The Varied and Extensive Character of the Work of God

Of necessity the subjects that are considered at our conferences are varied and numerous, in consequence of the work of the Lord being so extensive and consisting of both temporal and spiritual things. The Spirit of the Lord moves upon His servants to address themselves to the various interests in which the Church is concerned; and I hav-i taken pleasure in noting that all the interests and all the departments of work in the Church generally receive that word that is seasonable to each before the conference is concluded. ¶

Much has been said during this conference concerning the opposition that is waged against the work of God, and by the remarks made I have been reminded of a saying current in France to the effect that for a man guilty of crime two courses only lie before him: one is confession, the other is suicide; and they add, "suicide is confession." So -with those who feel disposed to attack this work. They may attack the administration of it, or they may attack its fundamental doctrines and seek to disprove it altogether; and in either event the attempt will end in failure as surely as confession or suicide ends in one result. To attack the administration of the work of the Lord under our present circumstances, in this year of grace 1905, is vain; for the testimony of all who have spoken and the testimony in the hearts of the Saints of God bear witness that there never was a time in the history of the church, when individual liberty was more respected than now, and when the necessarily great administrative power in the presiding officer was exercised in more moderation. So that to my mind! those who assail the administration of this work proclaim their own unwisdom and fret out only their own folly. To attack the Church in its fundamental doctrines is useless; for they are invulnerable, and not to be overthrown, by the efforts of the ungodly to disprove their truth. Therefore, if these people who interest themselves in our concerns will take a word of advice, I would suggest, in the language of one of old, that they would best let this work alone; for if it be of man, it will come to naught of itself; and if it be of God, they cannot do aught against it, and possibly they may find themselves fighting against God. ¶

The Apostle Paul, in his, epistle to the Ephesians, told them that the Lord had revealed to him that in the dispensation of the fulness of times God would gather together in one all things in Christ, both things which are in heaven and things which are in earth, even in Him. I do not know that I quote this^ scripture for the purpose of having it foreshadow at all the line of thought that I would like to follow; but I believe it is profitable to remember in these great assemblies of the Church that we are living in that dispensation, of the fulness of times, in which God has promised to gather together in one all things in Christ, both in heaven and in earth. ¶

Accepting the doctrine as true that we are living and operating in that dispensation, and that to the Prophet Joseph Smith was accorded the supreme honor of introducing that last dispensation— that dispensation which should culminate in the redemption of tha earth and in the salvation of men; recognizing the truth, as pointed out in the remarks of Elder Penrose, that this institution of the kingdom is not to be left to other people, but is to grow and increase in the earth until it should fill the whole earth and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ— after admitting these premises, for anyone to suppose that after that glorious dispensation had made but a few steps forward in the unfolding of its greatness it was suddenly halted to wait for someone to grow from childhood to manhood, is of all follies the most supreme. I call your attention for a few moments to the very palpable evidences that may be seen and read of all men that there has been no halting in this work, no cessation in its growth and development, from the days of the Prophet Joseph until the present time. And I base mv remarks upon the facts in the case; upon the word of God and His promise unto His people, given at a time when the fortunes of the Church were sunken to the lowest point in its history — I refer to the promise given to the Saints of God in 1834, in the month of February, when some twelve hundred of them had been exiled from Jackson County and were bivouacked on the Missouri bottoms, in most helpless circumstances. In that dark hour the voice of the Lord came to His Prophet and spoke these words: ¶

"Verily I say unto you, that I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them. ¶

Behold they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour, And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it for ever and ever." ¶

