Conditions of Acceptable Baptism and the Duty of Teachers

My dear brethren and sisters, I trust that the same good spirit that attended the speakers yesterday may be with us this morning, and during all the sessions of the conference. We were greatly pleased with the ¶

remarks of our brethren yesterday, and no doubt we were reminded again of the doctrines that have brought us together, and that, with the spirit that has accompanied them, has so thoroughly established this people. I see before me, I am persuaded, some of the choicest and most faithful of the Latter-day Saints ; men and women who have been thoroughly tried, well experienced in the plan of life and salvation, the people that are generally with us on such occasions. Through my mind, yesterday, passed the thought, how precious it would be if all the Saints could gather with us, if we could all be together, and all have the privilege of enjoying the same spirit that we enjoy on such occasions. That is not possible, but it impresses me with the importance of the responsibility that rests upon the brethren and sisters who do gather together, and can be here, and will always be here, while they live; the same class, that is, the same percentage of the people from all the stakes of Zion, and representatives from the missions, and brothers and sisters who bear responsibility in the Church. We heard yesterday some of the excellencies of the gospel of salvation, the principles of truth that commend themselves to all honest people whose ears and hearts are open to receive the word, and without which principles we are advised that men cannot be saved. We all remember that expression of the Apostle Paul, in regard to the principle of faith, that I have thought has unwittingly, deluded the Christian people generally in the world, for he declared that "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Naturally, it has been taken that with faith the Lord may be pleased, and that too with faith alone. But we have come to understand that faith, genuine living faith produces the very important principle of repentance, and that without repentance it is not possible to please God. Without baptism for the remission of sins it is not possible to please Him. Without the gift of the Holy Ghost it is not possible to please Him. But, with these great and superior, and primary principles in the gospel of life and salvation, we have discovered and have proven in our lives that men may be saved. ¶

I thought, while the brethren were talking yesterday, that it would be a good thing to bring a little scripture to your attention — these brethren — Stake Presidencies, High Councilors, Bishops and counselors, High Priests and Seventies, these men who are looked upon and .considered the teachers among the people—and while I do this I trust that your hearts will be touched, I trust that your souls will be so opened by the presence of the Spirit* of the Lord that you will not forget this scripture. It is homely, somewhat, but very important. It is a scripture that was given eighty-one and onehalf years ago yesterday, on the 6th of April, 1830, and I am persuaded that it has not had quite the weight in our hearts that it should have, hence I desire to draw it to your attention, or your attention to it, and have it impressed upon your minds, for the conditions that are laid down here, that entitle the children of God to that saving ordinance of baptism, is of greater importance, I believe, ¶

than we have attached to it. I believe that the brethren, the Elders in the world, have not been quite as careful in this regard, nor the brethren at home, the bishops who hold the key to open the door for everybody who comes into the Church. The bishop is the master of the situation in his ward, and everybody in his ward in the Church coming into the Church, born of Latter-day Saint parents, and so forth, all these . are under the direct care and supervision of the bishop of the ward. I want us to discover the fact that this Church, with its order, its organization, perfection and authority, is most admirably planned and arranged by our Heavenly Father for the salvation of the children of men, for their training, their bringing up, and for preparing us for salvation in His kingdom; not only intended for our entrance into the kingdom, but to maintain our standing, fellowship, and growth therein, so that, though we are very enthusiastic, very devout and faithful in the beginning, that we shall continue in that condition until the finish of our contract with the Lord ; that is to the end, and the end is when we die; that is the end of our obligation, taking us finally into the presence of God, with our sins forgiven and blotted out. We are not there yet, but we will get there very soon, one at a time, or a few at a time, as we came into this world. This is the scripture that I desire to impress upon your hearts, and that when we go home we can impress it on the hearts of those who could not come, officials and others, so that this may ring in the hearts and souls of Latter-day Saints. It is in , regard to the manner of baptism, and in regard to the conditions that should obtain, and that must obtain, in order for us to receive the blessings of salvation that we seek, all those who humble themselves before God, and no one else can have this blessing. ¶

