(Retiring President of the Eastern

(Retiring President of the Eastern States Mission.) ¶

While walking down Broadway, one day, a newsboy ran into me. I asked him if he could not see me, and he said: "I can see you with my naked eye." I am inclined to think that President Grant also can see me, though I get in the back end of the gallery. ¶

I assure you, my brethren and sisters, that this is a very pleasurable opportunity, afforded me this afternoon to mingle my humble testimony with the testimonies that have already been borne during this conference. I uphold and sustain the work of the Lord with all my heart. The Spirit of the Lord bears witness to my spirit that what was done in our forenoon meeting yesterday is of the Lord. I have always taken great pleasure in standing before the public committing myself to my public utterances. Therein, I believe, lies ¶

much of the strength of the Church in the developing of integrity of heart and character which stands for right. I, too, have spent a number of years in the ministry, years that have been the happiest of my life. In the year 1898, I was called, not by receiving a Box "B" letter, but called by President George Q. Cannon in a conference that was being held in Franklin, Idaho. I was set apart within a few minutes after the call, and was told that my place was in the Northwestern states. One month after the call I was pursuing my labors. After completing my mission there, to the satisfaction of those who presided over me, I returned to my home, entered into pursuits of life which I had chosen, and was allowed to remain home nine years, when the call came for me to go to England. I labored there upward of two years and found increasing joy with the increasing time spent in the service of the master. After completing that mission I was at home twenty-eight months, when the call came again to break up home and go to the Eastern States. My brethren and sisters, I can not tell you the humility which I felt, and the timidity with which I entered upon my labors. It seemed to me that if there was ever an attempt to fit a square peg in a round hole, the attempt was being made on that occasion. Yet, I have endeavored to perform my labors to the best of my ability, and if I have made mistakes it should be accredited to the human weakness which we all have. In my last missionary labors I have felt even greater joy than I felt on my two preceding missions. I want to be one with the Latter-day Saints at home or abroad, wherever I am. I ¶

rejoice in the testimony of the gospel which the Lord has instilled into my heart, and which I feel has influenced my life for good, that has awakened within me the consciousness of right and wrong. I have observed, in my past life, in fact, it was one of my earliest observations, that when the Lord called any one to any position in his work him he qualified. How many of us have seen bishops and stake presidents called in their young manhood and who, upon assuming their duties, have stood solidly and equal to the task that has been imposed upon them. They have been able to counsel in righteousness those who, from a standpoint of years, are old enough to be their fathers and their grandfathers. ¶

I bespeak for Brother McCune in his appointment as mission president the support of the Saints and the missionaries of the Eastern states mission, which is now upon the verge, I believe, of a tremendous and beautiful growth. We have had nothing to do with the publication of the literature of the missions of the United States, such as has been the experience of and as reported by President Ellsworth, but we have opened up a number of branches. We have worked diligently, though our reports may not show what other mission reports might show. It must be understood that the intolerance of the United States seems to have been crowded into the northeastern part, and I do not know where it can go unless it sinks into the ocean after a few more years' efficient work there. We have met with a great deal of opposition. The Lord has sustained us. Our young men, many of them, say they have come to the mission field to gain a ¶

testimony — I can not believe this, my brethren and sisters, though that is the method of their expressing themselves — I believe every son and daughter of the Lord who has been born under the covenant, with the promises of the covenant upon their heads, that they come into this world with nobility of spirit and with a testimony which requires only development. That development can come by the service which we devote to the blessing of our fellow men and the establishing of the work of the Lord among our heavenly Father's children. My heart is filled with joy and gladness in knowing that I have kept close enough, at least, to the prescribed rule of the Church, to retain my testimony. I know that God lives, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I know that his hand is over this people; even though trials may come which might seem difficult to surmount, he will bear us off triumphant in the degree that we will place our whole-souled dependence upon him. I bear testimony that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, the only begotten of the Father in the flesh ; that he died for mankind and that he has given unto us a plan of life and salvation, which plan is being advocated in the world today by those whom the Lord calls as missionaries, as well as those who preside and preach at home. I also bear witness that the powers of the Holy Spirit have not been abridged or abrogated, that they are as manifest in the Church today by the healing of the sick and the raising of those who are downcast in spirit, restoring their souls, leading them in the ways of peace and happiness, as it was ever its mission to do in any former generation. I bear witness to you and solemnly testify that if I know anything whatsoever in this world, I do positively know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God, raised up in our day and time for the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, when all dispensations of the past shall be brought in with their especial and peculiar blessings. I bear witness to you that those who have succeeded the prophet Joseph Smith were also prophets, seers and revelators, upheld and sustained by the power of Almighty God. I bear witness to you today that Heber J. Grant, whom we have voted to sustain, as the leader of this Church, is the prophet, seer and revelator of the Church, and that the mantle of authority has fallen upon him, and, that he, too, is qualified in full measure to lead and direct the work of the Lord that is being performed by this people. This Church has its peculiar mission, two-fold as it is, in not only carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth to those who have not the gospel, but also in perfecting those who are members of the Church. Now may the peace of our heavenly Father rest upon all Israel, at home and abroad, that they may see more clearly the plans and purposes that he has wrought for the salvation of the human family. May we keep our covenants sacred and always live worthy of the approbation of our heavenly Father, that we may claim his blessings, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

Miss Shipp sang a solo: accompanied by Tracy Y. Cannon at the organ, and Mae Anderson, violin. ¶