That was the promise of the Lord given unto the saints; and I say that the repeated triumphs of the Church over their enemies, notwithstanding the trials through which the Church has passed, the conditions that prevail in these 55 stakes of Zion represented in this conference, are the proof positive that God has vindicated His promise, so. far as increasing the number of the Saints is concerned and multiplying the stakes of Zion; and the number and condition of the Saints in these stakes is evidence that they have, largely at least, lived in harmony with the conditions named in the revelation upon which they were to have success over God's enemies. It is true, of course, that a few years after this revelation was given the Saints were again driven from their possessions in the state of Missouri; but mark this difference between the first expulsion that took place in our history — the expulsion from Jackson county — and the expulsion from Missouri five years later; 1,200 were driven from Jackson county in 1833, but when the Church was moved from Missouri 12,000 or 15,000 people were exiled. The work of God then certainly had not ceased to grow. It was the turning over of Elder Penrose's wall, so built as to be higher when turned over than before. The proclamation of the Gospel had been fruitful, and thousands had been brought unto a knowledge of the truth between the two expulsions. It is true also, that a few years later another exodus was forced upon the people. Expatriation took place, and our fathers were compelled to leave the beautiful city upon the banks of the Mississippi and come into this desert, mountain waste. But this time when they moved the Church they moved something over 20,000! And then, if such a thing were to be thought possible that we must again move, they would have to move something like 300,000 people from these mountains! So that in the matter of numbers, at least, there has been no retrogression in this work. It has steadily increased. The testimony of the Elders of Israel has been accompanied by the witness of God. It has appealed to the honest in heart, and in nearly all the nations of the earth there has been found a response. The gathering has continued until behold, the Saints have their feet made fast in these valleys of the Rocky mountains, where, in fulfillment of the prediction of the Prophet Joseph himself, the Latter-day Saints have become a great and a powerful people. ¶

In the matter of preaching the Gospel the work has not slackened. We have been true to that missionary spirit impressed upon the people who received the Gospel in the commencement. The history of the Church is unique in this, it seems to me, that every time our fortunes have fallen lowest we have turned to the preaching of the Gospel as a means of relief, and through the proclamation of it have found renewed strength and added increased vigor to the work of God. You remember, do you not, the first foreign mission that was conceived and executed in the Church? In those dark days, when clouds of spiritual darkness settled upon Kirtland, and men whom the Prophet had trusted fell upon the right and upon the left and were filled with bitterness and hatred towards him — you remember how the Spirit whispered to him that some new move must be made for the salvation of the Church, and he was prompted by the Spirit to send word to Heber C. Kimball that the voice of the Spirit of the Lord indicated that he must carry the Gospel message to a foreign land; and it was done; for Heber C. Kimball opened the work in England. Then, after |the exodus from Missouri, before the Saints were yet settled permanently in Commerce, while the bulk of the Church was living in wagons, tents and other temporary homes, behold, a mission for the Twelve, to go abroad and proclaim the Gospel! Leaving their families in utmost poverty, "many of them in sickness, and the Twelve themselves sick, they drew to themselves the spiritual strength of this work and went forth as messengers cf life and salvation. Again, true to this spirit characteristic of the Church when it was presided over by the Prophet Joseph, when the pioneers landed in this valley and began to settle this city and the surrounding country, before there had been any great development of material resources, the Twelve are again called out of this desert land, not only to preach the Gospel in England, but in Prance, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. Thus this spirit of proclaiming those truths that God has deposited with the Church was characteristic of the Church when it settled in these mountains. These missions were appointed unto the especial witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ— to the Twelve Apostles. Lorenzo Snow went to Italy, John Taylor to Germany and France, Erastus Show to Scandinavia; and from all these lands sons and daughters of God have been brought into the fold of Christ. ¶

A week or two ago I attended a service held in this city, in which the Church of Christ was arraigned for having by its conduct so prejudiced the world that they would not listen to the message that we had to deliver, and in solemn tones we were warned that somebody was responsible for that condition of things. Oh, how my heart swelled with joy when he who uttered those words and that warning was present at the opening session of this conference and listened to the report of the President of the Church concerning the missionary work carried on in all lands by the Elders of the Church; that the harvest was so great and the laborers so few , that although we had nearly fifteen hundred Elders in the field— and keep about that number out from year to year — yet this host of the servants of God were not able to meet the demands that are made for the proclamation of the Gospel. It seems to me that we are in a pretty good condition to meet all the responsibility that we may be warned about concerning this matter. ¶

