The Treaty of Peace: Restoration of the Gospel

The Treaty of Peace— Restoration of the Gospel*

By President Heber J. Grant

Attitude on the Treaty of Peace—"Standard Works of the Church are not opposed to the League of Nations— United States should stand by her allies — Change in treaty terms making resubmission to Germany necessary, would be a calamity"—AVusons to great event in Church history occurring ninety-six years ago— Visits of Angel Moroni and other heavenly beings to Joseph Smith—Analysis of Articles of Faith—Personal experiences- Powerful testimony of restoration of the gospel.

I am grateful for the opportunity of again meeting with the Lat- ter-day Saints in public worship. It is ever a pleasure to me to meet with the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and also, when opportunity presents, to meet with those not of our faith, to explain our faith to those who are not familiar with it, and to bear witness of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged. Before speaking today on matters pertaining to our faith, I desire tomake a brief statement. I have been requested, by word of mouth and by letter, on more than one occasion, to state my opinion regarding the league of nations. I received a telegram asking me to join ex- President Taft, ex-Attorney General Wickersham, President Lowell of Harvard, and other leading Americans, in signing the following mani- festo :

In the senate at Washington, now that the committee on foreign rela- tions has reported the treaty, the lines are sharply drawn between the im- mediate ratification of the treaty of peace with Germany, and its amend- ment with a reassembling of the conference and a reopening of negotiations that would bring great delay and prolonged uncertainty in settling the great issues of the peace. No partisan plea can be made. Party lines are already broken. Standing at a distance from the conflict in the senate chamber, we plead for immediate ratification without delay. Our land requires it. A state of nervous strain, tension, and unrest exists, manifesting itself in distur- bances, which in some cases have no self-evident connection with the war, but which are in fact its aftermath. The world is put in imminent peril of new wars by the lapse of each day. Dissensions between us and our former allies are being sown. We firmly believe and solemnly declare that the states and cities in which we dwell desire immediate peace. The waging of war steadied and united the American people. Peace will bring prosperity, and prosperity content. Delay in the senate post-

*A discourse delivered in the Tabernacle at the Salt Lake stake Confer- ence,September 21, 1919, the ninety-sixth anniversary of the visit of the Angel Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

108 IMPROVEMENT ERA polling ratification in tliis uncertain period of neither peace nor war has resulted in indecision and doubt, bred strife, and quickened the cupidity of those who sell the daily necessities of life and the fears of those whose daily wage no longer fills the daily market basket. We beseech the senate to give the land peace and certainty by a rati- fication which will not keep us longer in the shadows of possible wars, but give the whole world the light of peace. _ Reservations in the nature ot clarifications in the meaning of the treaty, not inconsistent with its terms, will not require "the reopening of the negotiations with Germany and with our associates in the war, which we all and each united to win. But there is no possibility of doubt th;.t amendment of the treatv. as is now proposed by the senate committee on foreign relations, would require negotiation and a reopening of all the questions decided at Paris. Months of delay would follow. The perils of the present would become the deadly dangers of the near future. All the doubt engendered would aid the plots for violent revolution in this and other lands. The issues here and else- where between capital and labor, the conspiracy of speculator and profiteer, would all grow, and become more perilous. This cannot be. The American people cannot, after a victorious war, permit its government to petition Germany, which has accepted the treaty, for its consent to changes in the treaty. Yet, if the United States should amend the treaty for its own purpose and policy, Germany would have full right to ask for concessions. Germany has agreed to make no claim in regard to enemy property seized in this country to an amount of seven hundred million dollars. Our recent foe could ask for a reopening of this issue and of the Lusitania claims. It could raise every question open be- fore hostilities in regard to submarine warfare and the treatment of its nationals in this country. All the provisions for our trade in Germany raised by the economic clauses of the treaty, many of them vital to our industries and our farms, as in dye patents, dye supplies and fertilizers, the working of the reparation commission which superintends the trade of all with Germany could all be brought up by Berlin for readjustment by our negotiators, acting for the United States alone and no longer associated with other victorious powers or supported by a victorious American army on the German border. Peace is delayed until ratification comes. And any amendment post- pones peace. Germany and England alone of the principal powers have ratified. The other principals necessarily await our action, influential and powerful as we are today, in the world's affairs. The ravages of war on more than a score of fighting fronts are continued by our needless delay. Let the senate give the world peace by ratification without amendment. Even the amendment for which most can be said, the provision in regard to Shantung, will secure nothing which cannot be gained if China, backed bv the powerful advocacy of the United States, addresses itself to the ma- chinery for righting international wrongs and meeting just claims created by the league between nations, China, after eighty years of oppressive treaties and despoiled rights, by which all the great powers have profited directly or indirectly, has for the first time, in this covenant and treaty, the means and method to secure justice and the removal of the oppressive economic interference of stronger nations whose citizens are within her gates. protected by a long succession of international agreements. ^ More- over, it should be remembered that the clause regarding Shantung was made upon the statement by Japan that she will return the territory to China and, therefore, upon that condition; compliance with which promise the league can require. The peace of the present and the righteousness of the future can be best secured by the ratification of the covenant and treaty without amend- ment. Let the senate take no action that will give any party to the

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treaty,and especially Germany, ground for maintaining that the ratification of the United States is not complete and that changes requiring a resump- tion of conference and negotiations have been made in it.

