Remarks by Winslow Farr Smith

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul addressed a particular message to the men of Corinth, in these words: ¶

"Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; ¶

"But God hath chosen, the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things ,of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ¶

"And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are : ¶

"That no flesh should glory in his presence." ¶

The great word of the Lord at all times has been given to the world through humble men. It has not been the policy of our Father to go into the schools of the learned, into the palaces of the mighty, ¶

to pick men to do his work, but at all times he has chosen men who were humble, who were unknown, and he has magnified them and made them mighty in the work which he had for them. We can look back into Old Testament times, and almost without exception the men who were called were humble, obscure men. We can come down to the day of the Savior, and we find that "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." The Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the Son of the living God, came here and lived humbly, as a man among men. He moved with the humble ; he lived with them ; he ate with them ; he slept with them ; he was one of them ; and until he began to come into prominence, he was unknown to the mighty of his day. And when the hour had come for him to commence his work in public and he needed helpers, he did not go into the higher schools nor into the palaces of the mighty, but he went down to the seashore and chose humble fisher folk, men of no importance in the eyes of the world. He said unto them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men ;" and in that they did follow him, he did make them the fishers of men, and he magnified them that they grew to be most marvelous servants of the Lord. And while the men of their day who were mighty in the political, and influential in the commercial and the educational world, have in a large degree been forgotten, these humble fisher folk and tradesmen that the Lord called and magnified live in the hearts and in the lives of millions of men, and their names will go down through all time as the men who carried on the great work inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

Now, coming on further down in the history of the world and considering the great latter-day work, we find that when the time had arrived, when God was ready to do his great work, he did not go into the schools of the learned, into the palaces of the mighty, but took an unknown backwoods boy in the state of New York. That boy was the man he wanted. His spirit was pure; his life had been such that he qualified for this great work. So the Lord chose Joseph Smith and appeared to him with his Son, Jesus Christ, and they told Joseph that if he would be loyal and true and live the life that he should live, he would see the day that the gospel would again be on the earth, with all its powers, its gifts, its graces, and its blessings. ¶

So this boy went forth ; and in time there came to him more revelation, more light, more knowledge ; and ultimately it was made known to him that he was the chosen vessel to carry on the work of the Lord. When he was qualified, and had received this heavenly knowledge, he called to himself humble men (for his own position in life was not such as would attract the attention of the important and the learned) and in full faith, Joseph Smith, and the men who joined him and believed in his message commenced the work of organizing in its fulness, in its completeness, yes, in its entirety, the Church of Christ. ¶

We are all familiar with the work that they did : how that in this ¶

Christian land of ours, which God had prepared for the day of the coming of his work where there were hundreds of churches, with many honest souls who were ready to receive the light in its fulness, these young men went forth declaring, not a new gospel, not something that the world had never heard, but the old fashioned gospel, the same principles that existed in the primitive church, the same officers to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, the same godly virtues that men must follow in order to work out their salvation. The world was astonished to hear this unknown boy declaring these same principles and the same things that they had always heard ; but the world was more astonished, more completely upset when this same boy, this man called to open the dispensation of the fulness of times, this prophet of God declared to them that they did not have the power of the Priesthood of the living God. In the Church of Jesus Christ there must be divine power. These churches were doing good, they were teaching moral living and uprightness, yet in their organization, in their ordinance work, in their teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, there was not the power of the Priesthood of the living God. ¶

Boldly did he declare this great message, fearlessly did he and his associates go forth teaching and preaching, and the result was that the world saw that there was something astir that they had not dreamed of. The world saw that in the work of this young man and his associates there was power, and they marveled at it. And that power was there, my brethren and sisters, because the Priesthood of the living God was again upon the earth. Joseph and his associates, humble men that they were, rose to a place that today their names are known throughout the entire civilized world, and the work that they commenced, the gospel of Jesus Christ, taught through the organization known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has grown steadily. Despite the fact that it has met bitter opposition, terrific opposition, in fact, at the hands of the mighty, at the hands of the learned, it has grown and developed until today it is filling the whole earth. ¶

