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I take great pleasure in hearing testimony to the remarks that have been made by President Snow this morning. I am thankful to God and to our President for the testimony that he has given us. It arouses in my mind many reflections, brings before me the past history of this Church and foreshadows the future destiny of this people. God has been merciful to the Latter-day Saints, and if there are any men opposing us that have the idea that we do not pray for them, they are mistaken. We pray the Lord to soften the hearts of our enemies. We pray that they may be turned from their evil ways and not kick against the pricks, but seek to forsake the evil that is within them and to do good. They are, however, in the hands of God, as we are.
We are glad to know that this people have gained victory after victory. They have marched on, conquering and to conquer. In our youth, as stated by our President, when struggling against fearful odds, we came out greater, nobler, better soldiers of the cross than when we entered into this vortex of persecution; and now in our manhood, in our rider years, thank God that we have heard the voice of our leader saying that we are marching on to success and victory--to the time when men and nations will arise up and say, "Thou blessed people, that have fought the good fight, that have led the way and established righteousness in the land of our fathers." I expect to see this day.
There is no Dower that can battle successfully against our Father and God. If we are His people, we are sure to win. If we are not His, how is it that we have been so successful from the beginning? and have through His power, in which we have trusted, grown to be seventy years old, instead of being a mere child in swaddling clothes? God has done it; He has given us these rights and blessings. I felt in my heart while the President was talking that I could prophesy to those who fight against us. Do your worst; do your best; try to accomplish all the evil that is in your hearts; but as true as God lives this kingdom will sweep on, this Church will progress, and the Kingdom of God will be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands--it will crush all opposition. Now, that is not disloyal, because God will do it, not man.
I am not opposed to any man who seeks to do right. I am not opposed to any government that seeks to give liberty to the people and the privilege to exercise that free agency which God has given to all men. Every man and woman must have their agency. No man can take it from the sons and daughters of our Father.
It occurred to me this morning while sitting here that if I happened to be called upon to speak, I would read a part of the 29th chapter of Alma, in the Book of Mormon.
"O, that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people;
"Yea, I would declare unto every soul as with a voice of thunder, repentance, and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. "But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish: for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
"I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, according to their wills; whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
"Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; for he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless: but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires; whether he desireth good or evil, to him it is given according to his desires; whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
"Now seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called.
"Why should I desire that I was an angel that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth.
"For behold, the Lord cloth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true."
The Lord is with his people, and I know it. We have learned to know good from evil. Three score years and ten shall be the days of man on earth. We have arrived at the full stature of a man; for we are three score years and ten this day, and if this people will arise in their manhood, as they have struggled to their feet in their childhood and youth, God will give them the strength of a man. They shall have the power to build up and inhabit, to sow and reap, and if the snows do not come in the mountains, God will send through the faith of the people, the pleasant rains to moisten the earth, that vegetation may spring forth and gladden the hearts of all. Now I learn a good many lessons myself from what I read to you, though I have not reflected so much perhaps as 1 will on the words of Alma.
I heard a man say in relation to tithing, "I don't want to pay my tithing, unless I can make a showing that will be a credit to me and really help to build up Zion. If I could put in ten thousand dollars, I would be glad to do it, but I have nothing. I could pay a little tithing, but the idea seems ridiculous for me to step forward and pay a dollar in tithing. It seems to me like I was making a mockery of this sacred principle."
But I take the other view of this, and I said to him, "My friend, if you were a child and received five cents, I would caution you to remember the fact that you owed half a cent tithing, and when you had received another and another five cents, until they amounted to fifty cents, I would advise you to go and pay your tithing on that, not for the sake of the money, but for the sake of principle." If it were a question of money, where would have been the salvation of this people?
When President Snow was speaking this morning I felt that the Dower of God was manifest in our preservation, and that money had nothing to do with it. The everlasting power of our Father has brought this people to see this auspicious day. If every man and woman would follow the example of the widow and cast in their mites, they would be acting upon principle. The amount of money paid has nothing to do with it. It is the principle which God has commanded us to observe.
