It is with great joy and

It is with great joy and thanksgiving that I am able to meet this afternoon in this congregation with the Latter-day Saints in general conference. You who sit down in the body of the audience cannot look upon this vast congregation as we do who are on the stand. We have a magnificent sight before us. The beauty of the congregation is enhanced in my view by the absence of so much millinery as we used to have in our congregations many years ago. We not only behold the countenances of our brethren, even the bald heads, but also we can see the faces of our sisters, not disfigured by any frills or furbelows or artificial flowers or any encumbrance, and the view is very fine. I rejoice in it. If it was only to look upon this congregation this afternoon that I was privileged to do, I should feel very thankful, but having the opportunity of saying a few words, bearing my testimony to the truth of the great work in which we are all engaged, I am doubly thankful; also for the measure of health and strength that I have, as during the winter that is about over, I hope, I have been somewhat affected by the grippe. I either had the grippe or the grippe had me ; perhaps both. But I am able to be here ¶

today and to rejoice in the good things that have been given to us, the words spoken by our President this morning and by President Lund and by Brother Callis who bore a powerful testimony at the close of the services. I enjoyed it all very much, and I rejoice in the Spirit that is present this afternoon, and hope that by its help I may be able to say something worthy of your hearing and remembrance. ¶

I have prepared no discourse for this conference ; I am not in the habit of doing that. Still, I have ideas passing through my mind, but I generally find when I come to conference that the things I thought about are not those that come to my memory, so I have to trust in the inspiration of the time, which I do now, desiring in my soul that I may say that which is right and which can be understood by those who listen, and will be of profit to somebody if not to everybody present. ¶

Home Production and Home Savings

This morning when the President was speaking in regard to the conservation of our foodstuffs and our production of the things that we need for home consumption, and the wisdom of sending out for export as much or more, if possible, than that which comes in, I reverted to the old instructions given years and years ago in this house, and sometimes before this house was erected, by President Brigham Young and his then immediate associates. That was one of their regular themes — home production and home savings. We have a good deal of talk now about the conservation of our products. Well, we have been in the habit, or were some years ago, of practicing this. It was one of the texts preached upon and one of the policies urged upon us, and, to a very great, extent, carried out as far as we could in the conditions in which we were then placed. But latterly there has been, no doubt, very much extravagance. What I mean by that is not getting a number of things we were not able to get, but having our desires, our wishes, go beyond our necessities and indulging in luxuries, some of which are not beneficial, but to the contrary, to the human body. These things were pointed out to us this morning very clearly, and I hope those remarks will have their impression upon the Latter-day Saints. ¶

It is very poor policy for a people like us to be exporting little or nothing and importing a great deal, importing very often things that we could produce ourselves at home, if we would be prudent and wise and industrious and careful. Particularly I have noticed the waste of fruit, bushels and bushels rotting upon the ground, and then sending to California for canned fruit. There is no place where we can get better peaches than we can raise right here in Utah. They have a special good flavor to me. When I have been away from here and could get a peach raised in Utah, it was indeed a peach to me. I speak of this merely as a sample of other things that we do, waste what we raise at home, then send out and buy it from abroad. It is very poor policy and I echo the remark that it is indeed a shame and a disgrace to some of us. I know that there are excuses for this and some reasons perhaps, but I think that the ¶

intimation made to us by the President this morning should be sufficient to us all to do what we can to save that which we produce and to put it to good use, not to "strew our ways to strangers" or strew our fruits on the ground to be of no use to anybody. I think if we will get that idea into our minds it will suffice in regard to a great many things that we do produce, and perhaps stir us up to produce things that we do not now bring forth either from the ground or by our industry and our skill. ¶

