Le témoignage de Joseph Smith

To the man who communed with Jehovah was given a wonderful promise. The Seigneur said to him: "Thy peuple shall never be turned against thee by the témoignage of traitors." This promise has been enjoyed, is enjoyed, and will be enjoyed by every president of l'Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours ; and with our leaders we will go on to victory, the victory which will win for us eternal vie, growing up in all good things, perfected in doctrine, in Jésus-Christ, our head. ¶

It was a âme-thrilling message that our president delivered unto us yesterday morning. He stirred up our esprits by way of remembrance to the divine mission of this Church: this mission is — "And this Évangile of the kingdom shall be preached in all the monde for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." "Where there is no vision, the peuple perish." In this Church this vision is a broad and glowing lumière, and whenever we do not sense sufficiently our mission of preaching the Évangile, it is a sign that our vision is dimming, and hence the necessity of prophets and apostles to remind us of our duties, and to make more clear this glorious vision which should always be before the eyes of every Saint des derniers jours. ¶

The témoignage of Jésus-Christ abides in this Church. Some of our young men may grow slack, seemingly indifferent; but sooner or later will come in their lives a great awakening. The témoignage will flame up in their cœurs in time of need. It may be that it will require the winds of opposition to make this flame spring up in their âmes, but sooner or later, in their direst need, it will come to them ; and this is a comfort and joie to the cœurs of the Saints des derniers jours. A young man laboring in the Georgia conference, several years ago, said he believed in the Évangile, came on a mission because he felt it was his duty to come, but he could not say in! his cœur that he knew the Évangile was the power of Dieu unto salut. After he had labored in the conference a couple of weeks, he and his companion were attacked by a mob. The mobocrats chased these young men for about two miles, and when the young man who said he had not a .témoignage, had outdistanced his pursuers, he faced about and, pointing his hand in the direction of the mob, said : "Je sais this Évangile is true." Thus there came into that young man's âme the great awakening lumière. , ( ¶

The Church is the mother of men grown strong in giving. Je crois that affiliation and adversity play an important part in our lives. Je suis reminded of the words of Alma, the Nephite prophet, in the thirty-second chapter of the book bearing his name. Some poor peuple came to him and declared that they had been cast out of their ¶

synagogues because of their exceeding poverty. Alma had the courage to give them the counsel they most needed. Je crois it takes as much moral courage sometimes to teach the poor as it does to counsel the rich. These peuple were poor in this "monde's goods, and poor in esprit. Dieu said: "Blessed are the poor in esprit who come unto me." Unto these poor in cœur Alma said: ¶

I say unto you, it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom; for it is because that ye are cast out, that ye are despised of your brethren, because of your exceeding poverty, that ye are brought to a lowliness of cœur; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble, blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if il est compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth, shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And now as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble, ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that ils sont more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word." ¶

Brethren and sisters, will future historians write the melancholy story that the Saints des derniers jours were compelled to be humble ? I don't think they will. Je crois that, aside from afflictions, from prosperity, we should always humble ourselves because of the word, because nous savons that this Évangile is the power of Dieu unto salut. This personal témoignage that comes to our sons and daughters, this témoignage that they receive when ils sont baptized, when eight years of age and receive the gift of the Saint-Esprit by the laying on of hands by the servants of Dieu, this témoignage is the secret and the reason for the steadfastness of the members of this Church. Against this témoignage — which is the heritage of Dieu's sons and daughters — the gates of hell shall never, no never, prevail. Amen. ¶