Mission of the Saints

The hopes and anticipations of the Latter-day Saints are probably different from those of any other people in Christendom, if not in the world—We are looking forward, as Elder Penrose has said, to the time when primitive conditions will be restored; when we shall have paradise on earth, when Eden will be restored to the earth, when Satan will be bound, when a reign of righteousness will be ushered in, when sin will be banished from the face of the earth, when what has been termed Millennial glory will be ushered in—We anticipate that this will be brought about not entirely by the Lord's intervention, but by man, directed by the Lord, laboring to accomplish these results—I do not know any other people on the face of the earth who indulge in these anticipations, or who expect these results to be brought about in the manner in which we do—It is generally thought that this will be done by the manifestation of God's power, independent almost of human agency and effort; but we have been taught that we are the children of God, and that He works out His results by aiding His children, teaching them, and having them exercise their agency in the direction that He points out—This being the case, we should take to heart the instructions we have received, and realize that the Lord has given unto us a mission, and that we are called upon to exert our utmost abilities to accomplish the ends that have been predicted—I think if all of us would do this, and feel that the accomplishment of these results depends upon us, individually as well as collectively, it would have the effect to stimulate us and to stir us up to great diligence—I believe that those of us who will not labor to accomplish these ends will be removed from the midst of the Latter-day Saints—I do not believe that people can stay in this Church, as the end approaches, and remain inactive, indolent, indifferent, and sinful—God has called us to do this work; and when He calls men, as we have seen, to go on missions to accomplish certain results in the preaching of the Gospel, if they do not labor in that mission as they should do, He takes His Spirit from them—So also, having this great mission assigned to us, and it being made incumbent upon us, and having received charge concerning it, if we do not seek to accomplish that mission, the Lord will withdraw His Holy Spirit from us—He will not permit us to go on and live lives of indifference and sinfulness in regard to His work—It is individual salvation that is to be accomplished—If I am saved, and if Satan is bound as far as I am concerned, it must be by my doing that which God requires at my hands—God will not take away from me my agency—If I am determined to listen to Satan and to be influenced by his spirit, He will suffer me, in the exercise of my agency, to do that—But I must take the consequences of thus doing—We see that illustrated in the history of Abel and Cain—Cain loved Satan more than God and he listened to him; he became the servant of Satan, to the extent of doing that which he required of him—Now, he could have done otherwise; he could have done as Abel did; but he chose to do differently, and he had to endure the consequences of his conduct ¶

We talk about Satan being bound—Satan will be bound by the power of God; but he will be bound also by the determination of the people of God not to listen to him, not to be governed by him—The Lord will not bind him and take his power from the earth while there are men and women willing to be governed by him—That is contrary to the plan of salvation—To deprive men of their agency is contrary to the purposes of our God—There was a time on this continent, of which we have an account, when the people were so righteous that Satan did not have power among them—Nearly four generations passed away in righteousness—They lived in purity, and died without sin—That was through their refusal to yield to Satan—It is not recorded that Satan had no power in other parts of the earth during that period—According to all history that we have in our possession, Satan had the same power over men who were willing to listen to him—But in this land he did not have power, and he was literally bound—I believe that this will be the case in the millennium; and I reason upon it as I do upon that happy condition that is described in the record of which I speak—I expect that before Satan is fully bound the wicked will be destroyed—You are familiar with the history which the Book of Mormon gives of that period—There was a great destruction among the people—The Lord visited them in a most terrible manner—Dreadful calamities fell upon them, and the wicked were literally wiped out, just as much as the antediluvian world was wiped out by the flood—That wicked generation was completely extirpated, and those only were left who were righteous—I look forward to the same kind of destructions preceding the glorious events that will take place in the near future—The earth will be visited by fire—President Smith yesterday told us that "he that is tithed shall not be burned at His coming"—I believe that there will be literal fire come upon the earth, and calamities and destructions of so universal a character that the earth will be burned, so to speak, so that there will be but few men left—If the covering could be taken off our city, and of the cities of the world—I would not compare our city to many; but even if it were taken off our city, we who are here today would be appalled at the sight—The abominations and secret wickedness that are practiced among the nations are intruding themselves among us—Unspeakable practices are creeping in—They are varied in character—If we spoke of them at all, we would have to disguise their abominable character—In our own nation, and in the nations of the earth, there is a condition of things that, if we knew of it, would appall us—Let me allude to one instance ¶

