Honesty of the Saints and Dickens' Emigrant Tribute

My dear Brethren and Sisters, I am exceedingly delighted to have the privilege of attending this general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have listened to all that has been said, and I am pleased to say that it finds an echo in my heart, and I can say "Amen" to all of the sentiments so far expressed by the brethren during this conference. ¶

In connection with President Winder, I testify to you that I am in full accord with the sentiments of the Address read yesterday, and approved by this conference. ¶

I hope that, for the few minutes I stand before you, I will be directed and guided in what I shall say by that same kind, charitable spirit manifest in the remarks of the previous speakers. ¶

There is no place on this earth so dear to me as our blessed State of Utah, and there are no people I love so well. I am proud of the fact that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also proud that I was born of goodly parents, and I thank God every day of my life that I was born a member of His Church. I hope and trust that our aim and desires are to live as worthy and consistent members of the Church, and that we will be true and loyal to every principle revealed in this last day and dispensation. ¶

I love honesty and sincerity, and I believe no other people on earth are as sincere in their belief and faith as are the Latter-day Saints. They are honest in their business and in their religion ; they say what they mean, and mean what they say. When it is "Yes," it is "Yes;" when it is "No," it is "No." They are void of hypocrisy so common in the world. I thank God that this people, as a whole, are true and loyal to their faith and to God's will concerning them. ¶

In the Address delivered yesterday the sentiment was expressed that we are hoping for an enlightened investigation of what the world calls "Mormonism." My brethren and sisters, I hope to see the day — and God grant that it be an early one, too — when a just and unprejudiced investigation will be made of all the principles of the Gospel, and the lives of the Latter-day Saints. Never has there been an investigation of any sort calling in question the principles of the Gospel or the lives of the Latter-day Saints that has not proved an advantage to us as a people, and we have been and will be the gainers thereby. I know in my heart that if the enlightened men of this world will take time to inquire into real "Mormonism," what the fruits of it are, half our great battle in this world will be won. ¶

Last night I picked up one of Dickens' works, and after reading the article written by him regarding his visit to an immigrant ship, I thought to myself how many men are laboring under the same misapprehension and predisposition respecting the "Mormon" people as was Charles Dickens, the great English novelist and writer, before he had made a personal investigation. He thought that "Mormonism" was taking from the shores of England only the scum of the land — the ignorant class. The article referred to tells the object of his visit and what he found, and how utterly astonished he was in finding just the opposite of what he expected. He visited the emigrant ship named "Amazon," — perhaps there are people in this congregation who crossed the ocean in that ship — and this is what he says : ¶

"My emigrant ship lies broadside on to the wharf. Two great gangways made of spars and planks connect her with the wharf ; and up and down these gangways, perpetually crowding in and out, to and fro, like ants, are the emigrants who are going to sail in my emigrant ship I go out on the poop-deck for air, and surveying the emigrants on the deck below (indeed they are crowded all about me, up there too) find more pens and inkstands in action, and more papers, and interminable complication respecting accounts with individuals for tin cans and what not. But nobody is in an ill temper, nobody is the worse for drink, nobody swears an oath or uses a coarse word, nobody appears depressed, nobody is weeping; and down upon the deck, in every corner where it is possible to find a few square feet to kneel, crouch, or lie in, people in every unsuitable attitude for writing, are writing letters. ¶

"Now, I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June. And these people are so strikingly different from all other people in like circumstances whom I have ever seen, that I wonder aloud, 'What would a stranger suppose these emigrants to be ! ¶

"The vigilant bright face of the weather-browned captain of the Amazon is at my shoulder, and he says : 'What, indeed ! The most of these came aboard yesterday evening. They came from various parts of England in small parties that had never seen one another before. Yet they had not been a couple of hours on board when they established their own police, made their own regulations, and set their own watches at all the hatchways. Before nine o'clock the ship was as orderly and as quiet as a man-of-war !' "Later in the day, when this self-same boat was filled with a choir, who sang glees and catches for a long time, one of the singers, a girl, sang her part mechanically all the while, and wrote a letter in the bottom of the boat while doing so. ¶

" 'A stranger would be puzzled to guess the right name for these people, Mr. Uncommercial,' says the captain. ¶

" 'Indeed he would. ¶

" 'If you hadn't known, could you ever have supposed — ?' " 'How could I ! I should have said they were, in their degree, the pick and flower of England.' " 'So should I,' says the captain. ¶

"'How many are they?' " 'Eight hundred, in round numbers,' — ¶

" 'Eight hundred what? Geese, villian?' Eight hundred Mormons. I, Uncommercial traveler for the firm of Human Interest Brothers, had come aboard this emigrant ship to see what eight hundred Latter-day Saints were like ! And I found them (to the rout and overthrow of my expectations) like what I now describe with scrupulous exactness." ¶

In closing the article the great novelist says this : ¶

"What is in store for the poor people on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, what happy delusion they are laboring under now, on what miserable blindness their eyes may be opened then, I do not pretend to say. But I went on board their ship to testify against them if they deserved it, as I fully believed they would; to my great astonishment they did not deserve it; and my predispositions and tendencies must not affect me as an honest witness. I went over the Amazon's side feeling it impossible to deny that, so far, some remarkable influence had produced a remarkable result, which better known influences have often missed." ¶

