The Fruits of Mormonism

I need not tell you, my brethren and sisters, that this is something of a surprise to me to be called on this afternoon. However, I learned in the early days of my experience in this Church that obedience is the first law of the gospel and I know that we should always try to comply with the requirements of our brethren who preside over us. ¶

A Wonderful Attendance of Men

It has been a great pleasure to me to sit in this conference during its different sessions and listen to the remarks that have been made by the brethren, and to see this great audience day after day. Yesterday the building was even more crowded than it is today, yet so far as I can see every seat is taken. This 16 an inspiration of itself. I don't know where you will go anywhere in the world to find a religious congregation such as this. In most religious gatherings we find the women predominating, but here I see extending clean back two-thirds of the way a great body of men, sturdy, strong, hard-fisted, hard-working, intelligent, well clad, good men. And also a large number of the most splendid women in all the world. It is marvelous. It is an evidence that you are in earnest, that you believe what we have heard, and that which we do hear is ih very deed the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

THE CENTENNIAL OF A GREAT EVENT. / ¶

We have heard over and over again the story of the boy prophet, which has been the general theme of this conference, since it is the centennial of that event: that great event which occurred, as Elder Whitney has just told us, because the great clock of time had struck the hour when the gospel was to be restored. The prophet was there, the fore-ordained prophet; the place was prepared, everything was in readiness for the greatest spiritual manifestation that the world has seen; the greatest event indeed that has transpired in the world since the days of the Savior of mankind, that is, since he lived in the flesh. Of course, other manifestations followed in due time, giving instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until there grew under the guidance of the young prophet this ¶

most wonderful organization named by the Lord, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

WHAT ARE THE FRUITS OF "MORMONISM?" ¶

Now, one of the two things we can say must 'be true. That vision, that manifestation, the beginning of this great work, the very inception of it, the first word that we ever heard of it is right there. Now that word was true or it was false. It must be one or the other. We accept that fully and finally. Was it true? How shall we measure it? How shall we prove it? The Savior of the world said a tree is known by its fruit. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. We know that doctrine to be true. Now what are the fruits that this tree called "Mormonism" has produced? In the ninety years that have passed since the Church was organized or in the one hundred years since that great spiritual manifestation, what are the fruits of this tree? Well, let me call your attention to two or three little items that are more material than spiritual. The Savior himself stated to those who could not believe his doctrine that they might at least believe the works, for they were patent, they were self-evident. Any person might believe them because there they were. So we say, if you cannot believe our doctrine you must believe the works for there they are manifest. Now was it a good work? Has it been a good work to preach the gospel to the poor of the world? For we can say with one of the apostles of old, "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." No, they turn from it, the sacrifice is too much for them. But not so with all of the poor of the world. Some have believed. They have answered the call. The Savior's call was, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There never was rest for the body, but rather hard work, labor, industry. Now has that been a good work to gather these people from every nation under the sun and bring them to this goodly land, to teach them industry, sobriety, honesty and to colonize them in the way that has been done? Was it a good work to teach them the cooperative spirit that has been manifested throughout the building of our colonies in every part of this intermountain country: in the fencing of fields, in the digging of irrigation ditches, in the building of canyon roads and bridges? Is all that good or bad? If it is bad, then the tree has brought forth evil fruit and we should denounce it: if it is good, then the works speak for themselves and we should accept it. ¶

The Missionary System of the Latter-Day Saints

"Mormonism" has sent out, and continues to send out, its young men and young women by the hundreds and thousands, making the sacrifice of their time and their means, paying their own way in the world, going to preach the gospel. They believe with all their hearts that here in this Church rests divine authority which was delivered to the Prophet Joseph Smith under the administration of John the Baptist who conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic ¶

Priesthood; and also the administration of Peter, James, and John under whose hands Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the authority of the holy Apostleship. Not the authority of man, but divine authority. These young men who go out as missionaries, go into the world and deliver the message in their own simple way; many of them not very well learned and many of them educated. And they gather up those who will listen and obey. They would be glad to have the great and the mighty listen to their messave but as a rule they will not. The sacrifice seems to be too great. "Oh, to be called a 'Mormon,' " they say; "we could never stand to be connected with that despised people." My own mother was an outcast from her family because she joined this Church, and her people were not wealthy people, far from it, but even in their poverty those of her people who would not receive this message would have nothing whatever to do with her, because, forsooth, she had joined this discredited, unpopular religion which 'was denounced as a fraud, a delusion and a snare. ¶

