Believing in the Works of the Savior

For the strength of the hills we bless Thee, Our God, our fathers' God; Thou hast made Thy children mighty, By the touch of the mountain sod. ¶

In the Gospel according to Saint John, you will find these words of the Savior: (John 10:37, 38.) "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. ¶

"But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works." ¶

On the same occasion, He said, "Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" ¶

We know very well that it is difficult indeed for some people to understand our doctrine — those who do not put themselves in a condition to receive it, by doing what the Lord has said He requires to be done ; by having faith, by repenting, by baptism, by the laying on of hands, and by doing those things which He has commanded. We know how difficult it is for any one not of our faith, to judge of our doctrine and of our system; but it is not difficult for men to judge of the works that are accomplished, the results that have been produced. ¶

Another passage of Scripture is to this effect: "The things of men are understood by the spirit of man. But the things of God are understood by the Spirit of God." If I talk with my non-Mormon friend, about business affairs, we understand each other perfectly, because those things are understood by the spirit of man. the wisdom of man, while the Spirit of God, which the Savior said He would send to His followers, and which should lead them into all truth, and show them things to come — is not usually noticeable in the affairs of men. I might talk business all day, with friends with whom I do business — and I have many friends with whom I am interested in business affairs, who are not members of the Church — and we would understand each other, I say, perfectly, because we understand these things by the spirit of man. But, if I were to talk faith, if I were to talk baptism, or the laying on of hands, or the work for the dead, or anything of a spiritual nature, to these same men, it would be like talking Greek, I suppose, for it would be all Greek to the man who has not the spirit of it, and who does not seek the spirit of it. ¶

The Savior said, in substance, If you can not believe My doctrine believe the works. Now, I would like to point out a few of the works which the doctrines of this Church have produced. We read from one of the reports, or it was stated in one of our meetings, that this Church had assisted poor people, many of whom were not members of the Church — giving assistance to over twenty thousand people during the year 1908. I ask my friends who do not believe as we do, Is not that a good work? We have cared for our poor, and in doing so have expended a large amount of money to say nothing of the amount of attention and work and faithful labor of our splendid organizations and efficient workers in the Relief societies, whose work has never been counted in dollars and cents, and, indeed, can not be estimated in dollars and cents. In addition to the great work that they have done, during the past year, the Church has given to poor people, as a matter of dollars and cents, an amount somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000. I submit to all candid minds this question, Is not that a good work? You would not stone a man for doing that. You would not pelt him with epithets, or abuse him in any way for engaging in such a charitable work? The work is good ; and if you can't understand the doctrine, there is the work, and it speaks for itself. ¶

Another item : Through their faith and desire to worship the Lord, to be instructed, admonished, counseled and advised, the Church brings to this city every year thousands and tens of thousands of its members. Not only is this true with respect to this city, but it goes on to a greater or less extent in all the conferences of the Church, here and there, throughout this state and adjoining states and territories. Now, I submit to the railroad corporations and to the merchants and hotel men of Salt Lake City and other cities, is not this a good work — for you, any how ? We ought not to be pelted with epithets and be abused, and have contumely heaped upon us for putting money into your pockets this way, ought we? ¶

I see all the daily papers represented here. I would like the reporters to put that question, if they will — and I believe they will, as fairly as they can ; for they are usually very good fellows. Put that question fairly to the people: Is the work the Latter-day Saints are doing in this direction worthy only of derision, worthy only of pelting us, if not with stones, at least with epithets, and hurling contumely and ridicule upon us? I ask, through the press, ought not this to cease? Is it not about time that we should have done with all this folly? I recall that in Oliver Cromwell's time, when he got tired of a certain crowd, in his stern, grave way he said. "Leave off vour fooling, sir, and come down." I wonder, sometimes, whether it will be necessary for some modern Oliver to quiet these people who misrepresent and abuse and wilfully malign the Latter-day Saints. They not only will not believe the doctrine, but they refuse to believe the works; and yet the works are patent. I wonder if some modern Oliver will not have to say — though I am afraid not, for there is too much freedom in this age — Leave off your fooling, sirs and shut up! (Laughter.) In the building up of Salt Lake City, look at the work that the Church is doing. Look at the meetinghouses that are everywhere being built. Think of the work the Church has done and is doing in redeeming the desert and building up the country. This certainly is worthy of praise. ¶

Who are doing most to bring strangers to this city and to entertain them? Right here on this temple block, with the efficient services of our workers in our Bureau of Information, there is more done every year, more done last year, and more will be done this year by our people than by all others combined, to entertain strangers. We give organ recitals, the most unique thing in the world, I suppose, because it is all free. I have traveled over Europe several times, and I know that wherever I went there was not anything free; but here a man is not allowed to give even a five cent piece in return for these entertainments and other courtesies extended. On this one block there is more being done and more money spent to entertain strangers and to draw strangers to this city than is done by all the other agencies, boards of trade, and chamber of commerce combined. These visitors help the railroads, help the hotels and stores; they spend their money here and help you, my non-Mormon friends, infinitely more than they help us, because we do not own the railroads or hotels and we own but few of the stores. And I repeat there is more done on this one block, and more money spent to do it, than is done by all other agencies combined, in Salt Lake City. My friends of the press, is not that a good work? And we have a right to ask, and do ask, the hotel men, the merchants, the rail road managers, whose business is benefited in consequence of our good works, that they exert a united influence to put a stop to this everlasting contention and abuse. ¶

