Large numbers of influential people

It is very delightful to be in this conference, so generously attended on yesterday and a good-sized congregation this morning. The last six months have been remarkable for a variety of reasons. The war in the world, the peace at home, and our very remarkable Panama-Pacific expositions, have marked the period in a way never to be forgotten. The people of our nation, instead of going across the waters to the East, seem to have all come West, to see us, and we have been better seen and are becoming better understood than ever before. A larger volume of people, interested and influential in our nation, as well as from other parts of the world, have come to visit us, to look us over, and to learn of us. And although the troubles in the world have prevented many of our elders from going into the mission fields to preach the Gospel, yet those who are there have been very faithful and have accomplished a splendid work. Opportunities are given to local people to take care of the branches and to enter into the ministry, to assist the brethren sent from Zion, and the work is progressing, and Zion triumphs and prospers gloriously in the earth. We have very little reason to complain — fruitful season, peace abiding with us, and union and good fellowship among us and with many peoples of the world. ¶

We were certainly interested in the report of conditions of the Church and what it had accomplished, by the President yesterday, and the doctrinal talks and discourses by his counselors and other brethren were intensely interesting. I am delighted to have laid before the Latter-day Saints, so generally as was done by the President yesterday, in regard to the course of the labors of our elders in the midst of the people, officiating as teachers among the people, and the lesson laid down that will be preserved, and that will be remembered much better than though the same lesson, possibly, had been taught by each of the bishops of the Church, to their company of officiating teachers and elders. It was simple, brief, and to the point. Of course, every man who serves as a teacher among the people is expected to officiate, and labor, and instruct as the Spirit of the Lord gives him utterance; but the principle was laid down so nicely and beautifully for us yesterday, it may well be remembered and practiced upon. For every man is a teacher who labors among the people, from the Presidency of the Church and the general authorities, down to those who bear the Aaronic Priesthood. All are teachers, and are expected to be occupied in that calling on all occasions, living teachers, working among the people by their precept and by their example. And thus the Latter-day Saints are better taken care of, possibly, than any other people in the world. ¶

And the Latter-day Saints are a prayerful people. It was announced a day or two ago in the papers that the President of the United States had let it be known to his cabinet that he believed in prayer. It seemed to be quite an event in the history of so prominent and remarkable a man as the leader of this nation. He is, of course, a religious man and announced the fact to his cabinet that he believed in prayer, but he had not, at that time, found out whether his cabinet were believers in prayer or not. They belong, no doubt, to different faiths, different churches. But the Latter-day Saints are all prayerful. From day to day we pray, morning and evening in a general manner for the welfare, not only of the Latter-day Saints and Zion, but we pray for our neighbors, we pray for our friends, we pray for the President of the United States, we pray for his cabinet, we pray for the members of Congress, we pray for the officials who serve us politically as well as those who serve us religiously, and possibly we are remarkable in that regard. I have not known, so far as my acquaintance goes, any people that have been so strictly trained, and are held to an account to remember the Lord. And every week of our lives, when we attend strictly, as we should do, to our worship, we pray before the Lord and partake of the emblems of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, witnessing to the Father that we remember Him and His Son, and that we are under obligation and covenant with Him to serve Him and keep His commandments. And how thoroughly the brethren and sisters who were with us yesterday, and those who are here today, are trained in this discipline! We are in close touch with the inspiration of the Lord, through our faith, through our works, and a lifelong training; and we are a people of peace, a people of justice, and a people of righteousness and morality. ¶

A moral people are the Latter-day Saints, for no true Latter-day Saint is immoral. When a Latter-day Saint becomes immoral, he ceases to be a Latter-day Saint. If he becomes dishonest, if he is wicked and corrupt in any degree whatever, it deprives him of being a Latter-day Saint. We have a testimony abiding in our hearts in regard to the truth, in regard to the revelations of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and the doctrines that were stated so simply and plainly, and interestingly, to us yesterday by President Penrose in a very brief manner, yet covering the ground, and indicating to us the way of life and salvation, how to serve the Lord, how to come into His presence and fellowship and to enter into covenant with Him, to serve Him while we live in the flesh and while engaged in a struggle and warfare with Satan in this probation. ¶

The brethren who sit before me here, leading, prominent brethren of the Church, coming from all over gathered Israel, Zion, are model men. I thought, when two of our stake presidents and two of our mission presidents appeared and spoke to us yesterday afternoon, that we have 72 just such men as those who talked to us, and they have each two counselors; and we have quite a number of mission presidents, the same as those who talked to us yesterday. These are leading men, and they are surrounded by men of strength and influence, and character, that are devoted and faithful to the cause of Zion and to the truth, and in the hearts of these men burn always the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

