Missionary Work

My brethren and sisters, I sincerely trust that I may enjoy your prayers of faith to assist me during the few moments that I shall address you upon this occasion. ¶

I appreciate, to the fullest extent, this privilege accorded us of coming up to Zion occasionally, and looking into the faces of the servants of God and listening to their voices, because they speak unto us the words of eternal life. ¶

Like the brother who preceded me, my soul was made to rejoice in listening to the words uttered by the inspired servants of God in our meeting this morning, in the Tabernacle. I felt to say in my heart, "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter days," to point out that road which will lead us to the perfection that our Father in heaven has admonished us, through His Son, to strive for. I realize, and have a testimony to bear, that by following the teachings given to us, by the mouthpiece of God on the earth, we will be able to reach that condition. It is not possible for us, by following man's wisdom, to attain that condition. Man does not know the perfection of God; all the things necessary for us to do to reach that condition have not yet been revealed to us. Jesus Christ so informed His Disciples, when He labored among them. The people of the world have made a mistake in supposing that all God ever intends to do or say, for the advancement and welfare of His children, has been said and is recorded in the Bible. But Jesus did not leave this impression, as we will find by studying the Gospel and the sayings of the Savior. It was not possible for His disciples to absorb and comprehend all things He desired to teach them, and so he said to them upon one occasion: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." ¶

We are a blessed people in that we have realized the promise made to the children of men, that those who do the will of the Father shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is a guide to our feet and a light to our path. We are a blesed people in that we have at our head today those who are clothed upon with the Spirit of the Lord, and who speak not as the scribes but as those having authority. I thank God, my brethren and sisters, that I live in a day and time when we have a prophet to guide us. ¶

Unfortunately, the people of the world persist in misunderstanding the Latter-day Saints; they persist in misunderstanding "Mormonism" and what it intends to do for the world of mankind. In their blindness, they have attempted in times past, and are attempting at the present time, to bring all the powers of the adversary to overthrow and frustrate the work of God, which He has established upon the earth in these the last days. I presume that, among the enemies of this work, there are those who fancy there is trembling of knees and failing of spirit on the part of those who have espoused this cause. They vainly imagine that the experiences we have been passing through, and the persecution which has and is still being hurled against us, will result in the overthrow of this work. If we were not assured in our hearts that we are engaged in the work of God, a work which has as its object the blessing of mankind, not an individual work; that we are not pursuing our own selfish desires, that our position in the world is not our own choosing, independent of a higher power — if we did not know for a surety that we are a people chosen from the world for a special purpose, that God has chosen us, as He did people in days that are past, to be special instruments in carrying out His purposes upon earth, there might be some reason for the feeling to which I referred. There is no doubt in the minds of the Latter-day Saints as to the final outcome of this work. They have received testimony upon testimony to the effect that God is at the helm; they know that the efforts of those who understand us not will be in vain, as in times past. It is the consciousness of the rectitude of our intentions that buoys us up under all these things, and in the face of all the trials and persecutions that, as a people, we are now and have been in times gone by called upon to pass through. ¶

