My heart is full of joy and thanksgiving

My heart is full of joy, and thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father for the privilege I have in attending this conference. I trust, my brethren and sisters, that during the few minutes I stand before you I will be aided by the Spirit of the Lord, and that I will have your faith and prayers that what I say may be in accordance with the mind and will of God. ¶

In looking over this congregation, I see many generations represented, men and women who have kept the faith, and now have the opportunity of meeting loved ones and enjoying many blessings, in some instances receiving the fulfillment of promises given unto them in the old world by the servants of the Lord, that inasmuch as they would accept the Gospel and gather to Zion they should be blessed, and that they would increase in knowledge and spiritual strength. ¶

I am thankful this morning, and every day of my life, that I have been permitted to come here and dwell among Saints of God. I am thankful that my grand-parents accepted the gospel, and that my father and mother brought me to the land of Zion ; that makes me to belong to the third generation in the Church. I am also thankful that the fourth generation of my family line is doing something for the work of the Lord, that they are willing to go out and proclaim glad tidings of great joy to the inhabitants of the earth, and warn mankind of the judgments that will befall the wicked if they will not repent. This gives me joy and satisfaction, it brings peace to my soul. We have been told this morning, by Elder Pratt, that the Gospel brings peace and joy to the hearts of men and women ; it makes bad men good, and good men better if they do that which the Lord requires at their hands from time to time. If we will do this we will be blessed, and enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, and we will not fall by the wayside. ¶

I am thankful that we are living in an age when we have prophets of the Lord in our midst, living oracles of God. We should be a better people. Those who have been reared in these valleys of the mountains, born of godly parents, ought to be better men and women than the people of the world, for the reason that they have greater opportunities and greater blessings. They have not been trained in the traditions of the world, as our forefathers were. Our parents were taught in their childhood, many of them, to worship a God without body, parts or passions, and they grew up with this idea until the servants of the Lord proclaimed in ¶

their hearing, that God had again spoken from the heavens and revealed the Gospel to the earth, and that Joseph Smith was the one chosen to bring about His purposes. Although but a boy, Joseph humbled himself, and was in such a condition that he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and was permitted, in vision, to see the Father and the Son. There were some ideas that our fathers and mothers, in the world, had to get rid of, many traditions. Those that are born here have had the glorious opportunity of learning the truth, from their infancy. Young men and women bear testimony that this is the work of the Lord, that Jesus is the Christ, and they cannot tell you when they first received that testimony. They were born with the testimony in their hearts. Their fathers and mothers enjoyed the testimony of Jesus, they complied with the ordinances of the Gospel, paid their tithes and offerings to the Lord, and the boys and girls grow up with those principles implanted in their hearts, and they pay their tithes and offerings and follow in the faith of their fathers. I tell you, fathers and mothers, there is nothing that can bring more joy and peace to the Latter-day Saints than to have their boys and girls receive a testimony of the Gospel, and obey its principles. ¶

I was very much pleased with the spirit of the morning session of our conference, yesterday; the key-note was given, and it appears to me that reform will result. It is right that something should be said to the Latter-day Saints, and to the world, that the wayward might repent and turn unto the Lord, and worship Him more fully in the future than they have in the past. We have been ¶

taught the Gospel principles from our youth up, they have been' preached continuously to the inhabitants of Zion. We find ourselves somewhat in the same condition the members of the Church were in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith, when the Lord saw fit to give a revelation concerning the young people, and said that inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, and teach them not the principles of the Gospel, condemnation would fall upon their heads. The Lord was displeased at that time, because many of the children were growing up in unbelief, their eyes were set upon the things of the world more than the things of God, and that warning was given. The same admonition applies unto the Latter-day Saints today as it did at that time. I have never lost anything, spiritually or temporally, by listening to the servants of the Lord and following their instructions. I do not believe that there is a man or a woman within the sound of my voice that can truthfully say they have ever lost anything in this world's goods by laboring for the kingdom of God and the establishment of righteousness in the earth. ¶

I bear testimony that I know God lives, that He hears and answers the prayers of the Saints, those that draw near unto Him. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that we have prophets, seers and revelators in our midst today, through whom we may receive instructions from God for the guidance of this people. I have also found out that it pays to stay with the body of the Church ; that has been my experience, and I desire to remain with the Church always. I am thankful that I continue to have a name and standing in the ¶

Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. ¶

May the Lord bless us, my brethren and sisters, that we may be entitled to His Spirit day by day, that we may not turn to the right nor to the left, but keep the Spirit within us that will lead us unto eternal life. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