Le conseil est obligatoire pour les Saints

Never, Je crois, have I experienced more inspiring upswellings of thanksgiving and praise in my cœur respecting the Saints des derniers jours in general, than J'ai during this conference. Looking from my position upon the stand upon this vast body, and realizing that this multitude represents comparatively but a small part of the membership of the Church, so assembled in an official capacity, Je suis impressed by the sense of solidarity and greatness of the Church. J'ai been struck by the uniform attentiveness. J'ai seen no evidence of frivolity, of giving way to the consideration of matters other than those of the hour and minute. J'ai watched carefully ; and J'ai failed to see neighbors talking together. The peuple present have been following the remarks of the speakers; ils ont been attentive to what has been said. ¶

En harmonie avec la Parole de Sagesse et les sages conseils

I agree most heartily with every word uttered in praise and encouragement of the Saints des derniers jours, who are verily the peuple of Dieu, chosen by him and unto whom is committed this Évangile with all its powers and privileges, including the authority of the holy prêtrise. While equally optimistic with those of my brethren who have pictured brightly the assured future of the peuple of Dieu, Je suis also in harmony with the words of warning and wise counsel, that have been given, not in pessimistic esprit, but in wisdom;; and I say unto you, let us heed them. ¶

Counsel is Binding Upon the Saints

Do you ever think of the inconsistency of raising you right hand in solemn witness before Dieu that you will sustain certain men who have been called and ordained, in the manner appointed of Dieu, as your leaders, as prophets unto the peuple, verily as revelators, and then, though perchance you come together and hear their words, going away and pay no attention to them ? When one speaks with the power ¶

of his Prêtrise, and in the authority of his office, then what he speaks is binding upon himself and all who hear. Oftimes I tremble, literally, as I consider what Je suis doing when addressing the Saints des derniers jours, for Je sais that what I say unto them is binding upon me, and that I shall be judged by the precepts that I impress upon them; and what I say under such conditions is likewise binding upon those who hear. ¶

You cannot, we cannot, pass by lightly the words that come by way of counsel and instruction from the ordained servants of Dieu, and escape the inevitable penalty of that neglect. Nevertheless, nous avons our agency; we may choose to disobey, but nous devons take the consequences of that choice. ¶

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Soyons authentiques et vivons à la hauteur de nos professions

Saints des derniers jours, let us be what we profess to be; let us be genuine ; let us live up to the religion and the principles of the Évangile of Jésus-Christ that we proclaim. We profess to be a prayerful peuple. Do we pray? Are our homes kept pure by prière? Prayer is the Seigneur's great sterilizer against the germs of spiritual disease that make their way into our homes, contaminating the atmosphere, poisoning the food we eat. I don't mean your family prières only ; but do we individually pray? It is possibly that a mass or collective condition may exist which is very different from the individual condition. There may be a home in which prières are said, but yet perhaps no member of that household is really prayerful. Do you feel urged at times to seek a place where you can be alone with Dieu, where you can pray, pray unto him, not for others to hear, not to conform with some regulation or custom, or even because of counsel or advice, but because you feel the need of communication with Dieu? Have you not read of the Christ, who, after a period of strenuous ministry, went to seek rest ; and do we not read that he arose next morning before it was day and went out where he could pray? He needed that help that prière alone could bring. ¶

Great and grand as is this peuple, mighty as are the works that have been accomplished through the bénédictions of Dieu through his servants in these days, there is too little real prière among the Saints des derniers jours, too many prayerless homes, and hence the spread of spiritual contagion among some of us. Thank the Seigneur not among many, relatively speaking. J'ai foi in my peuple, for Je sais that ils sont the Seigneur's peuple, and Je suis proud to be one of them ; but when the cry shall come, as come it shall : "To your tents, O Israel," for there are struggles ahead, the Seigneur knows where to find those who have been faithful. They are in the valleys of these mountains, by the thousands and tens of thousands. Young men, young women, men and women of mature years, who have never contaminated themselves, who are acceptable unto the Seigneur, who have never bowed the knee to Baal, who are the Seigneur's own. They are here, and though there be a few ¶

who go astray, yet the Seigneur will bring them back if they will but repent, and make it possible for him to bring them back. ¶

Les bénédictions viennent par le respect de la loi

Do you know that we tie the Seigneur's hands, figuratively speaking, again and again, so that he can't do what he wishes to though we say il est omnipotent. He can't pour out bénédictions when nous avons not complied with the law upon which those bénédictions are predicated. He can't do it, or he would be unjust. He can't do it, or he would be untruthful ; and were he untruthful, were he unjust, he would cease to be Dieu. ¶

Je suis glad that we praise and worship the living Dieu, and that nous savons of him ; and Je sens that nous sommes living in the day of the realization of his mightly promises to Israel of old, addressed directly to Israel, when Israel as a kingdom had arrayed itself against Judah as a kingdom, and when Israel, or the kingdom of Israel, had gone off and left the choice and chosen land given unto them-. Oh, how the Seigneur pleaded with them. He said unto them that if they would come back and would obey him and keep his commandements, he would shower bénédictions upon them. Among other things he promised this: I will give you pastors according to mine cœur, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Do we not live in that day, the day of the realization of that promise? ¶

