Discourse

After the very precious instructions that we have been listening to from our First Presidency in the Church and in the Priesthood, I feel on being called upon to speak, as though it was not following the rule of giving the best at the last of the feast; but being thus called, I desire to give my testimony with the rest of my brethren. And in this vast congregation, while it is difficult for us to make all hear, I would ask the people kindly to be as quiet as they can, so that we may most of us hear, and I will try to speak so as to be heard; and if the Lord pleases to give us a generous measure of His Holy spirit we may still be edified. ¶

I have been exceedingly refreshed by the instructions of yesterday and today, and I realize that it is an instructive, interesting and important time in which we live; and if we can but understand the importance of the times and the circumstances that surround and attend upon us, no person who possesses the spirit of Zion, can be otherwise than happy and rejoice in the multitude of the tender mercies of our God which He is bestowing upon His people. It was said by an ancient wise man that “there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” There is a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to plant and a time to gather. There are times when it appears as if all nature was by the frost of life not only hidden up, but when the severity is so great that it sems as if it must be killed outright, and that vegetation could not start in the spring. Then again we see the opposite extreme in the summer, when the heat is so great that human flesh and blood faints and subsides before it. Now, when we look at the great work of the Lord in the last days, there is quite a similarity in the course of God’s providences to His people to what there is in the course of the seasons and of the revolving years. The work of the Lord has had its times of refreshing and sunshine, of sowing and maturing, and reaping the plentiful, the bounteous, the glorious harvest in the temples of God for instance, as they have been completed and dedicated, and as we have received the blessings of heaven therein. While on the other hand there have been times of persecution, affliction, sorrow and distress, until to all outward appearance it would seem as if the tree of life which God had planted in the earth had been about frozen to death. ¶

Such was a time in Missouri, when the Prophet and his immediate associates were in prison together; when other brethren by the score were in other prisons; when the voice of the military chieftain told us we need never expect to see our Prophet again, and we were, with all military sternness informed that we must locate as other people locate, and never organize again in ward and stakes, under bishops and presidents. The consummation of that serious event looked like destruction for the Church. We were banished from the state, and it took all that winter with all the brethren could do to help everybody get out from those distressing conditions and into the State of Illinois. There spring opened. There was found a feeling of kindness, benevolence and generosity on the part of the good people of the City of Quincy and the regions round about; brethren came and went, took up farms, worked them upon shares, hired out, and did whatever they could to sustain life, get their families located, and overcome the adversities of the previous year. ¶

What was the result? As this spring weather opened to them, they got situations and labor. In a little while the Prophet Joseph came along, having been delivered by the almighty power of God, also his brother Hyrum, and the brethren of the Apostles. Directly the work of the Lord began to prosper, Brother Joseph purchased a place for Nauvoo, bought out Commerce, because it was so sickly that other people could not live there. Nauvoo was built up in the short space of seven years, and a temple was built there which cost about a million dollars. That was a glorious summer’s work. Our Elders went everywhere preaching the word, explaining to the people around them that faith that we were persecuted for and driven from state to state, telling them what was the cause of the terrible, frosty winter that we had been passing through; and it had its effects. Many people were gathered in. Nauvoo became a glorious city. People came from New Orleans, from New York and from Canada to find out and hear the word of the Prophet Joseph, and to see what these people were doing, because they made the welkin ring from morning till night with the saw and hammer, building up that beautiful place. ¶

