Missionary Testimony

I am reminded very much this morning in our assembly here, of conferences that we frequently hold in the mission field. We usually have just such a place as this in many of the great cities of the country, and just about a gathering of this kind -- though sometimes smaller; so I feel quite at home here. I have felt the Spirit of the Lord here. I felt it when our young elder prayed in opening the meeting; and I am reminded of the words of the Savior, that where there are a few gathered together in his name, there he would be also. This is the Lord's work, it is not man's work. Our Father in heaven is at the helm, and he governs and controls, according to the conditions of men. It is true that he can do much better with men and women who are faithful, and true than he can with men and women who are not, but he guides and controls. This life of ours has much to do with our future life and with the destiny of the human family. ¶

When the Lord appeared unto the prophet Joseph Smith, he told him that the creeds of men were an abomination in his sight. Now I ¶

am reminded of a word that Brother Talmage gave us by way of instruction yesterday, that it is not recorded that God hated man. I was glad to hear him say that, for we are God's children, no matter whether we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or to any of the different denominations of the earth, or to none at all -- we are the children of our Father in heaven, he is the Father of our spirits. And I am certain that he loves his children -- not that he condones their iniquity, any more than a father or a mother here in the flesh condones the wrong-doing of the child that God has given them, but he loves his children. So, when he told Joseph the prophet, in answer to his prayer, that the creeds of men were an abomination in his sight, he had in mind the things that his children were doing and teaching. ¶

There were thousands of ministers, men who professed to have the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had never considered, perhaps, what that authority really was, or what it meant to obtain it; and as a result, they were teaching doctrines that were erroneous. It had been a doctrine of the teachers of religion for centuries that God, our eternal Father, was without body, parts, or passions, that he filled the immensity of space, that he was everywhere present, and yet could dwell in the heart of the smallest child. They had never considered, as someone has said before, that anything without parts could never be a whole. And yet men who professed to act in the name of God and to teach men and women to worship God were teaching that doctrine concerning our Father in heaven. This was an abomination in his sight, because it was untrue, and was leading men and women away from him as fast as they would listen to it. Those professors were undoubtedly corrupt; they drew near unto him with their lips while their hearts were far from him; for we cannot help but conclude that those who were without a guide would surely as the world go into transgression. A man that will teach an erroneous doctrine, and a man that will teach a doctrine merely for a livelihood must fail to be receptive to the impressions which God Almighty has declared should come unto man, and must fall into error. There were thousands of people also who were preaching that God no longer spoke from the heavens above, that he no longer revealed himself. This is at once discovered to be an untrue principle, for it would be robbing God, our eternal Father, of his attributes of love and mercy and justice; for he whose love is greater than the love of any human being, so much so that there can be no comparison, could not forsake his children of the last generation of time when he in former generations walked and talked with men and discussed life and life eternal, until they knew him by the thousands. Do you think that a mother -- whose love is greater than any other love on the earth, could in the last portion of her life, so to speak, forsake the children that came to her the last, in preference to those that came to her in the beginning of her life, the elder children, whom she had been careful to teach, as Christ and ¶

our Father in heaven were careful to teach the children of men, according to the revelations we find in Holy Writ? If a mother failed to teach the children of her later years, would she be a real mother to them, as she had been to those who had come to her in the former portion of her married life? It is unreasonable to believe a mother would do it -- in fact her love would increase, rather than decrease. And so it is with our Father in heaven; for a man to say that he no longer speaks to men and that he has given unto the children of men all that is necessary, would be, as I stated before, to attempt to deprive him of his rights, which no man can do. God has never said that he would not reveal himself, but he has stated that he would reveal himself unto his servants the prophets. But when men failed to kneel down and make an honest appeal unto him, there was nothing sincere about them, the mark of sincerity could not be found in their lives, and so he found they were unreliable, and as a result, the work of God was not found among the children of men. ¶

When the prophet Joseph appealed to him, he came to him and spoke to him, as one man speaks to another; and Joseph saw and bears record, that he had a body of flesh and bones, and that he was able to speak; he saw that the children of men were formed after him, that he was our Father in very deed. ¶

Through that revelation the prophet gives unto the children of men this fact, that God is a man, a man who was once mortal, who had become immortal as a result of his achievements, as a result of the life that he had led in some former world; that we are his children, fashioned after him, and that the Holy Scriptures are true, and that men who profess to teach a doctrine contrary to this were teaching a thing that was abominable in the sight of God. Yet God did not hate those people, but he hated the things which they did, as he does today. There is not any doubt in my mind but that the Lord is very much displeased with the children of men, and especially the children of this Church, who have received the message from him, a testimony of Jesus, when he finds them doing things that are absolutely wrong. ¶

