Samuel O. Bennion.
(President Central States Mission.)
I am very happy, my brethren and sisters, for the opportunity of attending conference this spring. I think that the opportunity to meet here with the Latter-day Saints and mingle with them, and shake the hands of friends of brethren and sisters, is one of the great pleasures of life, and I appreciate it very much. My experience in attending these conferences has always been a source of joy to me from the very beginning. I have learned to love my fellow men and enjoy the association of friends. I have never seen a crowd too big, or too many people, and I find happiness and great pleasure, when I can associate with men who bear the priesthood of God and who are true to life. We find this condition among the Latter-day Saints to a greater degree than it is in the world among any other body of people.
I appreciate the power of the priesthood. I have been thinking during this conference most seriously that I ought to be very careful with the testimony which I have received, and guard it as a precious gift. Above all other gifts is a testimony of this gospel, that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith was a prophet sent from God to live in this dispensation, and to bear testimony unto men with such power that the Lord's work would be firmly established. It is a precious gift to you, my brethren and sisters; it is worth more than anything else; I want to guard mine more carefully in the future than I have ever done in the past.
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Men who have not the testimony of Jesus do not believe in prophecy and in revelation. Hence we are not surprised at all to hear them say there is no such thing as an authorized priest in the earth, no such thing as a temple of God in the earth, no need of them any more I attended a church in one of the Southern states a few weeks ago, between trains, when I was visiting the elders in the Central States mission. I had two or three hours to wait, so I went into one of the churches. They were in session that evening, with a large number of people present. The minister made the statement that I have mentioned, that there was not a priest upon the earth, that there was no need of a temple in the earth; Christ had performed the work for all of us, and if we admitted Christ we were sure of salvation. He did not believe in revelation at all, said it was unnecessary. He did not believe in prophecy, and I was not surprised, for I knew the Apostle John had said that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Men who have not the testimony of Jesus are not in a position to state or to say that there are prophets in the earth, and that revelation does exist. They have not learned that much. And so I was not surprised when I heard him make this statement; but remembered at the moment the words of Paul, when he spoke along the same line, "that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (One-Corinthians 12:3). I remembered how the apostles preached that the Holy Ghost would be received. On the day of Pentecost, when the people, touched in their hearts, asked. "Men and brethren what shall we do?" Peter said unto them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:37, 38). He thus followed an order that had been outlined by the Christ, who labored with Peter and those apostles. Jesus said, "My doctrine is not mine but His that sent me." He never claimed it as His, but He claimed it as His Father's, that He had sent Him into the world to preach the gospel and declare unto the children of men the words of life, the words that would give unto them the testimony that Job gave us, which has been so beautifully repeated here this afternoon.
There is no salvation, no eternal life, outside of the gospel. There is only one way by which men can be saved, according to Paul wherein he states, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). No matter how well a man may be read in the scripture,--and that gentleman that I listened to that evening was well read; in his letters he was perfect--unless his mind is illumined by the Spirit he cannot comprehend the Truth. I remembered, as he spoke, the words of the apostle that "the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life" (11 Car. 3:6). He was not able to understand the gospel, for as one of the former prophets stated, according to the scripture, "Where there is no vision the people perish." Where the visions are closed, the Lord does not reveal Himself; then the people perish in unbelief, and they do not know the Lord, they have not the testimony of Jesus, they are unable to stand up and truthfully say, "I know that God lives, I know that Jesus is the Savior of the world." They are not in possession of that knowledge, for that comes only in one way, through revelation from God unto His servants the prophets, for it is said, that "surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). My mind went to a revelation of the Lord here, that we are all acquainted with, recorded in the D&C, 13th chapter. I should have liked to have had the opportunity of reading it to that gentleman that evening. I did not want to engage in a debate with him; I did not want to engage in anything that bordered on contention, for contention does not carry with it the Spirit of the Lord: but I should liked to have read to him the truth that the Lord has revealed from heaven, the priesthood of God, the power that our Father delegated to man upon the earth. It was revealed through John and later through Peter, James, and John, Section 13 reads as follows:
"Words of the angel, John (the Baptist), spoken to Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery as he laid his hands upon their heads and ordained them to the Aaronic priesthood, in Harmony, Susquehannah County, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1829: Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and this shall never be taken from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
Whether that minister stated that the priesthood was not in the earth or not, it makes no difference: he never knew. But it was and is in the earth, and I should like to have had the opportunity of reading the revelation of the Lord upon it, for after all there are thousands of men and women in the earth who are ready to receive the gospel. They are a little afraid of "Mormonism" because "Mormonism" and polygamy are regarded as synonymous in the world, and they take snap judgment and are not informed. They do not understand the gospel. They do not know why we have, at one period of the Church's history, preached polygamy. We believe in revelation from God: we believe in a restoration of the gospel, not in a "reformation," and with the restoration there was revelated a principle which Abraham practiced and believed in--that Abraham of whom the Lord said, that through him and his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. That principle was restored and obeyed to a limited extent, under most trying circumstances, by men and women of great faith and integrity. The time came when it was taken away; but it had been restored, and it has left its history. No better men can be found in all the world than those who came through that lineage.
In this connection I remember the words of Jesus in the gospel of St. Luke, when he said unto the people that they should see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and all the holy prophets, and they themselves should be thrust out; there would be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I want to tell you, if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and those holy prophets did not forfeit their rights, neither did the Prophet Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young and others who conscientiously accepted and lived that principle. Had it not been included in "Mormon" doctrine, I suppose our opponents could have censured us for not believing in it, for they could have produced abundant evidence in its favor from the ancient scriptures. However, I allude to this matter only incidentally and without the slightest intention to advocate the doctrine now, because as you all know, its practice has ceased among us by commandment of God, in order that another law--the law of the land--might be obeyed. And that is the situation today. Nevertheless the world will yet become acquainted with the true nature of our belief and discover that we did keep God's commandments; and they will learn that "Mormonism" is the biggest and the greatest thing in the world, and the testimony of it is the greatest thing that one can possibly have.
I pray that the Lord will bless you. I see the time is going, and there are a number of others to speak. I take a delight in bearing my testimony for I have one. I know that the Lord lives and rules in the earth and in the heavens above, and that He has servants to administer unto the children of men. I know that this is His work, and that He has established it never more to be given to another people, never to be re-organized, but to continue organized as it was in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and it shall remain here until Christ comes to take His place upon the earth at its head. The Lord bless you. Amen.
A solo was sung by Sister Annie Woodbury.