Well, before the temple was completed our Prophet laid down his life, having been led like a lamb to the slaughter. But the work of the Lord went on. Our treaties with our enemies allowed us a certain period to get our wagons together, and another terrible winter set in upon us. We had the journey over the prairies of Iowa, the period of sickness, the cold of the winter, the suffering in Winter Quarters; and we journeyed over the plains exiled—Israel in the wilderness—the kingdom of God on wheels—for about two years, till we arrived in this “great American desert”—a country of sagebrush, grease-wood, wolves and Indians. We got here and winter began to break again. A little experience soon taught us that the Lord would bless and prosper us and make the earth fruitful for our sakes, after striving to keep His commandments and to do His will. We had hardly got located here, however, just so that we could spend the 24th of July and have a good dinner under a bowery, when at the following conference the Twelve were started off—President Lorenzo Snow to Italy, Erastus Snow to Denmark, John Taylor to France and Germany, and Franklin D. Richards to England. The Elders went abroad everywhere preaching the Gospel, and found people willing to hear. What was the matter with this people, driven out from the nation and having to become a people to themselves? And yet the Gospel spread abroad. In England and other European countries, people were added to the Church by the thousands and tens of thousands in wonderful rapidity. The work of the Lord prospered, and we had another summer time to a certain extent, locating settlements all over this country and building four temples. Then behold, another winter set in. ¶

You know, winters are not always of the same temperature. We sometimes have a winter that freezes so hard that bark on the trees becomes loose, and then we have other winters that are mild. Well, we had a winter set in here that was so severe that nearly all manner of business was closed up—except the marshals, the attorneys, the courts and the penitentiary: they were about the only line of prosperous business that was done here during that winter of some six to twelve years ago. Now, the Lord has seemed to cause these things to work in this way. It seems to be a natural periodic state that we pass through from time to time. It happened that during this winter, when we could not be abroad preaching the Gospel (for you must know our Elders went sometimes clear to the sea and back again and reported that they could not get a house to speak in anywhere, not even a congregation out of doors), the supreme court in Washington, had our leading men’s characters brought up there and canvassed, and the decision of those courts were published and have gone abroad in the court reports into all the spheres of the legal lore throughout this country and the world; and so we became advertised while we were staying around at home and away from home taking care of ourselves as best we could, we were making acquaintances through the attorneys and the courts in the higher circles of life. ¶

When this had been going on for some months and years, there was a council held down East, and our leading ladies were invited to join the National Council of women, in Washington and they reported the Relief Societies, &c., and those reports were published in the papers and books, which have gone to all the States and Territories of the Union, and in a higher circle than merely those that are plowing and sowing, the mechanics, &c. These means the Lord employed during the hard period of our winter. It was not very much the “winter of discontent” after all. He made us to become known among the people. They could take these books and hunt over the decisions of the law courts, and they could read the reports of this grand Council of Women from all parts of the world, and quietly learn something about us. ¶

Directly there was a great call for all the inhabitants of the earth to come to Chicago and celebrate the World’s Columbian Exposition. At this Exposition there came commissioners from all civilized countries; many of them got a chance to talk with our brethren and sisters in Chicago, and a number of them came to Salt Lake City. We gave them copies of our Church works and of the History of Utah, which they carried off with them to their homes, and they have no doubt been reading over these things. So the work has been going on. Our dear sisters and brethren of the choir went down and really put the country on its mettle in music. Thus we got some of the fine arts before the people of the earth. The Presidency went along also, and as has been shown you this morning, the Mayor of Independence welcomed them and accompanied them to the hall where they could exchange congratulations publicly. ¶

