Labors in the Missions and Vital Questions Answered

I would have been happier had it fallen to my lot to have more than eighteen minutes to talk to you ; but as the people in this city are inclined to criticise anybody who talks in meeting beyond four o'clock, unless I forget myself, for the first time in this Tabernacle, I shall stop at four o'clock — I mean at twelve o'clock. I have forgotten myself already, you see. If I were in Arizona, or Mexico, or Canada, or some place other than Salt Lake, I would feel at perfect liberty to talk ten or fifteen minutes beyond the time, and not expect to be censured by the Saints. We have so much good preaching and so much good singing here that we apparently get tired of it. I notice that some times when the Tabernacle choir gives a concert very few people attend; I suppose they hear the choir so often for nothing that they do not care to pay for the privilege. ¶

After an absence of three years and a half, I rejoice to return to my mountain home. I rejoice in the progress of the work of God at home or abroad. I wish to say to fathers and mothers who have sons in the European Mission that they are doing their duty, they are boys to be proud of. ¶

While in Japan, I prayed to the Lord with all my heart, in the woods of that country. that I might be permitted to succeed Brother Lyman as the President of the European Mission. And why? Because I knew from my experience in following him in the Tooele Stake of Zion that he would have all the holes filled up, the bridges made, and the roads in good condition. I knew that I would find the Mission well organized and everything in fine shape, with a good foundation upon which to build. I built upon that foundation, and the young missionaries seconded my efforts there. God blessed us in our labors, and there was an increase of our Church work in that land during my administration. I feel that there will be still greater increase under the administration of Brother Penrose, because of the foundation laid by Brother Lyman, seconded by my efforts. When people say that the Latter-day Saints do not believe in education and investigation, they simply tell that which is not true. Last year, in the British Isles alone, over four million tracts were distributed by the elders, and those tracts were principally written by Elder Charles W. Penrose. ¶

In ability to expound the Scriptures, Brother Penrose has that qualification pre-eminently. I once heard a man talking with Rev. Dr. Iliff on the railway train. (They did not know I was in the seat behind.) This man said to Iliff that he had heard nearly every great preacher in the United States, but that when he was in Salt Lake City he had heard in the Mormon Tabernacle the best and most logical sermon he had ever listened to. He asked Dr. Iliff, "Who is your great Mormon preacher out there?" Iliff said he didn't know any great Mormon preacher. "Why," said the man, "you must know that man; there could not be another one like him." "Well," replied Iliff," I don't know who you mean." "Well, who edits the Mormon paper out there?" "Oh! that's Penrose," said Iliff. "That's the fellow," said the man ; "he preached the best and most logical sermon I ever heard in my life." Thin as I am, that put fat on my ribs ; but it seemed to kill off Iliff. It was like pouring a bucket of cold water on his head, and he moved away from the man ; he didn't want any more of it. This man who preaches such a fine sermon is today President of the European Mission. I tell you that, with all the intelligence in the British Isles, there is no man there who, with the Bible as the standard, can confute Brother Penrose. We are not ashamed of our religion. We know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We have set our light so that it can be seen of all men. ¶

I call your attention to a little tract written by President Hugh J. Cannon, entitled, "Why." It gives reasons why our young men without college education, with little experience, and without polemic training, can meet the wisest and best informed and cause many of them to lay down their sectarian ministry and embrace the principles of truth and salvation, as taught by the Latter-day Saints. They are successful because we have the truth, and the divinity of the work in which we are engaged is beyond question. ¶

I endorse with all my heart every word that is in the declaration to the world that was read here yesterday. I endorse the remarks made by our President and by all the other speakers. I want to endorse the Word of Wisdom. I have been in only two or three Stakes since I have been home, and the Presidents of those Stakes have told me that there is an increased sale of tea, coffee and tobacco among the Latter-day Saints. In our social gatherings, too many of the people, some holding official positions, drink tea or coffee. Therefore, I endorse all that I heard yesterday on the Word of Wisdom before I withdrew to attend a funeral. I understand there was more said afterward, and I endorse that, too. I heard of one of the brethren who was awakened from sleep at the close of a sermon, and he got up and bore testimony to the truth of what had been said. He was asked how he could do it, and he replied : "Because I know the speaker would not say anything that was not true." So I bear testimony to all that was said here yesterday by the servants of the Lord on the Word of Wisdom, including that which was said after I left. It is a law of God; President Brigham Young declared it to be such, therefore, we are breaking one of the commandments of God if we fail to obey the Word of Wisdom. ¶

