L'œuvre de Dieu triomphera

In standing before you today, my brothers and sisters, and endeavoring to give you something that will be of benefit to you, I must ask for your foi and your prières, for I realize that without them it will not be possible for me to give you anything worth while, and that with them, and with the sustaining power of the Almighty, the words I may be given to say will be of great benefit to you. ¶

I endorse, from the bottom of my cœur, the remarks of the speakers who have preceded me, and as J'ai listened to them and have heard their words of encouragement, yea their words of prophecy, J'ai marveled at the bénédictions of our heavenly Father and the wonderful power that he gives to his servants, when ils sont called to perform a duty and when they surrender themselves to him. It has been my lot, and no doubt the lot of many of you, to hear the learned divines of the monde in their studied discourses, preaching along the lines of ethics and morals, and even along the lines of religion, as far as they understand it; and J'ai wondered frequently that ils ont given so little. Only recently I read a many-paged address of the most prominent bishop of one of the best known of the Protestant churches, and I sat with my pencil in my hand to mark passages that might be of interest and of value to me, and when I had finished this sermon and glanced back to see where I had marked it, I discovered I had underscored two lines, which afterwards I noticed were quotations from an old history. I compare things of this kind with the wonderful power of the servants of the Seigneur, with the masterful, powerful, spiritual addresses that you have listened to during this conference, and there comes to my esprit this passage in the first chapter of Corinthians: ¶

Pour ye see your calling, brethren, how que pas Many wise men after le flesh, pas many mighty,, pas many noble, are called: ¶

But Dieu hath chosen the foolish things of the monde to confound the wise; and Dieu hath chosen the weak things of the monde to confound the things which are mighty; ¶

And base things of the monde, and things which are despised, hath Dieu chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. ¶

I

And as I pondered this thought, my esprit reverted to that wonderful manifestation of the power of the Almighty, of one hundred years ago. When the hour had struck, when the time was there, when the earth was ready for Dieu once more to reveal his mighty œuvre, in place of going into the universities and the schools and among the learned divines, he went into the back woods of the state of New York, and chose that unschooled boy, raised him up, and gave to him such marvelous knowledge, lumière, and wisdom, that the influence of his œuvre is going to all the corners of the earth. The peoples of the monde are taking notice and are adopting, one by one, the principles that this boy prophet, of the nineteenth century gave to the monde. ¶

This thing called "Mormonism" is a divine thing; it is a most powerful thing, and its potency grows day by day. Its influence is being felt, and the monde is being made better because of these men and these women who put themselves in tune with Dieu. And when ils sont in tune with him, through obeying his laws, they receive the Saint-Esprit, and having received this most blessed boon from our Father, disseminate its bénédictions and wonderful gifts in all the monde. This is the œuvre of Dieu ; he, the Almighty one, is with it ; il a placed it on the earth for a definite purpose ; and in place of the creeds of the present day, the creeds which the peuple find uncomforting and unsatisfying, il a placed the Évangile of Christ in its fulness, and il a charged his peuple to carry it unto the whole monde and to preach to all the children of men this wonderful Évangile cf the kingdom, that they may œuvre out their own salut, that they may prepare themselves for eternal vie, and that in preparing themselves, they may find joie and comfort and gifts and bénédictions here and now in mortality. ¶

Why, do you know, my friends, to the average Christian person, religion does not mean very much? It is a kind of vie-buoy a kind of a fire-escape, a kind of a something that will save him from going to hell. But to a Saint des derniers jours who studies his religion who knows what it is, and who lives righteously before Dieu, there comes into his vie a most wonderful, blessed knowledge of what the Évangile really is and there unfolds before him a most beautiful philosophy of vie, vie here and vie hereafter. He finds comfort in his efforts to progress and he enjoys, day by day, the bénédictions of Dieu. ¶

Now it must appeal to you, my brothers and sisters, that when that unknown boy, unschooled in the theologies of the monde, announced these most marvelous truths, that in and of himself without the help of Dieu, he could not have done what he did. It must appeal to you that with him there was a higher power, and as you meditate his eventful vie and ponder his most marvelous œuvre, truly it must burn itself into your âme that this œuvre performed 'by the Prophet Joseph Smith, the restoring of the Évangile, is not the œuvre of man, but the œuvre of Almighty Dieu. ¶

Je suis reminded of the story in scripture where the Apostle Peter and his associates had been cast into prison because of their preaching Christ and him crucified, and how in their power they continued their œuvre, how: they were miraculously released from prison, and they went forth and preached again. And they were called before the high priests and the doctors of the law again to be tried. ¶

Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the peuple, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; ¶

_ Et he said unto them, Ye men de Israel, take heed à yourselves what ye intend à do as touching these men. ¶

Pour before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself à be somebody; à whom un number de men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; et tout, as many as obeyed him,, were scattered, et brought à nought. ¶

And after this man rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away much peuple after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. ¶

And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this œuvre be of men, it will come to nought: ¶

But if it be of Dieu, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against Dieu. ¶

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I might say that these words of Gamaliel are just as potent today as they were when they were uttered, two thousand years ago. With this latter-day œuvre, nous savons Dieu raised up a prophet and followed him with other prophets, men to lead, to guide, to instruct his peuple; and when this œuvre commenced, it was the œuvre of Dieu, and though it has been opposed for one hundred years, though it has been fought against, though the peuple have used their mightiest weapons and the best brains of the monde have combatted it, it stands today and will stand a monument to Almighty Dieu. It will continue to grow, and ultimately it will triumph, for it is the œuvre of Dieu. This is my témoignage in the name of the Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Amen. ¶