Testimony of the Gospel and Support for the First Presidency

My beloved brethren and sisters, I desire very much that you will grant me your faith and prayers and earnest attention. I feel highly honored this morning in being called to address this large congregation. We have another privilege of assembling together in our annual conference, and I feel, for one, very thankful for this privilege. My heart goes out in gratitude to my heavenly Father for the conditions of prosperity that surround His people today. I have a testimony to bear, and it is the same testimony that I have been able to bear for many years. It is the truth, as I have heard it from the lips of my father before me, and from the lips of my brethren. ¶

When I observe, as I do, the conditions of the Latter-day Saints in the different Stakes of Zion where I have the privilege of visiting occasionally; when I see the chances that our young people have to advance along the lines of mind and spirit culture, I rejoice exceedingly to find so many of our young men and young ladies taking the opportunity offered them, and preparing themselves fairly well on the lines of culture for the great work that is before them. But, with the feelings expressed by President Joseph F. Smith, I have sometimes regretted, and do regret today, the lack of physical or manual training in our general system of education. President Young used to say that the education of the youth was incomplete without this manual training and the cultivation of those attributes of the human mind which would lead to the development of strength and ability to produce from the earth and from the elements surrounding us. This, I realize, is the case with us today to a certain extent. ¶

I do not feel to find any fault whatever with our institutions of learning', or with those men and women who devote themselves so faithfully to the training of our young people in the Church schools and in the different auxiliary organizations of the Church. Let me say here in relation to our Sunday schools, that they have become a very excellent part of the training of our young people. They begin at the very beginning, as it were. Our Sunday school teachers commence with the little children and work with them until they reach the advanced grades, devoting their time to this labor of love to a degree that does not exist perhaps among other people. This devotion, is manifest by all, from the Sunday school Union Board down to the last and least teacher in the organization. They not only devote their time every Sabbath, but on week days they spend hours and hours in the development of their own minds along the line of the educational welfare of the children. I say, they ought to be praised for this devotion, and they certainly are blessed in their labors. ¶

In regard to this manual training, I feel that our schools and colleges are incomplete, and will remain so until we have in every one of them a system of training that will develop the pupil along the lines of manual culture in the most useful trades. Today, as has been truly remarked, we are in a condition of great prosperity. Go where I may throughout the length and breadth of the Stakes of Zion, I find the people in a condition of worldly comfort. There are very few who are actually in want among the Latter-day Saints. Especially is this the case in the outside Stakes of Zion. Away from these populous cities like Salt Lake City, it is the exception to find an indigent person. The fact that we have some of them here is accounted for by the tendency of the poor and those who are more or less financially helpless to flock to these centers of population. But, speaking generally, there exists today a condition of prosperity among the Latter-day Saints. And I believe I can truthfully say, too, that I have seen decided marks of improvement and evidences of advancement among the Latter-day Saints along the lines of faith and the cultivation of the principles of the Gospel. There has been spiritual advancement as well as advancement in other directions. I am glad to be able to say this. I testify to you who are assembled here that the Latter-day Saints are a very choice people, and that they are working very diligently and faithfully in almost every Stake of Zion. Most of them, in all the Stakes, seem to be impressed with the spirit of their religion. I am glad this is so. In it I see the results of the teachings of our leaders. The brethren and sisters have awakened to a sense of their condition, and have renewed their diligence in paying their tithes and offerings. I see the blessings of heaven showered down upon the people, and I know it is the result of their obedience to the principle that has been so sacredly observed by them, especially in the last few years. Since they have obeyed that law more faithfully the blessings of the Lord have been more abundantly poured out upon them from one end of the land to the other. The quotation of Bishop Hunter's has been truly verified; "Pay your tithing and be blessed." We do feel we are blessed when we obey this law. ¶

Commensurate with our present condition of happiness and advancement, as a result of the blessings of the Lord upon us, we may expect to find opposition in the minds of the people of the world. It has been the history of this people from the first that as they advanced in faith and power through their obedience to the principles of the Gospel our enemies have increased in their endeavors to put down the truth and stay the progress of this work. I speak of this as a matter of history, not to throw any blame upon any individual. We know, my brethren and sisters, that the powers of evil are upon the face of the land today, as they have been ever since the organization of the Church; and they have been more manifest as the people have grown in faith and power. I saw not long ago a play represented, and in it was the character of Satan. He said, "I rule the earth; my power is everywhere." I thought within my own heart, how true that is, in a sense; but on further reflection I was led to exclaim in my heart, "And the power of God is everywhere also." The same thought brought to my remembrance the sentence that "God and one good man are a majority." ¶

