Opening Address: Gratitude and the Word of Wisdom

My brethren and sisters, it is indeed a cause for congratulation, joy and great satisfaction, to see the large number of members and officers of the Church who have assembled here, at the opening of our seventy-ninth semi-annual conference, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. It is remarkable, to say the least, to see so many here as are present this morning, and I feel grateful, in my heart, to the Lord for the feeling and interest manifested by those who are present, for your attendance here today is evidence of your interest in this work. I am glad to see you and to welcome you to this conference of the Church, and I sincerely hope and pray that the true spirit of the Gospel of the Son of God, may pervade all our meetings in this hall, and in other places where we shall be met together. I hope that, at the conclusion of our conference, every soul possessing a knowledge of the Gospel, and a love of truth, will feel amply repaid for attendance here; and to this end I invoke the blessing of the Lord upon every individual who has come here today, and who will attend the conference for the love of the truth and for his or her devotion to the cause of Zion. The Lord has blessed us in a remarkable degree, throughout the past season, with the exception of here and there a partial failure of late crops by frost ; generally the season has been fruitful, and the people have been blessed, so far as we have been informed, throughout the length and breadth of the land. We desire that the Latter-day Saints will always, and especially at this time, remember the Lord for His goodness and mercy to them and for His blessings upon their labors; for we do acknowledge the hand of the Lord — or should do — in every thing that we possess and enjoy in the world. It is written that the Lord is displeased with those who will not acknowledge His hand in all things. All Latter-day Saints acknowledge in their hearts that every good and perfect gift comes from God, "from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning." We do not arrogate to ourselves the power to secure blessings, to multiply and increase our possessions and our wealth in the land without the assistance of Him from whom all blessings flow. We should keep in mind that law which makes it our duty to remember the Lord with the first fruits of all our increase, and that He is the giver of all good, not forgetting the duty we owe to Him and to His cause in the world, to provide our part of the means necessary for the carrying on of His work and for the building up of Zion in the latter days. Much has been done during the past season toward the building of houses of worship throughout the land — not only in this state but in Arizona, in Idaho, and throughout the missions of the Church. Much has been done by the Latter-day Saints, and much assistance has been rendered by the Trustee-in-Trust in the erection of houses of worship, schoolhouses, and in the purchase of places that were necessary to the welfare of the Saints. We are continually doing, as far as it is possible, what we may do consistently to assist God's work throughout all the land. It will not be necessary nor perhaps consistent for me to enter into details in relation to the labor that is being performed in these directions. We have the records of these things, and any of the Latter-day Saints who desire to be posted in relation to what is being done for the building up of the Church can come to the head and obtain all the information that they need. Since our last conference, however, we have succeeded in obtaining most excellent headquarters for the British mission, in the City of London. We rejoice exceedingly that, after the lapse of years, we have at last obtained a foothold in that great metropolis where so many have been gathered into the covenant of the Gospel. We have also obtained headquarters, elsewhere, but I will not enter into an account of these things. ¶

The Lord has been prospering Zion, and we rejoice exceedingly in the many and glorious manifestations of His kindness and mercy unto His people. We are grateful for deliverance from those who wilfully and wickedly and without a cause seek our hurt. We are grateful in the belief, aye in the knowledge that notwithstanding the efforts they have made to injure this people and to thwart the purposes of the Almighty, they have but been the means, indirectly, of forwarding the work in the world. They have called attention of the world toward us, and that is just what we want, though they have done it with wicked intent. We want to be known as we are. We want to be seen in our true light. We want the world to become acquainted with us. We want them to learn our doctrine, to understand our faith, our purposes, and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We would like them to know something about the origin of this work, but we desire that they shall see this work in the true spirit of it, and the only way this can be brought about is by the inquiring, intelligent world coming in contact with us — those indeed who are disposed to love truth and righteousness and whose eyes are not so blinded that they can not see the truth when it is presented before them. There are those who having eyes see not, and having hearts do not and will not understand. There are none so blind as those who will not see, and none so deaf as those who will not hear ; and there are none so heartless and so wicked as those who knowing the truth and seeing the light will close their eyes and their ears against it. ¶