In England a short time ago a man who had posed in society as a man of culture and of taste, and who lectured upon esthetics, was found to be guilty of a most abominable crime—a crime for which under the old law the penalty was death; a crime which was practiced by the nations of old, and caused God to command their destruction and extirpation—This crime was proved against this man, and some of his associates were what are called noblemen—He was sent to prison—His term of imprisonment having expired, he comes from prison, and is now engaged, it is so published, in writing a book, and, we suppose is received into society, though guilty of this nameless crime—And is this common? If we may believe that which is told to us, without going into researches ourselves, it and other kindred wickedness, is far too common—The same sin that caused the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah! This and other abominable crimes are being practiced—How will these be stopped? Only by the destruction of those who practice them—Why, if a little nest of them were left that were guilty of these things, they would soon corrupt others, as some are being corrupted among us—In coming to these mountains we hoped to find a place where we could live secluded from the abominations of Babylon—But here in this secluded place wickedness intrudes itself, and is practiced in this land which we have dedicated to the Lord as a land of Zion! How can this be stopped? Not while those who have knowledge of these filthy crimes exist—The only way, according to all that I can understand as the word of God, is for the Lord to wipe them out, that there will be none left to perpetuate the knowledge of these dreadful practices among the children of men—And God will do it, as sure as He has spoken by the mouths of His prophets—He will destroy the wicked, and those who will be left will be like the Nephites after the wicked were all killed off; they were righteous men and women who lived for over two hundred years according to the law of heaven ¶

The duty that devolves upon us is to live pure ourselves, and to have our children live lives of purity—There is too much looseness among us—Much as we are taught concerning virtue, we occasionally hear of acts that cause us the greatest pain—young people indulging in unvirtuous actions; children born two, three, and four months earlier than they should be—It is an extraordinary condition that the first children of some marriages are born sometimes five months and even less after marriage—This is an evidence of something very wrong—And this is not all—We cannot tell what is done in secret—This is made public, because the evidence of sin comes to light and cannot be concealed without the commission of more hideous crime—And this among a people such as we are! It is a disgrace to us—Yet much of it is due to our neglect—Fathers and mothers do not pay that attention to their children, to their habits and their associations, that they should do—If they watched them with care, and enquired of them where they went and with whom they associated, and threw safeguards around them, such things would not happen—There are conditions of society, even among other nations, where such things are very uncommon, because of the habits of the people—Fathers and mothers guard their daughters with the greatest circumspection and vigilance—France is one of those nations—Although France is said to be a corrupt nation, the daughters of the people are watched and their association with the other sex is guarded so that nothing of this kind scarcely ever happens—But with us there is too much familiarity between the sexes—It is wrong; it leads to bad results—The commission of sin makes lives of unhappiness—No woman can forget the trespass of her husband, and no man can ever forget his own sin—It is painful through life for them to think about—We should, as a people, guard against these things—All sorts of evils are introducing themselves—We have men here with whom a woman can no more be trusted than she could be in the den of a wolf—and men of respectable appearance, and who act as though they might be gentlemen—Parents would be as safe in trusting a daughter to a wild beast as to one of them—This class of men prey upon the other sex, and have brought themselves to think that it is neither sinful nor wrong—They destroy virtue wherever they can, and take pride in it—They do not believe there need be any virtue among men, and all women whom they can induce to comply with their wishes they view as their lawful prey—And these people come among us, and consort with us! Our young men, too, consort with them, and some of them take lessons from them—We have heard lately of an occurrence of this character that has stirred our souls to the very center ¶

When will these things end? When God visits the wicked with His judgments, as He will do—Then these practices and the wicked and the knowledge of their wickedness, will be destroyed—Then, I hope, the filthy details and the exact forms and methods of these abominations will be kept secret, as the Prophet Alma counseled his son Helaman concerning the secret oaths and covenants of the Jaredites, that had come down from the days of Master Mahan, of whom we read in the new translation, and who was the head of that secret organization that banded themselves together to commit murders and works of darkness—Alma said to Helaman: ¶

