Mormonism as the Work of God and Advice to Parents

Mormonism the work of God. — Our splendid Church organizations. — General improvement 'among the Saints. — Advice to parents. — The sacredness of marriage. — Reward of a faithful and well-spent life. — Concerning children being kept employed.— Home industries. — The development of the State's resources. ¶

This is a very interesting occasion for the Latter-day Saints. We meet together twice a year, in general conference, to transact the general business of the Church and to receive such instructions as the Lord may have for our profit and learning. All the stakes and many of the missions of the United States are represented in this great assembly. ¶

The Lord has established this work; He has maintained it, and will do, I have no doubt, to the end. We have embraced the Gospel in our faith and in our works. Paul declared, anciently, that he was "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to all those who believe." No doubt, he meant, that it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe and obey it. The Latter-day Saints have been occupied with the Gospel for a great many years, and the results are seen in the great number of stakes that are established, the great number of wards, and the very perfect organizations that now exist in Zion. A great work is being accomplished in the world. Quite a little army of elders, two thousand of them, are abroad preaching the Gospel, and other elders are at home preaching the Gospel — in that eloquent discourse of example, at least. I believe that is the case with a very large majority, of all those who have received the priesthood — they are preaching by example. ¶

Under the direction of the Presidency of the Church, the Council of the Twelve and the First Council of Seventies are constantly employed in preaching and in writing, in organizing and re-organizing, setting in order and keeping in order this great army of people, in their stakes, in their wards, in their quorums, and in all their associations; and a great work is being accomplished. Very much attention is being given to the rising generation in the splendid Sunday School system, so thoroughly established and developed, the Mutual Improvement Associations of young men and young women, the Primary Associations, and the Religion Class organizations, besides all the quorums of the priesthood ; indeed all Israel seems to be thoroughly occupied. ¶

I presume that sometimes we feel we are taxed in our attention to spiritual matters, church matters, more than we are able to meet ; but the Lord will bring forth the fruit. We plant, we labor, we exhort and do our duty, bearing the priesthood ; but it is the Lord that gives the result, that causes the convictions and brings about the conversions and the reformations. He finds the hearts of the people and controls them and endows them with faith, with the spirit of repentance and reformation. As a result of our observation, which is quite general — for we keep fairly in close touch with the missions throughout the world, with all the stakes in Zion, with all the wards, with all the associations and organizations that pertain to this splendidly organized Church — I feel to say a word in favor of our efforts. We are not perfect, but I believe that we are doing better, that we are getting more thoroughly acquainted with doctrines and principles ; I believe that we are making improvement and that the Gospel of redemption and of salvation and of restoration is producing fruit that can be measured in the conditions of the people, can be measured in the conditions of individuals. I believe that every member of this Church can readily discover and determine just how far. he is redeemed and reformed, and just how far he has become established upon a good, safe foundation of faith, of repentance, and of good works. I believe it is highly necessary for every man to take stock of himself, every family, every quorum, every ward and every stake ; to take stock of ourselves and determine just how far the Gospel has produced fruit in us, how far we are redeemed, how much reformation we have accomplished, while connected with this Church. Thus we can demonstrate or determine the power that is connected with the Gospel, the measure of the power of God; for, if we have wrought righteousness, if we are redeemed, so that we do not want to do wrong any more, so that we do not want' to be wicked, that we do not want to indulge in falsehood, intemperance, in profanity, or in any other measure of wickedness ; if we are in that condition, we will know the virtue and the power of this Gospel. Let each man take stock of himself, ask himself the question, "What reformation have I made?" What reformation have we made? How well and thoroughly are we established now in the principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and how well has the power of God been demonstrated in us individually. ¶