We are living in a momentous age. The Lord is hastening His work. He is at the helm, there is no mortal man at the helm of this work. It is true the Lord uses such instruments as will be obedient to His commandments and laws to assist in accomplishing His purposes in the earth. He has chosen those who, at least, have shown a willingness and a disposition to obey Him and keep His laws, and who seek to work righteousness and carry out the purposes of the Lord. It is for the Latter-day Saints to judge the standing of these men. They have no occasion to sound their own praise, to bear testimony of their own works; their lives are open books to all the Latter-day Saints and to all the world. You know these men; you understand them; you have seen their labors ; you understand the desires of their hearts, for you are familiar with them. The Lord has sustained these brethren in the positions to which He has called them, and He will continue to sustain them in these positions so long as they continue to be faithful before Him. If one of them should cease to be faithful and turn away from the right path, the consequences of his own evil acts will fall upon him sooner or later, and the fruits of his works and the desires of his heart will be made manifest. ¶

When I arose to my feet, I had in mind the thought of presenting before this conference one of the revelations that has come to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith, a revelation with which you are all familiar, which has been the text, perhaps many a time, of every officer in the Church. It is a revelation which has been sounded in the ears of all the people for the last seventy years, and yet it is a new theme, practically, for there is still great necessity for it to be held out to the Latter-day Saints and to all the world. We see great reasons for the principles contained in this chapter of the book of Doctrine and Covenants being taught to the world, and especially to the Latter-day Saints. It is nothing more nor less than that simple Word of Wisdom that was given in 1833, for the benefit, the help, and the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, that they might purify and prepare themselves to go nearer into the presence of the Lord, that by reason of keeping this law they might fit themselves to enjoy the blessings that He is more than willing to bestow upon them, if they are worthy. I propose to read this revelation to you and, perhaps, make a few remarks upon it: ¶

Revelation given through Joseph, the Seer, at Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, February 27th, 1833 : ¶

A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the Council of High Priests, assembled in Kirtland, and Church; and also the Saints in Zion. ¶

To be sent greeting — not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all Saints in the last days. ¶

Here we are informed that it was not given, at that time, by way of commandment or restraint but by revelation, "a word of wisdom showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days." Subsequently, years afterwards, from this stand, it was proclaimed from the mouth of the Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young, that the time had now come when this word of wisdom — then given not by commandment or constraint — was now a commandment of the Lord to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Lord required them to observe this word of wisdom and counsel, which is the will of God unto the people for their temporal salvation. ¶

Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all Saints, who are or can be called Saints. ¶

Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, in consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation, That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him. ¶

And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make. ¶

And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies. ¶

And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill. ¶

And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly. ¶

And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man. ¶

Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. ¶

Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly ; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. ¶

All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth ; And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger. ¶

All grain is good for the food of man, as also the fruit of the vine, that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground. ¶

Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain. ¶

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel, and marrow to their bones. ¶

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures ; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint; And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen. ¶