I replied as follows

I have pleasure in joining ex-President Taft and other leading Ameri- cans in signing manifesto as outlined in your telegram of yesterday.

The sentiments contained in the above manifesto express my per- sonal position with regard to the league of nations and since signing ;

the telegram I have neither heard nor read anything that has in any degree changed my position on this important question. I regret exceedingly that the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been brought into this contro- versy, which has now become practically a partisan controversy. It is my opinion that this important question should have been kept abso- lutely out of politics. On one important matter I desire to place the position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fairly before the people. An illustrated hand-bill has been circulated and has been widely repub- lished in newspapers under the heading: "Mormon Bible Prophecies Become Issue in Opposition to the League of Nations." The position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the standard works of the Church are not opposed to the league of nations. As stated in what I have read to you, I regret exceedingly that this great and important question has become a political issue, and I desire to ask each and all of the members of the Church, over which I have the honor to preside, that in all their controversy in connection with this great issue, they express themselves as to their views with due deference to the opinions of others. During the controversy I would like them to read, occasionally, the very wonderful and inspired hymn "O say, what is truth?" written by John Jaques, to be found on page 71 of our hymn book:

O, say what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem That the riches of worlds can produce; And priceless the value of truth will be when The proud monarch's costliest diadem Is counted but dross and refuse.

Yes, say what is truth? 'Tis the brightest prize To which mortals or Gods can aspire: Go, search in the depths where it glittering lies, Or ascend in pursuit to the loftiest skies; 'Tis an aim for the noblest desire.

The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp, When with winds of stern justice he copes But the pillar of truth will endure to the last, And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast, And the wreck of the fell tyrant's hopes,

110 IMPROVEMENT ERA Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first, For the limits of time it steps o'er; Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore.

(President Grant read the hymn on page 66, of our hymn book, "Should you feel inclined to censure," and which appeared in the No- vember Era, p. 13.) Seeing that I have gotten into the habit of quoting poetry, another poem has just come to mind, which I will repeat, as I think it will be of v.ilue to us in teaching us to have respect for the opinions of other people. (Prest. Grant then read the poem, "Let each man learn to know himself," which was printed in the November Era, p. 14.) I regret exceedingly that in political controversies men seem to lack that courtesy and that respect for their opponents that I believe all Latter-day Saints ought to have. I have never yet heard a Democrat make a political speech that I felt was fair to the Republicans. Being a Democrat, I shall not say anything about what I think of the speeches of Republicans regarding Democrats. It is a strange thing but they — say that "Love is blind," and some people have added, "and can't smell." I have sometimes thought that both statements were true. From my own personal contact with dear and near friends, Republicans and Democrats, I have not been able to discover the exercise of what you might call charity, if you like, for the opinions of others who oppose them politically at least not as much charity as should exist among our people. I am a thorough convert myself to the idea that it is not possible for all men to see alike. You know the remark made by a man once "It is a splendid thing that we do not all see alike, because if we :

did, everybody would want to marry my Sally Ann ;" and the other man remarked, "Yes, thank the Lord. If everybody saw your Sally Ann as I see her, nobody on earth would have her, and she would die an old maid." (Laughter.) I am convinced in my own feelings that Great Britain, France, and the United States have common aims, common desires, common ob- jects, and that a league in which those three nations are combined will mean peace as far as the acts of nations can bring peace to mankind. The three thousand miles of border between the United States and Canada, maintained for over a hundred years without the slightest trouble, without any great forts, such as they have felt obliged to have between Germany and France, and other European countries, gives me the absolute assurance in my heart that Great Britain and her sub- jects have the same desires for the welfare of mankind, and for the liberty of mankind, that we have here in the United States. Confi- dence begets confidence good will begets good will and I believe that ;

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having fought for what? For our own existence, because I believe

