I have now considered two elements which enter into the principle of faith, and which are essential to its existence; viz., a belief in the being of God; and, secondly, the nature of his character. There is still one more thing that must be considered, one more element that must enter into this principle of faith, before it can become a living, active power in the life of man —and that is, herein the worth of faith exists. I may say of faith as Guizot does of science, that it may be a beautiful thing of itself, but it becomes a thousand times grander and more beautiful when it becomes a power; when it becomes the parent of virtue. Indeed if it does not become a power in the life of man, an incentive to noble deeds, it is a dead faith, and is as the body without the spirit, or as salt without its savor—it is good for nothing.

The third element which is essential to faith as a power in the life of man, centers in and depends upon man rather than God. A belief in the fact that God exists, with a correct idea of his character is sufficient for man to exercise faith in him, but man must know something about himself also; that is, he must know that the course of life he is pursuing is in accordance with the will of heaven—is approved of God, before faith can become perfect, or have any marked influence with the heavens. This truth is self-evident. For what confidence can one have that his petition will be heard and answered by the Lord, if all the time he is conscious that he habitually, perhaps wantonly, violates the law of God—if he blasphemes the name of Deity, or speaks lightly, and may be slightingly, of sacred things, or walks contrary to the expressed will of the Lord in the matter of truthfulness, sobriety, chastity, honesty and brotherly kindness? What confidence, I ask, can such a person have that his petitions will be sufficiently respected either to be heard or granted? The understanding answers, none. It stands to reason that such persons must repent, and that earnestly, with real intent, with a fixed determination to respect God and his laws, before they can hope for the powers of heaven to be influenced by them. It is the prayer of the righteous man that availeth much.

On the other hand, if one walk in all honesty of heart before God; if to the best of his ability and knowledge, making due allowance for human frailty—and I do not under-estimate its influence in hindering that perfect walk with God, that is desirable—he keeps the laws of his God, sacrificing his good name among men, if need be, or leaving father or mother, houses or lands, wives and children, counting all things but dross, when compared with the excellence of the knowledge of God—being faithful through good and through evil report—resulting, as it must do, in a consciousness of the approval of heaven—how strong will his confidence become in the presence of the Lord, and what blessings can the heavens withhold from him?

It was this consciousness of having walked truly before his God, which, when the word of the Lord came to him, that he should surely die, enabled king Hezekiah to turn to the Lord, in confidence, and say: "Remember, now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done good in thy sight."^[A] And before Isaiah had left the house of the king, the word of the Lord came again to him, bidding him to return to the king with the glad message that his prayer had been heard, and fifteen years had been added to his life.

[Footnote A: Isaiah xxxviii.]

It was this consciousness, coupled with a belief in God's existence and a knowledge of his character, that enabled the ancient saints to endure their sore afflictions, taking joyfully the spoiling of their goods. By combining these elements of faith they produced a power by which they "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being, destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."^[B]

[Footnote B: Heb. xi: 33-38.]

Such is Paul's testimony respecting the faith and the power thereof among the saints on the Eastern hemisphere; and if we turn to the sacred pages of the Book of Mormon, a like record of sacrifice and heroism could be drawn up to the credit of the saints living on the Western hemisphere.

And so also with the Saints in this present dispensation. It was through faith that the Prophet Joseph Smith had the heavens opened to him and received a glorious vision of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; it was through faith that he received the gold plates on which were engraven the history and scriptures of the Nephites, and translated them into the English language; it was by the power of faith that he organized the church and the quorums of the priesthood. It was by the power of faith, too, that the Saints endured the persecutions heaped upon them in Missouri, the land of Zion, taking joyfully the spoiling of their goods, being whipped, imprisoned and murdered. It was by faith they gathered at Nauvoo and converted its swamps into a beautiful city, its wilderness into fruitful fields and erected the beautiful temple in the days of their poverty. By faith they restrained their anger when their prophet and patriarch were murdered while under the plighted faith of the State of Illinois, and committed no depredations on the ungodly within their power in retaliation for the cowardly assassination of their leaders.

By faith they followed the prophet Brigham into the desert, going a thousand miles beyond the borders of civilization among savage Indian tribes, their only hope of protection being in the God of Israel. By faith they subdued the sterile soil and made it yield them the bounties of life, and filled the once barren wastes of the Rocky Mountain valleys with towns and villages; farms, gardens, orchards and happy homes for an extent of more than five hundred miles; and by faith they have calmly endured fines, confiscations, exile and imprisonment—persecution under the forms of law—at the hands of the United States government, rather than be untrue to their God.