Now, it may seem altogether unnecessary and out of place, perhaps, to many, for me to occupy the time of this vast congregation in reading this revelation, inasmuch as it is presumable that every man and woman present has access to this book and is more or less familiar with all its contents. I am sorry to say that I do not believe there is another revelation contained in this book, or another commandment given of the Lord that is less observed or honored than this "Word of Wisdom," and that, too, by members and officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, male and female. Go where you will, you see a lack of appreciation of the counsel given in this revelation to the Latter-day Saints, by some of them. Some of our best men disregard in part this law; many do not fully observe it; some of our leading women do not keep the commandment of the Lord that is given here, and they excuse themselves in various ways, and for various reasons, for not observing the law of God. I simply want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, that there is no other way — no other course that we can take in the world, in relation to our temporal welfare and health, better than that which the Lord God has pointed out to us. Why can we not realize this? Why will we not come to a perfect understanding of it ? Why will we not deny ourselves that which our craven appetites desire? Why can we not observe more closely the will of the Lord as made known to us in this revelation? If we would observe this law or commandment of the Lord, — first given not as a commandment nor by constraint, but afterwards declared by the mouthpiece of the Lord to be in force as a commandment thereafter to the Latter-day Saints — if, I say, the people would observe the principles of this revelation, there could not exist in their midst that most obnoxious institution known as a saloon; it can not exist where only Latter-day Saints dwell. If this commandment were observed by the whole people, the vast amount of money that now goes out to the world for strong drink and these other things forbidden in the word of wisdom, would be saved at home, and the health, prosperity and temporal salvation of the people would be correspondingly increased. No man can violate the laws of God with reference to health and temporal salvation, and enjoy those blessings in the same degree that he could do and would do if he would obey the commands of God. Don't you believe that? Can not Latter-day Saints accept that truth in their hearts? Can there be any room for argument in relation to that proposition? I say to you, my brethren and sisters, that God knows better than we do what is and will be for our best good, and when the Lord speaks to us, as He has spoken to us in this revelation which I have read to you, we should give it attention. We should accept it in our hearts; we should live closely to it; and then, we are promised, we should find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge even hidden treasures; we might run and not be weary, walk and not faint, and when the destroyer should come he would pass by us, as he passed by the children of Israel anciently. If we fail to observe this law of God, we are not entitled to these promises. Those individuals who do not live up to these principles conveyed to them through this word of the Lord, will fail in rightfully claiming the fulfillment of the promise that is made to them that keep the law. The Lord has said, "If ye will do the things I require at your hands," if ye will do my will, "then am I bound; otherwise there is no promise," for every promise is made on condition that we will observe the law upon which that promise may be justly and righteously fulfilled. We go into the outer settlements of the Latter-day Saints where there are a few non-believers, a few apostates from the Church, probably, and a few who have never belonged to the Church at all, but the majority of the people are members of the Church ; and we see planted, here and there, in the midst of these communities, saloons and other places of ill repute, and they are sustained by somebody. In some instances, at least, we know that the outside element, the non-Mormon element is not sufficiently large or wealthy, nor are they so numerous in their patronage of these institutions as to keep them alive or to sustain them. The conclusion, therefore, is that there are some who are members of the Church who are also frequenters of these places. This is all wrong — all wrong. No member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can afford to do himself the dishonor or to bring upon himself the disgrace, of crossing the threshold of a liquor saloon or a gambling hell, or of any house of ill-fame of whatever name or nature it may be. No Latter-day Saint, no member of the Church can afford it, for it is humiliating to him, it is disgraceful in him to do it, and God will judge him according to his works. The man or woman who truly believes in the doctrines of the Church or professing to have membership in the Church, who believes and practices the principles contained in this "Word of Wisdom," will never be numbered among those who will bring this disgrace upon them, upon their neighbors or upon the Church to which they belong; they will never do it. ¶

