chastity of our daughters and sisters.
God has placed upon us that require-
ment. It is not for you to lead them
into dangerous paths; it is not for
you to leave them to be despoiled;
it is your duty, and you are under
obligations to preserve them free and
virtuous, pure and holy. Any na-
tion or people permitting the foun-
tains of life to become contaminated,
will die, as did Greece and Rome.
If we can keep the fountains of life
pure, individuals may fall, but so
long as the body politic is sound,
there is hope for the future. Amen.
Superintendent B. S. Hinckley of
the Utah Stake said he sensed the
importance of his position in stand-
ing before the Conference. It is an
auspicious occasion. Gathered to-
gether are the representatives of the
Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Associations of Zion. It seems to
me we have been born under most
auspicious circumstances—circum-
stances designed to mature the
greatest and purest people on earth.
How many there are who lay every-
thing upon the altar, and put forth
their best efforts for our benefit! Do
what they may for us our salvation
depends upon personal effort.
We have in Utah Stake a good
organization, but I am a new worker
and do not take any credit to myself.
While ours is the banner Stake of
Zion, we have but forty-five percent
of the elligible members in our
associations.
Choir sang the hymn, "Though in
the outward church below."
Benediction by Elder W. H.
Pettigrew.
SUNDAY, 2 P.M.
After invocation President Wil-
ford Woodruff spoke as follows:
Being a member of the Presidency
of the Mutual Improvement Associa-
tions, as well as one of the First
Presidency of the Church, I feel it
not only my privilege but my duty
to address this assembly as a society
of young men and maidens, the ris-
ing generation of this community of
people known by the world at large
as Mormons.
The President of the Church has
been referred to as the head of this
organization. The Lord in almost
every age of the world has chosen
weak and unlettered men to bear the
Priesthood, and He has chosen
whomsoever He would in this day
and time; and the only marvel I have
is that He should have chosen so
weak an instrument as I am to be the
President of this, His Church. But
that is the business of the Lord and
not mine. Occupying the position
that I do, and having passed my
eighty-eighth year in the flesh, and
living upon borrowed time, so to
speak, I can have no reason to ex-
pect that I shall dwell a great while
in your midst. Therefore I feel in
duty bound to give some counsel to
the young men of Israel who are
present today.
There has never been a genera-
tion of the sons of God upon this
earth, from Father Adam down to
this present hour, upon whose
shoulders rested greater responsibility
than rests upon the young men and
maidens of Israel today; and if they
were able to appreciate what their
Creator requires at their hands and
the responsibility resting upon them,
it would not be said in this stand, as
it has been said here today, that one-
half of the young men of certain
wards were not connected with the
Mutual Improvement Associations.
I feel very much gratified with the
results of the labors of those who
have worked and do work in the
cause of mutual improvement, also
those of our sisters who are connect-
ed with the Primary Associations.
Many of our aged sisters at first
took hold of this work, and called
the little children together, and
taught them things of God, as their
minds were able to comprehend
them. Among them was Sister
Eliza R. Snow, who labored in this
cause faithfully during the latter part
of her life. The Sunday Schools,
too, are a very important institution
in our Church. President Young
was moved upon in very early days
to organize the Sabbath Schools in
these valleys. Many have labored
faithfully to carry on the work, and
others have taken hold of it, until we
have today, I understand, almost a
hundred thousand children belonging
to the Sabbath Schools. They are
taught the Gospel of Christ. They
are taught the duties of children to
parents; the importance of their es-
chewing evil and ceasing from sin,
and praying to God to keep them in
the paths of virtue, holiness, right-
eousness and truth.
Then the young men and maidens
of Zion have been organized into
what has been termed Mutual Im-
provement Associations. Too much
importance cannot be attached to
any of these organizations and their
interests. We look to the Mutual
Improvement Associations for our
Elders, for our missionaries. We go
to this body of young people, and
take from them men to go into the
vineyard of the Lord to preach the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do our
young men comprehend this? I fear
not, but many of them do, and many
of them have entered upon this work.
