My beloved brethren and sisters, it is with some fear and trembling that I address you here this morning, and I seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord in what I shall say.

SUFFERINGS AND PERSECUTIONS OF THE EARLY SAINTS

We are living one hundred years from the time the Pioneers commenced their journey and came into this valley. It is only natural that the brethren should call attention to the Pioneers and the great work they performed. I have visited most of the scenes of early Church history. I have gone over a good part of the trail which they followed when they came to these valleys. I have reflected a good deal upon these scenes, the travels, the hardships, the travails, and suffering and persecutions of these early days, and as I have stood in these hallowed spots and have traversed some of the territory which they passed over, my heart has been touched, but I have realized that it is beyond my power to understand and perhaps to feel all that these good faithful souls endured, and all for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Church had its beginning in New York. Persecution came upon the Saints from the beginning, and they were driven out. The Lord gave them a commandment to assemble in Ohio  D&C 37:3 They established their headquarters at Kirtland in that state. No doubt they had no intention of leaving, when they first went there, but the Lord revealed to them that there was another place, the place which he called "Zion," on the borders of the Lamanites  D&C 28:9 and so their hearts were turned to that place; however, they never had intended to forsake altogether their headquarters in Kirtland, but persecution came upon them, and they were forced out. With rejoicing they assembled in large measure in Jackson County where it had been made known to them that the great city, the new Jerusalem or Zion would be built  D&C 101:70-71 and they rejoiced over it, but they were not privileged to remain there. Their enemies came upon them with hatred and bitterness in their hearts and drove them out. They moved to another part of the state of Missouri and there again intended and tried to establish themselves, but persecution still followed them, and the hatred of the officials in that state resulted in their banishment and an edict coming from the governor of that state that they would have to leave or be exterminated. They went back eastward, crossed the great river, and made their settlement at Nauvoo, in the state of Illinois. For a season they prospered but not without persecution, not without hatred, and finally that hatred reached its peak, and their prophet and his brother, my grandfather, were martyred. Their enemies thought that would be the end of the Church. The papers so declared it. Their enemies rejoiced, but it did not bring the end. Still the Church grew. So also grew the animosity and the hatred of their enemies, and finally the Saints were driven from their homes, robbed of practically all that they possessed and thus set upon their journey to this western land, destitute, in poverty, and the world said they had gone to their destruction, and rejoiced.

I tell you, my brethren and sisters, we don't realize all that they went through; their hardships, their sufferings, the persecutions, the murders, the drivings that came upon them before they started on their westward journey; and they arrived in this valley rejoicing. It was President George A. Smith who was responsible for the statement that they came here of their own free will and choice—because they had to; and that is true. They crossed the plains, many of them pushing handcarts, containing the meager possessions which they had. They traveled the weary miles with sore and bleeding feet, through hardships and suffering which we do not understand, and arrived in this valley of the Salt Lake, and were grateful to the Lord that he had preserved their lives and brought them to a place of peace where they could worship; and all this, if you please, because they loved the truth.

THE FIRST SABBATH IN THE VALLEY

The Pioneers arrived, that is President Young with the company of the Pioneers, arrived in this valley on the 24th day of July in the year 1847. The next day was Sunday. In the gratefulness of their hearts they held meetings as it was their intention and their practice to do. In the morning session Elders George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, and Ezra T. Benson were the speakers, and with their eyes filled with tears, they rejoiced and thanked the Lord that he had brought them safely through. In the afternoon, another service was held and others of the brethren spoke. Elder Wilford Woodruff, Elder Orson Pratt, and Elder Willard Richards were the speakers, and they also bore testimony to the truth and expressed their gratefulness that the Lord had brought them to this land, and they prayed in their hearts that the people would remember their covenants and their obligations and be true and faithful to the Lord and serve him with full purpose of heart. President Brigham Young was ill, but he did make some remarks. He spoke briefly, and I want to call attention to one thing that he said as it was reported by Elder Wilford Woodruff. Said he, in the brief remarks made by President Young, "He told the brethren that they must not work on Sunday, that they would lose five times as much as they would gain by it. None were to hunt on that day, and there would not any man dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell elsewhere if they pleased but should not dwell among us"; and they meant it, and why shouldn't they? Why should anyone come to this land as a member of the Church, in that day or since, who doesn't have in his heart a desire of keeping the commandments of the Lord and walking in righteousness?

