The Value, Acquirement, and Possession of Truth

I, too, am filled with the spirit of rejoicing today, in being permitted to gather in conference with the Latter-day Saints, and in listening to the testimonies of the servants of God as they are borne. In looking over this vast congregation I have felt to offer in my heart a prayer of thanksgiving to my Father in heaven that He has done so much for His people. Nearly all things that the Latter-day Saints need are given to them. Whenever they ask, their prayers are heard and answered. Truth is what they have wanted, and truth is what they have, and is the link which welds them all so closely together. ¶

It was written in Salt Lake City a short time ago that all religions have some truth, but that no religion has all truth, for that could only be gained through infinite progression. While that statement is true, yet the Latter-day Saints have the assurance and the knowledge that all they have is true. Every principle, every rite, every command that has ever been given to the Saints of God in these days, from the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith till now, is true, because it came from God, and therefore must be true. While we have not all the truth, still we are in that line of eternal and infinite progression which eventually will place in the possession of the faithful Latter-day Saints all the truth. The Latter-day Saints can have any and every truth that others have. I cannot have perhaps the same object that you have, but I may have a truth that you have. If you have the knowledge that the sun first makes his appearance in the east, I, too, may have that identical knowledge. Therefore, whenever the Latter-day Saints see a truth, whenever one is made known, no matter where or by whom it is possessed or found, they can possess it also; and they do usually accept gladly every truth that is brought to light. It makes no difference to them whether it be Christian or pagan, or heathen, who under God has been permitted to show forth that truth. ¶

My brethren and sisters, here we are gathered together in a multitude. Thousands of us can stand up and before all men declare that this is indeed the Church of God, and that we have a knowledge — not a mere belief, but a knowledge— that once more the Lord has set His hand to establish a people of His own in the earth. Because we know this, we have gathered together today to listen still further to the truths that God may have to transmit to His children here. The Latter-day Saints gather in their meeting houses every week and there bear testimony one to another of the goodness of God. They testify that they know that God lives, and that He indeed did condescend to answer the humble prayer of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and they call attention to many of the gifts and blessings of God that have been made known to them since their connection with the Church. Many of them will tell of the healings of the sick which have been made manifest in their midst. They acknowledge the hand of God in the raising of their loved ones from disease and affliction. They say they know their prayers have been heard. And while that is one of the evidences of the truth of the Gospel unto us, there are, in my judgment, many other evidences, greater than the healing of the sick, that God lives and is at the head of this work. It is true that many prayers are heard and answered in behalf of the sick. We know that we are given that for which we ask. We have received that for which we sought. Yet how many parents are there who have prayed earnestly and long, and with all the power of their souls, that God would give them back one who was at the point of death, and still their prayer has not been answered? How many children have also offered such prayers in behalf of parents, and yet their prayers have not been answered; but those for whom they wept and prayed have been taken away. Prest. Woodruff often used to say that he had passed the allotted time of man and was kept alive by the faith and prayers of the Latter-day Saints. Here Apostle Brigham Young comes back to us almost from the point of death, and testifies that God raised him up, and that he knew the prayers of the Latter-day Saints were ascending to Him in his behalf. Yet the time came, my brethren and sisters, when all the prayers of the Latter-day Saints, earnest though they were, and accompanied by the faith of the people, did not save President Woodruff from death. The time has come when our prayers in behalf of many of our loved ones have not been answered, but those for whom we have prayed have been taken away. But, my brethren and sisters, because they are taken away, is that any sign that our prayers were not heard by our Father in heaven? Not in the least. It is but an evidence that God knows best, that His will is not our will, and that the time had come when He saw it wiser not to answer that prayer. How often do parents have to deny the prayers and petitions of their own children. Notwithstanding the child desires a thing greatly, and can see no reason why he should not have it, yet in the greater wisdom of the parent his request is denied and the supposed blessing is withheld. But that is no evidence that the prayer was not considered by the parent; it is simply an evidence that the parent knows best when to give and when to withhold. ¶

The healing of the afflictions of physical man by the power of God is one of the evidences of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; but it is a greater evidence to me, that there are, as has been mentioned, thousands of young men, Elders in Israel, filled with the power and spirit of the Holy Ghost, going abroad in the world, clothed with the Holy Priesthood and power of Almighty God, equipped with the pure and unadulterated principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, healing the nations of their spiritual and soul-destroying ailments and afflictions. These Elders go forth, taking the Gospel with them, and after they have healed men of the errors and falsehoods they have been traditioned in from their youth up they bring them home to Zion. Here we are, a people from almost every nation in the world, men and women of different tongues, different customs, different beliefs, different gods; brought together, through this glorious panacea for the ills of all men, and made one in Christ Jesus, with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, knowing each other, knowing the principles of the Gospel as they have been revealed, and testifying to the truth of them — all by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is a testimony to me, greater indeed than the healing of the sick or the taking away from this life of any individual. Gathered together in the vales of the Rocky Mountains, in fulfillment of prophecy, are the people of God, and here they are established as an evidence that it is futile for the world to raise a hand against the Latter-day Saints to retard their progress or check their advancement. They cannot be stopped; they must go on; for God is their leader. As Brother Roberts said he must exult a little, I often exult a great deal because of the goodness of God to His people in thwarting the efforts of unrighteous men to check the progress of and to bring reproach and ignominy upon the Saints of the Most High. I rejoice in this, and I love to see the Church grow, in spite of all they can do. I love to see the people live near unto God, obey His commands, accept the leaders of the Church as men chosen of God, hearken to their counsels, and meet together with smiling countenances. ¶

