I Rejoice In Having The Opportunity Of Again...

I rejoice in having the opportunity of again meeting with the Saints in general conference. I am delighted to see the splendid audience that is here this morning. ¶

CHANGES IN STAKE AND MISSION OFFICERS SINCE LAST CONFERENCE ¶

I am sure that it will be of some interest to those who are here assembled to learn regarding the changes that have been made since our last conference. ¶

New Stakes Organized : The Alpine stake has been divided into three stakes, to be known as the Alpine, Lehi and Timpanogos stakes. ¶

Stake Presidents Appointed : John E. Magleby has been released as president of the South Sevier stake, and James R. Ware has been appointed to succeed him. ¶

John M. Baxter has been released as president of the Woodruff stake, and William R. Smith appointed to succeed him. ¶

Stephen L. Chipman has been released as president of the Alpine stake, and Clifford E. Young appointed to succeed him. ¶

Anchor Carlos Schow has been appointed president of the new Lehi stake. ¶

Wilford W. Warnick has been appointed president of the new Timpanogos stake. ¶

Frank Y. Taylor has been released as President of Granite stake and Hugh B. Brown appointed to succeed him. ¶

John A. Beckstrand has been released as president of the Millard stake, and T. Clark Callister appointed to succeed him. ¶

Joseph B. White has been released as president of Hyrum stake and Danforth M. Bickmore appointed to succeed him. ¶

Mission Presidents Appointed : J. A. Cahoon has been released as president of the Tongan mission, and Newel J. Cutler appointed to succeed him. ¶

Charles H. Hyde has been released as president of the Australian mission, and Clarence H. Tingey appointed to succeed him. ¶

Ernest C. Rossiter has been released as president of the French mission, and Peter Rulon Christensen appointed to succeed him. ¶

New Wards Organised : Elberta ward, Tintic stake. Echo ward, Summit stake ; Midvale ward, East Jordan stake, divided into two wards to be known as Midvale First and Second wards; Green River ward, Carbon stake ; Compton ward, Los Angeles stake ; Hurricane North ward, St. George stake. ¶

Bishop who has passed away during the past six months : William A. Stringer of Milburn ward, Lyman stake. ¶

Stake clerks who have filed : Nelson J. Hansen of Uinta stake ; F. C. Mickelson of Shelley stake. ¶

All of the retiring stake presidents retire with the confidence, love, respect and good will of the General Authorities. They have done most excellent work, some of them serving over a quarter of a century. ¶

The Church today has 101 stakes of Zion; 940 wards; 72 independent branches. ¶

When we speak of an independent branch we mean a branch with a president and two counselors. There are many small branches of wards in addition. ¶

We have 1,012 organized wards and branches in the Church, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south. ¶

We have at the present time 27 missions in different parts of the world. ¶

EXPENDITURES FOR CHURCH EDIFICES ¶

The building program of the Church is progressing as rapidly this year as it did last year. There was expended last year for the erection of Church buildings and amusement halls throughout the Stakes of Zion over one million dollars of Church funds and a like amount by the people. ¶

There has been expended in the first nine months ending October first, this year, $868,892.54. During the same period last year there was expended for stake and ward edifices $742,282.40. So that over $125,000 more money has been appropriated by the Church for the nine months ending October 1st this year, for the erection of public buildings, than for the same period last year. And the Saints have contributed a like amount. Therefore, over $1,700,000 has been expended up to date from the tithes and by the people in the various stakes for these purposes. ¶

VISITS MISSIONS ¶

It has fallen to my lot during the past six months to visit the following branches in the missions: Chicago, Ill., Washington, D. C, New York and Brooklyn, N. Y., Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia. I have had the pleasure of meeting the mission presidents and many of the elders and holding meetings in the places in the mission fields that I have mentioned. ¶

BUILDINGS DEDICATED ¶

In addition I have had the pleasure of holding meetings in many of the wards and in some of the stakes, and of dedicating meeting houses and amusement halls. I dedicated a chapel and amusement hall in Kirtland, New Mexico, in the Young stake of Zion. There has been erected there a very beautiful little ward meetinghouse, one of the finest in the Church. The people there are very much more prosperous than they were some years ago. ¶

I was reminded of the wonderful change that has taken place since I went over the mountains from Alamosa down to Durango and then by wagon to Kirtland, with the late Brigham Young, Jr., forty-five years ago. We covered the same ground on this recent trip in between three and four hours, that it took us four or five days to cover with a team on my first visit. ¶

