flinchingly, and true if need be to the giving of life and all to the cause of truth as our Father had established it. And yet we are possessed, like the rest of the human race, of our weaknesses. We are tempted, we are tried, we imagine many vain things, but so far as concerns this work and its development and success in this world in the accomplishment of the regeneration of the human race, it will not fail. "There is no such word as fail in the lexicon of our God." Men may fail; they may fail to read by the unerring counsels of the Holy Spirit the course that they should pursue; they may fail to be loyal soldiers and to recognize the orders that high heaven shall give, looking to the development of our Father's cause in the world, but there will be found sufficient to meet the needs and responsibilities and to discharge the obligations that the Master has imposed upon those to whom the sacred message was delivered by that angel who was to fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Write it in your books, establish it in your hearts and fix it in every fibre of your being, that God will see its accomplishment in the loyalty and devotion of those whom He shall gather, one at a time, and establish among His people in the Church of Christ. Our brothers and our sisters among the religious peoples of the world should become after a time, in my judgment, Impregnated with this thought, and cease the expression of their illfeelings and the application of improper methods, looking to the hurt of this work, for the promise is that "no weapon formed against this work shall succeed and they that arise in judgment against it shall be condemned."-not to condemnation that shall fall from my lips, or condemnation that may fall from the lips of any who are associated with the work in the same degree that I may be; but in that condemnation registered by the finger of God, which blights those who set their hand against this work and labor for its destruction. For as the sun shines at noonday and as the brightness of morning appears in the eastern horizon, this work must suc ceed. It is the decree of Providence. While we thus speak in connection with the work, and while we feel our weaknesses and our littleness as aids in its accomplishment, we recognize the fact that the day of destruction and schooling has not gone by. Around us are armies of boys and girls developing into young manhood and young womanhood, schooled under conditions somewhat different to those that have existed in former times, and yet not so different after all, only that we have allowed a great degree of laxity to grow up in connection with our government and association in our households that never should have existed. I have spok. en a number of times upon the question of a more cautious, careful and determined purpose on the part of the head of every home, to see that he is in closer companionship with the members of his household than he has been wont to be in times past. I have received the Priesthood. It entails upon me a great obligation that takes my entire time in the missionary fields abroad, or in the discharge of duties in the ward or Stake. No matter about my own home circle, the wife and the children must look to their own interest there; but I must discharge this duty that leads me hence in the fulfillment or requirements that have been placed upon my shoulders, and to a degree that in my judgment is reprehensible. With this feeling in our hearts we have neglected one of the most sacred obligations in the world. I am wondering when that obligation shall be brought home to us which is laid down in the Scriptures, about the teaching of our children, how far you and I, holding the Priesthood of the Son of God, shall be found under the ban pronounced by the Savior of the world in the revelation of His holy will. The troubles and trials of this life are manifold, but there is no responsibility placed upon us greater than the care of our own. The statement by one of old that he who does not provide for his own is worse than an infidel and has already denied the faith, is one that will apply to a great many in our day and time. There must be a more systematic and thoughtful application of home government and home action upon the part of the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day companionship at the fireside of her we Saints, or the ban pronounced in these words, which classes us with the infidel, will be manifest, and it will be written by the recording angel that our part has not been performed in the Spirit of that work which God has given us a share in establishing in the world. I do not believe that duty requires any one of you to be absent from your homes every night in the week, looking after somebody other than your own household. I do not believe that the adjustment of the responsibilities placed upon us in this Priesthood that hold requires that the sons and daughters of the Elders of this Church shall not be in touch with their fathers in such spirit as shall render them susceptible to the influence of that Priesthood and the spirit of this work, which leads them to make the sacrifices, if they can be called sacrifices, that has led them by hundreds and thousands into every part of the earth. It is an adjustment that is essential with these High Priests, these Seventies and these Elders in the Church, that the home and its interests shall be remembered, and that the men who sit down in their homes constantly and fail to perform their part in connection with the work outside of the home shall adjust their time upon legitimate and proper lines, which shall so distribute the labors that my wives and my children and that my associates with their wives and children may enjoy that legitimate and proper companionship designed by our maker when he made us husbands and wives, parents and children. It has given me great concern to have many of my brethren tell me that they have not spent an evening at home in years. This duty, that duty and these appointments have taken them here and there, and their sons and daughters scarcely see them. If they do see them, it is simply in the morning, when breakfast is eaten, and then they depart to the various labors resting upon them. I hope that in the consideration of these questions affecting the home and the work of God, we will see to it in the