Such experiences as these I have referred to in the history of the Saints, both of ancient and modern times, demonstrates to the heavens the strength or quality of faith possessed by the Saints, and also exhibits faith as a principle of power, for such it is; who can doubt it when we are told that through faith the worlds were framed by the Word of God;^[C] and through faith the saints in all ages of the world have been able to perform the works already set down to their credit.

[Footnote C: Heb xi: 3.]

Another result flows from these experiences— these sufferings, trials and sacrifices of the saints. They bring to the faithful who endure them the assurance—nay, the knowledge of their acceptance with God. This knowledge occupies an important place in religion, for it is through that knowledge and through that alone, that men will be able to endure the trials that ever have and ever will, in a state of probation, beset the pathway of candidates for the celestial kingdom of God. "Such was and ever will be the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary in their minds, and faint; for such has been, and always will be the opposition in the hearts of unbelievers and those that know not God, against the pure and unadulterated religion of heaven (the only thing which insures eternal life), that they will persecute to the uttermost all that worship God according to his revelations, receive the truth in the love of it, and submit themselves to be guided and directed by his will; and drive them to such extremities, that nothing short of an actual knowledge of their being the favorites of heaven, and of their having embraced that order of things which God has established for the redemption of man, will enable them to exercise that confidence in him, necessary for them to overcome the world, and obtain that crown of glory which is laid up for them that fear God. . ."

"For unless a person does know that he is walking according to the will of God, it would be offering an insult to the dignity of the Creator, were he to say, that he would be a partaker of his glory when he should be done with the things of this life. But when he has this knowledge, and most assuredly knows that he is doing the will of God, his confidence can be equally strong that he will be a partaker of the glory of God."

"Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things, that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth's sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not, seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life."

"It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him, so as to obtain eternal life, unless they, in like manner, offer unto him the same sacrifice, and through that offering, obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him. * * * From the days of righteous Abel to the present time, the knowledge that men have that they are accepted in the sight of God, is obtained by offering sacrifice. And in the last days, before the Lord comes, he is to gather together his saints who have made a covenant with him, by sacrifice: 'Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.'"^[D]

[Footnote D: Psalms i: 3-5.]

"Those, then, who make the sacrifice, will have the testimony that their course is pleasing in the sight of God; and those who have this testimony will have faith to lay hold on eternal life, and will be enabled, through faith, to endure unto the end, and receive the crown that is laid up for them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who do not make the sacrifice cannot enjoy this faith, because men are dependent upon this sacrifice in order to obtain this faith; therefore they cannot lay hold upon eternal life, because the revelations of God do not guarantee unto them the authority so to do, and without this guarantee faith could not exist."

"All the saints of whom we have any account, in all the revelations of God which are extant, obtained the knowledge which they had of their acceptance in his sight through the sacrifice which they offered unto him; and through the knowledge thus obtained their faith became sufficiently strong to lay hold upon the promise of eternal life, and to endure as seeing him who is invisible; and were enabled, through faith, to combat the powers of darkness, contend against the wiles of the adversary, overcome the world, and obtain the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls."^[E]

[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov., Lecture on Faith, No. VI.]

This, then, is my exposition of the grand principle of faith: It is an assurance of the mind of the existence or reality of things not seen, or that have not been demonstrated to any other of the senses. It takes root in evidence, more or less convincing to the understanding; and the strength of the faith depends largely upon the quality and quantity of the evidence. The more unquestionable, the more overwhelming the evidence, the more strong and immovable will be the faith.

As a principle of religion, faith centers in God, and bids man hope for salvation and eternal life. I have endeavored to show in the foregoing pages that in order that faith may be intelligently exercised in God, it is essential that there should be a belief in his existence, and correct ideas as to his character. I trust that the evidences pointed out as to the fact that he exists have been sufficient to produce that belief; and that the testimonies adduced have been of a character to fix in the mind of the reader a just estimate of his character. If that has been accomplished, then I feel assured that a faith has been established in the mind that will lead to repentance, to an effort to yield obedience to the laws of heaven. That effort persevered in will, in time, bring the consciousness that the course of life being pursued is in accordance with the will of heaven, and by a union of these three elements, that is, a belief in the existence of God, a correct conception of his character, and a knowledge that the course of life pursued is approved of him—will render faith perfect, will constitute it a principle of power, the incentive to all action—as really it is, whether in temporal or spiritual things—leading from one degree of knowledge or excellence to another, from righteousness to righteousness, until the heavens will be opened to them and they will hold communion with the Church of the First Born, with Jesus Christ, and with God the Father, and thus will they make their calling and election sure—through faith ripening into knowledge.