Remarks

Formerly President of the Swiss-German Mission ¶

My beloved brothers and sisters, I feel very humble and weak this morning in standing before this great congregation of Latter-day Saints, and I trust that the words uttered in the prayer may be realized. ¶

I am very thankful to my heavenly Father for the knowledge ¶

and testimony that I have of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There never has been a doubt in my mind from my earliest infancy of the divinity of this work in which we are engaged. I take this book, the Bible, from cover to cover, as an inspired word, inspired of the Lord, and I have been taught all my life to believe it. Notwithstanding all that may be said by the scientists, I never have discovered anything in my life in the Word of the Lord that is not a part of all true science. I believe it with all my soul; I believe it is the science of all truth, and if we have the Spirit of the Lord with us when we read this book, we will be able to know beyond all question of doubt that it is the Word of God. ¶

I was a little surprised, this morning, in reading the morning paper, to see my name announced as one of the speakers in this conference, this morning. ¶

I have just recently returned from a business and pleasure trip throughout Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and I also went over into British Columbia. In all the years of my life I do not believe that I ever saw the country so prosperous as it is at the present time. I never saw such crops of wheat throughout the northwest, such crops of alfalfa, of beets, and fruit as I have seen during my travels the last few weeks. And I was thinking that we all should feel that the Lord is mindful of this people. He has blessed the earth for our sakes, for our good; for we are all his people, all his children -- we may not all see alike, but at the same time we are all the children of the Father -- and he pours out his blessings upon us. And when he does that, he does it for the purpose that we will use these blessings to accomplish good. I hope that this will be a warning to our people that they should be mindful of these blessings and take care of the things that the Lord is blessing us with. I appreciate, beyond my power to say, the blessings that have come to me. I enjoy them and I appreciate them, and I want to show my appreciation by serving the Lord and keeping his commandments. And the only way I can do it, is by being mindful of the Lord's goodness to me, and doing my full duty in keeping his commandments and obeying his laws. What a wonderful thing it would be today if all the people this year should remember the Lord, not forget him at this time of prosperity! It is easy to remember him when we are in distress, in famine. Remember the Lord in the day of plenty. Remember that he has opened the windows of heaven and has poured his blessings upon us. Now, let us be good stewards and take care of what the Lord has given us, and pay our tithes and our offerings, and the Lord will continue to bless us. ¶

Since coming into the room I have thought of this passage of scripture, which I am going to read to you. I believe in all the principles of the gospel. We have been preaching them now for practically one hundred years: faith, repentance, and baptism, and many of us -- perhaps all of us present today -- have rendered obedience to the first principles of the gospel. I remember so well that beautiful, matchless sermon of the Master's, the Sermon on the Mount. After he had concluded that sermon he spoke to the Saints as follows: ¶

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. ¶

"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. ¶

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ¶

"Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? ¶

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." ¶

I think of this for myself very often. I would like to judge my brethren and sisters righteously and justly. I think that we are too often prone to judge harshly. O, it is a beautiful thing to be kind and charitable and judge righteously in all affairs pertaining to our everyday lives. This gospel of faith, repentance, and baptism to me does not end when we have been born again, but it goes on throughout our daily lives, and what we build here, we will inhabit; what we sow here, we will reap, just as surely as the Lord lives. And we cannot deceive the Lord, because the Lord is just and will mete out unto us justice in the fullest measure, and I believe, my brethren and sisters, that we should be careful in judging one another not too rashly and too quickly. Be careful and wise in your judgments. ¶

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." ¶

I believe those words with all my heart; I think they are all true. And I do not believe that I can sit down in my home and pray and ask the Lord to help me, and then, if I go out on to the road in my daily life in business, that I can deceive the Lord, if I am not honest and just with my fellowmen, do not pay my tithes and offerings, and am not honest in my daily labors. I believe that a true Latter-day Saint is true in every respect, and lives up to his professions in every respect. That is the doctrine of the Master, that we shall practice and live up to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the world may see our good works, judge us by them, and glorify our Father in heaven. ¶

"For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." ¶

How are you going to knock? "Seek and ye shall find." My brothers and sisters, the Lord is not going to give us anything that we do not work for. We can sit here and pray for a thing, but faith without works is dead, and in all avocations of life, in my daily business, in my daily work, I commend myself every morning to the Lord. And O, how thankful I am for the teachings of my dear old mother! I can remember very well when I was a little boy, when my mother called her family about her knee and we prayed. We did not pray to an unknown God but to our heavenly ¶

Father. And I can testify to you that our heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I know that just as well as I know that I am living, and I know that he will answer the prayers of all his faithful and humble servants who seek him honestly and diligently. ¶

"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ¶

"Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¶

"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" ¶

Ask him in faith and he will bless you. He often blesses us, I think, more than we are worthy of. He is kinder to us than we are in many instances to our neighbors, to our brothers and sisters. ¶

"Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." ¶

I believe in that, I believe in every word of it. I never would ask a man to do a thing for me that I would not do for him. I was president of the Swiss-German mission in 1903. For about six years and a half I presided over that mission, but I always had this in mind that I would never send a man to do a thing in the mission field that I would not do and did not do myself. I believe in that principle, I believe in justice, and whatever I ask a man to do I am willing and feel that we should all be willing to do ourselves. That was the teaching of the Master. ¶

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; ¶

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." ¶

I was thinking of this scripture during my last travels. I was in the city of Portland, I was in the city of Seattle, and a great many of the large centers, and the first thing I looked for was the "Mormon" Church, the Church which claims to be the only true Church upon the earth, and I believe that absolutely, but in those large cities I had to hunt around as if for a needle in a haystack to find our people. I found them in Portland, but not in Seattle. I could not find them in many other places. No doubt they were there. I was there only a short time. But in visiting among those people I could see their condition -- not that I condemn or blame them; they are living up to what they know, to what they understand perhaps to be right -- but O, what a power it would be if the gospel of Jesus Christ could be made known to those people. In the city of Seattle I felt as if I would like to stand up on some high hill and proclaim the gospel to the people of Seattle. I believe they are a good people and are ready for the gospel, and it will be given them. ¶

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ¶

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ¶

"Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth not forth good fruit. ¶

"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ¶

"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ¶

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. ¶

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." ¶

Now, my message to you, by brethren and sisters, is to do the will of our Father which is in heaven, and you will find in the gospel of Jesus Christ restored in our day, the true and unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ. I have no apologies to offer for the gospel restored through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know, and have always known, and bear testimony to you that I know, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that he was the instrument in the hands of the Lord in establishing his Church here upon the earth. And I want to testify to you that I know beyond all question of doubt that all those prophets who have succeeded the Prophet Joseph Smith have been prophets, seers, and revelators, called and inspired of the Lord. And the man who stands at the head of this Church today, I want to bear witness to you, holds the keys; and when God has a message for this people, I promise you that that message will come through the proper channel. God bless you. Amen. ¶