Ye Are the Salt of the Earth

(President of the Mexican Mission) ¶

Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. ¶

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. ¶

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. ¶

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ¶

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¶

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¶

Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ¶

For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. ¶

These are the words of our Savior, spoken to those who' believed' on his name when he administered among men. There is no difference, my brethren and sisters, in the gospel message delivered to all the world by the Savior and his disciples in that dispensation, and the gospel message delivered to the world by the Savior through his prophets and disciples in this dispensation ; and the requirements placed upon, the Saints of that former dispensation were no greater than the requirements placed upon the Saints in the dispensation in which we live. We are told the position that we occupy, the position of being the "salt of the earth" — a very necessary article — and we are admonished that if we are not the salt of savour, we are unfit to be used and only fit to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. And we are told furthermore in this scripture that I have read, that if our righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, or the world that surrounds us, we can in no case enter into the kingdom of our Father in heaven. ¶

The Latter-day Saints are called a peculiar people in the world; those who come up to Zion and visit upon this block and learn the story of "Mbrmonism" first-hand, and learn of the lives of the Latter-day Saints, are led to exclaim, "They are a peculiar people." And it is ' right that we should be peculiar, for truly we could not follow these admonitions, and not be a peculiar people. Our peculiarity consists of the fact that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are righteous in excess of any other people upon the face of the earth ; and I want to tell you that that man who claims membership in the Church of Jesus Christ whose righteousness does not excel the righteousness of the world, is not one hundred per cent Latter-day Saint, and save he repents, he can in no case enter into the kingdom of our Father in heaven. ¶

We have a message of life and salvation to declare unto the children of men, and from the very incipiency of this work, the missionary spirit has rested upon the membership of this Church ; and when our grandfathers, who composed the membership of this Church, numbered only a few, they were called and sent forth into the world to declare the glad tidings of salvation unto the children of men. They went to preach a righteousness in excess of the righteousness enjoyed in the world and the churches thereof ; and their message was, as was the message of the disciples and apostles of old, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The gospel is committed again unto man. It is, as has been quoted to you this afternoon, the power of God unto salvation, and it is unto all men everywhere. And for ninety years, this message has been going forth ; it is going forth today ; and many hundreds of thousands have been gathered out, and they have made their lives better; they have made their lives sweeter and cleaner, and they have attained a righteousness in excess of that which they enjoyed before; and though many of those who have been gathered out were good, honorable people, in whose hearts there was a desire to serve the Lord, nevertheless, because of lack of opportunity to know him and to know the truth of the everlasting gospel, they were not able to serve the Lord in full purpose of heart, but through the gospel teachings, they have been permitted to learn more and to attain more, and consequently are better. And woe unto us as a people, or as individuals, when it may be said of us that our righteousness is not in excess of the righteousness of the people of the world of men who suround us ! ¶

It has been my privilege for fifteen years consecutively, my brethren and sisters, to be engaged in the ministry abroad, and il have come in contact with the world, and have learned the condition that exists in the world today ; for while many are accepting the truth, and many are being brought out and are enjoying these blessings that I speak of, still the great majority of men everywhere are not inclined toward God ; they are not seeking after him ; they are not striving ta serve him in full purpose of heart. ¶

On the third and fourth of last month, I held conference with our elders who were laboring in the city of San Antonio, Texas. We had an admirable conference among the Mexican people there, but we found people disposed not only to dispute us, not only to argue with us, but actually to break up our meetings and to divert our message, and if possible, thwart the purposes of the Lord in the declaration of the truth to the people of that city. In one of our sessions, there filed into our meeting seven ministers of different denominations, leagued together, as I learned afterwards, with the avowed intention of heckling us and breaking up our meeting. They started it, but by the power of the Lord, we were able to quell them and we were able to preach the gospel. I suppose that the Spirit of 'the Lord rested in such power upon us that they could not but feel it. The result was that though they came to molest they marched away when the services were over, without even trying to carry into effect that which they had come to do. ¶

I walked up and down the streets of San Antonio between the afternoon meeting and a meeting that we held with the English speaking people at night, and I felt very depressed. I saw the throngs going hither and thither, bound upon pleasure; and this Scripture that I shall read to you kept repeating itself in my mind. ¶

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ¶

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, 'blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,, ¶

Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ¶

Traitors, heady, highminded,, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ¶

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Tim. 3:1-5) ¶

I saw them seek after pleasure; I saw that they were without natural affection; I saw, my brethren and sisters, through their dress, through their conduct, and through snatches of conversations that I overheard on the street and in the hotel lobbies that they are unclean, they are immoral; and as I walked down to the hall where the meeting was to be held, I felt an impending spirit of gloom, I recalled, as I have told you this afternoon, that the gospel message of necessity must be preached by this people in all the world, and I also read that the Lord has said that after the testimony of his servants, shall come the testimony of pestilence, wars, bloodshed, famine, floods, and of diverse things that shall take away the lives of men. Well, I left San Antonio the next day, but I was led to remark in my talk that night in San Antonio that I feared that the judgments of God would be poured out upon the specific city of San Antonio if they did not repent of their sins ; and it was only five days until the lobby of the hotel in which I had stayed, held many feet of water. Thousands of people were left homeless. Millions of dollars of treasure were swept away: and hundreds of lives were lost. ¶

I want to tell you, my brethren and sisters, we are living in -'. day of the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Lord, and I do not esteem it a mere chance that that seven inches of water in one afternoon fell upon San Antonio and that vicinity. I take it — because I felt it coming before it came — that it was the judgment of God calling those wicked people to repentance. I do not take it that there was not enough room in Texas for that flood to have fallen outside of San Antonio, if the Lord had wanted it to. Neither do I take it that there could not have been another place in Colorado where the floods could have come that destroyed the city of Pueblo and the people thereof. And I want to tell you that they are the judgments of the Lord, and I look forward to a greater demonstration of them in the future. ¶

It is our duty, my brethren and sisters, to fulfil the obligations resting upon us. The decree has gone forth that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and it will come. Whether it will come because they accept the testimony of the servants of the Lord, or whether they toe brought low by the judgments of God, the people of this world will acknowledge him and bow in reverence and worship before him. ¶

The Lord bless us and help us to perform our part. You, fathers and mothers of the missionaries, the Lord bless you and make you feel ¶

your true positions in this great work. We mission presidents cannot begin to do it; we need the assistance of your sons, and we and your sons cannot do it all without the assistance of you parents. Sustain them, encourage them, sacrifice, if need be, to aid them, and the Lord will bless you, and I promise you that sacrifice in this direction will bring forth the blessings of heaven to you. God grant it unto you is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