"Therefore ye shall keep these secret plans of their oaths and their covenants from this people, and only their wickedness, and their murders, and their abominations, shall ye make known unto them; and ye shall teach them to abhor such wickedness, and abominations, and murders; and ye shall also teach them, that these people were destroyed on account of their wickedness, and abominations, and their murders." ¶

So, I trust, it will be with us—The knowledge of the wicked and their destruction will be preserved in our midst; but the abomination and the wickedness itself will be concealed from human knowledge, so that wickedness may be abolished in the earth, and the reign of righteousness be ushered in ¶

My brethren and sisters, in talking in this strain I am not indulging in any theory—I do not wish to deal in the least exaggeration concerning conditions that exist—My duties have called me to mingle with the world considerably; but I have avoided knowledge of things that were open to me if I had chosen to look at them or to enquire about them—Notwithstanding this, it has been impossible for me to avoid knowing considerable about many wicked practices, and how little of sin is attached to them by the people of the world—It is this that is the fearful feature in society—Men may seduce; men may be guilty of vileness; men may get disreputable names for their association with the other sex; and yet society will receive them and condone their offenses; in fact, it has seemed to me sometimes as though men of this character, with a certain class of women, were more attractive than pure, modest, diffident men—They seem to think more of them because of the fame they have achieved in their conquests of virtue—But a poor girl that falls in such a way, she is trampled in the dust and becomes a lost soul! And her own sex, while admiring the seducer and receiving him into their society, will frequently be the most fierce and vehement in their denunciations of their poor sister who has fallen by the wiles and seductive influences of the man—Now, all this is wrong—Yet this feeling is among us to some extent, also—Men ought to be held, and I believe the Lord does hold them in such cases, to a far stricter accountability than he does women—The woman has her own passions to contend against; but when she has the man's importunities added to these, shall not the woman be viewed with mercy, and be looked upon differently to that vile creature who, possessed of strength and power, adds his importunities to her weakness and overcomes her, and makes her the victim of his unholy lust? I say, Yes, Yes! Such men will be damned; and if there is any deeper damnation than another, they will be consigned to it ¶

Now, if we want our generations to live in the earth, and to have them go down through the thousand years; if we want to have representatives among the children of men during that happy period, we have to lay the foundation for that now—As we have been told during this Conference, the day of the Lord cometh: it is near at hand; and if we and our children live, it will be because we try to be pure—No generation from this time forth can live for any length of time unless they are pure; for God has said it, and His word does not return unfulfilled—Even now you can see how this Church is being cleansed as we go along—Look at the families that we have known in the Church, and see how they are being thinned out, just as though we were passing through a sifting machine—And when we see how few of those whom we have known have clung to the iron rod and maintained their faith, we are led to ask, who then can be saved? Then how many families there are who, after the death of the father and mother, are not numbered among the Saints of God! This is a cleansing process which is going on, and it will continue to go on more and more, because we are advancing—The Lord will hold us to a stricter accountability than He ever has done, because we have more light, and because of the near approach of the end—The end does approach, and the Lord Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven, as has been predicted, and He will reign on the earth, and over a pure people—His people will be cleansed and made pure by the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of the righteous—That is the reason every wise man and woman observes the Word of Wisdom—They want to live and be preserved when these calamities and judgments shall sweep through the earth—We ought not to have to preach it for a minute among a people such as we are—Every man and woman should be determined to keep that Word, that they may have the blessing, that they and their children may live and not be killed with pestilence and sickness—Such persons will desire every child of theirs to avoid violating the counsel of God in these things—They will also say, besides observing the Word of Wisdom: "I want to pay my tithing—I expect there will be a burning some day, and I want to be preserved when the day of burning comes—I want to keep the law that will bring the fulfillment of the promises of God." Should not we here in this year 1897, live in this way? ¶

