Remarks

(Of the First Council of Seventy, and President of the California Mission) ¶

I feel that I occupy a very important position, my brethren and sisters, in standing up in your presence to make a few remarks. I appreciate very greatly the opportunity that is afforded me of bearing witness to the truth of the great work of the Lord, as it has been established upon the earth in the dispensation in which we live, and of bringing greetings from the people in the California mission, and from the sons and daughters of the Latter-day Saints, in various sections of the land, who have been appointed to labor as preachers of the gospel in this mission. While we are in a country largely given up to pleasure more than ¶

to the things of God, we nevertheless come in contact with a good many very choice people, and the labors of the missionaries are rewarded, from time to time, by finding honest-hearted men and women who hearken to the message that has been delivered in this age of the world, and are brought from the darkness that is in the world to the truth that has been revealed. We have a splendid company of young men and women operating as missionaries in the mission. They are very devoted to the work that has been intrusted to their care, and they are laboring to the best of their power to discharge their duty and bring their living testimony to the ears of as many people as possible. It has been a very great joy and satisfaction to me, my brethren and sisters, to be associated with these splendid men and women, one could almost be prompted to say, I think, "boys and girls." ¶

It has been a delight to note the workings of the Spirit of the Lord upon them, and the increase of testimony and knowledge concerning the things of God that has been brought into their souls by the Spirit and power of God. It is a source of very great satisfaction to be able to say that they are giving their time, in the preaching of the gospel, very cheerfully. They are not anxious to return home. It is a very common thing to find the missionaries in tears when announcement is made to them that they are honorably released to return home, and it has not been an uncommon thing to hear missionaries say that it is a greater trial to leave the mission field than it was to leave their homes and come into the mission field. And I am glad that the Lord thus works upon the hearts of those who are called to be his ambassadors in the preaching of the gospel, that is the power of God unto salvation. They come into the mission field in fear and trembling. They ofttimes have some question in their own minds as to whether the gospel that has been taught them by their parents is in very deed the real truth of God. and the power of God unto salvation, but thank God, by giving attention to the responsibilities that have come to them through being called through the channels of the holy Priesthood to be preachers of righteousness, they make a full discovery of the truth that has been revealed, and their hearts are given to the Lord, and they labor zealously to discharge the duty that rests upon them as men holding divine authority. And I am glad to say, my brethren and sisters, that not only do these young men, who have been clothed with the authority of the holy Priesthood, advocate the doctrines of the gospel and prosecute their ministry with very great zeal, but the sisters are just as anxious, they are just as willing, they are just as faithful, they are filled with the same spirit, and they bear witness in ¶

the same manner to the great truth that has been made manifest unto them by the power of God. ¶

I have thought some concerning testimonies, while listening to the words that have "been spoken here by the brethren. We are sometimes found fault with in relation to the testimonies that we bear; men and women apparently entertain the thought that we ought not to be so sure in relation to the doctrines that we are teaching. They seem to entertain the thought that we are narrow in our views, because when we bear testimony to the things of God, and that we have knowledge concerning those things, it is an indication that other people do not possess that same knowledge. I just desire to read a word or two of scripture, and I thank God with all my soul that if men speak of us as being narrow-minded and if they find fault with us because we bear witness that we have a knowledge concerning the things of God, that we do not bear witness in any stronger language concerning the knowledge that we possess and the necessity of yielding obedience to the doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, than the ministers of the Redeemer of the world used, when they were teaching the same gospel in the meridian of time. ¶

" This, then,"wrote one of the Apostles, "is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not speak the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sins." ¶

I do not think any " Mormon"missionary makes testimony in any stronger language than that, if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not speak the truth. We teach men, and we feel that we are under obligation to teach men, that they must walk in the light as the Lord Jesus Christ is in the light, and that we can only have fellowship with our Redeemer, and with the truth of God, as we thus walk in the light. ¶

And the same writer, in similar language, teaches the same kind of doctrine: " Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." ¶

And then this writer says with unbounded certainty: " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." ¶

And the same writer again makes declaration: " And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." ¶

I do not understand that I have been sent to labor in the California mission with any instruction, in any way, to compromise the word of God and the doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that I have been sent there to teach men that they must walk in the light as the Lord Jesus Christ is in the light, that they must turn from the ¶

doctrines of men, and the follies of men, and the theological nonsense that there is in the world today, and yield obedience to the truth that has been revealed by the Lord God of heaven. I would that I might make that clear to the understanding of those who are within our gates today. We have a message to deliver to the inhabitants of the earth, a message that has been revealed by the Lord our God, that has been sent to this world by the coming of the Father and the Son, as has heen taught in our conference -- divine authority restored to mortal men, by the sending of holy angels who, placing their hands upon the heads of mortal men, conferred upon them the authority of the holy Priesthood, and made them representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving them power and authority to call men to repentance, and to administer legally the saving ordinances of the gospel. And this is in keeping with the revelations of God and the promises of God, made by the very apostles whose words I have read in your hearing -- that there was to come a time when another angel should wend his way from heaven, "having the everlasting gospel, to preach to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, and to every kindred, and to every tongue and to every people, crying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come." ¶

It is my responsibility to bear witness that that angel has wended his way from heaven to earth, that divine authority, the power to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been given again to men, and by that authority we call men to repentance and to the waters of baptism, that they may be cleansed from their sins, and that they may walk in the light, as he is in the light, and there is no other way, and there is no other authority upon the face of the whole earth that can thus minister the ordinances of the gospel which are essential to the salvation of the human family. ¶

God help us to believe the truth, and stand for the truth, and teach the truth, let men say or think what they may, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