Scriptural Witnesses to the Restoration of the Gospel

I desire to read a few verses of Scripture, found in First Corinthians, second chapter, commencing at the first verse. It is a saying of Paul to the church in Corinth: ¶

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speecn or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." ¶

Yesterday afternoon we listened to very interesting discourses from brothers Penrose and Roberts in regard to the great latter-day work; and strong testimonies have been borne throughout the entire conference. The brethren have been led apparently to testify of the goodness of God toward His people, and also of the faithfulness and good character of the men who stand at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Men have endeavored to entice people away from this Church, by saying that the Lord has rejected it, and there are some who have been weak in the faith, and who are weak at the present time, that can perhaps be influenced by these men who rise against those whom the Lord has appointed. But I desire to draw your attention to these words which I have read on this occasion, not that I intend to make it a text, yet I wish to express a thought in connection with them. ¶

When Christ sent out His Apostles in ancient days. He sent fishermen, not the Rabbis of the Jewish people, but men who were numbered among the rank and file of the Jewish people, fishermen from the sea of Galilee, publicans and sinners. The Lord chose them to be His messengers. In reading the history about these men, how they went forth after Christ had been crucified and had risen from the dead, we stand face to face with that which we find in these words of Paul. These men did not go forth in their own strength, but the power of God was with them. In going forth to testify to that which they had seen and heard they were not permitted to do so until they were endowed by the power of God from on high. Do you not remember how they were told to tarry in Jerusalem and not open their mouths in regard to who Jesus of Nazareth was until the Holy Ghost should come upon them, not until then were they permitted to testify of that which they knew. We follow with great interest the labors of these men, and note how strong they were. We find them commencing their labors on the day of Pentecost; these fishermen were able to speak the word of God in power and great demonstration to the multitude assembled upon that occasion. We follow them, I say, and discover that even Paul, who was, as we have learned, an educated man as compared with the others, yet he did not desire to know anything, or did not claim to know anything, except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and so he came not with enticing speech to Corinth, but he came with the power of God. ¶

I desire to draw your attention to this fact, my brethren and sisters, that that has also been the history of this dispensation in which we are called upon to take part. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was a farmer, unlearned, like the disciples of old, but in the power of God in the strength of his Master, and that was the secret of his success and the influence he had over his fellow men. We find that after he passed away the Church grew, and another was appointed in his stead as President of this Church. Now come some of our friends from the outside and say, he had fallen away, he was rejected, Brigham Young was not the inspired man that Joseph Smith had been. Let us not enter into a long discussion, but let us see what it was that Brigham Young accomplished in the world, as compared with the great work commenced by the Prophet Joseph. Joseph was a mighty man, and was the means of sending the Gospel to some sections of the United States, to Canada and also to Great Britain; and in his day, also, the first foreign mission was opened, that is to a people who speak other than the English language. It was left for the days of Brigham Young to demonstrate the great powers of the Church in a missionary way. Very soon after President Brigham Young came to the front, the gospel as revealed to the Prophet Joseph was not confined to the Anglo-Saxon race of people who speak the English language on both sides of the Atlantic ocean, but was sent over to continental Europe, and there for the first time it was heard among the people dwelling in that land. It is an easy matter for us to understand that to preach the gospel to a foreign nation, or people who speak foreign languages, is not a very easy task. Sometimes we think the missionaries who are called to the various parts of this country or Great Britain have an easy time as compared with those who go abroad and have to learn new languages. Some of us who have passed through it know what it means to acquire a knowledge of a new language and speak to people in a foreign tongue. In foreign countries they have little knowledge of our country and its institutions, and do not love the flag and the institutions of this country as we do. And when these messengers went from this country and testified of angels having visited the earth, and of God's revealing Himself and sending His Son to teach the children of men, they found that men were inclined to say, "That is American humbug just like the rest we have heard coming from America!" It was no easy task for the first Elders who went to France, who went to Italy, and who went to the Scandinavian countries, to make those people believe that there was anything real in the message they had come across the water to bring to the people. Let me tell you now, if those men had gone forth as ordinary men do, if they had not been backed by the spirit of inspiration, the Spirit of God, they never could have opened the doors in those lands. The people would not have received them, but would have rejected their testimony, because it was so contrary to anything they had been led to expect or believe. But the fact is that these men went abroad with a double power. The facts are that the Lord did not reject His Church, or withdraw His power, but He increased His power. In the days of Brigham Young the Gospel was sent abroad not only to English speaking people, but to people who speak many other different languages, and the blessings of the Gospel followed in those lands, just on the same principle as they followed in Tennessee or in Kentucky or in New York or Boston, or any place where the first Elders of the Church preached the Gospel. And this is a great testimony to us if we reflect upon it. ¶