Take it in the matter of publishing to the world the American volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon — one of the incidents, we may say, with which this great work commenced in the earth. Who is it that has published that work in some ten or twelve different languages; and to as many or more nations? It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And the end is not yet; for we heard the explanation of President Anthon H. Lund, wherein he told us in this conference that still more translations of this work were in contemplation, in the Turkish and other languages. So that we have been steadily employed in giving to the world this new volume of God's word. Our hands have not been slackened with reference to sending abroad the word of God as it was known to the Nephites upon this continent, thus fulfiling the decree of God that the inhabitants of the earth should not only have the testimony of the Jews, but that they should have the testimony of the Nephites also, and through them they should learn that Jesus is the Christ. I say the Church has been most faithful in publishing the word of God to the inhabitants of the earth. ¶

Another item. During the last few months of the Prophet's earthly career, the one subject which rested upon his mind more than any other was the subject of the salvation for the dead, the building of the Nauvoo Temple, the erection of a baptismal font and a house in which the keys of the holy Priesthood might be given to the servants of the Lord, where they might receive their conversations, as described in one of the later revelations to the Prophet, wherein they might receive that spiritual instruction that should better equip them for the work of the ministry which God had laid upon them. This was the burden of his discourses, this the burden of his' letters written to the Church from his place of exile, while being compelled to hide from the officers of the law under the false accusation of having transgressed the law— parenthetically: the Prophet Joseph was as frequently in that condition, aye, more frequently than any of the brethren have been since. But this temple work was the one thing that seemed to press most heavily upon him just previous to his death. Have this people been true to that spirit of temple building and temple work? Let this monument of granite to the east of us, a collective discourse in stone by the Latter-day Saints, bear witness to the world that we have been true to that part of the work which was of such importance in the mind of the Prophet. Let the stone temple in St. George bear a similar testimony. Let the splendid temple in Sanpete county be another witness; and the one at Logan in the north, let it also testify to the same fact. Bring forth the records of those temples, and let the millions of baptisms for the dead answer whether this people have been true to the mission, in the redemption of the dead, which God has placed upon the Church. Let the records of sealings of husbands to wives, wives to husbands, children to parents and parents to children — let the hundreds of thousands of ministrations of this kind bear witness to the faithfulness of the people of God to this doctrine advanced by our Prophet in the last days. I say that the blending together, or, if vou will, in the language of Paul, the gathering together of all things in earth as well as of things in heaven; the uniting together of the past with the present, of the fathers with the children, is one of the most stupendous facts connected with this great work of the Lord in the last days. Do you not remember that this doctrine, which is now so gloriously developed among us, was a matter of early concern to the Prophet Joseph? This work was foreshadowed in the very first interview the Prophet had with Moroni, for he quoted the words of Malachi, though a little different from what they are in the Bible, to the effect that the Lord would soon reveal the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah, and the hearts of the children shall be turned to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children. If it were not so, "he said, all would be consumed at the Lord's coming-. After that, step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, this doctrine was delivered, until it has borne fruit in the manner that I have indicated to you by the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood, wherein the power of godliness is made manifest, and without which ordinances of the Priesthood, we are informed, the power of God is not made manifest. ¶

So that we have been carrying out the projected work of the Prophet Joseph Smith in this respect. ¶

One other thing I desire to call your attention to. The President, in his opening remarks, rejoiced that we were taking a course that at least displeased the devil, or his advocates. I remember in this connection a saying of President Young's. He said, Tou may feel pretty safe as long as the devil takes exception to what you are doing, for he is not disposed to approve of righteousness, or to complain if through unrighteousness you play into his hands. Now then, it may be a miserable sort of evidence to refer to in connection with a theme so glorious as this, and yet I cannot quite resist the temptation to let him furnish a little evidence; and I do it in this way: Has not the same bitterness and hatred that characterized the Church under the presidency of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the same determination to destroy the Church, followed the Church led to the mountains by the Twelve Apostles under President Brigham Young? Has not the same spirit characterized their ministrations among the inhabitants of the earth? Surely you know the Saints had no rest in the days of the Prophet Joseph. His life was one continual scene of conflict and contest with the powers of darkness, who sought to destroy him and also the work which God had ordained that he should bring forth. At every turn we have been confronted with the selfsame enemy. From the fact that that enemy recognized the Church of Christ 47 in these mountains we may gather some evidence that this is the continued work of God. It was not the Elders of any of the so-called dissenting factions that have met mobbings and whippings in various countries of the world; It was not any of their representatives that were shot down in the State of Georgia, or the State of Tennessee. No; they were representatives of the Churdh of Christ in these mountains — the men who held the Priesthood — divine authority— and stood for the truth, and the fulness thereof. ¶

