Closing Address: Love, Goodwill, and Blessings Upon the Saints

Love, goodwill, and devotion manifest by the people.— Blessings pronounced upon all the faithful, Priesthood and Saints.— Words of blessing, commendation, and encouragement for the singers, their leader, the organist, etc. — The Apostles, Patriarch, and veteran workers for Zion blessed.— Earnest prayer for mercy upon his slanderers and enemies of the Church— Appeal to the Saints to be living witnesses, that "Mormonism" is God's work. ¶

I desire, very briefly, as the time is already spent, on behalf of myself and my counselors, and also on behalf of the Quorum of the Apostles, the Presiding Patriarch, the Presiding Bishopric and others of the general authorities of the Church represented at this conference, to offer to you, ye men and women of Israel, our most sincere thanks and gratitude, both to you and to our Father in heaven, for your prompt, faithful and numerous attendance at this conference, for the splendid spirit you have manifested, for the union that has characterized all our assemblies, for the love and goodwill shown by all who have met here in the name of the Lord; and I say, in the name of the Lord, be ye blessed, in your basket and in your store, in your outgoing and in your incoming, in the labor of your hands and in the labor of your minds, and in your prayers and your devotion to the cause of Zion. May the Spirit and power and light of the living God shine upon you, and move you to acts of righteousness, of truth, of union, of strength and of power in the Priesthood of God which you hold, and which blessings have been pronounced upon you in sacred places by those who held the keys and authority to bless on earth and you will be blessed in heaven, to bind on earth and it will be bound in heaven, and to loose on earth and it will be loosed in heaven. God bless you. These mighty men who sit before this stand, clothed with power from Almighty God, they are not self-called. They have not been chosen by man. They have not chosen themselves. But they have been called by the power of the Almighty to stand in high places in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as Presidents, as fathers to the people, as counselors, as judges, and as leaders, walking in the way that the people of God should follow them into all truth and into the possession of greater light, greater power and wisdom and understanding. God bless you, my brethren. And while you stand united, as you have stood in the past, and as you have manifested your union here during this conference, so God will magnify you before your flocks and in the midst of your people, and will increase your power and your strength to do good and to accomplish His purposes, until you shall be satisfied with your labors and have exceeding great joy therein; and your people will rise up and call you blessed, they will pray for you and sustain you by their faith and good works. Let us go home strengthened, built up, encouraged, and more determined than ever before to serve God and Him obey. No matter what the world thinks or anybody says, let us do our duty; and in the language of Joshua let us say, "as for me and my house, we will serve God." Let this be the sentiment of every heart represented at this vast conference. ¶

In behalf of you who are assembled here, my brethren and sisters, I desire to extend thanks and gratitude to Evan Stephens — a man gifted of God, talented in music, in poetry and in song, and above and beyond all that, a man gifted with humility and with faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who is not only diligent in his labors here with this great choir, but who is faithful in his soul to the cause of Zion. He bears testimony to the truth in song and praise. I want to say, in behalf of this vast assembly, Brother Evan Stephens, God bless you and keep you long in the service in which you are engaged for the people of God and for the cause of Zion, and in behalf of this great choir. And then, in behalf of this congregation, too, I extend our appreciation and our gratitude to Brother John J. McClelian, and his assistants. We thank God that He has given us boys and girls, born and reared in our midst, that possess talent equal to that possessed by any men or women born in the world. We will not admit that they are second to any. I thank God also, in your behalf, for this choir, who have devoted hours, days, weeks and months, aye, and years, in the service of the people; who have won a name that is enviable, not only among the Latter-day Saints and the people of Utah, but a name that has extended beyond our borders to the uttermost parts of the earth. God bless you [speaking to the choir], you men and boys of Israel and you daughters of Zion. Peace be unto you. May your voices ever ring clear and true in the songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God for His mercies and kindnesses unto His people. The Lord preserve you. Be not discouraged easily. Attend to your duty, follow your file leaders, be united, and seek to make melody in the worship of Almighty God, who has given to you your precious voices and has put it into your hearts to labor in the capacity of a choir for the benefit of Zion. The Lord bless you, and. He will bless you; and in the name of Israel's God, as a servant of the Lord, I bless you. ¶