And such are prepared from child-
hood to pray and obtain the Spirit
and power of God, the Holy Ghost,
the revelations of heaven, enabling
them to go forth, bearing the holy
Priesthood to warn the world, con-
vert the honest in heart and gather
them to Zion to prepare them for
the coming of the Son of Man. Up-
on your shoulders, young men of
Israel, rests this duty today. Your
fathers are passing away. Joseph
Smith laid the foundation of this
Church. He lived but a short time.
Like the Savior he died a martyr.
He lived but a little longer than the
Savior did. Jesus labored only three
years and a half after entering upon
the active duties of the ministry. Jos-
eph labored in his mission some
fourteen years, I believe. He stood
at the head of this dispensation.
His spirit was kept in the
spirit world to tabernacle in the
flesh in fulfillment of promises to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and
Ephraim. Through their posterity
he came forth and laid the founda-
tion of this Church, and organized it
in all its beauty and power and glory
and strength and Priesthood, by the
authority of God. I do not know
how many there are in this house
who knew him, but there are some
who were acquainted with him for
years. Before he was called away
he organized the Church of God with
prophets, apostles, teachers, gifts,
helps and governments, and there
were given unto him, and by him
sealed upon the heads of the Apostles
and Elders of Israel the holy Priest-
hood, the apostleship, the keys of
the kingdom of God; and these Apos-
tles were commanded of God to
round up their shoulders and bear off
this kingdom or they would be
damned. I am now the only man
living in the flesh who was present
when that communication was given
to us. My presence with you must
necessarily be limited. I cannot
stay a great while longer, and don't
expect to; but I know it is my
duty to do what I can in laying be-
fore the rising generation their duties.
I am especially anxious that our
young people should sense the great
responsibility that must sooner or
later rest upon them; and that they
should bear in mind the fact that
they were kept in the spirit world
thousands of years to come through
the loins of the ancient patriarchs
and prophets in our own age and
generation for the very purpose of
carrying on this great latter-day
work. God called upon us and He
will call upon you and our posterity
after us, to rise and warn the genera-
tions in which they live; to preach
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the
nations of the earth that their gar-
ments may be free of the blood of all
men, when the judgments of God
overtake the wicked, as they will,
and as they have overtaken the
wicked in generations that are past
and gone. Who else, I ask, does
the God of Israel, do the heavenly
hosts, look to to carry on this great
and mighty work, but to you who
are the sons and daughters of the
men to whom He has revealed Him-
self; you who, too, have entered
into sacred covenants with Him; you
who are the descendants of the noble
men of old to whom God made great
and glorious promises? And if you
do not do your duty in these things,
you will certainly come under con-
demnation.
Let me refer you to the testimony
of Enoch as given to us in the Pearl
of Great Price. Speaking of the
disobedient who rejected the Gospel
taught by Noah, Enoch says that
"the God of heaven looked upon the
residue of the people and wept;" and
Enoch bore record of it saying,
"How is it that the heavens weep,
and shed forth their tears as the rain
upon the mountains?" . . . The
Lord said unto Enoch, "Behold
these thy brethren; they are the
workmanship of mine own hands,
and I gave unto them their know-
ledge in the day that I created them;
and in the Garden of Eden gave I
unto man his agency; and unto thy
brethren have I said, and also gave
commandments that they should love
one another and that they should
choose me their Father; but behold,
they are without affection; and they
hate their own blood; and the fire of
mine indignation is kindled against
them, . . . and among all the
workmanship of my hands there has
not been so great wickedness as
among thy brethren; but behold,
their sins shall be upon the heads of
their fathers; Satan shall be their
father; and misery shall be their
doom; and the whole heavens shall
weep over them." [Moses 7:28-41]
You are today occupying the same
position before heaven and before the
earth, before God, angels, and men,
you young men of Israel. Now can
you afford to turn away from the
commandments of God and allow
satan to rule over you and be your
father? Can you afford not to quali-
fy yourselves for the great work that
lies before you? You cannot. I
am sorry to think that any of our
young men should be found careless
and indifferent to the responsibility
imposed upon them by the reason of
their lineage and the covenants they
are under. I would to God the eyes
of our sons were open, all of them,
so they could see themselves as God
and our worthy progenitors behold
us. I would to God you could all
realize what is expected of you. I
call upon parents throughout Zion
to do what you can to induce your
sons and daughters to walk in the
paths of righteousness and truth and
to improve the opportunities before
them. Do not let your hearts be
altogether upon the vanity and af-
fairs of the world, but learn to ap-
preciate the fact that faithful children
are among the choicest and greatest
of blessings.