Many have supposed that by this time the Lord would have come in His glory—He has not yet come in that manner—But He is coming, and His coming is near at hand—Therefore, we should each endeavor to live so that we shall be prepared for His coming; we should prepare the way by keeping His commandments and living so that Satan will be bound, so far as we and our families are concerned—It is incumbent upon us that we should live this way; for the Lord will not, I can assure you (I speak having knowledge upon this point), always bear with us—Elders cannot wear themselves out as they have done in the past, and as they are still doing, in preaching the word of God to this people, and the Lord not hold the people accountable for their disobedience, if they reject that word—The Lord will have a pure people—He will have a people whose hearts are changed ¶

Some religious societies, you know, believe altogether in faith as the only essential to salvation—On the other hand, I have heard some of our Elders go to the other extreme and almost look upon work as being all that is necessary, because of the saying of James—But the word of God which we have teaches us that we must be born again, and our hearts must be changed, and every evil desire crushed out—Our whole natures should be changed by the operations of the Spirit of God and the principles of the Gospel—I think it was Brother Cowley who spoke concerning some apostates whom they found while laboring in the mission field in Missouri—When they belonged to the Church they had not received and enjoyed the Spirit of God—There are some probably here today who have never had their hearts changed, never had new desires, never been converted from their old desires, and the "old man" is with them still—There have been people whom, probably, we have all known, who would cheat, and lie, and get drunk, and do other evil things, just as much as if they never had been brought into the Church of Christ—Are these the children of God? No; God does not own such people—When men and women join the Church in sincerity, they repent of their sins, and they have new desires—The desire to do evil is taken from them—The Spirit of God will not dwell in a man that has evil desires and does not try to quench them—We as a people should seek to be converted in this respect, if we have not been—If we are as wicked and have as wicked inclinations since our baptism and our association with the Church as we had before, then we need to be converted and be born again ¶

We hear a good deal of talk about re-baptism, and the First Presidency and the Twelve have felt that so much re-baptism ought to be stopped—Men, when they commit sin, think if they can only get the Bishop to rebaptize them, they are all right and their sins are condoned—It is a fallacy; it will lead to destruction—There is no such thing in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—It is repentance from sin that will save you, not rebaptism—If you have been baptized, then, if you commit sin, repent of the sin, confess it, and make the confession as broad as the knowledge of the sin; confess it to your brethren and sisters, and ask their forgiveness; and do not imagine that when you commit sin you can slip into the waters of baptism and you are all right again. Do not delude yourselves, brethren and sisters. Sinners, be not deceived by such a fallacy. Something more than this is necessary. We need to repent of our sins, and to confess them to God. We need to come before the Lord with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and before the Church with the spirit of confession. We should not be afraid to confess our sins; for there is no man among us that is not a sinner. Of course, there are different degrees of sin, and there is a difference in the degrees; but no man or woman, in listening to the confession of another, need pride himself or herself and say, "I am not a sinner. Here is this poor creature, a sinner; oh, how I pity him!" If we come to God in humility, He will show unto us our sins, and our imperfections, and our faults; and we will feel merciful to our brethren and sisters who, like ourselves, are weak and erring. We will be full of pity for them, and we will forgive them. This is the feeling that should exist in every bosom when men and women who commit sin come and confess their sins and are humble and contrite. When Latter-day Saints hear such things, there is a feeling of pity wells up in their hearts, and their souls overflow with sympathy, and they say, "Yes, yes, we'll forgive you, and we'll try and forget all about it. Go on, dear brother, (or sister) repent, and do better from this time forward, and we will give you our faith and prayers." That is the way Saints should feel when their brethren and sisters commit sin and repent of it. ¶

The Lord, also, is moved with compassion; the angels are moved with mercy and sympathy; and the Lord Jesus, who stands as a Mediator between our Father and ourselves, is filled with compassion for His brethren and sisters when they commit sin and repent of it. Oh! all heaven is moved by the repentance of a sinner, and stirred up with a desire to help the poor creature who confesses his sins and repents truly and sincerely. ¶

