Peace and Patriotism

The time of this Conference is very precious, but it is sufficient for us to bear our testimonies to one another and to speak of the goodness of the Lord—This is a great day in Zion; a great day for Israel—This is the nucleus of the work of our Heavenly Father—This Tabernacle, this great Temple, this great people gathered together, is the great center for the work of the Lord in the earth, and the honor and the glory shall be the Lord's and not ours—The work is progressing more rapidly than ever before—We are working harder abroad and at home—The Presidency and the Apostles, and home missionaries and foreign missionaries are all laboring diligently, and their efforts are being crowned with success ¶

The time will never come, probably, until the Savior appears, when we will not have difficulties to overcome and trials to pass through—We are here for that purpose, and every trial that has been given to us, of every nature, has been for our benefit, and has tended to try and prove us—We may be tried in war as well as in peace, but we should be peacemakers—"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God " We want peace—We should preach peace, teach peace, pray for it, live for it, and do everything on earth for peace that is honorable before we engage in war—We love our country—We love our kindred and friends, like other people, and are willing to serve our country; and there is no doubt, if the difficulties are to commence at the house of the Lord, that the Latter-day Saints will be proven in this regard—So far, we have not had occasion to engage in the wars of our country to any very great extent, but when we have been called upon we have always responded; and if our nation should be in trouble today, as it seems to be threatened, the government of our country will find as generous a response from this State as from any other state in the Union, according to the number of the people; for we love the institutions of liberty and of freedom—But we want peace, because we are a peaceable people, and we want to preach the Gospel that has been restored to us—The authority of the Lord has been conferred upon us that the Gospel may be preached among all nations—That is our mission, and we don't want war—The mothers don't want war—The fathers don't want war—We wish to avoid it if it can possibly be done—We desire to be numbered among the peacemakers who shall be called the children of God—Our faith should be exercised to obtain peace and to maintain it in the earth; for war is terrible—It was terrible when there was war in heaven, and the rebels were overcome and cast out, and then peace reigned there—War may come to our country—Rumors of wars are heard in every land—We will see what the Savior says in regard to this matter: ¶

"For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be ¶

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and His disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple ¶

"And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down ¶

"And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the—disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world? ¶

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you ¶

• "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many ¶

"And ye shall hear of wars, and ru- ¶

mors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end Is not yet ¶

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places ¶

"All these are the beginning of sorrows " ¶

"Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come ¶

"But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up ¶

"Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh ¶

"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? ¶

"Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing ¶

"Verily I say unto you—That he shall make him ruler over all his goods ¶

"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth hib coming; ¶

"And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; ¶

"The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, ¶

"And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth " ¶

We have heard today from President Woodruff the words of the Prophet Joseph, spoken sixty-five years ago—He told at that time what we see today, and that this is the preparation of the people of God for the coming of the Lord upon the earth—And He will come, and His coming will not be delayed—The end, however, is not yet, but approaches—And it is important that those who have received authority from heaven should be like watchmen upon the walls of Zion, and speak forth to the multitude when God commands, and say, be not troubled, for the end is not yet—Be not troubled because there are wars and rumors of wars in the earth, for these things must be; but let us attend to our labor and let us pray that this cup of trouble and war may pass, because it would be terrible—It always has been terrible and it will always be, to the end, when wars and trouble come—Christians should always pray and labor for peace—The last thing for Christians to ever do is to fight for peace ¶