This is the idea that we want to instill into the hearts of the people of this generation, especially at this time, when the servant of God has delivered unto you and me the message that the time has come when this revelation, given on the 8th day of July, 1838, in Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, must be observed. That revelation has now come to the front. It is as if God had inspired His servant to write a new revelation to the people, which must be observed, because it lies at the foundation of our prosperity in these mountains.
General Thomas L. Kane once said to me, "This land, on the backbone of the American continent, from Mexico to Canada, it seems to me, belongs to the "Mormon" people. They led the way into the Rocky mountains, and occupied these valleys, and they ought to have the land." Well, there are not many people that think that, but I am of the same opinion as General Kane. We ought to have this land. But in relation to our preservation upon this land, I have felt sometimes very insecure.
Alma wished that he were an angel, that his voice could be heard by the whole world and that he could convert all the sons and daughters of Adam to the Gospel which he had received. I would that I had a hundred thousand dollars to pay in as tithing, because it would make a good showing and I would be talked about. And some have the ambition to be spoken of in the midst of Israel. But I want to say to you that tithing is a principle that God has established for the training of men. It has been with us in our childhood and in our boyhood and in our young manhood, and apparently it has almost been a dead letter at times. But the revelation has come to us in our manhood, when we have reached a stage wherein we know God, and having received this knowledge and being of the full stature of a man, we can rise up as one man and obey this commandment, which has come from God through His authorized servant. I appeal to you on this point.
Let every man and woman in this Church arise and do that which God has called upon them to do, that this land may be sanctified and be a land of safety unto us. I do not wish to utter a threat. but I do know this: every time we have disregarded and set at naught the commandments of Almighty God, we have paid for it. We must learn, if it must needs be by the things we suffer. By and by the Saints will prove to all concerned that this principle of tithing is dear to them, and they will surely fulfill to the very letter what God has called upon them to do.
In a little time you will hear something like this: "Well, the 'Mormons' are moving again. They are leaving Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Old Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and all these places wherever they are located, and they are having another exodus." Where are they going? Why, you will find out that it will be a pretty strong company going down to Jackson county, Missouri, to redeem and build up Zion, but the word will go forth that the "Mormons" are having another exodus.
The people will say that we are going down to inhabit this land of Missouri, and "we are willing they should." Some that are afar off may howl, but the people mostly interested will be glad to see the "Mormons" return to that land and build it up. Some will say "We have been upon that land and it has proved a land of death unto us." They will have suffered the full force of that desolating sickness which will cover the land, even in Jackson county, Missouri. But when our leader calls upon the Latter-day Saints that are worthy to move down there, the land will be prepared for the Latter-day Saints--not "Mormons." Those who go to Jackson county in that day will be Latter-day Saints. The "Mormons" will be left in Utah, with enough Latter-day Saints to control them.
I will tell you what is in my heart. We are preparing this day in our manhood for the most glorious epoch that has ever come to man upon the earth. If you do not feel in your hearts that this is the most glorious day that we ever witnessed on this earth, then you do not feel as I do. I feel that there is more of the spirit of God, more wisdom, more knowledge, more light, more intelligence and a better union among those that are Latter-day Saints than I ever witnessed in my life. I bear you my testimony that the providences or God have been with this people, and the scenes that will come before us will be such that we will need all the power and all the union that we can get to stand and accomplish His work.
Now is the accepted time to thrust in our sickles and reap that which has been sewn among us and which is now ripe. It was sown in 1838; it is ripe today. That revelation is ripe and the fulfillment of it is ripe. We are now in our manhood, when we can receive and act upon it without question. God will bear us off victorious and we can smile like Him who sits in the heavens and laughs, for we are told that He shall have the wicked in derision, and this people will smile to see the fruitless efforts of those who would retard the progress of the work. They may have been successful sometimes in the past for a little season, but through it all they have seen us grow until we have now arrived to our full manhood. Thank God we see this day. God bless you and all who are interested in this work, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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