And we are so delighted to recognize the fact that we are dwelling in the land of Zion, that peace abides here, and is to abide here upon this land. We have had our share already, I trust, in war and trouble, and bloodshed, that commenced in the division between the North and the South very many years ago, as a fulfillment of prophecy. For the Lord had revealed to the Prophet Joseph that such would be the case. And we had war for years. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of our brethren went to their death in defense of the union. The war was fought, and I hope that our troubles, so far as war is concerned, are over, and that we shall not be drawn into the wars of the Eastern world, and have none of our own, and that our nation will be a nation of peace makers. The President seems to be thoroughly pledged, and his cabinet and his advisors, to maintain peace with honor, which is most delightful. And we expect the time to come that in Europe, and other parts of the world, where men are not willing to take up their swords against their neighbor, they will need flee to the land of Zion for safety, and that here they shall find peace. We pray for peace, we live for it, we labor for it, and make some sacrifices and do all that is possible for us at all times. We pray for those who are in trouble. There is no sense, no judgment, no wisdom in the prosecution of wars as is being done in the world today. It is a shame and a disgrace to Christians or pagans to do what is being done today in the world. It ought not to be, and we are laboring to correct those conditions as far as we possibly can in our own lives. ¶

I want to say for the Latter-day Saints, according to my observation, we have been so well trained, so thoroughly trained for so many years until peace abides in our own homes, in our own families, in our neighborhoods, in our wards, in our stakes; and the bishops with their courts, presidencies and high councils of stakes, with their courts, have very little serious difficulties to attend to, because the people are so thoroughly trained that they know just exactly how to settle their own difficulties, and to live in peace and to make peace and pursue it with each other. Zion is triumphing and prospering in the earth, and the Latter-day Saints are becoming known and those who war upon us and try to make us trouble, do so at the expense of conscientiousness and honesty and morality, for we are working for righteousness in the earth and to save the people. We travel for the salvation of the children of men. That is the ministry that has been conferred upon the Latter-day Saints through the revelations of the Gospel to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The testimony in regard to the divinity of his mission and the divinity of the mission of the Savior, is established thoroughly in the hearts of all Latter-day Saints. For, having done the will of the Lord, the testimony abides in our souls and we are grateful and thankful to our brethren, who are one with us in our ministry in officiating at home or officiating abroad. We are making every effort that we possibly can to put able, well-informed and influential men into the field to preach the Gospel, and we trust that the time will soon come when the Gospel shall be preached to every nation, that it may be taken everywhere, and there shall be no obstacles in the way, and that peace may be established among the nations. ¶

We thank you, my brethren and sisters, for your generous attendance here. We love to have you come to headquarters and meet with us. We go to you, we go to every stake and give attention and care, not only to the stakes, but to wards and quorums and organizations in the Church, giving our attention all the time to the labor that is required, that the Church may be in order and the Latter-day Saints may be thoroughly instructed and trained. And they have before them always in their midst established and reliable men, upon whose counsel and instruction they can always depend. And the Latter-day Saints never go astray when they rely upon counsel. And they know the counsel that they should rely upon and depend upon, for it is always in their reach. We not only have the presidency of the Church and the general authorities, but in every stake, in every ward and in every mission, there is a head that can be relied upon, depended upon and trusted to give forth the word and will and counsel of the Almighty. Always when brethren or sisters have gone astray in any degree whatever, it is because they have done so contrary to the counsels of the Lord to His servants, and His servants are always at our elbow ready to give us correct and reliable direction and instruction. Let us remember this and never do what we do not know to be right. Be sure that we are right and then go ahead. And if we follow our file leader, we will not go far astray; and our file leaders are those that walk the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. ¶

We should not be led astray by those who are in error. We want to be established and firm and settled and fixed in our purposes to serve the Lord and keep His commandments while we live in the flesh. Our lives are not very lengthy, this probation is short, and possibly well enough that it is, but we should magnify our callings and position and responsibility in the Priesthood, and as members of this Church, as advocates of the truth, and examplars in all things. These brethren that stand at our head and are entrusted with the care of the people, are model men, or should be, in all things, serving God and giving forth the true sound, that we are one with those who lead us and we should be one with our Savior and Redeemer, as also with the prophet who has been before us, and those who have served us since his passing away, for these men have been true and devout and faithful without exception. They have honored God and have listened to His counsel and direction in all things and have been reliable, as they are today. Those who lead us today, you can depend upon their counsel and it is our duty and business to know exactly where they stand, what they advise, what they counsel, and what they direct us to do, and Zion will triumph and prosper gloriously. ¶

I do not care to take much time this morning. Time is brief of course, in our conference. The Lord is with us by His Spirit and He is softening the hearts of men toward us. He is helping us to maintain peace upon this side of the world. And He moves not only upon the hearts of Latter-day Saints and the people of this Church, but He is moving upon the hearts of men as far as men will listen and heed His warning. He is sounding the truth to them and calling them to repentance and reformation, and works of righteousness. Let us take our part and carry the responsibility that is upon our shoulders and magnify our callings and positions as Latter-day Saints in the earth, and we will have great joy in time, and salvation and exaltation in the world to come, when Satan will have been baffled and defeated and we will be victorious, not only in the world to come, but in this world also, for the Lord will vindicate the truth on earth as well as in heaven. May the Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters, may His Spirit fill our hearts and souls now and forever in all departments where we labor, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