I earnestly pray, my dear brethren

I earnestly pray, my dear brethren and sisters, that the Lord by his Holy Spirit will enable me to say something that will be for our good. I testify in earnestness of spirit that the speakers this day have spoken under the power of the Holy Ghost, and therefore their words have gone to the hearts of those who heard them. With you I rejoice with all my soul that God blessed us with the presence and counsels of his Prophet this morning. The life of our leader, President Smith, his splendid life, given in the service of our heavenly Father, is an inspiration, not only to the Latter-day Saints, but to those who have not yet become members of the Church of Jesus Christ. As I gazed upon his countenance this morning, and as my soul was thrilled with his inspired words, the promise that the Lord made to the Prophet Joseph came to me. That promise was this, that the testimony of traitors should never turn the people of God against the Prophet Joseph Smith; and that promise is a continuing one. It has been realized in the life of President Smith ; for never ¶

was a leader held in more love and affection than is the present leader of the Church today. ¶

The Lord Jesus Christ said : "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." ¶

The world today is immersed in the spirit of sacrifice. This nation today is finding itself through the glorious mission that it is performing. Sacrifice, we are told, brings forth the blessings of heaven, and the Lord Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. The mothers of this nation today are sowing precious seeds in this great conflict. The mothers in Israel, many of them, have been deprived voluntarily, however, of the company of their sons, by reason of them being on missions, and many of these boys, after two years or two years and six months' absence, have returned home only to embrace their mothers and then go into this awful world conflict. Can the world point to more sublime faith and sacrifice than these patriotic mothers are making? This faith did not spring from the earth. It is not earthy. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation, that sustains these mothers, and that has given birth to this glorious faith which all men everywhere cannot help but praise and admire. For what is more sacred and divine than the faith of a mother ? If this gospel were a base system, if the leaders, the priesthood of this Church, were designing men, bent only upon achieving the subjugation of the people to their own pleasure and will, how could such a faith as that arise out of this system? I want to bear testimony to ¶

you that the splendid faith of these mothers is a living, abiding, permanent testimony that this Church is of God, and that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation. ¶

In the days of Kirtland, in the darkest hour of the history of the Church, the very midnight of its history, when the powers of evil were attempting to destroy the Church, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet Joseph: "Something new must be done for the salvation of my Church." And then Joseph, always imbued with the spirit of sacrifice, sowed corns of wheat in the ground, so to speak. He took his choice servant, Heber C. Kimball, and he called upon Willard Richards, two stalwart defenders of the prophet and of the gospel ; and these men with others, he sent to England to preach the gospel, because it was the will of the Lord that they should go. Oh, what a splendid spectacle — the prophet, surrounded by traitors, some, alas, in the Church, surrounded by enemies, voluntarily depriving himself of the support of these two pillars of the Church, whom he sent to Great Britain to open up the gospel door to the inhabitants of that great land. And when they arrived in Preston, behold, their eyes met this inscription written upon a banner : "Truth will prevail." It did prevail. It shall ever prevail, because this work is the truth of God, and truth is imperishable ; it is of God, and like God, it is eternal and shall live forever. ¶

The Apostle Paul said: "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich." Ah, there is the grand principle of sacrifice. I tell you, my brethren and sisters, that the life that is lived for self is useless to our fellow men and to the Lord. When a man lives and works for himself he begins to die, because there is no life in work wrought for one's self. The work that has life and progress in it is the work that is done for our fellow men, and the Book of Mormon says that "When ye are in the service of your fellow men ye are only in the service of your God." ¶

Well, these mothers whose sons are going to fight the battles of liberty, what fruits are we going to receive from that splendid and sacred sacrifice? First of all, the words of the prophets of God will be fulfilled by the utter defeat and demoralization of that power which was once flung from the battlements of heaven into the very bosom of hell. Again, out of this world conflict will come a period of peace, of rest ; how long we know not ; but in this period of peace the servants of God will go forth to ^preach the everlasting gospel, and countless thousands shall come into the Church, praising God because they accepted the glorious message brought to them by his servants. Again, another fruit of this conflict, of this sacrifice, will be this — a new Jerusalem of liberty, of the rights of men, shall descend out of the firmament of liberty; it shall rest upon the earth, and the right of every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall be established, let us pray, nevermore to perish from the earth! God bless our armies. May they go forth with invincible power. Oh, may God bring the people to repentance, that they may escape a prolongation of this terrible conflict; for when sin- ¶

cere repentance begins, then we may expect, nay, we have faith that the end of this war will soon be in sight. ¶

I feel, my brethren and sisters, that in Israel there is no disposition to be a stumbling block to our brethren. But if I by my recklessness or indiscretion in using any civic right I have make a stumbling block for the young man, in encouraging the saloon, or by using things which God hath forbidden, if I forget myself and I cause that boy to take the first step in his downward career, oh, God help me to remember this awful truth, ':hat I am starting the boy down the track, but I can never repent for aim, for repentance is an individual gift which God hath given. Let us remember it. As a man cannot dividet his righteousness with his fellow men — for each and every one of us must work out our salvation in fear and in trembling — let us also remember that we cannot repent for our fellow men. We can preach the gospel to them ; we can console them; we can call them to repentance, but after all, repentance is a gift from God and comes only to the penitent and repentant heart. So let us keep this lesson in view, that with the help of our heavenly Father no word, no act of ours shall ever be the means of creating a stumbling block for the youth of Israel. ¶

God bless the gospel. In the missions it is growing by leaps and by bounds. During the past six months we have witnessed miraculous and sudden conversions to the truth. There was an apostle in the Southern States mission about two years ago; and a woman who was afflicted with the dread malady of pellagra in a state pronounced in- ¶

curable, asked to be administered to. She was administered to by this servant of the Lord. Eighteen months later this woman came to me. I did not recognize her, there was such a marked improvement in her condition. "Why," she said, "I am the one whom you and Brother ¶

—— administered to, and I am ¶

healed. The power of God hath healed me." ¶

Again, this same apostle, in bidding adieu to the Saints in one of our branches, when shaking hands with a good, faithful sister, whose husband was not in the Church, and we had well nigh given up hopes of him ever coming into the Church, said: "Sister, I promise you that the desires of your heart shall be realized, and your husband will come into the Church." Imagine my deep pleasure, for the poor wife had almost despaired of seeing this promise realized — she kept it sacred, told no one about it— when the day came only a few ¶

weeks ago that her husband experienced a change of heart. It was miraculous. God's power touched his heart, and he came to me and said : "Brother Callis, I want to be baptized," and we all joined ' in shedding tears of joy with that devoted and faithful wife who had experienced the fulfilment of this inspired promise. ¶

I know the gospel is true. I bear testimony to it in humility, and in deep gratitude, and with the fervent desire that I may ever conduct myself so that I shall be worthy of this testimony abiding in me, is my earnest prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