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that but for the fact of our joining with the Allies in the great war, Germany would have conquered France and Great Britain, and that immediately thereafter she would have picked a quarrel with the United States, in the hope that this country, too, might be conquered. That Germany could not have conquered the United States I have no doubt. While representing you, as chairman of the Liberty loan com- mittee of the State of Utah, I attended a banquet in San Francisco, and in the course of a little speech of ten minutes — the limit given to me I announced that we were sure to win the war; that there was no doubt of it in my mind, absolutely none, because I accepted the state- ment of an inspired prophet of the living God, who resided on this continent hundreds, of years ago, who said that this is a choice land above all other lands, and that no king should rule on this land. There- fore I have no fear of Germany or any other country conquering these — United States of America none whatever. But if Germany had con- — quered France and England which I believe she would have done but — for our help) there would have been slain, instead of less than 100,000 of our boys, hundreds of thousands before we would have won the victory. I believe in my heart that it is our duty to stand by those nations that stood the brunt of the battle, and that saved us the loss of perhaps millions of our boys in the great struggle. I am not saying that I would not be delighted if this league of nations, or the terms of this covenant of peace, could be changed in some particulars, but they cannot be changed without submitting the treaty again to Germany. To my mind, that would be a calamity. Now, I did not intend to say this much regarding the league of nations, but rather to preach a little on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

An Important Anniversary. Today is the ninety-sixth anniversary of that wonderful mani- festation from God, the visitation of an angel from heaven to the boy Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith testified to all the world that Moroni, an ancient prophet of God who resided upon this continent, appeared to him in answer to his prayer to the living God for light and knowledge. He states that his room started to become light, until it was as light as the noonday sun, and then a personage appeared before him, conversed with him, delivered a most important message, and quoted many im- portant passages of scripture, as you will find recorded here in a brief

account of this wonderful event, given by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Pearl of Great Price. I marked a number of passages that I but not take the time to do so. This angel thought I would read, I will delivered a message to Joseph Smith, and told him that in the Hill

Cumorah there were buried golden plates containing a record of the forefathers of the American Indians. After delivering his message

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and quoting a lot of scripture to the boy, the messenger disappeared. He returned and repeated all that he had said before, and added a little additional scripture, then disappeared. He returned once more and repeated all that he had said upon the previous visits and by — this time it was morning. The boy dressed himself and went to the field to work, but his father, seeing that something was the matter with him, as he had been awake all night and was feeble, told him to go home. On his way home, while trying to climb over a fence, he fell and was awakened by the voice of the messenger, and for the fourth time these messages were delivered to the boy Joseph Smith, after which he told the boy to go to his father in the field and tell him all that he had heard from the messenger. Joseph went to his father and repeated the message that had been delivered to him by an angel of God, a former prophet who lived upon this earth, and his father said "This message is from God," and told him to follow the instructions of the angel. Joseph Smith went to the place where the plates contain- ing the Book of Mormon record were buried, and when he was about to remove them, the angel told him the time had not yet come when the plates were to be delivered into his hands, but that he was to return to that spot once a year for four years, and then the plates were to be given to him. He did return once a year for four years, and upon each of those visits the angel of the Lord instructed this young man in the things of God, and prepared him to be the chosen instrument in the hands of the living God to restore again to the earth the plan of life and salvation, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Subsequently, John the Baptist, the man who baptized the Lord Jesus Christ, came and laid his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cow- dery, and ordained those men to the Aaronic Priesthood, giving them the authority to baptize. After this ordination they went down into the waters of baptism and baptized each other. Subsequentlv, Peter, James, and John, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had min- istered in the days of the Savior and after his crucifixion, came to the earth, and they laid their hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and ordained the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving them all the keys, the powers, the rights and the authority to establish again the gospel plan and the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. "Oh," says the unbeliever, "we do not be- lieve that anv messenger ever appeared to Joseph Smith ;we do not believe that John the Baptist laid his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery we do not believe that Peter, James, and ;

John ordained these men apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ." The un- belief of all the world cannot change those facts, if they are facts and ;

we proclaim to the world that by the witness of the Holy Spirit we know that they are facts, and that they shall stand forever, for they can never be overthrown. The angel Moroni told the boy Joseph Smith that the day should come when an ancient prophet should appear

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and bestow the authority to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. This promise was made years before the organization of this Church, and before the Book of Mormon was ever revealed, and a number of years later that promise was fulfilled, when that authority was given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in a wonderful vision and manifestation in the Kirtland. temple, April 3, 1836 (Section 110, Doctrine and Covenants) :

The vail was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understand- ing were opened. {We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us, and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of his head was white like the pure snow, his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the first and the last, I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain, I am your advocate with the Father. Behold, your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me, therefore liftup your heads and rejoice. Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name. For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house, Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house. Yea, the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endow- ment with which my servants have been endowed in this house; And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen. After this vision the heavens were again opened unto us, closed, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gos- pel of Abraham, saying, that in us, and our seed, all generations after us should be blessed. After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us. Elijah the prophet who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent befoie the great and dreadful day of the Lord come. To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. ^

Therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.

