Conference Address

I have greatly rejoiced in the testimonies given at this Conference. With my brethren I regret very much the absence of President Grant, and pray earnestly for his speedy return in full health and vigor. I have been extremely happy because of the nature of the remarks that have been made by those who have spoken. I feel very humble, and pray that the Spirit of the Lord will lead me this afternoon in the remarks that I may make, for I have only one desire and that is to say the things the Lord would have me say. ¶

I am going to read from the 59th section of the Doctrine and Covenants : ¶

Wherefore I give unto them [meaning the members of the Church] a commandment, saying thus : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve Him. ¶

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. ¶

Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. ¶

COVENANTS TO BE KEPT ¶

Every person baptized into this Church has made a covenant with the Lord to keep His commandments, and in this commandment, reiterated in the dispensation in which we live, we are told that we are to serve the Lord with all the heart and all the mind, and with all the strength that we have, and that too in the name of Jesus Christ. Everything that we do should be done in the name of Jesus Christ. ¶

In the waters of baptism we covenanted that we would keep these commandments ; that we would serve the Lord ; that we would keep this first and greatest of all the commandments, and love the Lord our God ; that we would keep the next great commandment, we would love our neighbor as ourselves; and with all the might that we have, with all the strength, with all our hearts we would prove to Him that we would "live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God f that we would be obedient and humble, diligent in his service, willing to obey, to hearken to the counsels of those who preside over us and do all things with an eye single to the glory of God. ¶

We should not forget these things, for this commandment is binding upon us as members of the Church. ¶

Now may I read you another commandment : ¶

But ye (again having reference to the members of the Church) are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils. ¶

Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given. ¶

Now, my good brethren and sisters, if we are humble, if we are diligent in the service of the Lord, if we seek to serve Him with an eye single to the glory of our Father in heaven, keeping in mind that He has asked for that service with a full heart, with all our might, with all our mind, and with all our strength, we will not go astray, we will not be seduced by evil spirits nor by the spirits of men, but we will be led and directed by the Spirit of God. ¶

GUIDANCE COMES THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST ¶

Every member of the Church has had hands laid upon his head for the gift of the Holy Ghost. He has a right to receive the revelations that are expedient and necessary for his guidance individually ; not for the Church, but for himself. He has a right through his obedience, through his humility, to receive light and truth as it shall be revealed through the Spirit of Truth, and he who will hearken to that Spirit and seek for the gift of the Spirit in humility and faith shall not be deceived. ¶

Now there are some of our people who are being deceived. Why? Because they lack knowledge, because they lack understanding, and because they are not in tune with the Holy Spirit, which they have a right to receive through their faithfulness and obedience. ¶

I would like briefly to call attention to a few things that have been mentioned here, and some that have not. I would like to say a word or two about tithing. It has been mentioned, and I am very grateful to know that it has. I want to read to you a few words that were uttered by President Lorenzo Snow when he was pleading with the people to be honest with the Lord. Now we are not faithful Latter-day Saints if we are dishonest with the Lord, we are not serving Him with all our hearts, with all our might, with all our strength if we are dishonest in the payment of our tithes and our offerings, and we shall stand before the Lord condemned and not entitled to the guidance of His Holy Spirit, and likely will be deceived by these spirits that lie in wait to deceive, if we are guilty of failing to keep this great commandment or any other of the commandments that the Lord has given us. ¶

These are the words of President Snow to the Church : ¶

Teach the children to pay tithing so that it may be properly observed. If we observe this law, no matter what our enemies may do the Lord will preserve us. Because we are His sons and daughters He loves us, and He has forgiven our forgetfulness of this holy law in the past, but He will not forgive you and me any longer, should we continue in this dilatory way of ¶

paying tithing. We shall be scattered just as the people in Jackson County were. This is true as the Lord is true. The Lord has blessed us wonderfully and preserved us in the land and yet we have refused to pay our honest debt unto Him. A great many people have not paid one cent of tithing, and yet they have gone into the temples of the Lord. ¶

Then speaking to the officers of the Stakes and Wards he said : ¶

How do you feel when you give a recommend to a person to come into our Temples who pays no tithing, who only pays half a tithing? How will you feel after this ? You will feel that you are taking a sacred responsibility in doing that which God does not approve. He has said that the man who fails to pay his tithing shall have no place among the people of God. Yet here are these Temples erected by the sacrifice of the poor, and to give recommends to parties who pay little or no tithing, how can you feel to take this responsibility? I could not. Part of a tithing is not tithing at all in the eyes of the law that the Lord has revealed. ¶

PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S ADVICE TO BISHOPS ¶

I have another statement here from President Brigham Young, given to the Bishops of the Church : ¶

These men and women whom you recommend must be individuals who pay their tithing from year to year ; that is, those who are recommended to go to the Temple should pray and not speak against the Authorities of the Church, against the Kingdom of God, nor steal, nor lie, nor interfere with their neighbors' things, nor their neighbors' wives or husbands, but attend strictly to meetings, and prayer meetings, and those who pay due respect to their presiding officers and Bishops, and those who do not swear. ¶

People who are guilty of these offenses, according to President Young, should not be recommended to go to the Temple to receive the ordinances of the House of the Lord. ¶

FAST DAY REQUIREMENTS ¶

Let me say a word or two now in regard to Fasting and Fast offerings. This morning in the meeting that was held — the Welfare meeting we had portrayed before us the gradual rise of the percentage of Fast offerings paid by the Church. Now, my good brethren and sisters, the amount that has been paid up to this present year is not by any means the amount that we ought to pay. We have not kept this commandment, for Fasting and prayer in faith and the payment of offerings are commandments of the Lord. We have been called upon to Fast. I do not know when we have heard a discourse on Fasting; not very often, am I am sure that we are not observing this law of Fasting as members of the Church as we ought to do. We have made it easy for the people, that is, easy to break this commandment because we have moved the Fast service up so high on the Fast Day that we can get all through and home again by one o'clock, or 12:30. That is a good time to eat, isn't it? And yet according to the commandment that the Lord has given to us through His servants we should abstain from food and water for one day, counting twenty-four hours, or from sunset to sunset. Now if you want to Fast from twelve o'clock noon until twelve o'clock noon I suppose it would be just as well if that is what you wish to do, but many of us are not observing the Fast Day now. ¶

I want to say to you, my good brethren, we cannot have that guidance of the Holy Spirit as we ought to have it if we do not Fast as the Lord has required it of us ; not extensive Fasts, but the Fast which has been set apart which we should do in wisdom. Now the Lord says we should do all things in wisdom, but we are not Fasting, hence we are not paying our Fast offerings ; we are not praying I fear, as we should. I wonder if we are praying in our secret closets. I wonder if we are teaching our families to pray ; if the spirit of prayer is among us as it ought to be. ¶

I commend to your reading, and I shall not take time to do it, the words of an ancient prophet, found in the 34th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Amulek says that we should cry unto the Lord over our flocks, over our herds, over our goods, in our fields, and in our secret chambers, that we should do nothing but that we present the matter before the Lord and ask for His guidance and His blessing. We should go on our knees a little more and then we will have more faith. We need to be more humble in the service of the Lord. We need to spend less time in the criticism of those who preside. ¶

JOSEPH SMITH'S TEACHINGS REGARDING PERFECTION ¶

I am going to read to you a statement from the Prophet Joseph Smith that I think is important. I have a number of statements here that I should like to read, but I shall not take the time to do so, but this is worthy of our consideration : ¶

We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped up in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him. But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment ; he must have been instructed in the government and laws of that Kingdom by proper degrees, until his mind is capable in some measure of comprehending the propriety, justice, equality, and consistency of the same. ¶

If God should speak from heaven, He would command you not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to covet, nor deceive, but be faithful over a few things. As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved, and while our hearts are filled with evil, and we are studying evil, there is no room in our hearts for good, or studying good. Is not God good? Then you be good; if He is faithful, then you be faithful. Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and seek for every good thing. ¶

FAITHFULNESS A PROTECTION AGAINST EVIL ¶

The nearer we approach God, the better we endeavor to keep His commandments, the more we will search to know His will as it ¶

has been revealed, the less likely it will be for us to be led astray by every wind of doctrine, by these false spirits that lie in wait to deceive, and by the spirits of men, as the Lord has stated in the revelations which I have read to you. We will be protected, and we will have the power to understand, to segregate truth from error, we will walk in the light and we will not be deceived. Now the man who is dilatory, the man who is unfaithful, the man who is not willing to keep the commandments of the Lord in all things lays himself open to deception because the Spirit of the Lord is not with him to lead and direct him and to show him the way of truth and righteousness, and therefore some error comes along and he absorbs it because he cannot understand and realize the difference between truth and error. I want to tell you there is much error in this world that is passed off as truth, and it behooves every man of us to seek God, and, as stated by the prophet, draw near unto Him, and the nearer we draw unto Him, and the more we seek to do His will the more light we shall receive and the less shall be the danger of our deception. And so I pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. ¶