I assure you that it is not my wish

I assure you that it is not my wish that I occupy this position this morning. I would far rather be seated with you in the audience, and listen to the instructions from my brethren. When I was called to occupy this position the thought never entered my mind of not being present, even though I feared I might not be able to instruct you in our most holy faith. I have been taught in this Church that obedience is one of its great principles—that they who obey it never fall away from the teachings of the Lord. ¶

I have been taught to obey the laws of our great Government, the authorities of this Church, and my father and my mother giving to them the obedience of a son. This lesson came to me in early life. I remember on one occasion my father invited me to accompany him to an adjoining valley. There were others in the company, and we traveled through the canyon from one valley to the other, changing our directions often, and as we emerged into the valley that was strange to me, I beheld, to my astonishment, that the sun was going down in the east. But all day long I had been curious in asking questions, and I thought I would remain silent and watch for the morning. And when the morning came, behold the sun was coming up in the west, and I turned to one of my brethren and said, "What a peculiar place, the sun is coming up in the west!" Jokingly he said, "Another one of your wonderful questions." One of the boys from another place stated, why you are twisted. My father came to my rescue, saying, "No; the sun is rising in the east all right," and I looked at him. I could see. I had eyes. I knew directions, and the sun was coming up in the west, even if my father told me that it was not so, and he could not convince me; yet I obeyed. Have you ever been turned round, and some one has tried to change you as to the right direction by conversation? You will realize my situation. And when we started out with the wagon, he gave me the lines. I was a youngster of seven and eager to drive. As we came to the parting of the roads, I knew that we were to go south, and I turned the team south, as I thought. My father said, turn left, and lo and behold, when I turned left the team was facing the north. Now, he said, drive south, and I started. Driving north I knew I could see the sun coming up in the west, and the directions—why, I was positive that I was going north, and that my father was wrong. He talked to me. He said, "Yes, you are going south. Keep on going south, and I knew I was going north. And I kept on going north, but the thought of disobeying my father never entered my mind. I thought he was wrong, but I obeyed, and drove on. Finally we came to our destination all right. ¶

In my work as a boy, and as I grew older, I met many people who would come to me and say, "The Church is not the same as it was in the days of the Prophet. It is not the same as it was in the days of Brigham Young." I thought in my heart, your point of direction is lost, even if you think absolutely that you are right; if you will obey, the time will come, as it came to me in that valley, when things will adjust themselves, even as I could see that my father was right and I was wrong. So, when I see some of those who were brethren stray away from the Church, and are positive that they are right, I think of the lesson I learned when I was a boy. Within themselves they seem to feel that they are right, but if they had the power to obey they would again adjust themselves. ¶

As Latter-day Saints we owe it to the principle of obedience, to teach it to our boys and our girls, telling them that this Church is the Church and kingdom of God, given to us through his prophets. We are not afraid to state to all the world that this is the true Church that we belong to, and the people should not take offense at that, nor claim that when we do it we are egotistic, because Christ tells us unequivocally that there is but one Church that is or can be his on the earth. As Latter-day Saints we are just following his admonition, and stating boldly to the world that we possess that truth. It is possible for all the churches to be wrong, but it is not possible for more than one to be right. And therefore we feel that we have the right to testify to the world of these truths. That is the reason we cherish the salvation of men so greatly, considering it a privilege to live on this earth, accounting the human being the greatest gift. We have given our boys and girls the greatest riches God has ever given us, because they will stand with us in the eternities as our wealth, to hold up our hands. They are the riches God intended we should have when he sent us to this earth to live and enjoy the gospel. ¶

O what a beautiful thing is virtue to every boy and girl in this Church! How grand it is that we can give to them that wonderful, progressive spirit that God has given us, a knowledge that we can go back to our Eternal Father. ¶

The I AM within us teaches us that we existed before we came here, that we exist now, and it seems impossible with the feeling that we have within us to ever cease to exist. Then we should teach our boys and girls the lessons of obedience, virtue, honesty and truth, that they may walk before their heavenly Father as he would have them walk, and before their fellow men, in dignity, and in the power of the holy priesthood. We are claiming the greatest blessing that can be given to the children of men—these boys and girls—for they will be with us throughout all eternity. In the eternities they can be perfected with us. Think of the possibilities, what they mean to us, the little children whom God gives to our arms to teach. Think of the minds of these children and the power inherent in them to be creators in the hereafter! Do they not mean more to our lives than our lands and our chattels? For our children will have the power of eternal progression, until out of their hands will roll systems of worlds, with all the wealth necessary to their creation. Far greater are these blessings to us than the things of this life. When we measure them, how we cherish this privilege of coming upon this earth and taking upon us this tabernacle of flesh that we might be able to go onward in this great progress of eternity! ¶

I have always said, teach the boy to kneel down and pray unto his heavenly Father, because it takes a strong character to kneel down in prayer. It takes a character whose soul will enlarge so that he forgets the little things of life, and becomes mighty in himself, when reaching up in the spirit of a good prayer. ¶

Hence, each father and mother should teach their boys and girls to kneel down in prayer before God, that they may be exalted in themselves. It requires obedience, and a power of character to kneel down each day in prayer. It builds us up so that we are more like God intended we should be when he sent us here to this earth. It builds us up so that we can look upon our fellow men as our brethren, and look out upon all God's creatures giving them a sympathetic hand, enabling us to feel that all mankind are the children of God. But we despise sin. We love the human race and the children of God, but the sins that men commit we despise. It is our mission upon this earth to seek to do away with sin, and teach men that the greatest joy and the greatest happiness, the greatest love, can come from living an honest life, from living this religion of ours, where jealousy should find no place, but peace of mind with God, and good will to our fellow men. ¶

May God bless and help us, that we may be of service to him, that we may have time to turn from the things of earth and spend more time with the wealth that God has given us, our boys and our girls; because, after all, they will go with us and be ours when we leave all this world's goods behind. This is my prayer for the Latter-day Saints and for the people of this earth. And may peace come to this earth, and may the day speedily come when we will live as our Father desires we shall live, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