As the leading and presiding councils in the Church, it falls to our lot to visit all the departments of the Church, to give attention thereto, as directed by the Presidency of the Church; so that we go to your homes, we go to your wards, to your stakes, and we visit with the priesthood. We examine, and weigh the brethren, look them over. We have occasion to do-this whenever it is necessary to regulate and set in order any organization within the Church. That keeps us fairly well occupied, for changes are occurring constantly, and we find it necessary to examine the pieces of material, the timber at our disposal, in organizing stakes and wards and quorums and the like, in all the details of Church work. I want to say that we have discovered this — starting with the brethren who are charged with caring for stakes and wards, quorums and missions, — that quite generally, almost universally, these presiding men, and the presiding brethren and sisters in all the associations and organizations of the Church, are found to be doing good work, and they are fairly faithful and exemplary. We hardly hope to be perfect just yet; but we find these leading and presiding brethren and sisters, in their several positions, making very great improvement. That is our testimony; and that good condition is spreading and increasing, though evils exist and no doubt will do to the end, for some may never fully repent and reform, I fear. But, generally, it will be found that the Latter-day Saints are becoming more faithful and better established in their faith — more reliable, more spiritually-minded, giving greater attention to 'their ministry, and having matters of the Church better in hand than heretofore. We find that a very large percentage of all the Latter-day Saints are prayerful. They remember the Lord ; a large percentage of them remember Him in their fastings, every month, and in their offerings for the poor. The law of tithing is fairly well and generally observed. The Sabbath day is being better observed. Yet, along all these lines there is opportunity for improvement. ¶

Our children have been taken care of, and are being taken care of, by the associations, I believe, better than by their parents. Hence I thought the injunction of the President this morning — that we should give attention to our children — was very timely. I believe the President understands that the associations are doing their duty well ; but it is your duty and my duty, our duty as fathers and mothers, to take greater pains with our children, to work with them more earnestly and consistently and wisely, to seek to have influence and weight with them; not only to teach them by word of mouth, but by our example. We should see to it that our example, our conversation, shall be proper, and that their faith shall never be weakened by our example, nor by our precepts, but that everything that we do as parents shall tend to strengthen faith in the hearts of our children. For we have an army of them, an immense army of children in this Church, thank the Lord; they are very numerous ; they are bright and intelligent; they are very choice spirits, and are worthy of our care. They are entitled to the care of elders, as well as their mothers, and of seventies and high-priests, for every child properly, and well-born in this Church is entitled to be the child of a man bearing the Melchisedek Priesthood. ¶

The suggestion upon marriage should receive our consideration. This principle cannot be too thoroughly taught in our families at home, not leaving these instructions for public consideration altogether, or to be given in public by our presiding officers. Every father should feel and realize the importance of the proper marriage of his son, the proper marriage of his daughter, and the proper legitimacy, in the eyes of the Lord, for our grandchildren and great-grand children, so that our posterity shall never have occasion to look us in the face and say that their progenitors were indifferent and careless. They are entitled to be born heirs of God, legitimate in the eyes of the Lord, and what a serious thing it would be and will be for us, my brethren and sisters, if we neglect to have the suitable and proper kind of marriage that is required in this Church : marriage for eternity, legal marriage in the eyes of the Lord, so that our children and our children's children may inherit this blessing, that they may be heirs of the Lord and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. If we neglect our duty in this regard, what a serious thing it will be for our posterity. They are not responsible for their birth ; but they will be responsible for the birth of their own posterity. ¶

I would like to suggest to the Latter-day Saints that it is a reproach to parents who do not insure to their children legitimacy in the eyes of the Lord. Marriages for time are all right and proper in the world, and are satisfactory to the world, I suppose, as a rule; that is the only form they have ; but it is not sufficient for Latter-day Saints. For that reason, I take it, our President enjoins upon us the importance of Latter-day Saints marrying with Latter-day Saints and not marrying with those who are not of our faith. This does not mean that the other children of God are not just as choice as we are, if they will open their hearts to receive the truth, and are willing to be taught and receive faith, and do the works that are required of us ; but as long as they remain careless and indifferent and are satisfied with forms of religion, without the power thereof, the power of God, then they deprive themselves of many blessings. There is but one true religion. That Paul referred to; it is the religion that he came to be partial to. At first he had a religion that was not the true religion of the Lord Jesus Christ ; but when he had corrected himself, when he had embraced the truth and had undertaken to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to be His follower, he discovered that the religion of the Pharisees was not sufficient for salvation. He had been reared in the strictest form of the religion of the Pharisees. He was a conscientious and an honest man. He felt as though he was doing his duty when he was persecuting the Saints, and he rejoiced at the stoning of Stephen, at the gate of Jerusalem; but he found out later that he was persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered that fact, because the Lord revealed it to him. He repented, he reformed and he was baptized for the remission of his sins and received the Holy Ghost which enlightened his mind and prepared him and qualified him to make that immortal saying, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." That was a new religion for him; he had not had that before in all his life. He had not been trained in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ ; but when he discovered it, and found it out, he became enlightened; the Holy Ghost inspired his heart and bore testimony to him of the Father and of the Son, and he discovered that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus was the power of God unto salvation. Now, we can determine this question, every one of us. We do not need to go to the bishop to find out, or to the president of the Church, or the president of the stake ; but every member of this Church can determine just exactly where he stands and what measure of redemption and of restoration he has reached, where he is at the present time. Have we ceased to steal? We do not want to steal any more. Latter-day Saints do not want to steal. We do not want to lie any more, because we have reformed and repented. We have ceased to deceive, to cheat, to rob, or to do anything that is wicked. We have stood thus for many years, and expect to continue to the end; we must be faithful to the end if we want the blessing, finally, for it is not enough for us to be honest today and conscientious today and for a week or a month ; our contract or compact with the Lord is that we will serve Him to the end of our mortal lives. If we do this, the Lord will receive us into His fellowship and make good His promise of forgiveness of our sins. We will attain to a remission of our sins if we serve Him faithfully to the end of our mortal lives. That is a very important place, so that when we get there, if we have kept the commandments, fought a good fight, and endured to the end, how blessed it will be for us to come into the presence of God and receive the welcome plaudit, "Well done." If we have done well, that will thrill us from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet; we will rejoice exceedingly, and there will, no doubt, be a great change in us when our sins are finally forgiven, when they are blotted out and are not remembered against us any more ; then we will have no cause to be ashamed. ¶

