Remarks by Charles W. Nibley

I have been attending conference in this tabernacle pretty regularly since the year 1867. That is fifty-six years. I can «ay with entire sincerity that, during all those years I never attended a better opening service of the conference than we had yesterday forenoon, which was the opening session of this conference. Never was the power of presidency, the power and spirit of the Holy Ghost, the power of God, made more plainly manifest to the congregation of the Saints than in that meeting yesterday morning. So, also, in each of our meetings we have had a rich outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord. ¶

As Latter-day Saints, we are not by any means what we ought to be in respect to living our religion, and keeping the commandments of God ; and yet, I believe that, in the main the Lord approves of the work and labors of his faithful Saints. I am glad to report that the tithes of the people have increased a little over what they were a year ago at this time, and that the people seem to be more faithful in observing that law and paying their tithes while they have the means to pay, monthly, or at any season, whenever the means comes into their hands. They seem to be more faithful in honoring the Lord by contributing to this work in the payment of their tithes. ¶

This work is growing and it is a power in the land ; a power for good and not for evil. It is an agency of peace and good will. It labors with me and with you through the teachers, of the wards and in other ways, to have peace in our homes ; peace in the family. And that, I say, is a good thing, for, after all, the home is the foundation of civil society; of civilization itself; and there is no organization in the world, that I know of, that so labors with humankind, with its membership individually and collectively, so that we may have peace and good will and good order and good government, as this organization does. It is quite true, as Elder Stephen L. Richards has stated to us this morning, that this organization called "Mormonism," is a distinct and an added contribution to the stability and permanency of our civil government. It is not an organization in opposition to any government, or to any church, for that matter, for we are commanded here in the book of revelations which were given through the prophet Joseph Smith, to contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil, which means that we should contend against ¶

wickedness and sin and all that goes with that, but that we are not to contend, not to quarrel, not to fight among ourselves or with our neighbors and friends who are not of our faith, nor with any church or any organization whatsoever. Our mission is peace and good will ; good order ; security of life and property and the general upbuilding of the community. ¶

It is astonishing to me, my brethren and sisters, and must be, I think, td every student of history, to know the opposition which is met by an organization of this kind with such righteous intent and producing such excellent results as are apparent to all the world ; which men cannot help but see — the good works which have been accomplished by this organization. It is astonishing, I say, that it should still meet with so much opposition. It is true that when anything like this comes into the world and sets itself up to be that which the world has not hitherto received: to be a little better, so to speak, at least in advanced thought, and also in achieving results for good, which have not hitherto been accomplished : and something in advance of anything that the world has hitherto received ; it is natural I say that contention should be aroused against it for a short time until its meaning and purpose and achievements can be a little more clearly understood. It is true that when people come to us and say. here we have something better than you have, this that you have was good, in its time, and was a sincerity once, but you have "changed the laws, transgressed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant.'' Now we have brought you the old, true and everlasting principles back again, re-established with divine authority. Naturally, that arouses in human nature a. spirit of resentment, for human nature, you know, rarely changes ; but when the thing has been put to the test and demonstrated; when it has existed and grown for nearly a hundred years, and its works are apparent, and its principles are known to all men who will look into it with unprejudiced minds, ought it not to receive more favorable consideration ? Yet, even now, in this twentieth century, with never before such means of information and communication between countries and peoples, knowledge increased until books and papers are published by the million, many people running to and fro, people coming and going and visiting, learning and knowing concerning us ; yet. in a country as liberal as England, there could be raised, and was raised during last year such a howl, going up there in good old liberal England as to what great and terrible things the "Mormons" were doing, bringing over shiploads of young girls to be made polygamous wives, and all that sort of stuff and nonsense that anybody who would take the least pains to investigate, anyone who had only ordinary intelligence would know was absolutely absurd and ridiculous, and yet it was believed by the million. ¶

I recall that some fifty years ago, after the Pacific Railroad was built across our country, Governor Stanford of California, president of the Central Pacific Railroad, with whom I happened to come in ¶

contact a few times, made this statement, and I believe he made it also to President Young himself ; but this statement I heard, that he considered that the property values of the Central Pacific Railroad, as it was then called, were safer in the territory of Utah in consequence of the "Mormon" Church being there, than were the property values of their lines in other states of the Union. That was fifty years ago. Since that time we have been, and are being much better known as to our purpose ; as to our intent ; as to the righteousness of the people. During these fifty years, times without number, men who have had large interests, large investments, men of prominence, high character and great ability, men who cannot be hired with small sums of money, but who command the highest salaries have said repeatedly, and I heard one of them say in substance, the same thing within the last few weeks : "We consider your organization a direct contribution to safety, to observance of law and order, to that which is permanent, and we appreciate it." That is the voice of that class of men; the judgment of which one, I will say, to paraphrase the language of Hamlet, the judgment of which one must in your opinion outweigh a whole multitude of others — others who are rampant, loud-mouthed, blatant, defaming, crying down the Church, complaining of the Church. I would rather take the judgment of the men whom I have referred to than the judgment of these others. There are some that we have among us. and always will have, I suppose, once in awhile, one here and one there, a loud, blatant hireling, here and there, full of sound and fury, who will get up and defame and try to tear down the Church, signifying nothing. They do not amount to anything. They put me in mind of a story that my Catholic friend, Joseph Geoghegan used to tell. He told the story of an Irishman who came to this country and secured a good job. He wrote back to his friend: "Pat, he says, "come over. I have got an iligant job. Oh, it is a beautiful job. I am tearing down a protestant church, and I am getting paid for it." So that is the case, too, with some of these others who yelp rather loudly against the "Mormon" Church. ¶

