Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and Daniel's interpretation

My brethren and sisters, the violin solo to which we have just listened rendered by Romania Hyde, was beautiful indeed, and speaks well for home talent. ¶

The words of counsel, testimony and instruction which have already been spoken at this conference are very precious to us. I think that we ought to be thankful that we have our file leaders with us today, the Presidency of the Church, and the president of the Twelve Apostles, and that .these men are strong in limb and body, and powerful in utterance. Surely we ought to give heed to their counsels. ¶

I trust, my brethren and sisters, that during the few moments T occupy I may have an interest in your faith and prayers, that T shall be able to say something that will be appropriate to this great gathering of Latter-day Saints, and that shall be comforting, encouraging and instructive. ¶

Tn ancient times a very remarkable thing happened, remarkable because it had a bearing and an influence upon the destiny of the world, to the latest generation. You ¶

will perhaps remember that upon one occasion Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, called into his presence Daniel, a young Hebrew, one of the chosen race, and demanded of this young man two things which the magicians of Babylon, the wise men, had not been able to do. One was that the young man should bring to the mind of the king a dream that he had dreamed, and then that he should give the interpretation thereof. Daniel replied and said that of himself he could not do this, but that the God of Heaven could do it. and would intervene and give the interpretation of the dream. So Daniel told the great king that in his dream he had seen a mighty image, and that this image represented the kingdoms of the world which should follow. Now, brethren and sisters, it is a fact that subsequent history has shown the exact fulfillment of Daniel's prophetic statement, so far as the world has progressed. ¶

It seems that Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, represented the head of gold, .and that the great kingdom of the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus and Darius, represented the arms and shoulders of the image ; and following this was the powerful kingdom of Macedonia. Daniel did not name the kingdoms ; perhaps he didn't know what their names would be, but he described them ; and the great kingdom of Macedonia, under Alexander the Great and others, were represented by the belly and thighs of the image, which were of brass. Then came the mighty empire of Rome under the Caesars, which had in it the power and strength of iron, to break in pieces, to trample down and destroy. The Roman Empire, which later was split in twain, was represented by the legs of the image. The comparison, you will see, is very correct and beautiful. After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the kingdom was divided into a number of smaller kingdoms, and these were represented by the feet and toes of the image, which were composed of iron and miry clay ; that is to say, these kingdoms would have in them the strength of iron and the weakness of clay, and would not therefore cleave together. We know that they did not cleave together, that these kingdoms, the present monarchies of Europe, are divided and are at this moment engaged in a great world conflict. ¶

But Daniel said, and this is the particular thing I want to call your attention to, that "in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch," he said, "as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God of heaven has made known to the king things which would come to pass hereafter, and" he said — and I presume he said it with strong emphasis, "the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure." Now, we claim that this kingdom predicted by Daniel has been set up. But a stranger might ask, "Why, Mr. Claw son, surely you do not maintain that the kingdom referred to by Daniel has been set up in this day and age of the world?" Why, if that be the case, didn't this event attract world-wide attention? Did it not create a sensation ?" No, it ¶

did not. "How do you account for that?" Well, I think the answer would be that it was overlooked, because the Lord works in a very quiet and logical way. He works through, men, through mortal men, and sometimes it may not appear to the natural eye that the Lord is doing it, that His hand is in it. Sometimes we can only discern these things spiritually, by our faith, by our spiritual sight. It was overlooked, possibly, very much as the coming of the Messiah was overlooked by the Jews. They expected that He would come with demonstrations of great power, and of majesty and might ; but instead of that He came into the world in a very humble manner. He was born in a manger, and was known in His country as the son of Joseph and Mary, Joseph the carpenter. Therefore, the Jews did not perceive that He was the Savior. Thev rejected and crucified Him. ¶

So with reference to this great latter-day kingdom. The stranger might then ask, very consistently, "If that be the case will you kindly tell me how it was established?" Well, it happened in this way. Many years ago a boy by the name of Joseph Smith, who was nearing his fifteenth year — this was in 1820 — was seriously agitated over religious matters, due to a great revival in his neighborhood. He had a spiritual longing ; he was seeking for the true church ; he had not been able to find it. The contention was so serious, and the difference of opinion so great, that he could not determine which of all the sects was the true church, and so he followed the advice of James, the Apostle, who said, "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God. who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, and it ¶

shall be given him." This young boy relied upon the word of the Lord. He never had prayed vocally, but he believed in the scriptures. He believed what James said, and thought he would venture. So he went out into the woods to pray, a mere stripling of a boy, and had a very wonderful experience. It can be told much better in his own words than I could tell it. Remember, brethren and sisters, and friends that these words, which were written by Joseph Smith, the prophet, and this manifestation was given to him at a very youthful period of his life. He said : ¶