I used to meet with, instruct and
bless the young Elders that were set
apart from time to time to go on
missions; I have made that a part of
my business. I have now arrived at
an age when I am obliged to leave
off some duties I formerly performed,
and that is one of them. As I can-
not now be present with young mis-
sionaries when they are set apart to
go on missions, I want to say it here,
so that when that call is made upon
you, you will remember it when I am
past and gone. There are two or
three things that I want you to re-
member, you that go upon missions,
and all faithful Elders will be called
on missions, for the harvest is great
and the laborers are few compared with
the necessity there is for such work
in the four quarters of the earth to-
day, to warn the world and preach
the Gospel. One thing is, when you
go into a neighborhood to preach
the Gospel, never attempt to tear
down a man's house, so to speak,
before you build him a better one;
never, in fact attack any one's re-
ligion, wherever you go. Be willing
to let every man enjoy his own re-
ligion. It is his right to do that.
If he does not accept your testimony
with regard to the Gospel of Christ,
that is his affair, and not yours. Do
not spend your time in pulling down
other sects and parties. We haven't
time to do that. It is never right to
do that. When I have been abroad
preaching I have found that people
who were prepared to receive my
testimony believed in me, and in like
manner they will receive the test-
imony you have to give to them, if
they can be touched with the Spirit
of God. This is exemplified in the
preaching of the Savior, which drew
forth from Him this remark: "No man
can come to me, except the Father,
which hath sent me, draw him."
Another thing is: Wherever we
go, sustain any and every govern-
ment under heaven that sustains you.
Sustain all governments. Never be
found antagonizing any government.
Government belongs to the people,
and if it is not good for them, it is
their business to rectify it, not yours.
I got into a position once that
brought this to my mind very
strongly; it occurred in my labors in
the south of England. On my first
mission to that country I went with
Brother Kimball and Brother George
A. Smith to London, and helped to
build up the first branch of the
Church that was organized there.
After returning home, I was again
sent to England by President Young
with Elder John Taylor and other
brethren. It was customary for us
to hold out-door meetings, as they
are called; and while doing so, on one
occasion, at London, one of our
brethren referred to the English
government in terms anything but
complimentary to the people to whom
it belonged, which, of course, was
contrary to the spirit of our calling
and mission. It was brought to the
attention of one of the chiefs of
police, who came to me about it.
The same Elder had an appointment
for the next Sabbath on the same
ground. But before filling it I was
careful to see that he was shown the
unwisdom of pursuing such a course,
also to see that wiser and more con-
servative men did the preaching on
that occasion. Had he been per-
mitted to continue to indulge in such
talk we would have brought upon
ourselves persecution, but by taking
a wise and proper course, we received
the protection of the police and govern-
ment, and at last got permission to
preach in churches, and were enabled
to baptize thousands of church mem-
bers; and we had as much freedom
as we had in our own country. We
learned afterwards that at this second
meeting were two or three policemen
in disguise who made a most favor-
able report to the chief of police
about us. Wherever we go we must
always sustain the government that
gives us protection. I wanted to
mention and impress upon our young
Elders these two things. It might
not be out of place for me to say that
we baptized the policeman that
approached me, and he proved him-
self to be a true and faithful Latter-
day Saint.