Now, we have discovered that this Gospel is having its due weight among the people. When we come to examine them, and they are looked over by the bishops in the wards, or by the presidencies of the stakes, as well as these general authorities that travel among them, I believe it is the general opinion and understanding among us that the Latter-day Saints are improving, growing stronger, growing better in faith, and we are becoming more popular. Stakes are increasing, wards are increasing, and we are spreading abroad and having greater influence and accomplishing greater good in the earth. The Lord is blessing and redeeming His people. We see before us here one of the beautiful sights we see twice a year. I don't know of any other spot on earth, or any other people on earth where there is anything superior to this, or equal to it. We come together as parents. We are here today, and we will be together in great numbers again tonight in the Sunday School gathering. This house will be filled, for everybody is invited and everybody is expected to come, in the interest of the Sunday Schools. This is a work that engages much of our attention at home. ¶

We have strangers on our borders, who need to hear the Gospel; and there are many among us who should hear the Gospel ; not only do the Latter-day Saints gather from abroad, but our friends and neighbors gather ; they come here in great numbers, until they almost outnumber us here in Salt Lake City. If we could only convert them, if they would come and listen and embrace the Gospel and help us in the building up of the kingdom, we would rejoice exceedingly. We go to the extremities of the earth, to the islands of the sea and all over the continents, and expect to go to the very ends of the earth and preach the gospel to every creature. This obligation rests upon us ; this responsibility has been placed in our hands. ¶

My testimony, my brethren and sisters, is that the Latter-day Saints are improving; they are increasing in strength, in faith, in power, and they desire to be faithful in the work of the ministry. I believe we feel that way, and that we will be successful if we just unite ourselves. You can determine the condition of the Latter-day Saints by the spirit they enjoy, for there is happiness and peace among us, and a foretaste of heaven fills the souls of the Latter-day Saints. We have no occasion to go on the outside ; we have no occasion to go to any other religious denomination. They certainly ought to enjoy what they possess. We are satisfied with what we possess, for we have heard ; we have seen; we have believed; we have repented; we have been baptized for the remission of our sins, by competent authority; and we have received the Holy Ghost, for it is that Spirit that has borne record to our souls. It is that Spirit that so establishes us that the world have concluded that they can't do very much with the Mormon people, at least the older people. They may catch some of the children ; but if they do, we will catch some of theirs in turn, because we will be laboring to convert them while they are laboring to convert us. ¶

This Gospel, with which Paul was so pleased, requires us to serve the Lord all the time, so that we may have joy and happiness in our souls, and that we may be prepared to live and be prepared to go to our reward when mortality closes and we lay down these mortal tabernacles of ours, for we will lay them in the dust after a little while — just a little while. All the time there are changes. Many are being born, and many are passing away. We mourn, we sorrow for our loved ones that go — our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents ; we sorrow for them ; and it is well and proper that we should mourn for them and shed tears for the loss, for it is our loss ; but it is their gain, for it is in the march of progress, advancement and development. It will be all right when our time comes, when we have finished our work and accomplished what the Lord requires of us. If we are prepared, we need not be afraid to go, for it will be one of the most pleasant sensations that ever comes to the soul of man, whenever he departs, if he can go with a clear conscience into the presence of the Lord and receive that welcome I have mentioned. We will be full of joy and happiness, and we will enter into a place of rest, of peace, of joy, rest from every sorrow. What a blessed thing that will be! We will never be tired any more. We will not get tired, for we will be in a condition that we can endure and enjoy our work: for we shall be occupied and employed on the other side as we are on this side ; we shall have plenty to occupy our attention right along. ¶

