How Marvelous Are the Works of the Lord

We have not a very large congregation of Latter-day Saints here this morning, but I certainly feel that the Spirit of the Lord will characterize this meeting, and that we will go forth renewed and benefited from these services, and grateful for the opportunity that we have to meet together here this morning in annual Conference. ¶

I feel grateful for this comfortable place to which we can come, and where we are sheltered from the rigors of this spring storm, and can in comfort worship the Lord, and review, briefly, the great work which He has established in the dispensation in which we live. ¶

I have been thinking while sitting here of the wonderful change that has come to the world, and particularly to this intermountain region, since the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, eighty years ago. Washington Irving wrote about that time of this rocky mountain region and I suppose he understood it better than any other man of his time, for he had before him a great mass of manuscripts made by Bonneville, Wyeth and those who accompanied the expedition which went with Lewis and Clark across the continent, and he reached his conclusions largely from the deductions of those men who had explored and become familiar with this intermountain region. After concluding the volume in which he treats of the explorations of Captain Bonneville, Washington Irving says that the "fur trade undoubtedly will in the near future be exhausted; that the great inter-mountain region is not susceptible of agricultural development; that it has but scanty resources so far as grazing facilities are concerned; that it is occupied by savage men; and that the intermingling of the blood of the trappers through marriage with Indian women will undoubtedly develop a race of men, in this intermountain region, who will compare with the Tartars of the East." And he reaches the final conclusion that there might be, in the then not very distant future, developed in the rocky mountain region, a race of men living largely through plunder, whose predatory habits would make them a menace to the civilization which will exist to the east and to the west of them. These men could see possibilities of civilization on the Pacific slope. They could discern scope and possibility for the development of civilization in California, in Oregon, and of course in that district of country lying east of the Rocky Mountains. But they reached the conclusion that the facilities here in this intermountain country were not susceptible to a development which would result in the establishment of a highly civilized people. ¶

I thought this morning how little men comprehend the possibilities of achievement when the Lord sets His hand to the accomplishment of any work. How little do they comprehend the will of the Almighty so far as it applies to this region which they called barren, and sterile, and which they looked forward to as the home of uncivilized people only. Compare that with the actual conditions of today. Civilization has been built up in all of this Rocky Mountain region, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south. The wonderful development, cities which have been builded, schools which have been established, churches which have been erected for the worship of God, our Father — these all rose as it were before my eyes, and I said to myself, How marvelous are the works of the Lord. Let us give the credit to the Lord for it, because he brought His people here, He established them in these valleys of the mountains. He has cared for them. He has blessed their labors. He has multiplied them, and from here the Gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ has gone out into all the world, where it is being preached as a witness to every creature before the end shall come. ¶

I thought how little Irving could conceive, when he wrote the words which I have quoted, that, in the life of men then living, men and women would be gathered together in this valley, to which he referred as a desert, alkali plain, here upon the borders of this great lake which Captain Bonneville was the first to explore and survey, that there would be gathered together under a roof like this a congregation of men and women in the service of the Lord. How little he was able to comprehend that here, in this valley, schools would be established which would be the equal of any schools that exist in the world. How little he thought that there would ever be here a choir composed of boys and girls, young men and young women, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, finished, accomplished in music, representing a school that should be established on one of those storm-beaten and desolate plains. These reflections bring great satisfaction to me, because I seem to see in all these things His hand plainly manifest, in all the circumstances and conditions which surround the Latter-day Saints, and which make us comfortable here today while a storm rages without. ¶

