Testimony and Revelation

It is very gratifying, my brethren and sisters, to see the hosts of Latter-day Saints who have assembled upon this the opening day of conference, to worship the Lord. I have rejoiced, in common with you; in the excellent spirit that was present in the meeting this morning, and greatly enjoyed the instructions that were imparted by the President, and by Apostle Grant. I sincerely hope that we may be blessed in this meeting with the same spirit, that our hearts may be made glad in the things of God, and that we may feel it is a blessed privilege we enjoy to be numbered among the Saints in this last dispensation. ¶

I cannot help but feel that there is, in this great assemblage, a remarkable evidence of the glorious fact that as a people, as a church, we are in existence by the appointment of our great Father and God; that our organization has not been produced by the wisdom of men, but has come from above. We are assembled in this house, which has been erected for worshiping purposes, and in the Tabernacle there is a vast concourse of people, but these two buildings are not sufficient, and there is an open air meeting on the grounds of this block, that those who are outside of these buildings may also have the opportunity of hearing the servants of the Lord. When we think of the small beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then view the host of people assembled upon this block today, we ought to feel that the words of the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, are verily coming to pass. We heard Elder Grant this morning refer to the fact that it had been predicted by the Prophet that there was to come a time when the Latter-day Saints would no longer find an abiding place in the state of Illinois, or any other state in the east, but that it was their destiny, and the decree of our Father in heaven, that they should go to the Rocky mountains; and that the time was to come when they would be a great and mighty commonwealth. We truly witness the fulfillment of this prophecy in the conditions that prevail today in this state, and in the surrounding country; and yet we only witness a fulfillment in part. It is easy to see that it is the destiny of this people to spread out, and become much greater than they are at the present time. ¶

In some of the travels that I have made of late I have been impressed with the fulfillment of this prediction. ¶

It has fallen to my lot to visit the stakes that are established in Arizona, and the stake in Mexico, and also the stakes in Canada—or the stake there formerly that has been divided recently—and to visit the people who have been established in the Big Horn basin, in Wyoming. In making these journeys I have been greatly impressed with the feeling that the words of the Prophet of the Lord are having a remarkable fulfillment. I am confident that, in the future of this work, they will be completely fulfilled. We are not yet the mighty people we are to become in the midst of these mountains. It is the decree of our Father in heaven, it was His decree ages ago, before the Prophet Joseph had an existence upon the earth. It was the theme of the ancient prophets when they thought about Zion and the latter times; when they were filled with the inspiration of the Almighty. At those times they wrote and spoke of the latter days, and they were filled with the inspiration of the Lord in talking of Mount Zion, in describing its barrenness; and in saying it was the destiny of the people of the Lord in the latter times to subdue the wilderness, and to make the barren places blossom and become beautiful. This has been our mission, as a people, to subdue barren land, to go out into new sections of country and open up locations for habitation, that the increasing multitudes might have place on which to dwell. While we hear from time to time, from the leaders of the people, that it is not profitable, nor in harmony with the spirit and genius of the work in which we are engaged, for members of the Church to be running hither and thither in search of new places for homes, it has always been, and I suppose it always will be, necessary for locations to be selected, under the appointment of the Priesthood, that room may be made for the Israel of God. It gladdens my heart, and fills me with joy, when I witness the condition of the people, and the growth and expansion that is and has been taking place. While there are many thousands of people assembled here, we are but a small multitude compared with the hosts assembled in the various wards of Zion in religious worship today. We are but as a drop in the bucket when compared with the tens and hundreds of thousands who know that God has spoken, that the words of the prophets are beginning to come to pass, and that Zion is being established in the tops of the mountains, in fulfillment of those prophecies. ¶

We are not only fulfilling the predictions of the prophets in relation to our location, but there is abundant evidence in the doctrines that are advocated, that were revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, to establish the fact that we have not been organized by the wisdom of men, and we are very thankful for it. It has not been in the power of man, in any age of the world, to give the children of men an organization such as we have today. There is nothing like it recorded in history from the beginning of time down to the present day. There can never be anything like it, unless it be revealed from God; it is above and beyond the wisdom and power of men. ¶