Saviors on Mount Zion

I have thought during this conference many times of a text which we have used very freely in the world, not particularly in relation to this subject, but, I think, just as applicable to it as to other things, that in the last days "saviors should come up on Mount Zion -to judge the mount of Esau ; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." If my memory serves me right, it is the last verse in the book of Obadiah, in the Old Testament scriptures. We have used that text a good deal in regard to the salvation of the dead. I have seen a periodical recently in which it is stated that the only way in which we can become saviors on Mount Zion, is to be baptized for our dead. Without desiring to say one word against that, I would only like to strike out the word "only." I think there are many ways by which the Latter-day Saints can become "saviors on Mount Zion." The work that we are doing for the dead, performing for those who have departed, ordinances which they cannot themselves attend to, but which we can do for them by proxy, is a grand and glorious work, and I am pleased to know that it is going on to a very large extent. In all the temples that are built, the four temples that we now have in our use, thousands upon thousands of baptisms for the dead are performed from month to month, and we have the reports come to us in the President's Office so that we can see what is being done in that direction, and the work is really marvelous. Of course, when we consider the hosts of the departed who are in the spirit world and who never had the opportunity of receiving those ordinances of salvation, the number may appear rather small by comparison, but the work will go on not only in this condition that we find ourselves in, but when the glorious millennial day shall be fully ushered in, temples will be built at various points on this great land of Zion which extends from the north of the continent to the south thereof, and the work for the dead will continue, and the saviors on Mount Zion will be multiplied in our posterity, if we happen to have gone away from here by that time, and it will go on until the work is fully consummated, and all that is needful to be done shall be performed for the redemption of those who have passed away without having an opportunity of hearing the gospel and obeying the commandments of the Lord in relation thereunto. ¶

It is a grand and glorious work, and I wish to impress it upon the minds of my brethren and sisters gathered in this great audience today, that a duty rests upon them to continue this work, and to do all that they can that it may be properly accomplished according to the mind and will and commandment of the Lord, for the commandment is upon us and ¶

it is necessary to our perfection as well as the perfection of our ancestors that these ordinances shall be performed, and none of our work will be wasted. The time will come when those who do not at first accept the gospel even in the spirit world will, through the experiences which they will have to suffer, be willing to bow the knee to King Emmanuel and acknowledge him to be the Lord, to the glory of God, the Father, and every ordinance performed for them will stand in its place and effect its object at some period or other. ¶

Many Ways of Being Saviors

But there are a great many other things in which we can be saviors. We can be saviors if we carry out the instructions given to us this morning, that is, to take care of that which we produce and put it to proper service, and use it in preference to sending away to other places to get articles that would be perhaps inferior ; but, whether or not, that we should use that with which the Lord has blest us in the land that he has given to us in these mountain valleys and which can be made to produce almost everything that is absolutely necessary for our comfort and convenience as a people and as individuals. If we will take away with us from this conference the desire and determination in our hearts that we will carry out this instruction in the spirit and meaning thereof, it will amount to a great deal for the spiritual as well as the temporal salvation of the people and everyone will be a savior on Mount Zion who aids in this glorious work. ¶

We are to be saviors of men, too, in sending or carrying the gospel to every nation, kindred and tongue and people. That is imposed upon us; that is required of us. We are here on the earth with a mission to perform. Every Latter-day Saint, every man and woman and boy and girl born in the covenant or who has received it, is under obligations to do all that is possible for the sending forth of the word of the Lord to all the nations of the earth. A good many of my brethren here on this stand and around have been out to the world, and we have done our part as far as we could in sounding a warning to the nations of the earth. We have traveled extensively among the nations that are now at war. We have preached and lifted up our voices and warned them of troubles and judgments to come, and now these things are upon them. We see the fulfilment of the words of the Lord ; and while we do not rejoice in human suffering, we cannot help rejoicing in the fact that the Lord made known to us, years and years ago, that these things would come, and showed us how we might escape and. help others to escape them. I remember the words of Isaiah, the prophet, which we have often quoted, where he says unto Zion : ¶

''Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ¶

"For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain" (Isa. 26:20,21), ¶

These things have been literally fulfilled in our time and our experience; and how thankful we ought to be that we are here in these chambers of the mountains, that Zion, bringing good tidings, has come up into the high mountain as Isaiah predicted, that we are here dwelling in quiet places and peaceable resting places just as Isaiah saw that we would in the latter days, (chap, 32) and that in the midst of the troubles and .dangers that are abroad in the world, we have the consolation of having done our duty and warned the inhabitants of the earth of judgments to come. And the Lord said that after our testimony would come the testimony of earthquakes and of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds, of floods and fire and flame and the sword and wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in divers places, and these are but "the beginnings of sorrows" for the latter days. Now, we have done a great deal in warning the inhabitants of the earth concerning this, and those who have gone forth weeping sometimes, have come back bearing precious seeds and planted them right here in the chambers of these mountains, and we are surrounded by peace and good-will and kindness of heart among the ranks of the Latter-day Saints. ¶

