| Show DISCOURSE delivered at the conference of the salt sall t lake stake of zion in the tabernacle salt lake city utah sunday afternoon june 1898 by PRESIDENT JOSEPH f SMITH I 1 have been requested to say a few t words I 1 have always an earnest de sire to do my duty and when the lord to Is with his servants by the presence and influence of his spirit they are A generally able to perform their duty at least to his acceptance I 1 feel ve very Ae dependent pendent upon the lord at his hia urns time and I 1 desire an interest in your fam fainn f tand and prayers that I 1 may have the good with me during the time that I 1 shall ahall occupy we have met together this afternoon to ji the capacity of a conference of thid y A stake of zion we have had presented jW 4 tore us the stake authorities tu ether t e with the home missionaries V lat t we might sustain them by our arte rte which means also by our faith WS asit prayers and to stand by them in he discharge of all the duties that devolve upon them it is an important duty resting upon the saints who vote to sustain the authorities of the church to do so not only by the lifting of the hand the mere form but in aed and in truth there never should fee b a day pass but all the people composing the church should lift up their voices in prayer to the lord to sustain hla servants who are placed to pre 22 ade over ovar them not only should they h dy this in behalf of the president of the stake and his counselors but they should do it in behalf of the HIL hish h coun y before whom in connection with if the presidency of the stake matters of nast importance to the members of the church are brought from time to time i tw their judgment and counsel these linen en should have the faith of the people to sustain them in the discharge of their duties in order that they may le strong in the lord these authora authon F ates s are also presented before the peu I 1 e so that if there is any fault in then them 4 orthy of objection to their acting in febbe ithe positions to which they are called e saints who know of these object tons may make them manifest in or alfer that such inquiry mayle maybe institute i d as may be necessary to ascertain lahe truth that those who are not wor gottar may be dropped and only such as gawe worthy and faithful in the perance bonnance Bon 0 of their heir duties be sustained S in these exalted positions in the n h I 1 was pleased to see th the e wic which the people voted 0 to o sustain all those whose names were presented before them this afternoon sha I 1 hope that the feeling or deter tion of the people is as unanimous wa sincere as the vote would andl aate tat e t we should not permit ourselves to alpo JP about from day to day with a spirit rf murmuring and faultfinding fault finding in our arts against those who are presented ore us to too be sustained in responsible alons if we have anything in our 14 t fin hearts against any of these brethren it is our duty as conscientious members member of the church first as the scriptures direct to go to them alone and make known to them our feeling toward them and show them the cause of such feeling not with a desire in our hearts to widen or increase the difficulty but we should go to them in the sp spirit L irit of reconciliation and brotherly love lova in a true christian spirit so that if any feeling of bitterness exists within ab it may be absolutely removed and it we have cause against our brother that he may be in a position to remedy the evil we should seek to love one another and to sustain each other as children of god and as brothers and sisters in the cause of zion the presentation of the authorities of the church before a conference is made obligatory upon the church it is the command of the lord th that at we shall meet together to transact the business of the church an important part of which is to sustain the authors authorities of the church thus renewing out oui covenant to uphold gods authority which he has instituted in the earth for the government of his church and I 1 cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of latter day saints honoring and sustaining in truth and in deed the auth authority 0 rity of the holy priesthood which is called to preside the moment a spirit enters into the heart of a member to refrain from sustaining the constituted authorities of the church that moment he becomes possessed of a spirit which inclines to rebellion or dissension and if he permit that spirit to take a firm root in his mandit will eventually lead him into dax darkness kness and apostasy it makes no difference how much I 1 we may profess to love the gospel and prize plize our standing in the church if we allow the spirit of darkness to take possession of oui minds the light and love within us will go out and bitterness and enmity will take possession of our souls then oh how dark how bittker and wicked we may become president angus M cannon in his remarks rather admitted that one half of the people were given to neglect of duty and to practices which axe are contrary to the requirements of heaven especially with regard to the observance of the sabbath davas I 1 came to this meeting I 1 overtook one of the brethren and he remarked to me that as he passed by the station he saw a vast crowd of people there ready to go