I dedicated a splendid meetinghouse and amusement hall at Smithfield, in the Benson stake, a very fine building in the small town of Mapleton, in the Franklin stake, and a meetinghouse costing between sixty and seventy thousand dollars at Mar Vista, one of the wards of the Hollywood stake. The last named ward was organized only five months ago, its members having originally belonged to the Ocean Park ward. It is remarkable that in less than five months from the time the erection of the building was commenced, it was completed and paid for. Men, women and children worked on this building. The little children carried tiles for the roof ; the good sisters nailed on laths ; and some of our non-Mormon friends devoted time and attention to laboring there. The people did more than one-half of the total cost of erecting this building. I think it is the most remarkable accomplishment in that length of time of any building we have erected in the various wards. ¶

There were one thousand people in attendance at the dedicatory services, and by opening the doors between the amusment hall and the chapel, they were all comfortably seated. When the building was commenced the membership of the ward was less than four hundred people, and few of them have large means. ¶

The Los Angeles stake has built a large amusement hall which is utilized for conference purposes, adjoining the Huntington Park ward meetinghouse. The combination of the meetinghouse and stake hall gives them one of the finest plants in the entire Church. This building for stake purposes and recreation has cost about $110,000, as I remember it. ¶

BUILDINGS IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION ¶

The Hollywood stake, in connection with the Wilshire ward, in erecting a most magnificent chapel and ward building and recreation hall combined, which will cost, I would say, in the neighborhood of $120,000. ¶

We are now erecting in Portland, Oregon, a magnificent chapel that will cost us over $100,000. We own an entire block there. ¶

The work that is being accomplished in erecting meetinghouses with the funds that the people pay into the various missions as tithing is very remarkable. ¶

In the California and other missions many meetinghouses are being erected at the present time, and many have been erected. Several hundred thousand dollars have been expended in the last few years in the California mission alone. ¶

It fell to my lot recently to attend the conference of the San Francisco stake held at Oakland, and also to hold a meeting at San Francisco. That stake is growing very rapidly indeed. So also are both of the stakes in Los Angeles. ¶

I also had the privilege of attending a three days' hike or outing of the Mutuals of the San Francisco stake at Stinson Beach on the Pacific ocean, enjoying a very splendid time there. ¶

We have erected a fine seminary building at Moscow, Idaho, facing the university buildings there. It is a very creditable structure, and the president and other officers of the university are very much delighted with it, and speak in the highest terms of our having done something along religious and educational lines for the members of our Church who are attending the university. ¶

We are erecting a similar building near the Agricultural College in Logan. ¶

The building program of the Church during the past nine months I feel is all that we could have asked or expected. ¶

AN INTERESTING AND PROFITABLE TRIP ¶

It fell to my lot with President Anthony W. Ivins, to be one of the guests of the Union Pacific Railroad and of the National Parks, in visiting the Grand Canyon of the Colorado and the scenic wonders of Southern Utah — Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Cedar Breaks — than which, to my mind, there is nothing finer in the world. There is a great tunnel and road being built, winding up over the mountains to come out of Zion Canyon, that is costing a vast sum of money, the government alone, as I remember it, having appropriated over a million dollars to build this tunnel. It will be the most remarkable and scenic route that any automobile has ever traveled over when it is completed. ¶

There will be an abundance of room for two automobiles to pass all through this great tunnel. It will save a vast amount of time which is now spent in traveling over the bad roads and through a strip of Arizona to get to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Many miles will be saved, and as I say, it will be the greatest scenic road ever traveled over by automobiles, when it is completed. ¶

I need not enter into any details here regarding these four scenic wonders. They are marvelous. They cannot be duplicated in any part of the wide world. ¶

There were about two hundred guests, as I remember it, in the party — a special train from Los Angeles and a special train from Salt Lake City. I wish to express to President Carl R. Gray and to the chairman of the finance committee of the Union Pacific Railroad, Mr. Seger, and to Stephen T. Mather, the sincere gratitude of President Ivins and myself, Mayor John F. Bowman, Congressman Don B. Colton and many other people who were with us, citizens of Utah, for the most marvelous and wonderful trip that it has ever fallen to my lot to take. ¶

The splendid compliments paid to our people for their accomplishments in Southern Utah by President Gray, Chairman Seger, Mr. Mather and others who spoke, filled our hearts with gratitude and thanks to them. We rejoice that the Latter-day Saints are coming into their own. ¶