These elders have gone forth in that way, without purse or scrip, so to speak. It is true, they cannot become public charges on the communities and so they have taken their own means, because there are no salaries. They have not asked, "What is the salary or what are you going to pay me?" Not at all, never once. They receive that call and that authority under the hands of the priesthood, the servants of the living God who hold that Priesthood today; the same Priesthood which was committed by Peter, James and John to the Prophet Joseph Smith is held here today by President Heber J. Grant and his brethren. The same authority, divine authority, is conferred upon these missionaries and they go forth and gather up these people and they inspire in their hearts faith in God, repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. And they also teach them virtue, honesty, industry, and that they must love one another, love the Lord with all their heart and their neighbor as themselves. These people come from afar and produce what we see. Is that missionary work a bad work? If it is, then "Mormonism" is bad. But who shall say that that is not the best, the very best work that any man could possibly do, to bring the poor of the earth here and plant them in this land and make them independent? Is it desired that they shall work for and enrich the Church? No. But they shall enrich themselves so that they shall own their own homes. Is it a bad thing for people to own their own homes? You know the cry of home building that we hear now on every hand. Well, the Latter-day Saint communities own their own homes in larger number than any like number of people in all the world. Is that evil? Is that bad? If it is, then "Mormonism" is bad. ¶

The Results of the "Mormon" Colonization Policy

Wherever our Elders have gone, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, in their colonization schemes that has always been the result: orderly communities containing meetinghouses, schoolhouses, ¶

amusement halls. These you will see on every hand. If that one hundred years had been spent by the "Mormon" people in Mexico and the people of Mexico at the end of the one hundred years were as degraded and wretched and superstitious and in so many ways undesirable as we see them today, then you might know that "Mormonism" could not be from God. But not so, the very reverse has been true with the Latter-day Saints. Not only so, but our social life, our amusements that you have heard about this afternoon from Elder McKay, our education and our progress in every way show that the fruit has been good. President Grant read here yesterday a statement of the different expenditures that have been made from the tithings of the people during the year 1919, showing that over $2,300,000 had gone back to the Latter-day Saint communities for their numberless activities; among these expenditures was an item of $687,000 for church schools. Now remember we pay taxes for the district schools, for the high schools, for the agricultural college, for the University, taxes galore these days, no end of taxes, but in addition to that we have paid out $687,000 from the tithing of our people for the one item of education of the children of the Latter-day Saints; and, indeed, the children of others who choose to come to our schools, for we welcome them all. Is that bad? If it is, "Mormonism" is bad. ¶

We have built meetinghouses and churches all over the land. These stand as evidences of our work. I remember when I was a boy only twenty years of age, over there in the old Social Hall, in 1869, I met with some brethren who were called by President Brigham Young to go out on missions and he said to us in these words, "I do not want you to tell the people that we have a rich country and that they can get free land, free this and free the other; do not entice them by the promise of wealth and riches. I want you to promise them hard work and persecution." That was what President Brigham Young instructed us in those early days to promise the people among whom we labored as missionaries. ¶

A VITALITY IN "MORMONISM" NOT FOUND ELSEWHERE. * _ ¶

On the announcement of the Prophet Joseph Smith that he had received a vision, if, instead of reviling and denouncing and persecuting him, the people of the world had risen as with one acclaim and shouted "Hosanna," and had been thankful for that vision, I would have been, I think, in serious doubt myself as to its truth. Why? Because the people of the world never before received a message from the Lord in any such spirit. The Master himself had to say to them: "Which of the prophets have not your fathers stoned and persecuted? That is the way the message from the Lord has been received now and always. So if the people today should rise up and say, These Mormon" people are just what they claim to be, it would be very different indeed from what we have reason to expect fom the history of the past. We do not receive that kind of plaudit. But on the contrary as a rule we are reviled and scorned. However, I will say that this truth this gospel truth, is making its way in the world' and thinking people here ¶

and there, men whose opinions are worth having, the judgment of one of whom, as Hamlet says, must in our opinion outweigh a whole theatre of others, such men begin to think and realize that there is a force, a potency, a power and a virility in "Mormonism," a life-giving spirit that we do not find anywhere else. ¶

The Latter-Day Saints Are Multiplying and Replenishing the Earth

In these days when the nations of the earth, France in particular, and indeed all the nations are encouraging the rearing of large families of children -- a principle which this Church has taught and preached and practiced from the beginning, and even now, when plural marriage is prohibited by law, and has been for about thirty years, yet the practice and the preaching and the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we shall multiply and replenish the earth and make the desert blossom as the rose. That has been our practice and our teaching. Is that bad? Will any man rise up and say that that is bad teaching and that this tree has brought forth bad fruit? No, he will not. That is, any sensible man will not. It is good. It is what the world is going to call for. ¶