The "Mormon" Church, as an organization, stands for peace. It was organized by the Prince of Peace, himself. It will subdue the world through the process of peace — not force. I was glad to note that President Coolidge the other day, and I was rather surprised at the advanced thought that he gave out, speaking of the Red Cross' he said : "Here is an organization that goes about doing good without any compulsion ; without any force. In our civil government we are still compelled to use force, but the higher law is to secure the cooperation and harmony of society by moral suasion and without the use of force." Now, that is exactly what the "Mormon" Church organization is doing. There is no force, in this sense, in the gospel of Jesus Christ ; no compulsion whatever. Every man and every woman is absolutely free — free to do as they please with respect to the Church ; to live in it ; to obey its principles and pay tithes or not, as they please, ¶

but they are persuaded and constrained by the power of the Spirit of the Lord ; they are grateful to be impelled by a spirit which comes from God, and which teaches them to yield willing obedience to the righteousness of its principles, If there is anything lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, they seek after these things. That is one of the articles of our faith, and so, I say to my discontented non- "Mormon" friends, possess your souls in patience! The "Mormon" Church is here to stay. The "Mormon" Church is here to fill its mission, which is a mission of peace ; which contributes to good government; to good order; to righteous living; to all that makes for a higher and better civilization. And it is accomplishing great results in respect to this. Is it not a good thing, think you, for an organization to have brought thousands and tens of thousands from distant lands, from all over the world, and planted them here? They are infinitely better off here. They own their own homes ; they own their own land; they are free men, free women. Isn't all that good? That is what all our Chambers of Commerce, Commercial Clubs, and other organizations of that kind, are seeking for — to bring people here who will build homes; who will help build up the country, cultivate the soil and increase production of the necessaries of life. I say, all that is good. I believe that everyone — even those embittered in their narrow souls against the Church must concede this. For it is good. Then, what is there wrong about it? I can find nothing in; the Church discipline that is wrong. Nothing in the Church principles that is wrong. Individuals may sometimes go wrong. You and I, we may go wrong, and do, doubtless, at times, but the principles that govern this organization; all that this organization stands for, makes for righteousness and for the well-being of the citizens of this country, for that which Elder Richards so. forcefully and plainly pointed out to us this morning, the establishing, upholding, maintaining of the government of these United States. That is what this organization is here for. I repeat, it is to bring peace to the world, not contention. It begins, as I said before, at the home. It spreads to the little community governed by the bishop of the ward ; all the agencies, all the powers of the Priesthood that can be used to promote well-being by persuasion ; by long-suffering ; by kindness and knowledge, by love unfeigned; no force, no compulsion! All these are used to promote the well-being of humankind. What a splendid thing it is to be engaged in a work of this kind. These agencies our Church is using every day to bring to pass the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth, and I say that is a splendid thing, the best that man can be engaged in. ¶

Only the other day a very prominent gentleman from New York, who is in charge of large interests in this state, said to me: "Through your organization you .seem to< have your feet more solidly on the ground, with more of that which makes for safety and security right here in Utah, than we find in any other part of the country." ¶

Brethren and sisters, let me say in closing that we have it of record, that the prophet Joseph Smith said the time would come when, through secret organizations taking the law into their own hands, not being governed by law or by due process of law, but becoming a law unto themselves, when, by those disintegrating activities, the Constitution of the United States would be so torn and rent asunder, and life and property and peace and security would be held of so little value, that the Constitution would, as it were, hang by a thread. But he never said, so far as I have heard, that that thread would be cut. I believe, with Elder Richards, that this Constitution will be preserved, but it will be preserved very largely in consequence of what the Lord has revealed and what this people, through listening to the Lord and being obedient, will help to bring about, to stabilize and give permanency and effect to the Constitution itself. That also is our mission. That also is what we are here for. I glory in it. I praise God with all my heart and soul that I am a member of it. ¶

I know the work is true. The Lord has established it. You know that also, and when the hands of the elders at the waters of baptism were laid upon your heads and it was said unto you, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost', that you did receive and have continued to receive until there has grown within you a power, a potency, a spirit which, when you yield to and live by, makes you better every way. You know that it is the power of God unto salvation, lo this people, to this nation, and to all the world, and the time will come, as the prophet of the old Bible has declared, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, to the glory of God the Father. But it will never be done by force. The knee will willingly bow, gladly bow and acknowledge that here is the best government ; here is the best that has been produced on earth in the way of good government and good order and security and justice and righteousness and mercy, just as men do now acknowledge, those thinking men and wise men that have investigated this system, that here is the best there is anywhere that can be found. So in time, all over the world, the knee will bow, the acknowledgment will be made, not through force nor compulsion, but willingly, loyally, with gratitude and praise to God that he has so established his work that man may see what he has done, and they will glorify his name and adhere to it. ¶

That the Lord will hasten it all in his time, I humbly pray, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