Ceci a été une conférence des plus glorieuses. Je

[FR] This has been a most glorious conference. I have been coming to this tabernacle for sixty years. In the year 1869 I sang with a choir from Brigham City, in this tabernacle. Never in all that sixty years have I seen such a great multitude of people in this building and outside on this block as there is today. Zion is growing. ¶

We have every reason to rejoice in the work of the Lord. We have been blessed during this conference with splendid weather. As a matter of fact we have a great deal of good weather at conference time, even if it is the stormy period of the year. But how beautiful this day and the two days preceding it. Could you find anywhere else all the world, mes frères et sœurs, such a delightful country to live in, with this rarefied atmosphere — three quarters of a mile above the sea level, and yet breathing salt sea air? No such atmospheric combination exists elsewhere on the known globe, because if you get salt air anywhere else in the world you must go to sea level. So here we have a most marvelous combination which is best for vegetable life, for animal life, and for human life, making it the best country in all the world. That which was a desert and a wilderness eighty-three years ago, behold what the Lord has done! ¶

This is Zion

The people have been blessed of the Lord in very deed. This city is a marvel of beauty all through the summer. As I ride around this city, I gaze at it with wonder, with admiration. I have said in my heart a hundred times, where in all the world is there a more beautiful place than this? Beautiful indeed, beautiful for situation, is Zion. This is Zion here in these mountains. Zion in the largest sense is perhaps North and South America. Zion is in Jackson County, as we heard this morning, but here also is the Zion of our God, the mountain of the Lord's house, as President Ivins read from the prophecy of Isaiah, which I will repeat, for it is good to hear : "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house" — I take that to mean the headquarters, the chief part of it though not all of the Lord's house, for in the Livre de Mormon, First Nephi, 14th chapter, you can read that the saints of God should be scattered upon all the face of the earth ; but the biggest end of it, as we may phrase it, the "mountain" of the Lord's house "shall be established in the top of the mountains." And here it is; here we are; and the works that we have produced, I think, are good, they are constructive. What Mormonism has done is a credit. ¶

This building, built here before there was any railroad within many hundred miles of here, was a marvel at the time, is a marvel now. That temple — is it not splendid? Whether you believe in the doctrines of our faith or not you must admit that as builders, as a constructive people, a people who do things and do them right, we are entitled to some credit. You can see that in a material way our works are good, are they not? No sane man, unless prejudice has blinded him — and then he isn't sane — could say otherwise. The works speak for themselves; and the doctrine of the Église, the faith of the people, has produced this kind of works. Therefore that which produces these good things must, of necessity, be good itself, for an impure fountain will not send forth pure water. The tree is known by its fruit. Look at this block. Where will you find anything prettier in the world than this Temple block, kept up at the expense of the Église? We don't ask anybody to help us pay the expense. The Église pays it. Your tithes help to pay it, and it is a good work. Hundreds of thousands of people every year come here with a feeling in their hearts, and say, "Won't you please tell us something about your religion?" They come and ask for it. Why, here is the chance for the greatest missionary service in all the world. I don't think we quite appreciate the opportunity that we have here. And the men and women who have served here, and are serving, we owe them our thanks for the good work that they are doing — men like Brother Joseph Peery, who has given so many years of service free — in fact, everything here is free. These organ recitals every day — free. There isn't somebody standing around at every corner with a hat or a tin cup to take your money, or to beg for money. I have traveled over the world. You missionaries, you who are here by the hundreds, you know what you find in the world. It is pay, pay, pay. Well, here it is free, free, free ; free organ recitals, free choir. I want to thank Brother Anthony Lund and the choir for their splendid work. They come here Monday afternoons at 4 o'clock, and if you will turn on your radio you will hear this wonderful choir. It is heard all over the United States. We have had letters from Long Island, from New York, from Washington, from all around the surrounding country: "We heard the choir, we heard the organ, and oh, it was so good." That is all free. I want to thank those who employ the members of the choir, the merchants and others, who release them long enough to come here for a half hour on Mondays and sing, and do a good missionary work. It is all free, and it is different from anything else in the world. I am proud of it. I am proud of what has been accomplished. ¶

