Remarks by John M. Knight

My soul has been stirred, as never before, during the sessions of this conference. ¶

I desire that I may have the same sweet spirit that has influenced the remarks of my brethren. I would like to emphasize one thought that has impressed me. ¶

Frequent reference has been made to the holy scriptures, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price as the inspired word of God. As I listened to the opening address of President Grant, and others of the brethren who have spoken, I have felt in my heart their testimony and words of instruction, were just as binding upon the Latter-day Saints as any part of the written word. ¶

"Holy men of old wrote and spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost." ¶

Prophets of God live today, and when moved upon by that same power, their message is of equal force upon the world and particularly the Latter-day Saints as the word of God spoken or written centuries ago. ¶

All who listened to the testimony and instructions of President Grant must have felt, in, their souls, that he spoke as one having authority, commissioned of God to declare his message to the Saints of latter days. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, and obeys its teachings. A testimony of its truth is not reserved for the presiding brethren of the Church. It is within the power of every baptized believer to have assurance and testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith not only was, but is a prophet of the living God, also that those who are at the head of the Church today have the same authority and power possessed by Joseph Smith. We will reserve that witness of the Spirit in direct proportion to our obedience to' law. If we are implicit and absolute in our obedience to the commandments of God we shall know the truth. Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, ¶

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." ¶

I read from the Doctrine and Covenants, section one : ¶

"For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;" "Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven ;" ¶

"And he that repents not. from him shall be taken even the light which he has received, for any spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts." ¶

"And again verily I say unto you, - O inhabitants of the earth, I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh," ¶

"For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily Cometh ; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion." ¶

We must keep ourselves clean and unspotted from the sins of the world. ¶

! have here, a clipping that was forcibly brought to my mind this morning. Reference was made by one of the speakers to the fact that a minister of one of the great Protestant churches in a convention recently held, declared that the churches had no message for the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has a message for the world, which is definite and positive. That message was delivered to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the early part of the ¶

nineteenth century, by messengers sent from the presence of God. It is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness and power. The clipping I have is from a Minneapolis paper and reports the Rev. C. E. Ames of the Congregational church as saying: ¶

"In a spiritual sense there is a crying need today for pioneers to lead us into new lands away from the worship of idols. We need not so much scribes and priests as we need prophets. Prophets are spiritual pioneers, pilgrims, pathfinders. The spiritual pathfinder needs faith to venture, courage to endure, a vision of freedom to strive for. He cannot be satisfied with the life about him. He loses smug content in a desire for better things. Inspired by the living Christ, the prophet for our day must lead by voice and life. He cannot permit the message God has given him to be throttled by any force economic, social or military. He may not be praised ; far more probable his lot will be persecution, but he will lead the world to new lands of spiritual growth and happiness." ¶

Truly the world is in need of prophets, spiritual pathfinders. We have them! Joseph Smith was the pioneer in the dispensation in which we live. He directed the attention of the world away from the worship of idols, taught the personality of God and of his son Jesus Christ and revolutionized the popular idea of an incomprehensible Deity. He taught men the fundamental doctrine of salvation. Faith in God, faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth, the necessity of personal purity, and repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost and every other principle and doctrine taught by Christ and his apostles. ¶

It has not been necessary to call a convention of the elders of the Church to consider fundamentals in order to enrich the articles of our faith. They will be the same in all dispensations of time; and will lead the people of the world to spiritual growth and happiness. Joseph Smith did not permit the message God had given him to be throttled by any power, social, economic, or military; though his lot was persecution, hounded, driven and plundered by his enemies, he bore solemn testimony until death that he had seen the Father and the Son in glorious vision, that holy men as ministering angels had visited him and conferred the authority of the holy Priesthood upon him with all the keys and powers of former gospel dispensations, and that under their direction the Church of Christ had been established never more to be thrown down. We Latter-day Saints are his witnesses that these things are true. ¶

In the days when Christ was upon the earth he called the attention of the Scribes and Pharisees to the fact that many of them said in their hearts, had we lived in the days of the prophets, we would have done differently than our fathers. But he said unto them : ¶

"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because ye build the tombs of the Prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?" ¶

Joseph Smith undaunted and unafraid went to a martyr's doom in 1844. Future generations, no doubt, will adore the name of the prophet of this dispensation whom their sires put to death. ¶

Missionaries of the Church are calling the attention of the world to these great truths and warning them of the judgments that are about to come upon the earth. This year is the centennial anniversary of the visit of the Angel Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith, preparatory to the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. In our mission, the Western states, we have stressed the coming forth of this volume of scripture, this new witness for God, and kept it prominently before the people. Some of our friends have been wrought up in their souls and have endeavored to stay our progress. One such was kind enough to distribute a little pamphlet through the eastern part of South Dakota. I desire to read a portion of what appeared in the article. It was unsigned : ¶

"In spite of their awful doctrines, they get followers. There are multitudes of poor, deluded folk that want something different. They are easy prey to the schemes of men and devils. The 'Mormons' are skilled deceivers. They use the Bible to teach repentance, faith and baptism, but hold back their awful doctrines. They teach that God once was as we are now. and that we may become what God is now. They teach that we have a heavenly Father and a heavenly Mother." ¶

That is an awful doctrine isn't il ? I have not time to read all of this pamphlet. I call your attention to the closing paragraph. ¶

"They say that Joseph Smith can make scripture as good as the Bible, that God has many revelations, as the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and other publications of their Church. Records are kept of thousands of living persons who are baptized in their temples for the redemption of the dead. Their writings can be produced to show that they teach these things. The above is enough to condemn the whole system ; for they set up their writings equal to the Bible and leave place for added revelation. Gods word is a finished revelation, and woe to him that adds to or takes away !" ¶

My time has expired. It is not necessary to make any comment in the presence of a congregation of Latter-day Saints. It shows; however, the attitude of the world towards a prophet of God. The crying need of the hour is for inspired men. We have them in the Church of Jesus Christ, and they are leading Israel by the power of God. May the Lord add his blessings, that we may appreciate to the full our responsibilities. Let us turn our faces towards the rising sun, set our hearts like flint against the evils of the world, and endeavor to reduce to practice in our lives the counsels and instructions that have been given and. will yet be given at the sessions of this conference, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