"All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the Church that they have truly repented of all their sins" — that is not a part of them, but the whole of them, — "and are willing to take upon them the name of 'Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end" — and I have told you what the end is — serve Him to the end of this probation, this mortal life of ours, — "and truly manifest" — that is, without any deception — "truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into His Church." ¶

And all those who do not thus come before the Lord, humbling themselves, and with these conditions, shall not be received into this Church. Now, if there have been any received into this Church that have not met those conditions, they are at fault and they have not pleased the Lord. Their faith has not been genuine, for genuine faith produces genuine repentance, genuine baptism, a profitable and acceptable baptism unto the Lord, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Now, that is a splendid condition for people to be brought into when they enter this Church, and the Lord understood that the day this Church was organized, just as well as we begin to understand it today. When we have thus received tne gospel, when we" have received that measure of genuine faith, when we have obtained that gift from God, repent- • ance that worketh reformation and that puts us in condition that our sins may be washed away — for sins are not washed away without genuine faith and repentance — and baptism is not acceptable to the Lord unless that same faith and repentance be attained to by those who would be baptized, then water baptism may follow, and then baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. This is the secret — right here lies the secret,, my brethren and sisters, of the strength of this Church. It is the individual testimony and witness of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the people, that establishes every man and every women in righteousness, in purity, in faith, in morality, in uprightness and undefiled. How beautiful that is ! What splendid doctrines ! What great improvement that does make upon the natural, mortal, fallen man ; and the fruit of it is to be discovered among the Latter-day Saints today in good measure. There is room, of course, for more to be good, faithful and true than we have today, and there will be no doubt in the future. ¶

Now, the Lord is pleased with you. He is pleased with us so far as we have entered this Church properly, so far as we have remained in the Church, in His work, in obedience, in humility, and in faith and devotion to Him, as we have entered it. Every man who has so come into the Church has that witness and testimony abiding in his heart of the Father, the witness of the Father and the Son, for the Lord has declared Himself unto us ; He has come unto us and borne witness to us of the doctrines that are presented, that they are true. Latter-day Saints know that they are true. They know it, having demonstrated and proven them to be true, and having the witness of the Spirit of the Lord, which inspires their hearts and brings joy and happiness to their souls, and in that is the strength of the Church. There are no standing armies ; there is no compulsion; nothing of a physical nature brought to bear upon the Latter-day Saints ; no man is compelled to take a position; no man is compelled take an ordination ; no man is compelled to labor after he has received these favors; but they are instructed, counseled, labored with, they are persuaded, and generally converted to the importance of maintaining their standing and fellowship, that has prompted them to come into the kingdom and to maintain these conditions while they live. We feel their importance, and we recognize them among the brethren at home and abroad. ¶

We are very anxious that this same spirit and desirable condition shall be not only maintained by the presiding brethren, officers in the Church, and those who stand at the head of departments in Zion, and at the head of missions in the field, but that the Elders — and all are Elders who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood ; the Apostle is an Elder and should be addressed as an Elder instead of an Apostle ; you should say "Elder Lyman," and the same to these brethren who hold the Apostleship. The Apostleship is a sacred term that ought not to be used in common parlance as we use it today. It was not in former times, in the days of President Young. It was after his death that Elders that are known as the Apostles in the Church were spoken of, or spoke of themselves as "Apostles." They are the Elders, the chief Elders of the Church. They are the Elders who hold the keys of the kingdom, and who bear the responsibility of the kingdom at home and abroad, under the direction of the First Presidency ¶

of the Church, and we are Elders, and so are all who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood ; and it happens today that all the bishops in the Church bear the Melchizedek Priesthood, every one of them. ¶

