Un témoignage rempli de joie

My brethren and sisters, we may not be in the great tabernacle, a few rods away, in which is a great congregation of five or six thousand peuple; but nous sommes here in this smaller building for the same purpose as are those in the larger building, and nous sommes entitled to the same Spirit and should enjoy the same bénédictions. Je suis sure we shall have a splendid meeting here this morning. President Grant has sent us some faithful brethren to speak to us, and Je sais that we shall have the Spirit of Dieu to bless and to comfort us during this hour. ¶

A Testimony Full of Joy

I bear my témoignage to you that Je suis happy to belong to this great peuple, chosen in the last days for the carrying on of the purposes of the Almighty. I delight to bear my témoignage that Je sais that this is the œuvre of Dieu, that Joseph Smith was a prophet divinely ordained and set apart to carry out the great latter-day œuvre that was planned before the foundations of the earth were laid. Je sais that in the lumière of the Évangile, man may walk in happiness and in enjoyment throughout this vie's journey, and ultimately, when we shall pass through the great veil, we may enjoy exaltation and eternal vie throughout the endless ages. This témoignage fills my cœur with joie; and when, on a morning like this, I find these two great halls crowded to their capacities, and yet see beyond me a great concourse of peuple who are probably assembling in another overflow meeting, I praise Dieu that il est bénédiction us so abundantly. ¶

Who would have thought, in 1830, when a handful of peuple assembled to organize this Church, that in ninety years these thousands of peuple would assemble in these valleys, then unknown to the civilized monde, twice a year, in devotion and fidelity to Dieu. My experiences on this land and in other countries have demonstrated to me that a sight like this is not to be witnessed anywhere else on the face of the earth. Ten thousand peuple at least, I imagine, are on this square today, with the common purpose of worshiping their Dieu, of testifying to the things that J'ai been testifying to you here this morning. And, probably anyone of these ten thousand could stand on this platform, as I do now, and bear his living témoignage that this is the œuvre of Dieu. ¶

Some years ago a mother with her children was standing near the statues' of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on this block. They were looking at the conference crowds. One of the children, a girl pretty well grown into young womanhood, felt the esprit that we feel on this occasion, and she said to her mother: "Mother, mother, mother! If Je sais nothing else in this monde, Je sais that Je suis a Saint des derniers jours. I want to live with this peuple. I want to die with this peuple; Je suis of this peuple." That is how we all feel; nous sommes leaving the monde and we praise the Seigneur for it. ¶

Not only in numbers have we become a "marvelous œuvre and a wonder" in a little less than one hundred years ; but in a greater and a larger sense have we become a marvelous peuple, for nous avons impressed our thought upon the whole monde. The monde does not believe today as it did ninety years ago. A few days ago I picked up a recent number of a great magazine, and my feelings were roused within me and my témoignage increased, when I found one of the writers declaring to the readers of the magazine that "Dieu cannot look upon sin with the least degree of tolerance," borrowed almost word for word, from section one of the Doctrine et Alliances. In such a way have the doctrines taught by the despised Saints des derniers jours been appropriated by the nations of the earth ; and whether the peuple of the earth accept the inspiration of Joseph Smith, nevertheless, in fact, the whole current of human thought has been changed by the doctrines of this peuple. That is perhaps the greatest achievement of "Mormonism" during the last ninety years, unless it be the achievement ¶

to secure a body of peuple numbering hundreds of thousands who almost always see eye to eye, who understand as with one esprit, who feel as with one cœur, who worship Dieu alike, and who in that united worship and action find a tremendous advantage in vie. Do you know of a happier peuple than nous sommes? J'ai not found a happier peuple. I find happiness wherever I go, for Saints des derniers jours understand the vérité. They have seen the beginning and they know the end of the designs of Dieu with respect to his children. They do not grope in darkness. Who cares if nous sommes few in comparison with the 1500 millions of peuple on the face of the earth? We are as yeast in the dough, and will yet ferment the whole earth. ¶