A Poor Man's Church

This Église is just what the Lord intended it to be — a poor man's Église. Of course, it is also for the rich, if the rich choose to come; but it has been built up by the poor. That was one of the signs that the Savior gave. When John was in prison and probably quite discouraged, he sent one or two of his disciples to Jesus, asking this question : "Art thou he that was to come, or look we for another ?" And Jesus said to those two : "You go back and tell John the sick are healed, the lame are made to walk, the dead even are raised" — because he had power to raise the dead — and as a further evidence, "the poor have the Évangile preached unto them." ¶

So, in this day, two thousand of our missionaries are out in the world, preaching — to whom? Generally speaking, to the poor, because the rich haven't time to listen to them; they are too busy and secure with their money; and it is too much of a sacrifice yet to be called a "Mormon." It is not so much as it was fifty years ago, not by a long way, but it is still a sacrifice to give up family connections and wealth, to come and throw in their lot with the Saints des Derniers Jours. The rich, as a rule, will not do it; but with the poor, it is different. Who were your fathers and mothers, all of you? Scarcely one that was not of the poor. I say that we get one thousand converts who are poor, where we get one who is rich. However, let us not overlook the fact that they are poor in worldly goods only. They are rich in spirit, rich in faith. They are the Lord's poor, and he loves them. They do not come from the dregs of society, but are of the highest type of manhood and womanhood. ¶

So the Évangile in this day as was the case in the days of the Savior, is preached to the poor. The poor have the Évangile preached to them, and it is the Évangile of Jésus-Christ. The poor, I want to tell you, have built up this Église. The poor are more faithful in devotion to the Église than are the rich, or those who are comparatively rich. That poor widow in your neighborhood, whom you know, probably washing for a living, has a son on a mission, helping to support him. She is the kind, and those like her, who are really sacrificing for this work. How much do you sacrifice? How much real sacrifice do we, who are better off, make for the work? Not so very much, because what we give we don't feel, and the reason that we don't feel it very much is because we don't give very much, in proportion to what we have. But the poor — that poor emigrant girl in your ward, who is there at fast meeting, bearing her testimony, probably in broken English, her tithing is in the hands of the bishop. Let me tell you she is helping to build up the Église, she is sacrificing. I take off my hat to such as those. I bow my head in their presence because they are better than ¶

For Building Up the Kingdom

We heard from the President of the Église that a very considerable part of the work is halted because of the lack of missionaries. With the call for missionaries comes the call for meeting houses. It is different from what it was in the world a while ago. People want to hear about Mormonism now and they want a decent place to come to that they may hear about it. So that takes a great deal of money, and we need ten times more for that same work of the Lord ; not for me, not for President Grant, not for the authorities of the Église, but for the building up of the kingdom of God. We need ten times more. And let me say, if you and I and all the rest who are well-to-do — if the entire membership of this Église, paid their tithes honestly, there would never need to be another call on the people for anything in building up the kingdom of God. The law of the Lord has provided all that would be needed. But we don't fully observe the law. We don't contribute the means that we promise, and that we are under obligation to do. Brother McKay, in the first day of conference, called attention to that very point, that you are under covenant, I am under covenant, to keep that commandment. I know some of the brethren will say: "I don't know that I have promised to pay tithing." Oh, yes you have; yes, you have. Every Sunday, if you go to fast meeting or sacrament meeting, you promise it, clearly, definitely, if not gladly. You should do it gladly, for before you eat that morsel of bread symbolizing the body, the death, burial and the resurrection of Jésus-Christ, a prayer is offered, in which you make the pledge, "that we may witness unto Thee, O God the Eternal Father" — that is a pretty solemn pledge, frères et sœurs — "witness unto thee, O God the Eternal Father, that we do remember him, that we are willing to take upon us" — willing, mind you — "willing to take upon us his name," — and what else? "And keep his commandments which he has given us." Isn't that a pledge? Isn't that your promise? Well, we haven't kept it. We don't keep it. And so the Église hasn't means enough to help carry on and build up the work of the Lord. ¶

Here is what the Lord says about the poor. It is in the Doctrine et Alliances, Section thirty-five: ¶

"And the poor and the meek shall have the Évangile preached unto them, and they shall be looking forth for the time of my coming, for it is nigh at hand." ¶

[FR] Then again, section fifty-six : ¶

[FR] "Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls ; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation — The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved ! ¶

[FR] "Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men's goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands ! ¶

[FR] "But blessed are the poor who are pure in heart, whose hearts are broken, and whose spirits are contrite, for they shall see the kingdom of God coming in power and great glory unto their deliverance; for the fatness of the earth shall be theirs. ¶

