Inspiration in the Hymns of Zion

I rejoice exceedingly in the spirit of the meetings of this conference. I endorse most heartily all that I have heard during the conference, and bear testimony to the inspiration of the Lord in those who have spoken; and I humbly and earnestly pray that the time I occupy, this afternoon, that the same good spirit and inspiration which have been given to those who have already spoken may be given to me. I have no desire today, in standing before you, and I have never had when occupying this position or a similar one, except to say only those things which might be beneficial to those who listen as well as to myself. I have been blessed upon more than one occasion, while speaking to the Saints, and have felt truly grateful to the Lord for the encouragement that has come to me, because of the rich outpouring of His Holy Spirit. ¶

I have been particularly impressed during this conference, with the many old-time and inspiring hymns which have been sung by the choir and the congregation. I never hear, "Come, come ye Saints," "Though Deepening Trials throng your way," and other inspirational songs which the Lord has given to the men and women of this community, by the inspiration of His Spirit, that I do not rejoice as I listen to them. I feel that this very splendid hymn, "Though Deepening Trials throng your way," could be read by every one within the sound of my voice, at the close of the meeting today, and they would be profited thereby; and the same would be true with reference to the others that we have listened to. ¶

I rejoice in the unity existing among the Latter-day Saints. As you know, it falls to my lot, in connection with my associates in the Council of the Twelve, to visit the different Stakes of Zion; and wherever I have visited in any of the Stakes I have always found love and devotion to the work of the Lord, on the part of the stake officers, and of the ward officers, and all those who are connected as officers with the auxiliary associations in the Church. I was delighted with the report made here by Brother Murdock, that they had Religion Classes after their school exercises, throughout the entire Wasatch Stake. There are some of our people that have stood up so straight, where they were school trustees, that in my judgment they have leaned over backwards, in objecting to religious training after the school sessions. I hope that the very splendid example of liberality that has been exhibited in the Wasatch Stake of Zion may spread all over the stakes of Zion. I rejoice in hearing that those not of our faith in that stake of Zion had good fellowship and good will for the Latter-day Saints. That is as it ought to be. As I understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, it enjoins upon us to live lives of virtue, of charity, of uprightness, of fair and honorable dealing, so that all men seeing our good deeds shall glorify God and shall be led to investigate the gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the elders in the Church, at home and abroad. ¶

I can indorse the statement made by President Hinckley, that I do not know any person who has once had a testimony of this gospel who has ever lost that testimony unless he first failed to do his duty and to keep the commandments of God. The writings of James, wherein he says that faith without works is dead, that it is like the body without the spirit, have always appealed to me. I have discovered that dead faith, among professed Latter-day Saints, comes from the failure to be honest with the Lord in the payment of our tithes and offerings, the failure to observe what is known as the Word of Wisdom, the failure to attend to secret and family prayers, and the failure to live a life of pure religion as James puts it down, which is to visit the widow and the orphan and to relieve the distress of those that are needy. It is this class and this class only, so far as I have ever seen, and the class who commit sin, who lose their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I rejoice beyond my power to tell, that as men grow in good deeds, as they grow in love for their fellows, as they grow in absolute honesty in their dealings with their fellow men, as their lives are shown to be worthy of the imitation of all men, that those who so live grow and increase in a burning testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged, and that there are no doubts or dubieties which cross their minds as to the inspiration of the Lord to His servants who stand at the head of this work. ¶

We have heard gratitude expressed by many of the speakers because they, like Nephi of old, have been born of goodly parents. I feel that I would be unworthy the wonderful teachings and the magnificent and splendid example of a widowed mother who reared me, if I too did not lift my voice here today and thank God for a mother who loved Him, who loved the religion of Jesus Christ, whose life was an example above reproach, than whom I knew no more loyal, patriotic and true woman among the Latter-day Saints. I thank the Lord for my father, although I never knew him. I have had love lavished upon me by the leaders of this Church and by influential men from one end of this country to the other, because of the love and respect which they felt for my father. Particularly was this the case with the late President John R. Winder, who often told me that the first encouraging word and helping hand, and the first loyal friend that he found in Utah was my father; and he certainly paid and repaid this love four fold, by love and kindness and encouragement and blessing to me and other members of my father's family. It is indeed a wonderful and a splendid thing to be born of goodly parents; and it is one of the saddest of all sad things where the sons and the daughters of goodly parents are recreant to the faith of their parents, when they are careless and indifferent, where they fail to honor their fathers and their mothers, and thereby fail to honor their God, where they follow after the things of this world, and allow the ideas of men to blind them. ¶

I particularly enjoyed the remarks of President Smith. Many of them came home to me; and with the help of the Lord I propose to practice his teachings and to see to it that they shall not be to me as a "dead faith." They particularly impressed me when I realized that upon very many occasions I had been guilty of referring to the faults and the failings of people, instead of magnifying their good deeds. With the help of the Lord I propose to try and learn to sing the favorite song of my counselor in the Tooele Stake of Zion, and my successor, the late Hugh S. Gowans, "Nay speak no ill, a kindly word can never leave a sting behind," etc. ¶

I thank the Lord for my intimate association, from a little child, with President Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and with President Joseph F. Smith. I thank the Lord that I have never known anything but good in all my association for fifty years with these men. I remember very distinctly, when a child six years of age, a conversation with President Brigham Young; and for fifty years I have never heard in public or in private anything fall from the lips of the servants of God, who have been chosen to stand at the head of this work, but what was for the uplift and the betterment of the people of God. I know, as I know that I live, that those men who have passed away were in very deed God's representatives upon the earth, and that Joseph F. Smith is the Lord's anointed today. I know that each and every one of us who are loyal, who are true, who are patriotic, who learn the lesson that "obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams," will be blessed of God, that He will magnify us, and that as we sustain His representative He will sustain us. God bless all Israel, and help us all to be loyal and true, and to serve Him with full purpose of heart. I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