I am very much surprised to be

I am very much surprised to be called upon to speak before this great congregation of Latter-day Saints, and desire that while I do stand before you I may have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that what I shall say may be dictated by it. I rejoice with all my soul in the testimonies heard during this conference, respecting the ministry of the servants of God, who have been raised up to establish his work on the earth in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. ¶

I have listened with interest to the testimonies concerning the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost that characterized the ministry of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. I did not know him, personally, though in the study of his life and ministry sometimes it has almost seemed to me that I did know him, and that I do know him ; for I have been reared from my childhood to love him, and to honor him, and to rejoice in his ministry, and in the fact that God called him. I did, however, know his successor in the presidency of the Church, President Brigham Young, from my infancy. I have sat upon his knees. He was a familiar guest at my mother's table. I have traveled from one end of the State of Utah to the other with him, when he journeyed among the people, teaching and instructing them in the principles of life, in the principles of domestic economy, in the principles of correct government; how to establish a commonwealth, and to build up the people in accordance with the design of our Father in heaven, in these Rocky Mountains. I was called in my youth to go upon a foreign mission. He placed his hands upon my head and set me apart, and bestowed upon me a blessing, a prophetic blessing. To the extent that I have adhered to the admonition of that blessing, I have realized that he was a prophet of God ; that he foresaw and knew wherein I might be of service, and his words have been fulfilled upon me. I knew him to be a gentleman, a man of pure life, a man of great beneficence, charity, and loving kindness, and a man whom children loved. He was a man to be respected by those of his faith and those not of his faith, a commanding character, a leader among men, a governor, a guide, a counselor, a friend, a father. At his direction I later undertook a mission among the youth of Zion, and established the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations. ¶

I knew his successor, President John Taylor, and I had a testimony given to me in this house, at the time that the quorums of the Priesthood were assembled to sustain him as president of the Church. There were things that caused my heart to tremble upon that occasion. But God gave to me a testimony and the power to stand up and raise my hand before God and my fellow men, to sustain him as president, as prophet, seer and revelator of this Church, and I did, and I do. I learned to honor him and to love him and to respect him, to recognize in him a servant of the true and living God ; the champion of liberty, a man who had an understanding heart, a man who knew government, who knew the law, and helped make it, who understood the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who ministered to this people in great power and in righteousness. I bear my testimony concerning him, that in the labor, which he asked me to continue, that I had been set apart to accomplish among the young men of Zion, he took me one day by the hand in his office, and he gave me counsel and advice, and bestowed upon me a blessing, the fulfilment of which I have lived to realize. It was prophetic, and I know, because of my personal relationship with that man in his ministry, that he was a servant of God and a prophet, and spoke by the inspiration and foresight of the Spirit of God. ¶

As to his successor, President Wilford Woodruff, who was the first General Superintendent of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, I was intimately associated with him in that work. I have traveled with him and slept with him. I have listened by day and by night to his counsel. I have shown to him my heart, and he has read it through and through, and has said to me things that I would not dare and would not attempt to utter before my fellow men, that were full of comfort, that were full of help, that were full of encouragement, full of kindness and love ; and I love the memory of Wilford Woodruff. There is one thing he went to the Lord for in our behalf, for which the youth of this people should hold him in high reverence forever and ever, and I will relate it. There was a time when through the slackness, through the carelessness of the youth of this people, that their fathers had great concern as to whether they would qualify to succeed them in bearing off the responsibility of this work, in maintaining the testimony that the early apostles and pioneers, that the founders of the Church had established ; and sometimes this apprehension would be heard in the congregations of Israel ; men of the older time would rise and express a fear that when they should pass away the work might suffer. President Woodruff, to a certain degree, not very fully, shared this apprehension. He went into the woods upon a certain occasion and prayed to God and asked him concerning the condition of the youth of his people, and God answered him and God revealed to him that: "I have those already among the youth of my people who will maintain this work and bear off the responsibility of it forever. Concern thyself no more." President Woodruff told me that personally, and I heard him declare it in effect before public congregations. ¶

There is a stimulation in that, young men, and encouragement in that. We no longer hear that apprehension expressed in the congregations of the people ; but there is faith, instead, there is confidence, there is assurance that no power can hinder the onward progress or development and growth of this work ; and that those of the youth today, who are succeeding their fathers in responsible places maintain the faith, that they have the integrity, they have the character and they have the blessing of God upon them, by which they shall uphold and sustain this work and bear it off faithfully and triumphantly to its ultimate destiny, when its influence and power shall extend from the rivers to the ends of the earth. There is no influence and power that the world stands so much in need of this day as the influence and power of this people, of the priesthood that is among us, of the authority and power that exists among us to speak and administer in the name of the Lord our God. ¶

I was not so familiarly acquainted with President Lorenzo Snow, though I knew him well, and was always greeted by him with the utmost kindness and friendship. The form of his greeting usually was this, as he took me by the hand and saw some evidences, I suppose, of good health, he would shake and say : "Well, I suppose you are going to live to be a hundred." I generally responded with the observation that I guessed I should have to, if I ever did all the things that I would like to. I was away from home during much of the time of his administration as president of the Church, but he did entrust me with certain opportunities to serve the cause and the people in his administration, and I appreciated that trust, and did to the best of my endeavor that which he asked of me. ¶

Now, in respect to his successor. President Joseph F. Smith, I feel honored today that I can stand here and testify before you that from the time he honored me with his friendship, and better acquaintance, his confidence and many expressions of his love, that I have known him to be a man chosen of the Almighty, a man inspired of the Lord, a man whose whole heart has been given to the service of God. He has seemed to me to personify that Son of God who responded to the commandment of the Lord, wherein he says : "Son, give me thy heart." If a man ever gave up and surrendered his whole heart to God, Joseph F. Smith is that man. Now, I am not declaring this to flatter him, but you know it, my brethren and sisters. No man nor woman who has come under the influence of his ministry in this community, but who knows and feels, realizes that, this is the truth ; and that is why he is great, and why he is successful, and why he will be successful and will accomplish all that God requires at his hands. ¶

My testimony to you is, then, that these men whom I have named and whom I have personally known were men of God, were men of high character, and of ability. They were men who, among men of no faith or of other faiths, would have stood out as individual characters, commanding influence and respect. They were men who dedicated themselves without restraint, holding nothing back, to the whole service of God, the establishment of this work known as "Mormonism" in the world. This because of their conviction and testimony and knowledge that it was of God and is true, and that it must prevail on the earth. They accepted the mission to declare it to mankind. They have transmitted that mission to us. It is our business to declare the truth to mankind, and God will not hold us guiltless if we fail to do so, but he will honor us in doing it. He will uphold us, no matter before whom we go, if we stand valiantly for what we know to be true. ¶

My testimony to you is that the Lord never fails to uphold and sustain those who will be true in their testimony concerning this work. May he help every one of us to be true, and to declare it, and to perform our part, however humble or in whatever field of labor, for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. ¶