He gave unto the prophet Joseph Smith the testimony that he gave unto Peter, the testimony of the Holy Ghost, which says unto every man who has it, "I know that my Redeemer lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that this is his work here upon the earth." Paul says that no man can say Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, which comes as a result of obedience to law. Men were not obeying the gospel, they were not obeying the principles taught by the Christ and his apostles, they had drifted entirely away from it, and were teaching doctrines that were untrue and leading the whole world astray, until there were none who were walking in the path which God had decreed the children of men should walk in in order to return to him. You will recall the incident in the life of the apostle Peter at the time when the Christ was about to be crucified. Peter had said to the Christ ¶

that he would follow him unto death, and the Savior turned unto him and said, "Before the cock crows, Peter, thou shalt deny me thrice." Why? Because Peter did not at that time have the Holy Ghost. Christ had blessed those apostles, he had breathed the Holy Ghost upon them, but he said, "If I do not go, the Spirit, or the Comforter, will not come." And he told them that they were to go to Jerusalem, and they were to remain there until they should be endued with power from on high, and then they would receive the witness that he was the Christ. There was no need for it while the Christ was there. The miracles that he performed were absolutely genuine, and would prove to any man that desired to know, that he had the truth. So Peter had him as a witness as long as he was there, but when he was separated from him on that night before the crucifixion and was accused of being one who was associated with him, he denied him; when one of those maidens accused him of being one of those associated with Jesus, he said, "No, I am not," and even denied him three times; the scripture says that he cursed, or swore; and then the cock crowed, and Peter wept bitterly. But upon the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were assembled at Jerusalem, as recorded in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find that those apostles upon that occasion felt the power of the Holy Ghost. It came upon them in such power that people heard it as it came -- according to the description -- like a mighty rushing of the wind; and those men, filled with power, spoke, and the people, gathered together from among all nations, heard, each one in his own language. They became pricked in their hearts, and they cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then came the Apostle Peter, that man who God had decreed should be at the head of his Church, to bind on earth and to bind in heaven, and to loose on earth and to loose in heaven, whichever he decreed, according to his judgment -- which judgment would be, of course, inspired by that power which God gave unto him as a witness -- and he stood there in the majesty of his power and said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." -- They had not received it, they had partaken of the influence of it. It was there as a witness unto them, a special occasion; but Peter declared unto them if they would repent, that they would receive the manifestation of it through the gifts as promised in Holy Writ. And so we are told that there were three thousand added to the Church at that time. ¶

Now, coming back to this generation of time; Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, suffered persecution, yet he bore record that he saw the Father and the Son; both before and after he had received baptism, and the witness of the Holy Ghost, that member of the Godhead, which was placed in the Godhead to be a witness unto you and to me and unto all men that God lives, and that Jesus is the Christ -- he declared that he had both seen and heard the voice of the risen Redeemer, that he had heard the voice of his Father in heaven, and ¶

he bore witness of it unto his death, he failed not at any time to be the man that God had decreed he should be as a result of his former obedience. The world did not have the light, because they had not walked in the path by which men obtain that light. They had attempted to climb up in some other way. Men could purchase positions in the churches by their money and obtain pews just where they desired them, and if they did not go, their sins could be forgiven anyway -- which thing was an abomination in the sight of God, our eternal Father. ¶

Joseph Smith brought again the gospel of Christ, so that there have been here gathered together within the vales of these mountains, a people who do know the Lord; and even if they have not lived as perfectly as they might have done, and are not doing as perfectly as they might do, the testimony of Jesus is in their hearts. When they go among the children of mien, they have that power renewed from on high, so to speak, and they speak with power and as one having authority, and they are not afraid. They go into the countries of this earth and bear testimony that God lives, and no man can say that he does live or that Jesus is the Christ without this great witness, which God has decreed should be the heritage of all men and women who desire to have it in their possession by obedience to his laws. ¶

So here has been introduced in the dispensation of time in which we live, a true order of worship, a worship which is not an abomination in the sight of God, but a worship which pleases God, our eternal Father. And there never need be any fear of successful contradiction. The things that Joseph Smith brought into the world by way of principles of intelligence have never been proved to be untrue. Men may say that he was not a prophet of God, but I want to tell you this, that when men say he was not a prophet of God, the burden of proof is always upon the man who doubts and the man who contends, and not on the man who bears a testimony. Joseph Smith brought into the world the gospel of Christ, which binds men and women in the earth and in the heavens above forever, and no man has ever been able to prove it to be untrue. The Book of Mormon itself stands as a monument always before men -- that the prophet Joseph saw heavenly beings in the dispensation of time in which we live, men who had died and passed away. They still live, they do not lose their identity, but they are individually real, and possess their faculties. He bears testimony of it, and that book itself, is a revelation to the children of men, and proof that he has spoken the truth. ¶

