The Everlasting Character of the Work

Conference was resumed at 2 p. m. ¶

The choir and congregation sang the hymn commencing : ¶

Our God, we raise to thee, Thanks for Thy blessings free, We here enjoy ; In this far western land, A true and chosen band, Led hither by Thy hand, We sing for joy. ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Edwin D. Woolley. . ¶

,The choir and congregation sang the hymn : ¶

How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word ! ¶

What more can He say than to you He hath said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled? ¶

I feel, as President Winder remarked this morning, very grateful that I am privileged to meet with you once more. I expect to meet with you again many times, and I think President Winder will also. His prospects for living are better than they were some years ago. I presume we all feel grateful that we are alive, and that the Lord continues to be with His people and to sustain them. The measure of peace that is now secured to the Latter-day Saints is very refreshing The Lord's kingdom grows stronger every day. It is becoming established ; the people are gaining experience, and their faith is stronger. We are, today, an army of veterans in the service of the Lord. In doing our duty faithfully and well, as the older members of the community, we are examples to the younger ones who are receiving training and experience, and they will be well prepared to carry forward the work when we get tired and have to lay it down. In due time, of course, we will all have to lay off the burdens of this great, important and marvelous work. We live only a little while,— just a few years, — and if we are wise we will strive to accomplish all that the Lord enables us to do; for we are laying the foundation of the most remarkable work that has ever been undertaken on this earth. It is the dispensation of the fulness of times. The Lord has set His hand, for the last time, to accomplish His purposes on the earth, and we have the assurance that there will be no failure — that this work will not be given to another people. That is one great comfort the Lord has given to us in connection with this work : it will not be destroyed, nor given to another people. It has remained, from its inception, among this people, and has not changed hands. You men have been selected and sustained to carry forward this ministry. An abundance of material is always at hand — timber that is tried and proven ; so that today the work of the Lord is so firmly fixed in the minds of the Latter-day Saints that there can not be many surprises sprung upon us from within, and none from without. Of course, we understand that this work is peculiar, for the reason that it is the work of the Lord, established by the Father, and has not originated with men. It did not come from other denominations, but came fresh from the Lord. It was established in the early part of the last century. ¶

It is not very old, only 77 years of age — just a young Church and a young people; but it has made remarkable and steady progress. It has grown rapidly, and kept the ground it has gained, independent of those who have passed away, those that have lost the faith and have tired in this great work. The Church is still increasing and spreading abroad, and will do so until it fills the whole earth. That is its mission. We are fortunate to have a part in this splendid work, and it behooves us, my brethren and sisters, not to waste our precious time. The few years allotted to us are a very brief span of life. We have no time to waste ; and, as we heard this morning, it is a work that brings into employment every individual member of the Church. We are all expected to be ministers of the Gospel, advocating it, expounding the Scriptures, and preaching the Gospel by our lives as well as by our voices. Of course troubles arise in our midst; temptations and evils beset our path, especially the path of the youth among us ; but we understand that it is our business to "work while the day lasts, for the night comes when no man can work." We are not expected to occupy the night in work, nor yet in pleasure ; the night is for rest and sleep, to be at home securely. As a rule, the days are long enough, and furnish opportunity for labor in developing the resources of the earth, and caring for our material affairs — the day for labor and the night for rest. ¶

I endorse the suggestions, made to us frequently, that we should take care of the young people and keep them off the streets ; keep them from seeking pleasure in the night time, and thus avoid the dangers and evils that beset the path of youth in the night, and the path of older people as well. It is better that we should train ourselves and families to love our homes ; we should make them desirable and pleasant, and provide that home training and discipline which is so necessary. We should encourage reading by establishing home libraries and reading rooms, so that our time may be profitably occupied at home instead of in pleasure abroad. The curfew rings at nine o'clock, but I think it is a good thing for the children to be at home before that hour. Make home pleasant, and then so train the young people that they will love their homes and be glad to be there. There is no place, for the young people, so comfortable and secure as the home, with the family — fathers, mothers, and older brothers and sisters, — where the children can find good, congenial, company. Here they are secure, and associated with loved ones whose example and influence are always tending for good. I believe that the spirit of the Gospel will incline us to make our homes so desirable, and so pleasant, that our children will not care to go abroad. They ought to feel disinclined to go abroad at night. I would not frighten them, but they should be made to feel more comfortable and safe at home than anywhere else. Let them attend the pleasure resort in the day time, instead of at night. Let them be so trained that they will enjoy home reading and home society at night; make them feel that there is no place so comfortable, so safe, and congenial, as the home. They will never go astray while they are in good company. It is nice to have the proper influence in the home, and the spirit of the Gospel have its modifying effect upon the children of the Latter-day Saints. ¶

