Encouraging Reference to the Young People

Encouraging Reference to the Young People — Testimony of the Gospel — The Believer and Obedient Will Be Saved — The Wicked Cannot Place the Cause of Their Sins Upon Others

Relying upon the Spirit of the Lord, and also depending upon your assistance, I trust that whatsoever may be said by me this afternoon will be in harmony with the truth, as the truth has been spoken at each session of this Conference. I rejoice in the words that have been uttered, and in the testimonies that have been borne, by the servants of the Lord. These testimonies do much toward bringing joy to my soul; for, like the brethren who have spoken, I, too, have a testimony of the divinity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and, like Brothers Morris and Young, I can say that I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. These brethren are young men; I also am a young man, and in repeating that declaration, made by the Apostle Paul in an epistle to the Roman Saints, I but echo the sentiments of tens of thousands of young men who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am proud to feel that I am a representative young man among the Latter-day Saints. If there is the slightest Idea in the minds of any of the Latterday Saints that the young men are not following in the footsteps of their parents, and are not gaining a testimony for themselves, those who entertain such an idea are not acquainted very extensively with the young men of Zion. Because one young man is wild, and perhaps sinful and rebellious, or because two or three may be in this condition, is no valid reason why any Latter-day Saint should imagine that all of the young men of the Church are rebellious and sinful. A young man may have as great a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as may an old man. In evidence of this we need but point to the thousands of young men and women of the Church who bear testimony that they know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that it is the power of God unto salvation. The Lord Jesus knew this when He was 'twelve years of age. He knew that His mission was to do that which His Father had sent Him into the world to fulfill. Long before that, Samuel, another child, knew it. Long after, Joseph Smith, another child knew it. And in the intermediate stages of these times there have been thousands of young men who knew that God lived, and that Jesus is the Christ. We, as young people, are entitled to this knowledge, for the Lord will not withhold any blessing, any knowledge, any intelligence from a man simply because he is young. Ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I have wondered why Paul ever made such a remark. He was a man who had been converted by a miraculous light from heaven, and the voice of Christ speaking to him demanding why he persecuted the Lord, and from that time on he was a preacher of righteousness, a minister of the Gospel, a missionary to the nations of the earth, declaring Christ and Him crucified. Why, then, should Paul say, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ?" I suppose it was because the members of the Church of Christ in those days were despised, hated, persecuted, and put to death for. the bearing of such a testimony; and no doubt there were those who were weak in the faith, and who had no relish for persecution or for death. These Saints to whom Paul wrote, living as they did at Rome, among the Romans, were subject to all these afflictions, and in order to encourage them, and to point out that the Gospel was above all, and was better than life itself— in fact, that the Gospel was life itself, and that therefore they need not fear nor be ashamed of it— he, their shepherd, their missionary, he who had done much to convert them, desired them to know that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, because he knew that it was the power of God unto salvation to every one that believed it; "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." In our day there are many men — more than there were in that day — who have this same testimony, and the same undaunted courage to say to the Saints that they are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Furthermore, they have the courage to stand among the nations and declare the same truth to them. ¶

Why should we be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we ashamed of the Redeemer of the world, who suffered as we will never be able or expected to suffer, for the truth? Ashamed of the truth? ashamed of uprightness? ashamed of honesty? of integrity? of obedience to God and to righteous laws? ashamed of all that is good and true? Why indeed should a man be ashamed of these things? And no man with the courage of his convictions and with this knowledge in his heart will ever deny this truth to escape the persecution, the hatred, the contempt, and the revilings of the world. No; we follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd, who has declared, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." He has said further, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, which is in heaven." Who among the Latter-day Saints, entitled to all privileges of the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ for himself, will deny Jesus Christ, and by so doing place himself in a position to be denied of the Savior before God the eternal Father? Not the young men of the Latter-day Saints, let me assure you; and let me assure the world, too, that it will not be the young men of this Church who will deny Jesus Christ, and with even greater assurance can I say that it will not be the old men. It will not be any Latter-day Saint who has the knowledge of the truth and in whose bosom burns the testimony thereof revealed from Almighty God, in spite of every effort put forth by the adversary and his emissaries to persuade or to enforce us to do so. I am proud myself to feel that I have been permitted to be born in the light of truth, and to walk in the path marked out by Christ and well followed by the servants of God. As my brethren have said, I am only too proud to be permitted to be numbered with the Latter-day Saints. ¶

