The Resurrection and Salvation for the Dead

I feel very humble this afternoon in standing here before this vast congregation. Yet I am made to rejoice in the testimonies which have been borne by those who have spoken, both at this session and at the opening session of this conference. I have been greatly interested, and I trust that I may 'be led by the Spirit of the Lord to say that which I ought to say in the few moments that I stand here. ¶

GOD IS AT THE HELM. ¶

God is at the helm, as Elder Whitney has said. I greatly rejoice, as I know" you rejoice, in that great fundamental truth. This is not the work of man. It was not instituted by man. but by the Lord and Savior of this world. I am as fully convinced, I believe, I was going to say, as any man, that Joseph Smith was called and appointed in the very manner in which he has borne testimony; that the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him, that he was called to usher in the dispensation in which we live, to establish the gospel in its fulness, to restore the ¶

Priesthood, which is power from our Father in heaven, by which we are able to officiate in all the ordinances of the gospel for the salvation of the souls of men. I am firmly convinced of these truths. The Lord has not left us to wander; he has not left us alone in the world to grope in darkness, but the Church which he has founded is guided by the spirit of revelation, and the inspiration of the Lord rests upon those who stand at the head. They are not doing this work in their own name, they are not endeavoring to establish themselves, but to carry out the plan which the Lord has revealed, and to make known unto the children of men the great desire of our Father, that all men may be saved through obedience to the gospel and receive a place and standing in his kingdom. ¶

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES DO NOT CHANGE IN THE COURSE OF PROGRESS. ¶

President Ivins this morning drew our attention to some things pertaining to the establishing, the ushering in, of this great and marvelous work, as it is spoken of, in these latter-days. He referred to the youth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, how he was called, how the Lord made himself known unto him; how he was appointed, not only to establish the Church, but to give unto us a great volume of scripture which volume contains the doctrines, the teachings, and the history of a great people who dwelt upon this continent. As he was speaking, and as other brethren have been speaking here, regarding the principles of the gospel, my heart was made glad in reflecting on the great truth referred to this afternoon, that this work is based upon fundamental principles that do not change. They must not, they cannot change, because they are eternal. I believe in progression; we all believe in progression: and the Lord has not curtailed us in any respect, but we cannot substitute the ideas of men for that which the Lord has given, or the plan which he has adopted and revealed to us, by which we may be saved. For instance, there is no name other than that of Jesus Christ by which men shall be saved. Men may formulate plans and adopt theories and introduce strange works and gather and teach many peculiar doctrines, but this teaching is fundamental and from it we cannot depart, that all things are concentrated in and around the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Redeemer of the world. So we accept him as the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, as explained by President Penrose, the only one who has dwelt in the flesh who had a Father who was immortal. We must accept, and do accept, the great truth that because of his birthright, and of the conditions surrounding his coming into the earth, he became the Redeemer of men, and that through the shedding of his blood we are privileged again to return into the presence of our Father, on conditions of our repentance and acceptance of the great plan of redemption of which he is the author. We must believe in the resurrection of the dead, absolutely so, that every soul born upon the face of this earth shall come forth in the resurrection, either of the just or of the unjust, for ¶

the resurrection shall be universal, and that, too, through the great atonement which was made by the Savior of the world. ¶

PERFECTION WOULD RESULT IF THE REVELATIONS OF THE LORD WERE ¶

OBSERVED. ¶

I look over this congregation and I see, as Brother Widtsoe has already expressed himself as seeing, people who have been gathered from the nations, who have been brought here through the preaching of the gospel, for the purpose of worshiping the Lord, with desires in their hearts of keeping his commandments and of receiving, through faithfulness, an exaltation in his kingdom. Immediately in front of this stand are a great many faithful, true Latter-day Saints, men of renown, men who are filled with the spirit of truth, who are intelligent, and on whom the Lord has conferred the Priesthood, which is his power, by which they officiate in his name for the salvation of souls. This causes me to reflect somewhat upon the organization of the Church, how the Lord has established all things in order and has given us a perfect system. We cannot improve upon it. If we would carry out that which the Lord has revealed, as he has revealed it, then all things would be perfect; for the organization is a perfect organization, the theory of it, the plan of it, is without flaw, and if we followed all the orders that have been given to us in the priesthood and otherwise, if we would put into practice the great doctrines which have been revealed in the revelations contained in the Holy Scriptures, it would only be a matter of a very short time until this great people would be in the same condition, absolutely, as were the people in the city of Enoch. We would be able to walk with God, we would be able to behold his face, because then faith would abound in the hearts of the people to the extent that it would be impossible for the Lord to withhold himself, and he would reveal himself unto us as he has done in times past. Now I base that largely upon the expressions in the Book of Mormon. Referring to the revelation made known to the brother of Jared we read that so great was his faith it was impossible for the Lord to withhold himself. Not only was it possible, through his great faith, for that great prophet to see the finger of the Lord, but the Lord was under the necessity of making himself manifest and showing his entire body, the body of his spirit -- for it was not then a tabernacle of flesh and bones. ¶

