Saints Give Abundant Evidence of Love of God and Neighbor

It is always a pleasure to meet with the Latter-day Saints in stake and general conferences. I rejoice in the very splendid turnout that we have had during the meetings on this occasion. I do not remember to have ever seen so large a gathering at an opening session of any of our conferences as we had here this morning. It shows to me the faith of the Latter-day Saints, and is an evidence of their desire to hear the word of the Lord through the general authorities of the Church, who as a rule address the people assembled on these occasions. I earnestly desire that the time which I may occupy here this afternoon may be for our mutual benefit. ¶

I rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the knowledge which I possess of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged. It is ever my earnest prayer that I may remain firm, steadfast and faithful, that I may not turn to the right nor to the left, but may walk in the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal. This prayer which I offer for myself I also offer daily for all the Latter-day Saints; and I constantly pray that the honest the world over may see and comprehend the truth. I pray also that those of us who have received a knowledge of the truth may live according to the teachings of the Savior, that we may so order our lives that other men, seeing our good deeds, may ¶

glorify God, and that they may be led to the truth. ¶

We find in the 22nd chapter of St. Matthew the following: ¶

But when "the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. ¶

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, ¶

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ¶

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ¶

This is the first and great commandment. ¶

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ¶

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. ¶

The longer I live, the more I study the gospel, the more I come in contact with men, the more forcibly am I impressed with the truth of the sayings of our Savior in the words that I have just read to you. If we did in every deed love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, there would be no need of urging from time to time upon the people the necessity of keeping the commandments of the Lord. It would be a pleasure to them to serve God and keep His commandments. We are told that where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be also, and if we loved the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul, serving Him would be the great object of our lives, and the treasure we would work to gain would be His love. If we followed that second commandment, to love our neighbor as ourself, there would be no need of bishop's or High Council trials ; our difficulties would all be settled amicably, if we really and truly loved our neighbor. It would be almost a waste of time to appeal to the people for donations, to urge them to be liberal, to be generous, to strive for the benefit and welfare of their fellows. ¶

While we as a people do not fully come up to the requirements of the first great commandment, nor completely meet the requirements of the second, yet, I bear my testimony to you here today, I believe that of all people upon the face of the earth, there is no other people who love the Lord their God as do the Latter-day Saints. There is no other people upon the face of the earth who give such absolute evidence of their love of God by their acts, by the sacrifices they make, by the labors they perform, by the diligence with which they strive to serve God and keep His commandments. I believe there is no other people to be found on the earth that compare to the Latter-day Saints in these respects. I believe also that there is no other people to be found where there is as much of brotherly love, of real harmony and good will, and a desire to bless their fellows, as can be found among the Latter-day Saints. Not only do we love our neighbors, but I believe that there is a greater love in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, (and that they prove it by their acts,) for their fellow men, not of their own faith, than is to be found in other communities. I believe that we evidence this by the labors that we are performing. Reflect upon the fact that there are at the present time over two thousand men, in nearly all parts of the world, proclaiming this gospel of Jesus Christ that you and I have received ; that they are neglecting their business, that they are separated from their families, from their friends, from their loved ones, from all that is near and dear to the natural heart of man, and the labor which they are performing is a labor of love, without hope of reward whatever in this life. They have a hope of reward, of course, from God our Heavenly Father who rewards us by a rich outpouring of His Holy Spirit whenever we are engaged in His work. ¶

This labor which is being performed is costing on an average in the neighborhood of, if not fully, twenty dollars per month per capita for each and every one of those two thousand men, so that we find there is expended, while proclaiming the gospel, forty thousand dollars a month in expenses, as an evidence of the love of their fellows by these men and their families, who are supporting them. I feel that it is not exaggerating at all to say that these men would average, if they were at home laboring for the material things of this world at least sixty dollars a month per capita for their time ; therefore we find that the Latter-day Saints, by giving their time and their means to promulgate this gospel of Jesus Christ which we have received, that they are contributing in round numbers one hundred and sixty thousand dollars per month as a substantial evidence of their love of their fellows, and of their desire to bring to them the knowledge of the gospel that they possess. ¶

