Show REMARKS made at t the general conference of the surch church of jesus christ of latter day sai saints ats in the tabernacle salt lake city sunday april ath 1897 v by ELDER FRANCIS M LYMAN p sported BY ARTHUR WINT WINTER iest brethren and sisters I 1 desire the auit y t of the lord to assist me so that Y ys may be edified I 1 know that all who e present this mc morning aning would feel a testimony in their hearts in regard to vie tte truths that were uttered by president georee Q cannon and president joseph fr AP smith and those present this after boon will no doubt have the same testimony concerning the remarks of latt Z y snow and president Preside qt richards for be spirit of the lord bears testimony the hearts of all latter day saints sat we have listened to the truth when bened to the report ot of president annon on in regard to the work through the earth although I 1 have had in my gad vividly what is being accomplished It seemed seel ned to me that it was much more 4 4 nt than I 1 had thought the field wide and the harvest is great and wady for the gathering the great call iett to is made for missionaries reminds me tt the suggestion in the revelations that tee 6 that hath a desire in his heart for vt at labor is called of god and every man who has that desire in his heart V wao jko is thus called and goes into the eld will find fi that the lord will work ift ate him and that he is working with hoe who are in in the field today and is ady to labor with thousands that must be called into the field how grate awe iol we ought to be who have received the truth th who h have ave been blessed of the urr lord wit with h f faith aith with repentance and vilh tefa the spirit lof humility and obedi efte bace how bow grateful the latter day saints ought 0 to be to know that we are assoni aced with the work of god which he bag established in the earth and which brings to our understanding a knowledge of the plan of life and salvation or i this has been revealed to us in the gospel of jesus christ through the prophet joseph we are entitled to have bavi a knowledge to not be left in doubt but to have a knowledge of the principles of lifer life and to appreciate the privilege that is given to us in this last dispensation this ais n 1 great e n ai and important work that the ur lord has established as we were shown so beautifully this morning by president cannon is is indestructible it is not to be left to other people but is to remain with us and with our posterity and successors it is to endure in the earth and no power power is to prevail against it it what blessed information for the latter day saints to possess that they are thus connected with the work which the great father of all has established in the earth the beauty of its organization the certainty of its perpetuity that it is to endure and that there Is no power that can prevail against it whether on the inside or the outside are things that fill us with joy of course dangers always seem to be greater from the troubles we experience on the inside than from those that attack us from without but this work is kept in perfect condition the quorums ot of priesthood est as we learned this morning from the first presidency down are kept intact and they are so kept by the lord not by bv any quorum nor by the people of the church when vacancies occur in the presidency or in the twelve or among the seventies or in the stakes of zion or in the missions abroad the lord arranges for the filling of those vacancies the principle upon which this church was established and is perpetuated petua ted is not the same principle that operates among men these vacancies are not filled according to the will and choice ol of men they are filled by our heavenly father he has direct control and care over the various departments of this important work in the preaching ot of the gospel abroad in the establishment of missions abroad and in supplying the demand for elders these are all sought out by the ins inspiration alra of the lord and they are called of god the presidency of the ch church and the twelve who are entrusted with the care of the church do not officiate by the spirit ot man they do not exercise their own judgment alone and select according to their preferences but the lord manifests his care for this work whenever a man comes to be the president of the church the representative senta tive of god and his mouthpiece to his children on the earth it comes about by order of the father it is not by caucusing and scheming and the planning of men it is not by the judgment and wisdom of the twelve apostles as men president smith referred this morning to some person who contended that the presidency of the church ought not to have been organized after the death of the prophet joseph the presidency was organized alter after the death of the prophet joseph by the direction of goj god the twelve apostles presided over the church during in g the three years that followed the death of the prophet joseph under the direction of god the eternal father and it if the father had not designated and appointed anted that the first presidency should be formed it would never have been formed but it is in harmony with the will of god and the order of his great work in the last days that the presidency of this church should be perpetuated petua ted and the interim between the death of one president and the f formation orma of a new presidency is just in ac ao corrance cor dance with the mind and will of god it has been in the past and will be in the future whenever the presidency is to be organized hereafter it will be done by the announcement of the mind and will of god and whenever the vacancy which now exists in the twelve apostles is to be filled or in the first seven presidents of seventies it will be done when god announces it and not before we wait we listen for the counsels of the lord we do in regard to the organization ot of stakes in the organization of quorums qu and in all the various details of organization in tins thin church we listen to the counsels and inspiration of the lord the lord boeth it it when he speaks and gives direction to his servants they have always the courage to perform that duty we labor faithfully we give careful attention to the responsibilities that rest upon us as prominent elders in the church we try to live squarely up to our duties and the lord is always ready to come to the rescue and to support and sustain us this work is most secure and most thoroughly established establish eds and is never to be broken down there is not any power inside or outside ot of the church and there never win will be to disrupt this church and to break it in in pieces feces the enemies of this church gave have always watched and when there has been a riffle on the surface that would indicate there was trouble within they have grasped at it with avidity and they have enjoyed the prospect of the breaking to pieces of this work they thought when the prophet josephs joseph Is lifie life was taken bat that that was the end why it there them were a thousand prophets to die it would not interrupt this work for the lord has established his church upon the earth and will maintain it his has it not grown steadily from the beginning has it ever been interrupted for one moment we have had all kinds of ex peri ence we have been attacked by those who have turned away from us as well as those who have opposed us from the outside but the work has bov ed steadily and regularly forward and where there are now 1300 elders in the field there will be in the field yet preaching the gospel we are only 1 just bet beginning nning the work for it is a wo work rz that is to spread throughout phout theearta the earth the whole world is to be embraced in this missionary labor the experience of the world today in their reli religious bious and other organizations is indicative of unrest they begin to find that they are not built upon the