Sometimes there is a little riffle here and there, a little contention, a little dispute, a little strife, but in the main "the peace of God that passeth all understanding" rests down in the hearts and in the homes of the Latter-day Saints. We can bow down before the Lord in the morning and in the evening and ask his blessings upon us when we partake of food, in the spirit of peace and kindness and charity and love for all, and we desire in our souls the welfare and salvation of mankind, and whatever there is to do in this direction we feel that we want to do it. As a people we have done something towards helping in bringing about the reign of truth and liberty and the establishment of good government and righteousness in the earth, but the end is not yet, and the work has yet to be done and there is more for us to do, that we may be indeed assistants in the salvation of mankind in these troublous times that have come upon the world. Our boys who go forth to the front representing us, go out in that spirit, as saviors who have come out of Mount Zion, bearing with them the spirit of Zion, setting a good example to their comrades, taking a course which will show that we are a people that observe the laws of health and of strength and of virility of manhood, living clean lives setting a good example to the world, and they are objects of the admiration of others who do not practice such good things. ¶

National and International Salvation

Now, "the end is not yet," as I have said. More will have to go, more means will have to be raised to carry on this good work and we are not doing it in the spirit of conquest or of a desire merely for victory over our fellow creatures, except to establish righteousness and truth and peace in the earth. The grand and glorious principles referred to by our President this morning embodied in the Constitution of our country have to be proclaimed, and if by means of war only they can be proclaimed ¶

the war will have to come and we will have to engage in the good work at any cost and at any sacrifice. In this our cause is salvation. We want to save the nations from bondage, from tyranny, from oppression, from the grasp of avarice and ambition. As alluded to by President Lund, there is a power in Europe which seeks to overspread the world and bring the whole earth under bondage. But the principles embodied in the Constitution of our country are at variance with this, and it is part of our mission as children of the Lord, as saviors on Mount Zion, to carry the spirit of good government, to establish peace on righteous principles, to extend freedom to all mankind, freedom to the full extent of human rights, preservative also of the rights of others. That is the genius of our government and this has to be carried abroad, and we had to go into strife "willy-nilly." We are with our country in this conflict. Let us be reasonable. Let us be liberal also in our feelings, not narrowed up in our souls, but feel that we are engaged in a great and glorious work for the salvation of humanity from oppression and tyranny and autocracy. That is part of our duty, part of our work as saviors. ¶

The elders will remember that years ago we used to repeat that it was predicted by the Prophet Joseph Smith that the time would come when even the very Constitution of our country would be in danger, and the elders of this Church would arise in the might and the power of the Holy priesthood and bear the standard of liberty aloft, and save, or help to save, this country, from the evils of oppression and tyranny and bloodshed. Let us remember these things and while we are doing the work of salvation for the dead, let us continue in the work of salvation for the living. Let us produce that which we need for our own sustenance and comfort, and what we save thereby we can use for the benefit of people abroad, and we can plant in the hearts of our children a desire to do that which is right, to keep God's commandments, and train them up in the ranks of his kingdom, for "the kingdom is the Lord's." It is true, that we Latter-day Saints in these mountains in Utah, form a part of the great government of the United States. That is all right ; thank God for it, that we have influence in this Nation and that our influence is growing and we are getting better understood, and the way is opening up for the fulfilment of all things spoken of concerning Zion and her power in the earth ; and let us use that power in wisdom and in righteousness, with discretion and judgment, and not go crazy about anything. ¶

Training Our Children in Righteousness

Now, in regard to our children. Brother Lund said considerable on this matter this morning. That is right. Let us train up our children in all things that are mentioned in our Sunday Schools, in our Religion Classes, in our Primary departments and in those for the older members of the youth of Zion, the Mutual Improvement Associations, sustaining at the same time that great and glorious institution, the Relief Society. All these auxiliaries are necessary in the Church ; and the Sunday Schools, of course ; they form a very great part. Brother Lund talked about them this morning, and I am adding a few words to what he said, which I wish ¶

to emphasize. There is need for us to instruct our children at home and in the Sunday School and in these classes, in morality, in honesty, in truthfulness and in integrity. ¶

A number of our children, it appears to me, do not have impressed fully upon their minds the need of telling the truth and of avoiding lies, falsehoods. They do not, all of them, understand the rightfulness and the benefits of using for themselves only that which is their own. I don't want to particularize too closely, but I have known of children who had just come out of Sunday School going rampant into orchards and stealing fruit, not thinking that they were doing very much harm, perhaps encouraged by the notion that a great deal of it was wasting on the ground. ¶

