I am grateful for another privilege

I am grateful for another privilege of meeting with the Latterday Saints in general conference, and trust that while I stand before you I may be blessed with that same sweet spirit which has accompanied my brethren who have already spoken to you. I know •that our Father in heaven is kind and merciful unto us, and that he, like all natural fathers, is grieved when he hears his children cry in distress. He is also grieved when he sees his children suffering because of their sins or their weaknesses. Our Father in heaven, like our fathers in the flesh, loves to see our purity and our good lives, our good examples ; he loves to see us grow in good and in doing good. ¶

In section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read these distinctive words : ¶

"For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; ¶

"Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven." ¶

Now, he does not say how soon that forgiveness shall come, but does make it plain that he will forgive those who repent and keep the commandments of the Lord. ¶

I have been very much blessed and edified in the instructions of the general authorities of the Church, and in their remarks concencerning the holy priesthood and the officers therein. I desire to add my testimonv concerning the faithfulness of the brethren and sisters who are called into positions of responsibility throughout the stakes and wards of Zion, for we have men and women who love the Lord, who love to obey his commandments, and are receiving his mercies and favors in their labors, in their homes and in their ministry among the people ; and those who are crying unto the Lord, or those who are suffering in sorrow or sin are ¶

but few. We have also discovered beauty and harmony in the organization of the Church. We find here the order of which the Lord has spoken, the different officers of the holy priesthood, from the lowest to the highest, and each one knows his place and his duties. The deacon knows his place, the teacher knows his, the priest, his, and so on up the scale in the priesthood. ¶

Elders know their places and their duties. Many, of them go abroad in the earth preaching the gospel, baptizing honest and converted souls into the fold of Christ. They do not do these things just because they have the priesthood, but because they have been given special appointment and they are working in the order which has been appointed unto them. Going on up the ladder in the priesthood, we have other officers who labor not only because they have, been given an office of. power and authority, but because they have been called and appointed and given a particular field of labor. We have bishops who preside over wards. Each one presides over the particular ward which has been appointed unto him. He does not preside everywhere just because he is a bishop. Neither does the elder labor everywhere just because he is an elder, but he labors only in the field appointed unto him. ¶

We have in the Church a number of men who have been called and ordained to administer blessings unto the people, blessings of comfort, blessings of prophecy, when they are directed so to do. These men are given an office in the priesthood, and just because they have this office, it does not mean that they can bless everywhere and everybody, but, like the bishops, elders, and other officers in the priesthood, they are given their particular field of labor. So we would have the Latter-day Saints understand that in the Church, which is a part of the kingdom of God, there is order, and the officers of the priesthood are the men who should establish and maintain this order in the Church, that the work of the Lord may go on with his blessings upon it. There a|re a number of members of the Church who go about from place to place, from one ward and from one stake to another, seeking their blessings, which may be permissible if done in strict accordance with the established order of the Church ; otherwise they are out of order. If they have a righteous purpose, a righteous desire, it is their privilege to secure their blessings from the Lord at the hands of the brethren who are ordained to the office of patriarch ; but I would like to admonish my brethren and sisters not to seek blessings of men only, but seek the blessings of the Lord at the hands of his authorized servants. It does not matter particularly who the man is, if he holds the keys to your blessing's, and if you live in his stake or in his field of labor, he is authorized to administer unto you the blessings of the Lord. ¶

I trust, my brethren and sisters, that we shall all receive our blessings, and that we shall understand that they are predicated upon obedience to the law of the Lord. The Lord has made the laws upon which our blessings are predicated, and if we observe those laws then the Lord is bound, he says, and we shall receive the blessing ; but if we have committed sins which are displeasing before the Lord, if we have broken his commandments, we may deceive his servants here upon the earth, we may deceive the bishops, the presidents, the patriarchs, or other servants of God, perhaps may secure the words of a blessing, but the Lord who gave the commandment, who knows the law, who knows our sins, will not give the blessing until we have rendered obedience unto the law upon which it is predicated. So that, though it may be possible for us to deceive our fellowmen, let us not think that we can deceive the Lord ; for he knows our hearts, our desires, our deeds, and will reward us day and night, year in and year out, according to our faithfulness in observing" his commandments as they have been given unto us. ¶

So let us, brethren and sisters, learn the lawrs upon which our blessings are predicated, and then render obedience unto them. Then our promises will be sure and we will not have to practice deception in any way to get a blessing which might otherwise be withheld from us. ¶

The Lord desires to bless his children, he has in store every blessing that is needful for the faithful ; and, as his servant, I invoke his blessings upon you, my brethren and sisters, and upon the faithful Latter-day Saints throughout the world, whether they be gathered here, or whether they be in their homes abroad, I invoke the blessings of God upon them all. ¶

I pray that the Lord will continue to bless his servants whom he has called to hold positions of responsibility in his Church; that he will continue to heal up the body of our dear president, that he will comfort and sustain him and preserve him yet many years to live with us in usefulness according to his desires, to teach us both by his word and by his deed, as he has done so nobly in the past seventy years. We love him and we know the Lord loves him. We cannot hold up before our Father in heaven a more noble example of faithfulness in all the history of the Church. And so I pray with you, my brethren and sisters, that the Lord will continue to remember him, and also his associates in the holy priesthood and in the organizations of the Church, down to the least and Hast one called, that the work of the Lord may continue to grow in the earth. I also pray and invoke the blessings of the Lord upon good governments throughout the world, upon those who are called to establish good governments, that these may be established as this government was established, under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. ¶

God bless you, my brethren and sisters ; God bless all faithful Latter-day Saints, and the honest in heart in all the world, that the truth may be learned and obeyed, that God's purposes may be brought to pass, that peace again may soon come to the world ; and I pray for these blessings and invoke them upon us all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

Iniz Robinson, of the California mission, sang a sacred solo, entitled, "My Fa:th in Thee." ¶