Conference Address

All members of Church should be able to state good reasons for faith. — Enumeration of virtues inculcated by the Gospel. — Civil laws of this country as binding as Divine laws. ¶

The Apostle Paul, among other good things which he said to the saints among whom he ministered, was that they ought always to be ready to give to any person who might ask them a "reason for the hope which was within them." In other words, every member of the Church of Christ ought so well to understand the doctrines of His gospel that they would be able to explain them, that they would be able to expound them, ¶

and be able, in case any one not a member of the Church should ask them why they were members of it, why they professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and had identified themselves with His Church, that they would be able to tell them. I believe that this congregation of Latter-day Saints — and it would apply also to the great congregation which is assembled this morning in the tabernacle, and to the many thousands of members of the Church who are not in attendance at this conference — that, almost without exception, men and women would be able to give a good reason for their faith. In my opinion, in no other gospel dispensation, at no other period in the world's history, have the members of the Church at large been so well informed in regard to its doctrine ; never before have there been afforded facilities so ample that men and women may learn by reading from books, and through the testimony of the Lord's servants, what the fundamental principles and doctrines of the Church of Christ are, as in the dispensation in which we live. If there is any one of us who does not know why we are members of Christ's Church, if there is any one of us who does not understand the great work of the Lord which has been established in this dispensation of the fullness of times, it is our own fault. The Lord desires that every Latter-day Saint should have this knowledge. He desires that every one of us should enjoy the testimony of the gospel which comes to us through the gift of the Holy Ghost, by which we know that this is the work of the Lord. He desires us all to understand and be able, from our own experiences, to ¶

bear witness to the world that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has in it the "power of God unto salvation." We have experienced the blessings which have come to us through obedience to those doctrines, every one of us, personally, and not because of the testimony of other men and women ; I thank the Lord for this. I thank Him that this testimony is not confined to any particular class of people in the Church. I thank Him that it is not spoken in any special language, but that, wherever in the world men and women repent of their sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and go down into the waters of baptism and are immersed in similitude of His death, coming out of the water in similitude of His resurrection, the Spirit of the Lord does come upon them, and they know by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost that they have done the will of the Lord, and are engaged in His work. I bear this witness to you, my brethren and sisters, this morning ; and these are reasons which I give to the world for my faith, and the hope of everlasting life which I have. ¶

I love the gospel of Christ, because it has taught me every virtue which men and women should aspire to. It has taught me that I must be an honest man. It has taught me that I must be a temperate man. It has taught me that I must be a virtuous man. It has taught me that I must be a merciful man, that I must be a patient man. that I must be an industrious man ; that I must love the Lord, my God, and seek in my weakness to serve him, and that as I love him so I must love and serve my fellow men. It has taught me that I must be a law-abiding man, ¶

that I must love law and order, that I must sustain and uphold and help to magnify, not only the law of the Lord, not only that law which is spiritual and which deals with my conscience and my acts before God, my Father, but the law of man. ¶

The laws of men, the civil law, is our only safe-guard and protection against anarchy, against confusion ; and I thank God for civil law, by which society is controlled and governed and held together, by which the weak are protected against the strong, by which the strong are restrained, and by which the rights of men and women are protected and safe-guarded in this country in which we live, above every other country in the world. It is true that civil law is not always just what we think it ought to be. It is true that it does not always conform just exactly to our ideas. It is true that in the administration of civil law, administrators are not always as righteous and just as they ought to be, and as the righteous would have them ; but, my brethren and sisters, when we consider the complex questions which are involved in the administration of civil law, the wonder is that law makers have been able to evolve a system so just, so equitable and so nearly right according to the law of God as the civil law which exists in this country today. We must remember that civil law cannot be framed for special purposes. We must remember that in considering these complex questions, legislators must take into consideration the elements with which they have to deal : that the law applies to believers and unbelievers, to saints and sinners, to Greek and Roman ; to Englishmen ¶

and Scandinavian and German alike ; that it applies alike to Chinese, Japanese, and East Indian who may come to this land, which has been made the land of refuge for the oppressed of all nations. So I say, when we think carefully, I believe we will agree that the civil law of our land is good. The gospel teaches me to be obedient to it, to honor it, to sustain it, and to uphold it, just as I expect to honor and sustain and uphold the laws of God. These things pertain to the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. They are fundamental, and they are good reasons to me why I should adhere to the Church for I do not find the ''power of God unto salvation," I do not find that which has in it power to redeem men and women from the sins of the world, outside of it. So I stand here and bear witness that it is true. I thank God that you who are assembled know these things just as well as I do. ¶

May the Lord bless you and strengthen your faith, and His Spirit continue with you forever, that all of us may be found worthy and may find our way back into His presence, I pray, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