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they could see the face of God, that demnation-such condemnation proba

they could have the Melchisedek Priesthood continued among them, and become a nation of kings and priests; but they were hard in their hearts and rejected the word of God. The result was that for forty years they wandered in the wilderness, and all that generation were buried in the wilderness, except two men. Two men only out of the vast host that left Egypt under the leadership of Moses, ever reached the prom. ised land, and they were Caleb and Joshua. The Lord had a new generation. The fathers had rejected Him, and He took the Melchisedek Priesthood from their midst, with Moses, and He, gave unto them the lesser Priesthood, which was confirmed upon Aaron and his seed. They administered the law of carnal commandments. And this be

cause they did not have faith enough to receive all that Moses was willing to teach them!

bly as has never rested upon us before, will rest upon this people unless they obey with all their hearts the words of the Lord that He has given to us through His servant.

We need to be born again, and have new hearts put in us. There is too much of the old leaven about us. We are not born again as we should be. Do you not believe that we ought to be born again? Do you not believe that we should become new creatures in Christ Jesus, under the influence of the Gospel? All will say, yes, who understand the Gospel. You must be born again. You must have new desires, new hearts, so to speak, in you. But what do we see? We see men following the ways of the world just as much as though they made no pretensions to being Latter-day Saints. Hundreds of people who are called Latter-day Saints you could not distinguish from the world. They have the same desires, the same feelings, the same aspirations, the same passions as the rest of the world. Is this how God wants us to be? No; He wants us to have new hearts, new desires. He wants us to be a changed people when we embrace His Gospel, and to be animated by entirely new motives, and have a faith that will lay hold of the promises of God. But the trouble is, the Prophets of God walk around among you, and you see them all the time. "Why, I saw Lorenzo Snow today, and he is just like any other man. I saw Joseph F. Smith, and if I had not known, I might have taken him for anyone else. I saw some of the Apostles, and they are like other men." And because they are like other men, therefore they must be rejected. It is not supposed that they have more power than others. That is a mistake that the world has always made. There was Moses, one of the mightiest Prophets that ever lived. Did the children of Israel see anything particularly mighty in Moses? No; he was one of them, and they saw nothing exceptional about him. Then there was Nephi, another mighty Prophet. Brother Grant read to us a description of him. Did Nephi's brethren see anything mighty

Shall we be in the same condition? Shall we, through hardness of heart and disobedience to God and His servants, bring upon ourselves the same penalty? I do not believe we will. I am sure we will not reject the Melchisedek Priesthood, its power and its ordinances. But I do fear that we will defer the redemption of Zion indefinitely through our unwillingness to do the things that God requires at our hands. I have not an earthly doubt that this revelation given in 1834 would have been fulfilled to the very letter, had our people obeyed the Lord as He desired; neither do I believe now that the redemption of Zion will be long deferred if the people will obey the Lord and keep His commandments. But the difficulty is, our hearts are hard and almost impenetrable, in many instances. Here President Snow has been preaching for four months now in relation to the payment of tithing; he has been laboring with all his might, to the astonishment of all those who know his age; and yet he cannot rest-he has to here preach it again, because he feels that the people need to be stirred up. I tell you that all that is not for nothing. I tell you that the man of God is not aroused and inspired for nothing. There is a meaning to it. And I feel that great con- in him? Why, no; there was nothing

to distinguish him particularly; and yet he was a mighty Prophet whom God had raised up. So it was with the Son of God Himself, the mightiest being that ever trod the earth. He descended from the throne of His Father and came to earth; but men saw nothing in Him different to other men, and they crucified Him. Thus it has been in every age. There have only been a few who have ever discovered the power of God as manifested through His servants. It is so today. Who recognized Joseph Smith as one of the mightiest Prophete that ever lived? Why, the Saints themselves received with reluctance the truths he taught; and men slew him, and may possibly have thought they were doing God's service in doing so. So it has been with those who have followed him and have held the keys of authority. They have passed among their fellow men and received but little recognition. Men could see all their faults and failings, and could talk about them one to another; but they could not see the divinity in them. It is the same with the servants of God in our midst today. They are but mortal men, and we see their weaknesses and their defects of character. These become magnified in our eyes, and we talk freely about them. The result is, we receive their words with reluctance; we question the word of God that comes through them, and wonder if it is not alloyed with something of their own.

What we all need is faith-faith in God, faith to believe that which He tells us. Here the brethren have been laboring for days to tell us what blessings will attend obedience to the law of tithing-how our storehouses will be filled, our fields be fertile, etc., in this way appealing to our selfishness. We seem to be able to reach the people better by appealing to their selfish instincts. If we can make them believe that they are going to get something in return for what they do, it seems to be more effective than any other way. It is true that these blessings will follow; but it shows, my brethren and sisters, how our hearts have to be reached. We do not have faith. If we had faith as we should have, it would not be necessary to use such

arguments. We are like the children of Israel when they fled out of Egypt. They did not have faith. They were enveloped in the traditions of their fathers. They were an adolatrous people, and had lived among the Egyptians until they had imbibed many of their false notions. It took forty years wandering in the wilderness to get rid of the traditions they had imbibed, notwithstanding the mighty works which God did in their midst. We should endeavor to profit by the lessons of the past. Let us put away our hardness of heart. Let us be a distinct people. Let us try to realize that we should be born of God; that we should have new desires in our hearts; that we should put away everything that is offensive in the sight of God, and endeavor to live in strict conformity to the laws and commandments that He has given unto us. There is a class of people in our midst that probably will not be obedient. We shall have that to contend with as long as Satan is unbound; for he has power over the hearts of the children of men. But we should endeavor to lessen his power to the extent of our ability.