When I listened to President Smith this morning relating the experience of an Elder who had been traveling here without purse and scrip, and how generously he was treated, I could not help but remember how not only one Elder was treated in the Southern States, but how the Elders were treated by the forties — not in a city like Salt Lake City, but in the country where people were sparsely settled—They would take in forty and fifty of us at a time, and they were not Latter-day Saints either—They would feed us, and lodge us, take care of us and move us for four days at a time—They did this in numbers of instances in the Southern States—The Elders there are feeling splendidly, and their influence among the people and the officials of the country is good—The great change that has been wrought in the hearts of the people in that country is remarkable, since President Woodruff announced, at the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, that that great change would come—It has come, and the word of God through him has been fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled and will be to the very letter—The words of the Lord will all be verified that are contained in this sacred book (the Bible), though infidels and others may war upon it, it is the truth, it is the word of God—Men may do as they please with it, but it contains the truth—And it contains the history of the dealings of God with His children—The same is true with regard to the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—Men will war upon them, as they have upon the Bible, but they will not war any more successfully or industriously—For these books, be it known, contain the words of the Lord—I bear my testimony to their truth and divinity, and to the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the mission of the ¶

Prophet Brigham Young, and of President John Taylor and of President Wilford Woodruff, Prophets of the Lord, and their brethren who are here—I bear testimony to the divinity of your mission as well as ours—For your mission is just as sacred as ours—You are the children of God—You have had His testimony and spirit burning in your souls—He has endowed you richly with it— all of us more generously than we deserve—He has thus led us and He has established and settled us in the truth ¶

In the doctrines of the Gospel there is salvation and life, and they meet every requirement of the human heart—There is not a thing that the soul of man or woman needs in this life, or in the life to come, that is not met in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this organization which is so perfect and so complete—We can therefore afford to be generous—I did thank the Lord when I was in the Southern States and in the Eastern and Northern States, that I could stand before those people and invite their ministers to come to Utah and we would offer them congregations and an auditorium such as cannot be found elsewhere in the United States—We invite them to come and lay their doctrines before the people—We want to know what the doctrine of the world is—We don't want the people kept in ignorance of what there is in the earth—If it were so would we be found putting, today, in our magazine for the young people, what we are publishing — the doctrines of Catholics and of Protestants of every denomination, written from their own standpoint, and laying them before the people? Our pulpits are open to all men of reputable standing in the world, who are made welcome to talk to us—It gave us strength and an influence in the earth to be able to state these facts—Why, there is no such sight to be seen in the world as this Tabernacle of the Lord—There is nothing to compare with it—In its design it is remarkable—Just realize what has been accomplished by a poor people—And if we be poor today, the way is open to us to have all the means we need—We should retrench in our living, and save means—There is means in abundance and to spare among the Latter-day Saints today, to meet all the obligations of individuals and of the people generally—And we ought to so order our lives in harmony with the instructions given us today by Elder Merrill, which are so choice, that we may meet our obligations—Let those who have ample themselves assist those who have not—And let them live together as one family and bring salvation to each and all—The very Words of Wisdom given to us for the temporal salvation of the people would, in three years, meet all the obligations of this Church and of every member in it, if we would observe that counsel—Not only to save the means that are spent for tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor, but to eat less of meats and let the meat be sold to others, and let us live upon the fruits and vegetables—There is a fortune in these things for the people, and in this way we can easily become free—We ought to be the most independent people upon the face of the earth for means of every kind ¶

I pray the Lord to bless you, my brethren and sisters, and to bless us during this Conference—Oh, how I thank the Lord whenever President Woodruff stands up and talks to the Church! And we want that voice for so many years yet to remain among us—We do not want his voice stilled—For the voices of the others of the older ones have been stilled who bore the Apostleship in the days of the Prophet Joseph—President Woodruff is the only man living that enjoyed that honor during the life of the Prophet Joseph—Let me exhort you, my brethren and sisters, to be indeed Latter-day Saints—Take care of yourselves individually and be Saints of God; and remember if we do not survive until the coming of the Son of Man, we are then, anyway, in the very condition we ought to be in to pass away—We are ready to die and to meet the Lord—It is as necessary that we should be ready to meet Him on the other side, as to be prepared for Him at His coming here—But He will come, and He will come in the presence of the nations of the earth—They shall know it and shall fear and tremble at the coming of the great God to reign upon the earth—This is my testimony to you and to the world—And I speak as one who is authorized thus to speak of the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world—God bless you—Amen. ¶