Entertainment and Organ Recitals Free

Right here on this block we see 300,000 people a year, tourists, coming and going every year. There is something a little different right here. It is only a small thing but it is worth noting. I have traveled and many of you have traveled, for you are the most traveled community, you Latter-day Saint elders and sisters, of any community in all the world, and you have learned by travel as well as by study, as this book of Doctrine and Covenants, which contains the revelation of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, tells us to seek knowledge by study and by faith and to seek learning from all good books. You have been over the world and I have, and I have never gone into any cathedral or scarcely any place of note, especially in the Old World, but what there has been somebody around to hold out his hand and ask for money, or a place would be pointed out to you, where you could go and put your money, or in some way or other your money would be extracted from you. Here on this block the 300,000 or more tourists who come and go receive our entertainment and free organ recitals and not a cent is taken from them in any shape or form. Freely we have received and freely we give. < Our employees here would not dare to receive one cent in remuneration for their work from the tourists who come here. Now is that bad, think you? The tourists do not think so. They think it is pretty good. ¶

Honesty and Loyalty of the Latter-Day Saints

As to loyalty to country, so far as it applies to the "Mormon" people, we challenge comparison. We have been taught from our in- ¶

fancy that this is a favored nation. Right here in these revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith you can read in one of them these words, that the Lord raised up wise men for the very purpose of framing the constitution of this great country, so we have the word of the Lord which we accept implicitly that this nation was brought into existence by the Divine Power and not altogether by the power of man. It is the best government in all the world, the freest, and with all its imperfections, of which there are many, it is the very best, the best that the Lord could get the people to accept. He could not have given the people anything better because they probably would not have accepted it. St. Paul tells us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a perfect law of liberty. And this same gospel that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in is in advance of the law of the land. It is supplementing it. It does not act in contradiction to it; not at all, but is upholding it, fostering it, and going a little further in the way of perfect liberty. Let me relate one little incident. I remember being up in Bear Lake county, Idaho, a good many years ago. A brother in the Church owed a debt to a man who was not a member of the Church. The late President William Budge, whom most of you knew, was then alive and presiding there. This brother could not pay his obligation for some time after it became due and the note was outlawed according to the law of the land. It was the best law that man has been able to devise, and according to that law of the land this brother was free from that. debt. No law of the land could touch him. But there was a higher law that could supplement the law of the land and reach him, and that was the Church law, which says, "Pay your ' honest debts; if you do not you shall not have fellowship with us." Is that bad doctrine? That is the kind of fruit that this tree is producing. You think it is bad? I think it is mighty good. So this brother was brought up by President William Budge. The debt was proved. He had to admit that he owed the obligation, but it had been outlawed and he thought nothing more of it. However, he was compelled, so far as the rule of the Church could compel him, to pay the debt. Of course, the Church could not take his property fromi him, but it could say and did say, "You shall have no fellowship with us unless you pay that honest debt. We do not care if it were outlawed a hundred times. It is an honest debt and you must pay it." And he did pay it. That is what I mean when I say there is a higher and better law. ¶

Now, believing as we do, that this government is an inspiration from the Almighty, ought we not to be more loyal to it than those who do not so believe? The Church itself in this respect has done what no other Church that I know anything about has been able to do, for the Church by the vote of its general conference of all the people, authorized the purchase of one million dollars in government bonds to assist the government in its time of stress and when it needed the help. Do you think that was a bad thing for the Church to do? Could it be charged with disloyalty in doing that? Show me any other church that has done as well. The law of the Church insists that I shall love my neighbor and that I shall not hate him. But the law of the land ¶

will allow me to go on hating my neighbor with intense and bitter hatred if I choose to do so. ¶

The Church Is Thoughtful of the Poor

The law of the land does not ask me to fast on the first Sunday in the month but the Church asks me to fast and to give the equivalent of the two meals to the poor. My doctor tells me that I am better if I do fast; that the food thus consumed would be wasted on my system and that I am really benefited by the fasting. So I have not lost anything; I have actually been benefited physically and I give, say only twenty cents once a month, figuring that meals would not cost over ten cents each. I give the twenty cents for the benefit of the poor. That simple law if it were practiced by the one hundred ten million people in the United States would mean twenty-two million dollars a month or two hundred sixty-four million dollars a year, which if wisely used would be more than sufficient to provide for the poor abundantly, and leave means to spare. Now I call this doctrine of fasting and giving to the poor, a mighty good, sound doctrine. Surely no man could say there is anything bad about it. ¶