It fell to my lot after this dedication to travel to Los Angeles with over one hundred of the men who had the privilege of being on this excursion, and they were universally pleased with what they had seen. They spoke in the highest terms of the very splendid singing of our choir at Kanab, of the wonderful singing of our choir at Cedar City, and of the very fine singing of our Sunday School children at Kanab. They also spoke of the healthy, fine looking children and of the fine young men and the fine young ladies that they met on this trip, and I rejoiced in it. ¶

I forgot to say in speaking of dedicating meetinghouses that I had the pleasure of getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning at the Grand Canyon and driving to Kanab where I arranged for the Sunday School to stay in session so that the visitors might meet them and that the children might sing a song for them. I also remained there for the afternoon meeting and dedicated the Kanab meetinghouse. These gentlemen were favorably impressed indeed with such a splendid meetinghouse in such a small town as Kanab. Several of them announced to me in Los Angeles and also in San Francisco, (as I had to go up there for a couple of days on business) that one of the outstanding things with which they were more pleased than anything else in making this trip to Southern Utah, was to become better acquainted with the Mormon people, with their aims, their objects and their accomplishments. Several said to me : "Mr. Grant, we have never seen anything but unfavorable notices regarding your people in magazines and newspapers." More than one of them said: "I am convinced that you will now have a couple of hundred non-Mormon missionaries sounding the praises of the Latter-day Saints and of the fine class of children, young men and young women and citizens generally that you have in your state." ¶

I am very grateful, indeed, for the wonderful expenditure of money by the government of the United States, and by the Union Pacific Railroad of over $700,000 in building a magnificent lodge on the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. It is an architectural dream. ¶

THE LORD'S PROMISES TO BE FULFILLED ¶

There is nothing that I am about to say that I have not said many times to the Latter-day Saints. We find in the very first revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants these words : ¶

"Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled. ¶

"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself ; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." ¶

I wish that I possessed the power to impress upon the hearts and the minds of the Latter-day Saints the necessity of becoming familiar with the commandments contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, and not only becoming familiar with them, but that I might have the power to impress upon their hearts and souls a determination to keep those commandments, to live them in very deed and in their every-day lives. ¶

We find recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants that "there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated — and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." ¶

BLESSINGS PREDICATED UPON OBSERVANCE OF WORD OF WISDOM ¶

Some very wonderful promises are made to us if we observe the Word of Wisdom. The blessings will come if we observe the Word of Wisdom, and they will not come unless we do observe it. I feel at the present time that it is very appropriate for all Latter-day Saints to have their attention called (although I have called their attention to it time and time again) to this marvelous and remarkable Word of Wisdom. I shall not take the time to read but very little of it: ¶

"To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days." ¶

Nearly 90 per cent of all the time of the saints is spent in laboring for their temporal advancement, and I have announced before and I announce again that if the Latter-day Saints had observed the Word of Wisdom as a people, every one of them, from the day that they came into these valleys, our temporal salvation would have been assured. The money expended for those things which the Lord says are not good for us, which we have been taught to leave alone — namely, tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor — if every dollar of that money had been kept in our country we would have had one of the wealthiest states in this Union, and more of the circulating medium, namely, the hard coin, so to speak, than most any state in this western part of America. ¶

It is estimated that every single dollar circulates around like the blood in the body of a man, being the vital circulating medium. Every dollar does one hundred dollars' worth of work in a year, and when you stop to think of the hundreds and thousands of dollars, running up I am sure at the present time perhaps to nearly a million dollars a year, that go out of this state by the breaking of the Word of Wisdom, certainly if we desire our temporal salvation and if we have faith in the words of God, every word of which he says shall be fulfilled, we should keep this law. The Lord has not made this an absolute commandment, but when our Heavenly Father, the one to whom we owe our lives and all that we possess and all our allegiance, desires us to do a thing, it seems to me that we as Latter-day Saints should do that thing more willingly even than though it come as an absolute command to us. ¶

To my mind the most remarkable promise that any man can have is contained in this revelation : ¶

"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; ¶

"And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures." ¶

Health is one of the first great blessings of God to man, and second only to health is wisdom. These two great blessings are promised to every man, woman and child in the Church of Christ that obeys the Word of Wisdom. ¶

"And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. "And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them." ¶

And I honestly believe that but for obeying the Word of Wisdom, when I was operated upon and the doctors said that blood poisoning in the third and last stage had set in, that I had to die — if I had not been an observer of the Word of Wisdom, so that the blood in my veins was pure and could overcome the poison, I would not be standing here before you, but more than thirty years ago my time would have come to pass from this life. ¶