Why We Build Temples. Millions of dollars have been invested in the Salt Lake temple. Month after month, as a boy, I contributed $1 a month. As my wages

114 IMPROVEMENT ERA increased I contributed $2 a month, and later $3, $4, $5 and finally gave several thousands of dollars, towards the completion of that tem- ple. Why? Because the Lord God Almighty had given me a knowl- edge that the hearts of the children have been turned to their fathers; that the keys held by Elijah the prophet were in very deed delivered to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The very granite bears witness to the faith, the knowledge and the testimony that God has given to the Latter-day Saints — not only this temple, but in Logan, in Manti, in St. George, temples have been erected to the same effect. In Canada there is another temple, not yet completed, and one recently completed in the Hawaiian Islands, wherein ordinances for the dead can be per- formed. The temple still stands in Kirtland, Ohio, where these won- derful manifestations from God were given to the Latter-day Saints. By the revelations of the Spirit of God to them, they testify that these things did occur. There was also a temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, which — was built under great stress which our people built with the rifle in one hand, so to speak, and the trowel or the instruments used in building in the other. These temples, erected by the Saints in the days of their poverty, bear witness to all the world of the inspiration of God to those men and to the truthfulness of the visions in the Kirtland tem- ple. No men and women would spend their money by the millions of dollars for the erection of temples, and spend their time, year after year, laboring for the salvation of their dead, if they did not have the witness of the Holy Spirit that in very deed the promise has been fulfilled that was made to the boy Joseph Smith ninety-six years ago today, that Elijah should come and restore these keys. Almost simultaneously with this wonderful manifestation to the boy, this visitation of an angel of the living God, delivering a message and making promises regarding the organizaton of the Church and of many wonderful things, all of which have since been fulfilled, came a widespread impulse among men to acquire information concerning their dead progenitors. No person can deny, who will stop to reason upon it, that from the time of Elijah's visit, restoring the keys that he held, turning the hearts of the children to their fathers, there has come into the hearts of people all over the world a desire to know something about their ancestors. No truthful person can deny that this is the case. People will not believe, perhaps, that the turning of their hearts to the fathers, causing them to seek for information regarding their progenitors, is due to the fact that the keys had been turned in the temple at Kirtland but we know that is the case. I have met men and ;

have conversed with them, who have spent years and years of their lives gathering the genealogy of their forefathers, and compiling books containing that information. When I have asked them why they did it, they would say that they did not know, but that they were seized with a strong, irresistible desire to find out the names of their ancestors and to compile them. Now that they have finished the record, they

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seem to have lost all interest in it. To a Latter-day Saint a book of this size [holding up the Book of Mormon], containing the names of his ancestors, is worth many, many times, hundreds of times more than its weight in gold, because to the Latter-day Saint has come a knowledge that he can in very deed be "a savior upon Mount Zion" of his kindred who have died without a knowledge of the truth.

A Visitor s Conversion. I am reminded of the wonderful testimony that comes into the

hearts of men regarding the divinity of this work in which we are en- gaged, by the labors that were performed by a gentleman named R. M. Bryce-Thomas, a retired colonel in the British army. Colonel Thomas came to Salt Lake City and stopped at the Templeton hotel, a small hotel in the Zion's Bank building at that time. His wife was taken sick, and as he sat there in his room and looked across the street to the old two-story adobe building that stood where the Hotel Utah now is, he saw a sign, "Mormon Publications." He read this sign "Mormon Publications," day after day, until it got on his nerves, and so he went over and bought some "Mormon Publications." When his wife re- covered, he returned to his home in London, and he read these publica- tions. He afterwards attended "Mormon" meetings and became con- vinced of the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as again revealed to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. He traveled all the way from the great city of London to Salt Lake City upon two separate and distinct occasions, for the privilege of going into the temple of the Lord, that stands on this block, and becoming a savior of his progenitors. As he was an educated man, and a man of im- portance, his friends thought that he had practically gone crazy, or he would not have joined the "miserable 'Mormons'." He received so many letters of inquiry, asking why he had joined the "Mormons," that he decided to write out his reasons for leaving the Church of England and joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He did so, and sent those reasons to the Liverpool office to Brother Rulon S. Wells, who was then president of the European mission, asking him to have a few hundred copies printed so that he could distribute them among his friends. Brother Wells asked permission to utilize, in the shape of a tract, the arguments and reasons that he gave for leaving the Church of England. This request was granted. Tens of thousands of copies of "My Reasons for Leaving the Church of England and Joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" have been distributed in this country and in Europe, and I commend that very scholarly and splendid pamphlet to all Latter-day Saints who have not read it. I am sure I have, at least a half dozen times; I have given away thousands of copies of this tract, and I want to bear witness here today, regarding this man— for I have met him and conversed with him— that he has the spirit of the gospel that he has in his heart a testimony ;