Then, the children should be given proper employment. There is nothing more dangerous than idleness. It is a good thing for boys and girls to be trained to labor. They ought not to be injured by labor that they are not competent to perform; but there is more likelihood of injury and danger in idleness, more danger of being crippled and spoiled by idleness than by labor. In labor there is salvation ; in labor there is safety. The skill that may be obtained, and the experience and the love for skilled labor, is a training that is most valuable for the children of men. The Latter-day Saints, of all people, should be industrious ; as a rule, fathers and mothers are so. Children, however, are too often indulged in idleness. Parents sometimes wait upon their children, make their ways too easy, and bring them up to be extravagant in the expenditure of money. It would be very much better if they were taught to earn what they receive ; to feel that what they wear, and what they live upon and enjoy, they actually earn with their own hands. There is a joy that comes to those who earn what they possess, who make their living by the sweat of their brows. I believe the Lord so designed. I believe that we are constructed to work with hands and brain. ¶

We should be faithful ; we should love one another, and love mankind ; do good to all men, and remember, as we were so beautifully taught this morning by President Smith, that our salvation must come through righteousness, humility and integrity. We cannot be redeemed and saved otherwise. We cannot be saved without repentance, and repentance requires works of reformation and righteousness. Every Latter-day Saint has taken upon himself or herself the name of the Lord, and we are expected to walk in His footsteps, to exercise the same charity that He did, the same spirit of obedience and humility, seeking to know the mind and will of the Father, and always doing it. We should remember that we have but a little time in this world ; that this school in which we are entered is ours for only a brief season. It will be profitable to us if we lay a proper foundation and build upon it, showing by our lives that we are in earnest, that we are sincere, and that we keep the commandments of the Lord. This will manifest our principles and make us a peculiar people, with temperance, union, faith, devotion, prayerfulness, integrity, and with loyalty to the Lord and to our government. ¶

The Lord has placed us under a government that is the most remarkable in the earth— a nation that has the strength and power to protect its people. It is growing and developing that strength and power which will make the kingdom of God safe upon this land. It will be a land of liberty in the future, as it has been in the past. It will continue so, for there shall be no king to rule in this land, until the King of heaven rules, whose right it is to reign among all nations and all peoples. It will be a land of freedom, and the Church of Christ will extend until it covers the face of the earth. This government will contribute very materially to the protection of the kingdom of God. It has done this in the past, and will do so in the future. How grateful we ought to be for liberty — religious and personal, and for the freedom that reigns so generously in the country where we live. The Lord has so ordered and arranged matters that the safety of this nation is assured ; that in this country, where His Church has been established, we shall enjoy freedom; that we shall not be removed, but shall remain and hold our footing — not only in the state of Utah but in surrounding states, for we will be sought after. The Latter-day Saints are a good element, and they will always be desirable citizens. They will be appreciated more hereafter than they have been in the past ; for they are a stable people, a people of peace, of righteousness, justice, sobriety, integrity, and honesty, and they will be appreciated in the world. ¶

The leaven of the Gospel is leavening the lump, and it will have influence and power among the peoples of the earth. The very choicest and best elements are being gathered from the various nations; and a race of people will spring up from the Latter-day Saints that will be remarkable for strength, physical force, mental qualifications, intelligence, and their erudition. The Latter-day Saints are peculiar because they attend to their own business ; they never interfere with other people; never take exceptions to the line of faith of others, whatever it may be. We find no fault with them; are willing that they should have the faith of their fathers or of their own, as they please. All Latter-day Saints want is that they may have their liberty to do what they understand is proper and right, to develop the principles of the Gospel and show their virtue for the salvation of men. We want liberty, and we grant it to everybody else. ¶