Then we have the Lesser Priesthood, the Aaronic Priesthood — the Priests and the Teachers and the Deacons. We heard a little yesterday,— I am not sure but I think it was Elder Smoot, who dropped the thought that we are all teachers. If you remember and will read this scripture, it is right here, I need not give much time to speak in regard to it, but you can study it for yourselves, in the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, you will find that the duties of a teacher are shared by the deacon. He is to work with the teacher, if occasion requires; and I have discovered, I think, in my ministry among the people, that the occasion always requires that the deacon should share with the teacher; and the teacher's duty is to watch over the Church always, and to be with and strengthen the Church. Now, if Elder Smoot was correct in that assertion that we are all teachers, — 'and I am willing to grant that — I don't know of any more important and valuable calling or appointment than that of a teacher. I understand that our Savior was the greatest of all teachers, and it was not too small a work for Him to pay attention to the teaching of the word of the Lord, and training the people, and so it should be from the greatest to the least in this Church ; and the greater men are, the greater responsibility and the more they are elevated before the people, the greater teachers they should be, and of all teachers, the bishops of the wards should be the greatest teachers in the wards. They should be men, as Paul happened, accidentally, maybe, to say on one occasion when he was talking to Timothy, in his letter he said that the bishop, among other things, after telling that he should be blameless, the bishop should be without fault ; he should be a perfect man ; just do everything exactly right ; but the injunction that I refer to is that the bishop should be "apt to teach/' given to teaching. It should be natural for him to be a teacher, for if there be any fault with the teachers, they are his teachers ; he has selected them ; he has blessed them and set them apart; and if they be faulty and do not know exactly how to" do things, the reproach be upon the bishop of the ward. ¶

Another scripture I want to draw your attention to, and I want to expound a little scripture and extend a little scripture, as I have had occasion to remark in some conferences, to expound a scripture and extend it. Now, parents in Zion who fail to teach their children faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance and baptism, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. Now, may I extend that scripture a little, so that it will not only take the father and mother of the children, but will take particularly the father of the ward, and say that the father who fails to teach his children how to teach, and fails to give them instruction, and fails to train them and bring them up in the way they should go, that when they are old they are competent teachers, — the -bishop who fails to do this, with the assistance of his counselors who are chosen High Priests, and should be just as good as the bishop — the rep roach be upon their heads. The ¶

responsibility that rests upon us, my brethren, who bear the Priesthood — for when men are ordained to the Priesthood, the Lesser Priesthood and the Greater Priesthood, when they receive these offices in the Priesthood it is indicative, it makes plain to the Church and to the world that these men are called with divine authority, that responsibility rests upon them, that they are expected to be workers. ¶

Do you know now, I want to extend our practice a little farther than we have been doing. When we want a president of a stake, we want him for work ; and his counselors the same. When we want a high councilor, we want him for work. When we want a bishop, we want him for work. When we want his counselor, we want him for work. When we want a man to preside over a mission, abroad in the world, we want him to work. When we want an Elder to go into the world, we want him because we have work there. There is employment in preaching the gospel. We want him to go out because there is something to do. Now, we have dropped somewhat into the fashion of ordaining Seventies and of ordaining Elders and ordaining Patriarchs ; and the brethren don't go to work. Now, suppose when a brother is ordained an Apostle, or is ordained a Patriarch, he does not go to work. Why, he does not get the spirit of his calling. It is the man who takes hold of his ministry and the responsibility that is put upon him, who gets the spirit of his calling. It is so with a Seventy. He is ordained a Seventy and that is all — just ordained a Seventy, or he is just ordained an Elder, or just ordained a Priest, or Teacher or Deacon, or any of the offices in the Church, and he does not go to work ; there isn't employment for him; the bishop has not so trained the material in his ward that when they are ordained to any position in the Priesthood, that there is employment. A man should work. It is indicative that he should work. He should be a prayerful man, at least when he receives the Priesthood. No man in this Church is entitled to receive divine authority from the Lord, and then forget Him. No man is entitled to receive the Priesthood in this Church, and stay at home on the Sabbath Day, and not partake of the .sacrament. No man is entitled to have the Priesthood who does not remember the Lord and bow his knee before Him in the season thereof ; and the Lord has said in a scripture that I may refer to. He that doth not pray, doth not say his prayers, remember his prayers before the Lord, in the season thereof, shall be had in remembrance. If you remember, that is what the Lord said to Zion, the children of Zion, and we are among them. That is what He said to the inhabitants of Zion, a commandment that He gave, that those who do not pray before the Lord in the season thereof, shall be had in remembrance ; that is, shall be remembered by the bishop or by the judg-e of my people, and he is the judge of the people. ¶