out to some pleasure resort now some of these may have been professedly latter day saints I 1 do not say they were because I 1 did not see them but if any of those profess to be latter day saints then the course they are pursuing today Is contrary to the law of god contrary to the covenants chev have made in the waters of baptism and contrary to the covenants entered into in the most sacred places to which latter day saints are admitted they aey are violating the sabbath day they are dishonoring A commandment of the lord they are provins proving themselves disobedient to the law and they are doing that which is not pleasing in the sight of godana which will result eventually in their injury if not in their apostasy it is as much the duty of the latter day saints to honor the sabbath day dav and to attend to those duties dubies which ate are required at their hands upon the sabbath as it is for them to be honest wi with th their neigh neighbors bors an and d othe otherwise awis e to live righteous lives live there axe are many people especially the young who axe are more or less indifferent in regard to their religious Ious duties they appear pear to be thoughtless they chiy do n not understand the necessity for them observe or keep the commandments of the e lord and there is connected with this negligence on the martof part of the young people a greater negligence on the part of the parents of these young people where parents have children jy who ho are neglectful of their duties and dido disobedient bedl on t to the principles of the gospel it is in th the bounden duty of those parents to instruct their children and to urge them to perform the duties which belong to saints it is also the duty of the parents to set an example before their children in honoring the sabbath Sab biath day in prayerfulness in the family circle and in attending to every duty as latr ter day saints the father and mother who neglect to teach their children i and to encourage them to perform their duties ti L S will live to regret their heir own folly we read in the book of doctrine and covenants that it is required of parents to teach their children to understand der stand the doctrine of repentance faith in christ the son of the living god and of baptism and the gift of the holy ghost by the laying on of the hands when eight yem years old and they shall also teach their children to pray and to walk uprightly before the lord kand and if the parents fall fail to do this an ana the children go astray and jk turn from the truth then the lord has said that the sin shall be upon the heads of the parents what a terrible thought I 1 it t Is that a father who loves his children with all his heart bart should be held responsible before goa for having neglected those whom he has loved so dearly until they have turned away from the truth and hox hav become outcasts the loss of these children will be charged to the parents and they will be held ble for their apostasy apo stacy and darkness I 1 have tried to imagine how R would be possible for one who Is guilty of this great crime in the sight of the lord to reconcile his feelings should lib he peradventure be admitted into the celestial kAng kingdom dom while knowing that chat through his neglect his children ww were in outer darkness but I 1 came to the conclusion after reflection upon this subject that where parents are 1 ne keg of their children and andin in consequence of such neglect the children are unworthy to enter into the celestial kingdom of our god wall te 1 hn ago possible for the parents to enter abom I 1 believe that to he be the truth 16 I 1 do not believe atwould it would be possible for mo me to be admitted into exaltation WA oa glory in the kingdom of god it if through my neglect of duty my children become the children of darkness and be cast out from the presence of god so great Is the responsibility resting upon parents toward their children that it is a most terrible thing tor for parents to neglect their children in this regard let us remember that god almighty has spoken from the heavens in these last days that he has restored the gospel in its fullness and that he has bestowed the holy priesthood upon men let us remember that he has i given unto us talents and gifts and he holds us responsible for the use demake of those talents and gifts it is a matter of integrity on the part of the people of god toward god himself it is a matter which savors savor of life unto life or of death unto death unto all that have entered into the covenant of the gospel of christ it is not something that we can trifle with it is 11 like a two edged sword it cuts both ways therefore we should look well to our ways and see to it that we dis charge our duties faithfully as parents in zion the wives should be united with their husbands and the husbands with their wives in exerting their in fluence over their children in this direction I 1 cannot conceive of anything that would grieve my heart so much as to see one of my children turn way away from the gospel and become an unbeliever and separated from the peo pie of god there is nothing I 1 can think of that would be so dreadful to me death of the body from any cause would be preferable to one of my children turning away from this goshet my children must not and will not turn