Living by the Spirit

My brethren and sisters, I pray that the Spirit of the Lord which guides us in the ways of all truth will direct me in what I shall say this morning—I bear testimony to the advice that has been given unto us by Elder Merrill—I was pleased with the remarks that were given on the first day of this Conference, because they partook of the spirit of encouragement—I feel encouraged in the work of the Lord, and I can see that the spirit which the brethren are imbued with is similar to that which was possessed by Nephi, the Prophet, while going up to the city of Jerusalem to get the record of his forefathers—His brothers protested against him going for this purpose, and he answered them in this wise: ¶

"That as the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness, until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us." ¶

When I heard President Cannon speaking about the success of the work of the Lord I could see he partook of the same spirit, and the brethren that have followed him since the first day have also manifested that spirit—I have been considerably impressed by all the remarks that have been made, and I feel that any one who has not been melted and made tender and pliable by that which has been said, must be as cold as an iceberg ¶

I desire to touch upon the idea presented by President Cannon, that occasionally wise and prudent women would be permitted to go forth and accompany their husbands in preaching the Gospel to the nations of the earth—I have been away on missionary labor, more or less, for some months past; our experience is, especially during the pleasant warm weather, that about one-half of the men in the country are away to the mines, they are absent from home looking after their business, and it would be imprudent for us to teach men's wives, and to take them into the waters of baptism without the consent of their husbands—A great number of men in the Western States and territories are away from home, and leave their wives for a season—It would not be wise for Elders to enter such homes, in fact, they are advised against this and they observe this counsel—They do not go to the homes of women where the husbands are absent, or where there are no men folks living in the house—What is the result? The result is there are thousands of families to whom we cannot explain our views, simply because there are no men at home; they probably would receive us with pleasure and listen to our message if it were practicable to visit them—But I can see now the possibility of this being corrected—I have in view now, one of the sisters that was laboring in the state of Colorado—In the district where she resided there were some five families where the husbands were away from home—She became acquainted with those families—She distributed tracts in their midst, and they came to understand our views in regard to our religion, but so far as the Elders are concerned these families would have been passed by—There are probably thousands of families in this condition—I just mention this to corroborate the remarks of President Cannon, and to bear testimony to the good work that women can do ¶

I feel to rejoice in the work in which we are engaged and in hearing of the great success of the Elders of Israel abroad—I was struck very much with a remark made yesterday by Elder Roberts; it was a very slight remark, but it impressed me—He said that God had witnesses upon the earth of His work—The witnesses Elder Roberts referred to, I presume, were the Elders of Israel who hold the Priesthood and have the testimony of Jesus Christ—I desire to read to you about other witnesses which possibly he did not have in his mind—I find in the 28th chapter of the Third Book of Nephi the following, spoken by Jesus Christ unto the Twelve Apostles upon this continent: ¶

"And it came to pass when Jesus had said these words, he spake unto his disciples, one by one, saying unto them, What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father? ¶

"And they all spake, save it were three, we desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee, in thy kingdom. ¶

"And He said unto them, Blessed are ye, because ye desired this thing of me; therefore after that ye are seventy and two years old, ye shall come unto me in my kingdom, and with me ye shall find rest. ¶

"And when He had spoken unto them, he turned himself unto the three, and said unto them, What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father? ¶

"And they sorrowed in their hearts, for they durst not speak unto Him the thing which they desired. ¶

"And he said unto them, Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me; ¶

"Therefore more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father, unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory, with the powers of heaven; ¶

"And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory, ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality: and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father. ¶

"And again, ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh, neither sorrow, save it be for the sins of the world: and all this will I do because of the thing which ye have desired of me, for ye have desired that ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand; ¶

"And for this cause ye shall have fullness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fullness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one; ¶

"And the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and the Father giveth the Holy Ghost unto the children of men, because of me. ¶

"And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words He touched every one of them with his finger, save it were the three who were to tarry, and then He departed. ¶

"And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things. ¶

"And it was forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard; ¶

"And whether they were in the body or out of the body, they could not tell; for it did seem unto them like a transfiguration of them, that they were changed from this body of flesh into an immortal state, that they could behold the things of God. ¶

"But it came to pass that they did again minister upon the face of the earth: nevertheless they did not minister of the things which they had heard and seen, because of the commandment which was given them in heaven. ¶

"And now whether they were mortal or immortal, from the day of their transfiguration, I know not; ¶

"But this much I know, according to the record which hath been given, they did go forth upon the face of the land, and did minister unto all the people uniting as many to the Church that would believe in their preaching; baptizing them; and as many as were baptized, did receive the Holy Ghost; ¶

"And they were cast into prison by them who did not belong to the Church—And the prisons could not hold them, for they were rent in twain, ¶

"And they were cast down into the earth—But they did smite the earth with the word of God, insomuch that by his power they were delivered out of the depths of the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold them. ¶

"And thrice they were cast into a furnace, and received no harm. ¶

"And twice were they cast into a den of wild beasts; and behold they did play with the beasts, as a child with a suckling lamb, and received no harm. ¶

"And it came to pass that thus they did go forth among all the people of Nephi, and did preach the Gospel of Christ unto all people upon the face of the land; and they were converted unto the Lord, and were united unto the Church of Christ, and thus the people of that generation were blessed, according to the word of Jesus. ¶

"And now I, Mormon, make an end of speaking concerning these things for a time. ¶

"Behold, I was about to write the names of those who were never to taste of death; but the Lord forbade, therefore I write them not, for they are hid from the world. ¶

"But behold I have seen them, and they have ministered unto me; ¶

"And behold they will be among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles knoweth them not. ¶

"They will also be among the Jews, and the Jews shall know them not. ¶

"And it shall come to pass, when the Lord seeth fit in His wisdom, that they shall minister unto all the scattered tribes of Israel, and unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and shall bring out of them unto Jesus many souls, that their desire may be fulfilled, and also because of the convincing power of God which is in them." ¶

It seems that these men shall have a peculiar endowment, and that endowment shall be the convincing power of God. ¶

"And they are as the angels of God, and if they shall pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus, they can shew themselves unto whatsoever man it seemeth them good; ¶

"Therefore great and marvelous works shall be wrought by them, before the great and coming day, when all people must surely stand before the judgment seat of Christ; ¶

"Yea even among the Gentiles shall there be a great and marvelous work wrought by them, before that judgment day." ¶

Now, you wonder why so many Gentiles are turning their hearts toward the truth—We can learn that there is a change brought about by agencies in addition to the witnesses that were spoken of yesterday by Elder Roberts ¶

God bless you—Amen ¶