Conference Address

I am very pleased, my brethren and sisters, that I am permitted to stand before you again, enjoying the measure of health and strength God has given unto me. He has been very kind to me in the matter of health and strength, for there have been very few occasions when I have been deprived of the privilege of doing my daily turn. ¶

However, there are other things for which I am equally thankful and grateful. Health and strength, so much as we value them, and the power to do, as important as it is, I think, by me, would be little appreciated if I did not have the wonderful associations and surroundings with which I am blessed. I believe that if I had to go off and work by myself, even though I might work from before daylight until after dark, I would get little joy and little pleasure and little profit out of it. ¶

My joy comes from the privilege of working with my fellows. I am truly thankful that my associates are numbered among the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am thankful that my grandfathers, on both sides of my house, saw fit to embrace the truth and come out of the world to the West, along with the membership of this great Church ; that they had a faith so true that it led them to pull up the stakes which they had driven so deeply, and start again in a new country. I thank the Lord that that faith remained with them and carried them through to the end of their lives, and I pray that God will so bless me that I may carry that faith in my heart every day that I live ; that I shall have a desire to serve Him in righteousness, as I know that I should. ¶

This is a troublous time and the world is sick. If we can read the* newspapers and rely upon what they tell us, the world is sick and needs a physician. Men are wondering what is wrong, arid how we can correct it. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has within it the power which, if it were applied to the world at large, would solve all those problems. ¶

I thank God that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a political organization ; that its members, in affairs ecclesiastical, are not torn by party politics ; that they have a common motive of union and unity of purpose which enables them to overcome the bickerings, the jealousies of politics. It will never be, perhaps, that the nations of the world will not be governed by politics, but I would that God might grant that those who determine the politics of those nations might be touched just a little in their hearts by his Spirit, that love and the interests of one's fellows might, in a tiny degree at least, supplant the avarice and the greed and the jealousies that dominate those organizations, so that the Spirit of God might enter in and might lead in the councils of government and committees which represent governments. If it could, it would be a simple matter to recognize the principles of truth and justice that underlie, or should underlie all government. I thank God that we have in this Church those basic principles. ¶

A man prominent in the philosophy of the world was invited recently to this State to talk to the people on the troubles of the day, and one thought that I got out of his talk was his definition of democracy. He undertook to tell us that democracy does not consist in a set of rules which provide for the election of representatives of the people, whom we name presidents and senators and representatives, but democracy is a condition of the heart ; democracy consists in the recognition, on the part of one person, of the rights of another, and the thought that the common good is the determining principle, or should be, in all government; that men who are placed in prominent positions to direct the destinies of people derive that right from the voice of the people. In other words, that the people is sovereign, and the ruler is the servant of the people. ¶

Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, taught that when he said : "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant." Verily this is true. ¶

Democracy is the underlying principle, when it comes to government in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I have stood in this pulpit before and stressed the fact that that democracy is represented in the Priesthood of the Church of God. ¶

Another man was imported, just recently, to talk to us, a prominent man, an analyst, a student of the times, and he gave as his remedy for the ills of the present day an increase in faith. It was extremely gratifying to me to hear that man say that faith in God would cure our ills, and verily that also is true. I find that condition existing in this Church, and I believe that this quality of faith is the purest and the best that can be found in the world. ¶

Give me a body of men and women who actually believe that they have a Father in Heaven, in whose likeness they are fashioned, who is actually in control of the destinies of men, and who has a real interest in the accomplishments of his people, and I will give you a people who are willing to go to the end of the road to serve that kind of a Father. ¶

That is the faith that exists in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe verily that when the Prophet Joseph Smith told the world that he had seen God, that God and Jesus Christ were similar beings, and that we are fashioned in their image, he told the truth. Jesus Christ told his followers he would build his church upon the revelation to them of that truth that Jesus was the Son of God. So long as we can keep uppermost in our hearts that testimony, can actually believe in God, our Heavenly Father, and sincerely believe as we do that we have been commissioned to serve his purposes in connection with mankind, we will serve him in righteousness, to the best of our ability. ¶

Now, there is perhaps too great a lack of service on the part of all of us. I wish that I could serve with greater fidelity the ideals that I have in this respect. I wish that I had a stronger and firmer faith in my own ability to remain firm to my present convictions to the end of my days. I have a faith that God will never desert us, that his promises are real and true, and if we can live up to that faith, and keep it ever bright and green in our hearts, so that it will be the motivating power in our lives, I have no question as to the ultimate result and end of our activities. ¶

I have faith in God. I have faith in my brethren who constitute the Church .of God, and in their wives and daughters, the women of this Church. I do not know but that the time may come when this body of people will be the nucleus around which this faith will have to crystallize itself to save the civilization of the world. ¶

Now, we have a great charge and a great duty. Let us prove true to it. Let us dedicate every day of our lives to the service of God and our fellow men, and he will bless us, — bless us beyond our anticipations, bless us with glories that are greater than the accumulation of riches, of many houses and many herds and many flocks. That this may be our happy lot, I pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