will treasure up line upon line, precept upon precept, until we get to see as we are seen and know as we are known. May God help us to do so, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. ¶