The world has said that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet. They say that the leaders of the Latter-day Saints are wicked and corrupt men. Even our enemies bear witness that the rank and file of the Latter-day Saints are a good people. They say, it is only the leaders that are bad, and that are full of wickedness and robbery, and all manner of evils ; and the Prophet Joseph Smith was the worst of the lot, because he established this terrible gospel called "Mormonism." The Savior said, "By their fruits ye shall know them," and this is the infallible rule that you and I and everybody else can lay down, by which to judge men — by their fruits. By the fruits of love of our fellows, we stand supreme above all the world in preaching this gospel. Freely we have received, and freely we give. This gospel of Jesus Christ, which the world says is a delusion, a snare and a fraud, to each and every man who goes out to proclaim it, and who lives an upright and virtuous life, it brings peace, it brings joy, it brings happiness unspeakable. In standing up and proclaiming that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God, there are hundreds, yes, there are tens of thousands of men who have gone out to preach this gospel, and who can bear witness that God their Heavenly Father, by the inspiration of His Spirit, blessed them and gave them utterance in proclaiming the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, far beyond their natural ability of expression. They are able to bear witness that peace and joy ofttimes filled their very beings in testifying to the divinity of the mission of this man as a prophet of the true and living God ; and that, after they have sat down, they have wept for joy because of the blessings of the Lord which have come to them while thus testifying. ¶

It fell to my happy lot to labor for three years in Great Britain, and other parts of Europe, as the President of the European Mission. I came in contact with thirteen hundred Elders during that time, and I bear witness to you that those boys were sweet, that they were ¶

clean in their persons, in their thoughts, in their acts, that they were in very deed representatives of the gospel of Christ ; that they were leading God-like and Christ-like lives. I bear witness to you that every one of them was ready and willing to testify, and did testify time and time again in my hearing, that under the influence of the sweet spirit that comes from our Heavenly Father, that they had had times of joy beyond their ability to express, in proclaiming this gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you mean to tell me that the fruits of the gospel, that brings joy and peace and happiness unspeakable to those that are proclaiming it, that are honest, that are upright, that are diligent, that are true, — do you mean to tell me that if that gospel was vile and wicked that it would fill the heart to overflowing with gratitude in those that are proclaiming it? Why, it is an absurdity- ¶

I have often remarked, in public and in private, that, to me/"one"of the greatest of all the great testimonies of the divinity of the workin which you and I are engaged, is the fact that no man, in all the eighty years that this gospel has been proclaimed, has ever returned to us from a mission and announced that he has found the truth in some other part of the world. It is not to be found. Ministers warn their congregations against the Elders. They warn their congregations in the world against reading our tracts, against studying our literature, or listening, or having anything to do with the "Mormons." Did I warn one single, solitary Elder out of the thirteen hundred that I labored with, against the gospel that any man might have to give him? No. I warned him against doing evil. I warned him to shun wine and women, in the language of the late President Wilford Woodruff,! "as he would the gates of hell." I warned him to live sweet and clean and pure, and to bow down and pray God, day by day, for the guidance of His Holy Spirit. I told him to study the Bible, to study the teachings of the Savior and of His Apostles, and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people. I said, keep yourself sweet and clean and pure, and study the gospel, and God will bless you; and God did bless them. Do you mean to tell me for eighty years God would allow men to go on, year after year, living virtuous, upright, honest lives, proclaiming a gospel that was not true, and that He would never bring one of those honest souls to a knowledge of the true gospel? What is the result on the other hand ? Hundreds, yea, thousands have been pricked in their hearts, and by the inspiration of the Spirit, and the revelations of God to them, they have received a knowledge of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged. They have received the witness of the Holy Spirit to them, satisfying their souls, satisfying their very beings, causing them to cry out in joy that they know that God lives, that they know Jesus is the Christ, that they know Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the true and living God. No man on earth can say that he knows that what they say is not true. He may not believe their testimony, but he cannot rob them of the knowledge that they have. I may proclaim that I love my family, and a man may say, "I don't believe it," but that does not change the knowledge that I have that I do love them. When a man has received the witness of ¶

the Holy Spirit, when a man has received the knowledge that this gospel is true, and he knows it, and he proclaims it, the whole world, not believing, cannot change the knowledge that he has. The Latter-day Saint possesses this knowledge, and it is this knowledge that they have of the divinity of this work that enables them to live nearer to the first great commandment, than any other people, to love the Lord with all our heart. ¶

