Honest Hearts Convinced of the Truth

I always rejoice in having the opportunity of meeting with the Saints in our General Conference, for the reason that we are always blessed, and built up, and strengthened in the Gospel of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. I believe that every Latter-day Saint, who has received a testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged, is in duty bound to give his or her best thought and best endeavor for the advancement of the Gospel at home and abroad. ¶

I am convinced, from my observation, and associations with people, that the Latter-day Saints are becoming better known, that they are becoming known for their true worth. I believe there are many people who have thought that we were vile, wicked, and corrupt, who are now learning that we are the exact opposite. In ancient days it was believed by many that the Savior of the world and His apostles were vile and wicked men, and all manner of evil was spoken against them, falsely ; nearly nineteen hundred years have passed away since the crucifixion of the Savior, and men now know that His teachings, and the teachings of His apostles, and the examples that they set before their fellows were for the uplifting and the betterment of the people. As the years come and go, and people have become better acquainted with the teachings of Joseph Smith and of his successors, and of the apostles in this latter-day work, they are becoming convinced that these teachings are for the betterment of mankind. There are many men who can join in saying what a friend of mine once said in a letter to me — and say it honestly and conscientiously — that the only religious people that he had ever known who lived up to their professions were the "Mormons" of Utah. ¶

So long as we know that we have the truth, so long as we love the truth, so long as we live the truth, we need have no anxiety or care regarding what may be said of us. It can never hurt an honest man for a dishonest and lying man to accuse him of dishonesty. If we know within our own hearts that we desire the good of our fellows, that we are laboring for the advancement and the spread of truth at home and abroad, that we would not knowingly injure any man on earth, and that we would willingly do anything within our power for the benefit of our fellows, what harm does it do us, as individuals, or the cause of truth, for people to write the exact opposite or to speak the exact opposite, regarding us or the truth? There are many people who are deceived because of untrue things that are said and written, and of certain pictures that are being exhibited regarding us which are vile and wicked, and which we know are libelous. It is an old saying that a lie can travel around the world while truth is getting his boots on ; but the fact remains that the truth will, eventually, come uppermost ; and when people hear or see things that are detrimental to the Latter-day Saints, and then become acquainted with them and find that the exact opposite to what they have heard and seen is true, concerning the life and character of our people, then we are bound to make friends of all such persons. ¶

I rejoice that many men of great intelligence have been converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, men of great experience and knowledge. I rejoiced exceedingly while I was in Europe in distributing, or at least in urging upon the Elders to distribute, a tract known as "My Reasons for Leaving the Church of England and Joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." This document was written by Col. R. M. Bryce Thomas, a retired officer in the British army. While traveling around the world and stopping here in Salt Lake City, in the old Templeton Hotel, his wife was taken sick, and sitting in the sick room, looking across the street, he saw constantly in front of him, on the old adobe building that was torn down to make room for the Hotel Utah, the sign "Mormon Publications for sale here." He kept seeing it daily, and seeing it till it got on his nerves, and he finally went and purchased some "Mormon" publications, read them, and he studied the people, and he found that they were sober ; he found that they were industrious. He learned from those not of us that we were particularly kind to the poor; that there was no class distinction. He found many commendable things ; and among, other things that he found, he said, was the most magnificent choir that he had ever listened to in his life ; and he went away from here impressed with the people, with their devotion, with their honesty, with their integrity; and he pursued his study of the Gospel and became converted — absolutely converted. It has been said that the tenderest part of a man's anatomy is his pocket ; and this man has also been absolutely converted in his pocket, as the presidents from the time of his conversion until the present time, who have presided over the London conference can testify, because, on a certain day each month, a remittance of one-tenth of that man's income reaches the London conference, in addition to a donation for the benefit of the poor. His pamphlet of thirty odd pages gives his reasons for joining this Church ; and they are reasons that cannot be answered and that cannot be gainsaid, and that stand out prominently and solidly for the divinity of the work in which you and I are engaged. They are substantial reasons for leaving the church with which he had been affiliated all the days of his life. ¶

What has this Gospel done? It has gathered in from every land and from every clime, honesthearted souls ; it has gathered men and women who have honestly and conscientiously labored to ascertain the truth, many of whom have been members of the various sects of the day, trying to find that peace, satisfaction and comfort which the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought to bring. If this religion called "Mormonism" by the world, was in very deed what our enemies say it is — a delusion, a snare, and a fraud — do you mean to tell me that it would satisfy men and women of honor, of integrity, of honesty, that it would satisfy their very souls ? That they could live to be seventy-five, eighty and eight-five, and in some cases past ninety years of age, and be associated with this work from their early manhood and womanhood, and that every day, week, month, and year, from the time they embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it would bring them peace, joy, and happiness? It is absolutely ridiculous to suppose such a thing. Honest people cannot be satisfied with a dishonest religion. Honest, upright, and diligent people cannot have their hearts, their faces, and their very souls filled with joy, satisfaction and peace with that which is a delusion, a snare and a fraud. I tell you, my friends, that this Gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy, and peace, contentment, happiness, and satisfaction to every soul that has embraced it, and who obeys it. ¶

We hear a great deal about compulsion in this Church. Read section 121 in the Doctrine and Covenants ; and I bear witness to you here today, that the men holding the Priesthood of God, the leaders of this people, the prophets of God from Joseph Smith to Joseph F. Smith, everyone of them, have exercised that Priesthood exactly as indicated in that section. "No power or influence can or ought to be exercised by the Priesthood only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, by meekness, by love unfeigned ;" and it has been exercised that way. Talk about compulsion in obeying the law of tithing! I bear witness — and I know that the witness I bear is true — that the men and the women who have been absolutely honest with God, who have paid their tithing as religiously and as correctly as though God were their partner, and when they settled up their accounts at the end of the year that they had made a just division, and they paid their one-tenth, I bear witness that those men and those women testify to all the world of the blessings of God that have come to them by the fulfillment of this law, and that God has given them wisdom whereby they have been able to utilize the remaining nine-tenths, and it has been of greater value to them, and they have accomplished more with it than they would if they had not been honest with the Lord. I bear witness that the people who have fulfilled this law of God have been blessed, and have rejoiced in the privilege of showing their gratitude to God in a substantial way, for His blessings to them. ¶

I rejoice in the teachings imparted during this Conference ; I rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and may God help us all to be loyal, to be true, to be patriotic, to serve Him with full purpose of heart, is my prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