A God of Miracles and Work of Auxiliary Organizations

While Elder Seymour B. Young has been speaking to us this morning many thoughts on the topics to which he has referred have passed through my mind. He first spoke of the Lord answering the prayers of His people in behalf of the sick, and I believe that at the present time the Lord is very markedly doing this. I have heard some of my brethren and sisters speak as though there was a time in the Church when these manifestations of God's power were more frequent than they are today. In this I do not agree. My experience tells me that there never was a time in the history of the Church when God was more willing to answer the prayers of His people than He is now. A discussion has been going on recently among our friends, on the question of the healing of the sick through faith and prayer, and whether God is a God of miracles today or not. From my standpoint, this discussion is absurd, almost grotesque; for my testimony is that God continues to hear the prayers of His people, and that we are living in a period of daily miracles amongst this people. It is simply those who will not see who are blind to these circumstances. The Prophet Mormon has told us in his record that God's ways are one eternal round; that He is the same yesterday, today and forever; that He was, He is, and He ever will be a God of miracles, or He would cease to be God. The God who answers prayer today as He did anciently; the God who listens to the pleadings of His children and loves them with the same all-powerful love as He did those of former dispensations, is the God in whom I believe, and whom I worship. I believe in Him among other things by reason of the manifestations of His power that I know are taking place in the midst of the Saints, not only in the healing of the sick, but in their enjoyment of the gifts of the Spirit which He has promised to the believers; and I have good reason to worship Him. ¶

There is another thing that has impressed me in the remarks of the brethren before this conference. I refer to the warning they have given to some of our restless brethren, and possibly sisters, who seem to be always inclined to go further and further from the headquarters of the Church and take up their residence in far-off lands. I have lately had the privilege of visiting some of the more remote settlements of the Saints. Within the last few weeks I have been to Alberta, to Grande Ronde valley in Oregon, and to the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming; and I have been full of gratitude to God to see the vast extent of good country — almost measureless— that still remains for the Saints to occupy, with soil as good and rivers as large as any yet settled upon and brought out by our people. Yet there are some people who would go still further afield. ' We are told that there are some of our brethren who have wandered off to the north of Alberta, far on the Edmonton road, which lies 300 miles to the northward of our settlements. Others have wandered off in different directions, apparently to get from under the influence, direction and counsel of the servants of God. To do this is a suicidal policy on the part of those who attempt it. In the kingdom of God the path of obedience is not only the path of safety, but it is the path of salvation. All our strength, all our power with God, comes from our union with the Priesthood, with the living oracles, who have the right and the authority from God to direct us in things both great and small, if we may use that expression, for all things are but relatively large or small; but everything that it pleases God to reveal to us is important, because on it hinges our salvation. It is by neglect of the small things that we too often wreck our faith. As the scriptures tell us, it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. I have greatly marveled and been pleased 'with the prospects of our people in their new settlements and colonies; and I can perceive that there is vast room for Israel to grow, and grow legitimately, without spreading beyond the borders that the servants of God recognize as proper places for homes for Latter-day Saints. ¶

As one interested in the youth of Israel, I have felt great satisfaction in. the remarks of the brethren. Many of you know me more as a Sunday school man than in any other position in the Church, and the instructions which have been given at this conference with regard to the training of our youth find an echo in my heart. I know the necessity of this training and development in righteousness, and in fighting that which God has said is not good for us. Surely it is inconsistent in the highest degree for those who claim tobe Latter-day Saints to take the nameof God in vain, to disregard the teachings of the Church with regard to the Sabbath, and to treat with disrespect those whom God has called to be His servants. We need encouragement to do right, warning to avoid wrong. We need a reformation in some of these matters, that we may live nearer unto God. I feel that our Sunday schools, our Improvement associations and other auxiliary organizations have a great work before them, to lead the youth of Israel in the path in which they should walk, first by us who claim to be teachers setting the example, and then by good instruction persuading our children to follow in our footsteps. May God bless you, and bless this conference. I ask it through Jesus, our Redeemer. Amen. ¶