A man who professed to be a Presbyterian minister approached me not long ago, after one of our street meetings, in one of the Eastern States, and said, "I do not believe the Book of Mormon." ¶

I said, "Have you ever read it?" ¶

He said, "No." ¶

"I did not think you had," I said. "I told you that in order to believe the Book of Mormon, men must be humble, and prayerful, ¶

they must be honest and earnest, and must read it for the purpose of finding out whether it be true or whether it be false. You told the truth when you said you did not believe it, for I tell you that it takes work, and it takes faith, and it takes devotion to believe the Book of Mormon and to learn it, and it comes as a result of a declaration and a determination in the heart of man to know whether it is true or whether it is not. There is no gold-brick swindle in the 'Mormon' Church; it is real. You can sort the principles, any one of them, and take them into your church and discuss them, and I tell you everything that you preach which comes through Joseph Smith the prophet will be an enlightenment to the minds of every man and woman who listens to you. Go ahead and do it, and I tell you you will be preaching the word of God, and Presbyterianism and all other 'isms' will disappear" ¶

I said further to him, "Personaly I have never desired to attack a man for his religious belief. I do not believe in it. I do not believe in debates. I never saw any good come from them. I never saw any good coming from one man and another getting into a quarrel, a physical quarrel. They never were peaceful friends afterwards, never had confidence in each other. Men and women are not converted through conquest of that sort, they are only converted through intelligent research and discovery; and when men and women do make an actual discovery, it is written in their hearts because they are the children of God and in their hearts dwells the Spirit which emanates from God, our eternal Father, who fashioned it in the world from which we came. And so I say to you, we make no attacks, we would like you to read the scripture, as we do. You do not believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, but if there is anything in the scripture which goes to prove that he was a prophet you ought to learn it. You are a child of God. There will come a time when you will have to stand befor the judgment bar of God to give an account of the deeds done in the flesh, and I feel that I would be held accountable, inasmuch as I have come in personal contact with you, if I did not bear my testimony to you and give you something to think about and give you something to read and say unto you, in a friendly way, not in an antagonistic way, that you are in error." ¶

After I had discussed the gospel with him for half an hour he shook hands with me, and said, "I am glad to have had the interview." ¶

I want to tell you, my brethren and sisters, that the time will come when this thing called prejudice will be swerved to one side or the other, and men who are honest and yet who are living an abomination in doctrine and practice before God will accept the truth. -- A man who is in adultery cannot accept the truth, a man who lies and a man who bears false witness, and a man who is not true to himself, will not accept the gospel of Christ, and he will not be in tune and in harmony with the Spirit of the Lord. It will be absolutely necessary for him to repent. God does not love him in his iniquity -- his heart yearns ¶

for him, as the mother's heart yearns for her child; he, with greater power -- so much greater than the human mind is capable of understanding-- yearns with a yearning that we are not capable at all of appreciating, for the return of one of his sons or daughters, no matter where they may be in the earth. ¶

Men were led by the power of the Adversary, through false preaching for centuries, when no man upon the earth had the power of the Holy Ghost as a witness in him. They were led astray for centuries into believing that God had done it all, that he himself had fought the fight and there was nothing for the children of men to do but bow their heads and worship him and so be saved; it was an easy way to salvation, and thousands and millions of people accepted it. But when the true order of worship came, and it was taught that work, and faith, and intelligent devotion are necessary, there were only a few who found themselves willing and ready to accept the doctrine which God, our Father, had declared should be the way by which men should follow in order to return unto him. ¶

I say unto you, my brethren and sisters, this gospel of the Kingdom of God will purify men and women, it will cause them to repent, and when they repent they are not an abomination, nor will their creeds be, in his sight, for everyone will know the truth, everyone will be a brother in very deed. The name of the prophet Joseph Smith will be revered and written into the hearts of the thousands of men who forsake sin. ¶

But, as was stated yesterday, and as has been written, "God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, and none need try to reach God -- whether they be in the Church or out -- when they have in their hearts the spirit of hate, the spirit of iniquity, the spirit of falsity, for those are the creeds which God hates, and which men and women must be relieved of before they can feel that sweet, beautiful influence which emanates from our Father in heaven. May God give you and me the grace and the power to live as we ought to live, I pray in Christ's name. Amen. ¶