In this connection a great deal depends upon the parents. My parents were exceedingly strict in exacting obedience from their children. The lessons I learned in my boyhood I have never forgotten. They have been of service to me in my labors among the people and with the servants of God. I do not wish to say anything of a boastful nature, but I never have had the least difficulty thus far in my life in obeying the servants of God. This habit of obedience was formed in me when I was a child, and have thanked God many times that my parents were So determined that their children should be obedient to them. As a result of their training, it has been no trouble to me to come or to go, to do this or that, at the request of the servants of God. Yet those who know me regard me, no doubt, as a man who likes his own way. That is my nature. It is a pleasure to me to have my own way. I am positive in my nature. But it has also been a pleasure to me to obey the servants of God. I say to my folks that that is the way we

should raise our children. They should this conference will not be lost sight

be made to do that which is required of them. If the Latter-day Saints as a people would enforce obedience in the home, our children would grow up and become men and women who would obey God, who would listen to His word, and be as strict in observing it as they had been to obey the word of their parents. But instead of that you see the rudeness of some of our children. The manner in which they conduct themselves at times is disgraceful. I feel mortified occasionally at the behavior of our children. There will be a meeting here tonight of the Sunday school workers, and we shall be under the necessity of having policemen, if we can obtain them, to maintain order outside the building and to prevent the meeting being disturbed by the boisterous conduct of a class of boys and girls. This is one of the things we should attend to.

I feel to say that all the evils we suffer from are due to our disobedience and hardness of heart. The persecutions that we have endured are traceable to this. Our future persecutions will be attributable to the same cause. Therefore how necessary it is that we should train our children to be obedient to authority. If we will do this, it will be an easy thing for them to obey when they are men and women. A girl thus trained makes a good wife. A boy thus trained makes a good husband. Send him on a mission, and the presiding authority there will see the difference between him and the one not trained in habits of obedience. have noticed it in my experience in the world. We should think of the future of our children. We should not let them have their own way in everything. They should be taught that it is not right, but that they should submit to the judgment of those who are over them. And we should submit to the will of our Father in Heaven, whatever He requires at our hands. If it is to give our tithing, all right. If it is to consecrate, all right. We should have faith that the Lord has power to bless us according to our devotion and diligence in keeping His commandments.

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I trust that what has been said at

of and forgotten by us. I want to see Zion redeemed. I pray for the redemption of Zion. I labor for it. It will be brought about by peaceful methods. Nobody need be afraid of the designs of the Latter-day Saints. We have no designs only to keep the commandments of God. We have no evil designs on anybody. We invite everybody to come and partake of liberty with us. We will defend men of every creed and of every denomination in their rights as quickly as we will our own people.

Joseph Smith taught us a lesson before he died in this respect, and it should never be forgotten. It will never be by those familiar with the circumstances. He invited men not of us to take part in certain things, as an example of what would be in days to come. They did not belong to our Church; I do not know that they belonged to any church. Some people have found fault with me because on one occasion I made a little distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Church of God. Now, there is a distinction, and Joseph Smith illustrated it. He showed us that when the Lord's kingdom should be established, people of every creed and of no creed should have perfect liberty and protection under it. It will not be for the Latter-day Saints alone; it will be for the protection of the Church of God and every other church. God does not deprive men of their agency. He lets them worship according to their consciences. If they want to be Methodists, or Episcopalians, or Catholics, or Agnostics, or anything else, all right. They can follow Confuscius, or they can believe as the Hindoos do, or anything else, so long as they do not trespass upon the rights of their neighbors. They cannot do that. They have no right to force their belief on other people, or to war on other people because of their belief. God never did that. He will bless everyone of every creed who will serve Him to the best of his ability, and especially those who seek to preserve the rights of their fellowmen. For God loves His children, and He wants them to have their full agency. Of course, if they rebel against Him,

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and reject His laws and ordinances, they must meet the penalty. As a people, we ought to feel the utmost kindness and to grant the utmost liberty to everyone. We exhibited that feeling when we first came to this valley. 1849, when the emigration came through here to California, I well remember how many preachers were invited to speak in our old Tabernacle on the corner of this block, because President Young said he wanted the people to hear these men and their views. For years this was done. Prominent ministers were invited to speak to us. I remember Methodist Bishops and others preaching to us in this Tabernacle. Why? Because we were willing to extend liberty to everybody. In return, we ask that they will not trespass upon us. We think we have a right to worship God in our own way, and we try to worship Him in that way which will be acceptable to Him.