The bishop is the judge of every man, woman and child in his ward, and he is responsible ; that is, he is responsible to take care of them, and to mind his own business in his ward, just as the president of the state must mind his own business in his stake of Zion, and let nothing escape him. Now, the bishop is under obligation to instruct every man that he ordains, every man that ¶

he allows to be ordained and directs to be ordained, every man that is called to any position of responsibility in his ward, it is the business of that bishop, as a good father of the brethren, and fathers of the people, to instruct that brother if he receives the office of an Elder in order to go and be married in the Temple, to bear the Melchizedek Priesthood, — it is the business of that bishop to give instructions such as he will never forget in his life, tell him that it is his business to go home from the Temple, with his wife sealed to him for time and eternity, and be a faithful worker at home. He can always find something to do. He has the home to regulate. He has the order of prayer to regulate at his own hearth. It is his duty to offer prayer in his home. ¶

These Latter-day Saints pray, they pray in the morning and they pray at night, and that is the season of prayer. And then they pray secretly. What do they pray for? Why, I have had brethren say, "If we were prayed for and remembered as you brethren are, it would be different. We all pray for President Smith and for the-General Authorities. We pray for all these quorums of the Priesthood, all these presiding brethren. If we had the benefit of prayers,- we could be good people as you are." They think we are remarkably good, and we are pretty good. • Well, now, what about our prayers? I want to know if there is one person in this Church that prays more faithfully for President Joseph F. Smith than he prays for you. I would like you to bear that in mind, my brethren and sisters who are here, that there is not a family so separated from the ward, and so far out on the range and in the mountains and canyons, and neglected and overlooked and forgotten, almost, maybe, by bishops of the wards, — President Smith never forgets to pray for that family or that man ; he never forgets to pray for that woman, that mother in the family ; never forgets to pray for the smallest, simplest child in the family. We pray every morning for you. We prayed this morning, I did, I prayed for you, and I presume you prayed for me. I prayed for all ; my heart was opened so I could pray for all Latter-day Saints. I prayed for our government, our country. I thank the Lord for the strength of the country, of these great United States. Oh, what blessings they have vouchsafed to us, that we have been preserved, and that the Church is established, and so settled and fixed and protected by the wall of strength that God has established in these United States. How thankful we ought to be. We remember our neighbors; we pray for them ; we pray for their conversion, and we set good examples before them. ¶

We do not patronize the saloons, we do not patronize any of these evils that are about us. You know that we come to you with good in your stakes of Zion. There is not a presidency of a stake that we have not blessed and set apart and helped to select, not a high councilor. There has not been a Relief Society, not a Mutual Improvement Association organized, not a quorum organized, not a mission established in any part of the earth, but what the presiding officials have gone out with blessings, and with instruction in the hands of the servants of God who bear the Holy Priesthood. And then we do not forget them. We pray for them. We pray for them when they go, ¶

we pray for them when they return, we pray for them while they are abroad. I hope the Latter-day Saints do pray for us. I hope you pray for us at least as well as We pray for you ; for I pray always for you, for every family in this Church. There is not sickness in any home but what we pray for the sick, as well as those whose names sometimes are handed in, that is to pray for especially. We have those requests by letter, sometimes — Please remember my wife, my daughter or son — and we pray for them. We call upon the Lord to notice that there is sickness in a home, that there is calamity or trouble or distress or sorrow somewhere, and we want it relieved. We call upon the Lord. That is what we do; and then we behave pretty well. ¶