Again, in my own behalf, and in behalf of my counselors, President Winder and President Lund, I want to thank these my fellow-servants in the Apostleship. They are true men. They are honest men. They are God's servants, and I know it. I am intimate with them, I live with them, I labor with them, and I know their hearts and their works. Their lives are open unto me, and unto the living God; they are true men, and I bless them. God bless these my brethren. They are true to the Father, and I know that so long as they are true to Him they will be true to all the interests of His people, and true to His servants, and no power can turn them from God's cause. ¶

God bless and preserve my brother, the Presiding Patriarch of the Church. May the Lord lend unto Him the enlightening, invigorating power of the Holy Ghost, that in His administrations as a Patriarch to the people he may speak the truth, and only the truth, and that his words may be words of soberness and knowledge, words of comfort and consolation to those on whom he lays his hands, that they may go away from his administration blessed in very deed. ¶

I want to bless some of my veteran friends who are here. I say, God bless you, brethren. You and I have grown grey in the cause of Zion. You have ever been on the frontiers of danger, as protectors of the rights of the people and as protectors of the servants of the Lord from those who would injure and do them harm. I say, God bless you, and He will bless you, and I bless you in the name of Israel's God. ¶

Let the Lord God have mercy upon those, that seek to hurt the cause of Zion. O God, pity the misguided, the erring, the foolish, the unwise. Put Thy Spirit in their hearts, turn them from the error of their ways and from their follies, and bring them back into the way of righteousness and into Thy favor. I ask mercy for my enemies — those that lie about me and slander me, and that speak all maner of evil gainst me falsely. In return, I beseech God my Heavenly Father to have mercy upon them; for those who do it not knowing what they are doing are only misguided, and those who are doing it with their eyes open certainly need, most of all, the mercy, compassion and pity of God. May God pity them. May He have mercy upon them. I would not harm a hair of their head, for all I am worth in the world. I would not throw a block in their way to prosperity. No; and I beseech my brethren that they keep hands off the enemies of our people and those who are paving their own road to destruction and will not repent, who are sinning with their eyes open, who know that they are transgressing the laws of God and villifying and lying against the servants of the Lord. Have mercy upon them. Do not touch them; for that is just what they would like. Let them alone. Let them go. Give them the liberty of speech they want. Let them tell their own story, and write their own doom. We can afford it. They do not hurt us, and if it affords them any amusement, I am sure they are welcome to it. ¶

I feel like blessing the quorums of the Priesthood, every one of them, from the High Priests to the Deacons. I pray God, my Heavenly Father to remember them in their organizations, to help them, that they may magnify the Priesthood they hold and do the will of the Father; that the Seventies may be minute men, instant in season and out of season, ready and willing to respond to the calls that are made upon them to go and preach the Gospel to the world. Gather in from the Elders quorums those who have proven themselves, worthy and who have gained experience, and make Seventies of them, so that the quorum of the Seventies may be replenished; and the aged ones, whose physical condition will not permit them any longer to do missionary duty in the world, let them be ordained High Priests and Patriarchs, to bless the people and to minister at home. Gather in the strong, the vigorous, the young, the able-bodied, who have the spirit of the Gospel in their hearts, to fill up the ranks of the Seventies, that we may have ministers to preach the Gospel to the world. They are needed. We cannot now meet the demand. ¶

I feel like blessing the auxiliary organizations, which are so powerful in wielding influences for good among the youth of Zion. May the Lord bless them, one and all, and make them to continue to be useful in their callings, that they may be able to magnify them in honor before God in all the world. Peace be unto those that preside in all these organizations, that they may be equal to the duties that devolve upon them. ¶

God bless you all. May peace abound with you. Let this assembly of His people come up as a witness unto God and unto the world that "Mormonism" is a living, moving entity; that it is not dead nor sleeping, but that it is alive and awake, growing and advancing in the land; and let the world know it. Amen. ¶