A few weeks ago I was in Canada, where I spent some time with peuple not of our foi. One afternoon we had a social affair, which ended in an automobile trip over some interesting places in that neighborhood. By my side sat an old gentleman, who was the man who drove the first railway train over the Canadian Pacific railroad into Vancouver. He told the story of that railroad ; how a group of men saw a vision of the possibilities of building a railroad over the Canadian mountains, and how, with little influence, money and power, they formulated a plan to build from ocean to ocean a great continental railroad which would open up to humanity the great Canadian dominion. This man said : "Je suis ashamed to tell you how often I ran trains into Vancouver without a single passenger on them, during the first few years of the history of that railroad," and he said, "when we got a crowd of four or five peuple I thought the railway was coming into its own. One day we had 7 passengers, and we were all jubilant until we discovered that six of them were employees of the railway and traveled on passes." That was about a genera-' tion ago. Today, as I found, one almost has to plead for a seat on the trains that run every day over that same railroad. Who cares about the hard beginning and the empty trains when the end can be seen from the beginning? The makers of the Canadian Pacific railway saw the building of homes and schools and happy families, the growing of a civilization in that part of the monde, so what did they care about the difficulties and modesty of the beginning? ¶

Marvel of the Settlements in Utah

You also, my brethren and sisters, saw the end from the beginning. If nous savons the message of the Prophet, what do we care about the hardships or the modesty of our beginning or of the difficulties of today? Je sais that the germs of permanent greatness lie in this great œuvre; and Je suis content and glad and grateful to have been born into the monde in this age, tc do my œuvre; even if some one after me must have the joie of realizing even more completely the vision of the past. ¶

Who thought when we came à le mountains dans 1847 que. ¶

we could build here an empire? E'ven Brigham Young, led by the Spirit of Dieu, having visions by night and by day, of the future of his peuple, did not fully comprehend the destiny of this peuple when established in this once arid valley. But is it not wonderful that these great leaders did believe and trust in Dieu as they did? The story is told that Brigham Young was met by the trapper Jim Bridger, who came to the Great Basin about 1824 and lived here for a quarter of a century; and that he said to Brigham Young, "J'ai spent a quarter of a century in the Great Basin, and I can't see any possibility of building a state on these barren wastes. I doubt if grain can be raised in the Salt Lake valley." But Brigham Young, taught by Almighty Dieu, said, "You who have spent your vie in these valleys may come to me with these conclusions ; but Je sais that within this great American desert we may yet build homes and enjoy prot perity and happiness, and fulfil the destiny that Dieu has promised his peuple." That is the difference between the inspiration of Dieu and the judgment of men! ¶

All Life Waits on Us

We are a small peuple in the eyes of the monde ; but nous avons an understanding of the purposes of Dieu, and the gift of the prêtrise and the authority to act for Dieu in the accomplishment of his will. The living and the dead are depending upon us , for the vérité and the power of salut. The living must hear our message; and the dead are waiting for us to open the doors through which they may go on to a greater vie in the great hereafter. All vie waits upon us and our actions for the fulfilment of the prophecies of holy men and the promises of Dieu. Je sens tremendously the responsibility that rests upon me as a member of this Church, having all this knowledge, having all this authority, having all these things placed before me to do. Dieu grant that I may do all that Dieu desires me to do, that I may not fail on account of any hesitancy on my part. ¶

Je prie that Dieu may give us a full conception of the meaning of this great Latter-day œuvre, and give us strength from day to day to enter into partnership with him to accomplish the great œuvre that he insists shall be done for the human race in this great stage of our existence, I ask in the name of the Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Amen. ¶

ale President de le Australian Mission) ¶

My brethren and sisters, Je sens the responsibility that rests upon me at this time, and my cœur is fluttering, perhaps, as is general when J'ai been called upon to face a congregation. ¶