So, I see the need of teaching our children not only the Word of Wisdom, to abstain from certain things, I will not say a word against that, by any means, I would emphasize that, train up our children to do without these things that are injurious to the human body, but also instil into them, in the home particularly, truthfulness, honesty, integrity, respect for the rights of others. Don't let little children take toys that belong to their brothers and sisters without the permission of those to whom they belong. That is the idea. That is only a small matter, but the great principle is to train up our boys and girls that they will be honest and tell the truth, that they will not lie, that they will not take things that do not belong to them, that they will respect the rights of others. That is one of the fundamental principles of our faith. We want the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of our own consciences, unmolested, and we want to give that privilege to all mankind. That is part of our religion. So let us remember this, and in the schooling of our children don't forget to teach them these fundamental principles of righteousness and truth, for therein will be the strength of our people. Righteousness exalteth a nation. ¶

Peace Will Not Come Without Righteousness

We must have righteous government, good government or peace will not continue, but there will be war and trouble and strife and bloodshed and all the ills that have afflicted humanity for many years past. But the turning time is near at hand, the time of peace is to come and the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, is to come and be King of kings and Lord of lords. ¶

I believe in that with all my heart. I believe in Jesus Christ as an individual, not merely as an idea, not merely as a light not merely as an influence, but I believe in Jesus as the son of Mary and the Son of God, that he was the only begotten of the Father in the flesh and that he lived and set a splendid example, committing no sin, doing no evil obeying every commandment of the Father, and thus being a sinless being he could offer himself voluntarily as a sacrifice for sinners, and he died, "the just for the unjust," as Peter says, "that he might bring us to God." I believe in him, and that he will be our King, but before he comes to reign on the earth there will have to be a great preparation and it will take some time to bring it about. Of course, we understand that certain things predicted through the Prophet Joseph Smith are to take place before this generation shall pass away, and the Lord will see to it that the generation in which those things were predicted will not all pass away until all shall be fulfilled, but there is no fixed period for a generation, no set time in the revelations of God, no year or date given when these things shall take place, and it is folly for anybody to put a date to it. Leave that in the hands of the Lord and he will take care that his word is fulfilled; "not one jot or one tittle shall pass away," as Jesus declared, "but all shall be fulfilled." ¶

Reverence for the True and Living God

In training up our children we must also plant in their minds belief in and reverence for a living and true God, the Father of their spirits, that they may learn the lesson that Paul taught, that "we have fathers of our flesh who corrected us and we gave them reverence, but how much rather should we be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live." Belief in a Being, a personal God, that is the very foundation and beginning of our faith. "We believe in God, the Father, and in Jesus Christ, his Son, and 'in the Holy Ghost," and we believe in them as individuals who are at the head, who form the presiding quorum as a trinity in unity, the power being in them and proceeding forth from them, and "by and through them and of them the worlds were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God." And in sending out of the State for books of instruction for our children, let us be careful that we don't bring in too much of the nonsense that is incorporated in some of the text-books of the times, the ideas and notions of men, the theories and inferences and reasonings of men, not real, solid, substantial facts or the actual truth. God is the Author of all things in the universe that have been organized for progress and for salvation and for blessing. He is at the head of this Church. ¶

Revelations of the Prophet the Word of God

The revelations that we have are not simply utterances of the Prophet Joseph or others to whom they have been given. They are the word of the Lord. Don't let us forget that. When we talk about Joseph Smith as a scientist, that is all right when we go to show that things revealed to him as truths have since been received and understood by the learned of the age and have come to them without knowing that he predicted them, but was he their author? We do not pit him against them, but we take the word of the Lord, and don't let us forget that it is the word of the Lord that has come to us, and this Church is founded upon it. Christ prayed to the Father concerning his disciples, "Father, sanctify them by the truth, thy word is truth." The word of the Lord, my brethren and sisters, is truth and can be relied upon, and we can take our stand upon it and bring everything to it, and that should be with us the standard. We don't want to prevent men from thinking. ¶

