Remarks

My brethren and sisters. The thought has occurred to me that I am standing about where President Jedediah M. Grant stood seventy years ago speaking at the April Conference. I am not telling of something that I know for myself, because I was not born then; but, as an historian, I suppose it is right to remember some things that are written. Upon the site of this building there then stood the old adobe tabernacle. It was placed lengthwise, north and south, about 130 feet and was 65 feet wide. On the western side there was a vestry, which had an entrance through the west wall of the temple block. The Presidency of the Church and the Twelve would come in and meet first in that vestry. Rising from it there was the stand, facing the congregation, which was seated facing west; the two broad entrance doors were on the east side of the building. It was soon found that, on account of the length being the other way, the people seated north and south of the stand could not hear, consequently the arrangement was changed and the stand was placed in the north end of the building. The choir was in the south end. The old organ, ten or twelve feet square, I remember very well. Charley More used to blow the bellows and we boys would get up there and help him blow. ¶

Upon the occasion that I am referring to, seventy years ago, President Jedediah M. Grant discoursed upon the fulfilment of prophecy, and especially with respect to the wars that were at that time afflicting the world. The Crimean War was then on. He said: ¶

" Can the wise men of Europe tell the result of the present war between Russia and Turkey and the allied powers? No. they cannot. If the present war should be suspended for a time, can they tell when the next war will break out and what will be the result of it? No, they cannot. But if you will listen to the revelations of God through the spirit of prophecy, and to the servants of God, you may learn it all with certainty." ¶

It was then, as it has been since the Great World War, quite the fashion to proclaim peace just as war between striving nations was about to break out and, again, as it would approach its close, to say there never could be another. Great philosophers, great men of thought, and statesmen at that time were proclaiming peace, and since then. -- Why, do you know, some of our most eminent Americans, within a year of the outbreak of the Great World War, having traversed Europe from one end to another, proclaimed from public stands and issued written proclamations of the impossibility of another war! -- Jedediah M. Grant did not take that view with respect to war in his day nor in this day and age of the world. He made this remark: The God of heaven, or as he expressed it, " The Gods in yonder heavens have something to do with these mighty revolutions and warlike convulsions, which shake creation almost to its ¶

center." And in effect he added; This world is destined to be drenched in war, and these nations that are proud are destined to be brought down to destruction and obliteration through war: ¶

" Though the fulfilment of the words of the prophets is clear and visible to us as the noonday sun in its splendor, yet the people of the world are blinded thereto; they do not comprehend nor discern the hand of the Lord * * * We see it in the revolutions of our own continent: we see it in the scattering of the house of Israel; in the fading away of nations (Indian) on the right and on the left; in the present commotion in our own nation; in the broils and contentions between the South and the North; in short, we see it in all the events connected with our own and other nations living on the continent of North and South America. And when the mind's eye stretches abroad, across the mighty deep, throughout Europe we see the hand of the Lord visible at work there; not only in the spread of the Gospel, in the prosperity of the people of God, and in the proclamation of the eternal principles of truth, through the agency of the elders of Israel, but in the war-clouds gathering black around, dyeing the ocean with human gore and drenching the solid earth with blood." ¶

Remember this was spoken in the year 1854. Well, just to recall a few wars that have transpired since President Jedediah M. Grant spoke upon that theme. Following the Crimean War (1854-1856) there came the Great American Civil War (1861-1865). President Grant alluded to that and the evidence of such a strife already before the people. He supported the prophecies of Joseph Smith the Prophet (December 25. 1832 and April 1843) in which he said: ¶

" Three days before the prophet Joseph started to Carthage I well remember his telling us we should see the fulfilment of the words of Jesus upon the earth, where he says the father should be against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, etc. The Prophet stood in his own home when he told several of us of the night the visions of heaven were opened to him, in which he saw the American continent drenched in blood; and he saw nation rising up against nation; for he saw that the spirit of God should be withdrawn from the inhabitants of the earth, in consequence of which, there should be blood upon the face of the whole earth, except among the people of the Most High. The prophet gazed upon the scene his vision presented until his heart sickened, and he besought the Lord to close it up again." ¶

After the Civil War there was the great Franco-German War of 1870-1871; a war which left the burning feelings of war, with the determination that there should be another war. It has had its expression in this great World War of the present time. " Revenge!" the French cried, having been defeated by the Germans at that time. Now, they have had their revenge. ¶

Then there was the great Turco-Russian War, (1876-1877) fought with the utmost bitterness and the destruction of many thousands. And then there was the Spanish-American War (1898), in which we had a conflict with Spain and obtained the Philippines; released Cuba from Spanish control and drove out from this continent of America, from this land of Zion, the last kingly authority -- " The destruction of Kingdoms!" ¶

Then there was the British-Boer War in South Africa (19001901), most destructive; then the Russian- Japanese War (1904-1905) in which other tens of thousands were brought down. Then at length there came the Great World War, (1914-1918). ¶

