Closing Remarks

Before dismissing this Conference I want to say a few words to the Latter-day Saints. The Lord has said, by revelation, to those who hold the keys of the Kingdom of God: “Whomsoever thou shalt bless I will bless and whomsoever thou shalt curse I will curse.” I have traveled something like a hundred and seventy-five thousand miles in my day and time, and I have preached the Gospel to the nations, to the islands of the sea and to my own country. I have met, in some instances, men who professed to have faith in God and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have stood up before me and cursed the Prophet of God, Joseph Smith, and blasphemed the name of God. But in the midst of all these things, I have never seen a moment of my life when I felt to curse anybody. I hope I never shall. But I have told these men, under these circumstances, that the curse of God would overtake them; and in no instance, when I have been moved upon to say that, has it ever fallen unfulfilled; for they have been marked cases of the judgments of God overtaking them. But with regard to blessing, I will say, if there was ever an hour in my life that I felt to bless the Latter-day Saints, it is at the present time. My heart is drawn out with love and gratitude towards God and my brethren with whom I am surrounded. I have been sustained as a weak instrument in the hands of God as the President of this Church. Since I have been called to this office I have been sustained by the Latter-day Saints, and for over fifty years of my life as an Apostle. Why should not my heart be drawn out in love towards such a people? The world know not the love of the Latter-day Saints. They do not comprehend it. It never entered into their souls. I am surrounded here with Prophets, Apostles, Elders and Saints of the living God; and in the morning of the resurrection, when they come out of their graves, they will pass by the Gods and the angels who are set there to watch the interests of the celestial world; they will go to those thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers which have been ordained of God for them to occupy—those who dwell in this dispensation as well as in other ages of the world. If I am faithful, I shall meet you there; I shall meet this people there; I shall meet these Saints of the Living God there. Therefore, I feel it is my privilege to bless the Latter-day Saints. I cannot go abroad, as a man, and spread this Gospel to the world and administer to them the ordinances thereof, to have any effect, without the Holy Priesthood; and I, as a man, cannot bless the inhabitants of the earth, so that the Lord is bound to acknowledge it, only by the power of the Holy Priesthood; and that power I feel to exercise at the present time in blessing my brethren and sisters. ¶

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I feel to bless my Counselors—Presidents Geo. Q. Cannon and Jos. F. Smith. They have stood by me in all the labors of life, as far as we have been associated, since we have entered into the new and everlasting covenant. On the same principle, I feel to bless these Apostles who surround me. We have been united. We are united in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have the gratitude of my heart for the labors of love and life which they have carried out in their day and time. I feel to bless the Presidents of the Seventies, with all their quorums in this Church, with every blessing that I have power to bestow upon them, as a servant of the Living God. I feel to bless the High Priests, who bear the high and Holy Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec—their Presidents and all who belong to the quorums. I also feel to bless the thousands of the Elders of Israel who have entered into covenant with the lord, who have received a portion of the Melchisedec—their Presidents and all who belong to the quorums. I also feel to bless the thousands of the Elders of Israel who have entered into covenant with the Lord, who have received a portion of the Melchisedec Priesthood, and who have gone forth and been faithful in the ordinances of the House of God. I feel to bless the Bishopric and the Lesser Priesthood, which is after the order of Aaron—the first Priesthood sealed upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist, who held it, and who laid down his own life for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel to bless these Latter-day Saints, as fathers and mothers, as brothers and sisters, in all the ordinances of the House of God. I feel to bless them in their families, in their flocks, and in their herds, and in all they put their hands unto. As far as I have the power to bless, they have the blessings of my heart and my spirit, in every sense of the word. And I say to all Israel, God bless you. ¶

Let us live, brethren and sisters, that when we have finished our work and our testimony, as other generations have done, we will receive the same exaltation and glory. The world do not know you. The world do not know this work. They do not understand it. They have not entered into the spirit of it; they never will, except they obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the law of the celestial kingdom. ¶