All of us may have a knowledge that this is the one and only religion in all the wide world of which it can be said, "all they have is true." Yet how gladly we would extend it to everyone else! How gladly we would give to others that which we have received, and how assiduously are we working for the salvation of men, as is evidenced by the hundreds upon hundreds of Elders sent forth to proclaim repentance and salvation to the world! ¶

Another evidence of the truth of the Gospel — a very strong one to me — is the organization of the Church. Look at it, my brethren and sisters. Men in the world have wondered and could not understand how it was that God could be omniscient and omnipresent, and the teaching of this doctrine has led them into all kinds of error as to who and what God is. Now, look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints— a church composed of nearly four hundred thousand people, divided Into stakes and wards and missionary fields, presided over by men holding the holy Priesthood. Think of all that number of souls, and then bear in mind that the President of the Church can within a few hours, get in touch with the remotest parts of the Church, and become acquainted with almost every individual member. His knowledge concerning any part of the Church, scattered throughout the world, becomes almost omniscient. All he needs to do is to communicate with the president of the stake, whom he knows, and that president may communicate with the Bishop of a ward, the Bishop may inform his teachers that he desires information concerning a family or an individual in his ward, and the information is received, and transmitted right back to the head of the Church. In this way the President of the Church is brought in touch with all the Church, in all its branches, however remote they may be. If, then, one man, in a finite condition, can become so thoroughly acquainted with a people numbering four hundred thousand, can we not understand how easy it is for God, who is infinite, to receive all knowledge concerning all the works of His hands? The organization of the Church is as perfect as it can possibly be in our present state. All has been given us that we are capable of receiving. And Oh! how we rejoice in it, my brethren and sisters, and in the knowledge, too, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into our hearts, what God has in store for us as we march on in that infinite progression and advancement. All things will be given to us— all power, all glory, all knowledge, even as our Father in heaven possesses it — in due time, as we are capable of receiving them. ¶

My brethren and sisters, ought we not to rejoice in the testimony of the truth, and ought we not to give glory to God? After He has done so much for us, ought we not to do all we can for Him, and for His children, all over the world, no matter who they are, where they are, or what they are? Should we not love our enemies, and be willing to do all we can for them, even though their hand be raised against us? God has done so much for us that if we do all we can and live to the age of a tree, we will never be able to repay Him for His goodness to us. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, we have the truth. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that the truth was a knowledge of things as they were, a knowledge of things as they are, and a knowledge of things as they are to come. Is not that a beautiful definition of truth? Does it not embrace all truth? And indeed, according to that definition, have not the Latter-day Saints more truth than all the other peoples of the wide world, because they have a greater knowledge of the dealings of God with men in the past, of man's condition in the present, and of the destiny of mankind, than any other people or denomination? And how have we received this, my brethren and sisters? Why are we thus placed above others? Because we have been willing to humble ourselves and accept the testimonies of the truth as they have been brought to us by those Elders who found us in the world without a knowledge of the truth. The Lord indeed has been merciful unto us, and I trust that He always will be, and that we will ever be worthy of the trust which God has reposed in us; that we may stand on the foundation of the principles of the Gospel as they have been made known to us and as they may yet be made known, and never deviate, never sacrifice a principle, no matter what consideration may be brought to bear upon us to do so. Stand firmly upon the foundation of the truth, you Latter-day Saints. Seek for more truth; put yourselves in a position to receive more truth; and God stands willing and anxious to still pour out upon us a knowledge of greater truths than we at present can conceive of. Let us make the truth known to others. All that the Lord has given—and He has given freely—let us be willing to give to others. Let us seek for the salvation of the souls of men. And while we are working in the world for the salvation of those who are yet in unbelief, let us work also for the salvation of the souls of our children, and bring them up to maturity in the fear and admonition and knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

May God bless us; may we still prosper; may we still be blessed, and may we never, because of the goodness of God and the blessings He has bestowed upon us freely, imagine in our souls that we are better than the other children of God. We have been more favored; we ought to be better; but never let us exalt ourselves above others. Let us be humble. Let us seek the truth, and receive it when it is made known to us. Continue on in this path of righteousness, and then indeed can the powers of the adversary not prevail with us. The Lord bless the Latter-day Saints, bless His work, bless the children of God in all the wide world. May He hasten the day when sin and wickedness, error and corruption shall be put down, and when adulterated truth may be no more retailed and wholesaled to the children of men as true religion, by those calling themselves doctors of divinity, but when all men may dispense the truth for the love of the truth and for the love of seeing men come unto the Lord out of the obscurity and darkness of error and unbelief, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