Behold, saith the Lord, the world

"Behold," saith the Lord, "the world is ripening in iniquity, and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repentance, both the Gentiles and also the house of Israel." Adam said unto the Lord : "Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water?" ¶

And the Lord answered him, saying: ¶

Inasmuch as thy children have been conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter that they may know to prize the good. And it is given them to know good from evil, wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment. Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence (Book of Moses 6:53-57). ¶

In the Book of Mormon we read ¶

that because of the Fall our natures have become evil continually. The gospel is the power which God has given to make us clean and to win the victory over the world which will place us in line for eternal exaltation. ¶

This terrible war is turning the people unto the Lord. In the mission where I have the privilege of laboring with some of your sons and daughters, there is plain evidence that the war is proving to many of the children of men a sanctifying affliction. In this hour of peril they are turning to the God of heaven, confessing their sins and seeking light and truth and salvation by obeying the gospel. Men are beginning to lose much of their love for the visible and tangible things of the world ; they are reaching out unto the things which cannot be seen only by the eye of faith. They are seeking for the things of immortality. ¶

A prominent minister declared, in an address before a convention recently, that there were prominent Protestant families following their soldier dead into the other world with their prayers. The leaven of the gospel, we can see, is working. In truth it is becoming more apparent to men and women that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation. It is the means of salvation, the entrance, for all that obey it, into the kingdom of God. ¶

The President of the Church, in the power and authority of his office, this morning, stirred Israel up unto the necessity of becoming more self-sustaining in raising on our farms, and manufacturing at home, the necessaries of life. Brethren and sisters, it will redound to our benefit, temporally and spiritually, if we give heed to the admonition and instruction we received from him. ¶

When the Lord Jesus was taking leave of his apostles, he said unto them : "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." It is our testimony, a living, abiding testimony, that we are bearing unto the children of men, that three of these apostles whom Jesus was addressing did come to the uttermost parts of the earth, and, upon Joseph Smith bestowed the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, which is the power to preach the gospel of repentance, to baptize by immersion for the remission of sins, and to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to guide into all the truth of God. Did this actually come to pass? Did Peter, James and John come from mansions of glory and invest Joseph Smith with that sacred power? We in the mission field, witnessing the marvelous effect of the gospel on the hearts of men, rejoicing in the glorious manifestations and the testimony which the Saints receive after they make covenant with God in the waters of baptism, earnestly testify that these things are a standing testimony that these apostles did come and endow the Prophet with this splendid power — "the power to act in the earth, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the salvation of men." ¶

We further testify that this power and authority has attended the men who have succeeded the Prophet Joseph Smith; that this power and influence is wielded in the world today by the men who stand at the head of the Church. ¶

The blessings we receive in the house of the Lord ; the success your sons and daughters are meeting with in preaching the gospel, constitute an abiding testimony that the power and influence placed upon Joseph Smith, the authority conferred upon him by Peter, James and John, has been bestowed upon, abides with, and is exercised by, the President of the Church today, and it dwells also with those who are associated with him. My brethren and sisters, I bear testimony to this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