HOW ARE WE MEASURING UP?

Now I have been thinking, as I have thought many times in the past, of this great legacy which is ours, the great blessings which have come to us, built upon the foundation of persecution, death, hardships, men and women laying down their lives that we might dwell in this land in peace and safety; and how do we feel today about it? Do we keep the Sabbath day holy? Do we pray? Are we grateful in our souls for all that has been done for us by these sturdy people who loved the truth and came here that they might worship God according to the dictates of their consciences? How do we feel? When I see reports of conditions in this state and surrounding states where Latter-day Saints dwell, the amount of liquor that is consumed and tobacco that is consumed, and tea and coffee and other things destructive of health, and contrary to the commandments of the Lord, when I see the people violating the Sabbath day and committing all other kinds of sins contrary to that which they have been taught, I wonder if the Lord is pleased with us.

PUNISHMENT OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

I'd like to call your attention to a statement in the scriptures that when the Lord led Israel into the land of Palestine, then known as Canaan, he gave them commandments, he told them what would happen if they broke those commandments, and among those commandments was that of keeping the Sabbath day  Ex. 20:8-11 Not only were they to keep the Sabbath day holy but their land was also to have a Sabbath  Lev. 25:1-11 at certain intervals, and the Lord told them, through Moses, that if they did not keep the Sabbath day holy, if the land itself did not have a chance to rest, the day would come when the land would observe its Sabbath because the people would not be there. He would move them out of their place; and that happened. After the ten tribes of Israel had been carried away, and Babylon had come and laid siege to Judah and had carried those of that kingdom captive, Ezekiel the Prophet spoke to them and called their attention to all these promises the Lord had made to them and said that because they had violated these things, these destructions and drivings, had come upon them. Two verses I want to read in his admonition. The Lord speaking:

And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them  Ezek. 20:11-12

And then again:

I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God  Ezek. 20:19-20

This is also a sign to us. If we don't keep the Sabbath day holy, he may still be our God, but we may not be his people, for all the people of the earth are his, but we are a peculiar people, and by that we mean that we are different and should be different from the rest of the world because we are not of the world. We are in it. We are not of it.

STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH REGARDING THE SABBATH

Now, time will not permit saying much more, but I have here a statement by President Joseph F. Smith, taken from a letter that he wrote to his daughters who were away from home in school, and they wanted to know about the Sabbath day, because the people, where they were, were not living it, and so they wanted to know why we had to obey the Sabbath day, and I think I have just about time to read this.

All things should be done with prudence and in moderation. The Sabbath: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work "  Gen. 2:2-3 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work"  Ex. 20:8-10 This is the command. It is binding upon all. There are sound religious reasons for it and physiological reasons not less sound. Indeed it is a physiological as well as a divine law. Those who keep it will reap the reward of obedience to divine law, will enjoy the benefits of the physical law. It is not less needful to the human being than sleep although not so speedily felt. No one can live without sleep, neither can anyone survive long without rest. The result of sleep is no more potential to prolongation of life than the Sabbath rest, although we may survive longer without the latter than without the former, speaking from a physical point of view. From a spiritual point of view the willful violation of the law of the Sabbath rest is as deadly to the moral growth and faith as is the sleepless eye to the mortal being. But the great point is God has said it, not for his own but for man's well-being. He therefore should obey. If he does not, he will have to abide the consequences both temporal and spiritual to himself. Again, "For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High"  D&C 59:10 We learn to do by doing. Never can we learn to do by not doing. One who closely shuts his eyes is more blind than those who are blind indeed. The things of God are discovered by the spirit of God  1 Cor. 2:11 not by the spirit of man nor of the world. Those who seek shall find and to those who knock at the door shall it be opened, and those who ask shall receive and not otherwise  Matt. 7:7 He that hath the spirit discerns by the spirit, loves the work of the spirit, for they give delight and joy. Who gives himself to do works, good works, finds beauty and reward in them, and he who sows to the wind will reap the whirlwind  Hosea 8:7 Not now, perhaps, for that which was sown must first take root then spring forth in leaf, then bear fruit. The fruit will be after the kind of its own seed. We learn a principle by coming in close contact with it and studying it and admitting it into our minds and hearts.

. . .truth is eternal. It was not created or made. It is a precious gem. It lies hidden from us, and we must find it and apply it and make it ours.

The Lord bless you I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.