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of the divinity of the work in which you and I are engaged and it is ;

the spirit that giveth life, that giveth understanding, that testifies of the things of God. This man is converted to the gospel. He is not only converted to the gospel, but he can give his reasons, scriptural reasons, in addition to the witness of the Spirit that he has received from the Lord as to the divinity of this work. Furthermore, he lives the gospel, and that is one of the great evidences of its divinity. (Here President Grant related a characteristic story on, "The Up- ward Progress of a Latter-day Saint," printed in full in the Novem- ber Era, pp. 72-74, and worth a careful re-reading.)

An Army of Missionaries. — Love of God and love of our fellow men the first great com- mand, the Savior said, the first great law is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our might, mind and strength; and the second is like unto it, to love our neighbor as ourselves. I want to bear witness to all the world that no other people upon the face of the earth can show such love of God and such love of their fellow men as do the Latter-day Saints. We have about 2,000 missionaries, on an average, out in the world preaching the gospel, without money, with- out price, without being sustained except from their own pockets — or the pockets of their relatives for what? Because of their love of God, and because of their love of their fellows, to deliver the mes- sage to all the world that God has again opened the heavens that ;

he has spoken from on high that he has sent his messengers that ; ;

they have laid their hands upon the servants of God in this dav, and restored again to the earth the authority of the Priesthood of the liv- ing God, and the power to build up the gospel of the Lord jesus Christ upon the earth. We have recorded here in the back of this book, the little Pearl of Great Price, the Articles of Faith of the Latter-day Saints. "We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

Belief in a Personal God.

We believe absolutely in God our Father. I remember reading,

while I was in England, a book entitled, "The Young Man and the World." In that book, written by Senator Albert J. Beveridge, there was one chapter on "The Young Man and the Pulpit." In his book. Mr. Beveridge says that any man who enters the pulpit to preach, if he is not converted in his heart of hearts to the truth of that which he preaches, commits a sacrilege every time that he stands up in his pulpit. Then he said: "A certain man, with good opportunities for c.etting correct answers, during an entire summer vacation asked three questions of all the ministers with whom he came in contact.

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The first question was : — "Do you believe in God, the Father God a — person. God a definite and tangible intelligence 'not a congeries of — laws floating like a fog through the universe but God a person in whose image you were made? Don't argue; don't explain; but is your mind in a condition where you can answer yes or no?" Not a minister answered "Yes." I wish to say that there is not a boy, there is not a girl, in the intermediate classes of the Sunday schools of the Latter-day Saints, nor is there a man or a woman in all the Church of Jesus Christ, who would not answer "Yes" to that question. We believe that we are the children of the living God, and that he is in very deed an exalted person. Why? Because the Lord God Al- mighty, nearly a hundred years ago, appeared to a little boy 14 years of age, and spoke to him. This boy saw that God our Father is a glorified man, so to speak and he pointed to his Son, the Lord Jesus ;

Christ, and said to this little boy: "This is my beloved Son, hear him." In answer to a simple question from that boy, as to which of all these denominations of the world he should join, the Savior told him to join none of them, because they had all gone astray; and later he was called to be the instrument in the hands of God of restoring again the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. The next question in Senator Beveridge's book was "Yes or no, :

do you believe that Christ was the Son of the Living God, sent by Him to save the World? I am not asking whether you believe that he was inspired in the sense that the great moral teachers are inspired — nobody has any difficulty about that but do you believe that Christ ;

was God's very Son, with a divinely appointed and definite mission, — dying on the cross and raised from the dead yes or no?" Not a minister answered, "Yes." They went on to explain that he was a great moral teacher. Permit me to deny the assertion that he was a great moral teacher, unless he was the Son of God. He himself an- nounced that he was the Savior of the world, that he was the Only Be- gotten of the Father in the flesh, that he was the Son of God; and therefore, if he was not the Son of God, he could not have been a great moral teacher, because the foundation of his mission was that he was God's Only Begotten Son. If he was not God's Son, he could not be a great moral teacher, because his foundation would be a false- hood. The next question was: "Do you believe that when you die you willlive again as a conscious intelligence, knowing who you are and who other people are? Answer yes or no." Not one of them answered "Yes." Every man and every woman married in the temple on this block, or in any of the temples of God, are married for time and for all eternity. We believe that the marriage covenant is an eternal covenant, and there is not a Latter-day Saint living who does not expect to have his or her conscious identity beyond the grave. Thank God for the

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118 IMPROVEMENT ERA first article of our faith and our absolute knowledge, of God and of Jesus Christ. "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." I shall not comment on that. "We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." We find the following in a revelation from the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith, section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants:

And this is the gospel, the glad tidings which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us. That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;

That through him all might be saved whom the Father has put into his power, and made by him. Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, ex- cept those sons of perdition, who deny the Son after the Father hath re- vealed him: And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; For we saw him, even on the right hand of God, and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father That by him and through him, and ol him the worlds are and were cre- ated, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

First Principles and Ordinances.