rock but that their foundations are sandy that is the be beauty auty of this work when a man embraces it he finds that he is built upon the rock and cannot be shaken if he is faithful the reason that there are those among us who are shaken from time to time when troubles come upon us is because men are faulty there are reasons in the heart of 0 every man who is shaken and disturbed As was intimated this morning by president cannon when there is put forth a church order or rule it is announced when god would have it announced it is published and given to the people at the proper time just when it should be the lord is the judge budge we would not do unless he directed us we would not speak and give counsel unless the lord directed And when he speaks through his servants all who are in harmony and have the proper spirit having done the mind and will of god know the voice of the true shepherd if any of you have mis mistaken the voice of the true shepherd you want to repent let all israel know that if they have not understood the voice of the true shepherd when it has been uttered they have occasion for repentance pen tance and they ought to repent it is necessary that we should live as close and as careful to the line as possible and to exert every power within us for the accomplishment of the purposes of the lord there is a reaction setting in in israel today to day as there is throughout the world in regard to this important work we are now finding and we will more abundantly in the future that our kindred are enquiring after us th they V want to know something about this work they are ep enquiring quiring after the gospel for they begin to feel that there isia religious body in the earth that has some light that is superior to the light which they possess the world wants some thing that they can rely upon I 1 that will satisfy satish their souls and this is is not to be bouny found outside OF of the gospel of jesus christ this is gods work and he has found a few honest in heart who have gathered together and he would have found more if they had bad not been blinded by the deceptions of men you know how easily men are deceived in this world they are cheated in regard to religion as well as in regard to other matters and 1 have thought they were more easily gulled in regard to religion than anything else it is quite a difficult matter for people to be saints of god it is not something that is offered to you as easy to accomplish but it is a difficult trying matter for human nature it requires the very first and the he whole attention of every human being has not jesus said if any man come to me and forsake not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea ea and his own life ateo also he be cannot be my disciple I 1 believe this is true doctrine this being the work of god it is worth everything if a man would have all things else he must first seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness this work is more valuable and precious to us than all other things for it embraces life eternal happiness here and hereafter it rm embraces braces the riches of this world and everything that we can desire that is proper we must prize the father and CV his son jesus christ the savior of the world above all things else A man must not so love his father or his moth er his wife his bis children his brothers his big sisters or his own life he must not love these so well that he would forsake god for them but if we love god and keep his ccmmand commandments ments our fathers our mothers our brothers and sisters and our own lives shall then be made secure to us this is the philosophy of it we are engaged in this labor and it will be profitable to us to give it our first attention at the same time it itis I 1 is not necessary that we should neglect everything else but the very first attention should be given to god and to his cause we W e may engage in all other righteous things and bring brine to pass what the lord designs for us to do in the earth in the order of the priesthood the filling of vacancies and the keeping of our quorums completely organized how perfect is the design of the lord you cannot find an imperfection in the design of our heavenly father and the work that he has established among us he has provided for every emergency if every individual would only perform his duty faithfully as all ought to do what a blessed condi ion we would be in I 1 I 1 thought this morning when the field abroad was spoken of what an immense field there is here at home all our own children all our neighbors child children renand and all the strangers that are within our gates for we are quite mixed now what a field of labor there is for every man who bears the priesthood do you not feel that the lord has bestowed this priesthood upon the male members of the church in order that every one should be a teacher a laborer a faithful advocate of the doctrines of the gospel a defender of the faith I 1 believe that was the design I 1 believe the lord understood der stood thoroughly that it would be necessary for every man among us to bear the priesthood and to be a laborer not waiting to be called abroad but having experience right here at home in the preaching of the gospel for it is a reproach to us to have people around us so plentifully and they not being taught the gospel I 1 hold that within the radius of our movements every family should be advised in regard to the doctrines of the gospel if they will not come to meetings they ought to be taught in private and thoroughly warned at home as the people are being warned in the world the elders are going out without purse and scrip they did that in the days of the savior they did it in the days of the prophet joseph of the prophet brigham and the early days in that way mankind are proven and tried it is i s laid down as a rule that those who feed and clothe you and fur nish you lodgings and places in which to preach the gospel are the disciples of christ and are of israel the labors of the elders abroad are very successful go into the families of the people who have representatives in the field and they hey receive remarkable letters concern ing the labors of these elders how they are being received and made welcome and how bow they cannot accomplish all that is required of them in the preach ing of the gospel the calls are so numerous these words are coming from abroad all the time and yet a great many of the 1300 1300 elders are men who no doubt had bad very little experience at home who had not been schooled very thoroughly in the doctrines of the gos pel and had not understood the opera eions of the spirit ot of the lord upon them nor had they learned the efficacy of prayer why is it that our prayers are not more fully and perfectly answered gm than they are this is a subject that has been brought to my mind latterly in ft a remarkable degree because we have not prayed properly we have not been in the proper spirit for praying we have not been in a the proper condition to obtain answers from the lord because W we have not done our duty god has announced that every one is endowed with power to accomplish great reat good and to bring to pass paes much righteousness and that men ought to be anxiously en in a good cause we ought to 10 be anxiously engaged in this good cause in which we have enlisted and when we have worked up ud to the point of all ail that we can pos possibly do god always comes to the rescue and helps us out the tha reason our young elders prayers are heard in the field is because they are working for and waiting upon the lord and laboring faithfully every moment of their lives and the lord knows it they scarcely ask for anything but it is granted them now if we would be just as faithful and devoted at home in the performance for mance of our duties as we are when we go abroad the lord would be at our service in a moment for he is bound when we do our duty to come to our assistance when the |