Report on the Union Stake

(President of Union Stake.) I rejoice exceedingly, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting you in general conference, and in hearing the good reports that have been given concerning the various organizations of the Church throughout the world. It certainly is gratifying, indeed, for us to hear from our leaders that Zion is growing, not only numerically but in righteousness. ¶

It affords me great pleasure to represent the Union Stake of Zion, which is located in the eastern part of the state of Oregon. We have there a very excellent country and a choice people. Some of our wards have nearly doubled in number during the last twelve months, and the spirit of peace and thrift prevails. ¶

But while I speak in glowing terms of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think it would be very unkind of me not to make specific mention of those who are not of our faith. It has never been my pleasure to labor among a people more friendly or broader in their views, or who extended the hand of brotherhood to the Latter-day Saints so generally as is done in our community. Our Elders have been preaching and doing a good deal of local missionary work, and we have received personal messages over the telephone requesting us to send the "Mormon" Elders again, that they liked to hear them. I have never seen a better field for missionary work than the State of Oregon. I have never been in a place where the people attend our meetings more generally, or where they manifested greater interest, and investigated with greater soberness, than they do in that locality. We have a missionary organization whose business it is to collect funds to purchase tracts, and in this way we are disseminating the word of God as fast as possible. ¶

A key-note expressed by President Smith, in the opening of our conference, yesterday, was the more particular training of the lesser priesthood. I rejoice, and I am very pleased, indeed, that our boys are to receive closer and better attention. I have known boys who have grown up without experience in the priesthood, and when they have reached their majority, and have gone to the Bishop for a temple recommend, with the understanding that they were going to be married, their recommends have been brought to me for indorsement, and it has given me pain to observe some instances, that while the young man was clean and pure and sober, he was inexperienced in Church affairs, and I thought surely something had been neglected. I believe that, if we organize more fully the lesser priesthood in the stakes of Zion, an important missionary work will be accomplished, and when our boys reach majority they will be fit to receive the higher priesthood, and they will make better husbands, better fathers, and in general, better in every particular than they have been hitherto. ¶

I notice, in the report of Sunday schools in the Union stake, there are something like 85 per cent of the members of the Church in our stake that observe the Word of Wisdom. We are going to take upon ourselves a missionary labor to convert that other fifteen per cent. We are going to arrange in alphabetical order the names of all members of the Church of school age, and we are going to see that special missionary labor shall be taken up with them in their homes. We are going to take the wild boy, who has thought that he counts for nothing who has thought, as he expresses it, "I ain't any good" ; we are going to labor with that boy, and take him by the hand and let him know that we cherish his soul, that he is a son of God, and our brother. We are going to try and take care of the eighty-five per cent, but we are also going to give specific attention to the fifteen per cent, until it shall be recorded in the Union Stake, and in all the Stakes of Zion we hope, that one hundred per cent observe the Word of Wisdom, one hundred per cent are enrolled in the Sunday School, one hundred per cent are active in the auxiliary organizations of the Church, one hundred per cent are taking part in this glorious work and assisting in consummating the majestic purposes of our Father. ¶

I see necessity of missionary work at home, and I rejoice exceedingly to hear of the success of missionary work abroad, under the systematic methods that are employed. I rejoice to hear that hundreds of thousands of books and pamphlets relating to the Gospel are being distributed in the world, but I know there is need for work of a similar character to be performed at home, near our own door yards. How many of us who have received the light are giving it to our neighbors? How many of us are inviting our neighbors to participate in the blessings that the Gospel affords, and has made possible for us to obtain? I fancy, sometimes, that we look too far off for our duties. I am afraid, my brethren and sisters, that some of our neighbors may stand before us at the judgement day, and say, "My friend, you claimed to have the light, claimed to have received the priesthood, the higher authority ; yet never once in your life did you invite me into your home; never did you proclaim to me the liberty which you claimed you had received ; never did you invite me to read concerning this system of truth; never did you invite me to partake of that divine influence the Holy Ghost." I am afraid we sometimes forget what Christ has said, "Freely ye have received, freely give — " freely impart unto your brethren and sisters. This work applies to all the world. It is an individual work. We are called into the ministry, every one of us, some to labor at home, and some to carry the Gospel abroad. No man who has received the Priesthood has a right to lay down his armor, or a right to cease to bear witness unto the world concerning those things that God has revealed to him. If it is good for us to bask in the sunshine of "Mormonism" it is good for our neighbors to enjoy the same blessing. If it has been the duty of some Elder to bring to us, it is equally our duty to carry it to our neighbor, to our brother ; and we will stand condemned unless we do this. I hope, my brethren and sisters, that we will broaden out in our daily intercourse. I believe that among the crying evils of the day is falsely judging each other, a lack of charity, a lack of faith and confidence in each other and in the world. We should remember particularly the words of wisdom from the mouth of our Redeemer, "Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned, judge not and ye shall not be judged ; the measure that ye meet out unto others shall be measured back unto you, pressed down and running over." I am afraid many of us are something like a country judge I once heard of. The case had been before him for three or four days, and at the conclusion of the argument of the attorneys, he looked over his glasses and remarked : "This case has been very stubbornly fought, the client on each side has been very well and ably represented ; the court is inclined to be just, it is a very intricate case, and I shall take the matter under advisement for three days, at the end of which time I shall render a decision in favor of the defendant." Like that Judge, we pass judgment, sometimes, I think, before we ought to. If we have meted out love to our neighbor, if we have meted out faith, hope and charity, and that is measured back to us, pressed down and running over, then we will indeed rejoice; but if we have meted out to our neighbor disorder and strife, if we have undermined him, dealt treacherously and unrighteously with him, and that is meted back unto us, pressed down and running over, then it will indeed be cause to sorrow and to mourn. As the greatest of philosophers has said, "we reap that which we plant." If we plant faith, we will reap faith; if we plant hope, we will reap hope ; if we plant discord, we will reap discord. If we plant dissolution, we will harvest dissolution. It is our duty to bless all the world. The Lord has said this is our duty. Men may revile, may backbite and malign us and persecute and imprison us, but it is our duty to bless all the world, we have no license to do otherwise, that I know anything about. ¶

I rejoice because of the growth of "Mormonism." It is established in the top of the mountains, and we have a promise from God that it shall not be removed. I rejoice that the Prophet of the Lord can truthfully say that "Mormonism" is growing. The march is onward. The faith of the Saints is growing and increasing, and the conditions that obtain today are better, perhaps, than at any time in the history of the Church. We want to apply it to ourselves individually, and ask ourselves the question, are we doing our part? If we are not, the Lord will not be pleased with us as individuals, he will not bless our efforts, and we will be unhappy. We should be beneficent and benevolent, see that order and tranquility prevail in our homes, and extend it to all the world. God bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