future that each of these interests shall receive its proper care and attention, and that the wife shall rejoice in the husband, at least occasionally, and that the boys and girls shall feel themselves in duty bound to congregate there. Then in the love manifest in that home by the husband for the wife, and wife for the husband and the parents for the children, there shall be a witness of God's mercy in the establishment of that principle by which men and women are bound together for time and eternity. It seems to me there is no reason in the world why the acting Priesthood in a Stake or ward should be away from their families every night in the week; why these Elders, these Seventies, these High Priests and these Apostles should have so little of that companionship that was established when they plighted their faith to their companions. The devotion of husband and wife should not become cooled as age approaches, but we should be determined in our hearts to maintain under every condition its warmth to the fullest, inasmuch as we have covenanted with God, angels and witnesses that for time and eternity we would fill in justice and propriety the duties and responsibilities of the sacred relationship of husband and wife. President Cannon, in his remarks this afternoon, bearing upon the spirit of insubordination and a failure to recognize counsels coming from the proper source in connection with the work of God, has expressed very clearly and distinctly the feeling that is present with a great many people, the result of thoughtlessness upon the part of some, but largely attributable to the fact that that companionship which should exist in the home does not exist. and that our boys and girls get from under our control and we seem to lack the tact to draw them back under our influence. President Cannon gave to you his views in regard to the question of veneration. I am unlike him in a great degree, I lack in veneration. It has been necessary for me to cultivate it. While I respect my brethren and also the men and women whose hair has become gray, it is indeed an extreme effort for me to show that deference and respect which is due to the men with whom we mingle or who possess influence among the children of men. But his suggestions in connection with these matters are worthy of consideration. I have sought to impress upon my own sons the necessity of being men among men, to seek to understand principle, to act upon the basis of their consciences, and to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of life in the Priesthood which God has given to them, in such a way that the name they bear shall not be tainted. But we notice in connection with these matters that there is a spirit abroad that it is not right and proper to give ear to the counsels of wise and prudent men; that they are old fogies; that experience in the world counts for nothing, and that step by step we will brush their views out of the way. I presume it is an American idea that has developed itself in the world. Oh! how many will awaken in time to the understanding that they have been deceiving themselves, that the experience of a gray-haired father and mother, and that the careful and considerate counsels of a High Priest in the Church of Christ would have been, if utilized, potent for their good. My brothers and sisters, I recognize the fact that Zion is going to grow. I would grow with it. I would have my children grow with it. My grandsires labored in connection with this work; my sires have labored in connection I with it. They believed it was true. believe they were right. I not only believe, but I know that they were right; and if I can write this knowledge upon my wives and children and get them to understand the duty that they owe to God and their country in connection with the development of this work and its extension in all the world, I will indeed rejoice in every fibre of my being. But should they lose respect for the truth which God has revealed or for the love of right presented in the principles of the government that has been established, under which this work has been developed, it shall seem to me that life has indeed been a failure. If, however, the husbands and the fathers, the wives and the mothers shall be in attune with each other; if they shall love the home and the home circle; if understanding of the with the reverence due heavenly Father representatives our and here. as they shall impregnate their children May heaven's peace abound in your tions and trials that beset them in their youth, and turn loose to be destroyed the treasures that God has given them. Oh! that I could write upon the heart of every man and every woman the rememberance of their own lives, and the struggles that they have had to make to preserve themselves from the pitfalls of immorality; and write also upon their hearts and souls the sentiment and feeling that our Father would inspire if they would open their hearts to him, that these pure spirits need the constant guidance, guardianship and care of their fathers and mothers. Again I say, may the Lord's peace abound with you. May the spirit of this conference resound to the ends of the earth with the declaration that Mormonism, as the world calls it, is a factor in the universe, come to stay, not to fade nor fail, but to increase and develop as long as there is a human being in sin; warning its own devotees that honesty, truthfulness, virtue and love and respect for everything that is noble and true is the foundation stone of the work; calling upon everyone who has drifted into by and forbidden paths to repent and turn to the truth, and being to the world a light set upon a hill, that cannot be hid, which will increase in brightness and power until its light shall encompass the earth. God bless you. Amen. ELDER GEORGE TEASDALE. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: "And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday." From the testimonies that we have heard this seems to be the history of the Latter-day Saints. They are the most valiant and courageous people on the face of the earth, because they "Trust in the Lord and do good." It required a great deal of moral courage to accept this Gospel, to come out of the world and take up the cross of Christ, and to advocate a doctrine that was everywhere spoken against. But it has established in us an everlasting character. We know no fear. Our trust is in the Lord; and the exhortation to us, Learn the will of God and do it, brings forth and establishes within us a character. We are always willing to do the will of God. We came into the Church for that express purpose. We found that it would be impossible for us to be delivered from death, hell and the grave, unless we accepted of the doctrine of Christ as taught by the inspired servants of God; and being on the unpopular side we had to defend ourselves. We tested the principles of everlasting life, and we have discovered they are true. God has given unto us line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, and we are growing in grace and in the knowledge of God. He has told us over and over again that if we will love him and his commandments we shall prosper in the land. The Scriptrues are true. The Holy Spirit has come unto the sons and daughters of God in the day and age in which we live. We all realize that we have our individual mission; that when we seek unto the Lord and ask His guidance. He guides and directs us. He gives us the opportunity of being everything that we could wish to be, in fulfilling the mission He has appointed us, to His honor and glory. There is no need of our ever being deceived or being beguiled by the influence of the adversary-who of course is adverse to God's will being done-if we will only observe the will of the Lord and do it. We have a Father in heaven who loves us, and who has given unto us the The Saints trust in the Lord-Cause of the opposi- keep tion of the world-Exhortation to faithfulness- I am very thankful to our Heavenly Father that I have the privilege of attending this conference and of rejoicing with my brethren that we are seventy years of age. I was very much impressed in listening to the instructions that have been given, how everything tends to establish the Scriptures. The 37th Psalm says: "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity: "For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine art. privilege of dwelling upon the earth in the dispensation of the fulness of times. We encourage the rising generation to trust in the Lord and individually seek His counsel. The Lord does not require a blind obedience, but an intelligent obedience, and the Savior has exhorted us to ask and it shall be given us, to seek and we shall find, to knock and it shall be opened unto us. On one occasion he gave us the parable of the unjust judge, and told us to pray without ceasing, to put our trust in the Lord, and He would give us everything necessary. The Church of Christ has a bad reputation. It always did have. "We desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest; for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against," was said of old. It is a trick of the adversary that we should be evilly spoken of, and it is his disciples, who despise the commandment "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," who have given us our bad reputation. But that matters very little. We know we are of God, and that the world lieth in the arms of the wicked one. We know that the principles of everlasting life, which we have subscribed to, are true, and it is to our best interest individually to accomplish that which the Father has given us to do. If those who fight against us, who despise us and who will not fellowship us would search for themselves individually as we have done, they would see as we see and have the same comprehension of the principles of everlasting life, because they would have the same spirit. even the gift of the Holy Ghost, without which no man knowth the things of God, I have no faith in the wisdom of man, nor in doctors of divinity. They have made a mistake from the begin. ning. The history of the world tells us that mankind always accepted false prophets and slew and rejected those who were sent of God with the glad tidings of great joy. In the days of Noah, but eight persons out of the whole world accepted the Gospel of the Son of God, and were saved, while the others, under the dominion of the prince and power of the air, rejected light and truth and made their bed where we would not like to go. The I say to you, my brethren and sisters, seek the counsel of the Almighty in your individuality, and when the Lord reveals to you what your mission is, fulfill it to the glory of God, no matter who else is pleased or displeased. whole duty of man is to serve God and keep His commandments, and woe unto us if we do not do it. We have been slothful; we have been indifferent; we have robbed the Lord in tithes and offerings; we have been self-sufficient and have despised the counsels of the Almighty, and He has called upon us to repent, to reform, and to consecrate unto Him that which is His due, according to His commandment, which is, that of everything He shall give to us, we will consecrate to Him onetenth, and our ears shall be open to the cry of the widow and the fatherless, and we shall visit them in their distress. The Lord has also commanded us to get out of debt, so that we may owe no man anything and be independent and keep the law of God. a Unless we do so He cannot establish His statutes upon the land. I want to bear my testimony to the truth of these principles. I know they are true. I know that God lives; I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was true prophet sent of God. All mankind can obtain this testimony, if they will seek for it. There was a time when I did not know it. I sought the Lord for it, and he gave it to me, to my perfect satisfaction. My exhortation to the people all the time is, for goodness sake be kind to yourselves; hear the word of the Lord and do it; stand in the dignity of your manhood and resist the influence of the world. Woe unto us if we are overcome of the world; woe unto us if we are excommunicated from the Church. We have a long list of men who should pay tithing and do not. I am sorry for them. I wish they had sense enough to be kinder to themselves, for they are laboring under a curse who rob God in tithes and offerings. They have no right to partake of the Sacrament, being unworthy. Every time they do it they eat and drink damnation; for they tell the Lord that they are willing to take upon them the name of Christ and to keep Hi: commandments, yet they do not do |