"So in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never, as yet, made the attempt to pray vocally. ¶

"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as t o bind my tongue, so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. ¶

"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction — not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual bein^ from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being — just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. ¶

"Tt no sooner appeared than I found ¶

myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, (pointing to the other), 'This is My beloved Son, hear Him!' ¶

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sonner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right, and which I should join. ¶

"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that they draw near to Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me ; 'they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.'" ¶

This was a most remarkable manifestation of God's goodness and love to the boy Joseph. It seems that the Father and Son manifested themselves in person to him, proving that they were beings of personage ; so that it would not be necessary to go to the scriptures to prove this fact, although it could be easily proven from the scriptures. He saw with his eyes and heard with his ears, and the testimony he gives to the world, and transmits to us, is that God is a being of body, parts and passions, in the form of man. and that the Son is the express image of the Father, but separate and distinct from Him. What a glorious revealment was this, what a glorious new revelation to the world, to confirm the old revelations con- • tained in the scriptures. ¶

Xow, the thing that I want to stronglv emphasize is this, that although Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son, and although he heard their voices, this did not give him authority to act in their name, or to establish the Church of God, for that is exactly what he subsequently did. But before he could move in the direction of founding the Church of God he must have divine authority. That came to him later, as he testified, then, on the 15th day of May, in 1829, the Angel, John the Baptist appeared to him and Oliver Cowdery, and laying his hands upon their heads said: "Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Aaronic Priesthood, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and this shall not again be taken from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering to the Lord in righteousness." ¶

Thus Joseph Smith received the authority, and the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood. Then a little later Peter, James and John, who held the Melchizedek, or High Priesthood, appeared and laid their hands upon his head ordaining him to the apostleship. Thus he received the power of the High Priesthood, as previously he was clothed upon with the power of the Lesser Priesthood. With this great and glorious authority, he organized the Church on the 6th day of April, 1830, with six members. ¶

That which followed has confirmed the truth of Joseph Smith's testimony to the world, because in the eighty-five years that have passed away the Latter-day Saints have grown to be a mighty people in the Rocky Mountains; and, moreover, they are thoroughly organized. Now, what do we have? Why, we have sixty-seven stakes of Zion. and between -seven hundred ¶

and eight hundred wards. We have Latter-day Saints, members of the Church, numbering hundreds of thousands, growing out of this very small beginning. And what more do we have? Why, we have a President of the Church, a Prophet of God, who stands in the same relation to the Church as Peter did in his day. He holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven upon the earth, and, in connection with his counselors, presides over the Church. We have Twelve Apostles, we have a presiding Patriarch of the Church, Seven Presidents of the first council of Seventy ; and a Presiding Bishopric. These constitute the general authorities of the Church. We have also presidents of stakes, high councilors, bishops of wards and their counselors, to preside locally in the Church. And what further do we have? Why, we have a great body of Priesthood in the Church. There are 11,450 high priests, 11,112 seventies, 27,382 elders, a total of 49,944 men who hold the Higdi Priesthood of God. There are 8,830 priests, 10,607 teachers ; and 22,722 deacons, making 42,159 who hold the Lesser, or the Aaronic Priesthood, making a total of 92,103 who hold the Priesthood. These men have been organized into quorums and are being disciplined for war. The weapon that has been put into their hands is keen in cutting; it is like a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow. This weapon is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order that these men may become more familiar with the Gospel, courses of study are prepared for them, but I want to telt you, that these courses of study do not completely fit men for the great conflict. It is the Spirit of God, theHoly Ghost, that qualifies them, anr| ¶

these studies are simply a guide to help them along in the work. ¶

Now, let me sa)^ that when the shock of battle comes, men will not be struck down and destroyed, but they will be lifted up by this great army of Priesthood, and will be converted and rescued from sin and wickedness. That is the warfare in which we are engaged — to fight spiritual darkness, to fight against immorality, to fight against intemperance, to fight against dishonesty, evil-speaking and strife, to fight against the conflict between capital and labor. It is intended that with this weapon they shall correct every evil in the world, and bring peace and happiness to our Father's children, for our motto is. Peace on earth and good will to men. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, and the brethren particularly, remember the mark of your high calling. May the Lord bless you and help you to do your duty, help yon to give proper attention to the Priesthood, and thereby avail yourselves of every opportunity to prepare for the battle of the great God. I humbly ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