away with my consent if they do turn away it must be over my protest and d against my example I 1 will plead with my children I 1 will endeavor with au all the power I 1 possess to have them altrue as true and faithful to this gospel as it is possible tor for me to be because with out all of them in the kingdom ot of god I 1 would feel that my household was waa not perfect I 1 want my children to go I 1 with ath me it if I 1 ban prove myself worthy of an entrance into the kingdom ot god I 1 want my children there and I 1 propose to enter into the kingdom of magod may god I 1 have set out for that and I 1 proposed propose with the help of the lord and I 1 through humility and obedience to complete my mission on this earth and to be true to god all my days I 1 have maae mane up my mir mind to this and am determined t ter mined ined with the help of god that 1 will not fall therefore I 1 want my children with me I 1 want my family to accompany me that where I 1 go they may go also and that they may ay share whatever exaltation I 1 rt rs clye it grieves the hearts of parents when exi their children are disobedient to theat I 1 would like my children and san ajsa le fee children in zion to know that there is nothing in this world that is of et so 80 much value to them as the knowledge of the gospel as it has been restored to the earth in these latter days through the prophet joseph smith there to Is nothing that can compensate for its loss there la is nothing on earth that can compare with the excellency of the knowledge of jemous christ let therefore all the parents in zion look after their chil aren brettt and teach them the principles of the dospel and strive as far as possible to get them to do their duty nut not mechanically because they are urged to do dl it but tr try v to instill into the hearts ot 0 the children the spirit of truth and ja an abiding love for the gospel that they may not only do 40 their duty be her caico cause it to Is pleasing to their parents but because it is 10 pleasing also to themselves WA heard this rooming morning so something methin about the tree which puts forth goof good fruit and that an evil tree cannot put forth good fruit we have all kinds of trees and those trees which really do put forth good fruit are comparatively few when I 1 speak of good fruit I 1 refer tu to that fruit which is mete for the fathers kingdom there are many varieties of fruit and there are many degrees of goodness then there are trees which bear no fruit at all these cannot continue long for when the tree ceases to bear fruit it becomes cumbersome to the garden and ere long it will have to be hewn down and cast into the fire because of its worthlessness the same result will follow with those trees which bear bad fruit in christs church we cannot be neutral nor inert we must either progress or retrograde it is necessary for the latter day saints to keep pushing on in order that they may keep their faith alive and their spirits quickened to the performance of their duties let us remember that we are engaged in gods work and when I 1 say gods work I 1 mean that we are engaged in the work which the almighty has instituted in the earth for our salvation individually every man should be laboring for his own good and as far as possible for the good of others there is no such thing in the science of life as a man laboring exclusively clu for himself we are not intended to be alone in time nor in eternity each individual is a unit in the household of faith and each unit must feel his or her proportion of the responsibility 1 that devolves upon the whole each individual must be diligent in performing his duty by doing this and keeping himself pure and unspotted from the world he assists others to keep themselves pure and unspotted for instance a man who is faithful in observing the sabbath day and in attending to the duties of that day will at least set an example unto all he is associated with th man who Js is prayerful before the lord will set get an example before all others who see and know his conduct the man who is honest in dealing with hla his neighbor will set an aa example for good those who do this axe are genuine representatives of zion alon they are aae the children of god indeed and of a truth and there rests with them the spirit of light and the love of god they are in a saved condition avd and will continue to be in a saved bondI condition tion so 00 long as they continue to observe the principles of the gospel gosp I it is useless for us to mourn over the evils that we ourselves have caused unless by repentance we may make restitution tor for the evils we have done it to la a terrible thing for men and women to allow themselves theme elvea to go so tar flar in the neglect of duty that evils will result from their misconduct which they will be powerless thereafter to eradicate or to make restitution for let us ue repent now let us observe the command meata of the lord let us do our duty from this moment on let ie us be hono honorable able fund aud honest before god and men may god bless blees the people and may his spirit abide in our hearts and lead us in the path of duty and may all this people realize that they are esso asso bated with gods great latter day work which has for its purpose the reclamation of the world and |
