It shall be my purpose, brethren and sisters

It shall be my purpose, brethren and sisters, in the brief period allotted to me this afternoon, to introduce to you two great characters with whom you are more or less acquainted and whose power and influence has actuated the minds, the hearts and lives of the people of this world from the beginning. I desire also to bring to your attention the work and purpose of each of these great characters which, I may say, are diametrically opposed to each other. I read to you from the first chapter of the Book of Moses : ¶

The Works of God

"The words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain, ¶

"And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses ; therefore Moses could endure his presence. ¶

"And God spake unto Moses, saying : "Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless ? ¶

"And, behold, thou art my son ; wherefore, look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands ; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease. ¶

"Wherefore, no man can behold all my works, except he behold all my glory; and no man can behold all my glory and afterwards remain in the flesh on the earth. ¶

"And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son ; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all. ¶

"And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son ; for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee. ¶

"And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the world upon which he was created ; and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are and which were created ; of the same he greatly marveled and wondered. ¶

"And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that His glory was not upon Moses ; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth; "And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed. ¶

"But now mine own eyes have beheld God ; but not my natural but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld ; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him, ¶

Tempted of Satan

"And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me. ¶

"And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said : Who art thou ? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee? ¶

"For behold, I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me, and I were strengthened before him. But I can look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so, surely? ¶

"Blessed be the name of my God, for his Spirit hath not altogether withdrawn from me, or else where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me? And I can judge between thee and God; for God said unto me: Worship God, for him only shalt thou serve. ¶

"Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not; for God said unto me: Thou art after the similitude of mine Only Begotten. ¶

"And he also gave me commandments when he called unto me out of the burning bush, saying : Call upon God in the name of mine Only Begotten, and worship me. ¶

"And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan. ¶

"And now, when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and rent upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me. ¶

"And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying : Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of Glory. ¶

"And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook ; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying : In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan. ¶

"And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not." ¶

Continuing further until we come to the thirty-ninth verse, we find that the Lord appeared again to Moses, after this great temptation, and made known to him his work and purpose, the end he had in view. Said he, "For behold, this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." ¶

If we have not already learned what the work and purpose of Satan is, we will perhaps learn it as we proceed. ¶

Man to Have Free Agency

I will now introduce to you, brethren and sisters, another great character in connection with these two of which I have been reading and speaking. This is from the fourth chapter of Moses : ¶

"And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded, in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me saying — Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. ¶

"But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me — Father, thy will be done and the glory be thine forever. ¶

"Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down. ¶

"And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice." ¶

These two great influences being wrought upon us, and having our agency, we are to be judged by the exercise of this agency, whether we exercise it in righteousness unto salvation and exaltation or in unrighteousness unto our condemnation. ¶

Satan's Designs and Purposes

In the fifth chapter of the Book of Moses ; we read as follows : ¶

"And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters ;" — preached the gospel to them, of course. ¶

"And Satan came among them, saying : I am also a son of God ; and he commanded them saying : Believe it not ; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish." ¶

"And Satan said unto Cain:" (A few verses farther in the chapter.) "swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die ; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not ; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands. ¶

"And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands. And all these things were done in secret." ¶

This shows also, the machinations of Satan, his designs, and purposes upon the lives of men and women as pertaining to this life and the life to come. ¶

We also have an account in the first few chapters of Genesis of the creation and how that Adam and Eve, when they were placed in the garden of Eden, were tempted of this same individual, Satan. ¶

When the Savior came here upon the earth, and after his fasting forty days and nights, he also was tempted of Satan. Again Satan failed in his purpose. ¶

In this the dispensation of the fulness of times when the boy Joseph Smith went into the woods to pray, Satan was there. Evidently knowing what our Father in heaven designed to accomplish in the last days, through the instrumentality of this boy, Satan tried to destroy him. ¶

