I have rejoiced exceedingly, my brethren and sisters

I have rejoiced exceedingly, my brethren and sisters, in the splendid things that I have heard during this conference, and I feel that I have been very greatly benefited by the earnest testimonies that have been borne by the presiding authorities of the Church, and by the doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that have been sounded in our hearing under the inspiration of the holy Spirit. ¶

I have had the blessed privilege, my brethren and sisters, of engaging, for the past few months, in the preaching of the gospel in the California mission, and have witnessed, during the short time that I have been in this ministry, the marvelous thing that God, our Father in heaven, is able to do with his handmaidens and with his servants who engage in the preaching of the gospel. I suppose all those who have responsibilities resting upon them similar to the responsibilities that rest upon me, at the present time, wonder why from the ranks of the holy Priesthood there cannot be found men, with love in their hearts for the gospel of Jesus Christ, who have had experience in the preaching of the gospel, to come into the missionary field and exercise the gifts and graces and powers that have come to them by experience, for the spreading of the gospel among the people. Yet the marvelous thing that has taken place, before my eyes, in the past few months has been to see boys, who have come with very great fear, with very great anxiety, with very much stammering and with trembling limbs, developing into earnest missionaries for the Lord Jesus Christ, and to hear them, while tears were streaming down their cheeks, bear testimony that the Lord God of heaven had revealed unto them the truth of the everlasting gospel, and to hear them make declaration that the work of the ministry, that seemed to be such a tremendous undertaking when they came into the mission field, had been the sweetest and the most precious and the most wonderful experience that had ever come into their lives. ¶

I rejoice to be associated with the sons and daughters of Israel in the preaching of the gospel of the Redeemer of the world. I am glad for the faith that can be found in the hearts of the young men and the young women who are willing to respond to the calls that are made upon them by proper authority, and go forth in their weakness and in their fear, and lift up their voices in proclamation of the truth. I rejoice, above all else, in the wonderful power of the Lord our God to so bless these feeble instruments that they are able to maintain the truth of the gospel and to attract to the fold of the Master, men who in worldly learning and in the polish of the world may be superior to themselves. ¶

Thank God for the gospel ; it is, indeed, the power of God unto salvation. This work, to which we have given our allegiance, is not the result of the wisdom of men's thought; but it is, as it was declared to be, in the very beginning by Joseph Smith, the revelation ¶

of the Lord. I bear record that God our Father in heaven and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bear record that men who had ministered in the authority of the holy Priesthood, while dwelling here upon the earth, as greater beings in their resurrected bodies appeared to Joseph Smith and ministered unto him and conferred upon him the authority of the holy Priesthood and gave commandment that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ again should be sounded in the ears of the inhabitants of the earth. I bear record that that divine authority, the power to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the right to call men to repentance and to an investigation of the glorious gospel, has been conferred upon the men who have been teaching us during this conference. ¶

I admonish Israel to hearken to the voice of the good Shepherd as it has been made manifest through the presiding authorities of the Church, to follow that voice, to follow that lead, and God will be your father and friend and will continue to reveal unto you the truth that has been made manifest in this dispensation. I bear record that the things that we are teaching, the principles of the gospel, those fundamental principles — faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance from sin, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost — that they have been revealed in our day, that they are just as full of power as. they were in the days of the ancient Apostles, and that the gospel today, is, as it always has been and ever will be, the power of God unto salvation. God help us to believe it, and be true to it, forever and forever. Amen. ¶