How blessed it is, my brethren

How blessed it is, my brethren and sisters, to have faith in God and in his work ; to know in one's own soul that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer, the Savior of mankind, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and one who pleads with God for the salvation of his brethren and sisters. This is the thought that came to me whilst our brethren were bearing witness of the testimony of truth that is welling 'up in their souls. They are not tossed about by every wind of doctrine, not driven with the wind, not moved out of their place. Yet, whilst they were speaking I wondered if here you had met some such conditions or whether you have had any such cases as we have met in the mission over which I preside, of men who would "run without being sent," men who did not await until they were called upon before they think they can be teachers of men, and who rise up with their hands to steady the ark of the covenant. ¶

I have wondered if in this land you have had any who are "mighty and strong who are come to divide by lot the inheritances of the Saints." We have had five such in the California mission since I have had the honor to preside in it. They have come to naught, and dwindled away. One in particular that I have in mind, who gathered about him quite a little body of honest people, God-fearing people, humble and contrite and repentant when they were shown the error of their ways, for I had the privilege of baptizing a goodly number of them. This man went on for years, pretending that sometime he would come as a mighty and strong one and set the Church in order. He said that the people would be tried in all things ; so frequently he would be drunken with wine, that they might be tried in that way, and he reveled in the use of some drugs and tobacco, so that they might be tried in their faith because of this weakness. He took wives from some men and gave them to others, and then took them himself, and then turned them back to the original husband, that they might be tried in that way. And still they endured it because of their faith in some of his prophecies and the manner in which he interpreted the scriptures. When stricken and about to die, he was taken to a hospital, and several days before his death he told them not to bury him, but to watch over his body for three days and he would come and take it up again and establish them in their inheritance in Zion before God forever. They watched his body for six days, and then they buried him. ¶

I have wondered if there has been any one come to you who wanted to establish the "Order of Enoch," who want you to "join the United Order." We have had such one, and when certain of the Saints, his associates, moved by his testimony and his oratory, joined with him to have a "community of interests," in all of their real estate and effects, and they came with the deeds to their lands to be conveyed ¶

to the body that was being organized by him, and they asked him for his deed, why, he had deeded his property to his wife and all he had was but the watch that he wore. This made them a little bit jealous' and fearful of the scheme, and so it all came to nothing. So I have noted that some men here at home, who have met with financial failures, are quite willing to join the "Order of Enoch," and have the people pay their debts and take care of their families. I don't know whether you have met any such or not. ¶

I want to read to you, thus extending the remarks of my brethren this afternoon, and what was said in the general conference yesterday, from the Doctrine and Covenants, 42 : 1 1 : ¶

"And again, I say unto you, that it shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my Church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the Church that he has authority, and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the Church." ¶

Has any one been telling you that God can raise up a prophet at any time? That it does not require the authority of man to make prophets and apostles and leaders of the people? Have they quoted to you that Paul has said, that he "was an apostle not by man nor the hands of man," as a proof of this doctrine? Or, that God sent his angel to ordain John when he was eight days old, or that he ordained Esaias by his own hands? If they have, they have told you the same things I have heard in the mission field. I am mindful of the fact that the least deacon in the Church could say with as much appropriateness as Paul that he has the priesthood, "not by man nor by the hands of man," for man did not bring the priesthood, did not ordain it and cannot bestow it within and of himself. The priesthood of the Son of God is without beginning of days or end of years ; without father, and without mother, and without descent ; but it is always, and has ever been given under the hands of some one whom God hath appointed. Paul was chosen and set apart to the ministry with Barnabas, by the Apostles, in the Church, and he was sent by the Lord, Jesus Christ, to Ananias, in Damascus, that through Ananias he might receive the Holy Ghost; and Cornelius, devout as he was, and visited by angels, did not receive the Holy Ghost until the proper authority had been sent to him to bestow it. And so we may rest assured that John received his priesthood either from his father, who held it and who ministered at the altar in the temple, or from some one who was authorised to give the priesthood. Men may be appointed and ordained to fill certain positions ; but all the way through you find that the priesthood came through the proper order in the Church. Esaias received his priesthood at the hand of Melchizedek, the great high priest. So when, men claim these things, they are either ambitious to claim leadership themselves or have lost sight of the word of the Lord in reference to priesthood and presidency. ¶

