Health and Happiness Result from Keeping the Word of Wisdom

Health and happiness result from keeping Word of Wisdom. — The people urged to eliminate the saloon and tobacco evils. — Investigation of "Mormon" missionary work in England desired. — Marriage in Temple a safeguard against divorce. — Unselfish and successful work of auxiliary organization officers. ¶

I have been very much interested in the remarks of our president, as I know you all have been. I know that what he has said to us is true, and his counsels are for our best good. ¶

I was struck with the statistics that were read to us, and was pleased to learn that the death-rate among the Latter-day Saints is smaller than the death-rate in the world. Nine to a thousand is indeed a good showing. Now, I believe there is a cause for this. The Latter-day Saints, if they live their religion, have been promised long lives and health. The Lord has given us a revelation in regard to preserving our health. We have inquiries from several persons, asking us when the Word of Wisdom was made a commandment. I do not know that we can give such information, but the revelation speaks for itself; it tells us that the Word of Wisdom is the order and will of God — the will of God. Need we ask to have it made any stronger? Why did He give that Word of Wisdom unto us Latter-day Saints ? Was it to deprive us of enjoyment in life ? Did He want to curtail the pleasures of life? No, on the contrary, He wanted to give us advice how to live to preserve our health ; and as He has given it unto us, calling it the Word of Wisdom, I hope the Latter-day Saints will be found among the wise virgins, not among the foolish ones. All that has been given to us by revelation has been for our blessing and for our good, and we should not feel to violate the Lord's will in regard to this matter, even if we should say to ourselves, It is not a commandment, but a word of wisdom. Let us make it the resolve of our hearts that we will follow the advice given therein, and then we will be blest, not alone physically but also spiritually. We will be enabled to do much more good, to labor more and harder than if we indulge in those things that sap the strength of our bodies and undermine our health, for that is the effect of violating the Word of Wisdom. ¶

Our legislature has given us a law on the liquor question, and there is a time appointed when the people will be at liberty to express themselves on this question. It seems to me that all through the settlements of Zion, where we the Latter-day Saints are in the majority, the sentiment should be to do all in our power to eliminate the liquor traffic from our midst. Ever since the Word of Wisdom was given, there has been a feeling among us Latter-day Saints that it is our duty to obey this law, and in placing men in positions in the Church we have charged them that they must obey the Word of Wisdom. This is not a request that has been made so strong lately. Seventy years ago, and more, it was voted by the Church that no officer should hold office in the Church, who violated the Word of Wisdom. This was under the prophet Joseph, and if he felt to make it that strong, we ought not to try to make it lighter now, but urge our brethren who are called to lead the people, and to labor in the ministry, to observe this requirement, and not show the bad example of failing to heed the advice given by our heavenly Father. I hope that at the election the people will show that they stand for temperance. If we cannot get a whole loaf, let us be satisfied with a half, but let our efforts be to save our young people from the evils of the saloon. Let us try to provide for them places where they can go and have healthful entertainment, and not have them seek to get their recreation in low places, and I look upon the saloon as such a place ; it should not be found in the settlements of the Latter-day Saints. I need not talk upon the evils that follow intemperance ; they are so well known. When we travel where such things are found, how it grieves us to see men degrading themselves by overindulgence in liquor and other stimulants. ¶

The tobacco habit should be avoided. The use of tobacco is very harmful and injurious to the system, and we should do all in our power to have our young men grow up without indulging in this. I was pleased, the other day, to read of one settlement where it was said there was not a boy under twenty-one who used tobacco. I wish it could be said of all Israel, that all our boys abstain from that habit. Statistics from different institutions show that the boys who indulge in tobacco do not excel, and that those who really come to the fore, and excel in their studies, are those that are not indulging in the tobacco habit, or using stimulants. ¶

I was pleased to hear the President's words about our missionaries, and I believe his blessing upon them will be felt by them. I believe our Father in heaven will be with them in their labors, their unselfish labors out in the world. They devote their time to forward this work, sustaining themselves ; and as they go forth they are often mocked and scorned, and meet the rebuffs of the people, but they have a message to give unto the world, that they know is of the utmost importance. There has been published both here in America and abroad, in England, Scandinavia, and Germany a mass of scurrilous articles, lying about and abusing the Latter-day Saints. Hans P. Freece, a Utah man traveling in England, for instance, is trying to stir up the English people against us. His talk has even come to the government, and the prime-minister has been urged to institute investigations concerning the things that this Mr. Freece has been telling. What does he know of what is going on in England? He is accusing us of taking girls from there and bringing them here for immoral purposes, as if our elders were sent out to bring girls here. Our elders go to preach the gospel to all. Statistics show that the "Mormon" emigrants from England do not amount to more than a small fraction of one per cent, but that small fraction is enough to stir up the people there. We have asked for an investigation. We know that we are free from the things they accuse us of. You know, Latter-day Saints, that the gospel has not given you license to sin. You know that when you went into the waters of baptism, you made the covenant that you would keep the commandments of the Lord, and you know as long as you have lived up to that covenant the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit has been yours. You know that you have not been taught, by the elders, anything contrary to the commandments of God. Why is it that all this opposition is arrayed against us? Are we any worse this year than last year, or past years ? I believe, as the president said, that the Latter-day Saints are growing in faith, in live faith, and that will lead to good works. Wherever you go, you will find, throughout the stakes of Zion, that the Saints are alive to their duties. We are thankful to them for showing their faith in the gospel in their duties, in their fast offerings and in the great amounts that they are paying towards erecting houses of worship, where they can go and learn more of the ways of the Lord. We feel to praise the Latter-day Saints for this. The Latter-day Saints are a God-fearing people, a duty-fulfilling people, a people who have joined together in covenants to serve the Lord and to work out the salvation of their souls, in fear and trembling before God. They are not a people sunken in vice and iniquity. Where such is found, the brethren who are in charge are seeking to eliminate such from the Church. ¶

The divorce question was mentioned here. By statistics it is found that those who have been married in our temples and have been sealed at the altar of God, are not the ones that are being divorced, that there are far fewer divorces in that class than in the case of those who have been married outside of the temple. I am glad that I can state this, and I would exhort all the youth of Zion to prepare themselves to be worthy to have a recommend to go to the temple of the Lord, to be sealed, to begin their marriage right, that they may be under the covenant, and their posterity be born under the covenant and be heirs to the blessings thereof. I believe that marriages, entered into so solemnly as they are in the temple, will make a deeper impression upon the hearts and cause a stronger resolve to be made to live as husband and wife ought to live. Divorces should not be known amongst us. It is too solemn a thing to enter into the marriage relation and then have it dissolved. So we would say to the young people, begin marriage right, and then try to make marriage bring unto you happiness and blessings. Avoid everything that tends to make that bond galling and the relation unhappy. Much can be done by each one in this direction if both parties are determined to live in peace and harmony. ¶

The reports given us of the auxiliary organizations are very pleasing to us, and they are true. The men who are laboring on the boards are putting their whole mind and soul to the work in which they are engaged; they are studying and trying to devise plans for the welfare and the uplift of our youth. I say, the Lord bless these men and women who are engaged in this work. They spend much of their time in the interest of these institutions, and they do it out of pure love for the young. I want all the Latter-day Saints to feel to honor these men and women, not alone those on the general boards, but also on the stake boards, and those who are laboring in the wards, who are giving their time to teach and instruct our young people in the ways of the Lord. ¶

Now, may the Lord bless the Latter-day Saints ; may He bless us during this conference, that the Spirit of the Lord may be poured out in a rich measure, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