Remarks

I am very pleased, my brethren and sisters to be here to attend the conference of the Church. The great number of people that I have witnessed this morning and yesterday on the grounds and in the Tabernacle are an inspiration to me. I feel that I am deeply indebted unto the Lord for the many manifestations of his power and of his goodness unto me in my service in the ministry. ¶

I bring you greetings from the Central States mission, from the missionaries who are there, your sons and your daughters, and from the people who are there. I can testify unto you that there is faith, much faith, to be found among the youth of Zion in the Central States, and that your boys and your girls are working hard for the establishment of the gospel of Christ in the six states comprising the mission. ¶

The Lord said that we should judge a tree by its fruits. I thought yesterday when the President of the Church was talking; what an inspiration it must be to any man, to any woman, regardless of their faith, to be able to hear or to read the great truths he taught; and what an inspiration it was to those who were there to witness the power with which he spoke. My mind was led to the fact that hundreds of cities in this great country of ours spend vast amounts of money to gather crowds together for celebrations; they are called upon to make donations continually in order to bring people into the centers. But here is a great congregation of people gathered together in this center of the intermountain region without one cent of advertising money having been spent. They come here of their own free will and choice, filled with a desire to serve the Lord, to obtain something that they can use to establish their lives in the future. And that has marked the work of the Church from the beginning. There is not any man who can read the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without being led to conclude that surely there is an overruling power that cements and holds its members and keeps them intact. ¶

I am led to think of one of the details of the work of the Lord that is going on in the homes of faithful Latter-day Saints. Every child, as soon as it is able to lisp a prayer is taught by the mother to pray unto the Lord — to pray for father, for mother, for brothers and sisters, and relatives; for the President of the Church and for the apostles; the presidents of the seventies, the bishopric; the authorities of the Church in the wards and in the stakes; and for the missionaries in the field. This is a part of the life of our boys and girls as they grow from childhood to manhood and womanhood, the father and the mother setting the example. This thing has established faith in the hearts of thousands of Latter-day Saints scattered throughout these intermountain regions, and it has made them the power they are in the hands of the Lord. People everywhere speak of the ¶

devotion of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the cause that they represent in the earth. It is a common conclusion among the people in the world where our elders go that if a man desires to attack a missionary he'd better know where he stands before he does it, for they know that the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are prepared to defend the Church, that they have a knowledge of the scripture that the Lord has provided for them. It is said that they go to the schools and colleges of our Church in order to prepare. The people do not really know the fact — that that preparation is begun in the great majority of cases with the mother and father at home, that the young people usually have not had much practice in public speaking or conversing upon the principles of the gospel — perhaps have not taken much part in Church activities, yet faith has been implanted in their souls from the beginning, and only needs to be kindled and it is aflame and they are found ably defending the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They go forth testifying unto the children of men that the Lord lives, that he has revealed himself anew in this dispensation, that he did speak to Joseph Smith, the prophet, that he did authorize him to organize the Church in these last days, and that his Church has been established in the earth to last forever, nevermore to be thrown down nor given to another people. And the people of the world have learned to conclude that the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ, as well as those at home, are earnest in their endeavors and that it is a marvelous work and a wonder that the Lord is performing with his people, a small handful compared to the countless numbers that inhabit the earth. ¶

It is a marvel how quickly our boys and girls respond to the call that is made of them and how soon they are able to defend the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the ministry. A few days ago I had the privilege of holding a conference in Independence, Missouri, the place which some day will be the great center from which the Church will be governed and controlled. It is a holy place, made holy by those great predictions, blessings, and appointments that the Lord made in the beginning of this dispensation. One of the missionaries at that conference said that he had been a little disturbed as to how he was going' to meet a question that he knew would be put to him during a certain appointment, but that he had been on the street going to his work only a few moments when the answer came to him and he was able to defend the Church in such a way that his opponent was led to listen and in a measure accept his explanation of the gospel. ¶

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. It is the plan by which the children of men come unto God, and there is no other. It is the most perfect way of living. The greatest blessing and joy and peace that can come to men and to women is to know the truth and to obey it, and to be filled with the power of God and see his power made manifest in the hearts of those who bear his name and who are worthy and faithful enough to declare it. It has been ¶

a joy, a privilege, the greatest thing that ever came into my life, to be associated with the missionaries of this Church in the different parts of the country. There is no place on the earth where there is a better feeling than among the men and women who consecrate their time to the preaching of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They are sweet, they are beautiful, their influence is heavenly, and the power of the adversary cannot stand in the presence of the Priesthood and power of the Redeemer, that he has given unto his Church in these last days. ¶

I testify unto you that the Lord lives, and that he has revealed this gospel in these last days; that his Priesthood, his power, his authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances of it are vested in this Church and are not vested in any other church. I have failed to find any one in all my years of experience in the mission field who has been able to disprove any principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ that the Lord gave to Joseph the prophet. Every attempt to prove them wrong has merely verified their truthfulness 'and has made the truth of God stronger in the earth. ¶

It is glorious to be here; it is wonderful to live; to be engaged in the work of the conservation of the souls of men in these the last days is a privilege that surpasseth all other experience or understanding. God has been good to me and to those with whom I have had the pleasure of associating in the ministry. They have been noble, wonderful, great characters, and they are in the Church today, the majority of them standing in the testimony of Jesus and for the power of God in the earth, the result of their birth in these the last days and of the faith that their fathers and the mothers have planted within them. ¶

May God strengthen us, give us power more nearly to keep his commandments, I ask in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. ¶