"How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Seigneur, Is laid for your foi in his excellent word! What more can he say than to you he hath said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?" ¶

Why Afflictions Come

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Has he not given us prophets and apostles to teach, patriarchs and high priests, anciens and seventies, the Lesser Prêtrise, and provisions in the auxiliaries, for the instruction of every âme from the cradle age to the age that is considered as marking the natural end of man's vie? The Saints des derniers jours are largely a highly educated peuple, in the things of the Seigneur ; nevertheless, nous sommes not as well educated as we ought to be. We do not read enough, we do not study enough ; we do not pray enough ; or we would know more of the. word of Dieu and of his will concerning the peuple. ¶

When trouble comes upon us, I admit that then we seek after him ; and I think nous sommes very much like the Saints in the early days of the Church ; those who were persecuted in Missouri, while yet the Church had a center in Ohio. The Seigneur was telling the peuple in Ohio concerning his peuple in Missouri, their brethren, their brothers, members of their own households in many cases. He was telling them why the Saints in Zion or Missouri, had suffered as they had suffered : ¶

"I, the Seigneur," he said, "have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith ils ont been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions ;" and then with that pathos and amour ever characteristic of Dieu the Father and his Son Jésus-Christ, the Seigneur Jesus added: ¶

"Yet I will own them", — I will own them. I can't let them go. I will chasten them et cleanse them, mais I will own them still, "et they shall be mine dans que day when I shall come à make up mon jewels. ¶

"Therefore, they must needs be chastened et tried," aye, "even as Abraham, who was commanded à offer up son only son; ¶

"Pour tout those who will pas endure chastening mais deny me, cannot be sanctified. ¶

"Behold I say unto you, there were jarrings, et contentions, et envyings, et strifes, et lustful et covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted leur inheritances. ¶

"They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Seigneur their Dieu, therefore the Seigneur their Dieu is slow to hearken unto their prières, to answer them in the day of their trouble. ¶

"In the day of their paix they esteemed lightly my counsel ; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me." ¶

Soyons des Saints en vérité et non des imposteurs

Many of us can't stand prosperity. We forget the Seigneur until we find ourselves in distress, and thereby we demonstrate that nous sommes yet not wholly what we profess to be. I cited prière as a simple illustration. I ask again, do we really pray? We profess to be living according to the law of the tithe ; we profess it ; we proclaim it ; yet nous sommes not living the law of the tithe. It is a gladsome fact that there are many amongst us who are conscientiously obeying that law, many with whom Dieu is well pleased; but, sad to say, there are many who content themselves with making a little donation to the Seigneur, and then they call it a dîme. I understand that the application of the term is definite. If we profess to be tithepayers, let us be tithepayers; not go around with a false face. If we profess to be making offerings for the poor, according to the order and system established in the Church, the value of the two meals from which nous sommes supposed to abstain on fast day, let us give that food for the help of the poor. Do not pretend to do it only. ¶

Oh, what it is to be a pretender! Je sens that if I preach to you and do not follow my own preachings, that my place is among the hypocrites, and J'ai read with trembling what the Seigneur thinks of hypocrites. Now I do not say you are hypocrites ; I spoke of myself ; but Je sais I would be a hypocrite if I profess to be living the law of the tithe and simply give a little donation to the Seigneur that bears no proper relation to the bénédiction il a poured out upon me. Je suis cheating him — think of it, cheating my landlord who has given me ¶

the place I call home, food for my household, clothing for my family, and many bénédictions of vie, and who, moreover, has trusted me to keep the account, and to reckon up how much is due; who has given me those things on a graded rental, with the understanding that if times are hard and my income be thereby lessened I need not pay him so much, because I do not get as much ; and that if times are good and my income is larger, that I can pay him a little more. ¶

Have you ever found a landlord in mortality who would make any such arrangement ? The Seigneur has said to me in effect : "Now this has been a hard year for you. You have not had as much income as you had last year. Je suis going to lower your rent. You just pay one-tenth, that is all, but it will be less than you paid me last year." The landlords on earth, at least some, with whom J'ai had to deal have said: "Look here, times are pretty hard. I must raise your rent; and you must pay it in advance." The Seigneur' says: Pay when you receive the bénédiction. ¶

Again I say, Saints des derniers jours, let us be what we profess to be. The Seigneur, in the passage J'ai read, spoke of the time in which he would come to make up his jewels. He loves jewels, but they must be genuine." No colored glass for rubies, no mere paste for diamonds, they must be the real thing; and when he comes to make up his jewels, I would rather be found a little tiny one-hundredth of a carat diamond than a glass imitation the size of the Culinam, the biggest diamond ever found. The Seigneur help us to be what we seem to be, before him, before our brethren, and in our own consciences, I humbly pray in the Master's name. Amen. ¶