We also help to build up the country around us, in colonizing and helping poor people to secure homes. It is true other states adjoining are building up as well as ours, but let it be remembered that in 1847 there came here the poorest kind of poverty stricken people. There was absolutely no wealth among them. The first work done by the Anglo-Saxon race in the direction of irrigation was done right here, under the direction of Brigham Young, near the spot where the Salt Lake Theater now stands. From that little beginning there has grown the wonderful system which we now witness, throughout the west, as a result of the labors of the men of the west. That surely is a good work. ¶

Elder David McKay said, the other day, our people have been builders. We have not destroyed; we have not torn down. The Lord said long ago, that He would bring His people to the tops of the mountains, and He would make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord; that therein should be joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. I say we have redeemed the desert and built up the waste places and there is more of joy and gladness, more of thanksgiving and the voice of melody and song, among this people here in their mountain homes than you will find among any other like number of people in all the world. This, too, is in fulfilment of the prediction of the prophet of old. Is not that a good work? If you can not believe the doctrine, I say again, believe the works. We say, in business, "Money Talks." Well, works talk, and they should not need a tongue to speak for them. ¶

For which of these good works that we do, are we ridiculed and reviled? It ought not to be so. We are here, my friends and neighbors, to live together. This is our country; this is your country. We ought to cease our strife ; we ought to cease contention and join together and build up the country. Our religion is a serious thing with us; it can not be changed, and it will not be changed. It has been repeated here many a time and oft, during this and other conferences, that this organization, this spiritual force which the Lord God Almighty has set in motion, and which He revealed to His servant Joseph Smith, the prophet in this dispensation, is a spiritual force and power which the world needs for regeneration. It makes for the establishment of ideal homes, as was said here, the other day, there is more sacredness of the home here among the Latter-day Saints, and there are more people who own their own homes here also than anywhere else in the world. President Smith does not own the homes of the Mormon people. I have heard non-Mormons enlightening their friends — this is several years ago, however — I have not heard it for quite a number of years; but several years ago, I heard one fellow enlightening his friends, and he said, "Why, everything these Mormons have on earth is owned by the Church, and the leaders of the Church tax the people and tithe them, and so on, all to build up the President of the Church." Now, everybody knows that is all nonsense; everybody, who does not want to lie, knows it; and even the liar knows it is nonsense and not true. There are more people in the Mormon Church who have been helped, here and there in every way, by this wonderful organization, the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, than by any other organization I know of; and there are more of our people who own their own homes than among any similar number of people in all the world. I ask again, is not that a good work? And in those homes there has been laid down, for the husband and the wife, the same law of righteousness; namely, that while the wife must be pure and clean, the same law applies with equal and binding force upon the husband. Under this law of the Gospel, there is not a whit more exacted from the woman than from the man. It is required that he, too, shall remain pure. Our people are building homes of that kind. Where there is impurity men are dealt with by the Church; and the women are labored with and dealt with, if there are lapses. Of course, it would be folly to claim perfection. We are not perfect; we are as other people — Only not quite so bad; that is all. (Laughter). I recall at this moment an incident in connection with the Reed Smoot investigation, when he testified, as thousands of men in Israel can testify, that he had been true to his marriage vow, and that he had never had association with any woman in the world, except only his wife. A very distinguished senator, I am told, facetiously remarked that he did not know but what he ought to object to Reed Smoot on that account, because he was afraid it would make class distinctions in the Senate. (Laughter.) We are glad to have the thousands of our visiting friends come here. We will have, this year, probably two hundred thousand people register at our Bureau of Information. We give them, as I have told you, the best there is. We have provided for free organ recitals every day. These recitals bring many people into this city every year, and we are trying with our conferences and with other means, not only to build up the Church, as a church, as a spiritual force, but to build up the countrv. We welcome these people. We welcome the Grand Army and those who will pass through the city on their way to the Fair at Seattle. They will all be made welcome, so far as the Church can spend means and labor to entertain them. ¶

I say that all these things, and many more that I have not time to mention — are good for there are many good works that could be mentioned. This is not theory, it is not doctrine alone, it is works, and they are good and they should entitle us to something more than abuse. ¶

May the Lord bless this work. I propose, by His help, that we stand by it, and that we not only appreciate the works that are accomplished, but with all our hearts and souls and our faith in every way before the Lord, we say in our hearts, it is good to serve the Lord. This work is good. The spiritual part is better, infinitely better than the temporal part — but the temporal part, men can see and understand, but they can not understand the spiritual part. We who have tasted of that spirit know ; we know of the doctrine. I know that this is the work of God, and you know it. I recall an incident— Brother Penrose relates that when he was about to leave England, coming to Zion the first time, he was around bidding his old friends goodbye. There was one old English lady, to whom he was attached, who cried and said she was sorry she could not go; and when he was going, she said: "Brother Penrose, when you gets to Zion, you tells Brother Brigham I knows Mormonism is true just as well as he do." That is the foundation upon which Mormonism is built — this individual testimony that every one knows the spiritual side of it as well as the temporal side. My time has expired. God bless you. Amen. ¶