My brethren and sisters, I ask God to bless you-bless you in your families and in everything pertaining to you. Let us labor continually for the redemption of Zion and for the time when the promises which God has made to Zion will be fulfilled; that we may build the centre Stake of Zion, and rear the house of the Lord there. There are men standing in this generation that will see it accomplished; but we do not want it put off to the very last. Let us all strive to fit and qualify ourselves and our families, by obeying the commandments of God to the fullest extent, so that we and our families may be remembered among those who shall be counted worthy to take part in the glorious work of redeeming Zion and enjoying the blessings thereof, which I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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in the temporal salvation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I believe that the Lord will deliver us from our troubles and difficulties if we will observe all His words. I am also very deeply interested in the spiritual salvation of the children of men. believe that that angel which John saw flying in the midst of Heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, came to the Prophet Joseph Smith and delivered his message, and that a great responsibility rests upon the Church today to see to it that this message is delivered to the nations of the earth. As has been stated, there are doubtless between seventeen and eighteen hundred missionaries throughout the world preaching the Gospel. In my opinion, not less than five hundred thousand dollars is spent each year in sending out our Elders, in distributing books and tracts and in preaching the Gospel throughout the world.

I desire to speak, if I can have the spirit of my calling, more particularly to the Seventies of the Church of Jesus Christ. The special calling of the First Council of Seventy is as witnesses of

the Lord to the nations of the earth, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles. There are something like one hundred and twenty-two quorums of Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ, numbering nearly eight thousand men. Over each quorum there are seven Presidents, the Lord having arranged it so that six of them can go on missions, and always leave one to look after the remainder. And in my opinion there should not be very many remaining to look after.

I want to read from the book of Doctrine and Covenants and ascertain what the Lord has to say about the Seventies. You will have to excuse me for occupying the time in talking about the Seventies, for our labor among them puts me a good deal in mind of the Filipinos. They shoot and then run, and that is about the way we have been doing. We would have a little time between meetings to talk to our Seventies; then we would shoot and run and never ascertain whether we had killed any one or not-that is

metaphorically speaking. We did not know whether we had any good effect on our Seventies or not. I believe that our Seventies are not doing their work as they should do it. I know you Seventies will not like it, and it will not make me popular with you, but I desire to say that there is a percentage of the Seventies than whom there are no more faithful men in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But the other percentage I have not much to say about. This is what the Lord

says:

"And it is according to the vision, showing the order of the Seventy, that they should have seven Presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the Seventy.

"And the seventh President of these Presidents is to preside over the six; "And these seven Presidents are to choose other Seventy besides the First Seventy, to whom they belong, and are to preside over them;

"And also other Seventy, until seven times Seventy, if the labor in the vineyard of necessity requires it.

"And these Seventy are to be traveling ministers unto the Gentiles first, and also unto the Jews;

"Whereas other officers of the Church, who belong not unto the Twelve, neither to the Seventy, are not under the responsibility to travel among all nations, but are to travel as their circumstances shall allow, notwithstanding they may hold as high and responsible offices in the Church.

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"Wherefore now let every man learn his duty and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. "He that is slothful shall not counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved, shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen."

I want to ask the Latter-day Saints if they have ever heard of a Seventy being handled that is slothful and careless regarding his duties. I have heard of men being handled who waded out into the mysteries of the kingdom and commenced advocating false doctrine. One brother asked me the other day if I had ever heard of a man being handled for not knowing anything, and I could not remember a single case of that kind in the history of the Church. I want to say to the Seventies, the High Priests and the Elders, that I do not believe the Lord is well pleased with the children of men in that they do not qualify themselves and learn their duty and perform the labor that rests

upon them. I desire to proclaim from this stand that, as a Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a witness of the Lord to the nations of the earth, I am willing to go forth and cry aloud to the children of men repentance, and I ask no Seventy to do what I am not willing to do myself. I have the faith to testify, and am willing to do so, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, notwithstanding it is unpopular to do this. I consider that Elder Ben E. Rich and Elder Kelsch and other Elders that have been appointed to labor in the ministry have never had conferred upon them greater blessings and honors in all their history. They are honored of God, and if they have the spirit of God resting upon them, which they do have, they will be sorrowful when they are released from that labor, and when they have to come back and go to their little plodding along, hunting their little farm and getting a little work to do. I read in the scriptures that some one says that he would rather be a living dog than a dead lion. So far as I am concerned, I would rather be a dead lion. I would rather go forth and preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to do it while I am young and full of vigor and life. When I get old I will come back and go into the High Priests' quorum and labor, while some other young men preach the Gospel. I believe that the Seventies quorums ought to be made up of young The saying is "Old men for counsel and young men for war," and this is a warfare. If we do not kill anybody, everybody wars upon us. I believe that aged men ought to go into the High Priests' quorum. I want to say it right from this stand, so that when they call upon us for missionaries, we will have able-bodied men and men who are willing to go forth and preach the Gospel. We do not want any Seventies that are run by their wives either. I do not blame the wives for running their husbands, because I think we have Seventies that their wives ought to run. I hear it almost every day (I do not want you to think it at home either) "What a lovely husband that man is. If I only had a husband like that I would be happy."

men.

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