The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation unto all those who believe it; but it is not the power of salvation to any man who does not believe it. Notwithstanding Jesus Christ is the Son of God; notwithstanding he was appointed and ordained before the foundations of the world were laid to perform the work which He accomplished; notwithstanding He came in the meridian of time by the appointment of the Father; notwithstanding He preached the Gospel, the plan of life and salvation, by which all men may be saved; notwithstanding the miracles He performed; notwithstanding that ultimately His kingdom will triumph, and all enemies be put under His feet, and He will reign as Lord of lords and King of kings; notwithstanding He was crucified for the sins of the world and His blood was shed for the redemption of mankind; notwithstanding all this, no man on the earth will ever be saved by the Gospel unless he believes it. A man will never be saved in unbelief. The Gospel is not the power of God unto salvation to the unbeliever, but it is destined to save all who believe and obey it. You Latter-day Saints who believe, if you continue in the way of righteousness, shall be redeemed by the blood of Christ and saved and exalted with Him on the right hand of the Father, just as sure as He lives. The purpose of the Gospel is to save us from our sins and our weaknesses, through repentance. How often do the Saints pray, "O Father, forgive our sins; overlook our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and our imperfections. " The Lord has given the Gospel for that very purpose. It is the mission of the Gospel to save us from these sins. ¶

In the time of Moses the Lord gave commandments to Israel, in which He told them they were to worship the Lord God, and none else. They were not to make unto themselves any other gods, nor bow down to the likenesses of anything in the heavens or in the earth; but Him only were they to worship; for, said He, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." The Jews believed in the law of heredity to a great extent, probably to a greater extent than they were justified; and by and by they took this commandment and crystalized it into a proverb which declared, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Then when rebuked for their sins and their abominations, they would turn and say, in effect, "Well, we are not to blame. It's not our fault. It is the sins of the fathers being visited upon the heads of the children, and surely God will not condemn us for the sins which we have inherited from our fathers, for our teeth have been set on edge by our fathers eating sour grapes." The Lord was very much displeased with this excuse of theirs, and He declared to Ezekiel, the prophet, "As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel." He then went on to tell the people through the prophet that He would require of every man and every woman in Israel an accounting for his or her own conduct and course in life, and every one should be judged according to the deeds done in the body. These Israelites seemed to forget that part of the commandment which said, that He would show mercy unto thousands of them that loved Him and kept His commandments. ¶

Even in our day there is a disposition on the part of some to say, "Well, my father was addicted to strong drink;" "my father was given to profanity;" "in my father's family was found consumption, epilepsy, and other terrible diseases which are handed down from father to son," and offer that as an excuse for their own bad habits. We also hear it said frequently concerning the son of a man, 'Well, you can't expect anything else; look at his father." Or, speaking of a daughter, "what can you expect from her when you know her mother?" And so it goes; we condone some of the sins and the weaknesses of the flesh on the ground that they are inherited. He who feels that his parents are responsible for his inherent weaknesses and evil propensities, and thereby justifies himself, accuses his father of iniquity, and classes himself among the generations of those who hate the Lord. I should not like to be in this condition. Such a one ought to believe in and apply the saving principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which will save him from his sins and redeem him from error, and by means of this Gospel raise himself above all the sins and evil practices of his progenitors. This is what the Gospel will do. There is no law of heredity that is greater than the redeeming power and regenerating influences of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is intended to save the body as well as the spirit. If properly lived, there is no sin, no inherited evil — I care not what it is — that the power of God cannot relieve and eliminate from the soul of man. It can redeem us from the errors and evils of mortality, and raise us without sin unto salvation into the presence of Almighty God. Therefore, no Latter-day Saint is justified in continuing in weaknesses and in imperfections. All of us have them, nevertheless. The Lord knew that when He gave the Gospel. The Gospel was given for the purpose of relieving us of them. Sin came into the world through the fall of man, and sin shall be banished from the world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we would be raised up and redeemed from the fall, let us apply the redeeming and saving principles of the Gospel to our own lives, for so long as we continue in sin and are plagued with the weaknesses and evils of the flesh, just so far are we from that stage where we can properly apply the Gospel or that part of it which will particularly fit our condition and save us from our evil tendencies. ¶

Ashamed of such a power and such a plan? Ashamed of those who preach it? Ashamed of those who practice these principles, and who thereby have risen to a stage beyond and above their fellowmen who, perhaps, may regard them with contempt? I say the Latter-day Saints are not the people who will be ashamed of this power of God unto salvation. We will continue to believe and to practice the Gospel; we will continue to be obedient and to serve God; we will continue to love our neighbor as ourselves, to return good for evil; to give a blessing for a cursing; we will continue in the straight and narrow path which leadeth unto eternal life, in spite of all that the adversary of the souls of men can do. Brothers and sisters, your sons and your daughters will do this. As young people we rejoice that it is our privilege to follow those who are older, who are wiser and more intelligent, and who can set a good example. Thank God that we have such men to follow. I ask you young men and you young women of the Church, where in all the world among the leaders of men, in the state or in the Church, can you find more noble examples of righteous, just, Godfearing, self-sacrificing lives, than you find in the lives of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors? Every young man ought to be proud and thankful to Almighty God that he is permitted to follow such men. That is my feeling, brethren and sisters, at the present time, and I pray that it will be forever. I know it will be so with the Latter-day Saints forever if they continue in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation unto all who believe. God bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