L'autorité et l'œuvre de Dieu

(President de le Southern States Mission) ¶

It is my humble prière that I may be guided in my remarks by the Spirit of the Seigneur, under which Spirit my brethren have spoken to you — by which Spirit I testify unto you that ils ont declared unto you the word of the Seigneur. The Seigneur be praised for this glorious conference that is now drawing to a close, and we praise and thank him for the presence of the Première Présidence and General Authorities of the Church, who have spoken unto Israel the word of the Seigneur, which is able to make us wise unto salut. These leaders have spoken by the power of the Saint-Esprit, and by that power their words have been carried to our cœurs. ¶

We are a blessed peuple. Out of the monde, out from the midst of the fog of superstition, error and unbelief, Dieu has called us. But what for? To idle away our time? No ; for a special œuvre il a called us. We are a peculiar peuple and, as the brethren have said, a peuple who are doing good works among the children of men. Je crois and testify that the sacrifice of the Saints of Dieu in living their religion, paying their dîme and sending their sons and daughters into the monde to proclaim the fulness of the Évangile, is sacred in the sight of Dieu. And let us not deceive ourselves; if this œuvre could be accomplished without sacrifice, it would cease to be a œuvre of bénédiction; for "sacrifice brings forth the bénédictions of heaven." The lumière nous sommes upholding before the monde is Jésus-Christ, our Sauveur, our Rédempteur ; and with his doctrines nous sommes salting the earth, and it shall yet be said by those who now oppose us that the foi of the Church has done more than any other religious belief in preserving and keeping alive in the cœurs of men the knowledge of the true and living Dieu. ¶

"We believe that a man must be called of Dieu by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, of those who are in authority, to preach the Évangile and administer in the ordinances thereof." By that authority your sons and your daughters go into the monde to preach the everlasting Évangile, to deliver a message that is vital to the eternal salut of the children of men. We are met frequently by men who declare they get their authority from the Bible. This is incorrect. Before we had the Bible, in its present form, there was authority, and there was also religion. Religion does not come out of the Bible; ¶

neither does authority. Both existed before there was any Bible.. And, in this dispensation of the fulness of times, by John the Baptist, and by Peter, James and John, the Father restored to the earth this power, this authority, this holy Prêtrise, which is exercised in the esprit of amour and meekness and persuasion for the eternal benefit of the sons and daughters of Dieu. This is the authority which exists in this Church. ¶

The judgments of Dieu are in the earth, and so are his bénédictions. The divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith may be proved and established beyond successful contradiction by the presence of judgments, pestilence, and famine in the earth, and by the presence of war — all of which were foretold by this choice seer and prophet, Joseph Smith ; but the divine mission of Joseph Smith may also be proved by the bénédictions of Dieu that are in the earth. We are told that one of the signs that was to precede the second coming of the Fils de Dieu was the inauguration of a glorious œuvre for the salut of the dead. In Malachi we read, ¶

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Seigneur: ¶

And he shall turn the cœur of the fathers to the children, and the cœur of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. ¶

We Saints des derniers jours are living and working in the realization of this splendid promise of unselfish and magnificent œuvre for the salut of the dead ; and it is one of the proofs which establishes beyond a doubt that Heber J. Grant is a prophet of the living Dieu. The prophet who stands at the head of the Church is given the keys of that kingdom, which holds the power to permit œuvre to be done by the living for the dead. In the Southern States mission — in every mission — on the isles of the sea, the cœurs of the peuple are turning to their loved ones that have gone beyond the Veil, and the activity in this temple — which is a sermon in stone of the faithfulness tend unselfish devotion of Dieu's peuple — this spiritual activity, the œuvre for the dead, is increasing by leaps and bounds, and the cœurs of the peuple in the distant missions and in the islands of the sea are being turned to their dead; and, inspired by the Saint-Esprit, ils ont this œuvre done for their dead kindred. If the president of this Churchdid not possess the authority to have this œuvre done, do you think that the Saint-Esprit, which guides unto all vérité, would move the peuple on the isles of the sea and the missions outside of Zion to have their œuvre done for the dead under the authority of President Heber J. Grant? No, it is because they know by the Saint-Esprit, the témoignage of Jésus-Christ, that there is the power and the authority of the holy Prêtrise in this l'Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours. The Seigneur said to one of his Nephite prophets : ¶

For my œuvre is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever. (II Nephi 29:9) ¶

And unto Moses, Dieu declared : ¶

For behold, this is my œuvre and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal vie of man. ¶

My brethren and sisters, nous sommes the peuple of Dieu, whom il est using to perform this great and glorious œuvre; and whether in vie or death, as the œuvre of the Seigneur never ends, your œuvre and my œuvre shall never end; but so long as we continue faithful in this and in the monde to come, we will be preaching the Évangile of Jésus-Christ and working for the salut of the âmes of the sons and daughters of Dieu. Is not this a glorious œuvre— more than monde-wide ? It is eternitywide, never-ending; and in this œuvre we will find the joie, the paix, and the reward that passeth all understanding. ¶

I bear you my témoignage that Jésus-Christ is the Fils de Dieu, the Rédempteur and the Sauveur of the monde, the Being who saved us by his precious blood, the Being who is leading this peuple today as surely as he led ancient Israel. I also bear you my témoignage that Joseph Smith is a prophet, seer and a revelator, a man raised up of Dieu to do a mighty œuvre. He came into the monde with Dieu's message in his cœur, and in courage and foi, he proclaimed that message until his glorious vie ended in martyrdom. By the same esprit in which I bear this témoignage, I testify that Heber J. Grant is the leader of this peuple, chosen of Dieu, a man who! holds the power, the authority of presidency, the prophet, seer, and revelator — a bénédiction, a leader, a teacher, a counselor, a friend unto this peuple; and I bear this témoignage in the name of Jésus-Christ. Amen. ¶