(President of Northern States Mission.)

(President of Northern States Mission.) ¶

My brethren and sisters, in listening to the testimony of President Joseph F. Smith at the beginning of our conference, I was impressed with the strength of the same ; and my mind went back over his life. I thought of how the Lord had prepared him to do the work that he has done during his life-time, and the labors that he is now doing and how he had been prepared to bear the powerful testimony that he gave to the Latter-day Saints concerning Christ, and the gospel that has been established in the earth. ¶

I was reminded of Joseph who was sold into Egypt as a boy, how he was isolated from his parents, and how he grew up in a foreign land, and yet God prepared him to save His people. Following my thought of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, I remembered the lonely life of John the Baptist, and how God prepared him for his life work. Our Heavenly Father gave his mother a witness of the mission that he would perform in the earth, and no doubt, as other mothers teach their sons, this mother taught her son the mission that he would have to perform. ¶

Following John the Baptist, I remembered the life of Christ and the fore-knowledge of his mother. Early in life Jesus declared to His mother, and to the world, that He "must be about His Father's business." While we have little knowl- ¶

edge of His life after that until He began His great ministry in the earth, there is no doubt that on many occasions He had revealed to Him, in harmony with His mother's teachings, that He was indeed the Son of God. which prepared Him to know what He was about when He went to John the Baptist and asked for baptism, and to know the mission that He had to perform in the earth. Being thus early prepared. He was strengthened for the great labors devolving upon Him in doing His Father's will. ¶

As in days of old, our Father took Joseph Smith, as a boy and prepared him for his life's mission. I have often told the people what a wonderful thing it was for Joseph Smith to believe in the things he taught to the world. How wonderful it would be to the young men in the world if they believed, as Joseph Smith did, that the heavens had been opened and that God had spoken to them. Instead of spending their lives from fourteen to eighteen in foolish play, it would settle them in their life's mission. The Prophet Joseph Smith was so settled when, from the age of fourteen to eighteen the weight of his mission rested upon him, and he prayed. "O, Father, I can stand this no longer." In answer to that prayer, an angel came with additional light, with more evidence concerning the great work he was to perform. Although every additional thing that our Father imparted to him increased the responsibility, he was prepared for his life's labor. ¶

It has given me a great deal of joy, to visit the noted places in Church history. When I visited the home of the Prophet Joseph Smith and took into account that he was a ¶

humble boy, who had never prayed in public in his life, I felt that I could sympathize with him, as he went seeking a secluded place where he could talk to his Father alone. In listening to many ministers at a revival he was convinced in his heart that some of the churches were wrong, and desired in his soul to know which one was right. He sought a place that he might ask his Father in heaven concerning these things. Leaving the house, he crossed the road and passed through the barn down to the little meadow and across the creek into the wood, three hundred yards from the house. In the seclusion of that grove he knelt down and supplicated his God to know which of all the churches was right. Answering the humble petition, our Father in heaven manifested Himself unto him, together with His Son, Jesus Christ, and thus the last dispensation of the gospel was ushered in. I have wished that hundreds of the young men in Zion at the early age of fourteen years, could have some such experience come into their lives to settle them in their mission in the earth. It has been my privilege to labor with a thousand young men in the Northern States Mission. They are good, clean, honest boys, but they have not in their lives a conviction so settled and a purpose so fixed as had the Prophet Joseph Smith. If they had half the faith that Joseph Smith possessed at fourteen years of age, they would be greater and more powerful missionaries than they are today. Yet, after they have been there a while, and undergo a few trials and some persecutions, be turned away without a bed and hungry, they find that God is their only friend, and a portion of ¶

the spirit that filled the Prophet Joseph Smith comes upon these elders. Before two years are over, they, too, are powerful in their ministrations under the influence of the Spirit of God, in their declaration to the world that our Father has established His Church and kingdom in the earth. ¶

The Prophet Joseph Smith, as a boy of fourteen, knew beyond question or doubt that God lives, and that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, for the Father made it known unto him in his youth and it continued with him all the days of his life. ¶

We often hear that God established this latter-day work through the boy-Prophet Joseph Smith. He was a boy in years, but not a boy in experience. Our Father in heaven took Joseph Smith as a boy and gave him the greatest lesson that has been given to man since Jesus Christ was upon the earth. It so impressed his life, and weighed so much upon his mind, that he declared, "I can stand the power and influence of this lesson no longer." Continuing his education God sent angels to him, and year by year schooled him until he was about twenty-four years of age. He then brought him out of that school a post-graduate, as it were, in the knowledge of God and the things of God. He had little knowledge concerning the affairs of men in the earth, and in order to fill the great mission to which he had been called he had to follow the commands of God. ¶

So Joseph Smith, taught of God, prepared of our Father, learned of Him, established this work, no longer a boy but a man, and a Prophet in . his knowledge of the things of God. ¶

