Gathered Out of Every Land and Clime

I think it is Winston Churchill, in his rather remarkable book "Inside of the Cup" that says: "The test of any doctrine is whether or not it can be translated into life, whether it will make those better who believe and obey it." This quotation and thought has come to me this day in listening to the remarks of my brethren. In the same book the same author puts it into the mouth of one of his characters to say, in speaking to a minister of the gospel: "O if you only knew the yearning that exists in this great city for a religion that will satisfy the soul !" These two quotations have come to me, I say, during the day. and I am so grateful that, so far as my soul is concerned, the religion of Jesus Christ, as I understand it, satisfies. And more than that, I am willing that this test, as to whether or not this doctrine may be translated into life, may be made in the case of the members of the Church. To me one of the greatest evidences that the doctrines of the Church are translated into life, yea indeed become life itself. is the fact that out of every land and clime have been gathered people with various thoughts of life, with various habits of life. ¶

From the southern parts of Europe, the Slavs have been gathered ; from the Central, the Teutons ; from the north, the Saxons and the Britons and various peoples from the islands of the sea, and they have become one homegenious whole, welded together by a power that is a marvel to many people who make a study of the Church. "Translated into life." These doctrines are life to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have brought our people from foreign lands, many from scenes of poverty. The elders have gone forth preaching this word among the poor, the poor have been gathered here to this goodly land. These people who have received the Gospel have made good homes, they have reared good families. They have sent their sons back to the land of their forefathers as missionaries ; and what wonderful changes one generation has wrought in the lives of the people. ¶

Young men are called from various walks of life, from the farm, from the store, from the schoolroom, and from the various professions, that go out humbly, yet willing to receive the impressions and willing to work, and they have become valiant and courageous and able defenders of God's work. They become men who are not afraid to meet the learned of the earth and talk to them upon the principles of the Gospel. Have these doctrines been translated into life? Look again. See a man as' he is in his native place, often in wickedness, turn and in the face of the world embrace this Gospel with sincere ¶

soul, turn around and become a good, honest, God-fearing man. I have known of the influences of the Gospel to take hold of young men while riding upon the range, and have melted them to tears. Ther would get off their horses and ask God's forgjiveness. The light of the Gospel has come into their souls, and they have been .better, aye, a thousand times better, for the Spirit and power of God that has come to them when they have put their soul.^ in a condition to receive the Gospel and its benefit and light. It ha.^ impressed itself upon our boys to go to school, because they have learned that the glory of God is intelligence, and that a man cannot be saved in ignorance. Therefore, all over the land, and all over the Church, young men and young wo^ men are filled with a desire to learn, to know, to become better, to feel what there is in life itself. They have learned to feel life, to know what life is, by seeing and feeling the brighter life translated into their lives ; it has become part of their very lives, through the Gospel. ¶

Does it satisfy the soul? Ask these men who have gathered from those lands and made homes among the happy people who are true to the Church. Ask them if they are satisfied, and they will answer. Yes, I am thankful to God that out in the world I heard this word ; I heard and embraced it. Satisfied? They never knew happiness until this message came to them. Ask the boy who wants to study. Ask him who wants to g'et into the mysteries of life, are you satisfied? To him this life is not what Ingersoll said it was '"A narrow vale between two cold and barren peaks of eternity." No, it is not so with a man who comes in and studies this Gospel. Tt is an explanation to him of life before he came here, of life here and of life hereafter. No depth, no height, no width to which he may not go in the study of the problems of life. There are things revealed, light revealed sufficient to satisfy the most learned student, who with prayerful heart goes in and asks God to unlock to him the mysteries of the life hereafter, as well as life before coming here. ¶

Ask the man or the woman who is called to part with a loved one, with a child, for instance. I have seen it; you have seen it, my brethren. You have been called, and vou have gone to administer to the sick. We have seen the sick, in dozens of instances, praise God that His power is manifest in the Church. At times, it is true. God has called home our loved ones, and still are we satisfied. You and I have witnessed it. I have myself gone into the homes where death has come, and I have seen broken-hearted — may I say that — at least sorrowful fathers and mothers, weeping over the bier of their children, but they have looked up through their tears, and said : "I thank God, for I know my child still lives, and though God has taken him or her from me, they still live, and the Lord liveth and the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, and blessed be the name of the Lord." Where else can you find such satisfaction? Where else can you find such true happiness? Where else can you go to find the soul-satistion that you can find in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? And if this author's test is a true one, if this work is to be judged and measured by its power to be translated into the lives of its people, or if it is to be measured by its power to satisfy the soul. ¶

we say that the requirements are met. ¶

Now, in conclusion, one thought — the satisfaction that comes to me and to you, in this work to impart strength. The strength of the Gospel lies in this truth, that I have the right to know for myself whether this work is true or not. I have a right to have my soul satisfied along this line. So have you. And the strength of this work, I repeat, lies in the fact that all men may know God and know of this doctrine ; that out in the Stakes of Zion, all over the world where the Gospel is preached, men and women rise up and declare, in words of soberness, that they know that this work is true, that God has revealed it to them. We sustain the authorities of the Church, not because we know them personally, but because God has called them to positions which they occupy, and we know it. We know this work is true, and therefore we sustain and uphold them. ¶

God bless us all, that the testimony of the 'truth may be with us and make our hearts rejoice. I feel sure in my knowledge of the glorious truths God has revealed, and may we all feel that into our lives are translated the glorious truths of the Gospel, that we shall show the effect of that translation by our conduct, in just and true and pure lives, and if we shall do it, the results will follow, and our souls will be satisfied. God bess us to this end, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