The work of the Lord is progressing. The Elders are laboring faithfully in the different missions, and success has crowned their efforts in most places. Occasionally we hear of some violent opposition, as for instance the misfortune that recently befell one of our Elders in the South, who was severely beaten and maltreated. This, however, is no new thing. The powers of evil have been all the time arrayed against the power of the Lord and against His servants, in every land where they ministered. We may expect opposition. I remember hearing of a remark that Sidney Rigdon made soon after he was mobbed with the Prophet Joseph Smith and dragged to insensibility through the woods. He asked the Prophet Joseph how long that was going to continue. How long, said he, must we submit to these outrages and abuses from the enemies of all righteousness? The Prophet's reply was something like this: "Just so long, Brother Sidney, as the power of evil is upon the earth; and until the power of God overcomes the power of evil, so long will there be evidences of the power of that evil one existing upon the earth, to the hurt and injury of the servants of the Lord." The answer made by Elder Sidney Rigdon was not the most hopeful. Said he, "Brother Joseph, I can't stand it; it is more than I can bear." I have sometimes reflected upon that statement, and wondered whether he was wanting in faith through a lack of diligence or of purity of life, or whether it was his misfortune to be so organized that he could not grasp the situation and comprehend the responsibility that was placed upon him. Some men are naturally weak, and soon succumb to opposition; while others are made of sterner stuff and meet all opposition with unswerving integrity, especially if they know for themselves that they are engaged in the cause of right and truth; for this knowledge to any man brings a power and a reliance that is not easily overcome. When I look back upon the great characters that have been the pioneers of this work, I realize that they have been men of strength and courage. The Prophet Joseph Smith, the very head and front of this Latter-day dispensation, was a man who was never known to flinch or falter, though through all the years of his ministry he was hardly for a moment free from the bitterness of hate exhibited by his fellowmen, and for no other reason that I could ever see than that he had been chosen by the Almighty Himself to be His Prophet in 'this the great dispensation of the fulness of times. The men who have followed him in the leadership of the Church have been equally tried and true. No man has ever seen the time when such as Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and other noted ones that I could mention, have failed or faltered in their allegiance to the Prophet Joseph or to the Lord Almighty. Though these men, like Brother Sidney Rigdon, received more than their share of persecution and opposition, looking at it from a natural standpoint, yet they were never overcome. They had the courage of their convictions, like their great leader, the Prophet Joseph, and they stayed by them under all circumstances. The reason for it is that they received in their own hearts a testimony of the divinity of this work, and that testimony was burning bright in their hearts all the days of their lives. ¶

We hear about children being born in the Church. Yes, every Latter-day Saint is born in the Church, and there is only one birth that admits them into the Church, and that is the birth of baptism — the birth of the water and of the Spirit. That admits them into the Church of Christ, and marks them as the children of God. In no other way can they receive this birth. The great warrior, Napoleon, said that although the Savior had been dead eighteen hundred years the impress of His ministry and power had been so developed in the hearts of the human family that, notwithstanding men had not beheld Him for centuries, His divine mission still moved the world. So it is with the Latter-day Saints today. Thousands upon thousands have gathered here from all parts of the earth. Very few are living who saw the Prophet Joseph Smith; but the power of God manifested through him has been so impressed upon the people that although we may never have seen him we testify that he was divinely inspired. Why? Because we have the same testimony of Jesus in our hearts that Peter had when the Master asked him, "But whom say ye that I am?" "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," said Peter. Jesus answered him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Peter had the revelation from the Father that Jesus was the Christ. By the same power we testify that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. As a people we have not seen our Savior and talked with Him face to face; our prophets have that high honor and privilege, as far as the Lord designs they should have; but the Saints generally have received the impress and the power of the Holy Spirit; and although most of them have not seen the Lord face to face yet they testify that Jesus is the Christ. How? By the power of the living God, and by the witness of that Holy Spirit which He gives to every earnest and faithful believer. So the Saints, who have yielded obedience to the Gospel, know that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the living God, the President of this great dispensation of the fulness of times. ¶

My brethren and sisters, let us take heed to the admonition of our prophet and leader today. While we are in a condition of prosperity, let us not forget the obligations that we owe to our Heavenly Father, and see to it that we tithe ourselves honestly before the Lord all the time. Let us make good every obligation that is laid upon us, so living before the Father and before each other that we can claim a continuation of the great blessings that we are in possession of today. I testify to you that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God, and that he went to his fate knowing that he was to be martyred for the truth that God had given to him; yet, like his great leader, the Savior of the world, he did not flinch or turn aside from the course that the Lord had marked out for him to pursue. In like manner the brethren who have been his successors have been unswerving in their integrity, true to their faith, true to their covenants with God and with each other. As the Lord blessed them, so He is blessing His servants and people today; and He will continue His blessings upon us if we will continue to serve Him faithfully. Although we may have the evidence of the hatred of wicked men, that need not discourage us at all, but rather give us more determination, that through the grace of our Father and through the blessings of the Gospel we will remain true and faithful to Him who has thus blessed us. I pray that the blessings of the Lord may be upon the speakers during the remainder of this conference, and that the spirit of our leader may fill every heart and encourage every one of you, my brethren and sisters, and lead us all on in the paths of life eternal. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