I have heard some of my brethren say, "Well, do you want to stop men from thinking?" Not at all. Liberty to think and liberty to act upon the thought if you don't infringe the rights of others. Liberty to think, liberty to read, liberty to have theories and notions and ideas ; but, my brethren, it isn't your province nor mine to introduce theories into the Church that are not in accordance with the revelations that have been given. Don't forget that. And if any change in policy, is to be introduced, it is to come through the proper channel. The Lord said only his servant Joseph should do that while he lived, and then after he died others were to be called to occupy the place, and the key is in the hands of the man who stands at the head, if any change is to be introduced in our Church. Don't let us fix our minds too much on the ideas and notions that are called science. If it is really science that they produce, something demonstrated, something proved to be true, that is all right, and there is not a doctrine of our Church that I can find that comes in direct conflict or contradiction to the sciences of the times if they are sciences, but a great deal of that which is called science is only philosophy, and much of it speculative philosophy, and these ideas change with the ages, as we can see by reference to what has been called science in times that are past. ¶

What We Should Do as Saviors of Men

Now, brethren, what I am after is this: Let us Latter-day Saints, called to be saviors of men, called to be saviors of this world, called to be saviors to introduce that which will save mankind and bring them up from their lowest state into a condition where they will be fit to hold converse with Deity, let us be careful that we plant in the minds of our children the truth and nothing but the truth so far as we can understand it, and as to the opinions and notions of men, value them for what they are, if they have any value, and some of them do. not have any, but many of them do. We do not want to cripple men's minds, we do not want to wean men from investigating and reaching out into the field of thought. The boundless universe is before us all to learn and to live and to come up to the standard occupied by our Eternal Father and to be fit for his society. Let our minds enlarge, our understanding increase and let everything that is proved to be true and established and demonstrated come in to us as part of our belief, but the theories and notions of men that are in contradiction to the revelations of Almighty God are not to be considered in the light that some people view them. Let us be very careful about these things. ¶

Now, we want to teach these things to our children, train them up to believe in the living and true God, the Author of our being, our Father in heaven, and in Jesus Christ, his Son, who died for us and without whose redemption, as we read in the Book of Mormon, our spirits would have been banished forever from the divine presence, and our bodies would have mouldered in the dust forever. But through that atonement wrought out by Jesus Christ, and by our obedience to his commandments we shall come forth from the dust and stand upon our feet and have all ¶

things that we have made ourselves fit for by our own acts. Forgiveness of sins, redemption from personal sin, is a doctrine of Christ to be obtained in the way that he has appointed. He died that we might live, and thus he atoned for the sin of Adam. He died that we might live and attain glory if we would repent and obey his commandments and receive the blessings in the way he has appointed ; and our mission in the world here, what we have come on the earth to do, is to live that gospel and carry it to the ends of the earth and send it forth to all people, that all nations may hear the glorious sound of the glad tidings of salvation to the human race. And when we have done with our earthly work and gone into the world of spirits, that we might be allowed there to carry it to any part of the spirit spheres, even into the lowest hell, if necessary, in the great work of saviors of the children of men, so that the laws of God might be proclaimed, that God's truths might be made known, that opportunity might be given to all the race of Adam, in the body or out of the body, to receive the truth and walk in its light, and come as near as possible, considering their conditions and transactions and doings, as near as possible to the light and glory and presence of the Father. These are themes that are very simple, very plain, very clear to us all. ¶

Unity Among the Leaders of the Church

Now, let us live according to the teachings given to us this morning, walk in the ways of the Lord, teach them to our children, set a good example to all the world, put away from us everything that is contrary to the mind and will of the Lord, and become sanctified before him, a holy and a mighty people, saviors on Mount Zion, and our kingdom, or the kingdom that we are in is indeed the Lord's and we will be his peo ple. May his peace abide with you, may the blessings and power of God rest down upon President Smith and heal him up fully, and upon all our brethren who are laboring with him. I want to say that we are united. There is no jar, no contention, no quarreling among the leaders of the Church. We are united in spirit. We bless and praise the Lord for his goodness to us. We enjoy each other's presence and company and society. We are a band of brethren. We are knitted and united together. We are one before the Lord as near as human beings can be with the failings and .weaknesses of mortality ; and we love the children of men, and we want to see salvation come to all people who will receive it. We want to see salvation come to this nation, we want the principles of the government of the United States to be exalted here and eventually throughout the world, as the preparation for the coming of him whose right it is to reign, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. ¶

May the peace and blessings of God abide with you all, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