The Latter-day Saints are making commendable progress in the earth. Throughout the country they are building up stakes, increasing in their wards, making improvement and advancement, becoming thoroughly established. The Priesthood is being employed, and is working better today than ever before. I believe that we are sending a superior quality of Elders into the world ; more of the veterans are being brought into service with the young men, so we are not depending altogether upon the untrained. Complaints have come from our missions that they have too few experienced men; they want more men who have seen service, and such are now being sent into the fields. It is important that men who bear the Priesthood should seek to accomplish all they can with that divine authority while they enjoy it here in the flesh. We will find that the little time allotted to us here is very important, and that we can't afford to waste it, but that every moment of our lives should be profitably occupied. Of course, we must make a living, subdue the earth, develop the resources, accumulate wealth and use it for the building up of the kingdom; but our chief mission is to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, to live it, and to show to the world its value. ¶

We should thank the Lord for the ministry and mission of the Savior, and that the resurrection has been wrought out for us. We should thank the Lord that we have been provided for, that our sins may be forgiven, that we may be redeemed from the fall, and that we may be brought back into the presence of the Father. We should feel grateful for the restoration of the Gospel in our day, and thank the Lord that we live at the time when the Gospel is upon the earth, for it is one of the most remarkable privileges to live when the Gospel is here. Without it there are disputations and contentions, and there is not the true light. For centuries the world had been without the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, — only the printed word, and the printed word is the dead letter — it takes the spirit to give it life. Men are not able to take the dead letter and bring life out of it. The Spirit of the Lord can inspire men's hearts, that they may read and understand ; but with the natural spirit of man influenced by the spirits that are abroad in the earth, man cannot bring out of the Scriptures the plan of life and salvation. Although the Book of Mormon contains the Gospel of Jesus in its fulness, yet men must have the Spirit of the Lord to comprehend the doctrines therein. They are made very plain in the Book of Mormon and in the Doctrine and Covenants, but men, of their own wisdom and judgment, cannot comprehend the truth. By the inspiration of the Lord, men are enabled to know the truth, and it brings life and salvation to them. ¶

Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord has given us the way of salvation. He was true to his testimony, and his successors have followed in his footsteps faithfully. The successors to the apostles of the latter days have generally endured in the faith ; they have served the Lord and gone to their reward, many of them, but the work remains and will continue to spread abroad. The Lord will never be at a loss for men to stand as His representatives at home or abroad, in the ministry ; and this work will accomplish what the Lord designed. We witness the integrity of our brethren who preside in the various departments of the kingdom, their devotion and faithfulness to the will of God. We are gratified to note that the work is progressing and gaining strength in the earth. President Smith has spoken of the union of the Presidency, the Twelve, and the Seventies. It is also true in regard to the presidencies of stakes, the high-councils, the bishops, the quorums of the priesthood, and the superintendencies of the auxiliary associations in the Church. We travel among the people, and labor among them, and we discover that same union among the brethren and sisters who hold responsible positions in the Church, and the same spirit is in their hearts as dwells in ours. They are taking better care of affairs in their stakes, wards, and associations than ever before. They are learning, and they are receiving such training and experience in handling these affairs in all the fifty-five stakes of Zion that it is now a rare thing for appeals to come up to the Presidency of the Church. When appeals have come to the Presidency, it has generally been found that justice and righteousness have been dealt out by the councils in the stakes. I have not known of an instance where the First Presidency have discovered that the presidency of a stake and the high council have done injustice to the litigants. In these councils we find the same wisdom, judgment, spirit and justice that exists with the Presidency and the Twelve. The same spirit and power is manifest according to the responsibilities that rest upon the brethren. The Lord requires of our brethren who preside in the stakes of Zion, with the high councils and the Bishops, to take care of their own troubles, to settle difficulties, to make peace, and to deal out justice and righteousness ; only those matters that are too serious for them to handle should ever be brought to the attention of the First Presidency. I believe that the brethren who preside today have had such experience that they are becoming competent to deal with their affairs, they understand the requirements made of them in this regard, and are doing their full duty. ¶

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and may His Spirit be with us henceforth, and particularly to the close of this conference. That the Lord will indicate His mind and will to the people who shall gather here from day to day, as He has always done, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