The Prophet Joseph is of record as having said that, "All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not — the devil has no power over us only as we permit him. The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power. * * * All men have power to resist the devil." (Compendium, p. 288.) ¶

A Warning to the Latter-Day Saints

Brethren and sisters, these two powers are operating upon the minds and the hearts of the children of men today in the Church and out of the Church. Many of us are tainted, more or less, having been influenced by Satan, having yielded to his temptations, here a little and there a little ; and brethren and sisters, we are to be warned, and I desire in my brief talk here to lift a warning voice to the Latter-day Saints, for the time is to come in the last days that the very elect, if possible, will be deceived. Choose ye therefore this day whom ye will serve. ¶

There are some who seem to be willing to be the emissaries of this great being, Satan, to assist him in his work. It is a notable fact that those who have arraigned themselves against God's work and purposes, fire their darts at the head of the Church ; and we have a great many people now, some in the Church and some outside, who are trying their utmost to destroy the influence of the President of this Church; and I believe at the bottom of it they would destroy this work if possible. They are enemies to God, but they will surely find sooner or later that it is hard to kick against the pricks. We have known of men circulating literature among the saints, calculated to destroy confidence in the authorities of the Church, particularly in the head of the Church. Fault is found with the way they handle the means that are entrusted to their care, the tithes of the Church. Others are circulating literature calculated to encourage people to perpetuate practices which are by the Church forbidden. It is the purpose of the authorities of this Church to live, and teach this people to obey, the constitutional laws of these United States ; and there are people here who take the opposite course, criticizing and doing all they can in opposition to the attitude taken upon these questions by the authorities of the Church. These people, I think, are becoming the emissaries of Satan, and if they should succeed, no doubt Satan would rejoice exceedingly. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, we do not fear any power or influence that can be brought upon this work or the authorities of this Church from the outside. The most powerful influence with its most dire effects is that which comes from members within the Church; and when it is known that men arraign themselves against this work, or the authorities of this Church, if they will not repent, they should be dealt with, and that speedily. "It is better that one man shall perish than that a whole nation should dwindle in unbelief," notwithstanding we should be full of charity toward all men as well as toward the household of faith. I want to say to you, brethren and sisters, you should not follow such a lead. ¶

A Sure and Safe Lead

I want to give you a guide that is sure and safe. If you will be one with the Presidency of this Church, and with the twelve apostles, you will never go astray. You will be on firm footing. There has never been a moment since the organization of this Church when the President of the Church and the Twelve Apostles or a majority of the Twelve Apostles have gone astray. You are safe to follow their lead. ¶

And now, another thing to make you safe and secure: live your religion, brethren and sisters. I do not know what better advice and counsel I can give than to repeat what President Grant has already given us in this conference: Keep the commandments of the Lord. Obey all his laws. The law of tithing? Yes. Consecration? Yes. Shall we obey the command that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind? Yes. And our neighbors as ourselves? Yes. And if we do this, surely we can do all the other things that are required of us. The Lord knows best and if we will listen to the promptings of his Holy Spirit and live our religion, we shall not be deceived, but shall know the truth, whether written or spoken, for we will be on firm footing. ¶

Triumph of God's Work Assured

I know that this work is true. It is God's work and not man's. No man can succeed in this work without the help of the Lord, and no man can succeed on the outside against this work, or the authorities of this Church, for in their efforts so to do they are opposing the Lord. I know that Heber J. Grant, the present President of this Church, is a prophet of God, the mouthpiece of God to this people and to the whole world, at this time. He is a man of inspiration, a mortal man indeed, but a man who seeks the mind and will of God our Father on all important matters, a man who seeks the advice and counsel of those whom the Lord has given him as counselors, a man who is leading this people in righteousness ; and I know that this work will succeed and triumph. It has been established for the purpose of preparing for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is to take this Church and kingdom and reign a millennial reign of peace here upon the earth ; and the time of his coming is not far distant. I bear this testimony to you, knowing whereof I speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