We are sober men, moral men, we are not corrupt and defiled. We don't come to you with corrupt doctrines and principles to defile you. Have you been so instructed? Has any bishop, any elder, any seventy, any department of the Church been injured because we have carried corruption and trouble to them? No, we have been good to you, good to you all the time, and you have fed us and been good to us and kind to us, and slept us, but we have never trespassed upon you. We have never been inclined to trespass upon you, but to defend you and help you and instruct you, and reprove you if it were necessary, if you were in transgression and sin. We have tried to have you help us, and you have helped us. There is wonderful improvement made during the last decade or more, two or three decades, so> far as my acquaintance has been with you brethren here, you leading, presiding brethren. I have been with you on all occasions and under all conditions and circumstances, when we have had our troubles and little contentions, and little divisions, and so forth, and we have always given you good advice and set you good examples. These brethren here on this stand, whom you know, you know our hearts just as well as we know our own, and you are witnesses ; the people are our witnesses throughout this Church. They know we have been faithful and true to them, and that we have taught them to be loyal — loyal to our government, loyal to the government of God, and loyal to the government of our great country, for it is the Lord's country. He has established it and established this people. He has gathered the people, not only the Latter-day Saints, but He has gathered the oppressed and the downtrodden and the sorrowful and the humble and meek of the earth. God has gathered them to the land of Zion, the land of the pure in heart, the land where the pure in heart should dwell, and where all who dwell should be pure in heart. ¶

Now, we want the Latter-day Saints to benefit, we want you to profit, we want you to take home to your wards and to your stakes of Zion the instructions and spirit of this conference, you brethren who preside, and that you shall attend to your own business ; for the stakes of Zion are so extended, the wards are so numerous, and the General Authorities sitting in this little square here, — there are not many more than a score — upon whom rest the responsibilities of caring for the whole people at home and abroad, and to the preaching of the gospel throughout the world. And we need your help ; we want you to be good ; ¶

we want you to be faithful ; we want you to be sober ; we want you to be moral in principle, in spirit, in body ; we want you to be clean and pure and faithful and humble. We want you to be humble, yourselves, before God. We want you to remain humble before God. We want you to repent of all your sins. We want you to take upon yourselves the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We want you to serve Him and honor Him. Having the commandments and observing them it will be 'positive evidence that you love the Lord, and if you do this the Lord will come unto you. He will love you, and the Father will love you and love us, and He will come unto us and manifest Himself unto us. He will not manifest Himself unto those who do not remember Him, and do not keep His commandments. Those who remember Him and love Him will keep His commandments, and the keeping of His commandments is positive evidence that they love Him. ¶

We want our brethren and sisters, we want the Latter-day Saints to love the Lord, and to honor Him and to serve Him with full purpose of heart, for we want to be saved ; we want you to be saved ; we want to be together when we get on the other side, under good and favorable conditions. We will be better men there. We may not think there will be much change, but we will be a very great deal better men on the other side than we are here. Our children will love us better ; the wife will love the husband better, and our neighbors will love us better, because the faults and failings and weaknesses that were manifested here will disappear. We discover them every day. They will disappear. They are of the earth earthy, and we will act like men on the other side. We will be better. We will live and repent, and our repentance that we maintain through this life will have its genuine fruit of success and of relief from sin and transgression, and our minds will be freed from any weight of sin or trouble that we had in this life. ¶

