Conference Address

I am delighted to be here this morning, my brethren and sisters, and to have listened to the stirring address of our President. If the Latter-day Saints will follow his instructions and advice, the voice of the Lord will come to them through his Holy Spirit and they will be impressed anew with the grandeur of this latter-day work and they will realize that a mighty power came into the earth when the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith the Gospel in this dispensation. ¶

A short time ago a prominent man in our country — a financier — made the assertion that there can be no successful operation of religious work without the cooperation of all the people, and that one church organization would be the thing to accomplish it. He expressed the wish that all the different churches might get together and become united. Naturally, as an organizer and leader of men, the benefits which would result from such a union of the churches appealed to him from a business point of view. ¶

But this gentleman did not realize that the mere coming together to join their interests and to find common objectives and principles of belief would not in reality make the churches one. Such a movement, if promoted with sincere intent and in brotherly confidence and love might indeed be a step in the right direction ; but more, far more than this is necessary to unite men in the Church of Christ. Divine authority is necessary to declare and make plain the Gospel plan with its principles and ordinances for man's salvation ; the gift of the Holy Ghost is requisite to give witness to the people that the plan is true and divine ; and it is essential that there be an organization of men holding the Priesthood of God to teach and administer the same. ¶

In the days of Christ and the Apostles the Church was set up and the Gospel preached for the very purpose of uniting the Saints, and all men were invited to come into the fold, under one great head, that there might be one Lord, one faith and one baptism. ¶

I remind you of the words of the Apostle Paul when he said that he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, until they should all come to a unity of the faith, unto a knowledge of the Son of God. ¶

In the days of our Savior's ministry he called men to the apostleship. He gave Peter the keys of the kingdom. He placed him at the head of the Church, and gave him power to seal on earth and to seal in heaven, to perform the work that he should do himself, had he remained. He brought forcefully to our attention the need of leadership and unity. Upon one occasion he said : ¶

Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am ? ¶

And they said ; Some say that thou art John the Baptist : some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. ¶

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? ¶

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. ¶

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. ¶

And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¶

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¶

But the gates of hell prevailed against Peter. It has been taught that he was to remain, that his power was to be in the earth. Well, that is true so far as the influence of the doctrine he taught was concerned but the gates of hell did prevail against Peter, prevailed against the work of God. Christ himself suffered death, and his apostles also, whom he had chosen to represent him in the earth. The establishment of his work was accomplished in the day and generation in which he lived. ¶

And there came an end in that dispensation to the power of the Priesthood, for the power of the evil one destroyed the individual, Peter, who held the keys of the Kingdom, who had the power to seal on earth and to seal in heaven. ¶

But the power to reveal anew was still in force, for the Savior said : "Upon this rock I will build my church" — the rock of revelation — and the gates of hell could not prevail against that. When the time came for our Eternal Father to establish again that which had been taken from the earth, he did as he said he would, and he revealed the truth anew to men in the earth. He spoke to one man and to another as he did in the days of Abraham, and he re-established the plan by which the children of men might be saved, by which men and women might become enlightened and work out their own salvation, in obedience to the plan of our Eternal Father. ¶

He instituted again the true interpretation of repentance from sin that has been stressed here this morning by President Grant. He brought into the world again the ordinance of baptism by immersion. He revealed unto the children of men the truth that there should verily be one Lord and one faith and one baptism, one God, the Father of us all. This is indeed the great plan by which the children of men may work and accomplish the things that they came forth to do, when they came from the presence of our Eternal Father into this world. ¶

So this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been established with apostles and prophets, and they are here for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, until all men shall come to a unity of the faith. ¶

There can be a unity of the faith, a universal acknowledgment of our Father's work, if men and women will only listen to the revelations of God that have come to the children of men in this dispensation of time in ¶

which we live. If they will make an investigation, in full, of the principles and doctrines of Christ, that he himself established in the day when he walked among men, if they will make an investigation of the words of the prophets that were spoken from the day of Adam until Christ, they will find recorded here in the earth at the present time the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, the plan by which our Eternal Father revealed that men should be saved, and in no other way. ¶

If they will become acquainted with the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they will discover that here is the Church under whose banner all men may unite. There need be no diversity of opinion; there need be no such thing as antagonism, for the Lord's work does not admit of diversion or contention or antagonism, only against the powers of evil. They will find in this Church that there is salvation for the living, salvation for the dead : that the power of God is vested again in the Saints ; that the power of his Priesthood is complete, that his commandments are certain, and that his ways are sure. ¶

If there is anything in the world that is precious to me it is the great truth which our Lord has revealed. There isn't a single thing in it that is weak. It is the strongest evidence of our Eternal Father's plan. It will stand the most rigid analysis. It is the thing that will bring men and women together, and cause them to repent, and do away with the things which destroy the human family. It will give them character and energy and power to carry on as individual sons and daughters of God ought to do and came in the earth to do. ¶

I pray the Lord to bless us in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