Seek First the Kingdom of God

I have been very much interested during this semi-annual conference. Personally, I cannot remember the time when I have been more pleased with the discourses. There is one grand feature connected with them that has forced itself upon my mind. It is. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you." I remember instances when temporal matters seemed to be foremost. I comprehend as well as others how necessary it is that we should have temporal things brought to our attention. Sometimes I have felt a little in doubt which should be the most prominent at present, our temporal salvation, or our spiritual salvation, and I have been unable to say which should be first. Some of our people are in a regretable condition, and much has been said upon this question and it has seemed quite a hobby with me as I have passed through that experience, but I will not take time to say anything upon that feature. Our people should follow the instructions that have been given them and keep out of debt. ¶

I call to mind a saying of the Lord: "I am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, then ye have no promise." He says to the young people: "He that seeketh me early shall find me, and he shall not be forsaken." The Lord has made great and wonderful promises to this people. ¶

I desire to call your attention to an incident that occurred when I was la boring in the Southern States, in 1884. I went there in 1883. The year 1884 was a time of a sad experience in that mission. It was then that some of our Elders lost their lives by mob violence. It seemed that there was bitterness on all hands. We had but few friends. I was at the office in Chattanooga under Elder Roberts at the time. I picked up a Chattanooga Times one morning, and I was very much delighted to see in print these words, speaking of Elder John Morgan. It said, "To shake his hand was to be his friend." I have never forgotten it. When you shook John Morgan's hand and he looked into your face you always knew that you were his friend. John Morgan understood that principle. Some of our people are becoming careless in the shaking of hands. I have shaken hands with some men, when I would just as soon have put my hand into a bucket of ice water as to shake hands with them. They may have been friendly, but I have no means of telling. Great sermons have been preached in this Church by the simple shaking of hands; and you who have been in holy places; you who have been in the holy temple, know what it means to shake hands. ¶

I witnessed a play in the Theater here, and was very much taken up with it— Julius Caeser — and when I saw the mimic representatives of great Romans walk up and shake hands, I presume every one in that large Theater was impressed with the idea that it meant friendship. But we have been too much carried away with temporal matters. When our Elders come home— we have probably eight hundred who return every year— they ask me what is the matter with the people? They discover it whenever they shake hands with you. When you meet the Elders that come home and shake hands with them, they will hardly let go of your hand, they are so friendly, and you can feel it in your hearts that they love you. They do it from the bottom of their hearts. You, who have lost children know when a person comes up to you and sympathizes with you on account of your loss, taking you by the hand and looking you in the face, notwithstanding they do not utter a word, you feel that friendship, that sympathy that pierces to the innermost recesses of your hearts. Those who have lost wives, if one who has passed through that terrible experience comes to sympathize with another man who has lost his wife, in shaking his hand there is a feeling of friendship and sympathy that cannot be expressed in words. ¶

Brethren and sisters, we can afford to be sympathetic; we can afford of all people on the earth to be filled with sympathy and compassion. I am not concerned very much about what other religionists do. We have the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it has withstood every test. We have sent out our young Elders without experience, and it is marvelous, it is wonderful, it is one of the great testimonies to me how these young men can meet the men of the world as they do, with so little experience. It is a very strong evidence that we have the truth, that we have the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not concerned about the Christian Scientists; I have little to say against them. If they do any good that is theh business, but I wish to say that there will be inroads made among this people. I call to mind now a circumstance of a Josephite preacher going into the city of Logan, among the intelligent people there, and going from house to house. It was discovered that our people were unable to meet him. He went to a Bishop's place, and he spoke unkindly to him, and a young Elder who had just returned from the East said: "Father, I am unwilling to stand by and hear that man talk as he is talking, and I will meet him in public debate," and he vaniFhed, and that man did not wish to see him any more. We must be informed. No church can find a more successful way of making inroads among our people than by getting them to extend the hand of sympathy, love, and affection in their trials and tribulations. We, who hold the priesthood, Elders, ¶

Seventies, Teachers, and Deacons — ought to perform our duties; our hearts are noit always as they should be; we do not always exhibit the sympathy, lov<» and affection that we ought. I am sorry to say that some of my acquaintances, siome who are near and dear to me, have been won from our Church through love and sympathy. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I have this to say in conclusion: Even if you are in a hurry, stop and shake hands before going on, but do it right ; have the spirit of God within you, and when you greet them say, "God bless you." I know a good old sister, who is working for her living; she would not let the Church support her, she is too proud. She i» over 70 years old. She said to me that when an Apostle took her by the hand and said "God bless you" it was worth more to her than all the money they could give her. I remember Apostle Erastus Snow, and I will never forget him as long as I live on the earth. He stopped long enough to take me by the hand as a boy, after my father was dead, and said "God bless you." There are others that have done so, and they stand foremost in my mind, and I remember and esteem every one of them. "We should learn to love and honor each other. We should have the spirit of God burning within our hearts. You can make more converts in this way than by any other means. God bless you. Amen. ¶