Not only do I thank the Lord for that, but also that we come here with peace in our souls, satisfied with the Lord. We come here understanding Him, knowing His will, and striving, so far as He gives us power to do it, to overcome the world and bring our lives into subjection to the will of God. That is what has brought this congregation of Latter-day Saints together this morning, and that which has brought the large assembly of people together who are now in the Tabernacle. They have come here to be taught the way of the Lord, that they may learn to walk in His paths. They have come here, for a few days, to review the Lord's work, to look back over it and see whether He has "made good," to see whether His purposes are being accomplished, that they may find out through the presiding authorities of the Church as to the conditions that exist in it. I expect, in all probability, that the President of the Church is now reporting to that large congregation of people, assembled in the Tabernacle, conditions as they are in the Church of Christ in the beginning of this month of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred ten. I am sure, my brethren and sisters, that if you could all be there and hear the report that the President makes, that it would bring comfort to you, it would bring satisfaction, and you would be encouraged, because you would learn that the work of the Lord is developing in the earth. You would learn that the Saints are not faltering in their faith, and you would learn that every day, every week, every month, as time passes, men and women are being converted to the Church in the world. They are putting away their sins by repenting of them and going down into the waters of baptism and having the hands of the servants of the Lord laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost. Statistics show that a greater number of baptisms are being performed by our Elders in the world than perhaps at any time in the past, at least than in 1908. Statistics show that there is a greater number of Elders abroad proclaiming the Gospel than ever before in the history of the Church. The reports of presidents of missions show that new fields are constantly being opened; that friends are being raised up to defend the truth; that the way is provided by which the Elders are sustained in the fields of labor in which they are called to preach the Gospel; that here at home the faith of the people is not faltering, for they are accomplishing more than ever before. More meeting houses are being erected; more Church schools are being established; more tithing is being paid in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than ever before; and it is these things that make possible the development of the work of the Lord. ¶

I want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, and I say it intelligently, because I know it to be the truth, that while it is a fact that the tithes and offerings and the good works of the Latter-day Saints are increasing, have increased during the past year, it is also a fact that your business in connection with tithes and offerings, the funds which you entrust to the management of the presiding authorities of the Church, has never, in the history of the Church, been more carefully and more economically administered than it is being administered at the present time. The accounts of the Church are audited by men who are not in any way connected with the disbursement of its funds, who go into every detail. There is not a detail, there is not a fund, there is not a receipt or a disbursement in the Church which is not scrutinized by them, and which they do not thoroughly understand. This auditing committee are men of unquestioned integrity and qualifications, so far as their ability to judge in these matters is concerned; and they will tell you — probably will tell that large congregation over there, because they will make this report, I suppose, today — if not today, at some other time during the conference— they will tell you that they know of no corporation, and they are associated with many large corporations, that they know of no individual business of magnitude that is so carefully and economically handled and administered as the business of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I felt gratified when I heard them say it, and I feel, my brethren and sisters, that it is proper for you to know it. ¶

The work of the Lord is not finished, by any means. It is only beginning. It is only in its incipiency. True, it will soon be one hundred years since the Church was organized, and that measured by the life of a man is a long time; but measured by the time which is required for the development of the purposes of the Almighty and the accomplishment of His designs in this great Latter-day work, it is, after all, but a little while. We shall continue to preach the Gospel. This burden rests upon the Latter-day Saints. This Gospel must be preached in all the world as a witness to every creature before the end shall come; and that is what we are trying to do; that is what your sons and many of your daughters are doing. They are in all parts of the world, bearing glad tidings of great joy to the inhabitants of the earth. ¶

We all regret that during the past year, and since we last met in General Conference, the Lord has called home one of His servants who was a member of the First Presidency of the Church. I need not extol the virtues of President Winder. I need not refer to his life and works, because Latter-day Saints all know them. They are familiar with them. I only desire to say that he has been gathered home, into the garner of the Lord, like a harvest that is fully ripened, and gone back into the presence of God His Father, whose name he has honored and magnified while he has been in the flesh, whose work he loved, and to which as a servant of the Lord he devoted his life. Throughout his long life the thought of true and devoted service to the Latter-day Saints and to the Church of Jesus Christ was ever uppermost in his mind. ¶

It is not my purpose to prolong my remarks. I thank the Lord for His blessings to us individually and to the Church in general. I love the society and fellowship of the Latter-day Saints. My desire and my determination, with the help of the Lord, is to magnify my calling as a member of the Church of Christ, to keep the commandments of the Lord, to defend that which He has established and to oppose that against which His voice has been raised, to seek, so far as in my power lies, to overcome the world, to point out to my brethren and sisters the way by which they may overcome it, and to contend against those evils that exist, and which the Church has always had to contend against, and which the Lord has declared have no place nor part in His everlasting work. ¶

May the blessings of the Lord be with us while we are together here this morning, and with our brethren and sisters who are gathered in the Tabernacle, and with the Latter-day Saints who are not here, and with all the world, that the way may be opened for the accomplishment of His purposes, that His kingdom may come and His will be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven. That this condition may be hastened and a reign of righteousness be ushered in, is my sincere prayer and desire, and I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