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by First, faith in the immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gif* of the Holy Ghost. Webelieve that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

I want to say to you that all those missionaries who have gone — out to preach the gospel and we have had at least 80,000 of them, — from the day the Church was first organized have had laid upon their heads, the hands of God's authorized servants, men who held his authority and all over the wide world, in every land and in every ;

clime, from the midnight-sun country of the north to South Africa, wherever they have gone, the Spirit of the living God has attended them. From every land and from every clime men and women have received the witness of the Holy Spirit, and have embraced the gos- pel and all the wisdom of all the world, the wisdom of all the ;

churches, in all the world, has never yet been able to convert any Lat- ter-day Saint elder. They say we have not the truth they say that ;

we are deluded How the Lord Almighty has neglected for nearly !

90 years, the honest, faithful, virtuous, upright Latter-day Saints,

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having failed to allow any of their missionaries, or of their converts in the world, to discover the error of this gospel as taught by the Lat- ter-day Saints! Yet these men have gone forth after having had hands laid upon their heads, giving them authority as God's ambas- sadors to go and proclaim the truth, and from every denomination under heaven men and women have been converted to the gospel which some people regard as a delusion.

Belief in Prophets.

"We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz; apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc."

I shall not take your time further than to refer to the Prophet Joseph Smith. We believe that he was a prophet of God, and we not only believe it but we know that he was. Why? He declared that he would be chosen, when he was a child, and he was chosen. He announced to the world that he would receive the Book of Mormon, and he did receive the Book of Mormon, which he translated from the plates, to which reference has been made. Eleven men, in addition to himself, bear witness that he had the plates. Eight of these men hand- led them and saw the engravings, and the plates were shown to three of these men by an angel of God who came down from heaven. "Oh, but," says one, "I don't believe it," but if eleven honest, reputable men testified that a man had committed murder, that man would hang all right or be shot. There is no one who can say that the statement of the witnesses regarding the Book of Mormon, is not true, and there are tens of thousands who can say, by the witness of the Spirit of God, that these things are true. Joseph Smith proclaimed that he would yet be a prophet, before he was one, and he was chosen. He predicted that the Latter-day Saints would be driven from city to city, from county to county, from state to state, and finally from the confines of the United States to the Rocky Mountains, which was then Mexican territory. People laughed him to scorn for saying that he, whom they considered a miserable upstart, at the head of a de- luded lot of people, would attract the attention of anybody to the ex- tent that they would be driven out of a state, and particularly be driven beyond the confines of the United States. He also announced that the day would come when not only a city, not only a county, not only a state should be arrayed against the handful of Latter-day Saints, commonly called "Mormons," but the day should come when the whole United States would be arrayed against them. People hooted at that statement, but the day did come when we were driven from city to city, from county to county, and state to state, and the day did come when we were driven to the Rocky Mountains, where he had said we should become a great and mighty people. And that is exactly what we have become, because in proportion to pur numbers we are a great and mighty people, and people are beginning to recog-

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nize it today. Finally the United States of America, on the state- ments of lying judges and others, sent an army against us for doing — what? For doing what we never did, but subsequently the govern- ment pardoned us for our sins that we had never committed, but they sent their army here all the same. And later, because of false state- ments made to Congress, the government confiscated all the property, both real and personal, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as if the Lord desired doubly to fulfil the pre- diction of Joseph Smith. I picked up the paper day after day myself, when the trial was going on here in the courts, and read in bold headlines, "The United States of America vs. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and laid the paper down and said "Thanks be to Uncle Sam for putting the absolute stamp of divinity upon the utterances of the Prophet Joseph Smith !" This is one of the reasons why we believe in prophets — because their prophecies are fulfilled. only fair to say that this property was afterwards re- It is stored to the Church by acts of Congress.

Evangelical Inspiration.