I am told that this 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, written into a letter of the Prophet Joseph Smith as he wrote to W. W. Phelps, is yet to be fulfilled, and men are teaching it and writing about it today as they have been ¶

from the very time it came forth in the Church, and it was given November, 1832. I want to read just a little. And if you will read the 48th and 51st sections, you will find how the Lord determined that his Saints should receive their inheritances in Zion. They were consecrating their goods when they were converted in the world and sending their funds up to Jackson county, to the Bishop of the Church, who was to buy lands for them, and give it to them "legally" by "deed" under the law, that they might receive it in severalty for themselves and their heirs after them. And when people had sent their moneys and then emigrated to Zion they found the Bishop was a little slow in doing his appointed work. The anger of the Prophet was aroused, and he wrote to Brother Phelps how badly tried he was over this matter, that people who had sold all they possessed, and had left their friends in the East and had sent their moneys ahead of them to Zion, and then came there, and found there was no place there, no inheritance prepared. It looked like a fraud upon the face of it. So he wrote to Brother Phelps how his soul was wrought up over this matter. Yet some men can read into this revelation, this letter of the Prophet, an event yet to be. I want to read to you just one paragraph when this one mighty and strong was to come, for we read here that record of all things that transpire in Zion should be kept, and that all who consecrated property should receive an inheritance legally from the Bishop. And if the Bishop would not do this, then God would send a mighty and strong one who would see that it was done, and that man who was appointed and who was called of God, "that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning." A man in 1832 must today be 112 or 115 years of age, to say the least. Do any of you know of a man who was appointed at that time to do a work who is still living? And yet men, deluded by the cunning influences of the adversary, would today see a present fulfilment of these words as I have read them to you. ¶

How delightful it is, how thankful men should be, that God graciously has given them faith, that they do not question his authority, that they are willing to follow the lead of the brethren who have been called to preside in the Church ; and we may rest assured that there will be none come out of this order, for as I read to you, they who preach the gospel or organize any of its branches or set in operation any of its functions must be regularly ordained by the heads of the Church, and be known by the Church. So even if John should come, as some friends would try to make me believe, how would he be known? "O, his prophetic power and his personality would ■ declare him," they say. Aye, but that does not answer. The Lord has said, that he that is called must be regularly ordained by the heads of the Church, and known by the people of the Church. While I agree John has a great work to perform yet, as we read in the scriptures, if he comes to us it will be as he came to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and doubtless with other witnesses. Their work will have to be done by and through the proper order and priesthood, and through the proper ¶

and correct channels of the Church, and the people will know and understand it, and it will not be a side issue, where Southerner or Northerner or West-man or "East-man" can say "I am he." It is true that when the Prophet Joseph had his vision there was none others present of mortal men ; but the Father and the Son, two witnesses, were there, and when we stand before the pleasing bar of Almighty God, they will bear witness to the unbeliever, that they revealed themselves to the boy Prophet in this day, and under their divine guidance and instruction he set up the Church of Christ for the last time. And when John came with his, the Aaronic Priesthood, there were Joseph and Oliver present. When Peter and James in their resurrected bodies and John still in the flesh came, there was Joseph and Oliver again. When the mighty angels, Adam or Michael, and Elias and Elijah came, in the Kirtland temple, there were the brethren to bear witness of it, and "every word of the gospel shall be established in the mouth of two or more witnesses." So when one man rises vp> to judge Israel, and to say how we shall walk, and to divide the word of God to us, even though he claims an angel has visited him, we should look with suspicion upon that individual. In the last days, it is true that God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and "their old men shall dream dreams, and their young men shall see visions, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy," that is not limited alone to the Church of Christ. It is to all flesh who accept the Christ as their Redeemer. There are wise men in the world and there are daughters who prophesy ; but I am afraid there are some in the Church who dream dreams only. I have told the sisters in our mission, for several of them have dreamed dreams, that there has been no provision for them to dream dreams for the Church. "Their old men shall dream dreams, their young men shall see visions, and their sons and daughters shall prophesy," but there is no chance for the sisters to dream dreams. So when they come to me with their wondrous dreams about what I .should do in order to establish the Church to save the Saints from destruction, I have met it with more or less suspicion despite their faithfulness and their sweetness and the consideration that should be given them because of their regard for me personally and for my people. But I am afraid of dreamers of that kind. ¶