I have in my pocket here a statement made by the late Charles Ellis, a non-member of the Church who lectured a number of years ago in Salt Lake. He asks this question, "Why has 'Mormonism' been so much misunderstood?" And then he proceeds to answer his own question in these words : "Simply because the evangelical churches saw in its success their own downfall, and they dared not let their own followers know what 'Mormonism' really is, lest they should embrace it." This is a truth, an absolute fact, my brethren and sisters. The thinking world recognizes in this thing called "Mormonism" a power with which it is not able to cope, recognizes that despite a hundred years of bitter persecution that little stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, has rolled forth and is rolling forth slowly filling the whole earth. They see this, and when we turn back to that passage of scripture that I quoted to you, we see, as members ¶

of the Church, that God has made the weak strong, has made the humble mighty, has made the unlearned so wonderful that the light of their teachings has gone into all the world. ¶

When we study present-day religion, when we study the creeds and the teachings and the doctrines of the present-day churches of the world, we find all through them the effects of "Mormonism." They are changing their doctrines. They are teaching something new. They have cast aside many of the old things that they had one hundred years ago, and in their place are substituting the glorious principles of life and salvation. We find them teaching tithing, we find them teaching a personal God, we find them teaching the brotherhood of man, we find them teaching in a small degree the Word of Wisdom. We find things first advanced in this day and age by Joseph Smith, the unknown, unschooled boy prophet, whom God made mighty for the work, gradually being accepted by the world ; we find the churches of the world teaching his doctrine. ¶

And so, my brothers, you men who hold the Priesthood especially, I say unto you that upon you, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, rests the grave responsibility of doing the work of the Lord. We have the Priesthood, and if we are living to magnify our calling, we have the right to officiate in the name of God, and if we are doing our duty and are faithful and true and our faith is sufficiently strong, those blessings and signs which the Lord Jesus Christ said should follow the believer will be made manifest in our behalf; we will heal the sick ; we will cast out devils ; because of these things ; these signs, are to follow them that believe. While we admire the man who strives for education, and while we rejoice to see our brethren climb up in the world of affairs, more potent, more powerful, more wonderful than all that can be achieved by them is this Priesthood of Almighty God, which is yours and is mine, if we live worthily and magnify our callings. ¶

How wonderful is the gospel of Jesus Christ! How gloriously is its message being heralded to all the world ! What a splendid body of men and women are the missionaries you send out into the field ! Go where you will, search this great world of ours from one end to the other, and, brethren, I tell you, you cannot find their like, for in their souls they have the Spirit of the living God; they have obeyed the command of the Lord; they have done his will; they have kept his word. And according to the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ, wherein he said, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself," they have done his will, they are doing his will, they are keeping his commandments, and they know of the doctrine, that it is of God, and they go forth fearlessly. In their humility they are mighty. They are men of God and women of God, and the work that they are doing will fill the whole world. God has said that this work shall triumph. ¶

You or I may fall aside, we may lose our faith, we may fail to sustain and support the men God calls to preside over us, but the work ¶

of the Lord will go on and we, if we fail to do those things, will lose. It has been here a hundred years now. The work is going forward. The purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to prepare men to receive from our heavenly Father the great glories that he has for them. "This is my work and my glory," said the Lord, "to bring to pass the immortality and the eternal life of man." And I tell you, my brethren and sisters, that these words are true, that they are being fulfilled, and that the men and women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are loyal and who are true will reap this blessing. The Priesthood of the living God is here. It is on the earth. Its effects are being felt, and our eternal Father is at the helm. Men may fight against the Church of Christ ; men may say all manner of evil things against this people; men may kill us, if it goes so far, but at the helm there stands the living God, and this work, the gospel of Jesus Christ, taught by the Church of Jesus Christ, is here to prepare the world for Jesus' coming, for truly he is coming to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. And we, my brethren and sisters, will have our place in the kingdom of our God, if we are true. May he help us to be true, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