I want to endorse what Charles Dickens wrote, that was read here today by Brother Reed Smoot. Wherever the Latter-day Saints go proclaiming this Gospel, it is the pick and the flower of the people that embrace it. It is honest men and women who embrace the truth ; and when they hear the word of God they rejoice in their souls. They are full of integrity, and they show their integrity by sacrificing, if need be, for the advancement of this cause. ¶

I endorse all the good things said here by Brother Clawson regarding the songs of Zion. God Himself said, in a revelation to Emma Smith, who was given the mission to choose the hymns that would be acceptable to Him, that His soul delighted in the song of the heart ; "yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered in blessing upon their heads." I hope that when the next psalmody is published they will be able to find room enough in it to put in the fourth verse of many of our best hymns. One of the finest hymns we have is one of those that Brother Clawson referred to, "Come, come, ye Saints !" It is my favorite. When I think of the travels of our fathers and mothers ; when I think of their singing that song, many of them laying down their lives in the spirit of the words, "And should we die before our journey's through, Happy day, all is well !" — when I realize their integrity and devotion, I pray God to make us worthy of such fathers and mothers as those who sang this song from their hearts, for many of them did lay down their lives before their journey was through. I endorse all the good things that have been said during this Conference. ¶

I want to read here something from a book written by ' one of America's foremost statesmen, which I had the pleasure of reading in nearly all the conferences of England : ¶

"A few years ago a certain man, with good opportunities for the investigation and a probability of sincere answers, asked every young preacher whom he met during a summer vacation these questions : ¶

"First, Yes or no, do you believe in God, the Father; God a person, God a definite and tangible intelligence— not a congeries of laws floating like a fog through the universe; but God a person in whose image you were made? Don't argue; don't explain; but is your mind in a condition where you can answer yes or no? ¶

"Not a man answered Yes. Each man wanted to explain that the Deity might be a definite intelligence or might not; that the 'latest thought' was much confused upon the matter, and so forth and so on. ¶

"Second, Yes or no, do you believe that Christ was the Son of the living God, sent by Him to save the world? I am not asking whether you believe that He was inspired in the sense that the great moral teachers are inspired — nobody has any difficulty about that. But do you believe that Christ was God's very Son, with a divinely appointed and definite mission, dying on the cross and raised from the dead — yes or no? ¶

"Again not a single answer with an unequivocal, earnest Yes. But again explanations were offered and in at least half the instances the sum of most of the answers was that Christ was the most perfect man that the world had seen and humanity's greatest moral teacher. ¶

"Third, Do you believe that when you die you will live again as a conscious intelligence, knowing who you are and who other people are? ¶

"Again, not one answer was unconditionally affirmative. 'Of course they were not sure as a matter of knowledge.' 'Of course that could not be known positively.' 'On the whole, they were inclined to think so, but there were very stubborn objections,' and so forth and so on. ¶

"The men to whom these questions were put were particularly high-grade ministers. One of them had already won a distinguished reputation in New York and the New England states for his eloquence and piety. Every one of them had had unusual successes with fashionable congregations. ¶

"But every one of them had noted an absence of real influence upon the hearts of their hearers and all thought that this same condition is spreading throughout the modern pulpit. ¶

"Yet not one of them suspected that the profound cause of what they called 'the decay of faith' was, not in the world of men and women, but in themselves. How could such priests of ice warm the souls of men? How could such apostles of interrogation convert a world?" ¶

What are the answers of every Latter-day Saint who goes out to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these questions? The answers are Yes! Yes! Yes! without a moment's hesitation. And the same answers will be given by each tenyear-old child in any of our Sabbath schools. We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with a divinely-appointed mission, the Savior of the world. We believe that we shall exist eternally, and that we shall have a conscious knowledge of ourselves, and of others. We are married for time and for all eternity. We have God's truth to give to the world. We court the light of day; we court investigation. We say to all the world, God lives, and we are made in His image. We say to all the world, Jesus is the Christ, and we know it We say to all the world, Joseph Smith was God's prophet. I bear my testimony that I know that God lives, that I know that Jesus is the Christ, that I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. God bless you all. Amen. ¶