As before remarked, I have often wished that our sons and daughters, the young men and young women of Zion could have a similar impress in their lives, so that, instead of wasting much of their time in frivolity, they could feel a portion of the responsibility that Joseph Smith felt. We have a mission in the earth and ought to be well prepared to deliver to men this message that our Father has committed unto us. It is our mission to preach Christ and Him crucified. It is our mission to proclaim to the world that the heavens have been opened and the gospel message delivered anew to mankind for their salvation. ¶

I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, in the life of Joseph Smith and how God prepared him for his great mission in the world. He prepared in a similar manner Joseph of old. He prepared John the Baptist, He gave to His only begotten Son the knowledge of who He was, and reared Him under that influence to be the Redeemer of the world. He prepared Joseph Smith also, to perform a great mission in these last days, prepared him as an instrument to establish the Church and kingdom of our Father. As Latter-day Saints we rejoice in the great truths that God has given to us through the humble boy Joseph Smith. We feel that they have come from our Father. In mingling together in general conference we build up our faith in God and go home congratulating each other that we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

True, my brethren and sisters, we are called upon, as other peoples have been, to make sacrifice for this great work. We call it a sacrifice, ¶

but I wonder if any of us begrudge the labors we have done, if any of us would recall the time and means we have expended in declaring to the world this message of glad tidings. I would not. I feel that I have been paid many times over for the time and all the means that I have expended in preaching to the world this glorious message. I love the world and the men and women in it who love truth and righteousness. There are thousands of them, and when their eyes are opened and they understand, as we understand, they will be just as eager as we to do the will of the Father. Sometimes I wonder if they, with their education and learning, should embrace the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, if the young men of Zion would not lose their place, while those now outside become teachers of the people of Zion. I sometimes feel that the young men and young women of Zion have too easy a life. Mother and father have killed the snakes, grubbed the brush, dug the ditches, and now we are basking in the sunshine, and enjoying the luxuries that they have prepared for us, instead of bumping against the hard things of the world and preparing ourselves for our life's mission, as they prepared themselves. ¶

Joseph who was sold into Egypt felt his isolation and loneliness, no doubt John the Baptist felt his isolation ; and the Savior of the world, as he stood among those wise men, at twelve years of age, felt how lonely He was. I am sure after He had His great temptation and the angels of our Father came and administered to Him, He felt comforted in His great loneliness. I am sure the Prophet Joseph Smith felt greatly relieved when he took the three witnesses into the woods and there had the privilege of sharing with them the great burden that he had been carrying alone. Again, in the manifestations in Kirtland Temple, I am sure his heart rejoiced when he was able to share a portion of the burden that had been resting upon him for years. Lincoln, and Washington, and other great men in this world have felt the responsibility of their life's mission, and at times experienced loneliness, but it prepared them to do the great work they each have done in life. ¶

Now, I am reminded of our present President of the Church, how, as a boy, he crossed these plains with a widowed mother ; how, as a boy, he was under the benign influence of that saddened though strong hearted mother, a mother who assumed in full the responsibility she owed to her children. As a boy he must have felt sometimes that all things were against him ; yet he cheerfully responded when sent to the Sandwich Islands on a mission at the tender age of fifteen, to declare the truths that had left him without a father's care. I feel sure that the hard experiences he had in early life helped to mould his character, therefore it is no wonder he speaks to us today in power and declares, with a testimony that goes to the heart of every man and woman honest in soul, that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. ¶

As I have said, my brethren and sisters, our Father has prepared men in their youth, throughout all the world, to do the great work they accomplished in after years. Take Samuel the Prophet, King David, and hundreds of others that our Father has used ; He has prepared them early in life, and told ¶

them what their mission would be. Now, the young men and young women of the Latter-day Saints, through the teaching of their mothers and fathers, ought to know what their life's mission is, and prepare in seriousness, early in life to carry to the world the great message, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that His gospel has been established in the last days for the salvation of the children of men. If we, as His chosen people in this day, as His favored people, with this glorious testimony, do not do the work that rests upon us, our Father will raise up sons and daughters who will do it in an acceptable manner before Him ! ¶

I believe the Latter-day Saints, as a whole, realize their great mission, and are preparing themselves and their children to do this work ; but, although the missionaries that come to us in the Northern States are good young men, I find that many of them have had life too easy, they have not felt responsibility enough at home. Few of them have preached much, if any at home. Few of them have done enough in family worship in their homes. I think that we should add a little more responsibility to our sons and daughters, and give them just a little more practical religion in the tender years of their life. We ought to put our arms around them and impress upon them like Mary did upon her son, His life's mission; like Elizabeth impressed upon her son, the mission he was to perform, and like the mother of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith impressed upon her son what his life's mission was. He has been schooled with the prophets from tender boyhood, and no wonder his testimony thrills the Latter-day Saints. We ¶

ought to heed his counsel, and walk uprightly as he does. We ought to follow the commandments the Lord gives through him, and bless God for his example, his character, and his testimony to us that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. ¶

May our Father help us, and prepare us for the great mission to declare to the world, that God our Father lives, that Jesus Christ is His Son, and that He has established His work in the earth, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