Now, I want to say to the Elders
of Israel, young and old, there is
nothing that we ought to labor more
to obtain while in the flesh than the
Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the
Comforter, which we are entitled to
receive by reason of our having
obeyed the requirements of the Gos-
pel. When you get acquainted with
the Spirit, follow its dictates, no mat-
ter where it may lead you; and when
you do that, it will become a princi-
ple of revelation in you. I have al-
ways found that a true principle in
my whole life. If I had not followed
that Spirit in my life, I would not be
with you today. President Young
told me, the first year of the settle-
ment of these valleys, to go to Bos-
ton, and gather out all the Saints I
could from the Middle Atlantic and
New England States and the Canadas,
who had been left there, and bring
them up to Zion. I carried out his
instructions to the best of my ability,
and whenever I could get a company
of a hundred men I would select
some man and put him to preside
over them, and send them on. I
was the means of thus gathering to
Zion hundreds of people. I, myself,
took the lead of the last company.
When we arrived at Pittsburg, just
as we landed I was anxious to take a
steamer and go on to St. Louis. I
sought an interview with the captain
just as he was starting out with some
two hundred and twenty passengers
on board. He expressed himself
willing to take us on board, and I
thought I would go; but just then
the Spirit of the Lord came upon me,
and said, "Don't go on board that
steamer." That was enough. I
knew the voice of the Spirit. I ex-
cused myself to the captain and
turned away. He immediately start-
ed down the river. It was a dark
night. Five miles below Pittsburg
the steamer took fire. They had no
chains on board, and there was
hardly a soul on board that escaped
death either from fire or water. There
were with me in that company Leon-
ard W. Hardy, Samuel Hardy and
the Atwoods, who during their life-
time were widely known. By hark-
ening to the "still small voice" my
company was saved, and I am spared
to tell you about it today. I know
by experience the value of it. You
young men should live in such a
manner as to be entitled to the oper-
ations of the Holy Ghost within you,
and, as I have said, it will become a
guide as well as a revelator to you,
and never leave or fail you.
I felt to say these few words to our
young men of Israel. Zion is going
to be the glory of the whole earth,
and all the purposes of God that you
read of in the Bible and in the Book
of Mormon in regard to the designs
of God in the last days are going to
be fulfilled to the very letter. And,
as I said before, I say again, your
future blessings, your future exalta-
tion and glory, worlds without end,
will depend upon the course you pur-
sue here. The way is clear before
you that leads to life eternal. It was
found out by men whose voices are
now hushed in death, and we have
shown it to you; and it now remains
for you to walk therein.
Now, I would say to our superin-
tendents here, continue your labor
with the youth of Zion. Be not
weary in your efforts to save the
souls of men, for this is the work of
your Heavenly Father. The boys
whom you teach are the instruments
whom the God of Heaven has called
to bear off His Kingdom, and they
will do it: yes, I repeat, they will do
it; it is the will of God they should,
and it is a pleasure for me to bear
my testimony of these things to you
at the age I have attained to.
I want to say a word to our young
sisters. When you receive an offer
of marriage, find out whether the
young man smokes, or drinks, or
swears, or whether he goes to the
Sabbath School, or Mutual Improve-
ment Association, whether he is vir-
tuous and worthy to bear the Priest-
hood of the Son of God. A young
woman had better be single all her
days than to marry a man who dis-
honors God and his parents, and is
unworthy of the blessings which he
is entitled to receive through the
Gospel of Christ. You boys and
girls have a great future before you.
There lies within your reach salva-
tion, eternal life and a part in the
first resurrection; in fact, all the bless-
ings God has promised to any peo-
ple that has ever been in the flesh, are
held out to you and are within your
reach inasmuch as you do your duty
in these things.
Before taking my seat, I want to
ask the young men to study the
scriptures; and to learn to understand
the signs of the times in which you
live. The signs of the second com-
ing of the son of God are every-
where seen, but the world does
not comprehend them. The devil
is abroad in the earth, and he will
destroy every person that he can.
Search the scriptures that have come
directly to us, as well as those con-
tained in the Bible, and learn to
comprehend the mind and will of
God, which we can do by reading
them when the light of the Holy
Spirit is within us, and thus prepare
yourselves for that which will
come to pass in life. My desire and
my prayer for you and the youth of
Zion is that you may rise up and
magnify your calling and do your
duty, and accomplish all that God
requires of you; which may God
grant for Christ's sake. Amen.