These things have been going on until, I want to say to you brethren and sisters and especially the Elders of Israel, springtime seems to be on us again; and as the earth, after the frosts and snows of winter, is being broken up and pulverized and prepared for the seed, so calls are coming from all parts of the earth for Elders. “Where can we find an Elder?” “If you have an Elder coming this way, please direct him to our place.” Calls are being made, and the people of the earth are now ready to hear the Gospel. I want to tell this legion of Seventies that are before us—the bone and sinew of Israel, if you please—and the multitudes of the Elders’ quorums, that the time has come when the inhabitants of the earth want the Gospel; want to know what it is that we have been making a fuss about in the earth, keeping the courts busy and the penitentiary full. They want us to send some Elders along, that they can ask questions of them, and that the Gospel may be explained unto them. We have calls for Elders from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. The time has come when we must rise up and sow—go forth and scatter the Gospel seeds throughout the lands. The inhabitants of the earth are ready to hear it, and it is our duty, and it is made the duty of the Twelve Apostles, and especially you have made it the duty of the missionary committee, to hunt up Elders and send them abroad to preach the Gospel. We have had a good deal of difficulty to find them as fast as they have been wanted. One mission in the South called for one hundred extra Elders. We have a thousand or more in the field; but there is wanted a great multitude yet to go everywhere, and we are seeking through Israel, almost with lighted candles, to find men of suitable spirit and faith—men that can go and preach the word of God to the nations of the earth. There never has been a time when we have ben so able to do it as at the present time. I know one says, “I am owing something;” another, “I am a little in debt” &c. Arrange these things from this day forth, as if you knew you had to go on a mission. Then when you are ready to go, you will be ready to stay if you are not wanted. I do not want you to think it is a difficult thing. We do not ask anybody to go on missions until they can go reasonably and consistently with the spirit of the Gospel, with the faith of their kindred and with the blessings of their Bishops and Presidents. In the beginning, when Presidents Young, Woodruff, Snow and others that are around me, were called upon to go and preach the Gospel, and had nothing to go with, we went whether we could or not. You do not have to do that today; you are given time to go consistently and comfortably. But I give you notice that we want Elders to go and preach the Gospel; for now is the time when the desire of the people is open to receive it. It is the great leading duty of Israel to preach this Gospel to the nations of the earth, laid especially upon the Twelve Apostles, with the First Presidency to see that it is carried out. ¶

Think what the Lord is doing for us! A little while ago we were set upon fiercely by the government, and if the Lord had not come to our rescue to tell us we might suspend operations in some of His ordinances, not only would our public and our private property have been taken away from us, but our temples would have been closed up. Now the government has come back, and gave us, a while ago, our personal property, and last week, by enactment and the signature of the Executive, they restore to us the real property, except that which has been lost and wasted in the handling. ¶

We have occasion to rejoice in this. The work of the Lord is beginning to triumph in some of these matters. This is the first time we have had the chance to hold the general Conference with these Stars and Stripes over us in the relationship we sustain to them now. Utah is no longer a territory, looked upon with suspicion; but it has become a state—I had almost said a sovereign state. Well, if the states are sovereign, then I suppose Utah is sovereign, too. Heretofore we have always had to go under the direction and counsel of the President and Congress of the United States; but now we have a State organization, and a Governor, a native born Governor, who can give letters of commendation to honorable men and can introduce them to governors of other States and men in high positions. Thus the Lord is opening the way, by which we can carry the Gospel wherever it should be carried. ¶

I think, brethren and sisters, we ought to rise up to the possibilities and opportunities of the situation, and spread the knowledge of this Gospel. If you have relations out in the world, and you may have been slow to communicate with them, keep up a kindly, friendly correspondence with them. If you have been backward in sending the word of the Lord to your kindred, send them some of it. Let them be enlightened. Feed them a little. As Brigham and Heber used to say, hand them a little salt, that they can taste of it and see how good it is. And so let us go on wit the good work of the Lord which He has given to us to do, and let us work while it is today. ¶

You know, in going out in a great field, where some of the land is high and some low, that which is on the knolls ripens the quickest, while down in the swales it doesn’t get ripe so quick. It is just so with this great vineyard of the Lord and field of the world. There are spots and places where it is ripe sooner than others. But we want to be prepared and ready that when the summer is on we may gather in the harvest. When the springtime comes we want to cast in the seed—the world of the Lord, that we may by and by, in the autumn, realize a great ingathering, a harvest of souls, to Zion, that shall increase and extend and multiply, till we will be building other temples, other stakes, and multiplying the wards of Israel throughout the land. You must not think because we have become a State, and these sisters must not think now they have the franchise, that we have got it all and we can sit down and enjoy it. This is simply the armor that God gives us to pick up and buckle on to go to work for another summer’s labor. The winter has gone again, and after the sowing the Lord will bring the harvest as He would have it. We need not wonder or marvel about things in the future; we want to be up and doing today. ¶