"We believe in pastors, teachers, evangelists" There is no need of believing in an evangelist unless he has the evangelical inspiration of his office. I want to say to you that when T was a baby my mother took me to the patriarch, or the evangelist, Brother Perkins, who afterwards moved to St. George and located there, and that patriarch put his hands upon my head and bestowed upon me a little blessing that would perhaps be about one-third of a typewritten page. That blessing foretold my life to the present moment. The promises made to that baby have been fulfilled. I went to Tooele as a boy not twenty-four years of age, to preside over that stake of Zion. I was without experience, and I felt mightily my weak- ness. Soon after I arrived there with my wife and two little babies, my youngest baby was taken very sick and came nigh to death's door. I did not know one single solitary soul in Tooele City when I went out there except John Rowberry and Francis M. Lyman. Brother Lyman lived next door to me, but he was not at home. Knowing that my little baby was in a dying condition, I sent for my friend, John Rowberry, the patriarch, the evangelist in that stake of Zion, asking him to come and assist me in blessing the baby. After blessing the little one he said: "Brother Grant, looking at it naturally, your baby is going to die." I said, "I have no doubt of it, unless the Lord hears and answers our prayers." He said, "Well, the Lord is going to hear and answer them. Go and get a table and a piece of paper, and sit down by the bed I went to give this baby its patriarchal ;

blessing." He laid his hands upon that baby and promised her that she should live ; that she should grow to womanhood ; that she should marry a servant of the living God that she should become a mother in ;

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Israel ; that she should become a leader among the sisters in the Church. A year or so ago, President Joseph F. Smith handed me the list of Church authorities to present to the people, as he quite frequently did. I read the names and presented them, and when I came to the last name, as one of the General Board of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, I had to read that name through tears of gratitude, because I was presenting the name of my daughter, who, I believe, but for the power of God, would have died when a baby —I was presenting her name to be one of those to preside among her sisters, over thirty or forty-odd thousand of the young women in the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association. Why do we believe in evangelists? Because they have the in- spiration of God, the inspiration of their office and they are able to foretell the lives of the men and women upon whom they place their hands. While in Tooele, I received a patriarchal blessing myself from this same man, John Rowberry, and he promised me that I should be taken from that stake of Zion and become a leader in the Church of Christ; and I stand here today a witness of the inspiration of God to that man, John Rowberry. Not only did he promise me that, but many other things, all of which have been fulfilled.

The Gifts Promised, and Bestowed. "We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues," etc. — we believe in the gift of tongues. When I was a little child, in a Relief society meeting held in the home of the late William C. Staines, corner South Temple and Fifth East streets, my mother was there, "Aunt Em" Wells was there, Eliza R. Snow, Zina D. Young, and many others. After the meeting was over Sister Eliza R. Snow, by the gift of tongues, gave a bless- ing to each and everyone of those good sisters, and Sister Zina D. Young gave the interpretation. After blessing those sisters, she turned to the hoy playing on the floor, and pronounced a blessing upon my head by the gift of tongues, and Zina D. Young gave the interpretation. I of course did not understand one word that Aunt Eliza was saying. I was astonished because she was talking to me and pointing at me. I could not understand a word, and all I got of the interpretation, as

a child, was that some day I should be a big man. I thought it meant that I would grow tall. My mother made a record of that blessing. What was it ? It was a prophecy, by the gift of tongues, that her boy should live to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ; and ofttimes she told me that if I would behave myself, that honor would come to me I always laughed at her and said "Every mother believes that :

hold some her son will become president of the United States, or great office. You ought to get that out of your head, Mother." I did Tell me that the gift not believe her until that honor came to me. not exercised in this Church? As well tell me that I of tongues is

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do not know that I stand here today. Subsequently my own wife, the mother of the baby to which I have referred, upon one occasion when I came home at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, having been working early and late trying to meet the interest on my obligations, read me a lecture about breaking the Word of Wisdom. She said to me: "You'd better drink tea or coffee, or even use tobacco, rather than sit up all night working. You are breaking the Word of Wisdom." Finally she stopped suddenly, and by the gift of tongues she made a predic- tion and several wonderful promises, among others that I should live to pay all my obligations. This was at a time when my friends were begging me to take the bankruptcy act. Among other things she prom- ised that I should live to lift up. my voice in many lands and in many climes, proclaiming the gospel. Since then I have lifted up my voice in the Hawaiian Islands, in Japan, in Great Britain, Belgium, Hol- land, the three Scandinavian countries, in Canada, in Mexico, and in almost every state in the Union of the United States, proclaiming that I know that God lives, proclaiming that I know that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God. I have done this in fulfilment of a promise made on my head by my wife, whose body now lies in the tomb, who made this promise years before it came to pass. I will not take up further time on that article of our

faith.

Other Articles of Faith. We believe the Bible to be the word of God. as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things per- taining to the kingdom of God. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion will be built upon this (the American) continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.

