Saints Misrepresented and the Nation

It is very gratifying to me to behold this vast audience assembled for the purpose of hearing the servants of the Lord speak of His goodness and mercy, and showing the gratitude which we owe to Him for the blessings of this day. I would like the attention of the people, for it will be difficult to make all hear my voice in this building in its present crowded condition. ¶

I desire to add my testimony to that of my brethren who have addressed you during the conference. If there ever was a people upon the earth who had occasion to manifest gratitude, thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, this people certainly have. It has been a year since our last annual conference, and six months since we met in semi-annual conference. If we have come with prayer in our hearts and blessings for our fellow men, the Lord will be with us. We need a vast amount of teaching. Frequently we feel incapable of sustaining the weight resting upon us, and the vicissitudes of life are more than we can bear sometimes, and if it were not for the overruling providences of our Father we could not endure the pressure that is brought to bear, sometimes by friends and often by foes, upon the work of God. ¶

I wish that the people of the world, especially the United States, could know us as we are. I remember a remark that my father made to a certain United States official who had served his time as a Territorial officer here and was about to take his departure. After this official had remarked that he had been well treated and he was glad to know the people, my father turned to him and said, "I am glad to hear you express your feelings in that way. If you will be good enough to tell the truth about us when you go hence, that is all we ask." What is the reason that our neighbors are not of our faith. Here we have men in our midst who cling to honor as they cling to life -- honorable men in almost everything -- and yet they hesitate no more to lie about us than they do to take their salary for what they do. It is a little mysterious to me. If they would only tell the truth, and give the people of the United States a fair chance, I would be glad. The people in the East and West labor under disadvantages that the people who are among us do not; and it seems to me that if those who mingle so freely with the Latter-day Saints, and who traduce them more freely, would only represent us to the people at large just as we are, we would be better and more favorably known. But individuals stand in the way, and vilify, malign and bear false witness against the people who compose the Church of Christ upon the earth. It is possible that they do not know what they are doing. It seems to me, though, that they are working for a purpose, and nothing will satisfy them except we destroy the God we worship and adopt the God (?) that they pretend to worship. ¶

I want to read a little about the condition of things today, from the Book of Mormon. Jesus Christ was on this land about two thousand years ago, and He gave the people His doctrine. In speaking of the future of this land and of the people who should dwell on it, He said: ¶

"And, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place, that I shall gather in from their long dispersion, my people, of the house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion. ¶

"And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign, for verily I say unto you, that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles; that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob; and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them. ¶

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you: ¶

"For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with His people, O house of Israel; ¶

"Therefore, when these works, and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter, shall come forth from the Gentiles unto your seed, which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity; ¶

"For thus it behoveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth His power unto the Gentiles, for this cause, that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel; ¶

"And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel. ¶

"And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them they shall see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. ¶

"For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. ¶

"But behold the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. ¶

"Therefore it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, whom the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said,) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. ¶

"And my people who are a remnant of Jacob, shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. ¶

"Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off. ¶

"Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots. ¶

"And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds; ¶

"And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers; ¶

"Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands; ¶

"And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities. ¶

"And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away. ¶

"For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; ¶

"And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. ¶

"But if they will repent, and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance, ¶

"And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem; ¶

"And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem. ¶

"And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst; ¶

"And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this Gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people; yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem. ¶

"Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father, to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name; ¶

"Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father, among all nations in preparing the way whereby His people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. ¶

"And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward." ¶

Chap. 21st of III Nephi. ¶

The indications to me are that the adversary is doing all in his power to destroy the work which God has established. Christ Himself, looking to this day, and to this nation, the glory and unity of which has been preserved up to the present day, said that if the Gentiles would receive His Gospel, and not harden their hearts against His word, which should come through His Prophet, He would gather them in and number them among His people of the house of Israel, and they would become a chosen seed. These are the conditions which exist today. The Lord raised up the Prophet Joseph Smith and restored His Gospel. That Gospel has been and is being declared unto the people of this nation, and if they receive it, it will be well with them. Perhaps I am a little uncharitable, but today I look upon every effort that is made to misrepresent this people as an injury to this nation. These men who are doing all in their power against the work of God, which has been established for the benefit and blessing of this nation, are in reality, though they may not know it, seeking to destroy the great United States as a nation. By their misrepresentations of the Church of Christ, they are preventing good, honest people from even listening to the principles we have to present to them. They won't receive it themselves, and they prevent others from receiving it. Men who are seeking to lift themselves into place and power stand in the way and prevent the honest in heart of this nation taking advantage of the promise of the Savior and coming into the fold, so that we may perpetuate this glorious nation and those constitutional principles which have made it one of the foremost nations of the world. This nation is classed along with the oldest, although it has sprung up within a century and a quarter; it is looked upon as a nation that is full of intelligence, power and patriotism, and it is respected throughout the civilized world. Yet, according to the words of Christ in this book, if the people of this nation are so blinded that they will not consider what He has to offer them by His servant -- if they will not receive the Gospel, then shall their horses be cut off out of their midst, their cities shall be destroyed, their strongholds shall be thrown down, and their strength shall become weakness. I want to add, if that day shall come, through the rejection of this Gospel by the people of these United States, the Latter-day Saints will rise up in the power and majesty of the priesthood, and they will bear off the Constitution of the United States. That was given by revelation, and we will defend it with the last drop of blood we have in our bodies and the last dollar in our pockets; God will reject those wicked men and women who have sought to blind the minds of the honest and thereby brought trouble and woe upon this nation. ¶

Those who will stand up for the rights of men will combine with us, and we will form a nucleus that shall uphold and sustain, by our patriotism, our acts, our means and our lives, the glorious institutions which God has founded for the express purpose of having this a free land, where His sons and daughters can come and rejoice in the plentitude of His mercies. ¶

Who is there among the Latter-day Saints that will not live for this glorious end? Who is there that cannot see the condition of things and what we have before us? If he has the Spirit of God in his heart, his soul is lifted to his Creator; and knowing that his Father looks upon the inmost recesses of his soul, he realizes that he must bear himself valiantly in the sight of heaven. May God help us to be valiant Latter-day Saints, and never to be recreant to those principles which the Lord has established, upon this continent. If men will not receive them, let us live them the more closely and thoroughly, and fill our mission acceptably. I say to you -- and I feel it in every fibre of my body -- that this land will never be given to another people and Israel, together with the virtuous, the honest, the God-fearing will hold the reins of government upon this land, and the people of every nation will rejoice, because God will bring it to pass. ¶

May God bless us, brethren and sisters. Let us hold fast to that which is pure and upright, eschew evil, and put away our follies from among us. A young man said to me, "I can't go to my quorum meeting tonight." "What is the matter?" "I have been smoking, and they will smell my breath." That is one of the evils. What is that young man doing? He is cutting himself off from the presence of the Spirit of God, which he must have in him to enable him to perform his duty. Another one said, "I can't go to the quorum meeting tonight." Why? "I have been drinking some beer and smoking an old pipe, and I dare not go." For the sake of gratifying his appetite he cannot attend his duties as a Latter-day Saint. This is a little thing to mention in comparison with the glorious things that we have to think of; but these are the small foxes that spoil the vines. God help us to sweep away these things, and do away with wickedness. Let the glorious truth triumph in our hearts. God help us that we may reach out, with all the strength and power He gives us, unto that end which we are destined to attain to, and finally be saved in His kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