We are going through a world of sin and distress and danger, yet it is a good world. I don't want to say a word against it, and I calculate to stay "here as long as I can ; but it is a world of danger, and trial and tribulation and hardship for men and women, but it is possible for us to endure, it is possible for us to serve the Lord; it is possible for us to do what is right, and nothing that is wrong. It is not necessary for us to do wrong, and we want to quit doing wrong and work righteousness and serve the Lord. Let the bishops then, the presiding brethren in the wards, remember these things. I talk to them because there are more of them here than I will see again until next April. I will not meet many of them between now and then, possibly, and we want the bishops to go into their wards, and we want them to take care of the people that are at large, the people who are roaming, and who are not gathered together, and who do not gather together in the ward meetings, who are not heard and seen there. Bring them together, hunt them up, try to know every family and to know what is the matter with every family, and draw their attention to the fact that if they do not partake of the sacrament, and do so worthily, it is positive evidence that they do not remember the Lord. If a man remembers the Lord he will keep His commandments, and we do keep ¶

them just to the measure of our love of God. You know where you are at, without me trying to find out. I could not if I tried, possibly, but you know. If you are serving the Lord and keeping His commandments perfectly and fully, that is positive evidence you love the Lord. If we do not do these things, we do not love the Lord as we should, ¶

I pray the Lord to bless you, my brethren and sisters. I testify to you that this is the Lord's work. Our Heavenly Father, by His Son Jesus Christ, has established this work, and kingdom. He brought the Prophet Joseph Smith and made him a Prophet, and inspired and qualified him, and sustained him to his death, to the shedding of his blood. Our Father in Heaven did this through His Son Jesus Christ, and established this Church, and it is growing, it is spreading, it is gaining strength. But are there not some who are weakening? Yes, I suppose so. Some will be weakening, some will die off and pass away, but the Church will endure, and never grow less than it is today. It will grow stronger. ¶

I have another thought that was expressed by one of the brethren here. You remember it. You heard it yesterday, that in a little while, the virtues of the Latter-day Saints will begin to be advertised and shed abroad among the people^ of the earth as a remarkable people. We will be a remarkable people, for we will be a sober people, a moral people, an upright people, people who are reliable and trusted in business matters and everything else; reliable in politics and government and governmental affairs. We won't rob the treasury, or rob anybody, or do anybody harm, but be conscientious, upright, good and reliable. If government authority is trusted in our hands, or in the hands of any of our brethren, it will be safe and there will not be a defaulter. It is a reproach to a people who have a defaulter. It is a reproach to us when we fall into sin. We want always to be free of these things, and stand in the presence of the Lord approved of Him. ¶

I thank the Lord that we have been pretty good. I have no bad things to say about my brethren. I love them with all my heart. They are just as tender to me as my own dear children, just exactly, and I know my brethren, I know their hearts, every one of them, and you know them. They are just as true as steel, faithful, ready to live always in the service of God; then we will die when we can't help it, but we don't intend to die as long as we can help it. We intend to stay here and assist in the building up of the kingdom. We want to be servants of God. We desire to serve Him and assist in the accomplishment of His purposes in the earth. We desire to live a long time and bless the people. We desire to extend our hands over all Israel, and to bless them, and our neighbors included in Zion ; for we are greatly mixed up at the present time, and there are very many good precious people among us, good, honest and moral people, to say nothing about those that are otherwise, either with us or on the outside. ¶

Let the Latter-day Saints serve God, and love Him, and honor Him, and keep His commandments, and be united in listening to counsel and walking uprightly before the Lord, and deal justly and properly on all occasions, and in regard to all matters of every nature. That is our ¶

exhortation, and that is the doctrine we have been carrying to the people. We have gone for the good and virtuous in the world, and called men to repentance. We do not want men who do not repent. This is the gospel of repentance that is entrusted to us, which shall be preached to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not, but rejecteth the message God has sent, will be condemned. It can't be helped. Be pure and upright and conscientious, and love the Lord, and He will come to you with His Spirit and sustain you now and forever, which I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

Mr. Edward C. Clifford sang a baritone solo, entitled "Glory to God, who from the heavens above."' ¶

i ¶