Ancien président de la mission de Nouvelle-Zélande

[FR] Former President of the New Zealand Mission ¶

[FR] Responsibility always makes us apprehensive, so this morning I feel entirely dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord for those things that I shall say. ¶

This is a time of refreshing. We have all come to conference this morning to be refreshed and to return home strengthened in our purpose in life, to carry on the ideals of this splendid Église. ¶

I feel like a watchman from the outposts of New Zealand this morning, when I say to you that the Évangile is being preached in that land, and the inhabitants of that great domain of the British Empire are being given the opportunity of learning of the truths of the Évangile. The elders are faithful and true, and I have been impressed with the splendid manhood of this Église. ¶

As I said in the beginning, responsibility makes us apprehensive. As fathers and as leaders of the Église I know that we are apprehensive, but I see no cause. The young men of this Église are building splendid roads. They are building finer meetinghouses than we have ever enjoyed. They are building splendidly today, and I am satisfied that they are not going to neglect the important phase of our purpose in coming to the earth. I believe that there is a finer manhood in this Église today than has ever been before in the young manhood of this Église. I am grateful for the associations I have had with them. I have seen their splendid achievements. I have listened to their faith and their confidence in the Évangile. I realize, too, that they are living the Évangile each day. I am impressed with their cleanliness, their virtue, and their desires to magnify their priesthood in this great work. ¶

I believe today that greater opportunity awaits the young men in this Église than has ever been given to them before from the fact that the world is today looking for men who can carry responsibility in the true sense that the priesthood of this Église teaches us. I am mindful of the fact that our young men are being taught, those who attend priesthood meetings, and I feel inspired to say that no greater plan has ever been given to us as a priesthood than the movement that was inaugurated some time ago, whereby greater development can come because of greater opportunity of serving the Lord by magnifying our callings. ¶

[FR] I am impressed with a story of a young man who, when he stood in the pulpit explaining the principle of repentance, said this : ¶

[FR] "If I steal an article, God requires that I sincerely repent, that I restore that which I have stolen. If I have spoken an untruth, God requires that I repent in sincerity and restore the evil that I have spoken. The same if I lose my virtue, God requires a sincere repentance and a restoration." ¶

So we come to the great responsibility resting upon us as a Église in these days, not only to make restitution for that which we do wrong, but to sincerely repent ; and if perchance we take those things that we are unable to restore, then a sincere repentance is impossible. And so we realize, on the verge of manhood, these great responsibilities when we are initiated into this priesthood. ¶

There was a time in my life when I doubted certain principles of the Évangile, but through faith I can say to you today that I believe the Évangile to be true, every principle of it. I believe in the divine leadership of the men who stand at the head of this Église, and I believe that God will so direct its affairs that it will fulfil its purposes, and that his purposes, in the end, will be fulfilled and sustained throughout the earth. ¶

I pray God to bless us in this great responsibility, that the young manhood of this Église will keep themselves sweet and clean, that the faith of their fathers may come unto them, and that the responsibilities of this great work shall be borne on their shoulders when the opportunity comes to serve, as it will. To this end I pray God's blessings upon this Église and this people, and I do it in the name of Jésus-Christ. Amen. ¶