There have been many features of this most

There have been many features of this most excellent conference that have delighted my soul. I have rejoiced with you in the wonderful testimonies that have been given, and in the divine instructions that have fallen from the lips of those who have addressed us. ¶

Young People Present a Feature of This Great Conference

But I want to tell you this afternoon that among the most pleasing features of this entire conference, to me one of the most gratifying, is the attendance at this overflow meeting of so many young men and young women. There are present here not only the boys and girls from the school, who have come here in response to the call of duty (I am not so sure but some of you would not have been here, if it had not been for the choir ; I am not unmindful of that fact, but you are here in response to the call of duty), but also groups of young people throughout this audience, by dozens and by scores. At first thought that does not seem very much, but to me it is most significant. With the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall crowded to overflowing it is an easy matter for young people to have an excuse to walk around the grounds and to take a stroll through the streets. There is but one conclusion — that there is in the hearts of these young people a desire to do what is right, and I find that is pretty generally manifest throughout this Church. I rejoice in it ; I rejoice in it. I will tell you that I never feel more inspired, more encouraged, than when I arise before an audience of Latter-day Saints and find sprinkled in that audience the clear eyes and the rosy cheeks of youth; no bleary eyes, no sallow complexions, no defiled teeth; souls that are just as clean and pure as when the spirit came from God. I am not unmindful of the fact that there are those who have soiled themselves, but, generally speaking, I have faith in the youth of Israel, and I love to see the least manifestation among them of the desire to maintain the standards of their parents and to uphold the standards of righteousness. ¶

The Best Legacy to Youth

Oh, I think nothing in this world can give such consolation, such peace, to fathers and mothers, as to realize the fact that their boys and girls have faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I may never be able, I think I can say I shall never be able, to leave to my children, wealth. Many of you may be unable to offer to your young sons, your young daughters, as they leave their household and strike out for themselves, even a dollar to help them on their way ; but I would rather live in poverty all the days of my life, I would rather be unable to give one copper cent to my boys and girls when they start out in life, but be able, through sacrifice, diligent attention, watchful care, to implant in their hearts a belief, a faith, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, than to be able to give them all the wealth and honor and distinction which the powers of man may bestow. I know that a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most sacred, the most precious, gift in our lives ; I know it. And, boys and girls, you cannot get that by following the paths of the world ; you cannot get it. You cannot get pleasure, even! Oh, you may get pleasure; I will ¶

take that word back; I have used it rather carelessly. You can get momentary pleasure by following the paths and the enticements of the world: ¶

But pleasures are like poppies spread: You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white — then melts forever; Or like the borealis rays, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow's lovely form Evanishing amid the storm." ¶

A better definition of pleasure than this from Burns you cannot find in all literature. You may get that transitory pleasure, yes, but you cannot find joy, you cannot find happiness. Happiness is found only along that well beaten track, narrow as it is, though straight, which leads to life eternal. That is my testimony to you. Sometimes there are obstacles, there is persecution, there is self-denial ; there will be tears, because you are coming constantly in contact with these enticements, with these worldly ideals, and you have to overcome them, and for the moment there will seem to be sacrifice, but it is only temporary. The Lord never forsakes those who seek him. I add my testimony to that which has been given. Never. It may not come just the way you think, but it will come. The Lord will certainly fulfil his promise to you. ¶

A Personal Testimony on Prayer

Illustrative of this, I am constrained to add my personal testimony. I seldom speak of manifestations that have come to me. I do not know whether it is the Scotch reticence or what, but I do not like to speak of some things which are most sacred to me. I am glad to say that I have had many, which I treasure -as most sacred ; but along this line, mentioned by Brother Ivins, of faith and prayer, and subject of prayer and the assurance of answer to prayer, I am going to accede to the promptings and give you a personal testimony. I listened as a boy to just such admonition and testimony as we have heard from our brethren this afternoon regarding the principles of the gospel, the power of the Priesthood, the divinity of this work. I heard the admonition that we, too, might get that testimony if we would pray, but somehow I got an idea in youth that we could not get a testimony unless we had some manifestation. I read of the first vision of the prophet Joseph Smith, and I knew that he knew what he had received was of God ; I heard of elders who had heard voices ; I heard my father's testimony of a voice that had come to him, and somehow I received the impression that that was the source of all testimony. I realized in youth that the most precious thing that a man could obtain in this life was a testimony of the divinity of this work. I hungered for it; I felt that if I could get that, all else would indeed seem insignificant. And so I did not neglect my prayers. I never felt that my prayer at night would bring that testimony ; that was more of a prayer for protection, as I look back upon it now, to keep the burglars and other intruders away — really it was more of a selfish prayer — but I always felt that the secret prayer, whether in the room or out in the grove or on the hills, would be the place where that testimony would come. So, accordingly, I have knelt more than once by the service-berry bush, as my saddle-horse stood by the side. I remember riding over the hills one afternoon, thinking of these things, and concluded there in the silence of the hills was the best place to get that testimony. I stopped my horse, threw the reins over his head, and withdrew just a few steps and knelt by the side of a tree. The air was clear and pure, the sunshine delightful ; the verdure of the wild trees and grass and the flowers scented the air; as I recall the incident all the surroundings come to me anew. I knelt down and with all the fervor of my heart poured out my soul to God, and asked him for a testimony of this gospel. I had in mind that there would be some manifestation, that I should receive some transformation that would leave me absolutely without doubt. I got up, mounted my horse, and as ,he started over the trail I remember rather introspectively searching myself, and involuntarily shaking my head, said to myself, "No, sir, there is no change ; I am just the same boy I was before I knelt down." The anticipated manifestation had not come. Nor was that the only occasion. However, it did come, but not in the way I had anticipated. Even the manifestation of God's power and the presence of his angels came, but when it did come it was simply a confirmation ; it was not the testimony. ¶