[FR] "For behold, the Lord shall come, and his recompense shall be with him, and he shall reward every man, and the poor shall rejoice; ¶

[FR] "And their generations shall inherit the earth from generation to generation, for ever and ever." ¶

In This Goodly Land

[FR] Those are the promises made to the poor. We, descendants of the poor, are placed in this wonderful, goodly land, with riches, with abundance ; and yet we are so stingy, I was going to say. Our hearts are not what the Lord would like them to be, for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, not a stingy giver. It will not bring so much blessing if it is given niggardly. ¶

[FR] I recall hearing Brother Golden Kimball tell of his father, who happened to come into possession of a very fine horse, a beautiful horse, and the boys thought they needed it; whereas he, Brother Kimball, thought he had better pay it in on tithing — for we used to pay in kind, in those days, when there wasn't any money in this country ; wheat was paid, and butter and eggs, cattle and sheep, and everything that was produced. Well, this was a beautiful horse, and the boys thought they ought to keep him. Finally Brother Kimball had to say: "You take that horse right down to the bishop there in the tithing office, before my heart puckers up." ¶

[FR] Well, we figure out how little we can pay, and our hearts "pucker" up, and we don't keep the covenant, the pledge we make every Sabbath day at the sacrament table. And yet I don't want to scold. Rather I want to bless ; it is in my heart to bless, to bless the faithful workers, for after all, are we not the best people in all the world? I don't want to be associated, here or hereafter, with any other kind of people than my own. They are good people. ¶

Signs of the Times

I see the signs of the times that have been pointed out to you and those who try to watch for them. Brother Young has mentioned Ramsay MacDonald, Premier of the British empire, coming over here to talk peace, to try to help to bring peace to the world, — blessed peace! Herbert Hoover, the farmer's son, grown up from a poor boy who had to work his way through school, standing at the head of the greatest nation on earth, and Ramsay MacDonald, one of the poor, the poor exalted, meeting there this day in those Virginia hills and talking things that are of most momentous concern to the whole world. I bless the Lord for them. As far as I have authority to bless — and I have, as an elder of the Église — I bless Herbert Hoover in the great effort that he is making now, and I bless Ramsay MacDonald, and ask God to bless them, that they may do that which makes for righteousness. ¶

Blessings Invoked

[FR] In the president's office the other day, when Ramsay MacDonald was landing at the pier in New York, we turned on the radio — wonderful radio — and we could hear the whistle of the steamship blow; we could hear the tumult and the shouting and all the rest of it, the bands playing; and after they got up to the city hall we heard Ramsay MacDonald's rich, Scotch voice; he rolled out his r's when he said: "We want to bring peace to the wor-rld," and I enjoyed it. It was music to my soul, and I said in my heart and soul, "God bless you." I say it now before this congregation. By the power and authority of the holy priesthood that I hold, I bless the President of the United States and the Premier of Great Britain, that God Almighty may give them success and blessing from the Lord. ¶

I bless you, mes frères et sœurs, by that same power and that same authority, that our hearts may be opened to the work of the Lord, and that we may not fail in keeping the covenants we make. ¶

I bless my brethren here on this stand. I want to say here that with the General Authorities of the Église I don't believe there ever was a time in the history of this Église when there was more unanimity, more of fellowship, more of real effort, so far as we are able to put effort forth. There may have been greater men; doubtless were ; but for real united effort, united strength, and the power of God, never has there been, in the history of this Église, a more United band of brethren than the General Authorities of the Église are this day. I glory in it. I quote with pleasure the prophecy made, I think by Isaiah, when the Lord should bring again Zion, and he is bringing it now. ¶

[FR] "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together they shall sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." ¶

That is the condition today. I bear witness of it. I bless the President of this Église for his integrity, for his humility and meekness and power. I bless his counselors, that they may be helps to him; also the Twelve, and the Patriarch. I bless the Patriarch with all my heart, that he may be healed. I bless the Presidents of Seventies, the Presiding Bishopric, and all you presidents of stakes, and bishops of wards, and every faithful worker, male and female. I bless you sisters, who so nobly and efficiently direct the splendid labors of your organizations. You are not stingy like your husbands are. I mean it. You are not that kind. You give more freely. God bless you. I bless you all in the name of the Lord Jésus-Christ. — Amen. ¶