Remarks

I most humbly desire, my brethren and sisters, an interest in your faith and prayers for the few moments I may occupy this afternoon. I am thankful for the privilege I have had of attending the meetings, thus far, of our wonderful conference, and to have received the instructions of our president and other elders of the Church who have spoken to us. I rejoice in my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. I value it above everything I have. I hope and trust that I may always be faithful and true to the covenants which I have made, with my Father, and that we all may be true to the covenants we have made with our Father when we accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and took upon ourselves his name. ¶

The beautiful song just rendered, "Send out thy Light,"seems to have been fulfilled in the sending forth of the missionaries of this Church, sending them out to preach the everlasting gospel, the light of the world, which will lead us back into the presence of our Father. These missionaries are clothed with his power to go into the world and preach unto men the gospel of life and salvation having the same Priesthood and power that have always made clear to the world the difference between the Church of God and all other churches. This Priesthood is the distinguishing feature which makes us the Church of Jesus Christ. It is God's power unto this people to act in bis name, so that they may carry forth the message of salvation, perform the ordinances of life eternal, so that men and women, obeying the gospel message, may enter his Church. This power of God has always been with his people from the very 'beginning. Whenever there has been a prophet of God among the children of men, he has been clothed with the power, the Priesthood of God, to act in his name. It is through this Priesthood that the revelations of God are given to men. It is the channel of revelation, it is that which constitutes a man the president of his Church and his prophet upon the earth. ¶

The power of this Priesthood has been manifested in many different ways. It is manifested in the organization of the Church; the healing of the sick; the raising of the dead; the wonderful prophetic utterances, and in the miracles that the prophets performed when they were upon the earth. ¶

It was by the power of the Priesthood that Elijah sealed the heavens, so that for three years no rain fell in the land and a sore famine afflicted the people. It was by this same power of the Priesthood that Elijah raised the dead boy. Yon remember the story of how he went and lived with a widow and her son, during this famine; that they had just a little meal and oil which lasted until the fan line abated. The son was taken sick and died. The mother came to Elijah complaining that he had come to call her sins to remembrance and slay her son. The Prophet asked for her son and took him to his own room where, by the Priesthood he held, he raised this boy from the dead and brought him back again to his mother. ¶

It was the power of this Priesthood which gave Moses the ability to do the wonderful miracles that he did. Moses was called of God and was ordained, we are told in the Doctrine and Covenants, under the hands of Jethro, the priest of Midian, a man having the authority of God, and who gave it to Moses. When Moses was instructed by God to go down into the land of Egypt and bring out of bondage the chosen people, the Israelites, he went clothed with the power of the holy Priesthood, and he made manifest to these people more than once the power of God in their behalf, that they might be taught again that there is a God in heaven, the God of Israel. They had lived for some hundreds of years in Egypt, under the teachings of the Egyptians, and had departed from the true and the living God in that they were worshiping idols. This is evidenced in the "fact that when Moses was away from the camp in the mountains, a short time, about forty days, receiving from God instructions to take back to the people and teach them the plan of life and salvation, the people prevailed upon Aaron the brother of Moses, to make a calf which they might worship. Now. the calf represented one of the gods of the Egyptians and Israel returned to the worship of idols while Moses was away. When Moses came down to the camp and heard the people singing, he asked what was going on, and when Joshua told him of the conditions, he cast the tablets of stone to the ground and broke them, even though they had written upon them, by the finger of God himself, the commandments which he desired taught unto his people. He went into the camp, destroyed the calf and scattered about the broken pieces, and then went back into the mountain to appeal to the Lord to forgive his children. ¶

Here is an example of strength and character that the Priesthood of God gives to a man when he obeys the principles and teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for no greater temptation can ever be placed in the path of man than was given to Moses at this time. The Lord offered to make of Moses a mighty nation; offered to make his seed numerous as the sands upon the seashore; offered Moses the right that, through his seed all nations might be blessed, but Moses said, Not so, O God, thou hast made this covenant with thy servant Abraham and thy servants Isaac and Jacob, that of them thou wouldst ¶

make many nations and that through their seed should all nations be blessed. Moses refused to accept of this wonderful blessing. He proved himself true to the trust and calling that God had given to him. He came back into the mountains and prayed to God, that he would forgive the people of Israel, and pleaded with him and wanted to know what the people of Israel would think of this kind of a God, that would take his children out into the wilderness and then destroy them. Moses offered himself that God destroy him and blot his name out of the book of remembrance, that he should never be numbered more among the children of men, if only God would forgive the children of Israel. God did not withstand the pleadings of that faithful man, and he forgave the children of Israel their transgressions. ¶

This power of the Priesthood, when exercised rightly, heals the sick and raises the dead. You remember the wonderful miracles that Jesus Christ himself did among the children of men. When the apostles after him went among the people, preaching unto them, they, too, did many wonderful things in the name of God. One striking example: after Peter and John had been away preaching for some time, they were returning to the city of Jerusalem, and as they neared the gate of the temple, called "Beautiful," there was a lame man there begging alms. He had been lame from his childhood, and begged alms of Peter and John. Peter said to him, "Silver and gold I have none; but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."And he arose, was made whole, through the exercise of this Priesthood of God which Jesus Christ himself had given to Peter and to John. ¶

In the days in which we live, I testify to you in 'humility, this same power of the Priesthood of God has been made manifest. In the early history of the Church, one member of the Church, Elijah Fordham was lying very ill, in fact, he was upon his death bed. The Prophet Joseph came into the room and asked him if he knew him, and he said "Yes,"then the prophet asked him if he had faith in God that he could be healed, and he said, he had. Then Joseph, taking him by the hand, said, "Brother Fordham, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise from this bed and 'be made whole." And he arose from his bed and was made whole. ¶

This power also brings to the prophets of God a knowledge of things that shall come to pass. On the sixth day of August, 1842, the Prophet Joseph made a prophecy that the people should be led to the valleys of these mountains, that many would die from exposure, some from hardships that would befall them, but the Saints would come and build a wonderful colony here in the tops of the mountains. It has been literally fulfilled. This same spirit of prophecy rested upon President Brigham Young, the man who succeeded the Prophet Joseph in the presidency of God's Church. Out on the plains, in 1846, he told the brethren that a temple of God would be erected in the tops ¶

had been driven from Nauvoo, where the people had received the blessing's of God in that wonderful temple, built by the sacrifice of our people both in time and means, and after suffering untold hardships, they came into this valley. Just a few.days after their arrival, President Young with some other members of the Twelve were standing upon this Temple block, when President Young struck his cane in the ground and said, "Here we will build a temple unto God."President Wilford Woodruff bears testimony that the temple was built upon the spot where President Young drove his cane into the ground. How did President Young know that the people would even stay here when they got here? How did he know that they would give of their time and their means, amounting to about four millions of dollars, for the erecting of that temple, except by the revelations of God, and by the witness of the Spirit of God to him that this was true? ¶

And so, if time permitted I could enumerate many other instances, showing that this Priesthood of God is with this people. I bear you my humble testimony, my brethren and sisters, that I do know that this is God's work, that this is his Church, that the men who have stood at the head of this Church are prophets of God, that the man who stands at the head of the Church today has the keys of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, the power of God to open the door of life eternal to all the world, the power to save every child of God if he will obey the gospel of our Lord and Master. ¶

I bear you my witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that his gospel is the power of God unto salvation, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