Diligence in Preaching the Gospel Increases Faith of the Preachers

I am happy in having the opportunity of again meeting with the Latter-day Saints in general conference. I have thoroughly enjoyed my labors during the past six months in traveling among the different stakes of Zion, and in visiting two of the missions in the east. I rejoice in finding the Latter-day Saints, who are faithful and diligent in serving the Lord, growing in the light and knowledge of the gospel, growing in a love of the truth and in a determination to do all in their power for the spread of the gospel at home and abroad. I am very happy in contemplating the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace, joy and happiness to every soul who embraces it, and who lives it. I rejoice in the fact that the more we do in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we love the truth, the stronger is our faith, the more perfect and absolute is our testimony regarding the divinity of this work. ¶

To me one of the greatest of all the great testimonies of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged is the fact that all those who go out to proclam it, and who live virtuous and upright lives, return to us with a burning testimony of this work, and bear witness to those at home that the most profitable and the happiest time of their lives has been while they have been proclaiming the truth. The Spirit of the Lord accompanies the elders. God blesses those who go forth to preach this gospel. If this gospel were not the truth, honest, prayerful, diligent, humble men would discover that fact, but I have yet to hear of one man in all the eighty odd years that this gospel has been preached, who has gone forth to proclaim it and who has been a diligent, faithful man, who has returned and announced that he has discovered that they have the gospel of Christ in some other land or some other clime. But I have heard of thousands who have studied other gospels, tens of thousands ; I have known many who have been members of many different denominations, who never found peace and joy and perfect contentment until they embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a very difficult thing to undertake to tell a lie and to maintain it. A writer in a book entitled "The Power of Truth" says that lies are fearsome things, and that they have to travel in battalions, that they are like a lot of drunken men, one holding up the other. But, he says, truth can stand alone, it needs no chaperone; and this is true. ¶

This gospel of Jesus Christ has been taught during the past eighty odd years, and all of those who have gone forth to proclaim it have taught the one and the same gospel. There has been no schism, there has been no disagreement. There has been nothing but an increase of ¶

faith and a love of the truth that has come to those who have gone forth in humility to spread this gospel of Jesus Christ. It is in very deed the power of God unto salvation, and the people know it, and the people love the truth. Wherever I go among them, whenever the Lord blesses me with liberty to preach this gospel to the people, I can see in their countenances that they rejoice in the witness of the Spirit ; that they drink in the words that are given to them; and after meetings, and people shake hands with you, you feel that there is a determination in their hearts to serve God and keep His commandments. ¶

The Latter-day Saints do in very deed thank God for a prophet to guide them in these latter days. The Latter-day Saints do enjoy singing the song by Brother John Jaques, "O Say What Is Truth?" They rejoice in this gospel and all the teachings of it in the scriptures and in the inspired hymns that we have received. I rejoice in it beyond my power to tell. I enjoy mingling among the Latter-day Saints. I enjoy visiting the households of the Latter-day Saints and conversing with them, and I want to bear my testimony, in connection with that of the others which have been borne, that there are no better people in any land or in any clime. There are no more honest people than the Latter-day Saints. The business integrity of every true Latter-day Saint is perfect. No man who is a Latter-day Saint but what is living a virtuous, upright, honest and a true life. No matter what may be said against an individual, it has no effect upon that individual if it is false, and no man can say that any man who lives up to the ¶

teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but what that man is a good citizen, that he is a good man, that he desires the welfare of his fellow men, and that his example is above reproach. ¶

I believe that the Latter-day Saints are endeavoring to live up to the teachings of the Savior. I believe that they follow more perfectly the admonitions of the Savior in His sermon upon the mount than any other people. I believe that there is a living, vital force among the people which cannot be found elsewhere. I not only believe this, but I know it. Where are there any other people who make the same sacrifices, that is, sacrifices in the eyes of the world? You and I cannot make any sacrifice for this gospel. Life eternal is the greatest of all of the gifts of God to man, therefore there is no labor that can be required of us whereby we can gain this greatest of all God's blessings, that can be called a sacrifice. It is a privilege for us to learn the lessons that devolve upon us. I thank God for the privilege of paying tithing. I rejoice in having the opportunity of showing my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for His mercies to me. I thank the Lord for the opportunity of contributing of the means that come to me for the erection of meeting-houses, of schoolhouses, of temples, and for the opportunity of going forth to proclaim this gospel. ¶

I have been suffering for several days with a slight cold, and I find that I am rasping my throat. I have pitched my voice a little bit too high, therefore I will close my remarks, by praying God to bless you. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the ¶

true and the living God, and that we have the truth ; and I know that Joseph F. Smith is the prophet of God, and that the inspiration of God guides him. May the Latter-day Saints be loyal and true, I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. . ¶

Miss Josie Hinckley sang a soprano solo, entitled, "Jesus, Our Savior." ¶