Zion cannot be defiled

I am full of gratitude for the blessings that have come to me from my fathers and my mothers, both in heaven and on earth. I feel as I nearly always feel in the presence of an assembly of my brethren and sisters, that I need their faith and prayers; and if I get these I shall not have any occasion to ask for your attention. You have not come here to hear me. You have come here to hear the word of the Lord, and if I have been called by authority to be the instrument, feeble and unworthy as I am, why, the Lord will be praised for anything that I may say, and it will depend upon Him and you. ¶

During the remarks made at the opening of this conference, by President Smith, I was led to reflect, and I felt very keenly that he was actuated by the spirit of boldness and courage that came from his calling, reinforced by our Father. He did not ask what would increase his good favor among this people. He evidently had but one thought, and that thought was akin to that which inspired the Prophet Brigham when the question came up as to who was to lead the Church, and he remarked "I do not care who leads this Church, even though it were Ann Lee, but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it." And President Smith has but one consideration, "What is the will of the Lord concerning this people," and He has given it to us — the will of the Lord. There is a passage of scripture in one of the revelations, wherein the Lord says: ¶

"Inasmuch as My people build an house unto Me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come unto it that it be not defiled. My glory shall rest upon it." ¶

Some evil person might have come into that house, some apostate, some enemy might have sneaked in. Our great Temple here has been invaded by evil persons getting in there and taking pictures, thieves as they were; but it was not suffered. You did not consent to it; I did not consent to it; the authorities did not consent to it. Hence it could not be said that we suffered or permitted these things. President Smith can not sanction anything in Zion that will pollute her. ¶

We sang here today, "Let the mountains shout for joy;" and when that hymn was being sung I recalled a circumstance of last year when sixty-five eminent scientists were our guests. We were very desirous that they should know the truth concerning the character of our people, and we attempted to tell them the truth, when one of them said, "Don't talk, the mountains shout for you. See the canals at their base. The ground echoes the thoughts and character of your people. See the orchards, see the harvests, the fields; look at your buildings; they cry out what you are. It all speaks for you, and it gives the lie to all that has been said about you as a bad people." I thought in my soul, verily the prophecy is being fulfilled which said that the mountains should melt away. I believe in the literal melting away of the mountains of ice at the coming of the Ten Tribes from the North; but I believe also it may have a figurative meaning — the mountains of prejudice melting away before this people. I believe what the young missionary said when the minister said to him, "Why, you have Moses and the Prophets: why not listen to them?" He turned and said to him, "I would have you understand that Wilford Woodruff, in his place, is as great a prophet as Moses ever dared to be." I too believe that about President Woodruff. I believed that when I heard him say, during the time we were dedicating the Temple here, "From this date this people will begin to prevail among the nations of the earth." We, through the action of our fathers and our mothers had prevailed against the desert. We had prevailed against persecution. We had prevailed against the insidious inroads of vice, and we had produced a community of which God could say, through His Prophet, when that glorious house was finished, "They shall now prevail against the prejudices of the world." Have we done it? Think where we then stood politically. Think where we stood financially. Think where we stood educationally, at the time that prophecy was made; and then think where we stand now. ¶

Why, we through our proselyting are now confronted with ministers congregating and crying out, "We are powerless. Some laws must be enacted against these 'Mormon' elders." Is that prevailing? The "Mormons" have been branded — the Latter-day Saints — as an ignorant people. What is the condition today? Ask the college presidents of this and other nations about those of our number who are or have been away studying. Who would have said, who would have dared to say ten years ago, that one of the greatest universities in the United States would send to the Brigham Young University for one of its "Mormon" boy professors to come back to Chicago and occupy a professor's chair? And when our boys go out, they observe something that makes us think. One returned a few weeks ago. He said, "We are on the map educationally." It was said of him: "You are from the Brigham Young University?" "Yes." Of another it was said, "You are from the B. Y. College," and so on. ¶

Brothers and sisters, we are prevailing. Why are we prevailing in Zion? We are prevailing because we have refused to suffer Zion to be defiled. Zion cannot be defiled, because the Prophet of God will never consent, and there never has been, and there never will be, an official assent to the inroad of any iniquity among this people. As long as there is always an official phalanx standing up and refusing official sanction to the admittance of any evil in this Church, then Zion, the organization that God has established, cannot be defiled. "Individuals may be defiled," as Brother Maeser used to say. "The Lord has said that this kingdom shall never fail; but he has never said that I shall never fail." ¶

There is Zion, the pure in heart. There is Zion, this continent. There is Zion, the organization of the Church of God. Zion is glorious. Zion is the bride of Christ. Zion is that which we should defend. She is a ship of eternal state, and I am so glad, so happy to be a part of that great thing called Zion. ¶

Our President yesterday took the proper stand in refusing to let Zion be defiled. Now what is my mission? To go to my place, back to the Brigham Young University, and say to our force of teachers, we shall still refuse anything admittance into this school that will defile Zion. What is my duty next? To go to my own home, and do the same thing. To the bishops and the presidents of stakes I have nothing to say. They know they are the most responsible men in the Church under the general authorities. I know what is to be done. I know that if nothing had been done in this conference, but to listen to the word of the Lord yesterday, Israel would be well repaid. God bless you. Amen. ¶