In visiting the California mission recently, I was greatly impressed with the feeling that we should rejoice in the doctrines of the everlasting Gospel, and in the evidences that exist in the revelations that have been given through the Prophet Joseph Smith proving his divine inspiration. I desire to read a few words that were written by the Prophet Joseph: ¶

"Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning, and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again in their infant state, innocent before God." ¶

I thought of these words when I met with the Latter-day Saints in the city of Los Angeles. A few months ago a great gathering of ministers of the Presbyterian church, after discussing this doctrine for a long time, having believed and taught that infants who had not been baptized, or who had not been christened, were damned, decided that this doctrine should no longer be a part of their faith. How was it, I would like to ask, that Joseph Smith, without any theological education, so far as the education given by men is concerned, could write these glorious words, "Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning, and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again in their infant state, innocent before God?" Who can consistently disbelieve this glorious doctrine announced by Joseph Smith? Every child, it matters not of what parentage, whether white or black, bond or free, Christian or pagan, through the atonement wrought by the Redeemer of men, is made innocent before our Father in heaven. This doctrine was announced in another revelation, from which I desire to read: ¶

"But, behold, I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from before the foundation of the world, through mine Only Begotten; wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children until they begin to become accountable before me." ¶

This revelation was given in 1830, at the commencement of the wonderful work in which we are engaged. Inasmuch as men of wisdom and education, from a worldly point of view, have been discussing this doctrine for many years, we might well ask the question, how was it that Joseph Smith received this knowledge so much in advance of his time? For it is a long time since Joseph Smith announced, in the name of the Redeemer, this truth that has recently been adopted by one of the greatest religious organizations extant among men, and that is now believed by millions of others. ¶

It is too much to believe that Joseph Smith discovered this by his own wisdom, that he studied it out himself. But it is very reasonable for us to assume that it was revealed to him by our Father in heaven, and accept its truth without any argument. He made the startling announcement—for it was startling in the day in which it was given—that all children are saved, through the atonement of our blessed Redeemer. There is a breadth, there is a depth, there is a glory to that doctrine that stamps it as coming from a divine source. This same doctrine is stated, in positive language, in the Book of Mormon, in the writings of the Prophet Moroni, who lived on this continent many years ago. It has always been understood, and always been a doctrine of the Church, whenever there has been an inspired Priesthood among men. God never created His children to damn them, without giving them an opportunity to hear and understand His precious word. ¶

Well, I say when I think of these things—and they are only one or two of the truths revealed to the prophet, it is burned upon my soul that Joseph Smith was called of God; that he was a prophet of God; that he did not establish an organization according to the ideas of men; that he did not introduce as doctrines the ideas of men; that he gave to the peoples of the earth principles of eternal truth, as they were revealed to him by our Heavenly Father. ¶

I do not feel that it would be proper for me to trespass longer upon the time. I rejoice in this glorious work. I thank God with all my soul, and I have never found words to express my gratitude, that my parents, in the long ago, away off in Scotland, in the great city of Glasgow, heard and believed the everlasting Gospel. O, I thank God their hearts were touched. I thank the Lord they were converted, and that they were drawn into the fold of the good Master, and that because of their faith, and their firmness, and their love of truth, they came to Zion, and I was born in these mountains of Israel and was reared in the midst of the Latter-day Saints. In traveling through the cities of the old world, especially in my father's native land, and witnessing some of the things that are to be seen there, and in thinking of what might have been, I felt as though I could fall down and worship my father and mother for my birth here, for their coming out of the world, and believing the truth of God, as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am not a believer in Joseph Smith because of my birth. I know by investigation, I know through prayer, and I know through revelation from the Almighty, that the doctrines given through Joseph Smith are the doctrines of the everlasting Gospel, the power of God unto salvation. It is the truth; it cannot be destroyed; it cannot be overturned; it cannot be stopped in its advancement, in penetrating the hearts of men, in gathering the honest from the nations of the earth. It cannot be stayed. God has so decreed it, and God has always fulfilled His decrees, and will continue to do so. ¶

God help us to believe the truth and to sustain it, and to maintain and uphold the authority that God has given us, that we may be blessed, is my prayer, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