Religion and Spiritual Influences

I am sure, my brethren and sisters, that you are not more surprised than am I. However, I recognize it as an honor and a privilege to address one of the sessions of this great Conference. I recall that when I was a child, and a very small child, my mother used to bring me to this great Tabernacle, where she would listen, and I with her, to the remarks of the brethren who spoke from this stand. ¶

I have had the privilege of attending, during the past eighteen years, all of the sessions of the thirty-six Conferences that we have had during that time. This, however, is the first time I have had the privilege of occupying the position of a speaker. ¶

I am certainly grateful, my brethren and sisters, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful that I have in my heart an assurance that God has spoken from the heavens in this day and age in which we live; that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith, in the woods near Palmyra, in answer to humble prayer. I think it only right and proper that in the opening of this great dispensation of the Gospel, God should manifest himself once more to man. ¶

I am grateful for the privilege I enjoy of associating with the present leaders of this Church, and the privilege I have had of associating with those who have presided in the councils of the General Authorities during the past eighteen years. I can truly testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that they are men of God, men whose sole desire and ambition is for the welfare and growth of this Church. I have had the privilege of being intimate with them. I believe that I know their hearts, and I can assure you that they are God's noblemen, and worthy of your trust and confidence. ¶

I am grateful that we live in this wonderful land of America, the land of Zion, "a land choice above all other lands." I sincerely hope and pray that we shall always keep in mind that this is the land of Zion, and that so long as we worship the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ, it will be a land of Zion unto us. ¶

There is a feeling throughout the United States, and I think throughout the world, that we should return to religion, that we should return to God. I recall that when I was in Europe two years ago, with President Grant, we were reliably informed while visiting in one of the great cities in Germany that only one per cent of the people in that city attended church, on general occasions, and ten per cent on special occasions, and it was said that that was the condition generally in that country. We heard, from people who visited the great cathedrals and churches in England, that a similar condition existed there. I am sure that the same might be said truthfully of conditions here in the United States; but I am grateful to say that in our own community, in the stakes of Zion, the people manifest a greater interest in religion than is commonly the case throughout the world. Certainly that should be the case, for we do know that we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God unto salvation; and no people has ever been permanently successful, nor has any man ever been permanently successful, who has neglected the spiritual influences of life. ¶

It is not enough that we live the Word of Wisdom; it is not enough that we pay our tithing, or that we observe the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, important as these things are; every act of our lives should be in keeping with the commandments of our heavenly Father. We should love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and we should love our neighbor as ourselves. That is the great law, and only by keeping that law, and by keeping all of the commandments of the Lord, can we expect to find that exaltation in the kingdom of our Father which we are striving to obtain. ¶

May the Lord bless us, that we may keep his commandments; bless us that this may be a land of Zion unto us, that we may indeed be the pure in heart, I humbly pray. May he bless us that we may honor and respect these brethren who have been called to preside over us, and recognize them in the positions that they hold, as representatives of the living God, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