Studying Out the Revelations of the Covenants

CLOSING SESSION. ¶

In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m. ¶

President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order. ¶

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? ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Charles F. Middleton. ¶

The choir and congregation sang the hymn : ¶

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, But with joy wend your way; Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day. ¶

I am reminded of one of the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the Lord, speaking to Oliver Cowdery, says : ¶

"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right." ¶

My father often said to this people, many years ago, "every tub will have to stand upon its own bottom." He also said many times just before his death — I think it was about the last thing he did say — 'Oh ! the test, the test, the test! Who will be able to stand?" He made that remark to mother, and she asked him what the test was. He -said, "I don't know ; but no one will be able to stand unless he knows that Jesus is the Christ." ¶

At the age of fifty-six, and after a number of years of labor in the ministry, and among this people, I am able to testify in and of myself, under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, that I believe all that God has revealed; and I believe every principle that the Lord has revealed through His servants. ¶

Now, I want to confess to the people that I have been thinking along certain lines, not with any knowledge or assurance that I would be called upon to speak at this conference, as I have performed very little labor among the people during the last year or more, owing to the condition of my health. When thinking about the matter, I was wondering what the chief topic of this conference would be, and I came to the conclusion that if I were called upon, I would speak upon the temporal salvation of this people. I appreciate salvation ; I realize that eternal life is the greatest gift of God; but the temporal salvation of this people is also of vital importance. Some of us — I plead guilty — have sold our inheritances for a "mess of pottage ;" and in doing so we are without excuse, for we were warned by the servants of the Lord to hold secure our inheritances, as we were only stewards over the same. ¶

I will now read something I have copied. On August 5th, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize; others would be put to death by their persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease ; but, he said, "Some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and building cities and will see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." They had not been here very long before the gold fever broke out in California, and some of our people were tinctured very badly with the spirit of money getting. Now listen to what President Brigham Young said — it was his admonition to the Saints who desired to go to California : "The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses and making culinary dishes. When the Saints shall have preached the Gospel, raised grain and built cities enough, the Lord will open up the way for a supply of gold to the satisfaction of the people." I am very glad that the Prophet Brigham Young emphasized the true use of gold and silver. I have heard it preached hundreds of times — the effects of speculation among this people; that it would tend to break them up and lead them from raising grain, building cities, and making preparation for the tens of thousands of people who will desire to come to these mountains for safety. We have our own people scattered all over the world, and which of you has land to divide among them? Are we properly supplied with grain? I call the attention of the people to a pamphlet written by Brother John Beck on a "Co-operative college" for Utah. There was a time in the history of Brother John Beck, when he had plenty of gold and silver. At that time his words would have resounded through all Israel, but he is now a poor man, and we don't read his pamphlet. I say to the Latter-day Saints, that we are not doing our duty in regard to temporal affairs. We are not looking after the streams of water ; we are not securing titles to land. On the contrary, our sons are being educated, and probably half of them are hunting for white-shirt jobs, and they don't want to secure the land. Yet there has never been a time in the history of this Church, or in the settling of this country, when there were such opportunities. I recently talked with one of our prominent brethren, a business man, a man for whom I have the greatest regard. He was interested in representing our products at Seattle, and on his return to Utah, he felt inspired to go down to the Virgin River, and secure some of that water for the people. ¶

What did it cost to settle that country — the Saint George country? It cost the lives of hundreds of people. The last time I was in St. George there were ninety widows in that one settlement. Well, this good man went to the State Engineer ; he looked over the maps carefully, and ascertained the facts in the case. He returned to the Engineer's Office in the evening to file upon the water, but a stranger had been there between morning and evening, and secured over five hundred inches of the Virgin River water. So it is all over Utah ; we are sleeping in our trail, and we are in a sort of Rip Van Winkle condition as to our rights, — some of us. ¶

My brethren, and sisters, I am a practical man, and I wish you to know that I have been a pioneer; I know what it costs to make a home. I fought my battles years ago, in as hard a country as has ever been settled by our people. I know it requires ten years of hard labor, and economy, to succeed as a pioneer. I desire it to go down in history to my posterity, that, while I have made a number of failures, I did not fail as a pioneer. When I left that country, I could have bought out a dozen men who had been raised and remained in Salt Lake City; I mean young men who worked behind the counter. But I lost it all through speculation. That is what I want to talk to you about. Speculation— there is nothing more dangerous to the people and to the Church of Latter-day Saints, unless it be immorality and wickedness. I point you back to history, to Nauvoo. What did the spirit of speculation do, according to the history. It nearly destroyed the people there. ¶

Take Heber C. Kimball's family, as an illustration. My father died in 1868. When his administrators divided up the estate there was not a single silver dollar given to any of his children, to my knowledge, but there was some property. Our father selected land on the side hill, among the rocks— he wanted to get away from the center of the city. He owned what is known as the Capitol Hill. He left his children that real estate. There was one lot that was given to my mother's family, and I owned one third of it. I received twenty-five thousand dollars for my portion, and I have been sorry twenty-five thousand times that I ever sold it. (Laughter). I am thankful we had sense enough to keep sufficient ground to bury our posterity on. We have paid taxes on it ever since I was fifteen years old, and I still hold it. ■ What about the other property? There is now hardly a Kimball to be found on the Capitol Hill — unless it be those that are dead. Some of the Kimballs sold their lots at $50 each ; today the same lots are worth $4,000.00. If Heber C. Kimball's family had kept their inheritance they would all be wealthy now. And what about the families of other pioneers who came here and fought this great battle? Many of their children are in very nearly the same predicament. I predict to the Latter-day Saints, as a watchman upon the towers, if you follow that foolish example you will "hew stone and draw water:" you can write that down. God bless you. Amen. ¶