Yet some people write that we are in rebellion against the United States that we would like to set up a republic of our own that we are ; ;

a great financial combine of people who are arranging to eventually conquer our country. Our boys who gave their lives in France our ;

boys who went forth in far greater number than the government had requested, according to our population our money so freely given for ;

Liberty and Victory bonds our declaration to all the world, through ;

the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the men who wrote the Constitution — of this country were inspired of the living God all of these things give the lie to all the liars who are perpetually saying that we are op- posed to this country. When the Latter-day Saints were being driven

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from their homes, when they were coming to these Rocky mountains in — fulfilment of the prediction of Joseph Smith they were being expatriated; they were driven from the confines of the United States, and were coming to Mexican soil. Our country was then in trouble with Mexico, and the government called on Brigham Young for 500 men to help fight Mexico. To this call President Young replied: "You shall have your men, and if we have not enough men we will furnish you women ;" and within three days the men were ready. That Mormon Battalion went to California and discovered gold. Show to me, if you can, in all the history of the world another case of a peo- ple being expatriated, being driven from their own country, from their own lands which they had purchased, being driven out from a beau- tiful city, the last remnant of them crossing the Mississippi river in the dead of winter, on the ice, nine babies being born during the night of that terrible expulsion, with no shelter but their mother's breasts, going forth on their journey of a thousand miles in the wilderness, after having appealed to the president of their republic, who could only say: "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you" show me— another people, I say, who under like circumstances would have fur- nished 500 men to fight their country's battles !Show me greater patriotism and loyalty to country than this !It can't be done. Allow me to announce that from the day of Joseph Smith to this identical day, the leaders of this people have had absolute respect, love and rev- erence for their country. Allow me to announce further that we are patriotic Americans to the core, and that we have learned it, many of us, at our mother's knees, where we said our prayers. We believe abso- lutely in the inspiration of God to the men who framed our Consti- tution.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtu- ous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we. seek after these things.

Judged by Their Fruits.

All we ask of the world is to remember the articles of faith of the Latter-day Saints and to judge the Latter-day Saints by their fruits. This was the standard that the Savior gave for a righteous judgment. What are the fruits of "Mormonism"? No people in these United States of America have higher financial credit than the "Mormons." No other people in these United States of America have as low a death rate as the "Mormons." Vileness and wickedness do not decrease the death rate. No people of the same number can produce as many fine singers— and fine singing does not go with corruption and wickedness. The Lord said in a revelation to the wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart yea, the song of the ;

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righteous is a prayer unto me, and shall be answered with blessings up- on their heads." No people have a better reputation for fulfiling the first great commandment of God — "Multiply and replenish the earth." No race suicide in Utah; that is, in the "Mormon" sections of Utah, or in the "Mormon" communities of southern Idaho, or in Canada, or in Arizona, or Old Mexico. No people can make a finer record in failing to produce insane than the Latter-day Saints, and yet insanity gen- erally comes with wickedness. No people can produce fewer criminals than the Latter-day Saints. The governor of the state of Arizona remarked some time ago that we were being robbed of several hun- dred per cent of our taxes, because none of our people were in the insane asylum, and we were entitled to quite a number. He further said that we were being robbed of two or three thousand per cent of our taxes because we had only one inmate in the penitentiary, although we were entitled to twenty-five or thirty, according to our population. I referred to this statement when I was in Arizona a short time ago, and the district judge, who was sitting in the audience, jumped up and said: "Pardon me, Mr. Grant, but that one has since been pardoned." (Laughter.) I see I have talked much longer than I had intended. I rejoice in the witness of the Holy Spirit to me that I can stand up in all sobriety and testify to you that the angel of God, ninety-six years ago today, did appear to the boy Joseph Smith, and that the promises made to that boy have been fulfilled that he did become a prophet of God that he died a ; ;

martyr to the truth that his blood testified, as the blood of all martyrs ;

has done in ages past, to the divinity of the work that he has estab- lished and I bear to you my witness that God has given to me a knowl- ;

edge that he lives that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and that Joseph ;

Smith was a prophet of God. I pray for light and knowledge and power and ability that you and I, every one of us who have received this testi- mony, may so order our lives that all men, seeing our sobriety, seeing the uprightness of our lives, may be led to investigate the fruits of the gospel of Christ, and that they, too, may receive the witness of the Holy Spirit. This is my prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Faith

"I believe in the world, and ics bigness and splendor: That most of the hearts beating round us are tender; That days are but footsteps and years are but miles That lead us to beauty and singing and smiles: That roses that blossom and toilers that plod Are filled with the glorious Spirit of God." Edgar A. Guest

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