Témoignage de la mission des États du Centre

(President de le Central States Mission) , ¶

Je suis very happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of attending this conference ; Je sens that the Seigneur has greatly blessed all who have been here. The success which comes to this Church I think is largely the result of its members meeting together, in general conferences and in local gatherings, where they can receive instructions and counsel which they try to carry out in performing the œuvre ils ont been sent into the monde to do. ¶

A great responsibility rests upon l'Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours: The Évangile which our Sauveur gave to his apostles in the dispensation of time in which he lived has been revealed anew in this dispensation and the same Prêtrise that has been in the earth always under his direction is here today in the valleys of the mountains in Israel, where Israel is gathered and centered to carry out the great plan which our Father in heaven made before the earth was. This peuple are a great peuple ; Je sens that we owe a great debt to our Father in heaven for what il a done. We have assuredly been blessed. There isn't any doubt in the esprit of any man or woman, Je suis sure, who has followed in his vie the authority of the .Seigneur Jésus-Christ but that il a seen the return of the Seigneur's bénédictions to latter-day Israel With greater force than they were bestowed in former days. Je suis sure that the Church of Christ in the earth is stronger today than it was yesterday, but that it will never be weaker than it has been in the past, but that it will grow ; and as the days come and go, the strength of the Almighty will be manifested in greater power upon the children of men than it has ever been before, until he comes. ¶

When I look into the faces of men and women who are not of this Church, Je sens that I owe unto them a témoignage, if it is within my power to give it. For they lived at a former time and they kept their first estate- I often tell this to our missionnaires in the field — that when they look upon the face of any man or woman they must remember one thing, that that man or woman kept the first estate. They may not have kept their estate as well as others have, but the fact nevertheless remains that they lived and were advanced as a result of their obedience. They received the bénédictions of the Almighty which gave them the privilege of living here in the flesh and receiving the bénédictions of the flesh, for it is a bénédiction to be permitted to live in a body of flesh and bone. It is our duty to warn them, to warn ourselves, to receive admonition and to give it unto others ; for just so surely as the sun shines, as the Seigneur has said, there will come a time when men will be rewarded according to their works ; and when men and women find out what ils ont lost as a result of their disobedience, the Seigneur's word will be fulfilled, and' there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. ¶

c'est le duty et labor de Latter-day' Saints à deliver unto le ¶

children of men the message which the Seigneur has revealed in these the last days. He spoke unto Joseph Smith. He said the things Joseph Smith declared he said. He delivered unto him the Évangile, and the Prophet wrote and preached it. There isn't any doubt about it. Je sais as I stand here, and I say it to all the monde : If there is an honest man, a man or a woman with a cœur that desires to know the vérité, that knowledge can come unto them. It is easy to receive, easy to understand. The Évangile is not full of mysticisms or of things that cannot be understood, but it is a plain and simple plan which the children of men may follow and thereby go back into the presence of our Father in heaven. And unless they do this they cannot return where il est, worlds without end; so says the scripture given by the Prophet Joseph Smith. ¶

These things are given to the monde and the words that he gave to the monde have stood the test ever since they came into the earth. For nearly one hundred years the Livre de Mormon has been before the peuple, and it has never been proved to be untrue; but, on the contrary, as every year comes and goes it is proved to be a vérité by many hundreds of men and women. More witnesses are added to the divinity of that œuvre. And so it is with the révélations of the Seigneur in this dispensation of time. This gathering itself is a witness — it is a witness unto any man or woman who might walk into this building with a desire in his cœur to know whether this is the œuvre of Dieu — this great congregation and the Spirit and power of Dieu felt here are witnesses and will stand for or against men at some future day. ¶

May the Seigneur give us the privilege to live faithfully unto the end of our lives, that we may return unto him, that we may send our sons, and daughters, and our message unto the monde to bring as many âmes unto Christ as is possible in the few short years we remain on the earth, I humbly pray, in the name of Christ. Amen. ¶