Now, in closing, I want to say a word in regard to the children. I want to give you my thoughts in regard to one phase of child labor. I want to impress upon my brethren and sisters here, who have families, those who are raising families, who have children and will have children right along: I believe that there is nothing more important in the handling of children than to see that they are occupied, that they are employed, that they have something to do, that the mind is not left idle to study mischief or to do mischief. We should see that the little hands are suitably occupied ; we should see that the little minds are constantly engaged. They should not be idle ; boys should not be idle ; girls should not be idle; they should have employment. It should be the effort of parents to provide their children with occupation. I know of nothing that is so degenerating and so dangerous as idleness, for the brain will seek out mischief. Satan is just as ready to tempt and to lead astray as the Spirit of the Lord is willing to lead us in ways of righteousness. Try to find employment for your little ones ; keep them occupied. I do not want little children to do men's work ; they should not do hard work; but their little hands should be occupied, for they can't be still a minute while they are awake. They cannot sit still, and they cannot lie still; if you place them upon their backs, they will kick and scramble and make a good deal of noise, too. They must be occupied. The brain is active just as well as the body, from the very beginning; they must have something to do. I believe that is one of the secrets of success : that the children should be occupied; we should make use of them in such way that they will be learning to be useful in their lives, and not be idle and waste their time. In regard to home industries: I thought I had the last suit myself, President. (Laughter). I thought, I had the last silk that was produced in Utah; and I thought I had the last cloth made at Provo; but I do not know how many last pieces have been made. (Laughter.) But here is the last silk ever made in Utah, (displaying a handkerchief.) In regard to home-made cloth, I have never worn anything, since I can remember, but goods made at Provo, until Provo stopped making the goods; since that time I have had to do the best I could, and I have been wearing shoddy ever since. I believe in sustaining home industry, the protection of everything that can be produced in our land. It has been said that, with some people, it is not considered very fashionable to be farmers, to cultivate the earth. As suggested, our boys want something easier, something smoother and cleaner ; they don't want to get dirt on their hands, and the like. The cultivation of the earth, agriculture and horticulture, will be among the most profitable enterprises, and it will be found that the land here will be very valuable and precious ; but it wants to be occupied and subdued. We want to produce good crops upon it, instead of weeds. We have been looking over the country — not only looking over the people and the organizations, but we have looked over the fields in the south, in the north, as far as we go in the north, up into Canada — the finest country I ever saw for weeds, except the south. The south is pretty good, a warm country, and produces many weeds. Now, if we would only take from the earth all that can be brought out in good profitable crops, instead of producing weeds, we would become prosperous. We should subdivide the earth, as much as we can handle, making it profitable to us, that it be made to grow flowers and fruits and vegetables — everything that is necessary for the use and comfort of man. The mines, of course, will be developed; they will produce, as they should do, gold and silver, lead and copper, and iron. If I had influence with the railroads, I would have them put a railroad into the iron-fields here, and the gold-fields here, and develop industries that would employ men by the thousands. The railroads have done wonders in the state of Colorado, as well as in Utah and in the north, and in all directions. They have done wonders, but we want them to do more. I guess they will never be able to do all we want them to do. We want them to help develop the resources. The Latter-day Saints are industrious, and are increasing in numbers. There are many people, not of this faith, in Latter-day Saint communities, and we live together as friends and neighbors. We meet them in business transactions ; we have the same reservoirs, the same mines, the same interests ; we live together, side by side, in the same cities and towns ; and we ought to live in peace and labor for the welfare of the people of our state, help each other and not tear each other to pieces. ¶

May the Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters, in all your wards and stakes. May He bless you as individuals, in your homes. God bless the Latter-day Saints, that they may keep the faith, that their children may grow up in the faith, strong and determined in keeping the commandments of the Lord, so that they will have life now and life forever more, that they may dwell in the presence and favor and fellowship of God, our eternal Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