ORDER AND PERFECTION IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. ¶

How perfect is this organization. It was not all given at once, and therein is made manifest the truth of the statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that he was taught of God; for this work was not all ushered in at once, but the Lord revealed unto him as occasion required it -- here a little and there a little, until the full grandeur of it was made known. The first officers in the Church were elders, two elders ap- ¶

pointed by that small body who gathered on the 6th day of April, 1830, to officiate for them. But as time advanced and as the Church grew in numbers, it became necessary that other officers should be called and therefore we received high priests and bishops and patriarchs and a little later, seventies and apostles, and the whole plan was made known in its glory as we have it now in the Church. The Lord revealed, even in the beginning, the order of the various quorums, or rather the duties of the various quorums of the Priesthood. He taught us the duties of elders, the duties of teachers, the duties of deacons, and later of high priests when they were made known, and even before that the duties of apostles, and then the duty of patriarchs and of each branch of the priesthood. The duty of teachers is to visit in the homes of the people to see that there is no iniquity there, that there is no backbiting, no fault-finding, that all the members perform their duty; the duty of the priests is to go into the homes of the people to teach them the principles of the gospel, and not wait until they can attend the Sunday school or a Mutual Improvement organization or even a quorum meeting of the priesthood. All this is good, all this is necessary as a part of the plan which the Lord has given us, but the priests were to go into the homes of the people and there instruct, there reveal, there make known unto the family, the will of the Lord. Thus the Lord prepared this plan and revealed it to us that we might walk in a knowledge of the truth, in righteousness and in humility. If we followed it as perfectly as the Lord intends that we should there would be no iniquity in this Church, there would be no fault-finding, there would be no jealousy, there would be no envying, no strife, no bitterness in the hearts of members of this Church against other members, for all that would be done away, and we would stand with one united front, and with one desire in our hearts to serve the Lord and keep his commandments. But we are frail, we are mortals, we do not live up to all of the requirements that are made of us. We fall short sometimes in many respects. We, being imperfect, and the Lord being under the necessity of using us as his instruments, the great plan as he has given it is somewhat below the great standard which he has set, and we do not reach those heights which we should. ¶

OUR DUTY TO MISSIONARY WORK. ¶

But it is my duty, as it is your duty, my brethren and my sisters likewise-- for responsibility is placed also upon you -- to do the very best that is within our power, and not to shirk, but endeavor with all our soul to magnify the callings the Lord has given us, to labor diligently for the salvation of our own house, each one of us, and for the salvation of our neighbors, the salvation of those who are abroad; and so the gospel is to be preached, as we have heard, to the nations in the world, as well as here in the stakes of Zion. But let us not lose sight of the fact -- and I do not think that we do -- that a soul here at home is just as precious in the sight of God as is one from abroad; and there is a great mis- ¶

sion field right here among the Latter-day Saints, and we might improve in our faith, might improve our works, might improve in our fellowship and standing in this Church. There are among us a great many honest souls who have never accepted the opportunity, or have never taken the trouble to search, that they might find these glorious truths which have been made known in the revelations of the Lord. They do not think of these things, they live among us, we associate with them and we come in contact with them daily. They think we are a pretty nice sort of people, but peculiar in our religious views, and therefore they pay no attention to our faith, and therefore this great missionary work that is being carried on now in the stakes of Zion is gathering in a harvest of honest, faithful souls right here from among those who before had never taken the opportunity, I say, which has been theirs, to hear the gospel. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, these are some of the reflections that have come to my mind this afternoon. I realize that my remarks have been somewhat disjointed, not altogether in the one line of thought, but nevertheless I want to say this in conclusion, that the Lord is with the Latter-day Saints, that his Spirit is resting upon this people, and he requires of us that we go before him in humility, forsaking our sins, our jealousies, our evil thoughts, our envyings, our strifes, if such things exist, and of course, more or less, they do exist in the hearts of the people; and he expects that we love one another. That I pray we shall do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