Now, I want to notify you Elders that in going abroad we wish you, when you get to be presidents of missions, to bring home the very best published histories there are of those countries that you go to, so that we can have the history of the generation of men on the earth in the Historian’s Office; and we do home, now that the government has given us back our substance, that sometime we shall have a Historian’s Office that will be a credit to the Church, so that we can preserve the records properly. I wish you to see that there are good complete records instituted in our conferences, in your missions. And when you go to those nations where they are led by chiefs, in tribes, as in New Zealand among the Maories, (and among the Lamanites, if they don’t get killed off before their day comes) you get at some of those venerable old Maori chiefs, and you will find they are full of genealogy and history of their tribes and will take you back by tradition for hundreds of years. Get what they know, and write it for the benefit of those people that live around them; for when they come up to Zion or when temples shall be built in their midst, they will find that the people of Zion are getting up records of their fathers. We must begin to be Israel in this direction more than we have been before. ¶

These are some of my ideas just now, as I enjoy this rich and precious and glorious conference that I am sharing with you. We talk about our sons and our families. It really makes folks feel terrible all over if they see their families not in so good a situation as some of their brethren’s. But we must just do the best we can, and then the Lord will do the rest for us, and set angels to help us. It is precious that we can look back to so great a father as Abraham. The Lord says, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him.” And so he did. He instructed them concerning the very first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” While he had one side of his family, the descendants of Sarah, that came to be Twelve Tribes to enter into the Gospel covenant and the power of great salvation, there was another side of his household, the descendants of his other wives, that have gone off in the line of Mohammedamism. But as different as their views are from ours, they have maintained that feature which our father Abraham taught them, that they should have no other gods before Him, and with them there is but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet; while with us there is but one God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. If we can establish our children in the right ways of the Lord, that is what we ought to do. But we can look back over some of the best families of Israel, beginning with the Prophet Joseph’s family and going all along the line, and where are they? Look into the world and at some of the best preachers among the different denominations—men living up to the best light they have—and some of their children are the renegades of their town. Well, if men do the best they can, there will be help given to the righteous. Think of father Abraham! The Lord has told us that he has passed the angels and the Gods and gone into his exaltation. Where are his generations? where are these Moslems? Father Abraham has gone up to where he has power—power with the Gods, power with the Son of God, power with the courts of heaven, power with the council of the Eternal. He has a work on hand. In this world he has a multitude, like the sand of the sea shore, and they have to come around, in time or eternity, to inherit the presence and glory of their father Abraham in the eternal world, so many of them as can be rescued through obedience to the Gospel. I hope the Lord will bless us, and help us to understand the times and seasons in which we live, that we may make the most and best of them, glorify His name and build up His Church. ¶

The Lord is going to turn the favor of the best men on earth towards this people as fast as we will let Him. Men already have come here with their millions and offered their money to us. They sense that we are a people who are trustworthy, and that pay our debts. They sense that we are a staid people, and our merchants have paid their debts in the east and maintained as good a financial reputation as any people in these whole United States. (We can say “these United States” since we have got in). why do they feel that way? It is because they see the integrity of this people; that during the late panic the banks did not close up and burst us all to pieces and ruin everything, but held steady. They see virtues among this people that make them feel safe that if there is a people anywhere where they can invest and do business with safety, they are here. We have the least number of defaulters among us, we have the least bankrupts among us, we have the least of anything of that kind that is mischievous and bad. We need to cultivate these virtues, not in our merchants only, but every man, woman and child ought to be brought up in the culture of these graces and virtues, so that we can stand up and be exalted above every other people; and the glory of God will come upon Zion, and they will look to her as the safest and best place for their great treasure storehouses and the establishment of all that is good. We will have men come in here with means to build railroads, and make labor for our brethren, and cause them to rejoice, so that they can get a little money to pay their debts and their tithing with. I pray the Lord to bless us all in cultivating very grace and virtue that the Gospel grants us, that we may so live as to be proper exemplars in the Church of our God, and be worthy of the blessings that heaven has to bestow upon us. May it be so. Amen. ¶