But I do not know that we ought to concern ourselves too much about these" matters, though it makes one rather rejoice to see the work of God grow and nourish, notwithstanding all the opposition that is aroused against it; to see stakes multiplied, missions increased, and the people grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, despite the efforts of the adversary. You will pardon me, I hope, for glorifying a little in the failure of our enemies, as well as rejoicing a great deal in the success of the work of God. ¶

I do not know whether I can make a thought I have in mind clear to you or not, but I am going to try. It has only passed through my mind a few times, and I do not know whether I have it well digested. As I pointed out in the commencement, we are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, in the which would be gathered together in one all things in heaven and in earth. Repeatedly the brethren have borne testimony that this work, in pursuance of the promises of God, should not be left to other people. It is not going to fail. In past dispensations there has been a seeming triumph for the powers of darkness, and I have often wondered how Paul could possibly continue to labor with such energy when he had such clear conceptions, by the spirit of prophecy, that the time would come when an evil power would arise, which should exalt himself above all that is called God, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself that he was God— that is, usurping God's authority and ruling men with a rod of iron. Paul had the clearest conceptions, it seems to me, that the time would not be long before clouds of spiritual darkness would rest down upon the people. And so, in dispensations preceding that of the meridian of time, one after another they seem to have failed of permanently maintaining themselves in the earth. But now at last we have the sure word of God that His work shall be established no more to be destroyed nor given to another people. What I want to call your attention to is, that this idea is in harmony with the age in which we live. Our civilization has taken on a promise of permanency, the like of which did not characterize the civilizations of former days. The great Greek civilization was overthrown to a great extent by the success of the Roman arms. True, in time it reasserted itself, and by their civilization the Greeks are general^ conceded to have subdued Rome. Rome in turn declined, and finally fell under the repeated assaults and waves of immigration of barbarous tribes from beyond the Danube, from the far north and northeast. This was the fate of the western division of the Roman empire. Later, in the fifteenth century, this was the fate also of the eastern division; for the terrible Seljuk Turks repeated the success over the eastern empire, that the German tribes won over the western. So the whole Roman civilization was crushed. And through all the ages civilizations have gone down and others have arisen in their place. But today the civilization of this age seems to have based on better foundations. Judge it by human wisdom, at least, one would say that we had arrived at a state of preservation of all light, truth and knowledge that has been confided into the human consciousness through the intellectual efforts of those who devote themselves to thought, science and philsosophy. There exists nowhere on the face of the round globe the barbarous tribes that ca» possibly overwhelm the knowledge and the civilization of the present age. And I believe that this permanency in civilization, the prospect of preservation of the light and truth that have been given unto the children of men, ought to be and necessarily will be accompanied by spiritual truth, spiritual philosophy, a true and permanent religion, that shall move side by side with this permanent civilization until it brings to pass the redemption of the children of men. So that this dispensation of the Gospel is in harmony with all other things with which we are surrounded. It promises permanency of civilization, and the preservation of all the knowledge that has been developed through the experience and researches of men as well as through the revelations of truth to the Prophet Joseph Smith. But I would say to those who pride themselves upon their attainments in science — and from the magnitude of their achievements I do not deny that they have a right to feel a little proud; I would say to those who glory in the philosophy that they have developed — and they too may well be proud of their achievements — I say unto them, scientists and philosophers alike, You are but lamely limping along far in the rear of the far-flung thought line of what God revealed through His servants the prophets. I will not have time to develop that thought; but I rejoice in the prospective triumph of the truth. We are going to win. We will not fail as a community, as an organization. Individuals, through human weakness and inclination to evil, may offend the Spirit of God and fail, as individuals; but as the throne of God stands sure so stands sure the foundations of this work and the structure that God is rearing upon it. That is my testimony in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