Remarks

I am very happy, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of attending this wonderful gathering of the Church, and upon this opening day of our conference seeing so many people gathered together. Truly it is a marvelous sight to look into the faces of those who have congregated in this building, and to note that there are many who cannot find seats, and who are standing in the aisles, and some, I take it from their movements, who have gone to the Assembly Hall, or to some other place where they might receive the instruction and the admonition and advice that are given at this conference. I rejoice in this great latter-day work, and the spirit that prompts these great gatherings and brings these people from so great distances to be refreshed and admonished and built up in their faith in God, that they might learn more of all their duties to him and to their fellowmen, and go home to their respective abiding places and further the progress of this work of our Father. ¶

I rejoice that in the day and age in which we live, the kingdom of God is again established in the earth. I have an abiding faith and testimony that the kingdom forseen and foretold by that great man, ¶

Daniel, in the interpretation he gave to the dream of the great king of Babylon, is now established upon the earth, as has been said at this conference. There is no doubt in the hearts and in the minds of Latter-day Saints regarding the existence of our Father in heaven. There is no doubt in the hearts and minds of Latter-day Saints regarding the life and existence and work of our Redeemer and our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is absolutely no doubt today, either in the minds of the old or the young, as to whether this is the Church of God established in the earth or not, for we know that it is. I bear you my witness this afternoon that I know God has again spoken from the heavens, that he has revealed himself to his chosen servants, and that he has restored the same power, keys, and Priesthood that he gave to his servants in all ages of the world and particularly to his servants in the meridian of time, when he gave to Peter and to his companions the keys of the kingdom. I know that the holy Priesthood is here upon the earth today. I rejoice, my brethren and sisters, that without the shadow of a doubt and without feeling in my heart any sense of hypocrisy, I can say to you this afternoon that I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, raised up to establish this work in the day and age in which we live. I rejoice that I have heard that testimony borne by my father. I rejoice that I have read that same testimony recorded in the words uttered by my grandparents, and I rejoice that I have lived long enough upon the earth to have heard my own son, I believe in all sincerity, bear that same testimony. ¶

I have labored now for nearly nineteen years in the missionary field, with your sons and daughters. There is nothing in all the wide world that brings me more joy or more happiness than to associate with them, and to hear them with all humility and in all sincerity declare to the world that they know these things are true. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I do not stop with this testimony, and I wish to go further this afternoon. It is of course, traditional now among us all, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, but I wish to continue my testimony and say I know that all who have succeeded him as presidents of this Church have been prophets of God; and while in the discharge of their duties, and living the lives of Latterday, Saints, all who have occupied the positions of apostles have been in very deed apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, men of the Lord, raised up to work in the ministry to perfect the Saints, and to be instruments through whom the revelations of the Lord might come, where they might minister, either at home or abroad. I bear you my witness today that, more than I know any other one thing, it seems to me, I know that President Heber J. Grant is a prophet of God, and that through him the Lord makes known his mind and will to this people. We can only be safe in obedience to the advice and to the counsel and to the admonition and to the reproof that may come to us through the sources of which I have spoken. ¶

I wish to leave with you this testimony and to say that I dedicate my life and my services to the Lord, and I desire to serve him by serving my fellow men. I rejoice at the opportunities that have come to me to labor in the ministry abroad. I have said before, and I stated this to our missionaries with whom I recently held a conference, that if I held no anticipation of reward in the future, I have been an hundredfold paid, more than perhaps I deserve, through the knowledge I have that through my teachings, I have brought hope into the lives of people who, before they knew me, were without hope, and that hope has been brought through the teaching of the principles of this everlasting gospel that is dearer to me than my life. ¶

May the Lord help us to be faithful and to be true to the great knowledge that has come to us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen, ¶