Remarks

In the words of an old prophet: "I will say of Jehovah, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust." I have that feeling, that conviction burning within me. I have faith in God the eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ. I have been taught these things all my life, from my earliest childhood; and for forty years nearly, including my foreign service, I have been teaching that God is our Father, that we are the offspring of the living God; and I believe it. ¶

I met a Gentile friend — I suppose he is my friend, he has always been friendly — a business man, the other day. He said very pleasantly to me: "Kimball, I do not believe you have got any religion. I do not think you believe what you preach." And I laughed. I learned afterwards that he was a "Catholic, and I guess he judged me by himself, because I do not think he is a good Catholic, so he hasn't got any the best of me. How could he tell from the outside of a man whether he has religion, or, call it faith in God and in the gospel of Jesus Christ? That can only be discovered by the life we lead and by the spirit that is within us. ¶

If there is anything in the world that I appreciate, it is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have no desire to live with any other people. I occasionally go away with the consent of the brethren, but I am always anxious to come back. In March of this year I was in San Francisco, and I became lonesome and homesick. I think it was on the 6th of March that I preached to the people of the Latter-day Saint branch in San Francisco. When I finished, the presiding officer said: "Brother Kimball, if you preach another sermon like that about Utah, all the people will leave." That makes clear how much I think of Utah and her people. "I am not given to flattery, when I do not mean it, and I do not simulate an affection that I do not honestly feel." ¶

As far as the brethren of the authorities are concerned, there has been no president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I have known so thoroughly and well as President Heber J. Grant. I have traveled with him through the Southern States, all through the south to Mexico. It took us two months before we returned. I have slept with him. We were on very friendly terms in those days. There were not so many stakes, and we became very well acquainted. I have known President Grant and heard about him from his earliest childhood, for my mother was a very dear ¶

friend of his mother's, and I have been in their home when I was a child. My own father, Heber C. Kimball, took him as a child, and stood him on a table and said: "He will be an apostle,"and it came true. Yes, I sustain President Grant with all my heart, for I realize, in part at least, what a great responsibility rests upon him. ¶

I met a horny-handed son of toil the other day near the Church Office Building. He was a Scotchman, and said: "Brother Kimball, will you shake hands with me?" I said: "Yes, and be tickled to do it." ¶

"Would you like to hear how I came to join the Church?" ¶

"Yes, I would like to hear it, for I was born in the Church. I never knew anything else." ¶

Then he told me his story. Little did that man know how he stimulated my faith just through that little friendship and testimony. As we stood there one of the brethren passed, in fact it was President Grant. My back was to him and I did not see him until after he got by. This Scotchman said: "Brother Kimball, as unbelievable as it is, I pray for that man twice every day of my life, and he did not speak to me." ¶

"Well," I said, "he did not see you. President Grant cannot stop to shake hands with every man in all Israel and do anything else. You keep on praying, for he has a great responsibility resting upon him, for when he speaks in the name of God it is not his own word; it is the word of God. God is his dictator, and he must be guided and influenced and blessed with the Holy Spirit in order to direct this great people." We ought to pray for the brethren ot the authorities, as we sustain them as prophets, seers and revelators. ¶

Brethren and sisters, I have a conviction burning within me, sometimes, like a living fire. There are a lot of things I do not know, but I know some things. I have paid the price. I have eaten the bread of adversity. I have drunk the water of affliction, and I have found God. I have told you that before. I have found God, and he has answered my prayers. I have heard that still small Voice — we call it a Voice — spoken to me not infrequently, and whenever I have followed it I was right. So that I can say with you that I am blessed in all my ways, because the Father gives to me of his Holy Spirit to guide and direct me in every situation, if I am humble and contrite in spirit and in truth. ¶

Brethren, when I think of this gathering, we do not call this a Round-Up. I attended a Round-Up on the Fair Grounds and almost lost my life when that grand-stand with three or four thousand people on it burned down, in ten minutes. My brother Elias and I happened to be on the topmost seat, because it was the cheapest. We were about the last to get out. I said: "Elias, the Lord is with us again. Praised be the name of the Lord." I tried not to be frightened, but you ought to have seen inside of me before I got off that stand. The Lord is ¶

with us in this gathering of the Saints. If you will stop to think for a moment of this building, it is faith-promoting. I helped to haul sand here, with other Kimball boys, every Saturday, to lay up these rock pillars. I was but a boy. I followed my father around the temple many times when I was a young boy. These buildings and grounds are faith-promoting, and it is wonderful to me the things that have been accomplished by this people, as recounted by President Grant. I enter the temple twice a week, and as I walk around it I have often wondered if President Young and Heber C. Kimball, and others of the pioneers, can picture what has been accomplished. I have been in Central Park, New York, years and years ago. I saw in this park million dollar bridges. I have been in Golden Gate Park time and time again, in San Francisco. I was in Denver a short time ago. They have twenty-four parks in that one city. But I want to tell you that to me, there is not a place on God's green earth like this place right here. I thank God that the brethren take good care of it. No cleaner, sweeter place is to be found anywhere in the world than right here. It is part of the vision that Brigham Young saw. Think of the temple! When Brigham Young struck his cane in the ground and said: "Right here we will build a temple to our God;"it was in the time of their poverty when they were so poor that father came along when the men working on the temple were soaking their bread in the stream of water. Father said: "To you it will be the sweetest bread in all your life." It took forty years to build that temple. I will never forget when it was dedicated. I was in the Southern States where they were driving us like wild animals, and we took our lives in our hands. I heard that prophet say when the temple was dedicated, as I was here on a visit: "From this time forth the hearts of the children of men will be softened towards us." I stand before you as a witness of the softening of the hearts of the people in the south. See what has been accomplished. At one time Elder Elias Kimball had five hundred and fifty elders in the south, and during his presidency he handled seventeen hundred and fifty elders, and only two died out of that great number of elders, exposed as they were. You cannot tell me that God does not answer their prayers. You cannot tell me that he does not protect us when we trust in him. I tell you, brethren, there never has been a time — I can say this as truthfully as I have ever spoken in my life — when I have had a doubt in my heart that Joseph Smith was a prophet. That thought has never crept into me. I believe in the Prophet Joseph Smith. To me he is a prophet. His prophecies have been fulfilled. Pie was a great architect, and God directed him, and Brigham Young came here as a great builder, and through the efforts and unity of the people, the great mission of this Church has been partly fulfilled. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, I pray the Lord to bless you and be with you. You are a blessed people to rally around and come together as you do to these great conferences, and your stake conferences; because I know, even if you forget all that is said, it stimulates faith, and God knows we need it. I pray the Lord to bless the authorities and everything pertaining to Zion. For the past year I have been working like a Trojan to love my enemies. I am making slow progress, but if I can live a little longer I will make it yet. The Lord bless you, which I pray for in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