Taylor Stake Report

My brethren and sisters, I feel very much in need of your sympathy and the Spirit of the Lord while I stand before you this afternoon, because I feel very weak indeed in addressing this vast audience. ¶

I certainly appreciate the privilege of meeting with the Saints in general conference, and I appreciate the friendship, love and confidence of the Latter-day Saints. ¶

While I have never had the privilege of going abroad among the nations of the earth to promulgate the Gospel in which we are engaged, I have spent perhaps the best part of my life in a foreign land—or at least what is to the people of the United States a foreign land—in Canada. I am glad my lot has been cast in that land. A great many people in Utah and other places know but little about Canada; they feel we are away off on the outskirts, and that we do not have the advantages enjoyed here and elsewhere. Of course, there are many things you have and enjoy that we do not have. But we can say that the Lord's hand has been over us for good. President Card was called by President Taylor to go there. I remember that, about fifteen years ago, President Card related a dream he had. He said that when he first went to Canada everything looked forbidding, and only a few of our people accompanied him to that country the first season. He dreamed he saw a hive of bees, or at least a few bees, and more continued to come, until the hive they had entered became too full, and they swarmed and went out, and other colonies were formed. Now, that dream has been fulfilled, I have lived to see it. The beginning in that country was a very small one, but the Saints have kept "swarming," and new settlements have been formed, until they became so numerous that the stake had to be divided and a new one created. While we have had a great many difficulties to contend with, which are incidental to the establishment of homes in a new country, the hand of the Lord has been over the people. I presume the Taylor stake of Zion, which was organized about a month ago, is the smallest stake in the Church, that is as to the number of wards; we have but three at the present time. However, we have between 3,000 and 3,500 people in those three wards. They are the newest settlements of our people in Canada, two of them having been founded about four years ago, under the direction of President Woodruff and President Snow, and the other is only about two years old. Now, while we are a very small stake in that country, we do not expect to remain thus long. I believe that within three years the Taylor stake will be larger than the whole of the Alberta stake was previous to the division. We have a large country to grow in, and when the dividing lines between the two stakes were set, Apostle Taylor said it would extend from the United States boundary line to the north pole; so we have much room in which to grow. ¶

I do not believe in people leaving their good homes in Utah to go to Canada. I believe the advice President Smith gave in the morning meeting was good; I know it is, for I have had experience in that country, and I would not advise people who own comfortable homes to go to Canada. There is much room for good homes in that country; but we do not want people to emigrate to that land without the advice and consent of those who preside over them. ¶

There is a great gathering of young people in that land; the Lord has blessed us abundantly in that respect. The last census shows that one-third of the entire people are under eight years of age; so, within 25 years we will build up a great country there, without any more emigration to assist us. ¶

The Saints there have a good name. We are striving to build up the kingdom of God, and are interested in all the affairs of Zion. We like to mingle with the brethren and sisters of other stakes to learn how they are doing things. I was much gratified, on my way from Canada, to see the improvements in meetinghouses in Pocatello stake, and also in Utah stake, which I visited recently. We attended Priesthood meeting in Provo yesterday and gained something there. The progress the Saints are making is gratifying to me. We in Canada hope to prove to the king, and his representatives who preside over the affairs of the Dominion, that the Latter-day Saints are what they profess to be, a God-fearing people. We desire to become a people who will be recognized as the most virtuous in all of the king's domains; that is what we are striving to be, and I believe we are at the present time. We aim to be the most honest and most law-abiding people that the king has. We desire to set an example in all of our settlements to all people who are looking for that which is good, noble and elevating. ¶

I believe ours is the only district in western Canada where prohibition prevails. The laws in Canada permit the people to decide whether liquor shall be sold in their settlements or not, and if three-fifths are in favor of its not being sold, it is prohibited, so far as open saloons are concerned. The "Mormons" in western Canada have the name of being the only community that has taken advantage of this law; the saloons in our midst were abolished a little over a year ago, and we now have none. ¶

In all our organizations we are doing a good work; and, although we are a long way from headquarters, I feel we are not behind some of the other stakes in many things. Our Sunday schools are doing exceedingly well, as are also the Mutual Improvement associations; and, while we have but two stakes in that region today, I believe we will have many within a few years. ¶

The Lord has blessed us temporally, but we feel that the temporal blessings are not those the Saints should seek for most. There are things more important for the Latter-day Saints than temporal blessings—though if we can get the temporal along with the spiritual, so much the better—but we feel, as Latter-day Saints, that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the principles it teaches are dearer to us than anything else on earth. If all our people will continue to feel that way, honor the Priesthood and strive to magnify it in all the affairs of life, we will become a power for good in the king's dominion. ¶

I presume there are hundreds here this afternoon who know the Gospel is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that the Prophet Joseph Smith established, through the help of the Lord, the work of God upon the earth. They know this and do not guess at it. I know that the Church and Kingdom of God is with us, the Lord has given that testimony to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, and I could not deny it, for He has manifested the truth of this work to me on many occasions. ¶

If all the Latter-day Saints, and especially those who hold the Priesthood, could fully understand the great responsibilities they have taken upon themselves in receiving a portion of the Priesthood, and live up to their knowledge, we would be a much greater power in the land than we are today. I have noticed in the papers, that, in referring to the success and advancement of the Saints, they attribute it to various causes. Some say it is irrigation that has made the Latter-day Saints great; others say it is the cunning of the financier, because of the money accumulated through the tithes of the people. But we know these things are only a secondary consideration. We know that the Priesthood which the Lord has restored to the earth in this day and age of the world, and the power it gives to us, and our being baptized into one body and one spirit, is the foundation of the success of the great latter-day work. Take these away and we will be just as other men and women are. I wish that all the Latter-day Saints could realize and feel alike in relation to these things; and that every man who holds the Priesthood, could realize that nearly everything depends upon how we magnify that Priesthood. ¶

The people of the nations of the earth, some of them, recognize that there is a power with the Latter-day Saints that they do not meet elsewhere. The people of Canada, those who have launched large colonization schemes, acknowledge there is a peculiar power with the Latter-day Saints that has enabled them to become established in that land, and that has helped them to accomplish all they have done. They cannot understand this, but they acknowledge it; and they know there is some characteristic of the Latter-day Saints, something in their communism that holds them together that is not found in other communities in the Northwest Territories. The Latter-day Saints in Canada have made greater progress than any other colonies have done in the same length of time. We attribute this to the blessings of the Lord, to the power of the Holy Priesthood and to the Spirit we enjoy; and I rejoice in all these things. I wish that all men would be honest and sincere enough to investigate the principles of the Gospel that the Latter-day Saints are promulgating in the world. ¶

I feel well, my brethren and sisters, and rejoice that my parents embraced the Gospel, and that I have been born under the new and everlasting covenant; I fear if I had not been thus favored I would not now be a member of the Church. I am grateful for all these things, and for the progress the Latter-day Saints have made. I hope to see Zion arise and shine until she becomes the glory of the whole earth, and that all men and women shall feel to say, "Let us not go up to fight against Zion because of her terrible ones." May the Lord bless us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