The spirit of war is still in the world, my brethren and sisters. It is not finished. Many predictions of the prophets have yet to be fulfilled. The world that has forgotten God; the nations that do not know him; the churches that use his name in vain, not having authority; nor the inspiration of his spirit, nor the knowledge and testimony of his design and purpose, may proclaim peace and talk peace and form peace congresses, but in vain; enduring peace is far from this world of contention and strife, As a result of the Great World War, what do we witness? Is there greater unity? Is there greater love? Is there a greater confidence? Is there greater trust? The world has never seen a time when there is so much distrust among the people; when there is such utter lack of confidence in leaders -- every nation seeking, for the men, or feeling the need of men, that are fit to lead, who can speak with authority and command the confidence and the love and the trust of their fellowmen. But it is hard to find them. Where are the great mighty kingdoms and empires that were thought to be indestructible only ten years ago; the great German empire, the great Austro-Hungarian empire, the great Russian empire, the great Turkish empire? -Gone! And it is the destiny of mankind to see further destruction, because the spirit of peace, the spirit of unity, the spirit of God, which alone can bring the people to peace, is not found in the world. They have rejected the prophets. Most of the nations have had the opportunity to receive, in this dispensation of the fulness of times, the testimony of the servants of God. They have turned their backs upon that testimony and despised it, and God will hold them responsible for it. This testimony has not only been carried to the nations of the earth, calling upon the poor and the humble to receive the truth, and to which many of the blood of Israel have responded; it has been published in almost every land, and the opportunity to receive the truth has been presented generally to mankind. A few have accepted it, and rejoice in it. The testimony has not only been to believers, but the testimony that binds the judgment of God, and looses the power of destruction upon them righteously, has also been borne to unbelievers with the same fidelity; so that God's justice, respecting the nations, may not be doubted even in the wars, the calamities, the pestilences, the famines, the widespread destruction that we are bound to witness and that we are witnessing, in this world of conflicting, unbelieving mankind, at the present day. ¶

I did not think I was going to speak upon this subject, for there was something else that I thought to speak upon which is far pleasanter from one point of view. Nevertheless, I am not one of the pacifists, who believe that this world is ready for peace. I see peace only through the fulfilment of the judgments of God, which are decreed upon the world in which we live, because of the unbelief of the world. All the children of men are called upon to believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Son; in the authority of the Holy Priesthood, in the manifestation and power of the Holy Spirit. They are called upon to recognize the fact that God himself has appeared and spoken to his children and is in the world, though the world knows it not. We are called to maintain the truth that the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyrs to the truth, whose blood has been spilled unrighteously, to seal the testimony of God upon the world that is responsible for it. We have no other business, we Latter-day Saints, than to proclaim these truths, with all the power, means and influence the Lord gives us; to declare to mankind that the judgment day is at hand and is now upon the world. John the Revelator foresaw the time in which we live -- foresaw the time when the angels of heaven, flying in the midst of heaven, should bring the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, crying with a loud voice, " Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and fountains of waters." Do we Latter-day Saints know that the revelation given John upon the Isle of Patmos is fulfilled, or is being fulfilled? We most assuredly do. And we declare to our fellowmen that this gospel which has been revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith is a gospel of revelation; is a gospel of the ministering of angels; is a gospel of the demonstration and exercise of the power of God in the hands of his Priesthood, and that it must be recognized; that it must be accepted. It is bound to make its way, until the honest in heart, the humble, the pure, the true, out of all nations, who are of the house of Israel, shall come to the knowledge of the truth and to rejoice in the testimony of Jesus Christ. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, our fathers, the associates of Joseph Smith, became converted through this kind of preaching. The elders that were called upon in the beginning, and Joseph himself, had that duty -- undesirable in a way -- to perform, that unthankful task to perform. The very first message Joseph had to deliver was to the leaders of religion, telling them that they were all wrong; that they were corrupt; that they had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof; that they had not the right and authority to teach the people. He maintained that a vision of heavenly quality, even the appearance of the Father and the Son, had raised him up and caused him to deliver that message. He knew he had seen the vision; he knew that he had heard the voice of God; he could not deny it. He wondered that the leaders of religion should not have taken him, a mere boy, a youth, and tried to persuade him that he was in error, if he were. Instead of that, they arose in opposition; they called him an imposter, and began to persecute him; hounding him through- ¶

out his life and ultimately to a martyr's death. That was the only argument they brought against him -- persecution. ¶