I have never asked, since I arrived at the age of judgment, and of ripe manhood, nor since I have been called to preside in the order of God and labor in his ministry, — I have not asked for visions nor tongues, nor the gift of prophecy, in the sense of being a prophet to Israel. I have asked for good common sense. I have asked the Lord to keep me humble and stable : and I thank him with all my heart that I believe his word and sustain, with all my heart, his priesthood. If I cannot both with my head and my heart love him, let me love him with my heart alone and believe in his word with all my soul. I pray that it shall not be left to my head alone, which may err, and which is cold, and calculating. You wives want to be loved by your husbands with their whole hearts. No matter how much they admire you, and speak of your graces with their lips, and tell of your virtues, you want their ¶

hearts. And so God has said, "O son, give me thy heart." We are told by the poet Holland, who was at once a poet and philosopher, that ¶

"Ofttimes the heart is wiser than the intellect, ¶

And leads with swifter hands and surer feet to wise conclusions." ¶

These men who spend all their time trying to figure out in the scriptures what awaits us, and to steady the ark by their interpretation of the word of God, ofttimes are giving their heads to the adversary and withholding . their hearts from God, and stand on dangerous ground. ¶

I ask for the faith of the ancient seer who, stripped of his riches, his children taken from him, his friends finding fault with him ; sitting in the ashes of a once happy home, afflicted with a nauseating, humiliating, disease, scraping the exudations of that disease from his body with a potsherd ; his wife sickened with his appearance and what he had passed through, saying to him, "Why don't you curse God and die ?" said, exulting in his heart because he knew his God and his salvation, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," for, "Though after my skin worms destroy this body of mine, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me." ¶

I want the faith of Paul who, persecuted, maligned, misunderstood, imprisoned, poverty stricken, earning his own livelihood as he preached by the wayside, appealing from the courts of Rome to the Caesar himself, the head of the Roman government, in order, I take it, that he might bear witness of the Christ to the very head of the civilized world at that time, (for he need not have gone had he not desired it), I want the faith that he had after he had borne his testimony, after he had bidden farewell to the Saints, as he wrote to his loved son by adoption, Timothy, from his prison cell, perhaps by the rays of the sinking sun, that last that set for him in mortal life, these words: "I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course, and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which God, the just judge, giveth to all those who love him and his appearing." ¶

I want the faith of President Smith who, after seventy long years of service, whilst broken in body with the responsibilities and labor of guiding this people, said : "Although I am weak in body, I was never stronger in my spirit and in my intellect and my determination to serve God and keep his commandments than today." You heard him Friday morning bear witness of that in our conference. ¶

I want the faith of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who thought perhaps if he withdrew from his people for a little season, he might relieve them from persecution ; but, his wife, like Job's wife, sent for him complainingly with others, asking him to return to the body of the Church. He said : "If my life, is no longer of worth to my friends, it is useless to me," and added these words, as he set his face toward Carthage, knowing full well that his blood would be shed to bear witness of the Christ and the message he gave in this day: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of ¶

offense towards God and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.' " Dare any sycophant, any heretic, any fallen teacher, any coward, use the words that the Prophet Joseph did ? Dare any man within and of himself, unless his conscience was void of offense toward God and man, declare such a thing when he knew that death awaited him on the morrow? O, the peace of Christ which passeth the understanding of man ; when it takes possession of the souls of his children, they are unmoved as a rock. When dire things come to them, they are unafraid, and like Joseph, "calm as a summer's morning," content to await their redemption, for they are not afraid of the bar of God, when they shall stand in the flesh for the final judgment. ¶

I want the faith of Hyrum, so sweet in his soul, so full of loyalty and fealty to his brother, the Prophet, reading the words of Moroni, who had seen ten thousand led by him, murdered about the Hill Cumorah ; who before closing the record of the Nephites uses these words, and Hyrum read them before that last trip to Carthage, and turned the leaf down, upon them as his testimony : ¶

"And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me, if they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful, wherefore thy garments shall be clean. And because thou hast seen my weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brether whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood." ¶

May each one of us have that faith dwelling in our hearts that we may not be afraid when we stand before the pleasing bar of Christ, is my prayer, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. ¶