The average man that did not have a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ would never be an honest tithe-payer ; he would not have the courage to obey that law. The natural selfishness of man is so great that he would not and could not do it. Why, we love money to such an extent that many people will sell their very souls for it. The great criterion of success in the world is that men can make money, but I want to say to you Latter-day Saints that to do this is not true success. As a man grows and increases in the things of this world, if he is not careful, he will lose the Spirit of the Lord, and he will set his heart upon the things of this world, and if he loses the Spirit of the Lord, and fails to be honest with God in the payment of his tithes, as strictly and honestly as he would account to a partner if he were engaged in business, that man will lessen his strength, will lessen his power, will lessen the testimony of the Spirit of God within his soul. There is no question of it in my mind. We must be honest with the Lord. The great trouble is that there are many people who, as they grow and increase in the things of this world, set their hearts upon them and lose the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, that which is counted by the world as success is failure; because if a man starts out for a prize and he fails to secure it after laboring nearly a lifetime for that prize, certainly his life has been a failure. I know many individuals who, when they made small sums of money, were absolutely honest with the Lord, and paid one-tenth of it; but when they made large sums ofmoney they paid all the way from One per cent, instead of ten, up to two or three per cent. What is the matter? Why, the appetite for money grows upon a man, increases and strengthens unless he is careful, just as much as the appetite for whiskey, and ' it gets possession of him, and he loves the money instead of loving it only for the good that he can do with it. He does not estimate properly the value of things. I once wrote a little sentiment for the Improvement Era, which was published fourteen years ago, as follows : ¶

Not he who merely succeeds in making a fortune, and in so doing blunts the natural affections of the heart, and chases therefrom the love of his fellows, can be said to be truly successful : but he who so lives that those who know him best shall love him most; and that God, who knows not only his deeds, but also the inmost sentiments of his heart, shall love him; of such an one, only — notwithstanding he may die in poverty — can it be said indeed and of a truth, "he should be crowned with the wreath of success." ¶

Speaking of the wrong estimate of things calls to my mind a little incident that I have related many times in public, of a good old sister, a faithful Latter-day Saint up in Scotland. I had a very fine valise presented to me by some of my business associates before I went on a mission. It was an alligator hide ¶

valise, and it had on it those great big lumps, you know, that the alligators grow on their backs, about as hard as steel. This good sister, who had been used to seeing "bags," as they call them over there, that were very smooth, and that cost six or eight shillings, said, "Oh, I do wish somebody would give Brother Grant a decent, respectable looking bag. What a pity it is that he has to carry such an awful looking bag." If somebody had given me a valise costing two or three dollars, she would have thought I had a treasure. I don't know what this valise cost that my friends gave me, because you know they say you must never look a gift horse in the mouth, and I didn't ask the price, but I did price one before this was given to me, that was not as nice, and the price was thirty dollars, so I suppose this one I had cost over thirty dollars; but the good sister, I am sure, would not have given six shillings for it. She did not know its value. The next conference I attended was out at Sunderland, and there is one little section of the railroad that runs out there that carried only third-class passengers. In the compartment where I was there were some first class passengers, who had changed to third at the Junction. You know, people ask why "Mormons" always travel third class, and the answer is "Because there is no fourth class." I leaned back in the seat, closed my eyes, and the gentlemen who had been traveling first class thought I was asleep. One of them said, "I am sure that gentleman is an American." The other one said, "How do you know?" "Oh, I am positive of it, I am sure of it." The other one said, "I am not. How do you know ?" And he said, "Nobody but an American would waste so much money on a bag." So you see he knew the value. ¶

The world thinks like the good old sister that we are wasting our money, because we will not exchange a forty or fifty dollar valise for one worth half a dozen shillings. They do not know the truth. They do not realize the value of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They do not know, for instance, the healing power of Almighty God that is in this Church. They do not know that there are men living who, but for the power of God, would not be here. I say to you that I know that I myself am a living witness of the healing power of Almighty God; that there are others now sitting upon this stand who would not be here today but for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with all the power, with all the authority, with all the graces, with all the gifts that were ever enjoyed by formerday saints. ¶

This is God's truth that you and I have embraced. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and may He help us, that we may in very deed follow the admonition of the Savior, and so live that other men, seeing our good deeds, shall glorify God and be led to the truth, is my prayer and desire, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

At the close of his discourse, Elder Grant, by request of President Smith, read a telegram from John W. Young, of New York City, in which Brother Young expressed sentiments of high esteem for President Smith and his associates, and deep interest in the welfare of the Church. ¶