A Testimony Full of Joy

My brethren and sisters, we may not be in the great tabernacle, a few rods away, in which is a great congregation of five or six thousand people; but we are here in this smaller building for the same purpose as are those in the larger building, and we are entitled to the same Spirit and should enjoy the same blessings. I am sure we shall have a splendid meeting here this morning. President Grant has sent us some faithful brethren to speak to us, and I know that we shall have the Spirit of God to bless and to comfort us during this hour. ¶

A Testimony Full of Joy

I bear my testimony to you that I am happy to belong to this great people, chosen in the last days for the carrying on of the purposes of the Almighty. I delight to bear my testimony that I know that this is the work of God, that Joseph Smith was a prophet divinely ordained and set apart to carry out the great latter-day work that was planned before the foundations of the earth were laid. I know that in the light of the gospel, man may walk in happiness and in enjoyment throughout this life's journey, and ultimately, when we shall pass through the great veil, we may enjoy exaltation and eternal life throughout the endless ages. This testimony fills my heart with joy; and when, on a morning like this, I find these two great halls crowded to their capacities, and yet see beyond me a great concourse of people who are probably assembling in another overflow meeting, I praise God that he is blessing us so abundantly. ¶

Who would have thought, in 1830, when a handful of people assembled to organize this Church, that in ninety years these thousands of people would assemble in these valleys, then unknown to the civilized world, twice a year, in devotion and fidelity to God. My experiences on this land and in other countries have demonstrated to me that a sight like this is not to be witnessed anywhere else on the face of the earth. Ten thousand people at least, I imagine, are on this square today, with the common purpose of worshiping their God, of testifying to the things that I have been testifying to you here this morning. And, probably anyone of these ten thousand could stand on this platform, as I do now, and bear his living testimony that this is the work of God. ¶

Some years ago a mother with her children was standing near the statues' of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on this block. They were looking at the conference crowds. One of the children, a girl pretty well grown into young womanhood, felt the spirit that we feel on this occasion, and she said to her mother: "Mother, mother, mother! If I know nothing else in this world, I know that I am a Latter-day Saint. I want to live with this people. I want to die with this people; I am of this people." That is how we all feel; we are leaving the world and we praise the Lord for it. ¶

Not only in numbers have we become a "marvelous work and a wonder" in a little less than one hundred years ; but in a greater and a larger sense have we become a marvelous people, for we have impressed our thought upon the whole world. The world does not believe today as it did ninety years ago. A few days ago I picked up a recent number of a great magazine, and my feelings were roused within me and my testimony increased, when I found one of the writers declaring to the readers of the magazine that "God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of tolerance," borrowed almost word for word, from section one of the Doctrine and Covenants. In such a way have the doctrines taught by the despised Latter-day Saints been appropriated by the nations of the earth ; and whether the people of the earth accept the inspiration of Joseph Smith, nevertheless, in fact, the whole current of human thought has been changed by the doctrines of this people. That is perhaps the greatest achievement of "Mormonism" during the last ninety years, unless it be the achievement ¶

to secure a body of people numbering hundreds of thousands who almost always see eye to eye, who understand as with one mind, who feel as with one heart, who worship God alike, and who in that united worship and action find a tremendous advantage in life. Do you know of a happier people than we are? I have not found a happier people. I find happiness wherever I go, for Latter-day Saints understand the truth. They have seen the beginning and they know the end of the designs of God with respect to his children. They do not grope in darkness. Who cares if we are few in comparison with the 1500 millions of people on the face of the earth? We are as yeast in the dough, and will yet ferment the whole earth. ¶

A few weeks ago I was in Canada, where I spent some time with people not of our faith. One afternoon we had a social affair, which ended in an automobile trip over some interesting places in that neighborhood. By my side sat an old gentleman, who was the man who drove the first railway train over the Canadian Pacific railroad into Vancouver. He told the story of that railroad ; how a group of men saw a vision of the possibilities of building a railroad over the Canadian mountains, and how, with little influence, money and power, they formulated a plan to build from ocean to ocean a great continental railroad which would open up to humanity the great Canadian dominion. This man said : "I am ashamed to tell you how often I ran trains into Vancouver without a single passenger on them, during the first few years of the history of that railroad," and he said, "when we got a crowd of four or five people I thought the railway was coming into its own. One day we had 7 passengers, and we were all jubilant until we discovered that six of them were employees of the railway and traveled on passes." That was about a genera-' tion ago. Today, as I found, one almost has to plead for a seat on the trains that run every day over that same railroad. Who cares about the hard beginning and the empty trains when the end can be seen from the beginning? The makers of the Canadian Pacific railway saw the building of homes and schools and happy families, the growing of a civilization in that part of the world, so what did they care about the difficulties and modesty of the beginning? ¶

Marvel of the Settlements in Utah

You also, my brethren and sisters, saw the end from the beginning. If we know the message of the Prophet, what do we care about the hardships or the modesty of our beginning or of the difficulties of today? I know that the germs of permanent greatness lie in this great work; and I am content and glad and grateful to have been born into the world in this age, tc do my work; even if some one after me must have the joy of realizing even more completely the vision of the past. ¶

Who thought when we came to the mountains in 1847 that. ¶

we could build here an empire? E'ven Brigham Young, led by the Spirit of God, having visions by night and by day, of the future of his people, did not fully comprehend the destiny of this people when established in this once arid valley. But is it not wonderful that these great leaders did believe and trust in God as they did? The story is told that Brigham Young was met by the trapper Jim Bridger, who came to the Great Basin about 1824 and lived here for a quarter of a century; and that he said to Brigham Young, "I have spent a quarter of a century in the Great Basin, and I can't see any possibility of building a state on these barren wastes. I doubt if grain can be raised in the Salt Lake valley." But Brigham Young, taught by Almighty God, said, "You who have spent your life in these valleys may come to me with these conclusions ; but I know that within this great American desert we may yet build homes and enjoy prot perity and happiness, and fulfil the destiny that God has promised his people." That is the difference between the inspiration of God and the judgment of men! ¶

All Life Waits on Us

We are a small people in the eyes of the world ; but we have an understanding of the purposes of God, and the gift of the priesthood and the authority to act for God in the accomplishment of his will. The living and the dead are depending upon us , for the truth and the power of salvation. The living must hear our message; and the dead are waiting for us to open the doors through which they may go on to a greater life in the great hereafter. All life waits upon us and our actions for the fulfilment of the prophecies of holy men and the promises of God. I feel tremendously the responsibility that rests upon me as a member of this Church, having all this knowledge, having all this authority, having all these things placed before me to do. God grant that I may do all that God desires me to do, that I may not fail on account of any hesitancy on my part. ¶

I pray that God may give us a full conception of the meaning of this great Latter-day work, and give us strength from day to day to enter into partnership with him to accomplish the great work that he insists shall be done for the human race in this great stage of our existence, I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

ale President of the Australian Mission) ¶

My brethren and sisters, I feel the responsibility that rests upon me at this time, and my heart is fluttering, perhaps, as is general when I have been called upon to face a congregation. ¶