Just a word in regard to the opposition. You will remember that when the first Church, the Church established by Christ and His Apostles, that when men went into unbelief and the people ceased to keep the commandments, the Lord withdrew His blessings from that Church, and the first excuse they had to make was something to satisfy the people as to why the gifts and blessings of the Gospel had ceased. There was no such outpouring of the Spirit of God upon men in the second century as in the first. And so they invented this story for the purpose of pacifying the people: These things, the gifts and blessings of the Gospel, have ceased because they are no longer necessary. Very much later, when such men as John Wesley glanced out upon the past, he said, that is not the reason. There is another reason, it was, he said, because Christians had turned heathen again, that is the true reason why the blessings and gifts of the Gospel ceased among the children of men. Now, my brethren and sisters, if the true church of Christ in this age had been rejected of God, the first thing we would have had to find an excuse for would be why the blessings and gifts of the Gospel had ceased, why there was no demonstration of the power of God as there was in the beginning. The fact that these things have continued in the Church, the fact that they have increased in the Church, the fact that there have been abundant witnesses raised up in this land as well as in every land where the Gospel has been sent, has been and ought to be in and of itself one of the grandest proofs we can have in regard to the divinity of this church and the perpetuity of it. ¶

I feel to bear my testimony to the inspiration of these men. I know that God is with this people, and that the power of God is with His servants, not only as we see it demonstrated here at this conference, but as we go abroad in the different missions. We have heard from one mission here today, and we may hear from more. We will find that the testimony of the truth has followed, that wherever the Elders go the power of God is with them. They may not be learned men, that is, there are not so many that are learned among our people as among some other people, but the power of God is with them, the demonstration of the Holy Spirit goes with them wherever they go, and paves the way before them, and causes them to have success in regard to making converts. ¶

I testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is now existing in the midst of the earth, is directed by the power of God, and that the Lord has not ceased to strive with His people, that the Lord does not withhold His power or His gifts or His blessings from those who desire to keep His commandments and who walk in the paths of righteousness. So far as our leaders are concerned, I wish we could sustain' President Joseph F. Smith not only as Trustee-in-Trust in a general way, but I wish from the bottom of my heart that we could sustain him also as President of the United Order. that he should direct among this people more of the material things that we need in the world. I think that it is proper and right that we should build up Zion. temporally as well as spiritually. We find sometimes that our missionaries, when they return from abroad and our emigrants when they come to us from foreign lands, cannot find employment when they come to Zion. We feel as if we are not strong enough financially. We are here to build up a sample community, a commonwealth that partakes of a temporal as well as spiritual nature. In these mountains we have been permitted to dwell in peace for a number of years, and it is the only place, up to that time, upon God's footstool where the Latter-day Saints have ever found a resting place. And I will say, if we have confidence in our leaders, if there is an accusation against them as to temporal affairs, I would prefer that our fiancial affairs be directed by them even more than they are at the present time, that we might prosper in temporal as well as in spiritual matters, that Zion may grow and prosper, that we may be a community that will be respected in all parts of the world. May God bless you, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