My brethren and sisters, all I want in this world, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, is for intelligent men to honestly investigate the lives, the character and the faith of the Latter-day Saints. Are we gaining ground? Certainly we are. There is hardly a stranger that comes into this building and hears the organ — the sweetest toned one in the world — who is not favorably impressed. There is no visitor that attends our services and listens to our choir who does not question the absurd stories told of us. I have met thousands of strangers who have expressed to me the pleasure they had in meeting members of the Church connected with the Bureau of Information, and said that their ideas of "Mormonism" had thereby been completely changed. I have been dumbfounded in meeting hundreds and thousands of leading men and women of this country to find that they knew absolutely nothing of our beliefs and aims, and were ignorant as to what we have accomplished in the past and what we were now doing as a people. Thank God, I have had the privilege of bearing testimony to hundreds concerning your honesty, your virtues, your hopes and aims in life. Many have said to me that they were delighted to learn the truth respecting the Latter-day Saints. I have met hundreds of leading women of the country, and after I had talked with them for ten or fifteen minutes, about the first thing they would say to me would be, "Why, Senator Smoot, I signed the petition asking your expulsion from the United States Senate, because I believed the stories published and told against you and the Mormon Church." But they have been honest enough to say that from that moment they would try to undo all that they had attempted to accomplish against me, and in the future would guard against such unjust imposition. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I believe I can recognize the hand of God in directing the thought of the best people of this country favorably toward the beliefs and lives of the Mormon people. God grant that future investigations may be honest and enlightened. If they are we will come out of them far advanced, and be recognized as an industrious, honest, and God-fearing people. Instead of holding the theory that we want no one to know what our lives, our aims, our ambitions, and our doctrines are, we desire the very opposite, and want all people, from one end of the world to the other, to understand that we desire them to know us. ¶

I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor am I ashamed of the fruits of "Mormonism." Compared with other people, intellectually, the Mormon people stand almost at the top, according to statistics. Only three States in the Union have a higher percentage than Utah; and, mind you, their larger percentage is so small that it is hardly noticeable. Talk about the Mormon people not believing in education ! I say, without fear of successful contradiction, that we believe in it with all our souls. We are spending a great proportion of the tithes in educating our sons and daughters with a view to making them honorable men and women, worthy members of the Church, and stalwart citizens of this great country in which we live. ¶

Some of the thinking men of this country have come to the conclusion that there is something out of balance in modern Christianity. Just the other day I clipped from the "Saturday Evening Post" an article which was headed "A Weekday Religion." It says : ¶

"There is a general feeling that the world needs a new wave of religious feeling that shall chasten the materialism of the rich and reconcile the poor to their lot. It is hard to tell whether the churches have lost their hold altogether upon the people today. The evidence is confusing and partial. But it is obviously true that the world never more needed genuine religious conviction to restrain its passions and raise its ideals. When the new religion comes, or the old faith is re-shaped to meet the modern needs, one thing is absolutely certain : it must be a religion that shall deal with men actively six days out of the seven, instead of attending to them only one day." ¶

I will not take time to read the balance of the article. I say to you that the world will have to learn that a religion that is worth considering at all must be a religion that governs each individual seven days in every week, and not merely a part of one day weekly. We hold to that view as a Church, and, therefore, we are sometimes criticised. Some people complain that our religion interferes with the temporal affairs of life. I would not give a cent for a religion that was not a part of, and did not affect, the temporal life of every adherent. God so intended it. That is the kind of religion He has had in every dispensation from the beginning until the present — a religion that appeals to man every day in the week, and every hour in the day. ¶

I notice, my brethren and sisters, time is rapidly passing. I had a number of things I wanted to say to the young people, but the time allotted to me has gone. However, there are a few things I want to now present to the Latter-day Saints. I ask you to consider them as suggestions and each suggestion a sermon. I hope you will remember them. ¶

While sitting at home last evening I was thinking of some of the things my mother used to impress upon me with the request that I make them a part of my life. I jotted some of them down, and I want to read them to you today. They are as follows : ¶

"Pray to your heavenly Father for His guidance and blessing, and with His love in your heart, rely upon your own strength of body and soul. ¶

"Take for your motto, Faith in God, self-reliance, honesty and industry. ¶

"Inscribe in the most conspicuous place in your home, 'Luck is a fool, pluck is a hero.' " ¶

Let me call your attention particularly to this last saying, because there is a fever of speculation raging among the people, especially in mining stocks, and they are relying upon luck rather than upon the strength of their own brawn and brain. ¶

"Be careful from what source you take your advice, and remember that the great art of commanding is to assume a large share of the work. ¶

"Rise above the envious and wilful liars. ¶

"Place your ambitions, your aims in life away above the goal you intend to reach. ¶

"Remember that energy, indomitable determination, with a proper incentive, are the levers that move the world. ¶

"Don't drink intoxicating liquors. Don't chew. Don't smoke. Keep the Word of Wisdom. Don't swear. Don't read trashy books, and save your time and peace of mind by paying no attention to vicious and lying newspapers. ¶

"Be in earnest. Be generous. Be civil. Love your God and fellow-men. ¶

"Love truth and virtue. Love your country and pray for its success. ¶

"Be strong. We are not here to play, to dream, to drift; we have hard work to do, and loads to lift : shun not the struggle; face it; 'tis God's gift' " 'Be strong : say not "The days are evil; who's to blame?' and fold the hands and acquiesce. Oh, shame : stand up, speak out and bravely, in God's name!'" ¶

My brethren and sisters, I hope and pray that the spirit of God will be in your hearts. I want to leave my testimony with you this day that God lives, and that Jesus is the Christ. I also leave my testimony with you that God is at the helm of the ship Zion, and He will never allow it to run upon the rocks, but will protect and guide it. The mission that was placed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith, of establishing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this last dispensation, never more to be thrown down or given to another people, will succeed. Let us all be humble, and live in such a manner that our conduct will be worthy of emulation. God give us strength to do this, that our influence may be felt from one end of the world to the other. May our young people be pure in heart and pure in their lives, live according to the laws of God and receive His blessings ; which I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

Brother William D. Phillips rendered a tenor solo, entitled "The Perfect Life." ¶