Brethren and sisters, now that this Conference is drawing to a close, let us endeavor to profit by the teachings we have heard. I have been gladdened during this Conference over one thing. I believe the nomination of the two brethren who are appointed to fill the vacancies in the quorum of the Apostles came as a surprise to the community, if not to the Saints. I have not seen what the papers have said at different times; but I understand they have been picking and choosing and mentioning the name of every man that is at all conspicuous in the Church, as likely to be chosen. It is evident that the Lord did not tell them anything. Since these names were presented yesterday I have had several come to me and tell me that the Lord had revealed to them that these men would be chosen. One man said to me that last April, when they were presenting the names of the authorities in the Stake to which he belongs, it was made manifest to him that Matthias F. Cowley would be one of the Twelve Apostles. He said so to his companions, and told them to write it down, as it would be fulfilled. Several instances of this kind have come to my knowledge. I have not mingled much with the people, because we have been so busy; but I have been gratified beyond expression to learn from these instances that the Lord is a God of revelation, not to the First Presidency and the Twelve alone, but that the Latter-day Saints as a people have the spirit of revelation. It is a blessed thing to live in an age when God reveals His mind and will to those who seek for it. It is not always that we have everything told to us; but when we want to get light upon any subject, the Lord has provided the way. He is a God that hears and answers prayers. He does not conceal Himself. I am thankful that we are not as Israel was in the days of Elijah. The prophets of Baal cried aloud, jumped upon their altar, cut themselves with knives, and indulged in all sorts of extravagances to reach the ear of their god, while Elijah taunted them and said, perhaps he was asleep or had gone on a journey. That is the condition of the world to a great extent. I speak this without intending any disrespect, because there are just as good people in the world as we are; but I say it because there is no revelation among them, nor any idea that it can be obtained, and therefore, men call in vain when they do call; though there are honest souls who believe the Lord will hear their prayers, and whom He does hear. When the Prophet Elijah called our God heard and answered him. So it is with this Church. It is the Church of Jesus Christ, and when its members call upon God they get revelation from God, according to their faith and diligence and the responsibility that rests upon them. As I said last night at the Priesthood meeting, there has never been one minute since this Church was organized that it has been destitute of the knowledge of God and the voice of God. The will of God could be obtained; it has been obtained. And the Church will never be left without it. The authority is in the Church to lead it, as Brother Reynolds said. The angels and heads of dispensations that have been upon the earth have come and restored the keys they held and bestowed them upon the Prophet Joseph Smith; and he sealed them upon the Apostles. The same authority, the same keys, the same power that had been conferred upon him, he transmitted in their fullness to the Twelve Apostles. In this way the keys and that authority have been preserved pure and in the fullness of their power on the earth, and are here in the midst of this people. In this respect we stand at the head ¶

It is written that the ten tribes will come forth from the north country, and they will come here to those who hold the keys in this dispensation, to receive the blessings they do not have themselves. Here is Ephraim, and Ephraim holds the keys. The ten tribes are there, but the authority to hold the keys is here. God is doing a mighty work among the nations of the earth, unknown to us to a great extent. Powerful agencies are operating under His direction in all the nations, to bring to pass the fulfillment of His designs. While this is all going on, and we may seem only like a little handful in the midst of the millions of the earth, here in the midst of this people the authority is held which God recognizes, and here are the keys by which the purposes of God will be fulfilled. All that has been spoken by the mouths of the holy Prophets will be accomplished. There will be a highway cast up; the ten tribes will return, and they will come to the children of Ephraim to receive their blessings. ¶

There is everything, therefore, to encourage us. Let us live so that we shall be heirs and recipients of these great blessings. Let us endeavor to have our families live so that we shall be prepared for the coming of the Lord; that we will not listen to Satan, that our children will turn a deaf ear to his persuasions, and that we ourselves will set them the example; that we will teach them to remember, above all things, to never commit any sin that will cause them to lose their standing in the Church of Christ. ¶

God bless you all, bless everyone who has attended this Conference, and fill us with the Holy Ghost, and help us to do right. God bless our beloved President Wilford Woodruff. God be praised! He has heard the prayers of His servants and people in His behalf, that his life might be preserved, and he is with us today, filled with a vigor—considering his age and his sickness—that is really astonishing. God bless him, and bless all that pertains to him, and preserve him. We would like to have him live forever, if we could. God bless you all, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