Faith of Saints manifest by very large

My dear brethren, sisters, and friends, — we regret exceedingly that we have not a building sufficiently large to house all of the people who have come up to this Temple Block today to worship the Lord, and that so many have to stand during our service. I do believe, though, if we will try and concentrate our minds upon the things of God and His kingdom, having a desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth, that we will be able to stand the fatigue ; and, through our faith, receive from the Lord that which will encourage and comfort us, and build us up in our faith. ¶

The large Tabernacle is filled to overflowing ; perhaps ten thousand people are assembled there. The Assembly Hall is filled to overflowing ; perhaps between two and three thousand people there, and, as you can see, a large concourse of people here. It all reflects credit upon the Latter-day Saints, and interest on their part in the work of the Lord. Those who had the privilege of attending the opening session of our conference this morning, held in the large Tabernacle, and heard what President Joseph F. Smith had to impart by way of instruction, and report of conditions, will surely have no doubt in their minds as to the development of this great work, its growth and progress in the earth. ¶

I have great joy and satisfaction, my brethren and sisters, in my religion, my membership in this the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having the assurance that this work is the work of God, the power of God unto happiness and joy in this life, salvation and eternal life in the world to come. The principles and ordinances of the Gospel, which we have embraced as Latter-day Saints, are amply sustained by the scriptures. Those who have made an investigation, unbiased and thorough, will be convinced of this fact. ¶

There is a great satisfaction in being right. There is great disappointment in having been wrong upon any question ; and the more important the question, the greater the satisfaction or the disappointment, as the case may be. There is, my friends, no question of greater moment to the children of men than religion, the plan which God has instituted for the salvation of His children. I am thoroughly convinced that the time will come when all the problems of religion will be unraveled, and when that day comes, great will be the comfort of those who have been right, and great indeed will be the discomfiture of those who have been wrong upon this important question. ¶

When God placed man upon the earth and shut him out from His presence, and required him to live by faith, He did not leave him without evidences of the existence, the power, and the love of God. Those evidences are so many, and so potent that those who reject God and His existence are excluded from those who will receive salvation in His kingdom. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is" (Heb. 11:6). ¶

There is a class of people in the world, and they are very numerous, who are willing to accept God according to their own conception of Him, His existence, and of the immortality of the soul of man, who are not willing to accept of certain principles and ordinances of the Gospel necessary for their salvation, such as repentance from sin, the necessity for it as a condition of salvation, baptism by immersion in water for the remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost — these and other ordinances, and the necessity for their being administered by one whose authority God recognizes. When the time comes when all things will be understood, if it shall prove true as the scriptures teach and as we believe, that these principles and ordinances, as well as faith in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, are necessary to salvation, how much better off will we be who have accepted these great truths than those who have rejected them ; and if it were possible to be otherwise than true, would we not still be as well off as they, and if true we would be infinitely better off, we would have the satisfaction of having been right upon this great question. ¶

At any rate, we, as Latter-day Saints are on the sure side, as we have all that others accept of truth and many more truths, principles, and ordinances than they have. Indeed, this work which we have espoused, commonly known as "Mormonism," embraces all truth and all good. There is no truth or good that is not included in our religion, and there is nothing but truth and good included in it ; and these facts will be known to the world of mankind in time, if not at the present. ¶

If it shall prove true, my friends, as the scriptures teach and as we believe, that the Gospel is the plan which the Lord instituted from the foundation of the world, by which men can be saved in His kingdom and presence, and there is no other plan, and that it is the plan by which all men are to be judged, and that justice demands that it be taught to the dead as well as to the living, and that the ordinances which are necessary for the living are also necessary for the dead, what a satisfaction it will be when these things are known generally to those who have accepted of them. On the other hand, what a great disappointment it will be to those who have rejected, and how much better off we will be who have built temples and maintained them at such cost, who have procured at great cost and effort the genealogies of our dead, and have gone into the temples of the Lord and performed these ordinances for them ! I say, what a satisfaction it will be to us, and what a disappointment it will be to those who have rejected these principles. ¶

If it shall prove true, as we believe, and as the scriptures plainly teach, that a worthy man and woman joined together as husband and wife, under solemn covenant for time and for all eternity, that union solemnized in the Temple of the Lord as He has directed, by the authority which he has delegated to men, and those relationships maintained and recognized in the life beyond, and that they shall have eternal increase in the kingdom of God, — and that all other unions will not be so recognized, — what a satisfaction it will be to those who have accepted this divine truth, this great hope, and have yielded obedience unto it, and have been true and faithful in the keeping of their covenants ! On the other hand, what a great disappointment it will be to those who have rejected these scriptural and divine truths ! ¶

My brethren, sisters, and friends, we find that the Latter-day Saints are on the safe side of this great question from any angle that we may view it. Is it then to be wondered that when men come among us, and women too, proselyting, that they do not convert the Latter-day Saints to their faith, their creeds and denominations ? Is it a wonder that our missionaries who have been in the field by thousands, yes hundreds of thousands, at different times, have not been converted in the world by men who have been schooled for the ministry? Is it a wonder that hundreds of thousands of men and women in the world, honest and conscientious, have yielded obedience unto these principles, forsaking all that their former faith, or creeds, had to offer to them? Or is it a wonder that there are today, as there are, thousands of men and women who have come among us, not for religion's sake, many of whom, by investigation of these truths, have become converted, convinced, and have turned away from their former faith, and adopted the true faith, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? I say it is no wonder. The promise is that the truth shall be understood by the true individual, he whose heart is true before God, if he will seek with honest heart and purpose to know the truth, shall find it. "Seek and ye shall find." .By yielding obedience unto the commandments and the requirements of the Gospel, following the dictates of his conscience, he may obtain eternal life, and through obedience and faithfulness, he may know while yet in life, that his course is approved of the Lord, and that it will bring to him a reward of eternal life. ¶

I bear you my testimony, as a witness for the Lord this day, that I do know that these are the truths of God, that this Gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation, and exaltation, unto all who will obey faithfully its precepts, and there is no other plan instituted by the Gods for the salvation of the children of men ; in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