Obedience to God's Will Increases Answer to Prayer

I remember on one occasion when I was seven thousand miles from here, when President James McMurrin was attending a conference in Scotland, that in a priesthood meeting the power of God was so manifest that one man present in that little room jumped to his feet and said, "Brethren, there are angels in this room," and strong men began to weep, not for fear, not for sorrow, but out of the fulness of their souls, which left them a testimony of the truth of that statement. The man's declaration did not impress me very much ; but the Spirit present did impress me ; but when President McMurrin, a brother to Joseph, arose and said, "Yes, there are angels in this room, and one of them is the guardian angel of that young man sitting there" — and he pointed to a young Elder whom I knew and who was in our conference — he was weeping as though his soul would overflow, "and," continued President McMurrin, "the other is the guardian angel of that young man there," and pointed to a boy with whom I had been associated and with whom I have been since. I knew by inspiration that what President McMurrin said was true. Why there was not one in the room who did not know it. And then, when he turned ¶

to me and in prophetic word pronounced my future, I knew that the answer to my boyish prayer had come. But the testimony that this work is divine had come, not through manifestation, great and glorious as it was, but through obedience to God's will, in harmony with Christ's promise, "If ye will do the will of my Father which is in heaven, ye shall know whether the doctrine is of God or whether I speak of myself." Test it from any source you wish, and you will find, my dear fellow-workers, that there is not one phase of the gospel of Jesus Christ which will not stand that test; and as you, in your weakness, as you in your youth, undertake to embrace these principles of life everlasting, you will find it instilling upon your soul a benediction of the Holy Spirit which will give you a testimony beyond any possibility of a doubt that God lives, that he is indeed our Father, and that this is his work established through the prophet Joseph Smith. That is my testimony to you. I know it. . The most precious thing in life. You can test it. I would rather have my sons and daughters feel that than to obtain any earthly emoluments, because I know then that they will be good citizens, I know they will be good fathers and good mothers, I know they will be honest and true to everybody, and to God ; why, I know that everything which a man ought to be and which a woman ought to be, they will become, and they will do it through obedience to these divine principles. ¶

The Greatest Blessing of All

Boys and girls, my brethren and sisters, God bless us and guide us to be true, true to him and his work. That work which is commonly called "Mormonism" is in very deed the gospel of Jesus Christ. May he give us strength to live it, not only to preach it, not only to bear testimony to it by voice, but in very deed to live it and bear testimony to the world thereby that we do know whereof we speak. And that reminds me of a little line which I think is appropriate here, which will perhaps crystallize this thought more effectively than my words. I chanced to pick it up recently. The author says : ¶

So, he died for his faith! That is fine — ¶

More than most of us do; But, stay, can you add to that line ¶

That he lived for it, too? ¶

In his death he bore witness at last ¶

As a martyr of truth. Did his life do the same in the past ¶

From the days of his youth? ¶

It is easy to die. Men have died ¶

For a wish or a whim — From bravado or passion or pride — ¶

Was it harder for him? ¶

But to live — every day to live out ¶

All the truth that he dreamt, While his friends met his conduct with doubt ¶

And the world with contempt. ¶

Was it thus that he plodded ahead, ¶

Never turning aside? Then we'll talk of the life that he led, Never mind how he died. — Ernest Crosby. ¶

That life, with prayer and purity, will give you the greatest blessing in all this world, a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I pray we may all have, and go out from this glorious conference to our various wards and stakes, and disseminate and radiate from our very being the truths and expressions of this conference, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