INFLUENCE OF THE PRIESTHOOD ¶

We hear a good deal of talk and complaint about the influence of the Priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the domination of the people by those who preside over them. I want to read, more particularly for the benefit of those not of our faith, a revelation of Almighty God to Joseph Smith, when he was in Liberty jail, (and at one time when he was in that jail he was in chains ,which shows that even the chains of the wicked could not restrain God from giving his word to the prophet whom he had raised up to establish the gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days). Speaking of the calling of the priesthood, he said : ¶

"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? ¶

"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson — ¶

"That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. ¶

"That they may be conferred upon us, it is true ; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves ; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved ; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. ¶

"Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God. ¶

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. ¶

"Hence many are called, but few are chosen." ¶

This is the part I wish to emphasize : ¶

"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; ¶

"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile — ¶

"Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost ; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; ¶

"That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. ¶

"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly ; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God ; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. ¶

"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth ; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever." ¶

Is it a terrible thing to exercise the priesthood of the living God in the way that the Lord prescribes : "By kindness and gentleness" ? That is the only way, and unless it is exercised in that way, Amen to the priesthood and authority of those who hold this priesthood in the Church of Christ. ¶

COUNSEL REGARDING VOTING ¶

It has been whispered around frequently, and I hear the murmur now, that the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ, standing at the head and holding the priesthood, desire this man or that man or the other man elected to office. The Presidency of the Church so far as they are concerned, allow every man, woman and child, that is old enough to vote, to vote according to his or her own conviction. But we do appeal to all men and women, realizing the responsibility resting upon them, to seek God our Heavenly Father to guide them politically as well as religiously, and to stand for right and for those things that are for the good of this nation. The Latter-day Saints believe absolutely that the Constitution of our country was written by inspired men. We believe in upholding the laws of our country. We believe in being obedient to the laws. One of the Articles of our Faith says that it is our duty to do so. ¶

BELIEF REGARDING GOVERNMENTS AND LAWS ¶

I am going to read a declaration of the belief of our Church regarding the governments and laws, issued by the Prophet Joseph Smith in August, 1835 : ¶

"We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society. ¶

"We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. ¶

"We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same ; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign. ¶

"We believe that religion is instituted of God ; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others ; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion : that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience ; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul. ¶

"We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments ; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly ; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience. ¶

"We believe that every man should be honored in his station, rulers and magistrates as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man; and divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker. ¶

"We believe that rulers, states, and governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief; but we do not believe that they have a right in justice to deprive citizens of this privilege, or proscribe them in their opinions, so long as a regard and reverence are shown to the laws and such religious opinions do not justify sedition nor conspiracy. ¶

"We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed ; and for the public peace and tranquility all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment." ¶

I would like to emphasize that: ¶

"All men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment." ¶

"We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government." ¶

I wish to emphasize that: "We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government." ¶

— "whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied. ¶

"We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct, according to the rules and regulations of such societies; provided that such dealings be for fellowship and good standing; but we do not believe that any religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life, or take from them this world's goods, or to put them in jeopardy of either life or limb, or to inflict any physical punishment upon them. They can only excommunicate them from their society, and withdraw from them their fellowship." ¶

SENTIMENTS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN ¶

In closing I wish to read a few words that I have read many times, (and I wish that we would get these words in our hearts and in our minds) from that great and wonderful man, Abraham Lincoln, who all Latter-day Saints believe firmly was raised up and inspired of God Almighty, and that he reached the presidency of the United States under the favor of our Heavenly Father, defeating Stephen A. Douglas, and fulfilling a prediction made by Joseph Smith to Stephen A. Douglas when he was an obscure country judge in Illinois. ¶

Lincoln said : ¶

"Let the people know the truth, and the country is safe." "Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we will succeed." "Let us dare to do our duty as we understand it." ¶

"Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still while they continue in force for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed." ¶

Notice the language — "religiously observed." ¶

"Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate, in the least particular, the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws, let every American pledge his life, his property and his sacred honor. Let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice. In short let it become the political religion of the nation." ¶

Above all, let it become the religion of the Latter-day Saints. Why? Because it is in absolute and perfect harmony with the word of the living God to us in the revelations, every word of which, according to God, shall be fulfilled. ¶

May God bless each and every one of you. May every soul within the sound of my voice or who may be listening in over the radio, who has received a testimony of the work in which you and I are engaged, who is able to testify that he or she knows that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and living God — may we each and all who have this knowledge live the gospel and set an example before all men of integrity and devotion to God and the laws of our country, that will preach the truth, which is of far more value than all the words that we can utter, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus our Savior and Redeemer. Amen. ¶