As Latter-day Saints, we take a peculiar view of life. We look upon our present existence as a season of trial, a probation, in which we are gaining experience', and learning those lessons that will enable us to advance and increase in knowledge and power in the presence of God, and that will entitle us to be numbered among His jewels, when He shall come to gather them unto Himself. "We 'regard our condition here as similar to being away from home. We have left our Father and Mother in heaven, become self-exiled from the associations of our primeval existence, and have come down here on earth in obedience to the will of God, for a wise purpose He has in view. We do not look upon life as a pleasure ground, as a holiday, we look upon it as a school, in which we are engaged learning lessons that will fit and quailfy us for the presence of our Father in heaven, when we go hence. We do not believe we have any time to fritter away and waste, or to spend in the pursuit of pleasure, or following delusive fantasms and things that lead from the grand purpose of existence on the earth; we believe that our time and talents and all that we have and are, ought to be dedicated to the service of the Lord, and that we should try, to the best of our ability, to carry out His purposes concerning us, here on earth. It matters not what people say of us, if we have a conscience void of offense towards God and man. If we know we are persecuted for righteousness sake, it matters not, we can rejoice that we are thus privileged. I do not believe it proves that a people are wicked or corrupt because they are made to suffer. I believe the people of the world will yet find out there is such a thing as suffering for righteousness sake. I believe the Savior spoke the truth when He said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." It matters not that our accusers, those who find fault with our religious belief and principles, are the fashionable, the educated and cultured of the world; Jesus Christ was accused by such. He was brought to judgment by law, and His accusers were the high and grand among men, Scribes and Pharisees, who offered long prayers in public places, to be heard of men, who were careful in the observance of outward forms and ceremonies, "righteous" men! men who were in such condition that they could not cast the first stone at the woman taken in adultery.but who were grieved in spirit because Jesus went about "uttering blasphemy" by saying he was the Son of God. Those were the influences, the kind of witnesses, and testimony that were brought to' bear against Jesus of Nazareth, which brought about His conviction, and death of ignominy upon the cross. The lawyers of today tell us that His death was a judicial murder; so we see, my brethren and sisters, it is possible for the law to be wrong. It is sometimes possible for a few people to be in the right and the rest of mankind in the wrong. It is possible for people to have to submit to an erroneous human law. ¶

The Saints of God are required to prove themselves, by retaining the testimony of Jesus Christ in the face of persecutions and affliction. We have been charged with being an immoral people. We frequently meet this in our labors in the missionary field; but if intelligent individuals will consider the history of this people they will And a refutation of the charge in the lives of the Latter-day Saints. Surely those were not immoral people who put their wives and children into covered wagons crossed fifteen hundred miles of unexplored country, exposed to dangers and hardships incident to the settling of a new and wild country, and to savage beasts and savage human beings! It is not the practice of immoral people to pursue the arduous avocations and exhibit the self-sacrificing characteristics •orur people have. We know it is not the sin and wickedness of the world that our maligners are fighting. It is the Church and kingdom of God that is being assailed, and that, too, in a land of liberty, in the land of Washington, the land of Jefferson, the land of patriots, who fought, bled and died that they might hand down to us, their descendants in many instances, the priceless boon of religious liberty. We resent in our feelings this condition; the inconsistency of the position of many people of the world. We claim the right to enjoy religious liberty, and adhere to the declaration of the patriots that this land should, as intended, be a land where all might worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, as long as they do not infringe upon the rights or liberties of their fellowmen. I am at the defiance of the world to prove that the Latter-day Saints have ever infringed upon the rights of others. They have been persecuted and trodden upon for their religion's sake, but they are willing that other people shall enjoy their convictions in this regard. We will try to treat all mankind as brothers and sisters. We will treat them as fellow-citizens until they prove themselves unworthy. But we do not propose to shake hands with the devil, so to speak, to show how liberal and generous we are. We have nothing to do with him nor his ways, for he fell and was cast out, with other rebellious spirits, and he became the devil. He and his host of unembodied spirits, if they could have had their way, would have compelled men to follow their course, and do as they directed, but that was not according to the plan of our Father in heaven. He designed that we should all enjoy religious liberty, and be free moral agents unto ourselves; and it is because we insist upon this principle, and this rule, that we have, in a measure, become obnoxious in the jsight of our fellow-men. The devil is not dead, by any means, nor his hosts, but he is "continually going up and down in the earth seeking whom he may devour," as the Scriptures say, putting it into the hearts of one class to persecute another class of people, and trying to draw men from virtue to vice and to bring them down to death. It is necessary for us to be true to our covenants, and to teach the world what "Mormonism" really is, that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to the earth in the day and time in which we live. ¶

We have every reason, my brethren and sisters, to feel encouraged in the work in which we are engaged. The word of our Father in heaven has been declared that this Church, which is the embryo of the kingdom thato will come and govern during the millennium, shall not be overthrown or given to another people. We do not need to look forward with such uncertainty as the early Saints, who were taught by the Apostles that an apostasy would take place. It is different in our time, for we have the assurance, through the prophets of God, that this work shall not be overthrown, whether we, as individuals, fall or not, the work of God will continue. Now, I pray that the blessings of the Lord will continue with us during the meetings of our conference and that we may go away much refreshed and strengthened. May God add His blessing; I ¶