Now there is a great movement on foot throughout the land; its waves have struck us here and are flowing over our state — a wave of temperance. Even the world is moved upon by an irresistible influence and spirit to advocate and to establish among communities in states and counties and cities the principle of temperance. I am in favor of this movement, I endorse it with all my heart; I know that it is in the right direction, and I believe that the Lord Almighty is moving in that direction upon those who are willing to devote their labor and time to this portion of His good work in the world. The Lord does not delight in intemperance, in drunkenness, nor can He have pleasure in the poverty, in the degradation and ruin that such practices bring upon their votaries and upon those who are dependent upon them, the ruin of manhood, the ruin of family organizations and the degradation of those that are engaged in it and that bring poverty, destruction, and death upon themselves and upon their families. Every member of the Church, male and female, ought to set his or her face as flint against intemperance and against anything that is in violation of the laws of God, that they might never be overcome or yield to the temptation of evil. We ought to have purer communities, communities that are not ridden by vice, by pernicious habits and practices. One cannot walk up and down the side-walks of our streets, but he will meet young men and boys with tobacco pipes in their mouths, or cigars or cigarettes, smoking in the streets. Perhaps those who are accustomed to these habits think this is a very trivial or very unimportant thing to talk about to a vast congregation like this, but I never see a boy or a man, young or old, addicted to this habit and practicing it openly but I am forced to the conclusion to the conviction in my mind that he is either ignorant of God's will concerning man or he is defiant of God's will and does not care anything about the word of the Lord, and that alone is sufficient to bring sorrow to the heart of any man who has any regard or respect for the word or will of the Lord and would like to see it obeyed. We go occasionally to the theaters, and of late years we see it has become very fashionable, or very common, for the actors to puff away at their cigars, pipes and cigarettes on the stage; and they light cigarette after cigarette, and cigar after cigar, right on the stage before their audience. To me such a practice is an insult to the Latter-day Saints at least, and should be to all decent people ; and if I had little boys growing up who would be susceptible to the influence of such practices I should not want them to go to our theaters at all, where they would see things in open practice as if it was something commendable. I think it is reprehensible, to say the least; and if I were managing a theater, and could do it, I would have it stipulated that there should be no smoking on the stage nor in the auditorium. Aside from the folly of smoking in a theater, lighted matches, cigars, and cigarettes are dangerous to property. There are other things however, in theatrical performances that are about as disgraceful as smoking on the stage. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, the subject that I had in view in reading these words is simply to emphasize, as far as it lies in my power, the Word of Wisdom, given to the Latter-day Saints to all that are or can be called saints to the weakest of the weak, for it is adapted to them, and the weaker they are, if they will observe this principle, they will become stronger by the observance of it. If we will observe this law, we will gain strength, we will have health in our bodies and marrow in our bones ; we may run and not weary : walk and not faint ; and this is most desirable for those that are feeble, or weak, who need strength, and health; they should observe this principle in order that they might obtain the very thing they desire and need most and that they are destroying most by not following the word of the Lord but by practicing those things that are forbidden of Him. We pray God to heal us when we are sick, and then we turn round from our prayers and partake of the very things that He has told us are not good for us ! How inconsistent it is for men to ask God to bless them, when they themselves are taking a course to injure and to bring evil upon themselves. No wonder we don't get our prayers answered more than we do, and no wonder our health is no better than it is, when we are addicted to practices that God has said are not good for us, and thereby entail evils upon our life and physical being ; and then to turn to the Lord and ask Him to heal us from the consequence of our own folly, and pernicious practices; from the effects of the evil that we have brought upon ourselves and that we knew better than to do. How foolish it is ! ¶

The Lord bless you my brethren and sisters. We endorse any movement looking to temperance, looking to virtue tending to purity of life and to faith in God and obedience to His laws ; and we are against evil of every description ; and we are, in our faith and prayers against evil doers — not that we would pray for evil to come upon evil doers, but that evil doers might see the folly of their ways and the wickedness of their acts and repent of them and turn away from them. If they will not hearken and repent of their evil ways, then let them pursue their course of evil to the end, and let the judgment of God come upon them and they receive their reward according to their works. Let God judge all men. He will reward them for good or for evil according to their works. We are not here to execute judgment or to impose punishments upon our fellow men except the punishment of withdrawing from those who are unworthy our fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We find it necessary, sometimes, to withhold fellowship from those who have turned away from the truth from the love of God and the cause of Zion — that they might not be regarded as having membership and standing with us. It is an injury to the cause of Zion for any community organization, ward, stake or branch of the Church to permit men or women to retain their membership in that ward or stake or branch, when it is known that their practices and habits are vicious and that their manner of life and unbelief are calculated to sow the seeds of apostasy corruption and evil in the midst of the people where they dwell. It is right and proper that the line of separation should be drawn distinctly between them and the Latter-day Saints. Withdraw fellowship from them cut them loose, let them go to the world, and let the people of the Church understand that they are not held in fellowship and that their conduct is not countenanced by the authorities of the Church. ¶

Now, the Lord bless you, and in the name of the Lord I bless you — this congregation, the covenant people of the Lord, just as truly as ancient Israel were the covenant people of God, for you have entered into the solemn covenant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that you will keep the commandments of God, that you will eschew evil and wickedness. You know what you have done ; you know the nature of the covenants you have entered into before God and witnesses and before the angels of heaven; and, therefore, you have entered into the bond of the new and everlasting covenant and are indeed the covenant people of God in the latter days. Therefore, what manner of people ought we to be ; what manner of individuals should we be? Should we not set an example worthy of our profession? Should we not live pure lives? Should we not be upright, virtuous, honest, God-fearing and God-loving in our souls every day of our lives and in every position in which we may be called to act; ought we not to set an example for good? Ought we not to be Christ-like, manly, true to every principle of the Gospel, and honorable out in the world and at home so that no man can justly point at us the finger of scorn or of condemnation? That is indeed the kind of people we ought to be. God help us to be such is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