The Spirit That Impels to Sacrifice and Work

There is one other thing, greater than all; greater than all I have mentioned; greater than our industry, our colonization and all the splendid works that people can see, and it is that which they cannot see nor can they comprehend, the spirit that impels us to these works. That is a different thing. The wind bloweth where it listeth. We cannot hear the sound thereof; you do not know whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So with everyone who is born of this Spirit. You received of that Spirit when you believed what the elders said, that God had spoken, that these revelations had come to Joseph Smith and that they were true. You believed it and you obeyed it according to these commandments. Is there anything wrong about faith, about repentance, about baptism, about the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? Who will say that that is bad? With the compliance of that law and faith has come what we call a testimony, a sure knowledge of God, or, as the Scriptures of olden times said, you shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and if you abide in the truth the truth will make you free. Now, no sane man will say that that is bad doctrine. Do you think it is? That spirit is what upholds "Mormonism" and sustains it. The knowledge in the hearts and souls of its members that God has spoken; that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the son of the living God; that Joseph Smith did see the vision one hundred years ago. If he did not, if it was all a lie, would the fruits that I have mentioned be apparent? Why, the logic of the case is irrefutable. It cannot be gainsaid. It must stand. It is true. There can be no mistake. It is of God and this spirit has gripped the heart and soul of you, true believers, so that you know of the doctrines, as the Savior said, "Whether they be of God or ¶

whether I speak of myself." And in consequence of that knowledge you have been willing to make great sacrifices. That is what this spirit has brought greater than all else that I have mentioned, the spirit of sacrifice in the heart. ¶

May we learn to keep that first and greatest commandment of God, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and might and mind and strength." The Lord says to us, "Son, give me thine heart." That rich young man mentioned in the Scriptures could not do it. He was an acceptable, good worshiper, very good. He was an acceptable man and a very good citizen. When he asked the Savior, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" the answer was, "Keep the commandments." Well, but which commandments? The Savior repeated a number of the Ten Commandments to him, and that young man, a good citizen, clean, virtuous, good man, could say, "All these I have kept from my youth up." Now you would say that was a first-class young man. He was truly an acceptable citizen. Nobody could ask any more. But was he willing to sacrifice and give his heart to God? No. As a matter of fact, he had not kept the first great commandment which I have repeated to you, but the Savior could look right through him, and to put him to the test told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and then "come follow me." The sacrifice was too great for the young man; he could not give his heart to God and could not make the sacrifice. ¶

The Tree of "Mormonism" Has Borne Good Fruit, Not Bad

You have made sacrifices, our parents have made sacrifices for these truths. We have lived in poverty -- I myself in the direst poverty here in the early days in northern Utah. As a young lad I lived in a dugout with a quilt for a door, not even a window, not even a board floor, just dirt for a floor; lived without sufficient nourishing food; sometimes I did not have enough to eat, but the spirit that was in my father and in my mother was to stay by this truth, to be loyal to this people and to this Church. They could say: "Whither they go I will go; where they stay I will stay, their people shall be my people and their God my God." That was the sacrifice they were willing to make, and they did make it. Shall I now, shall our people after us, now when they have made these great sacrifices, not give our hearts to God? If we are asked to go on a mission shall we not go? If it is to be a teacher on the block or to teach in the Sunday School or any work however simple, shall we not answer with our whole heart, "Tell me what you wish me to do; show me my work and I will try to do it." For the work is good, the work is true, the work has produced results that no other institution or organization in all the world can produce. This spirit has taught us honor, virtue, integrity, and loyalty to country and all that is good and that makes for righteousness This spirit of sacrifice has been planted in our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost. By that we live, by that we magnify this work by that power we stand by these brethren and uphold the Priesthood of the Son of God. As to the principles of virtue and honor, no ¶

church in all the world sets such a high standard for its adherents, for there is no double standard of morality taught in the revelations of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The man indeed is more the criminal than the woman. That is what is taught, that is what we try to practice. Now is that bad or is it good? If it is bad, then the Prophet Joseph Smith may have been a deceiver. If it is all good, and we know it is good, all of it good and righteous; then it must follow as the night the day that the Prophet Joseph Smith did see the visions one hundred years ago. These are the fruits of "Mormonism." The young man, Joseph Smith, was not a falsifier. This tree which was planted one hundred years ago has borne good fruit and not evil. Then there can be no mistake; his testimony must be true, it cannot be gainsaid. As I said, the logic of the case is irrefutable. Amen. ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder John W. Hart of the Rigby stake of Zion. ¶

Conference continued in the tabernacle, Tuesday morning, April 6. President Heber J. Grant called the meeting to order at 10 o'clock. ¶

The choir and congregation sang, "O ye mountains high," by President Charles W. Pemose, the hymn being read by President Grant before being sung. (See L. D. S. Hymn Book, p. 376.) ¶

Elder Mark Austin, President of the Fremont stake of Zion, offered the opening prayer. ¶

Choir and congregation sang, "Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear." ¶