It was said by one of old that "faith comes by hearing;" and I might say, with propriety, that faith comes by hearing and conceiving of the words of life. It was also said, "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent,"—by proper authority. Hence, it is necessary that we should have teachers. When the elders of this Church go into places where the Gospel has never been preached before, the Spirit bears witness to the people of its truth. A number will believe for a time. The seed is sown; some of it falls on stony ground; it springs up rapidly, but has not sufficient root, and it speedily withers. Some falls into the ground, and to all appearance will have a thorough growth; but the cares of the world spring up and choke that seed, and the hearts where it was sown forsake the truth and neglect to hearken to the voice which whispered to them, "This is the truth." But there are a few in the world who will hearken to the words of life when they hear them, and will remain faithful. Yet but few, in comparison to the great numbers who have heard the Gospel, have received it in good and honest hearts, and have brought forth fruit meet for repentance; and of those who have embraced it, many have run well for a season who have not continued to abide in the faith. Still, it is necessary that we should be taught and instructed in the things of God.
It has just been remarked here, by Brother Musser, that it is hard for a man to study law without forsaking the spirit of the Gospel. This proves that there is a lack of sound knowledge in the individual who permits himself to be thus led away. There are many among the inhabitants of the earth who are weak in comprehension, and of such limited capacity that they can only look upon one thing at a time; and they forsake the contemplation of everything else for the one idea which occupies the mind. There are some of our Elders who will argue themselves into false doctrine by giving an undue preference to one scripture and passing over others equally as important. This same lack of comprehensiveness of mind is also very noticeable at times with some men who happen to accumulate property, and it leads them to forsake the Spirit of the Gospel. Does it not prove that there is a contractedness of mind in those who do so, which should not be? The Lord owns the earth; he made it; the gold and the silver, the wheat and the fine flour are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are his;" yet he is not going to forsake the holy Gospel or to apostatize therefrom because of that. When Jesus comes to reign King of nations as he now reigns King of Saints, he will not apostatize although the whole world will be at his command; and when the Ancient of Days shall come and sit upon his throne to bring to judgment the vast family of man, he will not apostatize. How contracted in mind and short-sighted we must be to permit the perishable things of this world to swerve us in the least degree from our fidelity to the truth. It shows that we lack knowledge which we should possess.
If men cannot study and practice law and keep the Spirit of the Lord, they ought to quit it. As I have frequently told the people at our places of recreation, if they cannot go there with the Spirit of the Lord, they had better stay at home. We do not want lawyers, nor merchants, nor business men to be engaged in those pursuits unless they have the Spirit of God with them. We do not wish them to continue in their business unless they can see and understand that all things pertaining to this earth are subject by right to the priesthood of God, and should be guided and directed by it in every matter. All that they are, have, or do, ought to be subject to the priesthood of the Son of God; and unless they can feel thus, they had better go into the fields and can[y]ons to work,—suffer themselves to be poor and keep the Holy Spirit with them. It seems to me, at times, as though the people should be ashamed that we are under the necessity of charging them not to become surfeited with the things of this world, so as to neglect the duties that are obligatory upon them.