Wicked warfare has been made against the Latter-day Saints and the testimony which they have borne to the world; not arguments, nor sound reasoning, not offering something that was better than that which the Saints have freely given to mankind; but abuse and persecution. They have nothing else to offer. They have not that which is better, I wish to say this to the young people, descendants of parents who received the gospel in the early days. And how did they receive it? They received it as a voice from heaven. Talk about argument, reasoning, discussion, investigation, and experiment! Why, my brethren and sisters, tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints received the testimony of Joseph Smith, as the revelation of God to them, and the testimonies of the apostles and elders that were raised up by him, who went as early as 1837, to Europe, and were sent all over the world between that time and 1860. They received the testimony of these servants of God, who called upon them and all men to repent of their sins; to believe that God lives and has spoken from the heavens, and that Jesus Christ lives; that he has organized his Church upon the earth and established his kingdom among men; that he calls upon mankind to repent, offering them remission of their sins and that they should be forgiven; that they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which should bear witness that they were in accord with God and were in possession of the truth, and in fellowship with him and with one another, in bonds of eternal righteousness. That was the burden of their testimony. That is what the converts received through their ministry. ¶

How long did it take to convert them? Heber C. Kimball went into Chatburn, Lancashire, where they said he would be mobbed and not permitted to speak. He stood in the market place one evening at six o'clock, and began to speak to the people in this manner, proclaiming the fact that he was a servant of God, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He called upon the people to repent of their sins, and he melted their hearts; so that, with tears in their eyes they came up to him at that meeting, the first they had ever seen of him, and one said, " Will you please baptize me?"" And me?"" And me?"" And me?" Twenty-five that night before midnight he baptized, and in the morning twenty-six more. No more faithful Latter-day Saints ever lived than those who responded to that kind of testimony. He and others bore witness to them by the Spirit and power of God, exercising and manifesting the power of the Holy Priesthood, as apostles of Jesus Christ, who spoke as men having authority, because they possessed it. ¶

Now, my brethren and. sisters, that authority was restored through the ministering of angels. Through the revelations of the Lord this Church has been established with its organizations and ordinances. This testimony is before the world. They cannot escape it, and it ¶

will bind them and be sealed upon them; to the salvation of all who believe and will accept it; and, as inevitably, to the destruction, righteously, of those who reject it. President Jedediah M. Grant spoke of the wonderful progress that had been made in those seven years, from the time of the arrival of the Pioneers, when he led the third company of Saints across the plains in 1847. The progress that had been made in seven years was simply astonishing. The old tabernacle, then new, which they met in, would hold as many as this Assembly Hall does. It was so crowded, at the following conference in the spring, they decided to build a bowery, which would seat seven thousand. It was located at the north end of the tabernacle. I remember the old bowery very well. I remember the old tabernacle and attending meetings there with my mother. President Grant not only referred to the material progress which had been made, and to the wonderful advancement beginning already to triumph over the sterility of these arid valleys; but to the gathering of the people by tens of thousands; for they were coming, in thousands then. Do you know that, two years before the date of this discourse, in 1852, there were more Latter-day Saints in Great Britain than in Utah? The largest number of our converts at one time were members of the Church in Great Britain -- as I recall it, thirty-three thousand. As many as four or five or even six thousand emigrated in one season; they tried to bring, and I think they nearly accomplished it -- one year, between 1853 and 1860, ten thousand souls across the plains, mostly from Europe. ¶

President Grant proclaimed with power that there was nothing that could hinder the progress of this work, or that could stay the hand of the Almighty; that God was in the wars of the world, and that God was in the prosperity of his people; that it was his work, and that we are his servants and that there was no power that could prevent the onward progress of this Church. I wonder how Jedediah M. Grant would now feel and how he would view the situation today! His youngest son here in the Great Tabernacle, presiding over this great conference and Church, over these tens of thousands, aye, hundreds of thousands of faithful Saints; all bearing witness to the fulfilment of his father's prophecy, delivered, within thirty feet of where I am standing, seventy years ago! ¶

May God bless you, my brethren and sisters. Let us realize and appreciate the inheritance from our forbears. No more faithful men, no truer men and women ever lived; none who lived nearer to God, who understood the whisperings of his Spirit and were willing to give their lives and all things they possessed for the establishment of this work, which we now are upholding. We have only still to bear their testimony; to proclaim the truth which they proclaimed; to stand for it; and to see that it is carried to the ends of the earth; to the conversion of the honest in heart and to the conviction of those that still rebel and will not receive the word of God. There are many in the world ¶

who will not believe that God is, although he has appeared and spoken; who will not receive his word and acknowledge the ministry of his Priesthood. What can be their excuse? Where is their refuge? The condemnation of the world is unbelief. How can there be permanent peace between the nations or among the people in unbelief? It is not possible. Such peace can come to mankind only in a unity of belief, in one God, in one faith and in one baptism. There is only safety in accepting the truth. The truth is that God our Creator, the Father of us all is in the world. His children do not know it. It is your business, Latter-day Saints to proclaim it; it is my business to proclaim it, and to manifest it in our lives, in such a way that our fellow creatures will take heed and notice and try to get in accord with the design and purpose of the Almighty; instead of trying to find some other way, in opposition to it. ¶

May God help us to do this, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